It is hard to think that the summer is over...well technically it's not over, but because school has started and we are hoping for cooler weather, we will call it "sumall." Some amazing things happened this summer. These amazing things were not always good or happy things and I know for sure that the summer of 2012 will never be forgotten!
I am going to go a bit backwards. This whole new blogspot set up is screwing me up. So 1. doesn't mean the first thing that happened. Here we go...here are the top 13 on the 13th. Let's start the review...
1. Boating on Lanier is so much fun...especially swimming. The kids love being on a boat. It is in their blood. I grew up boating, Brad grew up sailing...this family just loves to be on the water. I learned how to ski at a young age and Aidan learned how to water ski when he was 6. Now I am not to sure if he will ever water ski again.
This is the kids before the accident...
2. This is Aidan on day 3 after the accident (trust me when I tell you that you do not want to see what it looked like after the accident..lets just say the girls screamed to the hosptial..they were freaking out). Many of you are on facebook and followed the whole story. For those of you that don't know, Aidan fell while water skiing and hit the front tip of the ski with his head splitting it open to the bone and requiring 20+ stitches. Thanks a brilliant pediatric plastic surgeon, Aidan and his scare are great. We are grateful that it wasn't a few cm in the other direction. Not only that, but the next day, the news announced a high alert of bacteria in the lake and river that helps form the lake. Aidan was already on an antibiotic for a RARE ear infection from the week before.
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3. For a birthday present for Aidan last year, my brother bought 5 private lessons at a sports training facility in Augusta. He is friends with the owner (yes who happened to be on the Bachelorette). This is a great facility even though it was a 3 hour drive to get there, it was totally worth it. Here is Aidan and one of his instructors, Courtney. He did a great job and we hope to be able to see him again!
4. We were able to stop and visit some dear friends of ours on the way back from the state swim meet in South Georgia. It had been a while, but felt like it was just yesterday when we saw them. We are glad they are back in GA, but still wished we lived closer. The kids played great together and the adults had a wonderful time visiting. Thanks Perdues for your hospitality! From left to right, Brenna, AnnaKate, Carsyn, Judd, Aidan, Sadie, and Jake.
5. Mom and Dad were here for the 4th of July parade. Brad and I have lived here for 11 years and never have gone to the parade in Cumming. It was HOT, but the kids had a blast collecting candy.
6. Swim season started the week before school got out. With it being an Olympic year it made it that more exciting. It was Brenna's second year and she did awesome. Not only did she improved greatly, learning all 4 strokes and racing them all, but she practiced with the 10 and up kids at 8 am and kept right up with them. She is doing awesome. She just tried out for a year long program and made the team, we are now just deciding on what is best for her and the family.
7. Aidan made it to State in the max number of races which is 2. He swam the 25 breast and 100 IM (which is a 25 of the 4 strokes). Here is is a state during warm ups talking to one of his coaches. Not only does he amaze me at his work ethic at 8 years old, but he swam this race 5 days after getting stitches while only kick board training all week because he couldn't put his head in the water until that morning of the race.
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Carsyn took this shot while waiting for the races at state. I may have a photographer on my hands.
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The big race...he had to swim prelims in the morning and finals in the evening.
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Brenna getting ready to swim backstroke at one of the local races. She ended up taking 1st.
Love these kids.
Aidan got 2nd in the state for boys 8 for the 25 breaststroke. Only loosing to a boy he has been battling all season that swims year round. Not to bad! He also beat his IM time by 2 seconds coming in 3rd place while later hearing that he was DQed due to a leg separation in his butterfly. He was so bummed, but we couldn't be more excited for him! He is top left on the stands.
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8. We were able to go to the beach 2 times this summer. The 2nd time we went was with the whole girls basketball team for a camp at Coastal Carolina. Even though this is not my sweet girl, it is our head coaches little girl, Kylie. It happens to be my favorite shot of the summer.
My sweet babies....
9. Playing in the pool with Grammie. Carsyn was able to spend 8 days with my parents by herself at their house this summer. My parents try to take all the kids 1 on 1 sometime during the year for some fun. Aidan went later for 5 days. Bren still gets to go later this year.
10. The 1st time we went to the beach was a extremely memorable trip. We had Brad, his two brothers, their wives and children and Brad's dad and Janet all in the same place (city) for the first time. We each had our own 2 bedroom condo (in thanks to my brother in law, Mark and his wife Amanda.). Although the weather at the beginning of the week was not good, it made up for it and the end of the week. We did hire a photographer to take some fantastic family shots on the beach. We made some amazing memories!
As blended as we are, the kids get along so well. From left to right..Katelyn, Chris, Zoe, Jackson, Carsyn, Aidan, Brooklyn, Brenna, Brynlee and Kaia. Ages 2-11.
Kaia, Zoe, Brenna, Carsyn and Aidan.
11. Thanks to my awesome gardening husband, we had some of the most beautiful flowers and now veggies in our garden.
12. We lost an amazing man this summer. Brad's grandpa White (his mom's father) passed away suddenly. I am so blessed that we had him close in Chattanooga this last few years. The kids have grown up knowing him and being able to see him regularly. We are grateful for Brad's uncle, who was an amazing, loving caretaker. We just happened to have been at his apartment just a couple weeks before having dinner. I have been doing some family research on Brad's side of the family. I had just done a long interview with him on camera about his whole life. What a treasure that is now. The cool thing is that he accepted Christ 2 days before he died. He lived an incredible life. As a teenager in the army he was deployed and landed in Casablanca in WWII. He was shipped to Italy, only shortly being bombed and nearly losing his leg. He has lost his wife and 2 of his 3 daughters. He has 7 grandchild and lots of great grandchildren. Grandpa Tom, you will be missed!
13. We also lost another loving member to our family, our beloved JJ. At 14 she lived a fulfilled life. Even though she has become an outdoor dog in the last years of her life, the kids loved her more than anything. Brad got her the summer we started dating. She was our first baby. We love and miss her lots!
We hope that your summer was jammed packed with lots of memories.
