Visiting the mountains

 

If  you have never been to Chattooga Belle Farms in Long Creek, SC you should really try it out some time!  It is so beautiful during all parts of the year.  We especially enjoy the late summer/early fall where we can go and pick scuppernongs and muscadines and see the beautiful leaves beginning to turn colors.  As you can see by the pictures, our boys enjoy getting to pick their own baskets.  Peyton has not quite mastered which ones to pick but he does know how to eat them already! haha

 

Great picture with Mimi and her boys with the beautiful scenery in the background! 

Building with K'nex

 

This is a new hobby of Hunter's - building with K'nex!  I have to admit, it is really fun and his little brain just loves the challenge.  He has built all kinds of things from just basic shapes to hot air balloons, swings, and rollercoasters that actually have battery moving parts!  He is really good at it and is actually something fun for the whole family to participate in.  We sometimes have competitions where we set a timer and have to build something really cool and when the timer is off we vote on who had the best idea.

The Zoo

Rebekah, Peyton, Hunter, Caleb, and Cai

Another great day hanging out with friends at the Greenville Zoo!  We are so fortunate to have had Mimi and Pop get us season passes to the Zoo.  We have really enjoyed our time there with our friends and famiy! 

Go Tigers!

 

This is one of our favorite ways to start off the Clemson football season each year...attending the First Friday Parade in downtown Clemson.  While it mainly is just the band, cheerleaders, and sorority/fraternity groups, it still gets you in the mood for the start of the new season for Clemson football!  We camped out at our normal spot which is right at the tiger in front of Mellow Mushroom in Clemson.  We had a great time and excited about the new season!

 

After we left the parade, we walked across the street to watch part of the Clemson men's soccer game at Riggs Field.  It just so happened that Hunter and Peyton's cousin Britt came down for the soccer game with his middle school team to see Clemson play.  It was great to get to see Britt and hang out with him for a few minutes!  Plus we had never been to a soccer game before. 

 

  My boys all decked out ready for the first game of the season!  Thank goodness for Wal-mart, each year we have been able to buy Hunter and Peyton Clemson jersey's to wear for the games.  It's amazing that going downtown Clemson and getting a jersey VERY similar would cost about $30 more each!  I think they are cute enough with their Wal-mart Clemson jerseys! :)  Go Tigers!

   

Well as many people know, Sammy Watkins unfortunately was suspended for the first game of the year, so we just happened to be at the volleyball game with Bec Bec and saw Sammy come in to watch the volleyball game as well.  So we may have bugged him for a picture with the boys and Bec and Bec! :)  Hey there's one positive thing that came out of his first game suspension! :) 

Peyton's First Dentist Visit

 

What a happy and brave boy Peyton was!  He took his first visit to the pediatric dentist and he did so well!  I was so proud of him!

Of course it helps to go to a pediatric dentist where each kid gets to play video games for free while waiting in the waiting room, watch movies in the waiting room as well, read books found throughout the office, play with the dentist mascot - the dragon and brush his teeth, and.... 

 

    he gets to watch the movie Nemo while getting his teeth cleaned.  They have a tv located on the ceiling just for the the patients to watch.  It is a great dentist and it has been such a positive experience each time we have gone!  I would highly recommend them to anyone! 

One pretty unique thing is that the dentist's name is Dr. Horton, so throughout the office they have Dr. Seuss decorations and the waiting room movie is always Dr. Horton Hears a Who.

First Day of 4K!

 

I can't believe it!!  Our big boy is growing up!  I can't believe he is now in 4K and will be going to kindergarten next school year!  Where has time gone?  He was of course nervous but he is going to Little Lambs Preschool where he went a couple of days a week for 3K.  This year he is going three days a week...Tues, Wed, Thurs, and he loves it!  He especially loves his teachers Mrs. Diane and Mrs. Sian.  They do such a great job to help him interact with the other kids.  They are also great about challenging him daily.  We are so thankful to have a preschool so close to our home that we feel comfortable with.  Of course each day that Hunter goes, he says he doesn't want to go and then by the time I pick him up each day, he says he had a great time and can't wait to go back!  I think he just likes to pull his Mama and Dada's legs!  What a big boy we have on our hands!

  

Friends!

Peyton and Hunter's friends Bec Bec and Hannah came over to play one day when their mom had to work a little.  It was so much fun to have Bec Bec back around and to have a baby in the house! 

 

 

Both boys insisted on having their picture taken alone with Hannah!  She is such a sweet baby and was sooo good!

 

 

Of course there was another sweet girl...big sister Bec Bec!  Peyton has been kind of lost without his side kick over the summer!  It was great to have her beautiful face back around, even if it were just for one day!

 

All smiles!  How precious!

 

This is what Hunter did for 45 minutes straight!  He LOVED getting to hold Hannah.  I kept telling him that I would hold her and let him play, but he insisted that he wanted to be the one that was holding her when Amanda came back to pick them up.  Every few minutes he would just bend down and give her a sweet kiss on the cheek!  He was such a good babysitter! 

Superheroes!

Two of my superheroes!  I found these brand new costumes at a yard sale in Franklin for a dollar each.  I figured for that much, they could have fun wearing them around the house and playing superheroes, even if they didn't wear them for Halloween! 

Papaw's Elk

While playing downstairs in Nana and Papaw's basement, the boys came across this and thought it was super cool!  It was Papaw's elk he killed in Colorado!  Each of them wanted a picture with it.  Now me on the other hand was not so thrilled about it! haha 

My boys!

Just a cute picture I found on my camera of my three boys.  I think it is taken at Dollywood but I'm not sure.  Anyways just a great reminder of what a wonderful family I have!   

Cantaloupe!

Thanks to our neighbors, the Hammers, they gave us cantaloupe seedlings and this what we grew.  We had several grow but only a couple of them made it until it was time to pick them.  Too bad because they were really fun to watch grow!

Hollywild

Near the end of the summer, we took a trip to visit a place called Hollywild with some friends of ours..Jenny, Cai, and Caleb.  If you have never been there the closest thing I can describe for someone is that is like a Griswold family Zoo and I'm not joking!  It is great but hilarious all at the same time.  If you have ever been during Christmas, you know exactly what I mean when I say "Griswold"-like.  I had not actually been to the zoo part in a long time so when I saw a deal on a couple of tickets I decided it would be a fun adventure with the boys and our friends.  In all seriousness Hollywild is called Hollywild because the animals that are in captivity there are actually animals that have been on the big screen, either in commercials or movies.  They then get to retire or hang out at Hollywild until they are needed again.

It was sooo cute to see all of the boys trying to locate the animals in each cage.

 

 Hunter and Peyton enjoyed the big goats and wanted their picture taken with them.  It was crazy because as soon as I said cheese, the goat jumped right up on the fence like he was posing for the picture!

 

 

All of the boys enjoyed the baby goats.  They were more their size!

 

  There were so many noises throughout the park, it was hard to get all four boys looking at the camera at the same time.

 

 

I thought this was a great picture of the boys all looking and the tiger in the background!

 

This of course was one of Hunter's favorites and asked to have his picture by himself with the tiger!  I thought it turned out great since the tiger was right beside his tigerpaw hat in the picture!

 

There was a petting zoo area for the kids to walk up to the fences and feed the animals such as goats, pigs, and zebras.  They even got to bottle feed some of the goats!  Hunter liked feeding the zebras.

 

This was the only thing that Peyton would have to do with a zebra!  He was not so excited about the real ones!  They were just too big for him.

 

Near the back of Hollywild, you are able to ride on a safari like bus and they ride through a huge open field and the kids and parents are able to feed the animals from the bus.  It was amazing how long the animals' tongues were!  I couldn't believe we were able to get that close to the animals, especially ones that were that huge! 

  

Really good picture of some pretty scenery and four cute boys!  We had such a fun time with our friends at Hollywild and then headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  We can't wait to go back to Hollywild again sometime and hopefully take Dada! 

Lowes Build to Grow

If you didn't know, Lowes stores do this great thing called Build to Grow on most Saturday mornings.  It is a program that kids can come in with an adult and build something.  Sometimes it's characters from movies or even things like fire trucks.  Each week is something different.  It is such a great thing for our boys and they love it.  Each kid gets goggles, a Build to Grow tool apron, and a patch for the thing that they have created to be able to sew on their apron. This week the boys created a dragon from a children's movie that just was released.  They had a great time and enjoyed getting to hammer and screw the pieces of wood and nails.  I would highly suggest this program to anyone with kids!

Peyton's First stay at Mimi and Pops!

 

Now that we have a big two year old, he is old enough to go with Hunter to stay at Mimi and Pop's house by himself!  Of course Mama and Dada were a little worried but he did great!  What a big boy he is!

 

Of course it always helps to have big brother with him!

 

 The highlight of Hunter's trip to Fort Mill...getting to have "Tuna Casserole!"  He had jokingly talked about making tuna casserole and so Mimi decided to make his joke come true!  He said he liked it. Whether or not he did, I have no clue.

Happy Birthday Cai!

What a fun birthday!  Hunter and Peyton's buddy Cai turned 3 and had a fun water party!  Of course they were a little shy at first but then opened up and had a blast!  Thanks for inviting us to your great party Cai!

Children's Museum and Ducks

  What a fun day!  Mimi took Hunter, Peyton and I to the Children's Museum in Charlotte.  I didn't really know too much about it but the boys LOVED it!  They were the perfect age for the museum.

Hunter exploring the groundhog tunnels

 

  Then he went back to the olden days and built a house and fire out of wood! 

 

Two of the "Cutest Bugs" I've ever seen! 

Peyton enjoyed the water play area with the pretend turtle

 

Then we went down to the park below the museum and had a picnic.  After we ate, we walked around to the pond area to feed the ducks.  Wow!!!  What a surprise!  We had no idea before we even got close, that we would be attacked by TONS of ducks!  They just knew we had bread without even seeing it!

Hunter and Peyton thought it was sooo cool until they got close to them.  Hunter seemed to be brave and wanted to be around them. 

 

Peyton was liking them until one of the ducks actually pecked on one of his fingers!  He did NOT like that! 

 

So this was the solution to wanting to feed the ducks but not wanting them to be too close to them...