August 2021

Landon helped me get all the tomatoes ready to make some more salsa. Canning is sometimes very tedious, but it is always nice to open up a jar in the winter. I also really enjoy sharing some with friends and family. 

We got informed about a travel softball team that was having tryouts in Georgetown. Brinley said she was interested in trying out. She did awesome in tryouts and they called the next day and offered her a spot on the team. Brinley said she wanted to join the team. So, for the next year we will be spending a lot of time in Georgetown playing for the Rampage!

It was so nice to have an actual open house for school to come meet your teacher. Landon is going to be in Mrs. Whittington's class for 3rd grade. Brinley's teacher was not able to make it to the open house, but she got to see where her classroom is going to be.

We decided to meet up with Aunt Andrea and Olivia for a little fun. We met about halfway in West Chester, Ohio for a little Top Golf. It was Olivia's first time playing golf. We were all just glad that Olivia didn't fall off the edge. 

After Top Golf we went to a little place called The Cone and if you can't tell, the kids loved it! Olivia enjoyed her ice cream, but did not like leaving to head back home. 

We were invited to a game to watch the Lexington Legends by the UK Federal Credit Union. They gave us seats on the first base side and right next to the bullpen. Both kids really wanted to catch a foul ball. Brinley got one when a foul ball hit and bounced back on the field. A player handed it to her. Landon got upset and of course Brinley was on cloud 9! Brinley let Landon have the ball and then she sweet talked a player in the bullpen for another one. It was a pretty awesome night because both kids were then very excited.

We were just watching the players leaving the field and one of the players asked if we had a sharpie for autographs. I told him that we didn't. He went over and found a marker from another fan and then came back and signed his broken bat and handed it to the kids. What a great way to end the night. 

We had such a great night! Nobody had to fake a smile for this picture.

The next morning the Lexington Legends were actually having a free baseball clinic. Both kids went and got some nice tips and training with some of the Lexington Legends. Landon actually won the award for running the bases the fastest (Even against kids twice his age). The Legends players were actually calling him Turbo. Landon asked me why they called him that. I think he thought they were making fun of him. I told him that he was impressing them and they were complimenting him.   

After the baseball clinic we headed straight over to Kroger Field for the UK open practice. The kids were mostly excited about the nerds that I packed for them to snack on. 

We were trying to squeeze out every last drop of summer vacation. So, we headed to the spray park for a little fun. The picture on the right the kids are sitting below a huge water bucket that was about to dump on top of them. 

With Jennifer working lot of weekends that means the kids head to church with me. They choose every morning if they are going to be a helper or not. I believe that the spot for workers to get free donuts helps make up their minds a bit. On the weeks that they don't work I have tons of people asking about the little helpers.  

On the night before school we built a fire and had some s'mores to celebrate the end of summer. 

We were so happy for school to start this year in person, even if we had to go with masks on. Last year was hard on all of us especially the kids who were isolated and trying to learn on their own at home on a computer. The kids asked for French toast for breakfast so that's what we had. 

Landon with his first day of school pictures. He says he wants to play soccer when he grows up. He likes video games, Pokémon, bunnies, and sports. 

Brinley's first day of 4th grade. She still remains strong in her desire to be a vet. She loves bunnies, Harry Potter, softball, and reading. 

After we dropped the kids off Jennifer dropped me off at the beginning of the Legacy Trail downtown. She picked me up out at the horse park. I had always wanted to make the ride, but just never made time for it. We also headed downtown to eat at Goodfellas. It always amazes me about the size of the their breadsticks.

We had an afternoon treat when the kids got out of school. They love some Hawaiian shaved ice. Maybe someday I can take them to have some in actual Hawaii. 

Well, we had another one of our co-workers leave the clinic. She took a job working from home. Beth's humor and friendship will be missed around the clinic. One of the doctor's told her that when she got bored at home the door was always open for a return to the DanceBlue Clinic.

The kids and I had been watching a cooking show and someone made macrons. It sparked my interest and I wanted to see if I could make them. For my first attempt I think they turned out pretty good. 

We added a new friendly face to the DanceBlue clinic and it just so happened to be my soon-to-be sister-in-law Taylor. We won't get to work everyday together because she is just picking up shifts when we need some extra help. She is a great young nurse and we are glad to have her with us in the clinic.

We harvested the carrots out of the garden and the kids even helped make dinner for us one night. It was a soup that neither kid ended up liking. 

I signed the kids up for another triathlon. Only problem was that during the pandemic they forgot how to swim. So, we signed them both up for swimming lessons and it slowly started coming back to them. Brinley missed out on her last year doing the short course because they had cancelled due to COVID. She had to do twice as much as Landon. She did a great job and we are very proud of her. She says this will be her last year, but I will keep pushing her to try it again.  

This was Landon's first kid's triathlon and he did awesome. The swim really hurt him because he just wasn't very confident in the water. He made up for it on the bike and run. He could go for much longer bike rides and runs because I have never seen him run out of energy. If we could just get him swimming a little better I believe he could make the podium. 

Super proud of these kids. They had worked hard for a couple months trying to get their legs ready for the race. 

I have been trying to do a puzzle every month and this one was a lot of fun and challenging too. It was 2000 pieces. 

Brinley playing with her little bunny. She loves Pepper. 

I signed up to help with UK football recruiting on game days. Landon  and I headed to the facility to pick up my gear that they gave us to wear on game days. Landon got to go with me because he was finishing up his quarantine because he was exposed on the 4th day of school. He tested negative, but they wouldn't allow him back at school for 10 days.  

The kids started their soccer season. Landon was back on the Scorpions with his whole crew from the past two years. Brinley moved up to the next age division. They both started the season playing in goal.

I always make time every 2 months to go donate blood. It saves lives people!

The last day of August we started out on a huge adventure to the Northeast! We were really excited to get out of town. It was the first time that we had taken the kids out of school for a trip. This was actually the first time since the pandemic started that Jennifer was able to take actual vacation days off from work. 

August was a lot of fun and we were glad the kids were able to start back to school. We also started up some new sports seasons which will be sure to keep us busy in the fall. Thanks for reading and God bless!