Bert and the Bug did it again.

Bert took the VW bug to another car show. I think this is like the 15th show since Spring. Thankfully, today the show was right in our own backyard. It was a big show in Nashville put on by the Shriners.
The kids and I didn't go because it was raining. Of course, it has been raining for almost 3 weeks (and that is not an exaggeration). He has talked about this show all year and was not deterred by the rain. Well it paid off. He won Best in Class, Best in Show - Modified and Potentate's Choice. He said the Potentate is the guy who wears the funny hat in the Shriners. We laughed when we realized they all wear funny hats. Bert says the Potentate's hat is the biggest and funniest. His trophy was the biggest too!


He loves doing these shows, but boy, do they take it out of him. He was wiped out. It's a good tired though.
We will be at shows for the next 3 weekends. October is sort of like Spring in the car show world, the weather is so great there are a lot of them.

Luke and the marching band.

Luke is in 8th grade. The Middle school band doesn't get to march on the field. However, there was a special presentation for a coach who retired and the band got to make a giant "F" on the field. We think the "F" is for Freedom Middle school but it could also be for Fred, as in Fred Lane, the coach who retired. Luke had a great time. We got sprinkled on and eaten up by the bugs but we had a good time too.
Luke is in the drum line, back row, third from the left.

Look, no wall!!!

The wall is gone! Wow! my kitchen looks enormous. Tony, our builder and friend, says we just need to live with the space for a few days and see what we want to do. I agree! It's amazing how different everything is. Tony and Bert put the cabinets in the space where we want the island. That gives me an idea of what will work and not work.




Immediately after the space was opened up we realized that we can put in a back door. Right now people either come to the front door - which seems formal - or they go through the garage - which is horrible because it's a stinky, cluttered garage. We have gone back and forth about if a door would work. Our thought now is that we will put in a door in the middle of the bay window. Presto, chango a back door entrance that is less formal and not through the garage.
Bert called as soon as the wall was taken down. I asked what he thought. He just laughed and said "Well, there's no going back now." He's right and I don't want to.

It's finally underway.... Yeah!

A NEW KITCHEN!!!!
Well, we have talked about this for a while and Bert actually drew a plan on a napkin in a restaurant last December. We have looked and measured and talked and looked and talked until I really decided it would never happen. I mean, my kitchen isn't horrible and Bert would probably tell you that I don't spend enough time in it. But, we spend a LOT of time in this room as a family and I remember being a teenager and having everybody at our house, usually in the kitchen.
I want this to be a place the kids and their friends can hang out.





So, this little wall was a favorite wall of mine. I liked it providing a little more counter space and storage. Of course, if you fell down the stairs this wall would stop you. We have thought for 10 years that this wall was actually holding up the ceiling. Wrong! It's amazing we don't even have to have this wall.
So, these are before pictures. I will start posting the progress. This is so exciting.

Bert has a really cool job!

I know these pictures aren't that great, I took them with my cell phone. Bert has had Heart as a client for a couple of years now. They came to Nashville and played the Ryman tonight. The marketing director got us seats. It's nice when people give you seats but you really never know where you are going to be sitting.
There was a lot of drama about us going to this concert tonight. Our children actually told me that I never feed them and we stay out too late because, after all, it was a school night. Bert and I decided to be adults and stay out on a school night and let the kids eat cereal for dinner.
When we got to the Ryman and picked up our tickets we realized we were on the second row. These ladies were incredible and they are 60 and 54 years old. I think it's really cool that they are still rocking! I think it helped my outlook on this next phase of life. Perhaps everyone should eat cereal for dinner on occasion and stay out until 11 p.m. and rock!

A new school year, really.

Jacqulin is 11 years old and this is the first day of 6th grade. Luke is 14 years old and this is the first day of 8th grade.


Notice the collared shirts. The school board implemented a dress code that requires shirts with collars this year.


Every year I take a picture of the kids in front of the front door on the first day of school. It's amazing to me how fast they are growing. This is just a comparison from last year. They are starting to look like teenagers - oh yeah, they are.


These are pictures from 2008 on the first day of school. They were both starting new schools and they look really excited.

Thank you God for the beach! And for Luke!

The older Luke gets the more I talk about how hot it was the day he was born. August 2nd is a tough time to be pregnant. The doctor's office didn't believe I was in labor so they told me I had to come to their office, when they realized I was really about to have a baby they pointed to the hospital and told me and Bert to walk across the parking lot to the hospital. It was 98 degrees! and I was having contractions every 45 seconds. They sent a receptionist with us (not with a wheel chair though) and she kept saying in a voice that sounded like she was going to cry "please don't have the baby in the parking lot, I just answer the phone." It was truly a scene out of 'Gone with the Wind.' The positive of the story is that he was born 2 hours later. I never tell him it was that fast. It's really hard to believe he's 14 now! Whew!






This is our favorite pizza place in the world - not just at the beach, but the whole world. It's Roberto's in San Destin. They have a seafood pizza that will set you free! We plan the whole trip around when we can get to Roberto's.



I just think God was teaching us a lot of lessons when He made the beach. It is so vast it really puts you in your place. It is so loud it makes you listen. It's so unpredictable it makes you realize you really aren't in control. It's so magnificent it makes you know that there really is a God who created it all.





We were able to celebrate Luke's birthday at the beach for the 4th year in a row (I think). Of course, it's the close to summer as school starts earlier and earlier every year.
This year the water was so clear you could walk 100 yards out in the water and still see your feet. No jelly fish, no sea weed just beautiful clear blue water.