13 Candles

Well 14 actually, one for good luck. It's hard to believe that as of August 5th, little Sarah is now a teenager. It goes by way too fast. On her special day we went to Pete's Sushi for a family dinner, then came home for homemade chocolate cake.

Sarah loves to light candles.
Sarah and Dad.
Sarah and Delaney
Sarah and Michael with his cheesiest smile.
Later on the weekend, we went to my parent's house for a visit. Friday night we went to The Irish Times Pub in Knoxville. Dinner was excellent. Two peas in the Shepherd's Pie, Delaney and Sarah.

Then on Saturday night we had a cookout with most of the family. Kathy, Sherri and Aunt Sue here...

Waiting at the dinning table for even more birthday cake. From left to right - Sarah, Delaney, Chrissy (facing other way) Mike, Clark and Joe.

Everyone hung out and relaxed most of the evening. We had a great time catching up. L-R, Norm, Bubbles, Sherri, Rob, Kathy (Rob's girlfriend) and Aunt Sue. Rocky is seen walking out of the photo. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

Milestones - revised

It all goes by so fast doesn't it?

First steps...

First trip to the beach...
First Halloween...
First birthday...
First car...

First bike...

first LEARNER'S PERMIT!

Congratulations Michael!

I might need to get a prescription soon...

Happy 4th of July!

As much as we love the beach, I think at least for Sarah and myself, the barn is still our favorite place. Well, Moe isn't at the beach. We might feel differently if that were the case.

Sarah and Moe work on their equitation.
Do you have treats?
I'm finished, I should get treats now.

Finally! Treats!
Moe gets to 'lick the bowl'.
His spots get so dark in the summer he looks like a different horse.
No Moe, you ate the last of the treats.

That trunk smells like treats...

After the barn we went to Puckett's to get a drink and pick up some home made foaccia bread. We saw this really cool car. Not sure what the make is but it was in perfect condition.

After Puckett's we stopped by the fireworks stand to get a few bits and pieces for the evening. Sarah was annoyed with me since all I wanted to get was "baby stuff" like tanks and spinners.

While we were there we met these two adorable puppies. They are ten weeks old here. They are going to be huge! Of course Sarah fell in love and wanted to take the quiet one home with her. Um, not happening, sorry.

This one was especially sweet and cuddly. I'd love to have a Bernese Mountain Dog, but we already have two more dogs than we need at the moment. Other people's puppies are always fun to hold.

Later in the day the rain moved in. Glen and Marla came over for dinner and to celebrate the 4th with us. Mike and Glen ended up grilling in the rain. It was a fun day though. Hope your's was good too!

Ah! Here's the video! This is Sarah and Moe the next day practicing their equitation. After the rains of the night before, Moe decided to roll in the mud. He isn't looking his prettiest here.

Here's one more shot that I thought made it into the last entry. I guess I accidentally deleted it.

Michael shooting out of the yellow slides.

And just a couple of videos.

Michael and Bubbles on the beach.

Sarah makes a squashed penny.

Mike and Sarah on the water slide.

To The Beach

I can remember when I was a child Papa telling me that the older you got the faster time flew. This year is going by so fast, just a blur. Wasn't it just Christmas? I must really be old now.

Once we started to get ready for the beach, the dogs reacted with their usual enthusiasm. Bubbles was just a bundle of energy as seen here...

Max ran happily all over the house gathering his santas to put in his crate. You just can't travel without the seven santas!
The drive is long but as everyone gets older it's a much quieter ride. We left the house at 4:30 am, so the kids slept the first 3-4 hours. Michael actually slept the majority of the trip. Of course Bubbles feels she has to pant the entire 7 hours. That's OK as long as she doesn't make any other noises we're doing pretty good.
Finally, after all the hours on the road, we arrive in the tropics. Our greeting party was glad to see us.
We didn't want to waste a minute. As soon as we unloaded the car and ran to the market we went straight to the beach, it was such a gorgeous day.

After 6pm the dogs are allowed to go on the beach and after such a long ride they really deserved it. Max loves to dig in the sand.

There isn't much that Bubbles loves more than a walk on the beach. It's too bad they have to stay on leashes now days. Years ago there weren't many dogs on the beach and I would occasionally let them off. Now there are dogs everywhere so it really isn't a good idea. They love it anyway.

Michael and Bubbles

Michael's hair is longer than Sarah's now.

This trip we did several touristy things we don't normally do. We always go to the track and ride the go carts, that's a family tradition.

Action shots!

Sarah passing me. I was a little slow driving and taking pictures at the same time.

Mike and I raced on the slick track. Sarah took photos for us.

Another night we went to Fudpucker's for dinner. They have quite the setup there, what a money maker. While waiting for our table we visited the alligator area.

The huge gift shop was full of your typical Gulf Coast tourist fare and also the world famous Fudpucker's T-shirts, but it also had some unique items such as this Nascar parmesan dispenser.

Downstairs in the alligator area we met alligator Al who was there to answer any questions about alligators you could possibly imagine. Al would let you take a photo of is friend but to have your pic made with him was an additional fee.

So Michael, being thrifty as he is, found a chepaer gator he could hold and have his photo made with.

The little gator's mom was mad about that so Michael ended up having to wrestler her. Michael won, btw.

Ah, the simple things in life. It was very hot and humid so the kids were thrilled to find some fans to stand in front of for a few minutes.

Sarah found a penny smashing machine and made one for Joe since he has a colletion of them from all over the counry.

I think I found this years Christmas card photo! What do you think?

A couple of days later we went to Big Kahuna's water park fo a day of fun. It was great and I only almost killed myself twice, so that's pretty good by my klutsy standards.

The yellow slides were the most fun.