Hummer Limo

Ever since we had children, Saturdays have become birthday party days. Most Saturdays on our calendar have at least one birthday party penciled in - - sometimes there have been as many as three on the same day! The amazing thing is that in our circle of highly creative moms, very rarely are any two parties alike which in turn provides tons of fun memories for our kids. Today was one of those very fun days that I am sure they will be talking about it for some time!

About 30 minutes after the birthday party started, an enormous Hummer Limo pulled up to surprise the children and take them on a ride to the nearest Sonic for drinks. Would you believe 25 children (plus 2 of the bravest moms) were able to squeeze in that thing!?!

Savanna reported that she came back with a headache because everyone was so excited that they apparently SCREAMED the entire way to Sonic!

Only at the Fair

I love the fall for many reasons but one is because it means the fair is coming to town. Our very first date 15 years ago was to the Pensacola Fair. We were reminiscing about it the other day and Brian's mom looked puzzled and said she thought our first date was at Valentines. We both started laughing and Brian said " No Mom, that was our SECOND date. It took me four months to convince her to go out with me again!"

Boy am I glad he was persistent!

I think one of the things that attracts me to the fair is that ONLY AT THE FAIR can you see and experience certain things. Like ONLY AT THE FAIR can you find deep fried oreos, twinkies, and snickers. Who even knew that was possible?!

ONLY AT THE FAIR can you eat a shark a bob or alligator on a stick! Is the fact that they are served on a stick supposed to make it more appealling?

And no fair visit would be complete without a funnel cake, corn dog, chili cheese fries, and grilled corn on the cob. I felt like we were a walking advertisement for pepto bismol.


ONLY AT THE FAIR can you find the most amazing exhibits. Micah and Colby especially loved the rock exhibits and even had to buy an arrowhead to take home.


Would you believe this breakfast display is actually made entirely out of ROCKS?! I mean the "milk", "bacon", "eggs", "muffin"....everything was rocks. And it wasn't just a breakfast display. It was an entire day's worth of meals. We gave this display our vote for the PEOPLE'S CHOICE award.


We especially enjoyed the agricultural displays and were excited to see that some of our friends' booths won awards!

All the boys enjoyed the car display. Micah was also really fascinated by the model trains.

Savanna stopped to smell the roses in the gardening exhibits.

ONLY AT THE FAIR can you find the most fun and outrageous rides. There is a huge part of me that worries about the safety of these rides considering they break them down and move them from town to town every other week. But nevertheless, we rode a few just for the fun of it.

And ONLY AT THE FAIR can you find the cutest little critters in the petting zoo. The favorite was this little piglet who wiggled and snorted all over the pen while the kids chased it around. He really was the cutest thing ever!

The goats and ponies must have been hungry because they both tried to EAT Savanna and Micah's clothes. I love the picture below where Micah is cracking up after rescuing his shirt from the goats!

The perfect smile to end the perfect day.

Thank you Lord for the gift of family!

Pastor's Appreciation Month

Our sweet church family gave us a wonderful reception complete with all the good eats you find out here in the country in honor of Pastor Appreciation Month. They certainly made us feel loved and appreciated with all of their kind words, lovely cards, and a money tree! We are so very thankful to be a part of such a loving church family. It is an honor to be a part of what the Lord is doing at our church.

This is our PRECIOUS secretary, Cheryl, and her daughter, Lydia, serving punch. Cheryl is the MOST AMAZING secretary I could ever wish for Brian to have. We LOVE her and her family and I'm pretty sure she was the mastermind behind the whole reception.

Thank you sweet friend for all your hard work and thoughtfulness!

Tyson's Birthday Bash

The birthday boy!

So the cake wasn't quite as big a hit as we might have hoped. Tyson cried and cried like we were making him eat something horrible.

Eric and Kaylynn enjoying the yummy mac and cheese and smoked pork!

Love the dress Kaylynn girl! Kaylynn was very curious about finishing Tyson's uneaten birthday cake ~ she kept pointing to the empty high chair with the cake as if to say "Perfectly good high chair, perfectly good cake....why let it go to waste?"

Micah, Maddox, and Gus showing off thier VERY RED tongues thanks to the VERY RED icing.

Maddox giving Nana some love

Fort Pickens

This Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather we are having and go out to Pensacola Beach to visit Fort Pickens.
On the way there we saw the infamous cross. One of the few things that remained standing on the beach after Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004. I'm sure there is a sermon in there somewhere.
"On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand"

Fort Pickens is the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay and its navy yard. The fort was begun in 1829 and construction was completed in 1834. Fort Pickens successfully served the country for over a hundred years.
Some of the main action the fort saw was actually during the Civil War in 1861.
At one time, there was over 200 cannons here.
I felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland with the walls closing in on us. The kids loved exploring in the mine chambers where the gun powder was once stored.

Fort Pickens was also used to house Apache prisoners in 1887. Geronimo was a noted war leader and medicine man who is probably the most famous of the Apache prisoners that were held here.

Now the fort proudly displays the American flag but it has been the site of many flags including Spanish, French, British, and Confederate.

The fort was built using over 21 million bricks!

Check out the beautiful view of the beach in the background.

Most of the fort consists of gun emplacements on top of and within the walls.

These rooms were originally intended for officers but they were used as a hospital in 1861.

Micah would run ahead of us and then stop at every tunnel and yell "HELLOOOOO!"

I wondered what he might do if someone actually answered. :-)

Seven acres of open ground in the center of the fort once provided space to drill troops.

Check out these biker pups we met in the parking lot complete with

sunglasses, biker jackets, and gotees~ that were bleached and dyed! Hilarious!

Brian thought this speed limit was a joke at first until we realized that the campground areas have been delared a protected animal habitat for sea turtles.

We also stopped by this souvenir shop out on Pensacola Beach. Take a close look at the floor - yep- that is sand! I love it! These people are brilliant! Why fight with nature? This is so much more practical and it certainly adds a flair of character!

Savanna and Micah thought it would be a wonderful idea to buy one of these painted hermit crabs to take home as a new pet. But seeing as we've had more hermit crab funerals than I can count, we quickly diverted their attention to something else.