A Visit From the Easter Bunny...

The boys found all kinds of goodies in their baskets this year! Socks, soap, hair products, slides, swimsuits.... the importance a teen boy puts on certain soap, hair products and socks is hilarious! They are very specific with scents, brands and the height of their socks!

I am also loving the bed head and sleepy eyes in all these pictures! Long gone are the days where they are up with the roosters! Now, I'm just lucky if they actually get out of bed when they wake up! 

*Oh, and don't mind Lady, she thinks she is a monkey and hops up on the table as her little furry heart desires!

 

The Season of Busy...

As  you may have noticed, our level of busy has had me slacking with keeping up! I may not get to post near as often as I would like, but the whole "days are long, years are short" thing has me living up this season like never before!

The boys fish and golf with most all of their free time! Between middle school golf and lessons with Coach Casey, they are golfing at least three days a week after school. When they aren't on the course, I can't seem to keep a rod and reel out of their hands! I get lots of text messages with fish pictures... and I love it! 

Spring league basketball has started up and the boys have four Thursdays of games, totaling 6 games each. We are now halfway through that! Micah and I had an eclipse date of our own while the boys were at school, we got a very exciting delivery of Pop's pickles and I just had to include my sweetest little laundry helper! Benny may hog the snuggles, but Scout hogs the laundry room while I fold!

Somehow we squeeze schoolwork, fur baby snuggles and the much needed haircuts that have happened since most of these pictures were taken!

Track Season 2024...

Out of the 5 middle school meets, Remi only got to do pole vault 2 times. There were many more vaulters this year and so the first two meets gave everyone a chance to practice before deciding on who made the cut for our district meet. Remi never could pick back up where he left off last year, and though it was very frustrating for him, he still enjoyed his season. 

They had Roen try out several races, but in the last three meets they put him in the 200m relay and 400m relay. He would have loved to have gotten the opportunity to try triple jump and the 100m, but he never got the chance. I think he felt a bit of frustration over this, as the entire season felt a bit unorganized, but hopefully next year, he can have a stab at a few more events. As with most things, Roen absolutely loved the social aspect of this sport! Every time I looked down at their camp, he was right in the thick of it, laughing, dog piling and of course, snacking!

Next year, Remi will be in high school, and the fact that his middle school track days have come to an end is hard to believe!

Happy Birthday, Scout...

While we were away in Georgia, our sweet Scout had her 3rd birthday! I just love that their little resort spoils them while we are away! Knowing our fur babies are happy makes traveling that much better!

Sea Island, Day 4...

Our last day at Sea Island was another outdoor adventure!

We got to sleep in just a bit before we headed back out to Broadfield for a bit of quail hunting and another dose of the great outdoors. The boys love a good hunting excursion, but quail hunting was a first for them both. Because there are dogs involved and multiple people walking about, safety is of the utmost importance. 

Chris was with us for the day again, and started out by taking us to the onsite shooting range. I think he wanted to get a feel of their shooting abilities, the way they handled their guns and their overall knowledge of shooting. This was one of those times I was so thankful for the confidence they have from being on the school trap shooting team. 

After a quick little range warmup, we headed out to the hunting fields. This time, we brought with us two spaniels and two pointers so that we could swap them out once they got winded. We learned that when they start panting consistently, they aren't near as reliable at sniffing out the birds. As we walked and hunted this expansive 5,800 acre landscape, I followed along, watching the boys have the time of their life. The weather was perfection, the smiles were big, eyes sparkled with life and the entire afternoon was magical, as I experienced it through their eyes. We ended the hunt with 24 birds and two boys who would go on a quail hunt any day, any time!

Before we left Broadfield, they spoiled us one last time with a farm-to-table southern style lunch that included fried chicken, corn bread, okra tomato salad, and of course, cobbler. Between the dreamy mossy oaks, historical hunting lodge and family style meals, I fell head over heels,  in love with this sporting club. In fact, I have already started dreaming up reasons to go back! 

This Spring Break was so wonderful and looking back, I just feel so thankful for these experiences with the boys. Time is short with our babies, so take that trip, make those memories and fill your travels with as much adventure as you can find!

Sea Island Day 3...

Our 3rd day was one of those once in a lifetime experiences. In fact, it was my favorite part of the entire trip!

The art of falconry is something I had not been very familiar with. That changed on this particular afternoon, as I was able to learn firsthand from a true master falconer! I really had no idea what I was signing us up for when I booked this little adventure, but it was truly something magical!

As I came to learn, falconry is much more than just having a bird land on your leather glove. Falconry is hunting wild animals in their natural habitats with trained raptors. In fact, it is the only sport in America that uses a trained wild animal. We started off our morning with a little meet and greet with the birds. We first met Snickers, a Peregrine Falcon who stayed hooded for her encounter. These birds are not real social and are focused solely on hunting. Next, we met one of the Hawks, Einstein. We got to interact with her unhooded, as Chris called her to land on each of our gloved arms. Believe it or not, these little guys are pretty heavy and holding up the perched birds was not near as easy as it appears!

After meeting the birds, we headed out on the buggy where we were properly introduced to the art of falconry in a hunting adventure you wouldn't believe. We took with us three hawks and two dogs, a pointer and a terrier. Our first hunt was with a hawk, Einstein, and Gracie, the pointer. Einstein stayed low in the treetops, watching for quail and keeping her eye on Gracie. Once Gracie pointed a quail, Chris shook the shrubbery, while calling to Einstein, where she then swooped down from the branches, taking out the quail in flight. It was incredible!

From here, we went over to a swampy area and met two more hawks, Susie and Erma, who actually hunt together, along with Minnie, the terrier. Minnie immediately set out in search of squirrels to tree, feisty and ready for her turn at the fun. Once she had them treed, the hawks stayed together, flying from tree to tree, until they successfully snagged their meal. Again, amazing!

We saved the best for last, when we got to watch Snickers and Gracie in a hunting adventure you wouldn't believe. As Snickers flew over a hundred feet in the air, circling and watching, Gracie ran into the field to find pheasant. Once Gracie pointed a pheasant, Chris called up to Snickers, and then we got to witness the magic of the Peregrine dive at a speed of over 200 mph, as she knocked the pheasant out of flight and made her kill. 

There truly is a magical art to this sport in the interacting of wild animals, who have no obligation to stay and participate in this lifestyle, but choose to do so anyways. That line of pet and wild, never crossed, but fine, nonetheless. To say we were awestruck is and understatement, and by the end of that morning, both boys found themselves, wanting to become falconers themselves.

We had lunch back at the Broadfield hunting lodge, which had me reminiscing of lunch around Grannies dinner table and times long gone. The buffet was set with comfort food, spilling out of milk glass bowls, sweet tea filled our glasses- the southern kind that doesn't skimp on sugar, as picture windows let in afternoon light that filtered through dreamy live oaks and covered porches.

The fact that we ended this day with a round of golf feels like an afterthought, for in our minds, this day belonged to our adventures in the enchanting wilderness of southern hospitality and a nostalgia that took us all back to another place and time.