Party Pirates!

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Louisville after dropping Blake at the airport in Indy!  We decided since we were in town, we would hit up an AWESOME Halloween party!  Dear friends of mine who throw the party every year were totally cool with us joining in on the fun! :)  Billy was able to secure us some pretty sweet pirate costumes!  And Mom and Dad were kind enough to watch Lola for the evening!  So we pirate suited up and off we went!

The main source of entertainment at the party is the crazy scavenger hunts!  We had to group up in teams of 6 and then had to complete all the objectives.  We had THREE different hunts.  Yes THREE!  We had an information scavenger hunt.  One funny thing from that?  We had to find out how many toilets were in KFC. Since we were short on time, Billy decided it would be okay to call them to get the info.  Yeah.  The employee laughed (but then went and counted the comodes).  I wish I could have heard!  We also had to do a photo hunt.  Those are documented below!  It was pretty darn hilarious!  And we also had to actually get ten objects on a list that included things like a Burger King crown, a matchbook, a striped straw, etc!!  In addition to these tasks, we also had to complete 5 of the HARDEST puzzles I've ever seen!  Those puzzles would give us clues to pick up!  The clues ended up spelling the word GHOST!  Yeah.  We solved them all and WON the scavenger hunt!  We are WINNERS!

So that's how it went.  I should also mention that the driver of the vehicle has to have mad SKILLZ!  They have to drive fast, over curbs, and all kinds of things!  Our driver rocked.  And I was WAY nauseous.  So nauseous that I got out for the last photo (close to the house) and walked back.  And I was also so nauseous that I couldn't partake of the delicious donuts that were awaiting!  And I.  Love.  Donuts.  I tried to take a bit but it almost came back up.  TMI?  Sorry!  But even through the motion sickness from riding around and solving puzzles at the same time, we had a GREAT time!  Thank you Jeff and Christine for hosting the best party ever (even if we didn't win the best costume contest)!!!

The photos are as follows (I have to do it this way because if I put captions under them, it  messes up my blog book at the end of the year....lame, i know)!!!

1.  Me on the way to the party! Aarrrgggghhh!  2 and 3 (because Billy looks funny in the second one...I posted both).  We had to take a photo at the police station.  Notice the camera on the building.  I hope they don't check their footage from Friday night!!!  4.  We had to hula in front of the Cornerstone church.  5.  We had to lift our leg on a RED fire hydrant (and yes...I totally almost fell over)!  6.  Cheering in a dugout.  7.  Posing at a waterfall (which we found at the library)!  8.  Zombies at a dead end sign.  9.  Decorating a cart at Kroger with our Halloween decals (it was supposed to be a CAR but Billy heard the instructions incorrectly)!  10.  Posing with a Jack-O-Lantern pizza which we found at Papa Murphy's.  11.  Acting like crooks (except for smiling me who didn't know what we were supposed to do....and didn't much care because I was about to vomit at that point) at a neighborhood watch sign!  12.  Chatting after the scavenger hunt (yes...I'm still trying hard NOT to be sick).  13.  The fabulous party hosts in their super rad Marge and Homer Simpson costumes.  14.  The photo taken as we arrived at the party.  15-18.  Photos taken at my mom and dad's before we left for the party!

 

Frequent Flyer!

Said frequent flyer would be.....BLAKE!  He has flown all over the place!  Yesterday, he took off to Tampa, Florida.  The difference between that and all of his other flights?  Well he flew all by himself yesterday.  That's right.  He was officially a UM (unaccompanied minor).  I was FREAKING out.  Like big time.  The ticket was purchased a while ago.  So I had all kinds of time to stew about all the things that "could" happen.  I couldn't sleep at night.  I would get on the internet almost every day to see how much it would cost for me to just go ahead and buy myself a ticket to make Blake an AM (accompanied minor).  I didn't.  I decided that I had to relax (deeeeeep breaths) and let him go.  I was the one who was scared.....not him.  Although he did sorta hesitate for a moment at the airport yesterday.  He realized he was going without me and wasn't the happiest kid around.  But he got over it quickly (I hope)!

With all that background information being said.....I can say that he left and landed in Tampa without a hitch.  I was still nervous and I almost cried on several occasions.  Which if you know me, you know I don't really cry too often.  So this was big business, folks.  But I did it.  I let him fly.  ALONE.  He did have his dear friends iPod, Dsi, and books with him.  With those friends....I guess he didn't really need me.

Now that it's all said and almost done (I still have to pick him up on Sunday), I can breathe a sigh of relief.....that is until it all happens again at Christmas!!!!  UGH!!!!

And since a blog isn't as cool without photos (and I was clearly too distracted with ANXIETY at the airport to take a pic of Blake), I will include some random shots from my new iPhone!  The first photo is of Blake with his sea serpent.  He made it in art class and his teacher told him it was the best in the class.  Pardon his hair.  We're having serious "issues" about that right now.  He's winning but I'm determined in this battle!  He just got home from soccer and wanted me to take a photo to send to his artist aunt Jess.  So I did (and Jess...these are for you)!  The second photo is just the sea serpent.  The third photo was taken today at my parent's house.  Lola LOVES their dog, Murphy.  She loves him so much that she hopped off the couch to join him on the floor!  Now that's devotion!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Sheesh.....this blog just never ends!  Okay, I'm done!  I promise!  Maybe....

Now I'm done.  For realsies!  :)

Party Time!

We finally had a free Friday to have Blake's birthday party!  We've been in Louisville (or I have been somewhere, I should say) EVERY weekend of October!  So we were able to secure a night to BOUNCE like crazy!  That's right!  Blake had his birthday party cosmic bouncing at a place called BounceU.  It was pretty much the best birthday party ever!  They took care of everything and the kids had a BLAST!

Blake has some wonderful friends and they all came out to celebrate his special day!  We are so happy they could make it!  He received many wonderful gifts and his cake was awesome.  What was it?  A U of L basketball court!  He loved it!  Billy was able to pick it up in Louisville and bring it up for the party! :)  Here are some photos from the fun night!  *I'm happy to report there were no bouncing injuries!*

HOTlanta!

WHAT?!?  I was gone AGAIN over the weekend?!? Yes I was and it was awesome!  I'm so happy that I got to spend two weekends in a row catching up with some of my very dear high school friends!  Granted, I missed my family but I needed a break and it was amazing!  And it was also my last solo trip for a LONG time!

I must admit that I never caught up on my sleep from the 15 year reunion last weekend.  So now I'm officially REALLY exhausted.  Also, apparently I talk a lot on road trips.  I've pretty much lost my voice.  I send out my sincerest apologies to all my car-riding buddies.  I know it was painful to listen to me blab on and on (and on....) for eight hours (x2 since we had to go there AND back...)!

Here are a few things I learned from the little vacation:

1.  Some places in Georgia are kinda scary to me (Dalton, I'm talking about you....well at least the Chili's in Dalton)!

2.  There is a Cracker Barrel (Crapper Barrel, is what I call it) at EVERY exit from here to Atlanta.  I'm blaming them for the obesity "situation" here in this lovely land.

3.  Wearing heels to a wedding at Dunaway Gardens is a challenge.  I almost fell/twisted my ankle about 82 (approximately) times over the course of the evening.

4.  I still love to dance.  Once the music is on, I can't stop the toes from tappin'!

5.  Georgia Bulldog fans are pretty much the craziest fans ever.  Ever.  No, I mean EVER!  On our way home, we saw about 100 cars (roughly) on their way home from the football game.  Let me just say that if you don't have four flags on your car, you aren't really a fan.  Yeah.  They pretty much had a flag on each window.  Oh and stickers and things ALL over the car.  And I thought I was the biggest fan ever (of U of L, of course...not Georgia).  But I'm thinking the Bulldog fans are gonna give me a run for my money!  Unless I go and get like eight flags (or more) for my car next time I'm in the Ville. 

6.  My friends are AWESOME!!!!

It was such a wonderful wedding and I was so glad to be able to attend!  The weather was perfect!  The bride was beautiful and everything went off without a hitch!  Here are a lot of photos of our little adventure with some fabulous friends!  Also...thank you, Billy for being such an amazing husband!  Not only did he take care of the kids TWO weekends in a row, but he also cleaned the house from top to bottom!  It was such a thrill to come home to!  I love my little family! :)

Kinda looks like the Texas Longhorn, right?!?