Playground Makeover

I always like to have some around-the-house projects to do when the kiddos go back to school.  The first one I decided to tackle this year was... the playground!

Our playground is about 7 years old- we got it when Sydney was almost 2.  The kids go through their phases with playing on it, but ultimately I'd say it's still a hit.  I was looking at it this summer and noticed how faded it has gotten, plus the grass under and around it is gone, from where they run and stop the swings and all.  I decided to do something about it!

I bought some paint, spray paint, mulch, border, and plywood, and, 2 months later, I feel like we have a whole new playground!

Before

After! (Stephen even cut down that low-hanging pine)

Before

After!

Before

After: we nailed up some plywood to enclose the little area under the slide.  

Before (underneath the slide)

Now: I'm going to let the kids paint and decorate these inside walls.  A couple little chairs will go out here eventually.

Yay!  I love it, and even better... it's done!!

Parker's Field Trip

Parker and his pre-K class took a field trip last week to a pumpkin patch!  I got to be a volunteer and ride the bus with the class.  It was a little chilly at first, but it ended up being a beautiful day for it.

Chattanooga

The kiddos and I made a little overnight trip to Chattanooga over fall break to meet up with my brother and his family.  Chattanooga is right about middle ground between our house in Georgia and their house in Nashville.  It wasn't a long trip, but it was a fun one.

The kids and I headed up to Chattanooga mid-morning and got there around lunchtime.  We had a few hours to kill before my brother would be arriving.  We decided to check out Rock City!  The last time I had been there, Sydney was maybe 3, Taylor was in a stroller, and Parker was probably the size of a lentil bean.

Taylor riding through Rock City in style.

Sydney in 2012!

Back to 2017... the kids really liked it!  It was a little pricey for not a super long entertainment length, but when in Rome, right?

Fat Man's Squeeze

After Rock City, we headed to our hotel to go ahead and check in.  We located our rooms, dumped our bags, and checked out the pool.

Bill was stuck in traffic, so they were running almost an hour behind.  We decided to hit up the nearby mall to fill the time.  Once they got to Chattanooga, they met us at the mall to play a bit, before heading to dinner.

The rest of the night was spent back at the hotel in the pool.  It didn't close until 10:00, and we closed it down.

Parker and Bill probably did this about 100 times.

We hung out in the hotel room, watching Willy Wonka and catching up until close to midnight.  I had some tired little ones on my hands!

The next morning, we woke up, ate the continental breakfast, and... you guessed it... hit up the pool again!  We spent a couple hours there before packing up, checking out, and grabbing lunch out before hitting the road back home.

It was a short trip but it was fun to get together.  (Now if only the drive home hadn't been an extra 1.5 hours long... stupid Atlanta Friday traffic at 1:30 PM.  Seriously?).

Fall Break!

Fall break came around last week... the kiddos had the whole week off of school.  I was looking forward to having a little break from the hustle and bustle!  I know they were, too.

Stephen has an annual work golf event on Columbus Day, which is typically our fall break week.  He was gone from Sunday to Wednesday out in Cali, doing the tourney and seeing customers.  Good timing, huh?? ;).  It rained all day Sunday and Monday, so there was a lot of indoor entertaining that had to be done.

Our week was fun- we didn't go far.  We did things like go to church, Six Flags, soccer practice, play with friends, go to Chattanooga to spend one night, soccer games, doctor's appointments, play at the bowling alley arcade, and go to the movies.  We also had some fun movie nights, did a lot of crafts, and played outside (when it wasn't pouring rain!).  Oh, and we had lice hit us again.  JOY!  (luckily, we tackled it pretty quickly.  We're becoming lice professionals).

Six Flags!

Stephen, Sydney and Taylor are on the Scream Machine here.

This. was. high.  Sydney and Taylor are up there.  I couldn't watch!

Ninjago movie!

Keeping sane... in the rain:

Parker looooves looking at all the baby books.

Soccer practice:

Parker and Jason playing soccer.

Arcade:

Annual check ups (for S & P):

Soccer Saturday:

Sydney!

Taylor has the ball towards the back of the pic.

Birthday party for Parker:

Sydney and Sadie, enjoying some cupcakes: