Bonfire at the McGuire's

The McGuire's had a bonfire, hayride and pumpkin painting night at their house on Saturday. They invited us over and we had a really good time. Ashton and Maddie loved the hayride and painting pumpkins. Ashton enjoyed roasting marshmellows too, but only for John to eat them. Of course, John didn't eat ALL that Ashton made him because several of them were just too done for him. It was a great time and we're glad the weather worked out and we were able to go.

Last few days of the beach

We had a really good time at the beach this break. It could have been a little less cloudy, but otherwise, we can't complain.

Maddie loved having her picture made with her glasses on.

It was popsicle break time!

We didn't know Ashton could do a hand stand!!!

"Its a beautiful day out there today"

Ashton's line almost every day without fail is "Its a beautiful day out there today", even if it is raining. LOL. The past couple of days it has rained quite a bit. We got more time yesterday to go out then we did Sunday and we were definitely thankful for that. There is only so much to do inside with the kids. :(

Yesterday, a lady walking down the beach was feeding the birds and Ashton and Maddie got super excited about that. So, we got to spend some time ourselves doing that. Here is a few of the pictures of them throwing bread up to the birds. Alex and I were both amazed at how well these birds caught food in mid air.

Here are just a few of the cute pictures of Alex and the kids playing or loving on each other. Maddie isn't a big fan of the water, so her shots are basically ALL on the beach and Ashton's more in the water. The two of them are so, so different.

Fall Break 2009

It's fall break time again. For the past few years, Alex and I have taken the kids to the beach for fall break.

Here are our two silly kids that like to just run, run, run on the beach.

This is my favorite.... Daddy and his little girl just walking down the beach together. It is just so sweet.

Here is my little "David Hasselhoff" running down the beach like in Bay Watch. LOL

Alex goes no where without blackberry in hand. LOL

1/2 Marathon for Alex

Friday afternoon Alex started tossing around the idea of running a 1/2 marathon on Saturday morning for charity. He was running pretty regularly, but then injured his foot and had to stop. It has been a while since he's been able to do a lot of running, so I was a little nervous about him doing it and then reinjuring his foot.

He decided that he really wanted to do it, so he did. Saturday morning he got up early and ran a 1/2 marathon in Lebanon. For those of you that don't know, that is 13.1 miles. He finished in 2:05:06 which is fantastic for NO training!! I was super proud of him and the kids loved seeing him run across the finish line as we cheered for him at the end.

Thursday Night Predators Game

This past Thursday night, Alex and I took the kids to the Predators first pre-season hockey game. Ashton has been before, but this was Maddie's first game. Alex had us all dress in matching attire and we headed out. We had dinner at Big River Grill and then went over to the game. Ashton was pumped like always and Maddie was a little unsure what to expect. When the game first started Maddie got upset because it was so loud, but it didn't take long for her to adjust and get right in to the swing of cheering. It was a fun night and the kids really enjoyed it!

Ruby Falls

Yesterday, Alex called me and said he wanted us to take the kids to Ruby Falls after he got done working. WHAT? Yes, he and I had talked about this and other places we'd like to take them while we were on our trip last week. Did I expect that he'd want to go so soon? No, but I told him that I had a few things I had to do first in Mt Juliet then I'd meet him at home. Shortly after lunch, we headed out. The kids were excited about their "surprise". Maddie kept saying that we were going to see a "water fountain". She just would not say water fall for anything.

The kids did great going into the cave and they both loved looked at all the stuff different formations and stuff. HOWEVER, once we got to the water fall it was a completely different story. To say they both freaked out would probably be an understatement. They were hysterical. For those of you that haven't been there, when you first walk up, the lights are out and then they turn them on. You would have thought they were being beat the way they were acting. I had both of them in my arms and they were still crying. It was awful. Once the lights came on and they could see again, they were fine. How strange?!

On the way out of the cave, Maddie got a little impatient because she had already seen this stuff and just wanted to go. It was an hour tour and that is a little long for her to be good. LOL. All and all, it was a nice little adventure!!