Making Memories

I knew Trip had fun at the fair last year, especially because he's asked about 100 times since we went when the fair would be back in town. But, I had no idea the things he remembered about our first time at the fair until I told him it was back in town and we were going. It's so fun as a parent to see how traditions are formed with your kids, ones you don't even realize you are forming at the time. For example, Trip clearly remembered and insisted we reenact the eating of a funnel cake as a family, before we left the fair, as we sat side-by-side on the brick wall near the entrance of the fair. We did it last year and we had to do it the exact same this year. We also, apparently, were visited by the same fly while we were eating our dinner as last year. CRAZY! What was new this year were the deep fried oreos, which of course TJ HAD to order. There were also lots more kid rides that Trip and Mady were both big enough for. Last year, Mady was still so small, that the only thing she could do was ride the carousel with one of us. Trip was big enough to ride other things, but was too afraid to try any of them. This year, as I predicted, Mady was not afraid at all and wanted to ride everything, even the roller coasters she was much to small for. So, as you can see in the pictures above, she jumped in the "baby" elephant and took a ride, as Trip wavered back and forth and finally missed his chance to ride the tiger, and ran off to pout. That was the last ride he missed out on...once his baby sister did it, he some how found the courage to ride them too. I'm so glad he did, because they had so much fun. And, TJ and I had a blast watching them enjoy themselves. Watch out Disney...here we come! Trip was able to redeem himself before we left and got another chance to ride the tiger while Mady jumped back on her baby elephant. We had a great time, spent way too much money, but made some great memories. I hope we are able to do this each fall!

The last two weekends, TJ and I have alternated the role of single parent. Last weekend, I had a girls' trip with two friends in Florida and TJ played Mister Mom. As always, he did a great job! He even got Trip to soccer practice, soccer pictures and a soccer game, with Mady in tow, all by himself. Trip managed to score 5 goals! I'm so sad I missed them all! All the while, the crazy screaming continues and worsens. I can only pray that the coach has taken it upon himself to say something to these crazy daddies. This time, one of the screamers decided to step in and coach Trip. Trip had just gotten to the ball and wasn't sure which way to go with it and the screamer yelled, "Trip run that way!" So, Trip did just that, he stopped, turned around and started running "that way"...without the ball! OOPS! That's what you get for screaming at our kid. Shut up you redneck! Trip is such a good listener. :-)

There were no games this weekend because it was the air show in Peachtree City. So, TJ headed up to Athens to see Dan and watch the Dawgs play. And, I took the kids up to Alpharetta to spend some time with my side of the family. Trip and his cousin Nicholas always have such a great time playing together and Mady loved helping out with Baby Nolan. He is getting so big, pulling up and trying to walk or crawl or something to get his chubby butt around. It was nice to finally see the Bulldogs win a game and to spend time with family. With soccer games for both Trip and Nicholas every weekend, it's been hard to get together this fall. So, we had a great time Saturday catching up and hanging out!

Being a single parent is no fun. I'm glad we are back to our family of four for the foreseeable future. I know the kids are too. As the fall zooms past us, we are just trying to hold onto all these fun memories.