Car Chats

 Mom and Dad love our time in the car, listening to conversations between me and Ryan. A couple of recent exchanges stand out:

• Kelsey: "I don't like boys. They smell so bad. Like they never take baths."
• Ryan (after a minute of thoughtful silence): "Do you like me? And Dad?"
• Kelsey: "Yeah. You smell good."  

Mom always tries to fit life lessons or nuggets of wisdom in the car. Like the time a One Direction song was on and I asked why the boy was sad that the girl didn't like him. Mom had just watched an episode of The Bachelor the night before and was fed up with the rejected girls who generalized that they were unlovable just because one guy didn't pick them, which is probably why she launched into this lecture:

• Mom (talking to me): "In the future if you like a boy and he doesn't like you back, it doesn't mean there is something wrong with you. It just means that particular boy wasn't right for you. Simple as that. Don't read magazines about how to change yourself to make him like you, and don't fall apart thinking that nobody will ever like you."
• Ryan (looking over at me): "I like you."





Ryan The Sleepwalker

 This kid just gets more hilarious at every stage. These pictures captured one episode of his sleepwalking, when he bolted out of his room during a nap, snuggled down on the floor, and immediately started snoring. His teachers say sometimes he does it at school- jumps up from his cot, grabs his backpack, and heads for the door.

 The best was one Saturday afternoon, when Dad heard noises in the bedroom during naptime, and found Ryan calmly standing, peeing on the ottoman. Now Mom and Dad make sure everything in his room is stain-guarded and water-proofed, and the exterior house doors are safely locked at night.  They also giggle at the thought of him as a free-peeing college dorm student. Thankfully, there have been fewer anxiety-filled sleepwalks and nightmares, now that Guard Frog keeps the Bad Guys away. 

Disney Half

We're so proud of this manly fairy. He completed the half marathon with Team In Training! He raised lots of money for a great cause, beating the goal at which he promised to wear fairy wings and a tutu during the race, then woke up at 3:00 on a cold morning to run through Disney World. 

Meanwhile, his devoted wife and kids completed The Amazing Race, navigating unmarked roads with blocked traffic patterns in the dark 5:00 hour, brutally squeezing into the monorail, and sprinting half a mile with a stroller with literally 30 seconds to spare to cheer him on as he ran to the finish line. It was totally worth it to see these two finish! 

We were a little grumpy after that crazy morning, but excited to hang out with our family friends. Their Dad did the race, too, so the Moms surprised us with a character breakfast while the Dads showered and tried to rehabilitate their sore legs.

The Dads rallied to meet us at the park, fully aware of how cruel it was for the Moms to make them walk another 25 miles through an amusement park after finishing a long race. We kids didn't notice their limping and wincing, we just loved seeing Ryan ride his first roller coaster- Thunder Mountain. It was scary and awesome!

The race gave us an excuse to have a fun weekend getaway with some of our favorite friends.

We were happily exhausted by the end of the day.

We vowed to come back to our favorite hotel soon and spend more time just hanging out with the amenities. Shout out to our Georgia cousins for introducing us to this place 5 years ago! 

And a big shout out to this awesome guy, who sacrificed his Achilles tendon and hamstring in order to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Mom said he was doing triathlons with the Team in Charlotte when they met more than 10 years ago. His 10-years-older body definitely took a beating with the training this time around, so we should appreciate this as a lesson to never give up. And best of all, appreciate him as a guy who accomplishes great things, but never takes himself too seriously.   

Hot Sauce

This is what happens when Mom works nights. Dad announces that we are going to "work on the Scoville Scale". Then he brings out a few bottles of hot sauce for a fun taste test. We start with the jalepeno base, not too bad.

Then it's up a notch to our favorite hot wing bath.

Not my favorite this time.

But we'll keep working on it.

Fisherman Ryan

Ryan likes fishing. He was proud of using live bait shrimp. And even more proud to come home stinky and sweaty. He didn't care that he didn't catch a puffer fish.

He really wanted to catch a big shark, anyway!