Kobe

After many years of asking, begging and pleading, Dave and I finally gave in to Olivia and got a dog.  Well, actually Kobe is a puppy at only 8 weeks old.  Olivia picked out the breed of dog that she wanted, which was a Husky.  I wasn't up for a big....make that BIG dog, so we kept looking.  A smaller version is a Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed.  His breeder lives in Statesboro in south Georgia.  The anticipation of getting our new puppy made the 3 hour ride bearable.  Most of us slept on the ride home; thanks for driving, Dave.
So far, as we are on day 2, he has been a joy!  Kobe has a corner in the kitchen, sleeps through the night and (knock wood) has not had an accident.  He is so cute and funny.  Zach is a indifferent to him, but Olivia has Kobe in her arms as soon as she hits the door from school.  I can't count how many times I've said "put the dog down."  He's a small breed, so we think he'll be about 14-16" tall and about 20 lbs when he's an adult.  He'll be full size at 6 months old, so that will be around January.  Look for lots and lots of pictures along the way.  You know me, I love photos, so plenty of kid and puppy photos will be displayed.

Speaking of, I am in the process of reclaiming all of my 2010 photographs!  I lost my hard drive a week or so ago and low and behold, this year's photos had not been backed up.  This should be fun...

Where do you think the gerbils fall in the line of importance these days?  Well, they have been 'moved' or banished to the playroom, right next to the fish.  Maybe Charlie and Fluffy will revel in their newfound obscurity.  The poor guys were over handled this past month.  We can say they are in 'retirement', unless, Kobe decides he wants to play!

We have been so busy since school started Aug. 5th.  Olivia lost her 7th and 8th tooth.  The 8th came out last Thursday at school (the 7th came out the second day of school).  The first grade teachers must be having a tooth party with all the teeth that come out!  I cannot believe Olivia is still 6 years old and has lost a total of 8 teeth.  Does that mean we are closer to the possibility of braces?!

The lake was calling our name last weekend, so we ventured out to Alabama.  It was so calming to be there again.  With school starting and adjusting to a new school, at times, it was hectic.  The lake makes life slow down and we all take a deep breath.  Hmm, maybe that's why I enjoy yoga so much.  We touched base with some of our wonderful neighbors and it felt like home again.  Avery, a friend from Atlanta and a lake friend, spent the night with us.  Shhh, can you hear Lake Martin calling our names....?  We'll be there again this coming weekend for Labor Day with our new puppy.  I wonder how Kobe will like it out there.  Obviously, we'll have to watch every move our little one makes because we've heard of coyotes snagging dogs.  He may be too small for them to bother ;-)

Concours d'Elegance in Monterey

As we stepped out of the airport in San Francisco, we could breathe easy.  A welcome feeling from our summer in Alabama and Atlanta.  Highs of 60 degrees were on tap for the entire week.  Dave and I stopped in Santa Cruz for lunch and were on our way to Monterey, CA for a week long car event.  Porsche's highlight this year was the 918 Spyder prototype.  It's a race car with an electric engine - a hybrid!  It's a beautiful piece of work.

Monterey is a wonderful city to walk and explore, so that's basically what I did most of the week.  Dave....oh yes, he had to work.  Of course, we found a designer pet store in Carmel, so we had to take a look-see.  We have a new pup coming.  I tricked Dave into holding the designer clothes; can you tell he's really into clothing for dogs?!

We had plenty of cocktail receptions, a Rolex sponsored dinner and fun times with our good friend and racer, Hurley Haywood.  Patrick Long, another Porsche racer, was around for the week as well, so the four of us attended the Rolex dinner.

Over the course of the week, we had the chance to drive a 911 Cabriolet Turbo - red.  Yes, it was fun!  Dave and I took it down to Big Sur for breakfast early one morning.  Dave just wanted to hit the road hard and test out the turbo.  Surprised?  I have to admit it was exhilarating going over the mountain that fast....at one point, we hit 140.  We also came pretty close to a truck carrying Port-O-Potties.  Needless to say, one minor slip of the wheel and we could have been in deep doo-doo.  The most exciting part was driving one of the museum cars (from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart).  It was a 1962 Carrera 2 that Ferry Porsche drove.  Story has it that he had the passenger door locked from the outside because one of his passengers fell out while he was taking a hard curve.  With no seat belts in the car, I could see that happening!  It's a strange feeling flying down a mountain road with no seat belts.

I managed to sweet talk Dave into a very quick winery visit - very, very quick, but at least we made it!

The weather was gorgeous (most afternoons), the cars were stunning and we were able to enjoy Monterey.  For the actual car show on Sunday, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno viewed the cars.  Ralph Lauren had cars on show and Patrick Dempsey was racing at Laguna Seca track all weekend.
Our 6:00 am flight on Monday came all too soon, but at least we had a great time along the way.

Toothless the Little Girl

Olivia lost her 7th tooth during snack time at school today.  How is she losing these teeth so quickly?  This may be the first time the tooth fairy has visited us in Smyrna.  After seven, honestly, I can't keep up.  I love the little tooth necklace she came home with today.  Everyone on the bus knew about this lost tooth well before mom.  

Olivia has proceeded to come home every day from school and immediately get her gerbil, Charlie, put him on a leash and walk him around the house.  Who said she needs a dog?!  

Well, we are getting a dog!  The count down is on for our Shiba Inu.  We are slated to pick up the little fur ball the last weekend in August.  You may see very little of us at that point, we will have a new puppy :-)

We have lots of changes in the Pryor household and all are a welcome site, including the new teeth.

Real School

Thursday, August 5th, both Olivia and Zach started Teasley Elementary School.  We talked about 'real school' for the last couple of years, but VCLC is long gone and Olivia and Zach are finishing their first week (albeit it was only two days) at Teasley.

I thought I would have a bout of tears, but instead, I was overjoyed for them!  They were both ready to go and hopped out at carpool.  I even talked Dave into riding over with us.  It was so sweet to see them with their backpacks, tennis shoes and nicely brushed hair and teeth.  This is a huge change from our summer of gallivanting around in swimsuits and pajamas.

They are almost the last stop on the school bus ride home.  They bounded off of the bus and proceeded to tell me they were hot and thirsty.  I just sat and listened to them during the afternoon as little tidbits poured out.  Olivia met a girl named Sophie, but she doesn't know her last name. Olivia had to move at lunch because a boy next to her had a peanut butter sandwich.  Zach met a friend named Davis.  "Davis was thinking the exact same thing I was!"  They were crowded on the bus (4 kids in a row??)  I will have to check in to that one!  Olivia's teacher, Mrs. Bates has a dog, but Olivia doesn't know it's name.  O is not sure if her other teacher, Mrs. Cook has a dog.  Zach got sand in his Keen's while playing on the playground.  And the list goes on.
The day finally came and they are off to school!

Leaving the lake....

"I'm leaving for good.....waiting for my ship to come in...leaving for good....leaving las vegas" (insert lake martin).  This was playing as we pulled out of Eden Drive this past Tuesday.  Quite appropriate since we had packed our bags from the summer and were not planning on being back at the lake until late August.  It's sad to leave a place that holds such fond memories, a place where we spent a majority of our summer.  Luckily, the next song cheered me up with Ray's Charles' 'Georgia"....

"I said Georgia, Ooh Georgia, 

no peace I find, 

Just an old sweet song

Keeps Georgia on my mind"

Back to Atlanta, back to school which starts next week, back to the cell phone ringing, me spending hours on the computer 'catching up' and the kids watching cartoons.  It was also nice to see our friends, neighbors and our house....our Smyrna house.

We had a few visitors out this month to entertain us as well.  Thank you for the fun times!

I will look back fondly on the past few weeks and laugh at all the funny things the kids have been doing.  Olivia and Zach's newfound bravery of going life jacket..less off of the dock.  We are truly amazed at their swimming proficiency this summer.  They love to swim from dock to dock with me.  I'm breathing heavy when I make that swim, so I'm especially proud of my 5 & 6 year old for doing it.  The look on their faces said it all.  They were proud of themselves!  Zach and Olivia love to jump off of the dock doing cannon balls or dives.  Olivia learned to dive over the last several weeks, Zach is still practicing.  He has, however, perfected his cannon ball.  The other day, he stepped way back, started stretching, forward, backward, cracked his knuckles and then took off running, leapt into the air and came down with perfect form for his cannon ball.  It cracked me up.  He says "I do better when I stretch".  

Unfortunately, both kids have been treated over the summer for molluscum - a skin virus.  The 'beetle juice' treatment they received several times at the dermatologist was not easy on them.  Their skin blisters up horribly.  This last time, Olivia got the brunt of it.  She was blistered for days, would barely move and took several naps.  This is not like her, so we have decided to let this skin virus run it's course.  Ah, the summer of molluscum will not be one we will forget.  I felt so sorry for both of them.

Olivia has also learned to tie her shoes (well, my running shoes), but hey, we didn't have her tennis shoes at the lake.  Lefty daddy had to teach her since, they tie their shoes differently than I do as a righty.  Zach has been very loving and silly, but also right on time with the 5-year old potty mouth.  Anything potty related, it has popped out.  Olivia has been saying 'damn it' quite a bit, as in when her gerbil gets out of her hands and runs away, she says "damn it, Charlie. Get back here."  She's very quiet about it, but I will have to keep an eye/ear on her for this one.  Olivia is in deep thought at times too and then I hear, "mommy, I wish I was a wild dog and lived on this island."  Or, "I wish I was a lizard and could climb on that tree." and so on.  Why does she wish she was an animal?  She almost gave up fishing and started feeding the fish the worms.  I wondered why we were going through so many cartons of worms as quickly as we were,  but I finally understood.  

I would say fishing was our favorite morning and late afternoon activity.  Olivia was on a tear one evening and caught one bass after another.  We mainly caught sunfish during the day.  Of course, they would have to put the fish in a bucket to admire.  We were typically a 'catch and release' set, except for when the kids forget to release, leave the fish in the bucket over the course of a hot day.  That's when you have smelly, dead fish.  My favorite dock, the one with 'fish land' was always so shady.  I would sit with a book and the kids would fish, baiting their own hooks and taking the fish off.  Ahh, good times.  

We trailered the boat up to Lake Wedowee, about an hour away by car, one day while Dave was on vacation.  The kids caught blue gill fish that day and were very excited.  

Dinner with our neighbors was another fond memory.  Mark and Cetta came to our house one time and then we went to their house.  Of course, Zach had to act like the big man by walking on their sea wall.  He fell in.  Luckily it was extremely shallow, but he still walked into their house soaking wet and embarrassed.  Cetta put his clothes in the dryer and he was a happy camper.  Cetta's sister made a book of, what else, LIZARDS!  Guess who was Olivia's best friend from that time forward....  so Cetta was out catching lizards with her.  They caught a skink and Olivia kept him for 3 days or more.  I finally let him go one morning so he would eat.  After I told her I released her skink, she quietly went away.  I found her a little later and she had drawn on her art easel, a picture of her skink and a broken heart.  How very sad..... Mean mommy for wanting the lizard to live.  She wasn't too mad at me, but that's how she expressed losing her skink.  

Our last week there with Dave on vacation, we spent a good deal of time with our friend Amy S., who has a house on the lake.  Mitchell turned 9, so he had his buddies out for a few days of fun.  They were so sweet to include Zach (who was only 5).  Dave and I were impressed with Zach at being right in the middle of them, playing, showing them how to do the tree swing, the fish hook game - he's a ringer! and all else.  He would stand up on the fire pit, so he was their height and was acting like he was the big man on campus!  Oh, that Zach.....  the tree swing entertained those boys for hours on end.  It entertained all of us :-)  

Dave and Olivia went on a horse ride one cool morning at Russell Stables.  Zach (since he wasn't old enough to ride), played with the two sweet kittens at the barn.  Every one of us had a fabulous time!

We had an amazing summer of growth, independence, suntans and bleached out hair.