Thanksgiving...Pryor style

 

You guessed it, it involved the lake.  But not so fast....it started out in Georgia, with a competitive game of putt putt.  We were up at Red Top Mountain and the run-down course was ours for the taking.  It was quite humorous trying to put with mounds of leaves in the way (not worth it to move them).  Believe it or not, we all got a hole in one.  Well, not all of us, seeing that Olivia wanted to play her own game - by herself.  Loner.  She was putting right handed, but she's a lefty?  

Kobe just sat back and watched the leaves and then he strode into the water while we were on the beach.  Alas, he is a water dog.  

My brother and his crew arrived Monday night and boy oh boy, did we have a good time!  Guess who snagged baby Heath right away?  His favorite aunt Jenny :-)  MacKenzie and Connell loved playing with Olivia and Zach.  We didn't hear a word from them for days because they were too busy to need us.  We ventured to the Botantical Gardens to see the trains and get outside for a bit.  The weather was daunting earlier in the week, but we pushed our luck and won.  We also made it to see Tangled on opening day.  Olivia and Zach have been excited to see this movie for months, and it did not disappoint.  Heath even enjoyed it!  Did I mention what a good baby he is?  Amazingly good...

Wednesday we packed up and headed to Lake Martin.  It was sunny, high of 77 degrees and we headed out on the boat on Thanksgiving Day.  My two ended up being naked, surprise, surprise, while Kobe, Dave and myself just smiled and watched.  The entire day was beautiful.  It's never official until the Pryor's stop by on a holiday with Amy Storm's family at the lake.  I think her family knows they will see us at some point.  We never stay....it's a good thing, since we weren't invited.... ha, but it's always nice to stop by for a quick visit.  

Do these kids ever have clothes on?!

I think Kobe may be a little spoiled.  He spent most of the week with Barry and Carla's mini schnauzer, Pepper.  He sniffed, humped, rode, wrestled, spun around in circles with her every hour he was awake....and that was many, many hours over the course of the week.  Poor Pepper, she had to put up with a boy and a puppy at that!  Too much energy.  Check out the photo of Kobe at the end of the long week - last photo...

Campfire kids

Barry and Carla

So in came the crew and a campfire was started.  This time around, we had peppermint patty smores.  Perfect for the season.  Yes, that's me sporting the Baby Bjorn with Heath.  Campfires, movies, boat rides (in the freezing cold, wrapped up in his car seat in the 'storage area' also known as the toilet for the boat....he he.) I have to say it again... he's an awesome baby.

The family came in on Friday for our Thanksgiving and it was a fun (chaotic) time in the kitchen, but oh, was the food good.  My mom and Aunt Barbara cooked most of the food....well, Carla cooked just as much and every last morsel was delicious.  It was rainy out, so we lit a fire, talked, eyed the progress on the food and spent quality time with one another.  My dad wasn't feeling well, so we missed seeing him.  Next time, he'll be right in the middle of all the chaos...telling a joke :-)  Kim will be up for Christmas, so she'll be in on the spend the night party next time.  It was fun.

Cousins

Barry, Mom and Heath

Mike staying warm at the fire

Silly kids...MacKenzie, Olivia, Zach, Gavin and Connell...Heath will be there soon enough.

Dave and I forced Barry, Karen and the group on the boat Saturday.  It was quite chilly, no......it was freaking cold, but we somehow coerced them.  We found shelter on the other end of the island where we docked and the sunshine kept us all happy.  The kids, well......they just wanted to play.  We had explorers on our hands.  Thanks for being such good sports!

Unfortunately, our sibling spend the night party and vacation week had to end.  We packed up Saturday, hoping to make it back home in time for the UGA v. GA Tech game (we did).

After taking advantage of the gorgeous weather on Thanksgiving Day, we had to postpone our family ritual of decorating for Christmas until Sunday.  We worked like clockwork since Dave had to leave for Germany later Sunday afternoon.  Off to pick a tree and we were well on our way.  The kids, fortunately, are old enough to unpack ornaments this year, so that helped speed things along.  Plus, they love opening the boxes to see each ornament.  I do too.  Dave was dying to have a multi-colored tree this year, so retro it is....I'm staring at it as I type and I love it!

As promised, this is Kobe after days of playing with (or do you call it harassing?) Pepper.  I think he was awake 2 hours all day long.  He's very sad now, so we'll have to deal with his withdrawal from Pepper all week.  Maybe they can Skype :-)

A time to reflect and be thankful...

I've been looking forward to Thanksgiving break...which is an entire week for my brood... since Halloween passed.  Well, we've made it and there is so much to look forward to as Thanksgiving approaches.  It will give us time to rest, time to spend time with family and time to truly be thankful for all the wonderful people in our lives.
November, so far, has been filled with helping out at the kids' school, Dave traveling (is he home yet?), celebrating friends' birthdays, Daisy Scouts, golfing with Zach and horseback riding with Olivia.  With my point and shoot camera's death in October, I haven't taken as many photographs.  We'll have to suffer with iPhone pictures.
Zach, Garrett and I took off for the Botanical Gardens on an early release (from school) day.  The trains exhibit was recently opened and Zach was excited to see it.  Honestly, I was too.  It was a gorgeous Atlanta day, especially so at the Botanical Gardens.

I'm 'teaching' Zach golf when the weather is agreeable.  I originally had him in lessons with a golf pro, but the pro told me that Zach had the correct form and I should just bring him and coach him myself.  Sounds good to me because it gives me a chance to hit the driving range and putting green.  I don't think I have touched my clubs since I was pregnant with Olivia over 7 years ago, so guess who is ecstatic with this activity?  Zach and I typically go to the range when Olivia is attending Daisy Scouts (a precursor to Girls Scouts).  Cookies, anyone?!

Daisy Scouts gives Olivia a chance to spend time with her BFF, Skylar, who is also our next door neighbor.  We get so busy with homework and other activities, that the girls do not have time to play all that often.  Olivia doesn't ever want me to sign her up for anything  - her words exactly, but I thought it would be a great opportunity for them to do something fun together.  So far, Olivia likes it, but she does give me grief every no and again when she's tired.  I get the "why did you sign me up?!" comment on those days.   Oh well, I guess I always will.  The Daisy Scouts are signing at the Smyrna Tree Lighting the week after Thanksgiving, so they have been practicing their holiday songs.  Hey, it gets you in the spirit so much earlier when the song start in early November!

This past week, some of the neighborhood kids were over.  Olivia and Skylar started working and getting things from the kitchen.  I decided to stay out of their way because I could tell there were creative juices flowing.  The girls came up with the idea that they would throw a Thanksgiving feast on the train table in the playroom.  They set the table, found chairs, placed a candle in the middle, served everyone on 'nice' plates, with drinks and name cards - ooh la la, that's fancy.  They built two stands out of Tinkertoys and draped a pink scarf between the stands to create a rope effect.  The invitees, aka Zach, Garrett and Jenna had to state their full names including middle to be granted 'access' to the exclusive Thanksgiving dinner.  VIP access only - funny!  Kobe wasn't invited.  They had small healthy portions of apples, carrots, 2 crackers, cheese and 1 Dorito (I guess that was the guilty pleasure for them).  It was so sweet to see them do this and I'm proud of Skylar and Olivia for thinking of their friends AND being thankful for them.  They went around the table and stated what they were thankful for....of course I had to get a picture of that!

We closed this week off with Olivia's horse riding lesson.  I do not think I have gotten a picture of the new horse she rides, Dorothy.  Dot is a beaut!  Angel, her trainer, promised Olivia she could ride one of the small ponies sometime, so when we arrived Thursday, Angel had Spike saddled and ready to go for Olivia.  All she had to do was get Spike out of the stall and into the ring.  How cute is this picture?  I'll get a photo of Dot (sometimes called Boo, which is short for Peek-a-boo) up soon.  She only answers to Dorothy in the show ring, so... Olivia's ride the previous week looked so easy.  She posted perfectly as Dot trotted, so I think she's really getting into it.  I don't think I would look as graceful.

While we are on Olivia, I am really proud of her for all of her work in first grade.  She has spelling quizzes and math tests each week.  She's had to work at the math, but she eventually gets it.  Ask her to make change for you or count your change/bills.  Heck, ask Zach too, he's got it as well.  Olivia scored 25/25 on her 3 minute subtraction quiz today.  Way to go Olivia!  Her comment (as she secretly smiled) was "I don't have to take the test for the rest of the 9 weeks", which is true.  If you get 25/25, you've proved you got it.  You worked hard for it baby girl, so enjoy!

I attended Zach's Thanksgiving show at school today.  They made outfits out of pillowcases and decorated them.  Zach's Native American name is Chief Whispering Wind...supposedly because he is quiet in class.  Hmpt, not at home....So, what was Zach thankful for?  Bills and his family.  Yep, we have been working on counting money (bills) this week for Olivia's classwork and we donated $2 each for them to wear pj's to school today - fundraiser, so he was grateful for bills.  Believe me, all the parents looked at me funny when he came out with this one, so I had to explain.  Last in, First Out..... of their brains!

I'm looking forward to our coming week of vacation.  My brand new nephew is visiting from Texas and I cannot wait to meet him.  Hurry up baby Heath....oh yeah, and everyone else too :-)  Do you like the Heath bar?  Funny guys!  Oh, and look at Carla with Heath; she looks too well rested to have a newborn.
Happy early Thanksgiving.

Racing and Halloween in Savannah

Race car driver, David Pryor...?  Yes, Dave was invited to race with Hurley Haywood in the Cayman Series held in Savannah on Halloween weekend.  We packed up the kids, the dog and car and headed down south.  Luckily, the Westin accepts dogs, because this dog is in training to be a 'race dog'.  We only had to go down 16 floors to take him out for the bathroom :-), but he was accident free.  Woo hoo!  

 

Dave was psyched his name was on the car.  Each Cayman was painted in a historic car theme and their car was painted in Sonoco colors.  

Hurley decided to defy the officials and sneak Zach into the car.  Zach drove the car from the track back to the pits.  Pretty sweet, huh?  Later, he gave Zach a 'hot lap' around the track.  Hurley told us to bring a car seat so Zach could see over the dash - great idea.  Zach's response afterwards...."mommy, my stomach was queasy the whole way around the track."  I'm not sure how many 5 year olds have had those race track opportunities, but he loved (almost) every minute of it.  That's my boy!  

Dave practiced most of Friday and the race was on Saturday.  We entertained ourselves at the Westin. Check out that gigantic room above (and that's just the kids room) !  I guess the hotel thought we needed space with two kids and a dog. The pool, hot tub and room service were more than enough entertainment, but they also had several kid activities for Halloween.  We painted pumpkins and had a little help from Kobe.  Our pup also had a nice surprise when Indy, Hurley's spaniel, arrived Friday evening.  They entertained the babysitter Friday night - poor lady.  They do what puppies do.....play fight for hours, then pass out from exhaustion.  

Race day was super fun for everyone.  The kids and I drove around on a golf cart to see the race (and have fun), Dave raced the first half and Hurley, the last half.  The boys came in third place, which was awesome considering Dave is an amateur and as it turned out, all other racers were semi-pro.  We thought more racers would be amateurs.  Dave and Hurley were on the podium with a champagne spray and all!  Dave looks a little tired holding his trophy, doesn't he?  I would be tired after two days of driving a race car too. 

The Westin is located on Hutchinsen Island and we had to take a ferry across to River Street.  The kids and I went over a couple of times for lunch and just to look around.  The sculptures on River Street were inspiring.  

Savannah celebrated Halloween on Saturday night, and we were on River Street and downtown for dinner.  Our friend, Steve, found an amazing restaurant, Alligator Soul.  The kids were dressed up, along with the rest of Savannah and it was an electric night.  Live bands playing, people tossing candy (nicely) to the kids from balconies.  I thought they were going to throw beads...oops, wrong city.  Everyone was wonderful to the kids.  Zach decided to run through the musical lights fountain at Telfair Square (think Centennial Olympic Park type fountain), and yes, he got a little wet.  Of course, he made us all laugh.  Take a look at the frog legs and alligator pieces Olivia ate for dinner!  Sorry for the photo quality...I only had my iPhone.

After returning on the ferry to the Westin, all of the drivers were invited onto a gigantic yacht docked outside the Westin.  It belonged to one of the drivers and his wife.  It only had four bedrooms....only.  Olivia's comment, "daddy, our boat doesn't have an inside."  Sorry, little one.  She also came out with "I want servants!"  As it turns out, she did not want to go out to dinner one night and wanted room service again.  Funny, but maybe she really meant what she said... she wants servants!  You have one, it's called mommy.  :-(

Saturday was a long day and night with races, parties, Halloween, good food, and a party on the yacht.  

We promised the kids we would take them to the beach.  So we packed up, stopped for breakfast (and gluten free pancakes) and spent the afternoon on the beach in Hilton Head (40 minutes away).  Kobe loved the beach; he's one spoiled pup and was awesome during the entire trip.  He received so much affection at race and hotel.  I have a feeling we are in for a fun week of deprogramming him.

After a gorgeous day at the beach, we had to say goodbye and go home.  Trick or Treating was awaiting us.  We arrived home at 6:00pm, unpacked, dressed the kids and headed out for some candy.  Our cheetah and Iron Man II raced from door to door with Halloween delight.  Dave and I knowing that candy will keep us going this week.......

Fancy Nancy and Scarecrows in the Garden

Catching up from two weeks ago....Olivia's 1st grade class hosted a 'Character Day'.  They were encouraged to dress as one of their favorite characters in a book.  Along with writer's workshops and making special glasses to help them 'see' things to write about, they also dressed and discussed their books with the class acting as their character.  We have so many good books to choose from, but found that Fancy Nancy would prove to be a fun costume for Olivia.  We had fun twirling her wet hair the night before - oh, it was it curly!  What you see in the picture is our afternoon version of Fancy Nancy starring Olivia Pryor.  I forgot to take a photo at 7:00 am - silly me!  She had many more 'fancy' accessories that morning.

Later that day..... I found this.  Somehow their imaginations got the best of them and they created a zoo in our house...with signage all over the house.  This was the best one by far. ( I bite.  Do not touch.  Dangerous Dog.)  Phonics, baby!

The weekend before Halloween we trekked over to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the Scarecrows in the Garden.  This event is becoming a family favorite each year.  I love the Gardens and decided I should go without the kids one day to just sit and enjoy.