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.

Weekend apple picking

Last weekend was a busy one.  Well, when is it not a busy weekend?  I talked Amy P. into meeting me with her boys to take some pumpkin patch photos.  The pumpkin outing turned into a 'let's play at our house' afternoon which are the best afternoons.  We headed up to Woodstock for a Big Green Egg dinner of ribs with the Mitchell's.  Mmm, mmm, thank you Bridgette and Dave.  Kobe met his first dog since he's been in seclusion until his vaccines were current.  He made an instant friend with Sam and the Mitchell girls loved having Kobe around.
We started Saturday with a baseball game for Zach, then on to the zoo for the kids with Stephanie and a GA Tech football game for Dave and me.  It's finally football weather - woo hoo!  Dave must have eaten his Wheaties Sunday because he was up and rushing us to Dobbins for the Blue Angels airshow.  I saw parts of the show all week in my backyard, so I wasn't as enthused.  Turns out, it took us an hour in traffic and parking, and then on the bus ride to get to the airfield.  Throngs of people made it very difficult to keep up with the kids.  I'll spare you the details, but we left within the hour.  I love the airshow, but it wasn't worth seeing the inside of one plane to deal with that crowd.  Our backyard is just fine....

On to north Georgia for some apple picking.  We went back to BJ Reese Apple Orchards and took Kobe with us this year.  That little pup got lots of attention.  We picked 1/2 a peck of apples; they were all so yummy.  I think Olivia ate 5 apples that day and I had 4!  Yes, they were that good.  Zach had his eye on the apple cannons.  He was big enough this year, so we had fun shooting apples across the field.  I'm looking forward to it again next year.  This orchard has a petting farm as well, so Olivia spent most of her time with the bunnies and Zach had a few near misses with pony and goat poop.  Kobe and a goat had a stare down and a few words with each other.  This family was busy from sun up to sun down (as always), but it was all good :-)

I couldn't resist getting a photo of Zach taking a potty break.  Ah, boys!

30 minutes in the life of...

Starts out as......Kobe staring at neighbor cleaning screens, said neighbor walks over and offers blow-up pumpkin decoration for my yard (this should have tipped me off), Jennifer works, slaves, fights with said blow-up pumpkin 'witch' in my front yard.  Kids 'help' by leaving socks, flip flops, toys in my direct way, Jen fights with extension cords and tie down stakes.  Kids bring Kobe out, Kobe tries to eat metal stakes, Jen trips over flip flop and Kobe.  Kids hop on scooters and plasma car, Kobe chases after them into the street.  Jen runs in to grab leash (thanks kids), ties Kobe to railing, trips over Kobe, kids disappear down the road...don't worry, they'll come back...with soiled socks since they've tossed their shoes.  Jen plugs in blow-up pumpkin, pumpkin (which is now staked down) is facing the wrong way.  Crikey! Jen corrects the problem, thinks to herself, "hmm, I could use a drink".  Jen walks in house to get a timer.  Timer has battery leak, so it doesn't work, Jen writes 'timer' on her Target list.  Jen pours a glass of wine from an opened bottle, wine is gross (typical).  I'm starting to get winded at this point, but I have to finish.  Jen goes back out to clean up.  BIG dog, Jake, next door has escaped and neighbor is running after him.  Jen thinks, 'hmm, Kobe is tied down and is approximately 7 times smaller than Jake, I should take him in.  Jen spies a hawk flying ahead, circling....what is it with this dog?!  Protect the dog!!  Jen isn't wearing shoes either (wonder where the kids get it) and scrapes her big toe across the concrete.  Goodbye beautiful pedicure and part of my toe nail.  Kids have disappeared again, Jen walks Kobe down to pool to check on them.  Zach is 'training' Olivia to race and has a race track drawn in chalk on the concrete.  Kobe poops in the green space and Jen doesn't have a poop bag.  Jen walks back to house to get poop bag, runs into neighbors who give me one.  Finally everyone heads home to bed.  Olivia forgets to close garage door, Jen forget to double check, garage door is open all night....Dave is out of town.  Yes, this is more than 30 minutes...


Jen wakes up to garage door open, takes Kobe out to pee, which he does, then he proceeds to go upstairs to Zach's room and poop (in 3 wet and messy spots).  Ahhh and another day has begun.  But the blow up pumpkin is cute :-)

Dad's 70th birthday and much more

How is it that you can turn 70 and no one serves you cake?  That's what happened to my dad on October 5th.  Yes, he turned the big 70 and he was big enough to not ask for the cake.  Even though, we all know he loves my mom's German Chocolate cake and her Coconut Cake.  Poor thing, he's watching his diet and good for him!  We celebrated his birthday at our huge Patterson family reunion with a potluck.  After all of that food, he didn't need cake!  What better way to celebrate, than have your brother from Oregon join you?  My dad and Uncle Ronnie are best friends, so they look forward to their (hopeful) annual visit as soon as the last visit ends.  My dad is the true gambler with the Hard Rock shirt on, but they both take the cake when it come to being funny!  Take a look at that huge family; that's what you get when your great-grandparents have a bunch of kids!  We've always had fun together and the tradition continues.

I'm a bit behind in activities, so I'll catch up quickly....

Happy Birthday to Nonnie (aka Joan Pryor) on October 5th as well.  Dave's mom and my dad share a birthday.
Zach was psyched about the Petit Le Man at Road Atlanta that weekend as well.  We were there all day Saturday (first weekend in October).

He got a boost and help with the pedals on the Xbox game from our favorite, Hurley Haywood.  

Dave is prepping to race with Hurley Halloween weekend in the Cayman Series, so stay tuned for updates on that one!

Let's not forget about baseball...this is our first year with Smyrna Little League and it is so much fun.  The season will be over Halloween weekend.  The pitching machine is hard to get used to, but the kids are enjoying themselves, so hopefully we'll play this coming spring as well.

This past weekend was busy, busy, busy, and I have lots of photos to share....later. So now I'm only one week behind.  Eh, not so bad.

Tim McGraw and Nashville dinner

Before I forget....Dave and I had the chance to head up to Nashville for the night on Sept. 29th for an event featuring chef Tim Love and music by Tim McGraw.  Tim Love is a wonderful chef and hey, who doesn't love a good meal?  Wine pairings were served - way too many wine servings.  Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were both supposed to entertain, but they had just returned from Australia and we were told that she wanted to put the kids to bed.  Sweet.  The chef and Tim McGraw shopped the local markets for ingredients for the meal.  We do not know many country songs, but with only 70 people in attendance in the small Union Station venue, it was a truly great experience.  I apologize for the crappy photo, but I realized our camera was no longer working at the dinner.  Thanks iPhone camera for coming through!  McGraw is in the middle (no hat...WITH hair!)  The wine guy is wearing the hat.

Fall 'crazy' Break and beyond

When Fall Break came around, I was more than happy to take a break from the routine of school, activities, cooking and homework.  We had Dave for a full week, no interruptions.  It was bliss for the most part while we had a quiet few days at the lake with our puppy, who now loves the beaches and boat.  We also stopped by Auburn the day after a big win to witness Toomer's Corner and the TP celebration.  Kobe and the kids did not know what to think of it.  Of course, they soon found the entire mess tons of fun.

The latter part of the week, we flew to upstate New York to visit Dave's mom and family.  Unfortunately, Dave's 92 year old grandmother, Nan, passed away while we were there.  Ninety-two is amazing age for anyone, and Nan is in a much better place.  

The Adirondacks were in full color.  This is the first that Olivia and Zach have seen (or remember) of this area of the country. Olivia was three months old for her only trip to Nonnie's.  What a wonderful time to visit!  We missed a photo with Dave's cousin, Sue and her daughter, Katelyn, who turned 16 while we were there.  Happy 16th to you!  This is Dave's other cousin, Larry and his wife, Denise and daughter, Danielle.  

Dave and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on Sept. 22.  Dave surprised me with a trip north of his mom's and we stayed at a B&B, called Inn by the Mill.  The Inn is historic for being a stopping point in the Underground Railroad.  The innkeeper was an interesting character, to say the least.  He didn't let us get a word in edgewise, so we did say the least!  The Hog Haus, seriously, it housed several hogs during the day, was our room for the night.  It was overflowing with hog decorations.  Where do you find all of that stuff, anyway?

Dinner was at Beardsley Castle, which is said to be haunted.  Check it out during Halloween on the Sci-Fi channel.  They will be airing a special on the castle.  We didn't witness any ghosts, but we did put back a nice dirty martini in the dungeon bar.  Guess what?!  They had gluten free appetizer bread for me and it was wonderful!  The food was fabulous and the castle is in a beautiful part of the country.  We finished our trip off with a hike up the rocky riverbed the next morning.  It was a slippery, but we love a good hike anytime. Happy 9th Anniversary to us!

Dave and I took the kids to the Utica zoo.  This zoo has been around for a VERY long time, witnessed by the surroundings, but we all has so much fun.  We will all remember the little fox named Sherlock.  He reminded us of Kobe.  

After delayed flights from NY and a late night/early morning arrival, we settled back in.  Gavin's 6th birthday party beckoned us out of the house to celebrate.  It was rainy, but I don't think any of the kids cared.  They had a silly string fight, watched a movie, decorated cupcakes and ate lots and lots of candy.  Olivia was so pooped after the party, she passed out with a lollipop in her mouth.  Cavities anyone?

It was nice to be back home, and made me appreciate 'routine' a little more.