October brought the annual air show to a local airport. We thought we were going to have plans the weekend of the show but those plans were canceled. Once we realized that this was the last year all eight kids were free and we only had to pay for Mark and I, we jumped on it.
The kids all had a wonderful time and the vintage planes were one of the most exciting things.
Since today is the day we celebrate the day I came rushing in to the world (mom reminds me that I was in too much of a hurry to get here and she did not get the proper pain relief), I thought I would share how my “getting closer to mid-life” crisis adventure.
Awhile back, I mentioned to Mark that I loved the color hair fad but I didn’t want to be in on a fad. Because he is used to my crazy ideas, he told me to go ahead. But, I decided to wait. Then August happened and happened and happened. And I got tired of waiting. I found a good groupon deal and decided I just needed to do it.
Although, I admit I had my trepidations. Especially when the hair stylist said, “So you want highlights over all your gray.” Um, no, but thanks for pointing out my hair of wisdom. Blue and Green please. I know. The stylist thought I lost my mind. Until he finished. Then he wanted to do highlights everywhere. Mark, however, asked me to just keep the partial highlights. Anyway, blue and green for Neurofibromatosis colors.
I absolutely love it! It’s subtle (well, as subtle as blue and green can be) and fun. Mark absolutely loves it too. He was so sweet and said he knew he would love it when I told him how much I liked it.
And for those of you who are shaking your head in bewilderment. Please know that I am not new to hair coloring although I am new to professional highlights. When I was a senior in high school my hair was purple (not that bright purple…it was supposed to be red bu my dark hair made it purple). And Mark still asked me out!
The firs of October brought a neurology visit with Dr. W. She was doing great and we are all waiting to do an MRI just before surgery. As we were leaving, we mentioned we were heading to a local mall for a Lego display. He told us we needed to check out the hospital lobby. And this is what we saw:
Pretty impressive!
Then we drove about 30 minutes away (which was around 5 miles in Atlanta) and saw this:
The Lego Americana Roadshow was just amazing. We loved seeing America’s monuments and were so impressed with the skill of real life master builders.
Old North Church
This was simply amazing. The Capital Building.
Future Master Builders showcased their work.
And Emmie and I worked at building something so she could take it a part. Destroying things are her favorite thing to do.
The gang’s all here.
We enjoyed seeing the little scenes that were set up and this one, by far, was our favorite. It had so much to look at and laugh at.
The most awesome part of the roadshow…it was free! Free ya’ll! If it is coming to a mall near you, I would highly recommend it for a fun afternoon trip.
In September, we took our last trip to the zoo. We had to let our membership expire until we finish up adoption expenses. So, we enjoyed what we could until later.
Can you tell I let the kids take pictures with my camera? It’s a rare find. A construction vehicle.
We actually got to see the tiger out and about.
In case you didn’t know what a giraffe’s tongue looks like. 
The gorillas were out and really close.
So was a snake. He was a cutie!
Our traditional picture in front of the lion.
Zoe almost at the top of the rock wall.
Okay, not really a camp out. The first part of September, we were blessed to spend a long weekend with our church family. Mosquitoes, bumpy lumpy beds, camp food and lots of faith and fellowship. It was such a blessing! The speaker was a minister who we knew from another church and was a huge part of guiding us Biblically in our parenting.
Bryant looks goofy here but I wasn’t trying to get him in the shot. It’s Ceili Rain with one of the other girls from church, walking hand in hand.
We were a bit concerned with how Emmie would handle things. Aside from a fall the first night, she did amazingly well!
Family Olympics. One of the many highlights.
The boat race. There was only one flipped over boat, surprisingly!
Emmie showing off her family colors…atop her head.
Malachi was super serious about running this race.
When the littles went to bed, Mark and I took turns trekking to the common area with Zoe and Ace to play games and visit.
I love this. This is our youth all crowded around checking out pictures and laughing. They are a great group who do such an amazing job including everyone. Since Zoe is now technically a “youth,” she was all smiles the whole weekend.
Mark led the children’s time one morning.
This was our first experience with family camp and can’t wait to do it again. It was a blessing to be out with our church worshiping, laughing, crying and enjoying the nature…even with the mosquitoes.
We had planned a beach trip for the week before Y the Brave was to leave. Obviously, when Emmie fell, we had to change our plans. We contacted the place we had already reserved our rental with. It “just so happened” that he had it open the weekend before her procedure. When Mark explained what was going on, the owner was more than willing to change our reservation. It was a true blessing and a great house to stay in at a great price!
This was Y the Brave’s first time at the ocean. The kids would have all stayed in the ocean the entire time if we had let them.
Zoe and I scored a skimming board at Goodwill earlier in the summer. By the end of the weekend, a couple of the kids were getting the hang of it.
Malachi was not thrilled about actually getting deep in the water. But making super poses on the beach were just as good.
Emmie didn’t much care for the water either.
Cuddling with mama was on Emmie’s agenday much of th etie.
My absolutely favorite picture of us.
We worked really hard to get a picture before we left. But there’s always that one kid…this time it was Malachi’s turn.
Honey, we shrunk the kids…
…Into starfish
A gentleman walked up to Y in the arcade and gave him tokens to play. Needless to say, the kids had a wonderful time with those tokens.
Emmie loved the pool water even if the big ocean scared her.
Our little swing at the beach house filled with Emmie’s super sidekicks.
One of the highlights of the summer reading program is free tickets to Augusta Greenjackets baseball game. The game came the week after Emmie’s emergency trip and just before her halo traction. The problem we had was that we only had five tickets but there were eleven of us (counting Y the Brave). A neighbor had offered to get tickets for people through his work and we contacted him on a whim. Not only did he get us the extra tickets, but he got us tickets in reserved seating. On the first base line.
Oh ya’ll. The looks on all of our kids faces when they met the baseball players and saw the action up close and personal. It is definitely something I won’t soon forget. We all had a wonderful time. Got bobblehead dolls and watched our Y the Brave experience America’s past time for the the first time. Their biggest highlight was not having to stand in line at concession and getting the unlimited popcorn and soda!
About the sixth inning, it started pouring. I mean really pouring. We all raced to the covered stadium, danced and laughed. This was definitely a wonderful memory before all the stress and uncertainty.
As long as everything works out, we will be taking Zoe with us on a trip. To do that special trip, she needed a passport. To get a passport, she needed a passport photo. Because we are cheapos (okay, thrifty), we did the pictures ourselves. Here’s our outtakes:
This is her teenage look.
Lovely…Then we realized the background is patterned and you aren’t supposed to show teeth. Not sure why since teeth are pretty distinctive. 
Solid background gone wrong. 
Are you taking my picture or what?
Finally!
We took advantage of our zoo membership and took part in the Members’ Night festivities. Our local zoo plans these member nights three times a year and they are always a treat and less crowded for our crew.
We thought Y the Brave had been to a zoo before because he lives in a city where there is a zoo. But, he told us over and over that he had never been. It was so much fun watching his excitement over seeing the animals up close. 
Spot our bunch…I have to say tie dye shirts are my favorite family shirts so far. They were a lot of fun to make and easy to spot.
New sea otters exhibit is so interesting!
But, Emmie loved the bears. She “oooohed” over them the most.
A volunteer singing about koalas. We can’t call them koala bears now.
Feeding the Lorakeets. They were so full from the whole day of eating but we managed to get them to take a bite or two.
Flamingo impersonation.
Y the Brave told us that he wanted to see elephants most of all. I think he was thrilled when he got to see them. But the smell…well, it always knocks us all off our feet.
A bunch of Characters in a small train car. Mostly all smiles.
Rock wall climbing. I was a bad mama and forgot to open the flash so half the pictures were unrecognizable.
Zoe and Ace were proud of their checkerboard accomplishment.
Here’s the traditional family portrait with the lions.
This is our family,our neighbors next door and our neighbors across the street. Right now, we have twenty kids between our three families (we have some amazing neighbors who are foster parents!). I can’t remember how many are in this picture though. Pretty close to that number, I believe.
We had a hosting gathering at the lake in July. It was a truly wonderful time with our friends and fellow hosters to reflect and visit.
I didn’t get to go out with the kids, but one of the hosting families had a boat and several of our kids got to go “tubing!” It was all fun and games until Zoe broke the innertube. Just kidding. It did break but not because of her. Even though I didn’t get to hang out with them on the boat, I got to hang out with the littles in the sand.
Yeah, awesome shot. Silly face.
We also had the pleasure of seeing the kids when they got back.
And hear about how it went.
