A few action shots of Mia......I mean Ava!

Unfortunately I'm too busy jumping and screaming to take many pics, so these are just a few action shots.  During this game the opposing coaches were yelling "Stay on #3!!!!!!" to their players!  I was so proud! :)  Sadly, I don't have any action pics of Ethan!  I'll get on that this weekend!  I'm sure the other parents will be relieved that I'm too busy to scream and yell! LOL

 Here they are after being told to "Stay on #3!!!" LOL

Meeting New Family in GA

Well, they're not "new" family, but they are to ME since I've never met them!  Dare I say "old" family? LOL  I don't mean age!  Jason hasn't seen his extended family (3rd and 4th cousins) since he was 10 years old!  So we took a weekend trip down to Mt. Vernon, GA (next to Vidalia, where the sweet onions are from) to meet them and surprise Granddad who was there visiting from WA!  We had a blast and just LOVE our new/old family so much!  On Wed. Jason drove back to GA and picked up Granddad and brought him here to spend a few days.  I cooked a HUGE pot roast dinner with all the fixins and he was in heaven!  We gave him the tour of Beaufort, ate at Foolish Frogs, attended Ava'a soccer game and Jason's recruit graduation.  It was so nice having Granddad here and Brownie REALLY misses his recliner buddy!!  We also watched Avatar, which Granddad had never seen and he LOVED it!  It was so good seeing you Granddad and thanks for visiting!  To our GA family...............we'll be back down soon for some Southern cooking and more of that sweet Southern hospitality!  We just love ya'll!

 Granddad took us to the family cemetery where The Meeks are buried on his side.

 Miss Penny Ann and the kids feeding the fish and turtles

 Miss Penny, Jason and Miss Mona Bell Ya'll

 In Jason's office

 Outside Jason's office LOL

 Jason's pic (bottom right)

 Granddad LOVED to snuggle in the recliner with Ethan and his buddy, Brownie! 

 Before Ava's Game

 The Marine Corps Band at graduation

 A Korean General

 The bulldog

 At Jason's company's graduation (about 540 recruits graduated from boot camp)

 Just look how "perky" I am! LOL

 At the Marine Corps Museum on base

 About Parris Island

 The uniforms over the decades

 One reason why PI is NOT my FAV place...................SAND FLEAS! UGH!

SOCCER SEASON!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to brag.......................but I have some freakin athletic kids!  They could be the next Mia Hamm and David Beckham even ;)  Ava has been watching Mia videos on you tube a lot and wants to be just like her!  Ava is on the Thunder and Ethan is on the Lightening!  I get them mixed up all the time and yell out the wrong team name from the side lines.  The games are so fun and exciting and stressful! LOL  I'm the freak mom that screams on the sidelines and jumps up and down!  It's the 7 year cheerleader in me :)  They are both very aggressive and score between 1-5 goals almost every game.  They both start and play the front center position.  LOVE SOCCER SEASON!

 It's so humid my lens fogs up here! UGH!

This is the Brigadier General for our base, General Padilla.  He is the nicest guy!  During opening ceremonies he came out and spoke to the teams.

Bye bye summer..........HELLO SCHOOL YEAR!

After a loooooooong, HOT, humid and BUGGY summer, it's that time of year again!  It's not that I'm dying to have the kids gone (not completely anyway), but we (I) THRIVE on a schedule and in the summer, there just isn't one!  After moving to PI and realizing how UNBEARABLE the summer was, we NEVER left the house until the end of each day for swimming lessons!  I didn't get to work out because the gym doesn't have daycare, so the 3 of us spent EVERY FREAKIN DAY INSIDE! UGH!  We were all ready for a change and now that school is in and soccer has started and Momma is back in the gym................LIFE IS GOOD! :)  Ava is in the 4th (I remember 4th like it was yesterday, in fact it was my FAV year!) and Ethan is in 1st!

 Ava and her friend/classmate/soccer team mate, Brianna

 Ava's teacher Mrs. Hayes

 Ethan's teacher is Mrs. Landry (not pictured................DUH!)

 First day of school!  Their uniforms are red, white or blue polos and khaki, navy or jean bottoms

 Waiting on the porch.  It was a DOWNPOUR that morning and YES, the bus picks them up at our door! (the perks of living across from the General! hee hee)



A visit from Jill and the kids!

One of my very BFF's (Jill, a.k.a "Jilly Bean") and her kids, Grace and Zach, came to visit for the weekend from Camp LeJeune! It was soooooooooooo good to see them after being gone for 3 months! We packed a lot in and had a blast! The first day we toured Beaufort and then hit the pool! For dinner we went to Foolish Frogs and had Frogmoore Stew..............so good! The next day we spent in Savannah and "I do declare" it was hotter than you know what, but we still had fun! We took a horse and carriage tour, ate lunch at a cute cafe, walked all along the river walk, ate dinner at the old Cotton Exchange and then hit the HUGE candy store for treats! The kids picked right up where they left off and of course Jill and I did too! We really miss them, but hope to visit often and we're looking forward to our first DisneyWORLD experience with them in Jan! Love you guys!

This is one of the many gorgeous mansions in Beaufort.  This Greek Revival-style home, dubbed “The Castle” for its medieval undertones, is one of the most photographed homes in the country. Forces of Nature was filmed in and around The Castle.

  Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Savannah, GA

 Staged photo op...........ANGELIC, aren't they? 

 IF ONLY!!!!!!!!!

 Telling ghost stories...............Ethan was NOT happy!  hee hee