Papa Carl's birthday

Papa Carl turned 86 this year and of course, we had to celebrate!!  We went over to Luican and Jeanie's for a yummy cook-out and cake!  It was really fun to be with family and the food was delicious! Parker got to help Papa Carl blow out his candles and open his presents, so he was happy! :)  Happy birthday Papa Carl--we love you very much!



 Parker got a little anxious and blew out Papa Carl's candles before we had a chance to sing!! :)

 So we re-lit the candles and had round two!! :)

 Love this picture!

 Bruce and Lucian relaxing!

 The happy couple! :) 

 Jeanie and Lucian had this great idea to make labels for Papa Carl's famous BBQ sauce--and she  even found these bottles!!  If you are lucky...you might get one! :) 

 Parker helping Papa Carl check out his new very own labels!

 and now on to the other present....

Happy birthday---you are very special to us and we love you very much!!  :)

Sesame Street Live

Last Sunday afternoon, we took Parker to see Sesame Street Live at the Bi-Lo Center.  As another bonus, Goddy and GiGi came with us!! ;)  Needless to say, it was a great success and Parker LOVED every minute of it!  It helps that he is such a huge Sesame Street fan!! And of course Goddy and GiGi bought Parker some treats!  Who could go to see Elmo and not get a light-up Elmo toy and a really fun Elmo balloon!??!  :)  Thanks so much for going with us Goddy and GiGi--it made it extra special!  And of course after the show we went to get pizza--what could get better than that?!  :) 



 Playing with the new light-up toy that Goddy bought

 He's really into the show...

 Bert and Ernie

 Waiting for the second half to start with his new Elmo balloon--thanks GiGi :)

 Elmo, Oscar, and Abby

What great fun! :)

Labor Day Weekend

After the First Friday parade, we headed to the lake for Labor Day weekend with Lucian, Jeanie, Mama Jo, Papa Carl and the dogs, Maggie and Buddy! On Saturday morning we went swimming and Bruce got some skiing/wakeboarding time!! Then Lucian, Bruce and I got ready and had some lunch and then headed back to Clemson for the first football game!!  It was really hot, but at least we got a win and it was fun to be at the game.  It's always great to see our team play after such a long time and the atmosphere was perfect! :)

Sunday we spent the whole day on the lake: riding in the boat, swimming and enjoying the sun!  It was so relaxing just spending time with family!  Monday, it rained off and on all day--but it was perfect because we took it easy, rested, watched movies, read books, took naps and worked on the puzzle.  And there is always great food when Papa Carl is involved and we ate our fair share of it!  :)  For a special treat, Lucian fixed amazing steaks for dinner on Sunday night and they were gone by Monday!! :) 

Thanks for a wonderful time at the lake Papa Carl and Mama Jo, Lucian and Jeanie!  We love you very much! :)

"Sliding" down the chair with Goddy

Parker riding his new scooter :)

"The most exciting 25 seconds in college football!!!"  Running down the hill!

Go Tigers!

Maggie waiting to go for a ride :)  She loves the boat!!

What a hottie!! Getting ready to wakeboard

Parker and Goddy

My good looking boys!!

Man, I love to watch Bruce ski---he is awesome at this!! 

GiGi brought Parker his first real fishing pole and was showing him how to use it

Papa Carl was also giving some lessons! ;)

But as you can see, he didn't quite get it!  He kept putting the rod in the water---just like you do with the "fishy poles" aka noodles :)

So the men decided to take over the fishing :)

I had to take a picture of this:  GiGi carrying the shotgun!!  Lucian actually had to use it to kill a snake!! Uggh!! Luckily he got it with one shot--he's pretty good!  Thank goodness!

My sweet boy!!

First Friday Parade

This year we decided to take Parker to Clemson's First Friday Parade.  It's a tradition in Tiger Town on the Friday before the first home football game to have the cheerleaders, Rally Cats, band, different clubs, sororities/fraternities parade down the main street in campus.  It is a lot of fun,  and I haven't been since college to the parade.  Parker had so much fun and I loved watching him!  What made it even better is the fact that we met up with the Clayton's, Hawkins (Natalie's sister and her family) and the Epting's.  After the parade we went to Bowman field and had a picnic dinner and let the kids run around and play!! It was such a great evening and we also got to see the Barker's and Hendrix's (minus Matt) so that made it more fun! After all of the festivities we headed to the lake house for the weekend!  I think this might be a yearly tradition! :)

Parker sportin his new jersey GiGi got him :)

Let's go Tigers!

Here comes the parade

Austin (Natalie's nephew) Parker, Luke, Madison and Gabby (Natalie's mom) clapping for the parade

I love this little guy!

Luke and Parker cheering on the cheerleaders!

"There's the TIGER!!!!"  :)

Clapping for the Rally Cats

He LOVED the horses!!!  He was so excited he almost ran out into the street to get them!! :)

Austin, Parker, Madison and James playing on Bowman

Jennifer's (Natalie's sister) youngest two:  Parker and Dylan

Gabby loving on Miss Campbell

Austin, Luke and Parker being awed by the horses--again, I had to hold Parker back! :)

This was too funny--there was a group of college kids throwing the disc(Frisbee) and Parker just ran up to them and took the disc and started playing with them! He thinks he's a big kid! :)

Group shot:  Campbell, Madison holding Parker (I think), James, Austin, Luke holding Dylan (I think) and Parker  :)

another group shot ;)