Jenna's Birthday

Jenna stretched her 11th birthday out into a weekend-long celebration. On Saturday night we went to Otters for dinner followed by dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. On Sunday, Uncle Brad and Aunt Sharon came down and went to church with us and then we went to Olive Garden for lunch. (Aunt Sharon has a birthday one week before Jenna, so Jenna likes to celebrate with her.) After lunch, Sharon and Brad came to our house where we had a chocolate chip cookie/Cool Whip dessert that Jenna requested. I also made cupcakes for our small group that night for Jenna's birthday. Jenna wanted peanutbutter pie for her "actual" birthday. We had that Monday night after she opened her gifts. Tuesday was her actual birthday. I took her out for breakfast to the Donut Palace and she chose meal in foil for her birthday dinner.

Vacation at Hilton Head Island, SC

Here are some random pictures from our vacation last week to Hilton Head, SC. (I have way too many pictures to choose from.) We left TN on Friday, July 9, and spent the night in Macon, GA. On Saturday when we got to the island we met Sallie and Carl who came down from Aiken to spend the weekend with us. After a quick lunch we found the Hilton Head Tennis Resort which is where we stayed for the week. Our condo was much smaller and older than we had expected, but we adapted. We spent the afternoon on the beach with Sallie and Carl then had an opportunity to visit with Seth's 5K teacher from SC who was in Hilton Head for the weekend with her family. She was surprised to see that her former 5K student is now almost 6 feet tall!. We had dinner with Sallie and Carl at The Crazy Crab. We spent all day Sunday on the beach and had dinner with Sallie and Carl before they had to leave to go back to Aiken. :(

On Monday morning we decided to go to the area known as Harbor Town. This is where The Heritage pro golf tournament is played each year and you can see the 18th hole from the top of the lighthouse. We had lunch at the legendary Salty Dog Cafe (and the food lived up to its billing!). Wednesday morning we went on a dolphin cruise. It was fun to see the dolphin so close to the boat and it was a nice morning to be out on Calibogue Sound. We had a week of great beach weather. On Thursday and Friday the waves were incredible - some were 8-10 feet and it was great for riding the waves on our boogie boards. We topped our week off by a delicious seafood dinner at Kingfisher.

We left Hilton Head early Saturday morning and drove one hour to Savannah, GA. Steve and I had been to Savannah before and we figured since we were so close that the kids would enjoy seeing the city. It was hot but we walked around the different squares in Savannah to give the kids a taste of what the city is like. Seth liked reading about the history of Savannah. We walked by Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons, but one hour before opening the line was already 3/4 of the way around the block. We drove as far as Marietta, GA and spent the night. We had dinner at the Marietta Diner, a place we found out about a few years ago by watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We had been there before and it's always good!

Deer Run Day Camp

Jenna had the opportunity to attend Deer Run day camp this week along with five other kids from our church. This was her first year to attend a day camp and she had a blast. While at camp she had Bible study time and singing, crafts, an opportunity to do archery, bb guns, creek walking, hiking, swimming in the lake, zip line over and into the lake and tower climbing.

Memorial Day weekend

We went to South Carolina for a long Memorial Day weekend. We had fun visiting with Sallie and Carl in Aiken (and with Grammy once she got there from spending a night in the Atlanta airport) and visiting with the Martins and Wilburns in Lexington. (A lot has changed in Lexington since we moved six years ago.) The kids enjoyed playing with Sallie and Carl's dog, Allie, and fishing on the pond behind their house. We met Joe and Jennifer and the kids in Columbia - we hadn't see them in 4 years and it was nice to finally meet Carter. We had fun catching up, eating at D's Wings and walking around the new Carolina Stadium (where the USC Gamecocks play). The new stadium is state of the art! (And we're wishing we were there this weekend to watch the regionals.)

Uncle Carl and Jenna with one of the fish she caught.

Jenna had two "firsts" while in South Carolina. Uncle Carl took her for her first ride in a covertible.

Jenna also had her first ride on a motorcycle (and it was on a Harley Davidson).

On Saturday night, Seth and Uncle Carl made dinner for us. We had fried pickles, hushpuppies and fried shrimp.

One of Seth's catches.

Awards Day

Fifth grade awards day was held on Tuesday, May 18th. We are very proud of Jenna and her many accomplishments. She received six awards along with her promotion certificate. She received the Presidental Fitness Challenge award, a certificate for chorus participation, an Award of Merit for Safety Patrol, Certficiate of Excellence for A/B Honor Roll, Certificate of Excellence for Perfect Attendance this year. and the President's Education Award along with a letter from President O'Bama. This is an award for students who maintain an A average throughout fourth grade, the first semester of fifth grade and have "excellent" scores in either math or reading on their TCAP test (state-wide test). In the one picture below, Jenna is accepting her promotion award from her teacher, Ms. Tow.

FIELD DAY

Jenna's fifth grade field day was today and I was able to get over to the school for a few of the events. Field day brings out Jenna's competitive nature!

Mother's day

I had a very nice Mother's Day. The kids gave me my gifts on Saturday evening - a Beverly Lewis book, a gift certificate to Bath & Body Works and flowers. Jenna made me a new mousepad for the computer. They also got some death by chocolate ice cream that we all enjoyed. On Sunday we went to O'Charley's for lunch after church. After we came home I sat outside to enjoy the warm sunshine and read.