Nashville Muddy Buddies!

A couple weeks ago we headed over to Nashville to visit friends and compete in a race called the Muddy Buddy. We stayed with our friends David & Kara and their girls Audrey (8), Hallie (6) and Ruby Cat (2). David has been one of Brian's best friends since childhood, and they often team up to compete in moutain bike races and triathlons throughout the year. They live out in the country and the kids enjoyed the outside freedom as well as 8 new kittens which had recently been born! I, however, did not enjoy the abundance of ticks!!! One day we went to a playground for a change of pace.
Dawson could swing all day long!

Owen on the little zip line.

Audrey & Hallie Cox, and Kellen & Peyton all on the tire swing. These four sure have fun playing together!

David pushing Ruby Cat. She's just 3 months older than Dawson.

The kids found a turtle right out in the middle of the parking lot!

Race Day: our Mini Muddy Buddies waiting around for Daddy's race to finish so they could do their own race!

The sun was brutal, so while we were waiting for Brian and David to cross the Finish line, the kids found some shade under this trailer!

Brian started the running leg of the race while David biked. Each time they reached a station, they had to complete an obstacle, and then switch to running or biking, whichever they hadn't just done. They "leap frogged" through about 5 legs of the race, and upon completion of the running and biking portions, they had to finish by race-crawling through a series of mud pits, then exit and run across the finish line. It was thoroughly entertaining, to say the least!!!

The Buddies who got Muddy!

The kids thought it was hilarious how dirty Daddy had gotten!

Then it was time for the Mini Muddy Buddy! Owen's division was first. Here he is on the balance beam portion of the kids' obstacle course.

After their obstacle course, the kids also had to (got to!) go through the mud pits! Owen's age division required a parent to go through with him, so Brian got to get all muddy again! Isn't this the sweetest picture of these two? I love how they're looking at each other!

And isn't that adorable to see them holding hands to cross the Finish line???

Here's Peyton going up and over the camo wall. (pink tank top in the center)

Making her way through the mud! For weeks she had been saying she wanted to get everything muddy except for her face. She was pretty successful!

Kellen busted out ahead in her race and only got passed by one boy! (she's on the right in the aqua tank top)

She got the muddiest since she sloshed through the mud pit the quickest of the 3 children!

Proudly showing off their medals!

My Muddy Buddies!!!

The water at the wash-off station was very cold!!!

The fire department kept having to bring in more water to the hose station. Owen had some of the best facial expressions as he was being hosed off!

We stripped the kids down to their undies and sat them on towels because they were still pretty filthy, despite the hose-off station. We drove through a McDonald's for lunch, and you can see that Owen fell asleep on the way home with his hand in his McNugget box! (We had had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. that morning in order to drive and get there on time for Brian & David's race!)

Back at the Cox house, we showered everyone and got ready for the trip back to Jonesboro. Had to get a few pictures of the kitties, though. This is one we would've come home with, had we not been afraid that it wouldn't have made our cat, Sky, too happy! He was adorable!

A cute picture of Hallie holding another one.

We had planned to eat at Pei Wei in Memphis on the way home, but were a little early for dinner. So, we stopped off at the mall to ride the carousel, a little tradition we have whenever we're in Memphis. Much to our delight?/chagrin? they had erected another activity for the kids to do as well----bungee jumping! They had a deal for 3 or more family members to do it cheaper, so the 3 oldest kids had a blast!

Kellen learned to do back flips pretty quickly---I never got a good picture of her inverted, but here is one of her starting a back flip.

Peyton getting all harnessed up.

She was able to propel herself very high!

And wouldn't you know it, just as Owen was getting all strapped in, my camera battery went dead. Brian got some video of Owen's jumps, but I don't have any real pictures!

Anyway, it was a fun way to end an eventful weekend!

"Where are we???"

At 6:40 this morning Brian looked out our living room windows and saw deer in our neighbor's front yard! We live in a neighborhood, people! We aren't supposed to see deer outside! He took these pictures through the window, so they're not super clear.

They trotted across the street to our front yard.

Those poor deer were probably not too happy to have gotten lost!

They soon disappeared, but then at 10:00 a.m. we saw them again, this time running straight up the middle of the road, and disappearing at the top of the hill! In our 6 years here in this house, we've never seen deer in our neighborhood. I hope they found their way home!

D's first time "on the cob"

Brian grills the best corn on the cob in the world! He grills it with the husks pulled down so that it actually grills the kernels, not just steams them. Then bastes them with butter that has garlic, parsley and salt & pepper. I posted the recipe on our blog last summer. So tonight was our first grilled corn on the cob of the season, and Dawson's first time to ever eat it "on the cob". Corn in general is his very favorite veggie, so he thought this was about the greatest thing in the world! Towards the end, he got pretty silly, not holding on to the cob, and shaking his head back and forth like a dog on a bone!

Cheesin' it up with his half-eaten cob. He never did get into his baked potato or chicken very much!

One Tough Cookie!

I have to brag on Peyton today. Off and on she has talked about her shots that she needed to get for Kindergarten, just occasionally asking questions about them. I could tell they were hanging over her head, so I knew I wanted to get them over with sooner rather than later. This morning I finally remembered to call and make an appt. They said, you can either come today at 3:00, or August 21st. Well, I didn't want her to miss the first week of Kindergarten because of not having her shots done yet, so I obviously chose today!
I didn't tell her about them and just put her down for her nap as usual. I woke her up at 2:45 and said, "We're going to your Kindergarten doctor appt. today!" She kind of giggled and asked a few questions, but remained very calm.
Of course once we're there, they do the hearing test (passed), the eye exam (20/20), the weight (83rd percentile), height (86th percentile), blood pressure, etc. Then Dr. Sneed comes in and listens to her chest, back, feels all around her (she was very impressed at her muscular build for such a young child, by the way! Made her Daddy proud!) Anyway, I was thinking "Get on with the shots, already!" I'm sure Pate was thinking the same thing.
Finally, Nurse Angie comes in and tells her she's getting 2 shots in each arm. Peyton turns toward me so that she's not looking, and before we knew it, Angie was putting the first syringe down! Pate never even flinched! The second one Angie had said would sting the worst as the medicine went in, and Peyton started calmly saying "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" with a slight grin on her face. I couldn't believe it! We switched sides and while Peyton and I were laughing about how good she was doing, Angie gave her the other two shots! Not a tear was shed. Not even any whining (which is actually a pretty bad habit Peyton has!) Angie said it was VERY unusual! I've bragged on her all day. Even Kellen was impressed, and not in a jealous way. Kellen was tough with her shots, too, but did have some silent tears coming forth. We are all proud of our tough little Kindergartener!

Pre-School Party!

Blogger was giving me troubles for a few days, so these pictures are a little late! Peyton & Owen go to the same pre-school, and they recently had their school-wide, end-of-the-year party. With alternating between visiting Peyton and Owen, I got lots of good pictures, so bear with me here! They each have such neat friendships at school, and I know we all look forward to seeing what next school year brings! (But in the meantime, we are going to enjoy our SUMMER!)
Peyton loves blowing bubbles (what kid doesn't?)

Maggie, Orma, Abby & Peyton

Owen racing trucks with his buddies

Owen & Holt--he talks about Holt a lot!

The girl can jump!

Meyer & Owen. These two became good buddies last year and seem to have a sweet friendship.

Deanne & Peyton. They met at Mother's Day Out when Pate was 18 months old, and have been together at pre-school for the last three years, as well!

Wow, I can't say enough about how much Owen loves his Mrs. Linda!!!

Deanne, Peyton, Brianna, Layla & Eva Grace

Owen wanted his picture taken with Mary Sloane, too! She had just been upset about something, so that's why she looks so sad. But what gorgeous blue eyes!

Deanne & Peyton on the big slide

After lunch the kids got to do lots of water activities. This slide that sprayed you as you went down was a huge hit!

Peyton's sweet class making a "silly" picture!

Mrs. Kelly was just wonderful for Peyton this year! Very friendly and nurturing, but didn't put up with any messing around! We are really hoping that she is Owen's teacher next year!

More of Owen's buddies---Noah, Cole & Harper.

Owen got chilled and wanted to lay on his towel, which quickly turned into wanting to be wrapped up in his towel!

Peyton was full of giggles every time she came off that water slide!

Owen liked the bike-riding area. He actually is making progress here at home with riding his bike without training wheels. He's much more interested in it than Peyton (she's chicken!), so he'll probably beat her, even though he's 17 months younger!

These three seem to be inseparable---Peyton, Layla & Eva Grace

The three amigos again---enjoying some popsicles after their water play.