Dinosaurs

This post is slightly out of order, but wanted to post a few pics of the trip Zachary took with Allison's Mom to go see Dinosaurs at the Gwinnett Arena a week or so ago. They had a great time and Zachary has talked about it over and over since their evening together. All of these dinosaurs are being driven or walked by someone inside them and are being controlled by remote control within as well. The T-Rex is over 50 feet long! The pictures don't even begin to do it justice, however, Zachary highly recommends you make every attempt to see this show next time it comes to town.

Ted's Montana Grill Bison Stampede 5k

We had a very busy day this past Saturday. The day began with Marty and Allison heading to Atlanta to run a 5k. The course ran from near the Georgia Dome and Olympic Park through some shady streets of Atlanta and through Georgia State University's campus before heading back to the start/finish line. It was tough. When we arrived at the registration tables to get our race numbers, the volunteers handed each of us a hat to wear during the race. We managed to get one for Zachary as well.

Too funny! We look just like bison, don't we?

The race atmosphere was tons of fun with almost 1,000 folks wearing their bison hats. I'm sure we got lots of strange looks as we ran through downtown.

Afterwards, we scored an excellent loot bag with lots of goodies. Here's a picture of all the freebies we snagged.

The bags included race shirts, bison caps, a cd, lara bars, straws, $10 gift certs to Ted's, about 8 aluminum bottles of Sprite, lots of water/Powerade, fruit, an extra tshirt, an extra cap and we also got to eat some Key Lime Pie and had a few Ted's bison sliders to complete the morning. Chuck Strunk would be so jealous!

Free Chikin!

Chick-Fil-A is by far our family's favorite fast food restaurant. We could probably eat there every day and not get tired of their food. Today, we managed to head to two locations and have free lunch and free dinner if we wore our favorite team's logo.

First stop, Flowery Branch Chick-Fil-A. Marty and Zachary wore their Georgia Tech shirts and Allison wore a University of Georgia shirt. For dinner, Allison had a wardrobe change and wore a Georgia Tech shirt. Zachary was ready to be quite the comedian.

Labor Day Pool Party

Sunday afternoon, we went over to the Croziers' house along with the Persingers and Segraves. The kids, there were 8 total, played for several hours in the pool before we retired into the house for the evening. Here's a few pictures of the kids in the pool.McKinney, Zachary and Rebekah playing in the hot tub. McKinney and Zachary were scuba diving superheroes for much of their pool time.Zachary boldly goes into the deep part of the pool. We would have never seen this last summer.Valerie and Lauren in the foreground listen to Rebekah along with Zachary and McKinney.Rebekah showing off her paddling skills.Andrea was not afraid at all. We had to chase her down to make sure she had on her floatie.Even Otto the Wonder Dog got in on the action. He swam for much of the afternoon as well. Rumor is that his parents were able to get some good pictures as well. We may have to check their blog later this week for some additional pics.

Zachary's Birthday Party

We have been so busy lately that we have not had time to blog Zachary's party from a few weeks ago. So, as promised, here's the highlights. Sorry, no slide show. You can just scroll through the pictures.

Zachary's party was held at a Gwinnett Braves game. Before the game, we had cake and ice cream in the parking lot and let the kids run around tearing up all of the pinestraw and landscaping for a while. Just before we got fussed at by park employees for playing in the landscaping, we ventured over to the game. Everyone had a ball (pun intended)!

As you'll see further down in the pictures, the green icing wasn't the best idea. Zachary, two of his cousins, Tristen and Camryn, along with his buddy Bryson are in this picture - and Mommy of course.McKinney, Bryson, Tristen, Zachary, Camryn and Andrew. The only time they were all still at the same time the entire evening.

Mark and Andrew enjoying their cupcakes.

Rebekah spent the evening reading two books. She was a little bummed that she didn't have any girl friends there to play with, but she still said that Zachary always has the "coolest parties."Morgan love her cupcake the most!Zachary's face had these green spots for two or three days after the party. That was some kind of food coloring!

Robbie, Marty and Mark visiting before the crowds arrived.Granny (Marty's Mom), Grandma (Allison's Mom) and Heather tailgating.

This is the middle of the mass chaos that was present time. Zachary loved all of his gifts. Especially the Star Wars and Transformers items.

This is the most precious picture ever of Eli Bear.

Grandpa (Allison's Dad) and Caleb spending some time together.

As we walked into the game, the stadium was giving out free phone books. Not exactly sure how it happened, but our group ended up with 3 or 4 of them. About the third inning or so, Zachary and Eli were spotted scanning the yellow pages. They checked out the phone books for the longest time before they realized that anyone had seen them. It was too funny!

Andrew, Zachary and Alyssa enjoying the game. Alyssa is the only one looking at the field, though.

We had a great time at the ballgame. Zachary has taken such an interest in baseball this last year that having a baseball party was really a "no brainer." He loved having all of his friends and family in one place. Every one of the kids left the ballgame all sugared up, but every one of them slept really good when they got home as well. What a fun night!

Happy Birthday Z-Man!

This week, Zachary turned 6 years old! He has been counting down for months to his sixth birthday. These pictures are a few we took while he was opening his gifts from Mommy and Daddy. Our next post will show his birthday party with friends. The excitement on his face is classic. By far, the favorite gift we gave him was his scooter. He has been driving us crazy wanting to go outside and ride. Today, he was finally able to go outside for about two hours. He probably would have stayed for two more hours if we had let him.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was a BIG day at our house. Zachary began Kindergarten. He woke up extra early this morning so he wouldn't be late. These pictures are from before we left the house. His hair was still wet from his shower because he couldn't wait to get out the door! It was dry by the time he got to school.

Zachary and I made a deal last night that if I walked him into school, I got to take the camera and take a couple of quick pictures in his classroom. This shot was taken during the half of a second he stood still for me. I did not get the picture of him rolling his eyes right after the picture was taken. haha
Next thing I knew, he was sitting in his chair ready to start his day. He had long forgotten about me. His teacher just laughed. She was amazed at how quickly I got out of the classroom. I think I was the first mom back into the parking lot headed back to my car. Zachary and I were both very ready for him to start school.
The best part of the day, according to Zachary, was the bus ride home. He was so concerned about all the homework he'd be having but said as long as he got to ride the bus, the homework wouldn't be so bad. We just laughed at his reasoning. I guess at 5 years old, the bus can be a pretty cool thing. Plus, I don't think he realizes just how little homework he'll have this year.

Wow! What a big boy. We are so proud of you and were thrilled to hear how much fun you had on your first day of school. We hope every day is this much fun.