Don't Give Up Now

I am two weeks until the end of my summer class load, and it's taking everything in me to stay focused. Luckily for me, I finished all of my major projects before we went on vacation with the exception of one. However, that one is just looming over my head. It's a 12 page research paper and I CANNOT get motivated to get it done. I HAVE to have it finished by next Thursday. Have to. I've had the last four afternoons to work on it, and I have gotten very little accomplished....like only a few quotes written down. Pretty pathetic. For someone that has prided herself on staying so "on top" of things this summer, I am drastically dropping the ball right now. Hoping some serious motivation kicks in over the weekend. If not, I'm in big trouble.

On an extremely positive note, I started my last class for the summer on Monday. The class actually started last week when I was on vacation, but the professor let me miss the first week (ummm.....hello?) Then, the class is supposed to go until July 30 or so (whatever that last week of July is), but she found out this week that lots of us have preplanning that week...so she said July 26th will be our last class day. And she has canceled class every Friday. Total craziness, but I am loving it. We have NO assignments outside of class time. For a burned out momma, this is pure heaven.

Preplanning starts on July 27th. I have so much to do between now and then....I can't give up now.

Jason Aldean

While the kids were riding on the carousel at Pier Park, Joey came up to me and said, "See that guy over there? He looks exactly like Jason Aldean. I think it's him." I told him he was crazy, but of course I couldn't stop staring. I wanted to imprint his face in my brain so that when I got back home, I could look Jason Aldean up on the computer and see if Joey was right. This guy was there with his family and two other couples and their kids. He was being so super sweet with his daughter. I began to think Joey might be right because I could tell the guy had figured out that I was staring and I just had a sense that he knew I recognized him. Joey ended up looking up Jason Aldean on his Blackberry and showing me pictures. At first, I still wasn't quite convinced. Yes the two resembled each other to an extreme, but I just found it hard to believe that Jason Aldean would be casually hanging out at Pier Park with his family! Anyway, the selling point for me was when Joey found a picture of Jason Aldean with his wife. Once I saw the picture of his wife, I was totally convinced because that was definitely the lady this guy was with.

I stalked him by taking "pictures" of my family while he was in the background. See him with his hat on backwards and sunglasses?

Again, stalker picture.

Even a stalker picture from the back. Apparently, Jason Aldean likes Guy Harvey attire.

I convinced my brother to speak to him. So, Trey, Joey and Tripp stood on the sidewalk and waited for Jason and his family to walk out of the rides section. When they got close, my brother said, "Hey Jason" and Jason said, "Hey Man". Trey said, "This is one of your biggest fans (meaning Tripp)" and Jason reached out and shook Joey's hand and then Tripp's. Trey asked if he could take a picture and Jason Aldean said, "Sure". The result:
A picture for my boy's room. He was so super excited even if he didn't fully understand that he had just had his picture taken with someone famous. He did understand that he was the singer of "Big Green Tractor"! The funniest part, later on when we were walking around, we heard a cover band singing "Big Green Tractor" in a bar while Jason Aldean was standing down the road on the street! Wonder what that cover band would have done if he had walked in and asked if he could sing his own song?!?!

Pier Park

On Tuesday night, we went to Pier Park to hang out. As soon as we got there, my kids spotted the rides, and that was about all we ended up doing. It was a lot of fun and they rode every single ride....including the Ferris Wheel. I'll admit, I was a little nervous to see them that high in the air, but it didn't bother them one bit.

That's them...way up high!

The carousel is always a big hit!

I rode the balloons with them.

Again, it was super fun. Amazing to me how big they are getting and that they could do the majority of the rides without an adult. Slow down, time, slow down.

Just some fun shots

Putt Putt Fun

On the way in to our condo on Saturday, we passed several putt putt courses. Well, that was all it took for Tripp. We kept hearing about it over and over again! We had already planned on taking him, and we ended up going twice. Tripp is a natural....Makinley? Not so much! She was hilarious to watch though. She had no idea how to hold the "glove" (as Tripp called it), but she sure as heck wasn't going to let anyone help her. We just sat back and let her do her thing!



We went again later in the week and it was SO hot! I was seriously worried about my kids. I thought they were going to die of heat exhaustion. The kids loved it...and we loved making memories.

4th of July

We watched the fireworks from the walkway to the beach at our condo. The kids were worn out from a long day, with no nap. But, they hung tough and made it through the show. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures. I was too busy watching the awe on my kids faces!

Can you tell how exhausted she was?!

Just a sneak peak

of all the fun we're having! Way more to come...this was only day one!