It's baseball time again!

This is the first time we have played fall ball and now I know why. It's freaking hot!!! Brantley missed his first practice Saturday but they only made it about 30 minutes that day. Today they only did about 45 minutes. Man was it hot. And it didn't start until 6:00. When is this heat wave going to be over?

Quotable Quotes

Mom, today is my last day at school, 'cause I'm really smart and I don't need to go.

Home Today

Well, Brantley and I are at home today. He had what I thought was a bug bite but it created a rash this weekend. It's in a bad spot, at his tail bone between the cheeks. The rash had gotten pretty bad and I was putting lanacane and benedryl on it for the itching. Finally, I put some neosporin on it last night because it was so open and raw. This morning it looked better, but after breakfast Brantley started itching and was hysterical. He said he couldn't go to school like that. Fine. I gave in and took him to the doctor. I told him the doctor was probably going to give him a shot. On the way he said it wasn't itching anymore. Too bad. We were going to the doctor anyway. Good thing I did because it turned out to be a staph infection. It may have started out as a bug bite, but the staph took over. His doctor said it's often mistaken for a spider bite. I read a little about it and staph bacteria normally lives on your skin and doesn't cause problems. But, if you have a cut or an open sore, it can cause a nasty infection. He has to take a really strong antibiotic. The doctor warned me that the pharmacist might say something about it. They didn't, but I guess all I would have to do is say he had a staph infection. He had to take 2 teaspoons 3 times a day and apparently it doesn't taste good. We also have to put a prescription ointment on 3 times a day. Fun times.

Costa Rica

I uploaded pictures here and here. I had trouble uploading so many pictures and I don't think I got them all uploaded.

Our flight into Costa Rica was uneventful. We got a little turned around in the airport in San Jose, but it wasn't bad. Jorge picked us up and took us back to their condo so we could leave some of our luggage. He said he had the beach house ready and we would spend the weekend there. So, we packed up enough stuff for the weekend and headed for Puntarenas. It wasn't really that it was hot, just very humid. After the weekend at the beach house, we headed to Arenal. The Arenal Volcano has been active since it woke up in 1968 after 400 years of inactivity. It's really something to see. We didn't get any good night pictures, but some beautiful ones during the day. I would definitely recommend the Arenal Springs resort. It was really nice.

After two nights in Arenal, we headed to Monteverde. We took a Taxi Boat Taxi from Arenal to Monteverde which takes about 5 hours. If you don't cross the lake, it takes about 8 hours to get there from Arenal. Monteverde is very pretty. It's so high that you look down on the clouds and the clouds come in like fog. It's very cool to see. I managed to sprain my ankle there so I had to take it easy our second day there. The roads and sidewalks are terrible so be very careful if you ever visit Costa Rica.

After our two nights in Monteverde, we finished up our vacation just relaxing in Heredia. I even went and got a pedicure, even though I had a sprained ankle. I figured I deserved it. And, where else can I get a pedicure for $15.

The trip home was unreal. We got through security and everything in Costa Rica with no problem. We got to the gate about 45 minutes before we were supposed to board. Another plane was boarding and we watched one take off. It had started to rain, but the plane that had been boarding had started to taxi out only to be stopped. They closed the airport. CLOSED!!! No one could land, no one could take off. It wasn't very long before they told us the plane that we were supposed to get on had circled all that it could and would be diverted to Managua, Panama to refuel. It would be at least 5:15 before we would board and there would be no connecting flights for any of us in Miami. At his point everyone rushed the counter to start making arrangements. Luckily the nice family we were sitting with gave me the number for the hotel in the Miami airport and a calling card so I could call. After being herded around the airport, we finally got to on a bus to be taken to our plane. We ended up in Miami about midnight. It was good we got a room because we didn't get a flight back until noon on Monday. The next morning was a mess. Miami must be the worst airport I've ever experienced. We finally made it back to Nashville about 1:00 - only 14 hours late.

All in all, Costa Rica is a beautiful country. It's very mountainous and the vegetation is unreal. If you go, don't go expecting a cheap vacation, let someone else do the driving, and be careful on the sidewalks. Oh, my only other tip is make sure you wait until you get there to change you currency. Most every place takes dollars and you will get a much better exchange rate there.

Scrappy (5/98 to 8/07)

Today we said goodbye to Miss Scrappy. Brantley is very upset about the loss. Losing a pet is one of life's hardest things. Here is a picture of her with my shoes. Scrappy had a thing for shoes....

Update coming....

I promise an update soon. We just got back from Costa Rica - 14 hours late I might add. I'll update with pictures and stories soon.

Birthday Party

Saturday was Brantley's birthday party at Pump It Up. I decided to go there so we could invite everyone he knows and I wouldn't have to do anything. It's great. The kids love it and all you do is bring a cake. I also had goody backs to give to the kids. We only had half of the kids that were invited come to the party, but I still managed to give away all of the goody bags. Which, by the way, were a huge hit. We got camo bags filled with all kinds of camo stuff for the boys and pink poodle boxes filled with girly things for the girls. Brantley had a blast. I think this is the picture of him saying "Yeah BAABA!' And doesn't he just look so proud in the other picture. Oh, and he lost his second tooth yesterday. Believe it or not, I pulled it. I tied the string on and it popped out into my face!

Let them eat cake!

This year, I let Brantley make his birthday cake. Hope everyone enjoys it!

Chicago

Brantley had a great time in Chicago. My sister-in-law has a great blog entry about the weekend here. I wish I could have gone. I stayed home since I have a new job and PTO is a bit limited right now. (I've been there a month and a half now!!) It was nice to have a weekend without the boys, though. Brantley ran to me at the airport and gave me the biggest hug and told me he missed me. And, they brought me pie!!! Yum. I can't believe they let them bring that on the plane. Then he told me about the guy at the game who was holding nachos and caught a foul ball. That's about all he told me about the trip. Typical Brantley.

Swimming Update

As you have noticed, I have not posted in a while. Not only is summer just plain busy, I have a new job, and we have decided to move. Whew. Too much going on. But, it's all exciting.

At camp, they gave Brantley a red necklace. The necklace was to remind him which slide he could go on in the pool since he can't swim. Today, I noticed a green necklace as I was signing him out and I asked him why the change in color. He said because he passed his swim test!!! YAY! I'm so proud of him. Since he passed the swim test, he gets to go on the other slide. He did say he was a little afraid to go on it though. I told him he could wait since he still has more swim lessons to go through, then maybe he'll be more comfortable going down that slide. Way to go Brantley!!

Fishin'

We have spent the last 2 weekends visiting with my parents and other family. This time, we got to go visit my Aunt Artie. She is my great aunt, which makes her Brantley's great-great aunt. (Actually, I'm not positive of the lineage...I've always known her as aunt Artie.) They live on a 23-acre homestead with a log cabin and a large pond for fishing. So, we went fishing. Me and Taylor caught a couple fish each. I lost track of how many Nathan caught. Brantley didn't catch any fish, he only caught himself. Yes, you read that correctly. He caught himself just below his lip. The barb of the hook didn't go in...thank goodness. Brantley was pretty freaked out. I carried him inside telling him to calm down. It bled quite a bit but stopped pretty quickly. We cleaned it up with some peroxide and he was fine after he calmed down. We'll have to keep an eye on it until it heals. He was just upset that he didn't catch any fish. He did ride in the paddle boat with dad after the accident. I think he enjoyed that. Here's a picture before the accident and a picture with aunt Artie.

Swimming...WOW!

Well, another fun filled day at camp. Today, Brantley said he got to ride the horses, go kayaking, and play hockey. He also had a swim lesson today. I took him to the pool after dinner so he could show me what he learned. He went down in the water! I thought, "Oh my god, he's going to drown right here." He kicked and paddled and came back up. He was fine! He can swim under water without holding his nose!!! He's not as good above water, but Wow! He is swimming. And, he's jumping in the pool without his ring. We are talking air time here when he jumps in now. I guess swimming is just like everything else, they do it when they are ready.

Summer Camp Update

Well, week 2 has begun. Man, the days of summer really are long. Brantley must be napping on the bus because I still can't get him in bed at a decent time. This week he is taking swim lessons at camp. He said that he was almost swimming today. He thinks he'll be able to swim by the end of the week. We'll see how that goes. He also got to play tennis today. He said he hit one out of the court to which daddy told him that's not the object in tennis. He needs to stick to baseball. On another note, I had bought 3 different backpacks to try out for camp. We ended up with a pull behind because the pack was just too heavy with all the stuff in it. I don't know if that thing is going to make it though the week. It already has holes in it!!! The bad thing is that we are not putting anything extra in there. It's a towel, his lunch, a water bottle and a change of clothes.

Summer Camp

Well, today was the first day of summer camp. Brantley has never been one to tell me much about his day, but I think he had a good time. He said he didn't get to ride the horses, he did get in the pool, and they will be doing different activities each day. He saw 2 kids from his kindergarten class and a girl from preschool. None of them are in his group though. According to the schedule, he went to the ranch, the games pavilion and had beach time. Tomorrow's schedule includes the splash park, pontoon boat and archery. I wish I could go. :) Oh, I just realized that is a sample schedule. Still, sounds like fun activities.

Sleepover Birthday Party

Brantley went to a camping birthday party last night. There were 10 boys there. I told the mom I thought she was nuts! We didn't get any phone calls and he had a great time. He was ready to go this morning, although it looked like he was still having a great time playing. We came home and he wanted to wash my car, so we did. Before we finished though, he took off inside. After a few minutes, I poked my head in the door and asked what he was doing. He was crying and upset and asked me to come see something. I took off my wet flip flops and came in. He had come down the stairs and was naked. He pointed at his groin area and was crying and asked what that was. He had a tiny tick that had bitten him (lower abdomen area so not on his privates). This was the first tick that had bitten him and he didn't know what it was and was afraid it would stay there. I tried to calm him down. We went upstairs and got the tweezers. I completely blanked on how to get a tick out. We put some alcohol on it. It was hanging on pretty good but I was able to get the head out without it breaking off or anything. We did a head-to-toe tick check after that. I told him it was a good thing we just cut his hair -otherwise it would have been tough to check his scalp in all his thick hair. He did ask me though, "Mom, how did it get there if I wasn't naked?" I was surprised that it had crawled all the way up under his underwear but I explained that it was tiny and had no problem crawling under his clothes. It must have been a long night, because he is passed out on the couch right now.

Baseball is over...

Well, we had our final game for the season. We ended it with a pot luck dinner and trophy presentation. After that, we had a pick-up game of whiffle (sp?) ball between the kids and the dads (and at least one of the moms!). The kids had a great time trying to get their dads out. Brantley got elbowed by one of the kid's older brother when trying to get the ball that Lawson hit. His lip was bleeding but but I think he was more upset that he wasn't able to get his dad out because of that inconsiderate big kid.

School's Out for Summer (music needed)

I need to figure out how to make music play when you open my page. Oh well. Brantley learned a new song. He said he learned it from the kids on the bus. He was pretending to play his guitar as he sang it to me. Very cute. I'll have to get him to do it again so I can get a clip. Here it is:



When I think about rain
I think about singing
when I think about singing
it's a heavenly tune
When I think about heaven
I think about angels
When I think about angels
I think about you.


It's hard to believe that kindergarten is over. Brantley has grown up so much over the school year. He is a totally different child today from that first day of kindergarten. He's adding and subtracting numbers, writing sentences and reading. Not that I am that old, but I don't remember anything by playing in centers and naptime in kindergarten. What are your kindergarten memories?

Sounds

Brantley and his dad went to the Sounds game today and Brantley got a foul ball that went to the bleachers. He said he raced and adult to get it. While they were at the game, I spent 3 hours in the yard pulling weeds and trimming plants.

Game Highlights: Mariners v. Red Sox

Brantley played first base and got an out.

Game Highlights: Mariners v. Cubs

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but another great game with the Mariners today. Brantley got on the tee for his first at bat. I think he was a little nervous because his aunt and uncle were watching him and he really wanted to show them his stuff. But, he made up for it later in the game with an awesome hit that went out of the fence. Well, it rolled on the ground and went under the fence. But still, it was out of the field!! He also got an out on second base during the game. It was hot out there today and we had to keep telling him to drink water. I don't think he drank enough water today because he isn't feeling well tonight. I'm forcing him to drink water and I gave him some tylenol in case it's a virus or something. If he ends up with strep again, I think I will scream, but I wouldn't be surprised.