Ziplining, the fair, and a taste of fall.

When my mom started physical therapy with Spencer over a year ago, he asked her what some of her goals were. She told him one goal was to zipline across the Chattahoochee River.

This right here is a picture of my mom achieving her goal!!!!

 She was so brave! And we were so happy (including Dobby!!) to be there with her as she did it!

 The next day it was "that time of year" again - the time when all of Perry shuts down for the GA National Fair!

Claire, we believe, was inspired by my mom's courage on the zipline. She has always been afraid to ride the bigger rides at the fair, but that day she looked at me and said, "I'm going to overcome all my fears today. I'm going to have fun."

It didn't hurt that Miss Madison was there with us to face her fears with her!

Enjoying a funnel cake before heading home...

And in other news, even though it was still 99 degrees, at least the leaves thought it was fall in the backyard. (*photography by Claire)

Soccer!

Well, another sweltering soccer season is in the books! This year all three played Upward soccer, which was a treat because it was Owen's first team sport! In other words, it was the moment that Owen has been waiting for since he was born, as indicated by this face of pure intensity that he wore every single time his team ran through the tunnel to start their game.

 Owen was all in. He had a great season and seemed to love every second of playing with his team, even though he was the youngest and smallest.

And then there was the time his shoe flew off in the middle of a game.

His friend Trey helped him put it back on but neither of them knew how to tie it.

Meanwhile, Claire was all intensity on the big field.

She played hard, listened to her coach, was a leader on the field, and improved throughout the season...

In other words, all the things that we have come to expect from Claire.

And then there was AK!

In the words of her coach, AK played the whole season as a "Johnny on the Spot" - she seemed to pop up all over the field at the right time, whenever she was needed.

I don't know that I've ever seen her put in so much effort even in the heat...

And I wish I had gotten a picture, but when the whistle blew to end the period you could always find her sprawled out on the ground under the bench, recovering in true AK style.

I'm proud of all three of these kiddos and the lessons they learned this soccer season!