Our "New" House

before

after. . .
And we LOVE it!!

Mom & Dad's New Pool

Scott took the boys home to Snellville on Saturday while I slept. They spent practically the entire afternoon in their new pool. Isn't it beautiful!?! I can't wait to get in there this weekend :)

Visiting Baby Abigail

The girls got together at Tara & Joey's (aka the Love Shack) to help welcome baby Abigail into the world. Beckham was so excited to come along. Joey made some delicious wings on the grill. Yum!

We're so happy for you both! Welcome to parenthood :)

The Pursuit of Hockeyness

(Guest Post by Scott)

And so it begins, the first of what will hopefully be many installments written by yours truly regarding what it is like to start from scratch at 30 years old, playing a sport that most who play begin at age 4.

There are several reasons for this undertaking, firstly I like the idea of trying something completely new. I have no guide for this, no friends who play, and no one to show me the ropes. This is a difficult sport to start playing. Challenge accepted.

Secondly, we have two boys who might want to give it a shot seeing as we watch every Pens game and Beckham already knows a number of the players. Dad should know how to skate and dominate if he wants to teach his boys.

And finally hockey is just awesome. If Atlanta still had a team I would say to fork over the money, sit on the glass and then tell me it isn't unreal.

Lessons learned in 3.5 month of teaching myself to hockey skate:

1. Ice is hard as f*ck: Try not to fall on it. Little kids have about 2 feet to fall until ass hits ice. Grown men fall 6 feet or so and it hurts like hell.

2. The cool, sliding "hockey stop" that players do is not as easy as it looks: It took me about 3 months to figure it out and I'm still not great at it.

3. Being 30 and skating by yourself on a rink full of kids does not make you creepy: Because there will always be an old Canadian guy wearing spandex and a Whalers Jersey to make you seem more normal.

In 3.5 months I can obviously go forward, I can slide to a stop, turn mid stride and go backwards, and do the sweet backwards cross-overs that make you look like you know what you are doing. It may not be as graceful as some folks but it gets better every time I'm out there. We'll get some video on the next post.

So in September the next Adult league begins. I will most likely be placed in the beginner league which would be perfect since I have never played but you have to start somewhere, right? The league does have evaluations and it will be interesting to be nervous/anxious about playing a sport again; it will be awesome to have that feeling.

No turning back now, cash money has been spent on pads and equipment, the hay is in the barn at this point and it is time to announce my presence with authority. I'll keep you posted.

Pittsburgh: part 4

Thursday evening was spent with all the family. We went out to dinner for Grandma Tootsie's birthday (which was Friday) and back to her house for pie and visiting.

The kids had popsicles on the front porch.

And in true Parker style, the Scrabble board was broken out for one last battle. Everyone except our little family left Friday morning- Tim and Brandon for home, Bobby and Amy and Nancy and her family for the beach. Scott and I went on a hunt for some Pittsburgh paraphernalia and ice skates during the day. We found this awesome little hole in the wall shop called "House 'O Hockey" where Scottie bought an awesome pair of new skates. We had Frish's chicken at Grandma's for dinner and played some dice. Though the rest of the family was missed, it was nice to sit and visit with Grandma and Aunt Patsy one last time.

We left before the crack of dawn Saturday morning. Again, the boys were angels in the car. We couldn't have asked for a better trip to Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh: part 3

Wednesday was spent at Kennywood with almost the entire family. For weeks now Beckham has asked us to talk about Pittsburgh and Kennywood at bed time. He has been dreaming of the day he would get to ride his first roller coaster and play carnival games. As soon as we walked through the gate, he spotted The Jack Rabbit and wanted to get on. I think I was more anxious about him riding it than he was. The ride takes a picture of you (in which he looked terrified), but he was jumping for joy and wanted to go again!

We didn't go right away, though. Instead he rode the Log Jammer. Again with the jumping for joy. He couldn't have been more excited to ride all the rides he had heard so much about :)

We all got lunch and fiested before going on any other rides. We had hotdogs, hot sausage, chicken strips, and Potato Patch fries. With full stomachs, we all took a ride on the train and got to hear all about the wonderful history of Kennywood.

After that, we split up from the rest of the family and took the boys to Kiddie Land for a couple hours.

They rode the helicopters. . .
the turtles. . .the spinning cups. . .the airplanes. . .the ferris wheel. . .
(Beckham had to stand in line twice for the ferris wheel. He had a meltdown the first time when he didn't get the blue car. After standing in line a second time without riding, he got to ride in the pink car- haha!)the merry-go-round. . .
the water fountain. . .the merry-go-round (with a happy child). . .

the Whipper-Snapper. . .
(We got a great video but it was too long to download on Blogger.)
the elephant. . .and the swings.Scott also took Beckham on the Auto Racer.The family met back up and we enjoyed some nice cold slushies.After cooling down a little we took a ride on the Raging Rapids where Beckham and I went completely under the waterfall. Joy!Aunt Janet arrived and we ate some dinner. After dinner, Jackie and Madison showed up and we rode the carousel.Uncle Bob and Aunt Amy took Beckham on the Kangaroo.Scott rode with Brando and Jackie.Jackie and I let the adults split off to ride more "big" rides while we took Madison and Brooks to Kiddie Land.Brooks wasn't digging riding anything that I couldn't ride with him.After screaming on the helicopter (which he ended up not riding), the swings, and the elephant, he was saying "weeeeee" on the trolly, boat, and spinning cups.Scott showed up with Beckham who was more than willing to ride things with Madison.Then over to the carnival games for more fun (and awesome stuffed animals that came home with us- yay!).Of course, we finished off the day with funnel cakes. We showed up at 11am for the opening of the park and left at 9:30pm, 30 minutes before the close of the park. The boys were so well behaved and happy all day. Brooks even managed a nap somewhere in there (thanks to Uncle Rick for sitting with him).