One last basketball game with friends

The movers came and boxed us up.

Day 1: I promise our children do not normally consume sodas and play video games all day. Remember this was a manly trip…which really just means that I was not there, so don’t blame me. 😉

California: Do you see the train going into the tunnel? Look closely.

hangin’ with friends

There was an Avengers thing-a-majig going on there,.

And Caleb’s turn

Next Stop: North Rim of the Grand Canyon!!

Before the trip they thought the Grand Canyon was worth skipping. Ha! They get it now.

And on the road again…

I love these window landscape shots. The Southwest is uniquely beautiful.

This one made me laugh. Bless their hearts. Buy them some sunglasses!!

Once you finish chuckling over their eye covers, check out the FOUR CORNERS behind them: You can be in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado all at the same time.

I’m thinking this is probably Colorado. I wasn’t there, and Alan’s outside building a trampoline, so I can’t ask him. Poor Alan. So glad I’m not the one with the big muscles that builds things.

Mesa Verde National Park

As I mentioned before, we learned about these Anasazi cliff-dwellers in school this year, so what a perfectly timed field trip.

When do I get to go see this because I want to too!

This part would have been my favorite!

On the road again, just can’t wait to get back on the road again….

Next Stop: Oklahoma City

It just might’ve been his best birthday ever. And no, we’ve never been Braves fans, but I thought it went along with the whole becoming Southern thing. He approved. He also loved his bat bag and baseball cards.

They went to an OKC Dodgers (minor league baseball) game. Caleb is crazy for baseball this year.

It was a double-header, so Alan even got them a hotel where they could watch the game from their hotel room. Nice!

Well, iHop is a close second. Mmmm

Oh yeah, and Alan also took them to Pops, a soda pop factory/store. (Thanks for all the ideas, Greg!) They brought back a cooler full of sodas too. I might as well go ahead and schedule their dental appointments. No, it hasn’t been a full 6 months, but there was this trip.

On to Arkansas…

By this point, Alan was speeding the trip along, so they just whipped right through Arkansas, and on to Tennessee:

We were all intrigued to see what this giant pyramid was, and it turned out to be a BASS PRO SHOPS!! Haha!

And no trip to Bammer is complete without a visit to Bryant-Denny. (That’s the University of Alabama football stadium, for all you non-southerners or non football fans.)

They had to shield their eyes from the glitter of all those national championship trophies. hehe Roll Tide!

And finally, they arrived and reunited with Mom and little brothers!

We enjoyed being together for a couple of days, all of us as a family in our new house. But our work is not done. Alan, Joshua, and Caleb are over at my parents’ house, helping them move, and Joshua and Caleb are going to stay for the rest of the week. They are super excited because the Wii died in the fire, so Grandaddy has promised to buy an x-box for their house.

Happy Summer, y’all!!

The post Cross-Country Road Trip 2016: Cali to Bama in a Pick-Up Truck appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

That’s me, wearing my Bama team spirit on Daniel’s actual birthday because 1. I hate hospital gowns. and 2. Roll Tide!

Today is the big Alabama versus Auburn game. Most of you know what a big deal that is in my home state.

But our boys? They just don’t get it yet. Even Joshua and Caleb haven’t lived in the state of Alabama, for more than a couple of months, since they were in diapers.

Daniel, in an Auburn helmet…Bless him.

Last year, I mentioned on Facebook that I’m super excited that Joshua finally dropped the, “I’m a Virginia Tech fan,” bit and embraced Bama ball.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  Then one of my college friends pointed out that my job was not done. Huh? Not done?  She said it wasn’t done because my children barely know who Auburn is, and by their age, they should already detest all things blue and orange.

Hilarious. Love you, Elizabeth.  “Oh, that’s right,” I thought, “I sort of forgot about that intense rivalry part, and how my boys are missing out on that action.”

So this year I decided to work on that, as I DO want them to be proper Alabama boys, even if they never get to live in the Yellowhammer state. Isn’t it funny how competitive we fans can be?  It’s all so funny, because we as fans have nothing to do with whether our team wins or loses. And yet, I love it.

At the beginning of this season, as we DVR’d the first Alabama game, I marched myself downstairs to prep the boys….

“Hey, boys, are ya’ll ready for the game?”

They nonchalantly responded, “Huh? Oh, Alabama football. Yeah, okay.”

Sigh. “Come on, boys! We love Bama football games. We’re the best. We’re always winning. This is fun!”

They stared back blankly.

“But you know who we hate??”

They scrunched their eyebrows, highly confused. What is Mom saying? Hate is supposed to be a bad word, right?

Then Joshua spoke up, “Ohhh. I know. You’re talking about that team. Like Au- something, with the logo where the U crosses the A.”

Light dawned on Caleb, “Oh, yeah, I know that too. But do we have to watch the ball game, or can we just go jump on the trampoline?”

“Yeah, but..”

……Then from upstairs I hear my wise and kind husband, “April! Can you come up here, please?”

Busted. I’m pretty sure I know what this is about.

Drat.

I walk into our room, and Alan shakes his head, “April, I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to teach the boys to hate Auburn. That’s not going to do them any good. We don’t want to teach them to hate anything or anybody. Besides, we have good friends and family that are Auburn fans, and I just don’t think that’s right for you to teach them hatred of anything. You can tell them that Auburn is our arch rival, but you CANNOT use the word ‘hate.’ That is just a really bad idea.”

Sigh. “Okay.  Fine. Sorry. It wasn’t that I was….I was just… I mean they don’t really know about….oh, I’ll go fix it.”

“Boys! We don’t really hate Auburn…not really, but we DO want to beat them in football, but they’re not bad. I mean they’re okay…..But we don’t hate anybody, okay? Hate is bad.”

“Okay, Mom. Can we have a snack?”

me, wearing some Big Al, in 2000.

Now, just for the record I don’t really believe a word of that nicey/sweetie stuff I told the kids. TODAY is the DAY, and I HOPE we SMASH Auburn to bits. They are an obnoxious speed bump on our way to National Championship. And it never matters who has the better team–you just never know what’s going to happen at the Iron Bowl.

I got my Bachelor of Science degree from Alabama, and I will be loyal forever.  ROLL TIDE!!

The post The Iron Bowl: No Hatred Allowed Here appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Look who’s 8 months old!

I have had so little rest and even less actual sleep the past…5 or 6 days that it’s affecting my ability to function.

Remember my attitude adjustment that I mentioned in a previous post?  (Just click on those words for a reminder.)  Well, I haven’t forgotten my lesson yet.  I haven’t lost my thankful heart.  Once again, my problems are direct results of my blessings:

1.  4 little boys

2.  a very very very very busy weekend of fun activities with friends and our children

My head is still recovering from it because I was robbed of my beloved day of rest.  (Sunday)  I’m telling you, God rested on the 7th day for a reason, and we should too!!!!!

This Sunday we had:  church, people came and looked at our house (for rent)…..so we had to keep it more neat, Joshua’s team went to the second round of basketball play-offs–and won!, and then to tie it all up we had a cub scout banquet Sunday night.

I am not letting another Sunday like that happen.  Lesson learned.  My eyes literally hurt because they’re so heavy with drowsiness.   But I will refrain from further whinage.  MacBook doesn’t think whinage is a word.  Well, it so should be!

Everything we did this weekend was a lot of fun, so I have no right to complain anyway….except the cleaning….that’s necessary, but I don’t know if I’d call it fun.

OH, and Joshua will be in round three–the championship–of the basketball play-offs this coming Saturday!  Exciting!

I just want to share this ONE photo with you, and I warn you:  If you are our family, you will die, if you are a Southerner, you will get it, and if you don’t really know anything about Alabama football…..I’m sorry…..this will be lost on you:

Bless him. He didn’t know. ; )

Okay….I made that up….he didn’t actually say Roll Tide,but see there, I wrote it ON THE PICTURE, so all posterity will believe that he did.  baaaaahahahahaha  That’s right.  I too can be an evil genius.  ; )

Oh, there’s the baby, gotta go….

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