There's No Place Like Roam

We have had a raccoon family visiting for the past few days. We have only seen the male once, but the mom and two babies are coming so often that we named them...Coonie, Itsy and Bitz. They come because we feed a "neighborhood cat" on our deck and they help him clean his bowl. The cat was popping the little raccoons in the nose, so the mom came up with a better plan!

I hesitated to post this, but it's just so amazing to me! Hunter received what is possibly his last reading assessment in elementary school (5th grade). His scores are incredible, but what makes this so unbelievable to me - is where we were 4 years ago.  In first grade, this child struggled with sight words EVERY NIGHT. Seriously, there were tears 4-5 nights per week. Hour long tear filled, flash card sessions...daily. When I look at where Graham is now in 1st grade...reading/sounding out almost every word in front of him with ease...I truly realize how far Hunter has come! So what these results say (to the best of my understanding) is that Hunter is in the 5th grade, 4th month of school (GP 5.44) and tests at a grade equivalent of 12.9+ (compared to other students nationally). He's in the 98/99th percentile and can comprehend up to 80% of 11.4th grade material. So proud of his progress and so grateful for his 1st grade teacher, Ms. Shavon Diggs, who encouraged me to keep going...

At the last minute, Hunter and I decided to join some friends at the 1st Full Moon Hike of 2016 at Harrison Bay State Park. We got a late start and had to drive carefully because the roads were a bit icy. We ended up finding the trailhead about 5 minutes after the Ranger and other hikers had started the hike. Some other Rangers and a teacher-friend from Wallace told us to go ahead and they would follow behind in a few more minutes. "Just keep right" they said. About 150 yards in, the path Y'd off...we kept right. The path was a bit muddy and had some cool ice formations. We couldn't seem to catch up to the group, but we were enjoying ourselves. About 3/4 a mile in, there was a loop to the right...it looked like it just went over to the water and came right back to join the trail, so we just stayed straight and didn't waste time with the extra loop. We walked and walked and walked. It got dark...it got muddy. It got muddier - like shin deep icy mud, with briars bei...

We participated in the 1st Hike initiative sponsored by the National Park System. One of our nearby state parks had a midnight hike, so we counted down to 2016 while we were hiking. It was fun for us all and we learned about the TN State Park Adventure Challenge 2016, and I think we are going to give it a go!

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was a wonderful blur. The boys have video games to last an entire year! They also received a marble run, some Legos and a Spirograph set. Lots of board games too. Presents were slim for mom and dad because we were forced to buy a Christmas range! Yippie!  

So this Christmas it was 75 degrees. It rained, and rained and rained. Almost 8 inches in 24 hours near our family in Alabama. We pass Noccalula falls every time we visit "home". I was surprised to see the parking lot full, as it had just stopped drizzling. Then I realized that they were looking at the falls. The last few times we stopped, it was barely a trickle, but the boys had fun playing on the rocks. Not this time! You couldn't even see the rocks and the bridge was partially underwater.  I went biking on Sunday and took this picture of the Chickamauga dam. That's a lot of water!

This is our 5th consecutive year to visit the Enchanted Garden of Lights at one of our favorite local places, Rock City. It was foggy and drizzling, but that just made the lights glow! It was beautiful. Graham was so excited to see Santa and Carter put up with it. ;-) I ❤️ traditions!

To be honest, we aren't die hard sports fans. Hunter has been asking to go to a college football game, but with soccer it had been hard to fit it in. My alma mater, Jacksonville State University, made it to the semi-finals in their division, so we took the opportunity to go. They whooped Sam Houston and will play their playoff game in January. The boys had a great time and I loved seeing the Marching Southerners!

The coolest indoor rock climbing place was built in Chattanooga 2 years ago. I wanted to go so bad, but just never made it a priority. The kids begged to go over Thanksgiving, so we took the guys and cousin Patrick. Because we had to supervise their climbing...I STILL didn't get to do it!

Starbucks, Subway and a SmartPhone...yep, he's a teenager! 

Hunter played soccer again this fall. His team won all games except one. It was a rainy season, but we finally wrapped it up in November. Hunter wouldn't let me take ANY pictures until the very last game. Hunter's magic knee. It prevented a few scores in the last game.  He even tried his first Starbucks (PSL) as a reward.

Continuing the family tradition of dressing in theme, we tried Star Wars this year. Carter was on the fence about trick or treating, but we assured him that he should get in his last pre-teen year while he could!  We went to a new "employee-sponsored" event at VW and it was awesome. Trunk or treat, food trucks, pumpkin carving, bounce houses and a dance floor. We hope to decorate a car in the trunk or treat next year! Jason's spooky pumpkin!

We continued our pumpkin patch tradition after our move to TN...we are so glad to have found Old McDonalds farm! There are so many things for bigger kids to do - I even tell Jason he will have to bring me after the kids are grown.

We were able to have a fall session with our favorite Chattanooga photographer, Pleasant Vonnoh. Jason had a special request for the first shot. ;-)

I took a day off work to attend a field trip to the Civil War tunnel in GA, and then we left the field trip with several of Hunter's friends and headed to Superfly. We finished up with CiCi's. They all had a good time celebrating Hunter's 11th.

I attended Graham's first field trip of the year...a ride aboard the Southern Belle riverboat. It was a little chilly, but the kids had a great time. It was my first ride as well, so I enjoyed checking that off of my Chattanooga bucket list!

There has been more car swapping going on around here than normal! Jason turned on his convertible Audi and we bought a Tundra 4x4....with the intention of keeping it FOREVER...(we'll see about that!). ;-) Also, my van lease was ending and VW stopped making the Routan, so we went with a Golf Sportwagen until they start producing the CrossBlue. Boy oh boy are we already missing the three rows. "He's on MY SIDE!!!" is the new favorite phrase around here. 

After attending the Lookouts game, we headed back to the parking deck. We were only parked on the 2nd floor, but Hunter and Graham raced onto the elevator to "push the buttons". Carter and I were already headed up the stairs, so Jason joined them. Carter and I made it to the car and then realized they rest of the group never got off the elevator.  After 10 minutes of Jason having no luck with the buttons and in elevator phone, I called 911. The fire department arrived on scene and has them out in less than 15 minutes from the time I called. We were very grateful!  Graham was very unhappy because he felt like it was his fault, but Jason kept them entertained. Now they enjoy retelling the story.

We continued a fun tradition with the Gunnoe family. They drove up to watch the Lookouts, Chattanooga's minor league team. We all had a great time...and ice cream!:-)

So this is the second year in a row that all three boys are in different schools. A nightmare for mom, but the boys enjoy having their own turf.