AHG Father Daughter Dance - Fly Away to Neverland

Magan does such an amazing job with this event each year, I can't really say enough.  All I have to do is wear whatever the girls want me to wear to match the theme, enjoy watching them have the time of their lives dancing with friends, and for a few moments get to have some moments on the dance floor with those sweet girls.  I don't know how many hours are put into this event, but the kids all chip in...making the London sky, making the balloon arch, helping with the centerpieces.  

Me and Granddaddy take turns with our dates each year, and this year little Tinkerbell Ruby was my date and Sweet Wendy Belle was with Granddaddy.  We again held the event at the Greystone Country Club and felt slightly out of place in the parking lot with our Honda Odyssey next to the porches, BMWs, and Range Rovers.  In the dance, Magan had glitter (pixie dust) for the girls hair, and Granny helped man the crafts table.  

Ruby was surprisingly shy at first running to the dance floor, then running straight back with her hands all sweaty.  Even with her new friend Kennedy out there dancing, she was just too nervous to get out there.  But that did not last long.  Our meal included Chicken Fingers, Green Beans, and Mac&Cheese...the finer things of life.  Magan caught one picture where I tried to eat with my hook hand.  I also realized I could not eat with all that hair that kept hanging down in my plate.  After the meal, we had a fun "lead out" walking through all the other girls waving magic wands.  

And then we had some dance instructors that tried to teach us some sort of waltz, but it was not very pretty.  It was fun, and it would have been nice to have learned a dance, but I seriously don't remember one thing except it was taking a little longer than usual, and do we want to do another walk through, or just go ahead and play the music.   "Dear me, Play that music, and let's make this happen".   I didn't say that, but some milder version that implied, "we are ready, play that music DJ".  After learning the dance, it turned into what is always the most fun for the girls, just free dancing on the floor...having fun with friends...and all of that was even made better as Magan and Crystal wound around the dance floor with bubble machines.  One of my favorites, and I am dreading the day when I won't be the date for these girls anymore...but I am so happy that Granny and Granddaddy can join us...and seeing my dad with his smiles makes me look forward to perhaps another dance beyond the horizon with some other little girls I have not met yet.  

Dear me Anabelle, you are getting so big, and it scares me.  You are so beautiful.  As I write, I have to pause slightly cause your dad is emotional.  And my little Roo, we just got back from Kennedy's birthday party at the Bowling Alley, and you are so much fun.  Haha, do you remember trying to teach me the BFF handshake that you and Leyton put together.  I just could not get it, but it was worth trying to hear your big laughs with each of my mistakes.  Love these Father Daughter Dances.  Thanks Mom for all you do to make them so special!

Davis turns 15!

The kid that has been looking to drive since he was born now has a permit.  I did a lot better this year, my mind seems to finally be taking hold of the 2/19 birthday, after several internal struggles for years with him being born on 2/17.  I was excited to see him open his big present...I had snuck off in Hollywood Studios on our last day and purchased a nice case for his light saber (and another kyber crystal) and had it shipped to the house.  It was fun to see his face as it is harder and harder to surprise him, but he was very happy for the case, and I could finally stop talking him out of buying different wall hangers.  He kept wanting something to display it, but I wanting to surprise him, so I kept pushing off anything he said he wanted on Amazon.  

Happy Birthday Davis, or just hope you are having a good day if you ever happen to read this.  You are often working right across from me now that my desk is here in the dining room.  I like seeing your big smile, hearing you work with others and help them with studies, even tho I often think you are talking to me.  I am continually amazed at how you seem to have an uncanny ability to destroy your dad at Nerdle and Wordl every day.  And sometime over the last 2 or 3 years, you went from struggling in classes to acing almost every one (Yeah, I know Spanish is tough).  It is weird to have to tell you to "Pull Back, You are working way to hard", but you were up till 1AM last night studying for tests again.   And hopefully you are still doing as good as always, but if you are staying up till 1AM for work, "PULL Back, You are working way to hard".  I love you buddy, your balance of immature love of toys and games with super crazy knowledge of how all things work blows my mind, but makes you a pretty cool kid in my book.  I continually ask your mom all the time when you are not there..."How does Davis know about everything?"

I can't wait till our next fishing trip (Maybe I need your Sarcasm Society t-shirt).  And me, mom and Sam are excited about your other big present...a trip to see Nate Bargatze at the Alabama Theater.  

Superbowl Party

No big stories, just the Rawls and Ms. Lisa joining us to watch a game with teams that no one in this house really cared for.  But it is football, and football is fun to watch.  At least it was for the guys.  The girls (mainly Lisa, Magan and Lauren) turned this into a competition about who was the prettiest...Joe Burrow, Matt Stafford, or Cooper Kupp.  So while they decided who would get the rose, we watched as the amazing defense of the Rams shut down the Bengals.  During the halftime show, we found out Magan and Brandon are the best at remembering West Coast Rap lyrics, with Brandon having a slight lead.  So the Rams became the SuperBowl Champs, but if you are wondering, Joe Burrow won the pretty boy contest.  

Mercedes Kid's Marathon...Run Ruby Run

 As mentioned in some of the Disney blogs, I still have a love for these marathons, and even the kids marathon with the mercedes expo at Boutwell is super exciting.  And I love love love that little Ruby still likes to run in this race.  Hahaha...I asked Anabelle about joining the track team because her friend Jillian recently joined...you should have seen her look.  :)  I will admit I was a little sad when I asked Ruby this year if she wanted me to run with her again.  "No, I want to do it myself" she replied.  

This was an exciting day, as I had to pick up Ruby and Anabelle from the AHG sleepover this morning before we went to the race.  And we were already a little behind, then found out that Mom needed Anabelle at Asbury to help with the Kidsmarket sale.  And the boys had my van at Oak Mountain to go bike riding, so me and ruby jumped in the Honda Civic and sped towards downtown running very late.  We were able to park in the deck right next to Boutwell and then ran into Linn Park to find all the other white shirts (2nd Graders).  I knew we were late when we did not see ANY white shirts, and a large line of blue shirts (1st Graders) at the starting line.  Dragging Ruby thru the massive crowds, I found a gap near the front, and told Ruby to push her way thru..."Last call for White Shirts" was announced at almost this exact moment.  Ruby was a trooper tho, she made her way to the front and then was gone before I knew it.  Luckily on our mad dash to the line, I had a quick discussion about where she was to meet me after the race (They lock the kids in well, and have designated gates, but Ruby knew to go to Gate 0).  

So now my goal was to get some video of Ruby making the final turn of the race, and the best place to do this is across the road, and the only way to cross the road is about a 1/4 mile trek back to Boutwell and up the other side of Linn Park.  Which I made the whole time thinking Ruby will finish in about 10 minutes, I better hurry.  And I did, I made it to the perfect spot to see her finish.  I had my camera ready, and watched as kid after kid after kid passed by...then I saw Ashley Williamson, a good friend from High School I haven't seen in about 4 years...quick hug and then she was off to pick up her 2nd Grader.  Ok, back to the kids.  Did I mention they were all wearing the same shirt?  But I had my camera in the perfect position to catch her rounding the corner..."Dad...Dad...DAD!" I heard from directly at my elbow.  She had passed right by that corner and had actually stopped right next to me.  "Yeah, Ruby!" I cheered for her.  But she had to finish the race, even tho I tried to get her to stop for a quick picture.  Haha, she had already stopped just to get my attention.  That was ok, I turned to video to catch her running this last stretch, and actually ran with her to capture this fun moment.  When she turned towards the finish line, I looked down at my camera and realized I had forgot to push to start the video.  

After the race, we had our own Daddy Ruby fun day enjoying the runners expo, picking up all the free stuff we could get.  We got to lift some heavy weights and show our support for the upcoming World Games coming to Birmingham.  And even got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Vulcan.  Afterwards, we continued with mercedes marathon tradition, and visited Jim n Nicks for lunch.  I just asked Ruby what she remembered from this day...first thing was the "dad dad DAD" story, but the second was that she got BBQ sauce on her new shirt and medal at that meal.  And then when she finally got to wear her medal to school the next Friday, guess what they were having at lunch?  BBQ sandwiches.  And guess what happened?  Yep, Sauce again.  I love days like this, always fun to have some one on one time with each of the kids.  Oh, and she ran the mile in 10:13...and yes, she did let me know that she could have been lower than 10 if she didn't have to stop to get my attention.  And No, I didn't get that picture directly below, but I did pay good money for it.  :)

AHG Sleepover at the Senior Center

So I think this was the girls first AHG sleepover event where neither mom or dad attended the sleepover part.  Which makes any details of the fun activities hard to capture.  I did get in one picture where I got to help the girls learn to play Goat Lord when I was dropping off Belle and Ruby.  And Magan stayed until 9PM helping the girls with the arts and crafts they were working on.  

So Ruby told me that the tenderhearts did a lot of dancing.  And they played a lot of games.  And we all watched Mighty Ducks, Chicken Little, and Enchanted.  And I know Mrs. Sharon kept them busy with special crafts throughout the night.  

Robotics Tournament

The Robotics Competition was a really difficult one this year.  The field and tasks to complete in the field was just confusing.  The bots did not really work together with other teams, but it ended up looking like a really bad battle bot competition.  Oh well, Sam and Davis still really love it, and I think Sam used the competition to just work on his coding skills, while Davis and Ava worked on building the bot.  I can't remember this other guys name, but he was there too.  These competitions are an all day event when we had to be in Montgomery by 7:30AM, and didn't have the first competition until after 9AM.  While the game is a little weird this year, it was fun to watch Sam and Davis come back from the first match and immediately look for ways they could improve the bot.  I am glad they have this activity together, and they are a pretty good team when working thru problems.  It was nice to eat lunch with Ava (Ava's older brother Luke is in the scout troop with the boys) and her dad for lunch.  And we had to leave the tournament early so that Sam and Davis could make it to their basketball game later that evening.  I think they ended up finishing in 2nd to last place, but it doesn't seem to phase them, they like participating, and they get a little bit better each year.