On the Water (well sort of)

Traditionally, we have spent Memorial Day sailing on the Chesapeake Bay with our friends Cindy and Doug. Unfortunately, due to our long July vacation and my husband's work schedule (I assumed that once he owned the business that he would just pay other people to do his work, isn't that what owning a business is??? Apparently not) we couldn't pull it off this year, but we couldn't not be on the water for Memorial Day. So what do you do when you are hundreds of miles from any significant body of water.....

(Raif attempting to teach Greyson the finer art of rock skipping. Greyson preferring the big rock/big splash approach)

So it wasn't the Chesapeake and it wasn't a catamaran sailing over the white caps, but we still had a blast spending the day on the water. We saw turtles and herons (and the occasional redneck) and even a fish or two. And Raif and I worked out our shoulder muscles especially with all the 'help' we got from our junior oarsmen.

School's Out For Summer!!!

(Add your Alice Cooper riff here)

Here is my darling Greyson on his last day of school.


BGA has a tradition at the end of the year called the Spirit Parade. Everyone decorates their cars and takes a 'victory' lap through downtown Franklin honking their horns, children out the windows and sunroofs, spraying silly string and waving goodbye to their friends. The lap through Franklin is about a 1/2 mile at most and then children climb back in and go on their way to summer fun. I thought I was doing a bang-up job with my dozen balloons tied to the roof of my car...


until I saw the other cars.


Clearly I have some work to do next year. There was even a Hummer stretch limo in the parade covered in blue and yellow.

Of course, our parade was a little shorter than all the others because of all the hundreds of BGA children, guess who the Franklin police pulled over for 'Child Endangerment,' oh yes that would be me. Seriously, Greyson was out the sunroof for about 1/2 mile and with all the school traffic we were going like 2 miles an hour....I could have hit an old lady with a walker and not bruised her. So there was a slight damper on the end of the year but we still had balloons on the car and the excitement of no more school uniforms for 3 months to lift our spirits!

The day after Greyson's last day came Quinn's, which was a bit more tame....


Since Susan Gray is year round there really isn't a last day of school per se, just a last day for Quinn. Her request for her last day was (wait for the shocker) that everyone in her class wear pink and that I bring in pink frosted heart cookies to share. It was a bittersweet moment for me. I honestly am so glad to be done with my 100 mile/day loop through Nashville picking up my kids but will miss all the Susan Gray teachers who after 3 years have become more like friends to me.

Welcome Summer.

One Last At Bat

(From the last games of the season)

When in Rome (or more accurately Tennesee)

I suspected something was up when I heard "Mommy, where is my prettiest dress-up dress?" And it pretty much was confirmed when 1 minute later I heard "Mommy, can I wear my suit?" But what they were up to exactly I didn't know. It didn't take long to find out though because no more than 10 minutes later two very giddy children came in to announce that they had just gotten married.

Now initially I wasn't too keen on my children marrying each other but then I thought well, Quinn wouldn't have to deal with the issue of whether she should or shouldn't change her name and I didn't have to worry about getting a son or daughter-in-law I wasn't fond of. So I figured I would go with it. Congratulations to the lovely couple...and don't they look lovely in their wedding pictures (especially notice Greyson's Don Johnson 80's style of not wearing a shirt under his suit jacket).

Cowboy Week - Grand Finale

The reason that we have had cowboys on the brain this week is that Greyson has been working furiously to get ready for the big last school assembly of the year "The Kindergarten Round-up". Obviously very aware of his theatrical talents, his teachers chose him as the cornerstone of the whole play. He played the wagon. All Mom prejudices aside, he did a really good job with his two lines. He said them clearly and with enthusiasm. Like all great actors he made me believe that he was the wagon. After the play came some classic cowboy songs like "Deep In the Heart of Frnaklin" (if Aunt Page had been dead she would have been turning over in her grave on that one) and "Home At My School". It was a great way to end the school year. Considering that on his first day he wouldn't even let go of Raif's arm to go up on stage the fact that he did so well at this play shows how much he has grown this year.

(riding in on his colorful steed)

(waiting with Ms. Kay for his moment)

(Everyone on the edge of their seats)

(Deep in the Heart of Franklin)

(Clearly singing in the chorus is not his thing)

All Aboard

Our favorite weekend destination, Cheekwood, had a new exhibit open, so of course we HAD to go, especially since the exhibit was near and dear to my son's heart....trains.

The artist created, completely out of wood, all the historic places in Tennessee and nestled them in between about six different railroad tracks.

Cowboy week continues