The Watts' Adventures

Georgia celebrates!!

Hunter crashed after a day of swimming. He stays underwater more than above water. His favorite thing to do is........ go to the pool. I NEVER argue about going to the pool. I meet up with my girlfriends and we always catch up on the gossip! Not much beats a long day at the pool!

Can you believe my baby is playing football?

And He Loves it!! He was about to give up our Kings Dominion trip thinking that his coach was going to give out uniforms that Saturday. After alot of explaining and alot of promising to call his coach as soon as we got home, he elected to take the chance. It was hilarious but he didn't think it to be the least bit funny. Hunter was one excited kid when he pulled up the following Monday night to see Coach Dawson passing out equipment. I think his exact words to his Dad were "Oh, yeah, we are hitting tonight, Dad!". He not only practices with his team on Saturdays and Mondays but joins Michael's team for Tues & Thurs. evening practices. Now.. have you read between the lines yet?????? We are back to practice on Sat, Mon, Tues & Thurs. That only leaves Wednesday evening for a good home cooked meal which is getting ready to be filled with Fall Baseball. Neither of the boys have committed to Fall Ball as they are too wrapped up in football. Suits me and we would love to have at least one night a week to lounge. Friday nights are usually reserved for cooking out and relaxing after all the running during the week!

And my other baby heads off to 5th.. 1 year away from going to Middle School.

My baby's first day as a 2nd grader!

The drop zone... Hunter, Michael, Chris & myself were among all of these thrill seekers.

Eating at our favorite place

(finally, i can upload pics.. shewww)

Ok, I have been here for an hour trying to down load pictures to this post but it's not happening.

I'll keep trying...

Meanwhile I will tell you about our thrill riding day. We all got up Saturday morning and headed for the trolly bus. It's great! Picks you up at the camp ground and drops you right off at the front door. We grab our maps, measured the kids and decide on where we were going. This year Michael's height was approved for EVERY Ride there! Hunter could ride everything I wanted him too and what he couldn't ride was fine with me! David, Cindy, Chris & Linda took off with Hunter & Layne while David's parents, Granny, & Jake took his kids. Michael and I on the other hand headed off for the Congo. Thrill ride city! Our first stop was the shock wave. Lots of flips and turns while running at speeds of light. It was awesome. Then we headed to the drop zone, Which seats 50-75 people rises to the top of a pole and you can see for miles and miles then litterally drops you to the ground. It is an awesome rush! He was chicken last year so he faced his fear this year and rode it like a pro. Off to the other oldie but goodie rides such as: the Rebel Yell, Grizzley, Anaconda, Hurler & a few more. Then we opted to meet up with David and gang for lunch. We ate at our favorite place: Chic-filet.. (ok so i don't know how to spell it, but you get the idea)

David, our boys, myself, Chris and Linda headed off to find more thrill rides. We revisited our previous rides so that Hunter could take the challenge. He rode them all: Drop Zone, Rebel Yell (backwards & forwards), The Grizzley, Hurler & Anaconda. We then went to Old Virginia for a little cooling off on the old faithful, log ride and white water canyon. It was great. We all came off soaking wet! After several hours of riding, we met back up with the rest of the crew to have dinner. We ate then back to riding. We saved the best for last. The new Italian Job ride. It was the best in my opinion. It was so good, we rode, got back in the 20 min line and rode again! I am thrilled that the boys like to ride as I'm a big thrill rider. I love it! I'm worse than the kids in theme parks. I want to stay all day.. open to close and they hung right with me. It was GREAT!

The boys had begged all day to play games. But I refused to carry around those prizes all day, so at the end of the night right before the park closed we played games. They both won big stuffed animals. We ended our night enjoying dipping dots ice cream.. then exited the park with 2 tired kids and 2 tired parents. We all got baths and crashed! It was a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again!!

Just being funny! I mean no harm.

The Story goes like this:

After me leaving the nest and establishing our home and family, my brother on the other hand still trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up, my Dad accepts a new job in Charlotte, NC. It wasn't easy for me to see my home I always knew, be packed up on tractor trailer headed to Charlotte. A new baby at my house and my parents fly the coop. Wow, I was nervous. Unbeknowing to me at the time, Charlotte was the place to be. My parents & Chad settled there and I went every chance that I could. They had great neighbors and I had found a party town with grandparent babysitters! Plenty of shopping and great eating places. We just loved it!I tried my best to talk David into moving but he wouldn't even discuss it. My brother got married and moved out of the nest and he was well on his way to being the family man, settling in Ringold, VA.

Then another phone call, "We are moving to Fayetteville, NC". Must have been the "empty nest syndrome". OMG, I thought, Fayetteville! A military town, never the less. Forgive me as I can't remember any years of all these moves. I lost count! After living in an appartment for a while, they built a huge home in Gates Four. It was beautiful and was seen as soon as you enter. My favorite part of visiting was to make the guards look our names up on the list. Do you think they ever did? Nope, I just told them we were on the Parrett's list. They believed us. Some guards huh? After living in the "big" house they decided to down size. Up the street and around the corner, during a hurricane, to the condos. This place was cute, small but not my mother's idea of a great place to live. It was real crowded at Christmas with all of our families growing so she begged my dad to buy a house. Oh, not far! Down the street, around the corner and in the bottom. Diagonally across was a 2 million $$ home with 500K dollars worth of landscape. Ok, maybe not exactly but I promise you, I'm close. LOL Now, how many of you have lived in 3 homes and never left the neighborhood? Kinda funny when I think about it. Mom, as with all of her other homes, decorates this one beautifully. All my grandmother's furniture now has a permanent place................................. Christmas at this house was much better, we all had our own space. After being in this home a year and finally settling in..........

I get another phone call: Dad's got a phone interview from New Jersey. With my mouth wide open and saying "he's bumped his head".. I patiently wait.. Couple of weeks go by and it isn't looking like anything is going to happen. I rest easier. The thought of my parents going North frightened me! Scarry, my Dad, "a Yankee"?????

The dreaded (mom, got it right, thanks for the email spell check lol) phone call from hell

Dad got an offer from New Jersey. Resting assured that the place would never accept his counter offer.. I sit patiently awaiting............ Ring Ring "We are moving to New Jersey, Your Dad starts July 17th". My heart stops beating, tears flow (as they are as I type this),my stomach turns to knots and I can't even think. All I can think about was that Dad would miss Michael's state tournament baseball game! After gathering my thoughts, ummm I didn't say much. Still haven't until now. Dad left that Sunday heading for Yankeeville. Mom packed him snacks to eat on the way and with directions in hand he headed north. Good ole Map Quest lead the way, saying it would only take about 8 hours or so, it ended up being a long 12. Men, being men, no need to stop to ask for directions.. just continue getting lost til you find what you are looking for. I did not take after my dad! Love to find those Exxon's and get directions! Dad has settled in at the motel for a month or so. He loves his job and seems so happy when I have talked with him. I'm happy for him! I can't call him much as I get choked up everytime, I hear his voice. He is so far away! Mom, went last week and found a house which is pictured above. The movers come week after this coming to load up AGAIN! Headed North, this time. Michael & Hunter were not happy about the move until Grandmamma informed them of how close they would be to New York City. Now, they are anxiously awaiting a road trip up north. I have no idea at this point when we will get up there. I am not a fan of cold weather or alot of snow. Nor do I like alot of traffic as I have a bad habit of road rage and those folks will shoot you up there!! LOL I hope to visit during spring break, if the kids get one this year. If not, we will squeeze in a visit, between baseball, football, Disney World trip and hopefully before next winter. Mean while with plans of us hosting Christmas at our house. This will be the first year, that I haven't been "home" for Christmas. "Home" is wherever my parents are. It won't be easy but sometimes we have to sacrifice. Thank goodness for technology, the boys and I can email pictures, voice notes etc. It will all be Ok!

The boys fishing off the beach.

They each caught a couple of little fish. Thank goodness we didn't count on them for dinner.

Brother's hanging out

Michael decide while on vacation, that Hunter was lucky to have the Dad he had!

Hunter's favorite past time, while camping, is riding his bike. Mostly going fast and sliding on brakes whiping the bike tire around in a circle. Well, that he just did and slide a whole in his tire. But, where he messed up was that he did this while at the other end of the camp ground. By doing this, he found out that his big brother really did love him! We all witnessed it. Hunter comes back on Michael's bike to tell us of the tragedy and I look way up the road and Michael is walking Hunter's bike back. Unbelievable, I had to take a double take! This was never before seen.. LOL...

After examining the damage, Dad preceeded to his tool box. With a new tube in hand (which is not the right size), duck tape (never leave home without), screw driver and alot of patients he sat down to begin the repairs. That is when Michael became amazed and told his brother how lucky he was to have a Dad that could fix anything. It was really quite amazing and further more, it worked! Off to riding again, and enjoying the rest of the vacation.

Hunter's Big Catch

The District 2 Victory Hug

Our All-Star season was a victory even though we didn't get the Virginia State Title. The Halifax Co. South Minor League Team went undefeated in the Sub-District and District Tournament Play. The boys were on cloud nine as were the parents and all the fans. They were on their way to the State Tournament and were fired up!

Our family and several others camped during the state tournament in Crewe, Virginia. We lost out after 3 games. It was hot, it was muggy, we survived several bad storms but we had a blast! All of the boys played awesome ball! We lost our games by only 1 run, coming back from a near slaughter both times! We had a huge fan club. My Mom, David's parents, Granny-Granny, friends and my Dad, waiting by the phone for regular updates, were there to share in the excitement. Our team had more fans than the host team. It was unbelievable!

Michael was unable to attend 4-H camp this year but got over it quickly knowing the team was going to State. I was relieved because quite frankly, I wasn't ready to put him on that bus with all of his luggage. Maybe next year......