Official Bike Rider

It was a big weekend in the Randolph household!  Harrison learned how to ride a bike!  Lance took the boys on a little road trip this weekend to pick up a carrier for his new dirt bike.  Lance happened to mention that before he could learn how to ride a dirt bike, he had to learn how to ride his two wheeler bike with no training wheels...apparently this was all the motivation he needed!  They got home yesterday afternoon and Harrison hopped on his bike and figured it out right away!  He had been trying for a few weeks, and really liked gliding on his bike, but hadn't wanted to use the foot pedals.  I have been surprised at how patient he has been throughout the whole process.  We practiced on the driveway yesterday and something just clicked and he figured it out.  This afternoon, we took him up to school and after just a few tries, he really had it down.

And since he is a boy, within 30 minutes or so, he found a ramp to go down.  I was a nervous wreck but I think this is what Lance was most proud of.

Leave it to my fearless three year old to follow right behind his big brother!  This little guy had a hard time with his brother getting so much attention, so we took quite a few videos of him as well.

Lance took charge of helping with this accomplishment, it was so fun to watch the excitement on his face as Harrison was figuring it out.

This might have been the coolest milestone that we have reached so far, I am so proud of him for not getting frustrated and giving up.  We celebrated with cherry limeades but I hated to break it to him that his dirt bike dreams will have to just be dreams for quite a while. 

Recent Happenings & Tennis

Life never ceases to slow down around here lately.  We have been going non-stop, but this week feels like a nice break between the madness.  Here are a few of the recent highlights from our lives over the past few weeks.
Our church held its fall consignment sale two weekends ago.  It is a whole bunch of craziness, but its always so fun to work with friends that you don't see very often and also great to score some great deals!  I was at church all weekend helping out and then that Sunday had to drive to Tuscaloosa for a quick trip.  Thankfully Lance played super dad all week and helped out when needed.  I headed to Tuscaloosa because our sorority just built a new house and they were having the dedication.  I always loved our old house, it had so much character, with a cute courtyard and filled with so many fun memories.  However, the sorority has more than doubled its members and needed more space.  The new house is just incredible...if only I could go back for a 4 year redo!
Here is a picture of the old house:

And here is the new house:

So large that it wouldn't fit in my camera frame.  Here is the sketch:

 

Both of my sisters were ADPi's at Alabama, so my sister and mom made it clear that they really wanted me to come to the dedication.  I am so glad I went and was shocked when my sister showed us the room that she and her husband had dedicated to The Koeppe girls.

 

The other name on the plaque (the real one wasn't finished yet) is my brother in law's sister.  The funny part is that she was my "big sister" in the sorority.  So cool to know that our legacy lives on in the new house!
It was a fun day and nice to get to spend some quality time with my sisters all together!

It was a quick trip and I headed home on Sunday evening.  My little sister and her daughter drove back with me to stay for the week.  The boys were so excited to see their cousin and had fun playing with her all weekend.

Little buddies while big brother is at school

We had a nice week but I caught a terrible cold that hit me like a truck.  Thankfully some antibiotics helped and Liz helped out by playing with the boys all week.
Liz went down to watch the Alabama game on Saturday with a few of her friends, so Isabela was my little buddy.  I decided she couldn't watch the game without some sort of Alabama outfit, so I whipped up a shirt for her.

When it got stressful we decided to go check out some flowers

It was fun week and we miss them already!
After they left, the boys had their first tennis lesson.  Harrison took lessons for the last few seasons, and I realized that Davis was now old enough to start and would be in the same age bracket as his brother, making it really easy.  I don't think he is quite mature enough in the listening and focusing departments but I felt like it would be easier to let him play than listen to him cry about not being able to go on the tennis courts.  It was hilarious to watch him and thankfully the coach is a really patient guy.  At one point when he was trying to corral the kids, I heard him say "Davis, come here buddy!  Okay you know what, Davis is happy over there doing his own thing, we will just let him be".  Ha ha.  He was concerned throughout most of the practice that the tennis balls were all over the court so he spent most of his time picking up the balls and bringing them to the coach.  He had a great time though and definitely worked out some energy!  Harrison was really funny during the practice, anytime any of the kids would hit the ball, he would say, "Great shot buddy!  That was  a great swing!".

I wish I would have brought my camera to get a better video, but here are videos of each of the boys.  Harrison - he had some really good hits, especially since he hasn't tried since last fall:

Davis' video.  The instructor helped him swing and he loved it.  Everytime the coach would walk off to get a few more balls, Davis would yell, "More again, more again!"  You can hear him at the end of the video.  I'm definitely  not expecting much at the age of three.  This is his first organized sport to try and I'm so glad he had such a fun first lesson.

 We have a busy fall ahead of us but this is my favorite time of year so I'm excited.  There is a breeze and a coolness in the air today and I hope it stays!

Davis - First Day of School

My second "baby" started school a few weeks ago and has been having a great time so far.  After a full summer at home with me, I thought he was going to have a harder time going back than he has.  We started off the morning with a big smile on his face.

All morning he was so excited to go to school...then we pulled into the parking lot and he said, "No!  Not this school, I go to Harrison's school!!".  Poor guy, thought he was going to kindergarten.  He fussed a little in the car, but once it was our turn for him to get out of the car, he walked out with no problem.  His Spanish teacher was the one to get him out, which I think helped, because it was a familiar face who knew his name and was excited to see him. 
Over the past two weeks, he has done great.  He generally tells me he doesn't want to go to school in the morning.  I tell him I understand and I'm listening while I get him dressed and then by the time I have his hair brushed, he usually just hops in the car without a fuss.  Hopefully that doesn't change!

Since Harrison has been in school longer, Davis and I have had more time together on our days that he is not at school.  This leaves time for fun things like the zoo!  I feel like we barely went last year since we had preschool four days a week.  I'm hoping to make it far more often this year.  The zoo put in a new splash pad that was really nice and the kids loved it!

We also rode a few rides since we have the unlimited rides bracelets right now.  These cutie pies joined us.

Last year, Davis was so afraid of riding the animals on the carousel, but that was definitely not the case this time.  He did not want me standing next to him and kept telling me to go away. 

These little guys were in the same class together last year, and haven't really seen each other in a while, so they were having fun goofing around.

Granddaddy has been at our house a lot lately and the boys love seeing him everyday.  He graciously offered to paint the outside of our house and has been slaving away for the past few weeks (when its not raining that is!).  Davis loves to help but I'm not sure whether granddaddy loves the help or not.  Of course, he kept telling me to go away so he and granddaddy could paint, but I just had to get one picture.

We are finally starting to get back into somewhat of a routine.  I still don't feel like I have it figured out all the way in the afternoons yet, but we will get there eventually.  Harrison has always loved choir, so we started back up again this week and this year Davis gets to do it too!  I hope he enjoys it as much as Harrison did!  It made me laugh at how many blond boys are in his group!

I feel like we are busier than we have ever been, but I'm trying to make an effort to slow down and enjoy these little ones as much as possible.  Having one in kindergarten really makes you wake up to how quickly time goes by!

My sweet Davis

I forgot how easy it was to handle one child until Harrison went back to school!  While it's nice to get a little break from the bickering and whining that comes with two young kids, I still find myself missing him throughout the day.  The nice part is all the one on one time that I have now with Davis.  There are so many fun things about his little personality that I think I haven't really paid attention to lately since we have been crazed this last month of summer, just trying to keep busy to prevent the said whining and bickering.  One of my favorite things he has been saying lately when he really likes something is, " I'm talking about it mommy!".  I think I say, " that's what I'm talkin about!" A lot and that is his version of it.  I laugh every time I hear it.  He was a late talker so I feel like his personality has really been coming forward over the last few months.  He loves to talk at home but seems to be more shy/reserved when people talk to him when we are out and about.  He also loves to dance and run around like he is a race car, but as soon as he notices anyone watching him, he gets a mad/smily look on his face, if that makes sense, and he pushes out his lips.  I think he doesn't like feeling like he is the center of attention.
We walked Harrison to school this morning and he was confused about why the ice cream man wasn't there.  They had a snow cone truck on the day of the meet and greet so he thought kindergarteners got those everyday.
He still throws his fits and had a very clear idea of what he does and does not want to do, like any 3 year old, but he is also very polite.  He will ask me throughout the day if he can play with various toys and when I say yes, he will say "thank you mommy!!".
I think he has felt a little lost without his big brother around, he asks me no less than 5 times a day when we are picking Harrison up from the gym.
This has been a string of random thoughts but I am feeling rather nostalgic as these boys are growing up way too fast!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, its official, my first baby and definitely no longer a baby.  Today was his first day of Kindergarten!  He has been excited all summer and every day has asked me how much longer until he gets to go to Kindergarten.  He has also said that he is nervous about it.  I let him know that it is absolutely okay to be nervous, everyone gets nervous when they do som ething new and that answer seems to click with him.
We got to meet his teacher earlier in the week and do a trial run on the bus.  I thought this was such a great idea.  They let all of the kindergarteners ride the bus with their parents before school starts so they can feel more comfortable on the first day of school.
Is it coming yet?  Is it coming yet?  Is it coming yet?

  Once it pulled up, he couldn't get on fast enough!

He had a smile glued to his face for the entire ride.

There are quite a few girls in our neighborhood that are starting Kindergarten, but I think H is the only boy.  After we got to school, they drove us back home so we could pick up Davis and head to the meet and greet.
The fun part was that the little girl who sat behind us on the bus, is in his class.  He was happy to recognize a face once he got there.   Another little girl from his preschool is in his class, so  I think he was glad to feel like he knew a few friends already.
Once we got to the classroom I filled out some paperwork and he jumped right in and played with a few of the boys.

His teacher seems so sweet, I think it is going to be a great year

After we toured the school and bought a fun t-shirt, they had a Kona Ice truck outside, so we sat down for a fun treat.

Harrison is definitely not a morning person and he loves his sleep, so waking up at 6:30 has been a little hard.  I have been making sure that he has a few minutes to wake up so he doesn't have to rush and that has worked so far.  I have let him pick out breakfast for the past two days, so I think it has helped that he was excited to get up for that.
He eagerly got dressed by himself and was ready to go right on time!

I think Davis is a little confused about where his brother goes during the day.  He asked about him a lot and he got a lot of "special treats" throughout the day too.

He felt like such a big kid hanging with all of his new school bus buddies

I see it mom, I see it mom!!!

He hopped right on and almost didn't give me a hug goodbye! 

He looked very serious when he got off the bus, but I think it was because he was pretty worn out.  He said he had fun and his teacher put some cute treats in his bag, so he was excited to rip into those.  I got a few details, but he has never been one to want to talk a lot when he gets home from school, so hopefully I will hear more as the week goes on.
Its so hard to believe I have a kindergartener, I wish I could start all over again, but I am excited for him and I can't wait to see what the year has in store for us!

10th Anniversary

It is hard to believe that I am old enough to say this, but Lance and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary.  He told me a while back to not open our credit card bill for a while, so I had a feeling he had something planned or had bought a gift of some sort, I just didn't know what it was.  The night of our anniversary, we went out to our favorite restaurant, Chops, and had a wonderful evening.  He carried a box in with him and had me open it in the restaurant.  He has a such a creative side to him, and came up with a fun way to tell me about our gift.   Inside the box was a booklet that he put together telling me that we were going to Banff, Canada...in less than 5 days! 

I have to be honest and say that I really didn't know much about Canada, so this was a big geography lesson for me.  He even arranged for my parents to come stay with the kids.  We took a million pictures and had a fantastic time, so I will try to keep this brief.
The night before we left, just before my parents pulled in our driveway, we found out that the airline cancelled our flight the next morning.  Lance immediately got on the phone and internet and was able to still get us out that same day.  They tried to make us go a day later, but thankfully he was savvy and calm enough to figure it out.  He had a few more surprises for me and I think he was mostly freaked out about having to reschedule everything that he had planned. 
To say that Canada is beautiful is a complete understatement.  There are truly no words to describe the scenery in Banff.  Lance was told by a few people that it was one of the most beautiful places in the world and I would have to agree.
We arrived and headed straight to our hotel.  It was really more like a condo and had an awesome view of the mountains.

After getting settled, we headed to a nearby restaurant.  I still can't get over the views -

We had amazing weather the entire week, with highs in the upper 60's/low 70's and lows in the 40's.  I was thinking that it would start to get cold around dinner time but since the sun didn't set until around 10:30 pm everyday, it stayed warm until late in the evening. 
The next morning, Lance surprised me with the best massage of my life at the Fairmont hotel.  The hotel itself was absolutely incredible and looked like a castle in the middle of the mountains.  It was built around 1880 and has a lot of history surrounding it.

There were two Fairmont hotels in the area and they did a great job of placing the hotels to where guests could just walk outside to an amazing view instead of having to hike to see it.

That afternoon we took a cruise on Lake Minnewanka, which Lance called Lake Willy Wonka...it really did sound like that was what they were calling it.  It was a great tour but unfortunately, the true colors of the water didn't really show up in my pictures.

This was our only real wildlife encounter, where we saw big horn sheep.  They came really close to us in the parking lot and they were hilarious b/c they would stand in the middle of the road, I think, just to annoy the cars trying to get by.

 

The next day we went to Lake Louise.  I got really sick the night before so I was nervous about the day, but thankfully I woke up feeling great.  I thought we might just walk around, but since I felt better, we ended up doing a 4.5 hour hike from Lake Louise to this tea house up in the mountains.  It was probably my favorite place on the trip.

The most amazing waterfall...the sound was incredible, you could see steam coming off the water that was coming down from the glacier and I just wanted to pause time and either lay down or do yoga.  

About half way to the tea house

 After a while we were beginning to think the tea house was a hoax.  At a certain point, we kept expecting it to pop up around the next corner, but it never did.  We finally made it!  We had a cup of tea and some fresh biscuits and then we had to head back for my final surprise.

There were a few spots with really steep drop-offs...yikes!

I was sad to have to leave the tea house so quickly, but once I found out what we were doing next, it put an extra pep in my step!

I thought I would be nervous, but it was so much fun!  What amazed me most was how vast the mountains are.  You can see them all around you when you drive around Banff, but from the ground, you just can't grasp how far the mountains go.

We got  to see a glacier and some amazing lakes.  The picture below shows how thick the ice was on the glacier and it had a blue hue to it.  Gorgeous.

We went and hiked through a canyon one day which was pretty but it was all paved, so not a true hike and far too many people!

On our final day, we went out to hike around Lake Morraine.  I had been hearing about how amazing this lake was throughout the trip, with its deep turquoise waters and again, there are no words to describe it.  I really had never seen anything like it.  

I was pretty nervous about this hike because it is illegal to go out in groups of less than four hikers because of the grizzly bears.  They track most of the bears in the area so they know where they are at all times and apparently there are more than 5 that call this place home.  We bought bear spray, but I was still pretty scared.  

Yikes!

 When we got to the trail, they had a person there making sure everyone was heading up with at least 4 people in their group.  I was nervous we would be with annoying people all day, but thankfully we lucked out.  We had a guy from Canada who hikes all the time and a family from Belgium who is used to hiking in the Alps, so we felt like at least they would know what to do!  This was our longest hike of the week. 

And this was about where my hiking stopped for the day.  Lance went to the top of Sentinnel Pass, which is the middle part on top of the mountain that is behind us in the picture above.  You have to cross over a narrow pass of ice and then it is switch backs across the face until you get to the top.  I got about half way over the pass with ice and had a panic attack since I didn't have my hiking boots on.  I told Lance to go to the top since we had made it that far, so I sat in a rocky area where I felt like bears wouldn't be  a threat and prayed the whole time that Lance wouldn't fall off the side of the cliff.

The end of my journey:

He made it!  You can see the lake we were sitting by behind Lance

The way back down - the lake looks a little more true to color here:

After the hike, we sat in a scenic viewing area and had a glass of wine.  We packed it with us that morning to have on top of the mountain, but since we had some serious hikers with us, we didn't want to break it out on the trip.  It was so nice to not have a time agenda all week and to just enjoy the days in whatever way we wanted.

 I can't believe how quickly 10 years have gone, 15, if you count our five years of dating.  Life sure has changed quite a bit from the beginning, but I'm so glad that I have such an amazing husband to go on this journey in life with.  I think I had expected a quick little trip to the beach as his surprise, but this was the perfect trip for us.  We used to hike a lot when we dated and first got married and it was fun to get to enjoy the things that started off our relationship.  I love you Lance and appreciate all that you do for me and our family!  Happy anniversary!!