I just logged into my blog for the first time in over a year! How terrible is that!!!! I also just found a site that will publish your blog into a hardback book, which I did! But now I realize how sad I am that I dropped the ball so often over the past few years in recording all the wonderful things that have gone on in our lives! Therefore, today, under a new realization of the importance of recording our lives in order to preserve our most cherished memories, I pledge to maintain this blog regularly for my children! I pray that they never forget the good and the bad parts of growing up Cook's! This blog will help to insure that never happens!
So much has happened in our lives over the past year! Katy turned 8 on March 16, Mason turned 6 on April 18, and Adam turned 4 on March 21. All three kids played ball in the Spring. Katy was on the Volcano's softball team with lots of her friends. Mason was on the Red Sox baseball team, and Darren was able to help coach. Adam was on the Braves T-Ball team, and was so cute in his little uniform! The season went well, we all had a lot of fun! I know that Mason and Adam will play again this year, as for Katy...The jury is still out! Again, I plan to write more specific blogs later to highlight their seasons!
The kids and I, along with Andrea Matheson and her kids Dakota and Ella went to New Smyrna Beach for Spring Break! We had a wonderful time! Janet gave us her time share condo for the week and we took full advantage of the beach and sunshine! It was an awesome trip! The kids had a great time playing together and we relaxed and enjoyed an totally no-stress vacation together!!!
We were fortunate enough to get to go camping a few times this past year! Our first trip was in May to Davidson River campground in Brevard with Stacy and Steve Lohr. It was an amazing campground and we had a perfect double camping space. We learned earlier in the year that Stacy and Steve would be moving to Alabama, so we took advantage of this camping trip with them. We had a great time. We rode bikes, hiked, visited the Cradle of Forestry, went to Looking Glass Falls, swam in the freezing water, ate lots of good food and enjoyed the time we had together. Of course the kids had a blast enjoying free range of the campground and the woods around it. Jeff, Teresa, Hillary, Hanna and Peyton came over on Saturday night! It was good to have them visit, even if we couldn't talk Teresa into staying the night!
Our second trip was in June to Lake Powatan in Asheville. Papaw Cook joined us and we all enjoyed the weekend together! The kids go their faces painted, we went on a creek crawl where we found lots of crayfish and salamanders. We went swimming at the lake. The boys helped Papaw chop wood forever. Mason chopped so much wood, his core was sore for a week! We grilled steaks, roasted marshmallows, and had the best country ham in the world for our Sunday morning breakfast! We did not like the campground as well as Davidson River, but has a great time!
Our last camping trip was with Papaw Burch and Lavonda. We went to Standing Indian the first weekend of October. It was freezing COLD!!!! But we had a good time! I had to take Katy to her football game and the boys stayed at the campground with Papaw and Lavonda. They took a nature walked and gather lots of leaves to decorate the motorhome with! The sky was so clear on Saturday night that you could see a gazillion stars! It was beautiful! We spent a lot of time sitting around the campfire talking, roasting marshmallows and drinking coffee!
We went to Cherry Grove beach with Papaw Cook and Linda in July! It was a wonderfully relaxing and fun vacation with family. We spent long days on the beach and most early mornings and nights sitting on the deck of the house. We had crab baskets at the dock of the house and Darren and the kids loaded it up every day with raw chicken and every day we caught new crabs. This was one of the boys favorite parts of the whole trip. We also rented a sea kayak for two days. Darren paddled the kids out into the ocean and they rode the waves into shore. They loved it. Darren and I took it out one time and saw a school of jelly fish in the water.....UGH! We went to Judy's one night for dinner, and we went to Dockside Seafood twice (it was yummy)! The last night our family played putt-putt. We all got at least one "hole-in-one" and Adam got a hole-in-one on the last hole, therefore, he won a free game!!! He was super excited! That was one of the best beach vacations we have taken!
Adam started Pre-K in Mrs. Cindy Long's class! Mason started First Grade in Mrs. Christy Kelly McClure's class! And Katy started Third Grade in Mrs. Kristy Thurmond's class. They were all excited to go back to school this year! Adam was especially excited to get to go to school for the first time this year! I will do a full blog entry later on what a special day that was for him. The kids are all enjoying school this year!
Katy decided to cheer this year. She was so cute in her little uniform! She really enjoyed it for the first part of the season, but began to lose her enthusiasm as the season ended. Mason and Adam played Upward flag football in Blairsville. They loved it!!!!! Mason scored his very first touchdown. It was the cutest thing ever! I hope they will play again this year!
This year Nana was here the week before Halloween and was gracious enough to help make the kids costumes! Katy was a hippie, Mason was a mummy, and Adam was a tiger. They all looked awesome! We went to a big Halloween party at church where we all dressed up. Darren was a football player and I was a Hippie like Katy. We later went to Trick-or-Treating on the square, but this time the kids all dressed in different costumes. Katy was a go-go girl, Mason was a black bat!
I accomplished something I never imagined I would do in November. I ran the Rock-and-Roll half marathon in Savanna GA. Stacy was supposed to run with us, but she ended up having to close on their new house the day before the race. Hillary and I ended up running it together. I finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 8 minutes!!! I was quite proud.....and exhausted!!!! We had a great time, and I hope to do another one soon!
We spent Thanksgiving at Kellie and Matt's (Darren went hunting at the cabin). We shopped til we dropped and then came home. We celebrated Christmas with the Burch's the weekend before Christmas, and spent Christmas at Papaw Cook's. After Christmas Darren traveled to New York to pick up a motorhome for my dad and made the trip in a total of 26 hours, he was more than exhausted!!!!! Stacy and Steve and their kids came up after Christmas and stayed with us for 3 nights. We all had a great time together, with them and Jeff and Teresa. One night we went bowling in Franklin. New Years Eve night we went to the Possum Drop for the first time ever! Next year I definitely want to take the kids!!!!
All in all, 2011 was a good year for the Cook family! I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring!
