WFU Homecoming Weekend

BK Season has continued with more Boomer-themed fun! We celebrated his birthday just the two of us with a date night which included dinner and a concert. We had dinner at a restaurant in downtown Greensboro called 'cille and 'scoe. Their menu has lots of seasonal and local items, including special cocktails like the Cheerwine old fashioned. It was our first time eating there, and our meal was out of this world! We had the jalapeño pepper jack fritters as an appetizer. For our entrees, I ordered the shrimp and grit cakes, and Boomer got the "swim and run." After dinner, we went to the Greensboro Coliseum to see Cody Johnson in concert. Cody Johnson opened for Luke Combs back in 2021 when we saw him in Atlanta, and Boomer has been listening to his music ever since. It was such a good show! Our favorites were "The Painter," "On My Way to You," "Diamond in my Pocket", and "Dear Rodeo." It was one of our latest nights out in awhile; we arrived home a little before midnight to relieve Grammy. Thank you, Grammy, for babysitting!

Not too long after our date night, we got another date night, and this time - overnight! Boomer served on an accreditation committee for the Wake Forest Department of Education, and since the other members of the committee were staying overnight for the event, Boomer was offered the opportunity to do the same. We got to stay at the Brookstown Inn in downtown Winston. The Brookstown has so much historic charm and character. Our room was the Victorian Suite, which was a two-level room with exposed brick and a fireplace. Even though it was a Thursday night and our time there was very short, we enjoyed milk and cookies in the lobby when we arrived around 8:30PM and then a hot breakfast in the morning at 7AM just before I headed to work on Friday. It was less then 12 hours, but a fun experience! Another thank you to Grammy for babysitting!

Friday kicked off the Wake Forest Homecoming weekend. Several of Boomer's friends from the Class of 2008 came into town for all the festivities. It started with the Mother So Dear party on Poteat Field on Friday night. On Saturday morning, there was the Festival on the Quad with blow-up obstacle courses, axe throwing, and other games for the kids. After that and before the game, the Ellisons hosted everyone at their home for a tailgate. The group has certainly grown over the years, and I think the children may even have outnumbered the adults. The kids loved running amok while we parents tried to maintain order and fit in some conversation too. Then it was off to the game. Wake played Pittsburg, and it was an exciting finish with Wake winning in the final seconds of the game to pull off a 21-17 victory. I think Emmy and Eli are officially Wake Forest fans. Go Deacs!

To add a little more excitement to our lives, Emmy did a flip off of our bed and bonked her eye on the dresser. She had a pretty nasty black eye for about a week, and you can see it in this photo with Grammy. She was not too affected, although she did learn a valuable lesson about not practicing gymnastics on the bed. Here are a few pictures from her class field trip to Kersey Valley corn maize. I'm thankful for other parent chaperones who sent me pictures of our girl having fun with her classmates. There seems to be very little downtime in October, and we are trying to catch some rest when we can. Stay tuned for lots more fall fun!

BK Season

We have officially entered BK Season! A few years ago, one of us coined the month of October as "BK Season." It has all of Boomer's favorite things: football, playoff baseball, cooler weather, hearty soups, sweatpants, and of course, his birthday! We celebrated his birthday a day early on Tuesday with a family dinner. My mom made Boomer's favorite meal: shrimp and grits, with cheesecake for dessert. On Thursday, we went to the fair. Boomer's birthday always coincides with the fair, which comes to town the first week of October. Grandpa came along with us (while Grammy is in Maine for my cousin Casey's wedding.)  We all had a lot of fun checking out the exhibits and eating lots of tasty food. One special exhibit was Emmy's artwork. It was on display in the Education Building, and it was for an assignment called "What's the Line?" when she was in kindergarten. She was a little nervous at first to pose with her artwork (so Daddy showed her what to do!), but then she was very proud and kept saying "I can't believe that was my artwork!" We ended the night with the Figure 8 race, which Eli especially enjoyed. He was in awe of the cars moving in tight circles and crashing into each other. Later this month, we are going to a real race at Martinsville, and I can only imagine his reaction. On Saturday, we hung out with the Moores and Alfaros and had the ultimate fall treat: smore's. The first week of BK Season has been so much fun!

Now that Daddy's birthday has passed, we have started planning for our November birthdays. We are hoping to do our annual zoo trip on Veteran's Day. Emmy has also requested to go to the movies with a small group of friends. She drew a picture so that I knew which friends to invite. 

Emmy has had an especially fun weekend, and I have tagged along as her chauffeur. On Friday night, she went to the K-2 Playground Picnic at church. Our amazing children's pastor Mr. Tim planned fun games like Bingo, a pumpkin piñata, and a cookie walk. Then on Saturday, Emmy was invited to her friend Luke's birthday party at Urban Air. Several of Emmy's classmates were there, and she had lots of fun on the trampolines, the obstacle courses, and on the large balance beam. Emmy had yet another fun activity today. After church, we dropped Emmy off with her friend Casey to go along with her family to The Farm in Dobson. Emmy and Casey have become best buddies from riding the bus together and playing in after-school. It's the first time that Emmy has gone somewhere with a friend without us. She asked incredulously, "Am I going to ride in their car?" Once she got home this evening, she filled me in on all of their activities: gem mining, a big jumping pillow, a pumpkin patch, and corn maze. We all had a great weekend, but it's safe to say that Emmy had the best weekend of all!

I can't help but include these two photos of Eli. They make me smile every time I look at them. He makes bathtime entertaining for sure :)

Sports Family

If there was any doubt that the Kennedys are a sports family, doubt no more! We continue to add more sports to our repertoire, and the newest sport: volleyball! Last Friday night, we went to the Wake vs. Clemson volleyball game, and it was a first for us. There is free admission to all the matches, and it was a great opportunity to continue to introduce the kids, especially Emmy, to new sports. The match started at 6PM, and it was a beautiful evening on campus. We arrived around 5:30PM and made our way to the gym. Boomer commented several times about just how much the campus has changed since his time there. So many new buildings! Once we got to the gym, we met up with one of my old coworkers, Joe Cristy, who is now the announcer for the volleyball games (along with the Wake basketball games and a few other sports as well). He gave the kids signed copies of the official scorer's roster. The only downside to the evening is that Eli was an emotional wreck when the score went back-and-forth: real, crocodile tears when Wake was losing, and pure joy when they were winning again. Luckily Wake won with a clean sweep 3-0, so our boy was happy at the end. Afterwards, we had a picnic on the Quad at the Subway, and we were home by around 8:30PM. We always love any chance to visit campus. 

In addition to volleyball, the kids and I watched some soccer games on Saturday, with both Maddox and Zander having games at a nearby complex in Kernersville. Both boys scored goals for their team and are real hustlers on the field. 

Here are a few other photos from the week. Eli had Picture Day at school earlier in September, and the photos came home this week. He is such a cutie! He continues to have good reports from school, and he seems to get along well with his classmates. At Starmount on Thursday, I was matching with my coworkers Sarah and Paige, so we posed together in our denim jackets. I am finding my groove with my three schools this semester, and I am thankful for the wonderful people I work with at each one. The calendar has turned to October, and I just can't believe how fast the weeks are going by. With the fall weather and football and other festivities, I am looking forward to the month ahead.