Concerts, Canoes, Teenagers, & Tillery

Brayden took the AP psychology exam before the school year ended, but received her results and she got a five, which is the highest score you can get! We are so proud of her and this means she gets another college credit! Brayden had an exciting start to August…she interviewed (and was hired!) for a brand new job as a hostess at a new restaurant nearby called The Office. At the beginning of the month, she officially had her tryouts for her high school’s field hockey team and she is officially on varsity. No surprise, but as we told her, your spot is not guaranteed each year since there are new people coming to the school who could be trying out as well. Hanleigh attended a two-week High School Musical Camp, which she was really looking forward to because she loves the soundtrack already and knew a few friends that were taking the camp.

We went to 131 Main to celebrate my 46th birthday with the family, Mom, Terry, and Fran. Lucky for us, it was a Tuesday night which meant that they had wine bottles at half price! For the win! The next night, Trent and I headed uptown to the Skyla Credit Union Amphitheater to see Dirty Heads in concert, which is one of my favorite bands. I love the hip hop, reggae, chill out vibe that they bring. We had an awesome time, even though the weather was a little gloomy. The next day, Trent headed to the mountains for his annual guys “Canoe the New” trip where they sleep in hammocks and tents next to the river, spend all day Saturday lazily floating down it in canoes, and making meals via campfire. At the end of the weekend, someone is given the Camper of the Year (COY) Award. I’m sure they get into all kinds of shenanigans as well. I usually don’t hear too much about what all goes on during those trips. Meanwhile, Heather, Julie, Kendall and I went out on Friday night to celebrate my birthday at Dilworth Tasting Room (always delicious), which was followed by renting a karaoke room at Seoul Meat Company (korean bbq). None of us had ever done that before and it was quite comical trying to figure out the technology and how to queue up the songs. The next day, Mom, Brayden, Hanleigh and I all met up to have lunch with Janet, Elizabeth, and Catherine. Janet was in town visiting Mitch’s family and it was so fabulous to see her. That evening, I hosted Hanleigh and a bunch of her best friends for a birthday dinner and a sleepover. Hanleigh has been into watching all of the Scream movie series lately, which cracks me up because I remember doing that at her age. I can’t watch scary movies anymore, but she is all into them now and even watches them at night during slumber parties. No thank you.

Brayden had a field hockey play day up at Davidson College and we learned more as parents about what this sports season entails. Kyle turned 44 (happy birthday, brother!), and Hanleigh turned 13 the next day…it’s crazy that we now have two teenagers in the house! The sassiness can start to be a little bit out of control every now and then, but I guess it comes with the territory to some extent. Happy birthday, beautiful girl! Brayden had a scrimmage at Charlotte Latin and the next day, the two of us went to PNC Pavilion for an awesome concert to see Corey Kent, Mitchell Tenpenny, and Jason Aldean. We will definitely see Corey Kent the next time he comes in town as he was incredible and so is Mitchell as well. He is one of my favorite country artists. Jason Aldean was an awesome performer as well. 

Trent and I celebrated our 22-year anniversary (it has gone by so fast!), Brayden had another field hockey playday at Queens University, and we had an amazing time spending the weekend at Aunt Patty and Uncle John’s house at Lake Tillery. We had been talking to the girls about water skiing, since it had been a couple years since they tried it and they both got up on the first time! We were so proud of them. The weather was beautiful and all the cousins staffed The Snack Shack and served us lunch both days. We had an awesome time hanging out with Mimi (so glad she could make it!!!), Abby, Justin, their kids, Kyle, Cammy, and Cooper as well. Uncle John even taught the kids how to play poker! Thank you so much for hosting us, Aunt Patty and Uncle John! We came home from that weekend and I quickly got ready to meet up with Heather for dinner at The Cellar at Duckworth’s before we went and saw the play, Book of Mormon at Blumenthal. It was the first time I had seen that play and it was absolutely inappropriate and hilarious.

Hanleigh took an Arts Experience camp and I took a quick trip to San Jose, California for work. Brayden had a field hockey game against Grimsley and also went to see Tyler Childers in concert at the Skyla Credit Union with her four pack of friends (Emory, Mel, Sejal). After another field hockey game against Asheville, Brayden and Trent made their way to Cary, North Carolina for the annual tournament. My dear friend, Heather, celebrated her 48th birthday! Happy birthday, girlfriend! Hanleigh and I went and got our nails done with Raley and Kippen and then had a delicious dinner at Ilios Noche, followed by TCBY for dessert. Brayden had her first official day as a hostess and she absolutely loves it and tells us that every time she gets home. They are so flexible with her hours! We went a few days after she had started working there and their food is absolutely incredible. They have the best wings I’ve ever had in my entire life! I’m so glad she has found something that will pay her well, where she can meet new people and gain really awesome life skills. I’ve encouraged her to be cognizant of how best to balance her job, school, field hockey, and other demands for her time. School and good grades are the most important thing at this time. So far, she’s doing a great job! We took the girls back-to-school clothing shopping in preparation for the upcoming school year and there were a couple last-minute slumber parties at Alexis’s and Annie’s houses before school started. Brayden was also one of the lucky 100 juniors at her school who was picked in the lottery to get a parking pass. There are basically over 1,900 kids vying for 300 parking spots, of which seniors get first dibs, followed by juniors. I’m not sure how random the lottery is, because it does appear that many athletes do get parking passes, but we aren’t complaining because she needed that convenience of being able to park on campus. Of course, this now means that we need three cars. Thankfully, Trent’s dad has let us use his Porsche (no complaints here!) until he decides to sell it and then we will have to figure out if we want to buy it or if we want to get another car. I’ve told Trent that if we buy it, it’s now going to be his gateway car to another Porsche at some point in the near future. 

Brayden played field hockey against Country Day and those private school teams are always so darn good! Alexis spent the night at our house, Trent and I had an amazing date night at the Garrison in downtown Pineville, and the next day, the four of us went tubing down the Catawba river. We had an awesome time like we always do, but that river isn’t the cleanest. We came home and did a quick turnaround for dinner at Amy and Greg’s house. It was awesome to hang out just the four of us and really have some fabulous quality time together! The girls had their first day back to school and the re-entry from sleeping in nearly every morning this summer to waking up from 5am-6am was a bit tough on them the first day, but I think they are now in the groove. Hanleigh is a 7th grader and Brayden is a junior, which is so hard to believe. This means that this year will be spent prepping for the SAT and the ACT (she starts taking a prep course for this in November and will take the SAT on December 2nd), visiting colleges, and really honing in on what the next chapter of her life will look like after she graduates in 2025. Trent took his parents to the airport for their annual month-long trip to California as well. All in all, it was a great, well-rounded month. It feels good to be back in a routine after such a fun summer.

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