Fernandez Family of Five

Papa Smurf....

One Tuesday night while I was at work, Riley was playing with Tony's iPad while he was reading email on his phone. Riley was playing around with Tony's camera on the iPad. He knew she was taking pictures of him and heard her laughing but he did not think anything of it. Later when I got home from work, I was checking my Facebook page and came across this photo (see below). I was wondering why Tony would post a picture like this on his Facebook page. I went in the other room to show him and ask him why he had posted it. He had no clue about the photo and had not even seen this picture. We noticed that under the Facebook photo someone had typed "Tony." All we could figure was that Riley not only figured out his photo editing program but that she also figured out how to post it to Facebook. We then saw that people had already committed on the photo and the comments were hilarious! We both got a good laugh out of it and I got laughing so hard I was crying and my sides hurt. The next morning, we asked Riley about it and she seemed clueless too. She did say she figured out how to edit the photo but had no clue she had posted it to Facebook. Tony has now received the new nickname, "Papa Smurf." My nephew, Jonathon, saw the picture and thought it was hilarious. My sister says he asks to see the photo all the time and says, "Blue, blue, blue!" Next time we see Jonathon, I would not be surprised if he calls his Uncle Tony, "Blue!" :)

Reece Running...

Reece has really gotten interested in exercising lately. She is doing an extracurriculum fitness class at her school called, Crossfit, and that seems to have sparked her interest in being healthy. She has learned that exercise is important and she now has a great desire to run. The first day we went out running with her she ran about 1 mile with very little walking. I think we may have another runner on our hands. :)

Just completing the big hill on our street.

Reece racing daddy to the finish.

Reece wins!!!

This particular day, Tony had just biked 32 miles, then ran 3 miles with Regan (with lots of hills) and then Reece was begging him to run with her. He said his legs were like noodles and Regan and Reece both ran him into the ground. Here is Tony's view of Reece ahead of him on his third leg of the "triathlon". I told Tony all he needs to do now is learn how to swim and he could do a real triathlon.

Our Soccer Girl...

Riley is having a great season of soccer. Her team, Iceland, has only lost one game so far and that was in a tournament against a traveling team that has been playing together for about 3 years. That team was amazing and beat us 10-0. In the second game of the tournament, Riley scored the winning goal for her team. Team Iceland's record is 4W, 1L, 1T. Team Iceland has two more games and one more big tournament to finish out the season. Go Team Iceland!!!

Riley's soccer team - Team Iceland with Coach Garcia

Silly Team Photo

Riley congratulating her teammate/friend, Natalie, after Natalie scored.

Running hard...

Way to be aggressive!

Love this photo, the caption should read, "Get out of my way, here I come, and the other girl looks to be saying, "Ok, I am moving!"

Good defense!

Trinity Fall Festival...

Trinity School had a Fall Festival on Friday, Sept. 21st. We went for just a little bit but the girls had fun hanging with their friends, being silly in a photo booth, playing in the inflatables, getting their faces painted and eating from a food truck. I think Riley's favorite part was climbing the rock wall with her friend, Leah, and Regan's favorite part was hanging with her best friend, Hannah, at the photo booth. The only pictures I got was Riley doing the rock wall.

Riley is the girl on the right side (purple shirt).

Riley almost made it to the very top but slipped right before she got there.

On the way down...

Best Dad In The Whole World....

On the evening of Tony and I's Anniversary, Sept. 20th, there were two school curriculum nights and a spirit night at Tony's store. Tony needed to be at his store so he and the girls hung out there while I attended both of the curriculum nights at Reece's school and Regan and Riley's school. I got to see a lot of their work and one of Reece's writings was really sweet. So, I took a picture for Tony and texted it to him so he could be a part of that special night. I could not understand all of my first grader's words but I did understand the part that she "likes eating ice cream with daddy" and that she has "the best dad in the world and loves him"! (If anyone can read the other parts please let me know what they say) :) Reece could not even read it to me later - she forgot what she wrote. ;) I could not agree with Reece more that she has the "Best Daddy In The World!!!"

Our 15th Anniversary...

Tony and I celebrated 15 wonderful years of marriage on Sept. 20th. Our Anniversary fell on a Thursday this year and we had a very busy evening that day. So, Tony took me out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory while the girls were in school. We had agreed not to get each other gifts and the lunch was going to be our only celebration (so I thought)!

Tony had a Chick-fil-A breakfast meeting right before our lunch and Joe was at the meeting as well. Tony has been throwing around the idea of taking a course with Joe to get their concealed weapon permits. We had been talking about it previously that week therefore it was fresh on our minds. I tell you this information because it leads into the following story. During our lunch, Tony brought the subject up again and said he and Joe talked about the class during their breakfast meeting. He said they had decided to go ahead with the course and the only day that worked for both of them was Saturday, Oct. 13th. He said the course would be ALL day long and was asking if I was Ok with that. I replied, "Well, do we have anything going on that Saturday?" I sat there thinking (usually I would pull out my phone calendar but we were on a date, so I was hesitant to do that). Tony finally pulled his phone out which prompted me to do the same. When I opened up my calendar to Oct. 13th it read, "Tony and Kaylyn in the mountains." I read it aloud and said, "What does that mean?" I then scrolled to the Friday and Sunday of that weekend and saw the same thing written. I looked at Tony and he did not say anything. I then realized what was going on and I asked, "without kids!!??" He shook his head yes and then of course I had a bunch of questions, "Who is keeping the kids, who will pick up the kids from school on Friday, what will we do about Riley's soccer game, what about my church responsibilities??" In which Tony replied and was music to my ears, "It is ALL taken care of and Joe and Abby have offered to keep the kids all weekend." I just started to cry right there in the restaurant. I was so surprised, excited, and shocked I had tears of joy streaming down my face and a huge smile I could not hide! I had that huge smile on my face the rest of the meal (day) and could not wait to call Abby and thank her (and Joe) for this wonderful opportunity! What really made it even more special was that Tony went to all the effort to re-arrange the schedule, got everything covered for that weekend and also planned our whole trip (that is always the hardest parts). After our wonderful lunch, we enjoyed the outdoor section of the mall for a while because it was a gorgeous day.

Our Anniversary celebration did not end there, although it could have! We had dinner plans with a bunch of friends the next evening, Friday, but 4 of the couples had to cancel. We had already arranged to have a babysitter so we decided to go out for a steak dinner at the "Chop House." Tony's employees had given us a gift certificate last Christmas and we had not used it yet. So, we went out on Friday night too and had a fabulous steak dinner.

Tony is an amazing husband and father to our girls and I could not be more blessed. I pray that our girls find husbands like him someday. These past 15 years have been wonderful and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him! I love you Tony!!!!

Our Engagement Photo...

This is my all time favorite photo of Tony and I. Regan took it a few years ago on Tony's birthday.

Fall Outing at Camp Rockmont

Regan and I (Tony) went to the Y Princess Fall Outing in Black Mountain at Camp Rockmont on the weekend of September 7 - September 9. This was our second year attending this camp and we had a great time.

We started by meeting the other dads and daughters at My Father's Pizza for a fun, tasty dinner on our way to camp. This year, we took a couple wrong turns on our way to our cabin, including ending up on a single lane mountain road and having to back up all the way, in the dark, to get to where we needed to end up. Oh, and big holes all over the road. Glad I had the truck.

We enjoyed the zip line even though the air temps were in the low 70s. The water felt good as it was still warm from the summer. Getting out was the problem.

Regan discovered rope climbing on a tree. It looked like fun. I wish they let the dads do it.

Other activities included shooting BBs, archery, a huge dodge ball contest, canoeing, high dives, and I got to do the Blob for the first time. This is a BIG inflated blob that one dad (or girl) sits on while another dad (or girl) jumps from a platform and lands at one end, launching the dad from the other end. This was FUN! And a little painful when you hit the water in a less than ideal form. Can't wait to do it again next year.

This weekend has become a highly anticipated time together for Regan and I. It is so beautiful and fun and getting to share the time one-on-one with Regan is priceless. This camp is offered for dads and daughters as long as they want to continue coming. They have a patch for daughters that drive their dads to camp. I hope we get to earn those in 5 years.

Here are some photos of our trip as well as some photos looking back at past camps that a dad emailed recently to me.