Weekending

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

Friday was low key. Alyssa had signed up to take the ACT on Saturday morning so had we wanted to do something wild n' crazy Friday evening, we wouldn't have. (You know we were bummed about having to be calm!!)

The ACT started at 8:00 AM on Saturday but Alyssa was taking it at a school over an hour away from our house so she had to leave around 6:40 AM. That was less than ideal for her... I got up with her to see her off. She and a friend were taking it at the same school and her friend volunteered to drive which was nice. Alyssa planned to do some last minute studying for it on the way up. Not sure how much last minute studying was going to help but I appreciate Alyssa's determination to do as much as she could to get a good score. 

Alyssa's friend who drove has a job and had to drive straight to a shift so I met Alyssa at her friend's work place to pick her up and take her home. It was at a restaurant so Alyssa got lunch while I got a Coke Zero (I'd already eaten lunch). 

We had a little bit of trouble trying to decide what to do next due to the weather. The weather forecasts for Saturday had called for chances of rain anywhere from 90 to 99% (different forecasts had slightly different forecast but all called for rain.). It didn't rain in very early morning- I went on a run after Alyssa left in the morning and it didn't rain on me. It did rain later in the morning and maybe a little into the afternoon. It was forecast to rain in the afternoon. 

Jacob was available for the afternoon. We decided on an indoor/ outdoor activity- Top Golf.  Only Jacob had done it before. Donnie has golfed before but it's not a hobby of his. Neither the girls nor I had ever so much as picked up a golf club. Fortunately, it was literally fun and games, to the extent "fun" is getting beaten handily. It didn't end up raining and in fact it cleared up quite nicely by the end of the afternoon.

At Top Golf

A bay wasn't ready for us when we arrived so went to the area where they have some pool tables and other games you can play. Donnie and Alyssa played a couple of games.

I think I've mentioned this before- Donnie's sister is a really good billiards player. She plays in tournaments and just for fun as well. She once beat the world's number one ranked woman's billiard player. She says it was a fluke but still... that's pretty amazing. Well, Donnie has beaten his sister at billiards- he says it was a fluke but still... pretty amazing.

Alyssa had never played pool much (we don't have a table at home). But, when she was at Lake Norris earlier this summer with a friend, the house they stayed at had a pool table and Alyssa and her friend played it quite a bit when they weren't in the water. Anyway, so Alyssa beat Donnie in one of the games they played on Saturday. 

So, Alyssa beat someone who beat someone who beat the best player in the world!! No worries, Alyssa isn't going to call the college board to tell them to forget about sending her ACT results ;).

Welllll, none of us are headed to the PGA tour... but it was fun (marginally, for me!) to hit (ideally...) the ball!

Sunday, after I got up, I weeded in the garden. The rain on Saturday had the wonderful effect of not just watering the plants but making the ground soft and easier to pull up the interminable weeds. We went to church- heard a good sermon and then we headed home. We dropped the girls off at home- Alyssa had to work later and then Donnie and I went to a nearby festival- the Pineapple Festival. It was small and cute and featured everything pineapple. We met our friends Clint and Christine and Sophie there. 

We had a great pineapple burger from McNasty's food truck.

Then Donnie got this pineapple bowl. It was also good!

YUM!

Alexis Gomez performed. She is a hometown favorite! She made it to the top twelve on American Idol in season fifteen.

Her dad performed with her as well. Her dad is on staff at the church we used to attend so we knew the family (not well as it was a big church) for years before American Idol. When Alexis was in college (she went somewhere local), she worked in child care at our church for women's Bible study. When Alyssa was preschool age and I did morning Bible studies, Alexis was one of the child care workers. She and Alyssa were buddies. Alyssa often won the "best behaved" award and Alexis let Alyssa pick out which Veggie Tales video to watch at the end. For several years after Bible study, Alexis would give me a hug and ask about Alyssa whenever we saw each other. 

Here is some info on Alexis...

She is a talented singer/ songwriter, guitar player and is beautiful on the inside and out. I would like her even if she hadn't let Alyssa pick out the Veggie Tale video to watch!!

Once home, we relaxed. We went on a walk and then watched a movie on Netflix.