Welcome to the family, Ruthie!

Gary and I have a new neice and my girls are thrilled to have a new cousin in town. Ruthie was born on August 8th in Montana weighing 8lbs 13 oz. Blair and Kim arrived in Montana the next evening and were thrilled to meet their new daughter Friday morning. Blair and Kim were linked with the birth mom through a friend in Montana and were excited about the opportunity to adopt a daughter and bring her home to join their family. Blair was able to fly home on the following Wednesday after a brief court hearing granting custodial rights to Blair and Kim and Kim returned the following day to Memphis after the courts agreed to let Ruthie leave the state. The adoption process will not be final for another 6 months as they work through everything between the two states. Ruthie's big brothers seem excited as well to welcome a new member to the Perry family!

anna was first to hold sweet ruthie!

caroline thought she was adorable!

24 hour ride = new bike

Gary has been training for the 24 hour St. Jude bike ride that is being held in downtown Memphis on September 21st-22nd since early July. He did this event last year as a relay team and really was excited about the chance to ride solo and potentially win the event. He has had it on his mind ever since last fall. He has been agonizing over his current bike for a while and finally got a proper bike fit. Turns out his bike was 2 sizes too small and causing him all sorts of pain. The bike shop, of course, promptly started searching for a replacement bicycle for him. He found a great choice at a good (not so good to those of us that just run for exercise and have very little costs involved!!) price and it was ordered. It was shipping from Spain, so it could take a while but Gary was hoping to have it around the beginning of August. When we left for the beach it still had not shipped from Spain, so he was getting very anxious. Luckily it arrived, he was fit on it the next day and was riding it by the weekend. He really loves it and it is so much more comfortable than his previous bike. His 8-9 hour long rides have suddenly become more bearable for him. With his training peaking, he is enjoying the new bike a lot and breaking it in very quickly! Will return with a full report from the ride after the event!

Zyriek Family Olympics recap

We had a great time watching the Olympics and tracking our events to see who was going to come out on top in the Zyriek Family Olympics. We have learned some lessons on our rookie venture into family games. First, we need to pick more swimming events! USA does very well in swimming and you were almost guaranteed a medal each and every time they swam. Second, make sure the girls have some "gimmies" for their events. This time they had a few and it really mattered in the end with the scores ending up so close. Third, don't bank on Men's gymnastics!! We did well with women's but the men's events were terribles and losers for whomever had those events. Finally, figure out what events Auburn athletes are going to be in and make sure plenty of them are represented.

It was fun to keep score....somedays not so fun (when Caroline was losing or the end result was that no one medaled!) and in the end Anna was our winner edging out the rest of us. Her pick for a fun family night out is to return to Sky Zone the trampoline park for a night together. Caroline was in second place and her idea was Chuck E. Cheese. Good thing Anna won!!!

Bring on the winter Olympics!!

First day of kindergarten

Caroline started senior kindergarten today and she was so excited. At Harding they phase in the junior and senior kindergarten students over 3 days to give the students and the teachers a chance to get to know each other with fewer students in the class. With our Z last name we always end up with the last phase in day. That works well for us because once the girls start going they just keep on going. Caroline got to hang out at home and with a friend on Monday and Tuesday and so Wednesday was get down to business. She was excited and thrilled to have several friends with her on phase in day. She was excited to see Miss Claire but shy as well. She had a great first day and got a great first day report. Caroline is most excited about having homework a few days a week so she can be like her big sister. We will see how long it takes the excitement concerning homework to wear off! Looking forward to a great year in Sr. K!

the happy kindergartener!

so proud of caroline!

caroline with miss claire

ready to start her first day!

 

great first day for caroline!

First day of 4th grade!!

Anna starts 4th grade this year and I cannot believe how grown up she is becoming. At her school the 4th graders are on a different hallway from 1st-3rd graders, so she is the youngest on her hall. We went to Meet the Teacher on Friday night to meet Mrs. Reasons and see who was in her class. Slight debacle with the teacher assignment letters this year, but luckily I called the school and found out her teacher plus a few friends, so she was good to go. She was super shy on Friday night but hopefully that will change once she is in the classroom. First day of school was a good morning. She got right up and got dressed and was ready to go very early. We dropped off Caroline with my mom for the day since she does not start until Wednesday. Much to Anna's horror, we followed her to her classroom, had her pose for pictures with the principal (so glad to have Mrs. Stafford leading the school this year!!) and her teacher. She did not have much to unload and was ready to go. She is really growing up fast!!

ready to start 4th grade!

she is getting so grown up!

anna with mrs. stafford, the principal

anna with mrs. reasons

Art & Soul

Finally got around to using my 2 for 1 groupon at Art and Soul.....about 3 days before it expired with Lauren. We were in the "Going to the Chapel" class and it was a lot of fun. This one was not as difficult as the Cross that I painted last time, but still a lot of different steps. Pretty proud of my effort....don't look too close up and best to squint when you view in person!!

lauren's first paint night...she did so well!!

my finished product

fun night catching up with great paintings to take home!

The Beach!!!

By far what our family looks forward to the most every year is our annual trip to the beach. Gary longs to return to where he grew up and the girls love to be there and play and swim and enjoy the waves. I long to have some time off work, relax, sleep in and have fun away from home. This trip did not disappoint anyone. We had a great time. The weather cooperated every day except Monday afternoon. We took that opportunity to head into Foley and shop and see a movie and by then the rain had moved out so we enjoyed some time at the Track with mini golf and go-karts. It was nice to not have a schedule, get ice cream at the on-site ice cream parlor each night, sleep in, enjoy the Olympics as a family and have very few things to think about. Great trip!!

first day at the beach and caroline is ready!

my big girls!

relaxing and enjoying the waves

my athletic family

the zyriek girls

some pool time in the afternoon

thanks to gary's cousin ned for a ride on the boat on sunday morning

searching for shells and fish with those goggles on

our family...need to crop it, but looks good!

this is why we went shopping and to the movies!!