chapter six: bugs and lemonade

When we got back from the country on Sunday, Danny took a big honkin' nap. He fell asleep in the car and didn't wake when we brought him inside. His afternoon nap ended at 8:00 pm. Lovely. He was still awake at 3:00 Monday morning. Oh, vacationing with the little people. How I love it so!

Cate stayed up way too late on Sunday too. At one point I was in bed asleep and she brought me a plastic tea cup filled with water. That's a fun way to be woken up. She asked me if I wanted a drink. I asked her where she got the water. Her reply, "From the white thing." My first thought was that she fished out some water from the toilet. Gross, but I wouldn't put it past her. It's water that she can reach. I'm not sure if she can turn on Grama Bama's faucets.

I asked her which white thing, the sink or the toilet. To my relief she said sink. Then I made her dump out the water and get back in bed. Good times.

Monday morning we took a little drive with Grandpa up to his office on campus.



There's lots of bugs to look at in Grandpa's office.

Ginormous cockroaches.



We got to watch Grandpa feed them some carrot slices.

Nobody wanted to pet the cockroaches. Thank goodness.



Grandpa brought out more bugs for us to look at. Dead ones this time.



Guess who got 100% on her bug collection in 7th grade science.

That would be me.

I helped my dad catch all the bugs. He didn't just give me ones he already had. Honest. He mostly did all the pinning and labeling though. He did make me look up in the book and figure out the bug names. Then he typed the names for the teeny tiny labels. Oh, mine was a beautiful bug collection. I almost wish I'd saved it. Or at least taken a picture of it.

I hope Grandpa is somewhere close by when my kids have bug collections to turn in.



Danny posed on the front steps of Grandpa's building. He's such a good sport. He even smiled for me.



We left Grandpa with his bugs and took a walk up the street. It was hot. It was humid. Really really humid. Oh, and it was closing in on lunch time. All that added up to a few tired and grouchy people on that short walk. Next time we visit it will not be in the summer.

Dan got a good workout lugging Cate up the road. I can't remember now (since this trip happened almost two months ago) but I probably toted Danny on my hip the whole way.

Dan and Cate posed in front of Samford Hall.



A little posing with me and the kids in front of the sign.

Guess who was the tiredest and grouchiest.

Not me this time.



A little Heisman pose by Dan.

Poor little Cate.



We walked a little further up the road to pose in front of the sad, dying oak tree.

That's why Danny and Dan are making sad faces. I'm not sure what Cate's doing.



We crossed the street for some much needed lemonade and air conditioning!



I love Cate's sour face reaction to the lemonade.



It was yummy lemonade. I should know. I ended up drinking most of it because they thought it was sour...even after we dumped sugar in it.



We sat on the bench outside to wait for Grandpa to pick us up. I told Dan to take a picture of me and Cate. I had no idea that huge mural was behind us though. I wondered why Dan was scooted so far back. Now I know.



A little closer and you can tell that lemonade is still sour.



Yikes. Too close.



It was a fun morning.

Cate had so much fun she decided to start looking for a place to stay there permanently.




p.s. You can buy a scarf that looks like a roll of toilet paper. If that seems weird to you, you're probably not from Auburn. If that's the case, read this and then you'll be in the know.

chapter five: to the country

I made the little darlings pose in the front yard before church. Cate's wearing her Auburn dress that my buddy Janell made for her. Another crafty sewing friend. I'm so lucky. So the dress isn't the traditional orange and blue but it says War Eagle and has the AU and tiger eyes all over. Danny's got the orange and blue going on though.



In case you're wondering, it was already 85 degrees out while we were driving to church...at 8:45 in the morning. Ug.

Church was fine. I worried how Danny would do in primary. Lucky me, I got to stay with him the whole time since he wouldn't let me leave. Cate went right into nursery and played like a champ! Amazing that I can have two children so extremely different from each other.

I sent Grama Bama home with the kids when there was still an hour-ish left of church. I had pretty much had enough of the whiny naughty kids by that point. Grama Bama later reported that Cate promptly fell asleep upon their arrival at her house. Good thing too since she'd stayed up so late the night before and then we had to wake her up for church.

After the nap and some lunch, we headed over to my friend Rebecca's house. Cate and Ella posed for a few pictures. These two cuties are almost exactly one year apart in age. They're adorable if you ask me.


We spent a little time in the basement chatting while the kids played ping pong and explored.

Rebecca's mom brought out some of the old toys and this was one of them.



I love it! You can't really tell from the picture but that table is set for a dinner of sushi. Sushi in the play family camper. I love it (not actual sushi, just the idea that the little plastic family is eating sushi on their camping trip...who does that?).



We headed out to the country after a few rounds of ping pong (the kind of game that goes like this: you hit the ball, your opponent picks it up off the floor and then tosses it over the net, you pick it up again, your opponent walks away because they're now bored of it all).

The country is actually a place called Gold Hill. It's a short drive out of the big city...it's the country. That's where Rebecca's grandparents (Granny and Granddaddy I believe) used to live. It's a very old house. I remember driving there as a youngster in the back of her dad's El Camino.



There were kittens in the barn.



And a peacock! I loved watching Danny chase it around. He was having a blast.





A little bit of porch swinging (which actually felt really good since it created a small breeze...it was stinkin' hot out and oh, so muggy)...



and 4 wheeling (which also felt quite nice because of the breeze)...



and cute little girls staying hydrated while they awaited their turn for a ride.






Time for the girls to ride. I was scared Cate would fall off, hence the fake smile. I'm also not a big fan of this whole 4 wheeling thing. Big scary roller coasters, yes. Fast motorized vehicles riding through fields and weeds and such, nope.



See my true feelings about it...



Rebecca thinks it's funny that I'm such a scaredy cat.


Awwww, how sweet. Me and my man. See the glistening around my collar bone. That's sweat. From just sitting around and doing nothing. It was so humid. I don't know how people live there in the summer.



Somebody please help me remember to put my hand on my hip when I pose for any future pictures. I'm really not loving the flabby arm thing I've got going on.



We wanted to get a few pictures of us and our kids before calling it a day. They were all so good I couldn't pick just one to share.









I think this last one is my favorite.



A fun, sweaty afternoon in the country. Good times.

chapter four: dinner at the country club

{I realize this might be boring to most of you. All this blah blah blah about our summer vacation and enough already about my 20th high school reunion. I understand that. If that's you, skip this and wait for something way more interesting in the near future...but don't hold your breath. I'm not making any promises.}


That's me and Rebecca. We've been friends since second grade. We were in Girl Scouts together for ten years. Her mom was one of our troop leaders. Troop 91. I've spent the night at her house more times that I can even count. Besides my family, she's the person who's really known me the longest. I like having a friend like that. She's known for a long time how crazy, kooky and weird I am and she's wanted to be my friend anyway. Who could ask for anything more?



Remember this picture from our high school graduation? I like to think we've both aged quite gracefully.



This is Julie. I've known her since she showed up at church on her 12th birthday. We were roommates in college for many years. I hadn't seen Julie for 14 years. It was fun to be around her again. She always seems to laugh at my lame jokes. What a good friend. I really wanted to ask her if she thought I'd changed in the past 14 years. I know I have. Don't you just wonder that stuff when you see people that knew you way back when?



See the guy in the dark rimmed glasses? That's the guy people kept mistaking Dan for. I don't see it but oh, well.



After the big group shot of all the classmates, Dan took command and asked everyone to divide up into groups according to elementary schools. When I was a kid (and all the way past graduation too) there were only three elementary schools in town. So here's all the kids from Cary Woods Elementary School. I'm really glad Dan came up with that idea. It was a good one.



Dan and I posed for a few cheesy pictures. How could we resist?

Dinner was yummy. I ate way too many desserts. Key lime pie! Yum.

Lots of talking with friends.

Some laughing.

Watching the semi-inebriated crowd on the dance floor towards the end of the evening.

Listening to a totally non-inebriated husband of mine sing karaoke with one of my classmates. Dan sang the part of June Carter Cash. Samy sang Johnny's part. The song: "Jackson." Oh, it was a sight to behold.

It was a fun night. I'm so glad we went.

Here's what greeted us in the carport when we came home.



Camel crickets. Yuck. I remember these well.

They come out at night and you better make sure you turn on the light so you can see them or else it's pretty creepy and gross.


Look what else greeted us when we got home.



Oh, yes. My cell phone tells me I took this picture at 11:49 pm.

It's a good thing she's so cute.

chapter three: saturday is a special day

Saturday morning we were treated to a tour of my high school. Lots has changed there in 20 years. They've got a fancy new cafeteria now, complete with flat screen tv's on the walls. Why tv's in the cafeteria? I don't have a clue.

Kids were invited to this event and I'm thinking next time (if there is a next time) we'll just leave them home with Grama Bama. Have I mentioned yet that it's hot in Alabama in July? Well, it is. On top of that, it's humid. Oh, the humidity. I knew it would be humid but I guess I've just forgotten what it feels like. You know, like how you start sweating almost as soon as you walk outside. And how it takes twice as long to blow dry your hair. And by the time you're done blow drying it you wonder why you just spent all that time blowing hot air onto your head when your hair's just going to get wet again (with sweat this time) as soon as you walk out the door.

Well, it was hot Saturday morning for the high school tour. And it was humid. The kids were not happy. Tour means walk around and look at different buildings. Walk around in heat and humidity means grouchy, tired, sluggish, hold me! hold me! hold me! kids. Ok, so I was hot and tired and sluggish too but there was nobody around to hold me.

It was fun to be at my old school again though. Lots of good memories there. I was kind of sad that the band room was so different though. It's actually nothing like it was back in the olden days.

It was fun to see classmates again and meet their cute kids. Those two up there with my little lovelies belong to my long time friend, Rebecca. We met in second grade and have been friends ever since. They live in New Jersey now. I think we need to be planning a family vacation to the Jersey shore soon. Rebecca's son told Dan that he looks like a teenager by the way. I'm not sure if that's what teenagers look like in New Jersey or if he was just being very polite.



After the tour we went home for Quiet Time. It was much needed. I think Cate fell asleep. I can't remember now. I know I took Danny to the bookstore alone so I'm thinking she did. Dan probably did too. Grama Bama was at a work meeting so we stopped by to pick her up. Then she took us to the Sonic drive thru for our happy hour drinks.



I snapped this picture while we were stopped. That's a big orange tiger paw painted on the road. Pretty cool.

I walked around taking pictures of the house again when we got home. Here's a mud dauber's nest in the carport.



And my dad's lawn mower. Seriously.



Grandpa and Danny posing on the front lawn.



My darling Danny.



My darling Danny in the dogwood tree.



And some pretty orange trumpet creepers.



We took a little walk down our street. It was hot and muggy and I wasn't sure I'd make it but we trudged on. The house is at the top of a big hill. It was the perfect hill for riding bikes and roller skating when I was a kid. The only bad part was the getting back up.

I remember one time roller skating down and on the way back up I sat on the grass (actually on a spot of grass over on the left of this picture) to rest and wait for those slow poke sisters of mine. When I stood back up I learned that I was sitting in a pile of dog poo. I don't remember feeling it as I sat in it. Only as I stood up. I must have had a lot of padding on my bum even back then.



Look at all that green! I love it.



Cate had fun practicing her "tightrope" all the way down. That's what she calls it when she balances on the curb. She's actually gotten pretty good at it. I think it's time to sign her up for gymnastics.



Once we got to the bottom we had to walk back up the hill to the house. You can either turn around and go back the way you came or go up the busy road. Danny chose the busy road, much to my dismay. At least there's a sidewalk.



I found this cute house on the way up the hill. I'm pretty sure that whole area was just a big forest when I was a kid.



Cate decided she'd had enough and just plopped down on the grass. Oh, I love that face. The one that tells you that some kind of breakdown and/or freak out session is about to happen.



We made it to the top. Grama Bama's house is on the corner of the busy road and the road we walked down. This is a picture of my bus stop all through junior high. Right at the corner of my yard. Pretty convenient.



Dan and I got ready for the fancy reunion dinner at the country club and went outside for a few pictures. I made Danny and Cate pose for a few.



And then a few of Dan and me. I didn't once think to have my mom take a family picture though. Just me and Dan and then let's get to the party. Very rude. I know. Danny and Cate wanted in the picture anyway.

This is in no way a good picture of me (I should have blurred out my face...especially all my chins and that goofy smile) but look at those cute kids down in the corner. Seriously adorable. Look at those little faces. I just want to pinch those cheeks and then kiss them all over.



And then we sent Grama Bama and Grandpa off with the kids to eat and I made Dan pose for a silly picture with me. He's a good sport. And I have very kissable cheeks too.




Chapter two and Chapter one, in case you need a refresher since it's taking me so long to write these vacation posts.