After such an action-packed,
fun-filled weekend, you would think we'd be satisfied to sit at home for a
little while. But alas, it really just re-energized us and made us
realize how much fun you can have in a weekend! On Thursday, I mentioned
to Michael that I was missing my Readyville clan, and that I wanted to make
sure we took a weekend trip out there before too long. His reply,
"Why not this weekend?" took me off-guard, but I jumped on it and
about 24 hours later he was done with class and we were on our way to my Aunt
Cathy's in Readyville, which is in Middle Tennessee. I am so grateful
that she welcomed us on such a short notice! She is an awesome host and
made sure we had a good time. Cathy is awesome with Paul and knows just
what my favorites are -- she had homemade Oreo ice cream "cake"
waiting in the freezer and made pot roast Saturday night.
We got down there around 8 p.m.,
which is well past Paul's bed time, but it was still light out and there was a
brand-new member of the family to see, so we walked down to my cousin Jon
Marc's. I had never been to his house before and was very
impressed. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with Sadie Joe, who
was just a week old, but she was beautiful. I know she and Paul will have
fun playing together on our visits in a year or two. My cousins Anne and
Addison also came to hang out, which was awesome. I do not get to see
them enough!
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| Paul's first up-close encounter with a chicken. |
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| Cousin Bella took charge. |
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| Puppet licked Paul and scared him. |
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| Paul loved this deer! He kept pointing back at it so whoever was holding him would take him to pet it. |
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| He loves Cathy's pantry. (So do I! She is well stocked!) |
Saturday morning was
beautiful! Jan and Anne came up for a big country breakfast -- sausage,
eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, blackberry jam and my favorite,
honey-butter. Side story: my granny died when I was about 6, so I don't
have many memories of her, but I do have a few, since we went to visit so
often. I clearly remember sitting around the table in her small house in
Readyville eating breakfast. This was the meal to come too -- a lot of my
aunts and uncles and some cousins (from what I remember) would come and eat in
the morning. With biscuits, I was taught to get a pat of butter, spoon
some dripping, sticky honey on it, then mash it up with a fork until it no
longer looks more like honey or butter, but is a thing of its own. I
can't eat it without thinking back to that table.
After this, Anne left and Jan sat on
the porch to study for the bar, so we went down to the creek to enjoy the
gorgeous weather. And to get wet. That is the real point of the
walk.
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| Puppet snuck in a kiss, which Paul was not too happy about. |
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We
both like a good sit in the creek (although I am on a dry rock).
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Oops!
He definitely fell in a few times. Should have worn his suit!
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So
silly. I'm not sure how he ended up like this.
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Paul is usually such a ham for the
camera. But I could not get him to look at the lens the whole day!
He was so absorbed in discovery. I loved watching him enjoy something
special from my own childhood (and something that I still love as a bona fide
"grown-up").
Later in the afternoon we went back
to the creek, more prepared this time. We brought his watering can toy,
dressed him in his swimsuit and slathered on the sunscreen. Cathy also
joined us, making it extra special!
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I'm
not sure if you can pick it up, but right at center there is a dark ball, and
on top of the ball is a dung beetle. Two beetles work together to
collect dung and roll the ball around to their destination. One of the
beetles had drifted off and seemed lost so I picked him up and brought him
back to his friend. It was really cool to see them in action!
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Puppet
gave Paul a kiss on the nose!
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And
Paul decided he didn't mind anymore!
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Cousin
AB was so great with Paul! Paul adored him. It was fun to see him
looking up to a big kid.
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I
love this one. I'm lucky to have such an awesome, loving family.
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I
also seriously love Puppet and have been trying to figure out how to steal
him away since he was a puppy, three years ago. I know he is a farm dog
and would never like the city, but maybe one day we will have a dog as fun
and beautiful as he is.
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I
love this because it looks like Paul is running from AB.
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I
could have stayed out there with Paul all day long.
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That night Cathy had a big dinner
for us. My Uncle Mark, Aunt Jean Anne, Aunt Ovie, Aunt Lynda and cousins
Jan, Jennie and AB all came. I put a cushion in a chair to boost Paul up
and he sat there quietly and ate a big, messy meal. He ate a ton of
mashed potatoes (cousin Emilie would have been proud). He stayed up very
late and finally crashed around 10 p.m.
On Sunday we had another great breakfast,
then stayed behind while Alvin and Cathy went to church. We went back to
the creek for more fun (just couldn't get enough) and then went to see Uncle
Jack and Aunt Myrna in Woodbury. I love and feel close to almost all of
my aunts and uncles, but Uncle Jack is extra special to me. He might just
be where I get my love of wild animals. He has raised many orphaned
animals in his own backyard. He's even had baby raccoons which I was able
to bottle feed when I was younger. It made quite the impression on me,
since raccoons were always my favorite animal as a kid. (Just to clarify,
mostly for Michael, raccoons were my favorite animal that I actually saw in the
wild occasionally. No chance of seeing a snow leopard here in the South.)
Paul was extra tired which made him
extra clingy but he warmed up and was playing blocks in no time. We had a
very nice visit! It was fun to hear about their little grandson who is
just about a year or two older than Paul. I know they would have fun playing
together!
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Okay,
so I wasn't paying attention at the time but I am pretty sure this tower was
already built when Paul went to add one to it.
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| Cool shot by Michael. A lot of these are by Michael! |
After our brief visit, we came back
to Cathy's for lunch. Paul was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as we
got back. I wanted to spend time with everyone and we had already packed
up his pack and play, so we laid him on the couch (with lots of pillows on the
floor just in case). He slept like that for an hour, with about 10 of us
talking and laughing and eating and walking around him. This is not normal
for my child! He is not the best sleeper and wakes up easily. This
is just proof that we seriously wore him out.
We left Sunday after lunch and made
it back to Memphis in good time. We had such a great weekend! It
was so refreshing to reconnect with family, and so fun to see Paul really
taking everything in and enjoying himself so much. We're planning to go
back in the fall.
Love Paul's upward dog! Me and Bill didn't even see that you were sitting on a rock in that one picture -- we were super impressed with your balance/strength until we noticed it. Also, really jealous of all your summer adventures. I'm stuck inside writing basically a short story about an imaginary woman with osteoporosis.
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