We had a great time visiting John's family. We left Kentucky at 7:30a Eastern time on Wednesday, and made it to Mississippi (suburb of Memphis) around 4p central time. The pups traveled wonderfully, but were hungry when we arrived as we hadn't fed them that morning. They ran and played and got along well with my in laws dog Dixie, who is the same breed (Brittany) but is the chocolate color instead of the orange.
We got to spend time with John's brother Jason, his new wife Melissa, her 3 yr old Aiden, and even our niece Kaylin (Jason's little girl from his first marriage) whom we haven't seen since Asher was about a year and a half old! She will turn 10 in a couple of weeks and wow has she grown up. So there were 4 kids and 6 adults at my in-laws house, and non-stop action! The children miraculously all played together without fighting. There were only a couple of not-taking-turns incidents, handled (mostly) without tears.
Here is a pic of the newlyweds with Cuddles the Cat - who is a reallly cool kitty btw!
And her little guy Aiden, our new nephew! He's adorable!
Here's a sweet pic of Kaylin and Ash:
And Kaylin and Mimi (John's mom):
Here is John with our pups. Penny looks so serious.
On Thursday, my mom-in-law, Asher and I snuck away for a few hours in the morning to do some shoe and belated birthday shopping for Asher. We went to a great little shoe store called Jackson's Shoes where we always find at least 2 or 3 or 10 pair of shoes Asher must have. lol. He got 3 new pair of flip flops and also a neat pair of other shoes that are hard to explain but will be great for summer activities. When Allie woke up from her nap that afternoon, she and Kaylin had fun dressing up and fixing hair. K was so patient with Allie, as Allie wasn't that thrilled with having hot sticks rolled in her hair, although she was a willing participant! lol
Here Allie is looking out of the window while K tries to comb her hair.
Then we moved Allie to the bar to have the hot sticks put in.
Here's a sweet one of K:
And here is Allie and Papa (John's dad) after Allie had her hair all fixed:
That night, Mimi took Kaylin and Ash back to the master bedroom to read bedtime stories. I went to check on them about 20 minutes later and came upon the cutest scene. Mimi was conked out, and Kaylin had read like 5 books to Asher! She was so expressive and dramatic with her reading. It was so sweet I had to get the camera!
On Friday, I had thought to take the kids to the zoo. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in the mid 70s, low 80s. However, we ended up just hanging out and lazing around the pool and getting some sun. It was sooo relaxing and I am glad we did that, although I still wish we could have made a zoo trip. We haven't been to the Memphis Zoo in ages. I laid out and read - how long have I done that?? Jason set up the slip 'n slide and between that and the pool the kids played in the water literally ALL DAY LONG. Jason and Melissa called their massage therapist friend Jeanie, who came over around 4p and gave me a wonderful massage that I wish could have lasted for 3 hours instead of just 1. That evening Jason grilled us chicken drummies and then they had a bonfire - I stayed inside as I was pretty much toast and still had to pack us up for the trip home and of course Allie was already in the bed by fire time.
Here Allie is eating a plum Friday morning from Mimi and Papa's little orchard. They have several fruit trees and also several blueberry bushes.
Asher was having so much fun, it was really hard for him to know that we had to come home on Saturday. Everyone, including me, was lobbying John to stay Saturday and leave Sunday morning, but he wouldn't budge. It was the right choice, as we had a ton of stuff to do here on the farm, but it's always hard to say goodbye! Allie enjoyed herself as well, but didn't get near the freedom the bigger kids did and although she wasn't whiney, she was a mama's girl for most of the visit.
Yesterday (Sunday) we slept in and then John headed outside to start chores while I cleaned the house - it was a total wreck as I didn't do my weekly cleaning before we left. By naptime all I had left to do were the floors so I decided to wait on them and get outside and enjoy the sunshine and help John out. I hopped on the mower and he continued to weedeat. He weedeated for 3 hours and it still isn't all done! Yikes! The farm is always extra pretty right after it has been mowed. Thankfully our allergies weren't acting up at all and we could enjoy being outdoors. Asher got in the wading pool, and then the big pool - which was the first time for the season! We got a new solar blanket cover before we left town, and it is way better than the one we had - it has helped warm the pool up tremendously. I got some weeding done while Ash swam and Allie still snoozed away.
This morning I hauled both kiddos to the Y for my morning exercise. I made it to the 8:20 Yoga class only 5 minutes late and then did the water aerobics. I was a little apprehensive as to how Ash would do in the childcare area as it is mostly geared toward the under school age set. They do have a TV though. I shouldn't have worried - when I picked them up he asked if he could stay! I said no, but that we could come back Wednesday! We left the Y and headed to WalMart for our weekly grocery shopping. Asher pushed his own cart for the first time and did remarkably well. I tried to put the heaviest items in my cart so it would be a touch easier for him. We were definitely loaded down - 2 hours later...!!!
Tomorrow morning we are planning on driving to a State Park Public Pool to meet some friends around 11. We'll swim and have a picnic lunch before heading back home. Then at 5:30p Asher has his allergy testing and appointment with our ENT doc. I am hoping to leave Allie at home with John and maybe Ash and I can catch a movie afterward.
Time to start dinner!!
And her little guy Aiden, our new nephew! He's adorable!
Here's a sweet pic of Kaylin and Ash:
And Kaylin and Mimi (John's mom):
Here is John with our pups. Penny looks so serious.
On Thursday, my mom-in-law, Asher and I snuck away for a few hours in the morning to do some shoe and belated birthday shopping for Asher. We went to a great little shoe store called Jackson's Shoes where we always find at least 2 or 3 or 10 pair of shoes Asher must have. lol. He got 3 new pair of flip flops and also a neat pair of other shoes that are hard to explain but will be great for summer activities. When Allie woke up from her nap that afternoon, she and Kaylin had fun dressing up and fixing hair. K was so patient with Allie, as Allie wasn't that thrilled with having hot sticks rolled in her hair, although she was a willing participant! lol
Here Allie is looking out of the window while K tries to comb her hair.
Then we moved Allie to the bar to have the hot sticks put in.
Here's a sweet one of K:
And here is Allie and Papa (John's dad) after Allie had her hair all fixed:
That night, Mimi took Kaylin and Ash back to the master bedroom to read bedtime stories. I went to check on them about 20 minutes later and came upon the cutest scene. Mimi was conked out, and Kaylin had read like 5 books to Asher! She was so expressive and dramatic with her reading. It was so sweet I had to get the camera!
On Friday, I had thought to take the kids to the zoo. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in the mid 70s, low 80s. However, we ended up just hanging out and lazing around the pool and getting some sun. It was sooo relaxing and I am glad we did that, although I still wish we could have made a zoo trip. We haven't been to the Memphis Zoo in ages. I laid out and read - how long have I done that?? Jason set up the slip 'n slide and between that and the pool the kids played in the water literally ALL DAY LONG. Jason and Melissa called their massage therapist friend Jeanie, who came over around 4p and gave me a wonderful massage that I wish could have lasted for 3 hours instead of just 1. That evening Jason grilled us chicken drummies and then they had a bonfire - I stayed inside as I was pretty much toast and still had to pack us up for the trip home and of course Allie was already in the bed by fire time.
Here Allie is eating a plum Friday morning from Mimi and Papa's little orchard. They have several fruit trees and also several blueberry bushes.
Asher was having so much fun, it was really hard for him to know that we had to come home on Saturday. Everyone, including me, was lobbying John to stay Saturday and leave Sunday morning, but he wouldn't budge. It was the right choice, as we had a ton of stuff to do here on the farm, but it's always hard to say goodbye! Allie enjoyed herself as well, but didn't get near the freedom the bigger kids did and although she wasn't whiney, she was a mama's girl for most of the visit.
Yesterday (Sunday) we slept in and then John headed outside to start chores while I cleaned the house - it was a total wreck as I didn't do my weekly cleaning before we left. By naptime all I had left to do were the floors so I decided to wait on them and get outside and enjoy the sunshine and help John out. I hopped on the mower and he continued to weedeat. He weedeated for 3 hours and it still isn't all done! Yikes! The farm is always extra pretty right after it has been mowed. Thankfully our allergies weren't acting up at all and we could enjoy being outdoors. Asher got in the wading pool, and then the big pool - which was the first time for the season! We got a new solar blanket cover before we left town, and it is way better than the one we had - it has helped warm the pool up tremendously. I got some weeding done while Ash swam and Allie still snoozed away.
This morning I hauled both kiddos to the Y for my morning exercise. I made it to the 8:20 Yoga class only 5 minutes late and then did the water aerobics. I was a little apprehensive as to how Ash would do in the childcare area as it is mostly geared toward the under school age set. They do have a TV though. I shouldn't have worried - when I picked them up he asked if he could stay! I said no, but that we could come back Wednesday! We left the Y and headed to WalMart for our weekly grocery shopping. Asher pushed his own cart for the first time and did remarkably well. I tried to put the heaviest items in my cart so it would be a touch easier for him. We were definitely loaded down - 2 hours later...!!!
Tomorrow morning we are planning on driving to a State Park Public Pool to meet some friends around 11. We'll swim and have a picnic lunch before heading back home. Then at 5:30p Asher has his allergy testing and appointment with our ENT doc. I am hoping to leave Allie at home with John and maybe Ash and I can catch a movie afterward.
Time to start dinner!!
