Alabama Adventures

Last Sunday (the 26th) after church, Monster and I left to go to Alabama to see Teeny and bring her home. We drove up to Arkansas to see my best friend from high school and her family. It was so fun to be able to visit and catch up with each other. I wish we could have visited for longer, but there are coming to see us in about 2 weeks on their way to San Antonio. I am so excited!

On Monday, we drove the rest of the way to Alabama. I have to tell you about my interesting encounter with the back roads of Mississippi. I took my GPS with me so that I would be able to get to my destination without getting completely lost, right? Riiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhhhttttttt......so it got me lost anyway. I was going along doing exactly what it said, and it was supposedly taking my on a route that was "shorter." Well, before I decided that I needed help and needed to turn around, I had ended up on a dirt road with an open gate with a "Private Drive" sign. By the way, my navigation was set to AVOID unpaved roads. What the heck! Anyway, I ended up calling Daddy and having him give me directions on how to get to Granny's house. The funny thing is that I was really only about an hour from her house. I just didn't know how to get there.

It was so exciting to finally get to see Teeny. I could tell she looked different, and she talks perfectly clear. I couldn't tell for sure that she had grown, but I was pretty sure because her clothes all fit her differently. She had a great time at Granny's playing with her cousins, the kitties, the dogs, and Granny and Grumpa. I think she was almost more excited to see Monster than me. When I stopped the van, Teeny immediately went to the side door where Brit opened it. She climbed inside and started loving on Monster. It was very sweet. Then she ran around to give me a big hug and kiss. All she wanted to do was hold me. It was a great feeling. I love being a mom!

The two days that we were there it rained, but I didn't mind because it was cool. It was nice to be out of the Texas heat for a few days. We went for a couple walks in the woods on Granny and Grumpa's land. We also got to see Coon Dog Cemetery, which is just up the road about 10 or so miles. Monster LOVED the kitties, especially Bear. He was constantly wanting to get down and run around, but Mommy had a hard time with that because of the pond and pool and flowers and mud. I did let him play a little bit, but probably not as much as he would have liked. It's hard when they're at that age where they just wan to get in to everything and explore everything, even if it may be dangerous. He seemed to like the pigs at first, but when we went to feed them for the last time while we were there, he got a little scared of them. I think that was just because they were being noisy and pushy because it was eatin' time.

We left Thursday morning at about 9:30 and got home at 10:45pm. We had dropped off Little Man and Kell-Bells, plus we stopped for about an hour for lunch. And of course, when you're driving with 4 children under the age of 8, there are lots of potty breaks. :) I was quite proud of myself for driving the whole way all by myself because I haven't driven that much since I was in college. Plus, being pregnant tends to make me more tired than usual, but I didn't really have a problem with that until the last 2 hours or so.

Here are some pictures of our trip. They are completely out of order, but I couldn't figure out how to move them while using Google Chrome. Oh well. :)

One of the headstones at Coon Dog Cemetery--I thought it was kind of amusing since one of the guys Toby works with is nicknamed Preacher.

Troop, the first dog buried at Coon Dog Cemetery

The sign at the Cemetery

Monster playing the lids

We had ice cream cones for snack one day. This is the final masterpiece of Teeny.

This was Teeny at the beginning.

Monster's finished product

Monster in the middle of eating the cone

Monster at the beginning

This is Monster holding and hugging on Bear, the kitty who will let the kids carry him everywhere and doesn't seem to care. He never scratches them either. He was Teeny's favorite.

I thought this was a super cute picture of Monster climbing the wet stairs.

My cute little Teeny--This is where she liked to come when she woke up in the morning. Before breakfast she would go outside and sit down. She's such a silly little girl.

Just another cute picture of Monster--He liked the flowers a lot.