Busy Days...Warning...Very Long

Stop 2 of the Aldrich Excursion

This week we have been at my Grandmama’s house in Georgia. So far we’ve had a pretty nice relaxing stay mixed with some fun events here and there. Jeff has been a little out of sorts ever since we left home, but it has been less frequent this week and I attribute that to more of a schedule and plenty of rest. I have been a little depressed here and there, but Brandon prayed for me yesterday and I’ve felt a big difference inside ever since then.

As far as things we’ve done…Sunday we got into Georgia and stopped by my grandmother’s house on the NW side of Atlanta to surprise the family and say happy mother’s day. We stayed there long enough to have some lunch and then headed down to Grandmama’s house in McDonough. The rest of that day, we just sort of unpacked, had dinner and the boys played outside.

Monday we played around the house for the morning. The boys really love the riding toys- a tricycle, a little red car and a little Radio Flyer scooter. Jeff especially likes to sit in his car and watch the traffic. Grandmama lives right in the middle of town and also on the road where all the big trucks detour around the center square, so there’s plenty to watch. We’ve had some good discussions about staying away from the road too. That day the funny event of the day happened in the little playhouse. Brandon walked by and looked in the window and noticed that Jonathon had some water in the little sink.

“Jonathon, where did you get the water from that is in the sink?”
“Oh, James and I had to go to the potty, so we just went in there.”

UGH!!!!!

That was a fun clean up!

Monday afternoon we went over to my parents’ house and Grandpa T showed the boys how to go fishing. Jonathon and James both caught a couple of little brim off the dock and all total we ended up with 9 brim and 1 crappie- all but two should have been thrown back as they were so small, but Grandpa wanted to reward them for their hard work, so he graciously cleaned every single on of those little fish and we gobbled them up for dinner! Yum. Jonathon liked it pretty well. (In the South, there’s nothing but fried fish!- lest you wonder how we cooked it) James didn’t care for it much. They also spent some time throwing sticks in the lake and one time Jonathon got on the paddle boat and untied it and found himself floating out in the lake alone. Jane hopped in her canoe and rescued him, so all was well. I bet he doesn’t do it again though. He was pretty shaken up. We stayed until well after bedtime and then came back and put them to bed.

…whew…so now it’s a week and a half later and I haven’t updated anyone about anything and now there is very little time to do it. Arg! I hate it ‘cause there were some good stories in there and now they are all going to get smashed into one big pile of gobbledy gook and no one will really enjoy reading it. Either it will be too long, or it will be to general. Alas, the woes of blogging! Nevertheless, I will persevere with Tuesday.
Tuesday, our family went to the Georgia Aquarium. We also invited my parents, four sisters, and both grandmothers to accompany us. Jeff was fussy most of the day and there were hoards of school children on field trips, but the time went pretty well. Some of the highlights were the whale slide- a slide that children enter through the tail and come out the mouth. Hmmm…rather backwards I thought. Anyway, they liked the touch tanks too. James had a great time trying to catch the shrimp and would squeal every time he got one because when he touched one it would jump and jerk and startle him. Jeff liked the manta rays and just sticking his fingers in the water in general. Then the favorite part was the movie. It’s a 4-D movie and at first the “4” part didn’t make sense to me, but it just means that it’s a 3-D movie with theater effects. For example, they had a man on stage do a little talk before and after. Then, in the middle of the movie, when he jumps into the water, the whole audience gets splashed with water. There are strobes for lightning and probably the most startling effect was when this scary fish jumps out of the dark everyone gets a little whip on the legs by a little hose that shoots out of the bottom of the seat via air pressure. I nearly jumped out of my skin when that happened. Brandon’s was broken and so thought I was crazy for jerking so much at that scene. Anyway, the boys loved it.

After the museum, we went to a playground across the road and the kids played and we had a short little picnic. I made some awesome wraps for lunch and in case any of you don’t believe it, I’ll just stick in the recipe and you can try it for yourself:

BBQ Chicken Wraps: ( the secret is in the sauces)

Mayo Sauce: Saute one diced red onion in butter until caramelized and add to about 1 ½ cups mayo. Add 1 Tbsp. creamy horseradish sauce and mix well. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

For the wrap:

Layer a Garlic and Herb Tortilla (large- 12 inch) with one half spread with the mayo mix and the other half spread with your favorite bbq sauce. Then put cheese down the middle- not too much, just a one slice layer. I used baby swiss once and provolone another time and both were yummy. Then you put lettuce down and if you want, tomato too, but I nix the tomato just because I like it better without it. Then, last half a hot, grilled chicken breast, sliced into strips on top and rolled up like a burrito. YUMMMMY!

So that’s what we had for lunch. The boys had PB&J of course, no chicken and fancy mayo for them. Then things started to collapse and we flew home to throw them all in bed for a nap before we had major melt down stage.

Wednesday morning I met with a friend of mine from way back- Kristie. We’ve know each other since we were about 4 I think and now she’s married and has kids too, so they played together at her house while we sat in the sun and drank some good southern sweet tea- there really is nothing like it! And you HAVE to drink it in a glass- plastic, tupperware, and anything else just isn’t the same. And you have to have it with ice! She’s my link to the red neck side of things, though for all her country, I don’t think of her as a “red neck” personally. But my extreme southern drawl comes out around her and my poor children can’t understand anything I tell ‘em. I’ll give you a little vocabulary quiz here and see if any of you get the right answers and then I’ll post the real answers in a later post.

Define:

Ax
Balks
Bar
Coed
Hail
Hard
Lack
Peonys
Rum
Tar
Wangs
Warrant


Ok, that was the main event on Wednesday. Brandon went to church that night and I stayed home with the kids and got them to bed.

Thursday, I went shopping for a couple of gifts in the morning and then the highlight was going on a date with Brandon that evening. Grandmama and Ruth kept the kids and we went out for an evening on the town. It was fun getting away and we were able to count it as a celebration of our 6th anniversary since we sort of skipped it this year in lieu of Derek’s wedding on the same day.

Friday, we went to Mr. and Mrs. Pass’ house and had lunch. It was nice visiting with them and seeing their new place. We talked about Fairwood and Georgia and all sorts of things. We also enjoyed some yummy sandwiches, cheetos (my children did not even know what they were), strawberries, and blonde brownies! Mmmmm…it was great.

Then we settled in for a relaxed Sabbath. I trotted over to my Great Aunt Bertha’s house to get the full report on how the evening shift was run over there. My mother works there and I’m going to be taking her place all next week while she goes to a seminar. That was interesting. Then I came back to Grandmama’s house and we relaxed.

Saturday, I got up and went to a piano recital of my sisters. They all played really well and I was glad I was able to be there- especially after I helped Jane with her lessons for the last two months.

Jonathon wasn’t feeling well and in fact had been up in the night with an ear ache so I hung out with him that afternoon and Brandon and I took a walk with Jonathon and Rachel up to the town square for the Geranium Festival. That evening Jonathon’s ear seemed to still be giving him trouble, so I took him to the after hours clinic. The nurse and doctor there were so great and I ended up with some ear drops for the pain and a prescription for an antibiotic IN CASE it got worse in Florida!!! I was so thrilled that she gave me something even though I really didn’t need it right then and I haven’t. Saturday night Jeff also got sick- cough and fever and that takes us into Sunday morning.

Sunday, I went to church with Jonathon, James, and Rachel and Brandon stayed home with Jeff. Then, Brandon and I swapped and he took the well kids to Dan and Pari’s house for a late lunch/ early dinner and I stayed with Jeff. It was actually kind of good that I was home though because I had a mound of packing to do as well as laundry and all sorts of stuff. Later Sunday evening I discovered that Rachel was also running a fever. Then, Jane and Amy came over to help with packing and that made quick work of the whole affair.

Monday morning we left McDonough after a scrumptious breakfast of eggs, bacon, grits, and whatever else we wanted and headed for Sebring, Florida. We had debated whether to wait in GA with the kids sick or not and decided that it was better to go ahead and go. The what if’s of who else could get sick and when and traveling with others sick seemed less appealing than the current situation. We made it by 5 pm and kept the sick ones drugged up pretty well. Monday night Jonathon was sick and in fact a couple of hours in the night up with him. We did steam tent in the bathroom, eucalyptus oil and Breathe Easy Tea, and Robitussin and Motrin and some more Robotussin and tea later in order to get him sleeping through the night. Tuesday he was pretty miserable, so instead of our grand plans to go hunt for alligators in a state park, Jonathon and Rachel and I stayed at the Randall’s house and Brandon took James and Jeff to the children’s museum about 5 minutes away. We’ve watched the Sword and the Stone about 5 times now and the Rescuers Down Under is catching up fast. James got a fever Tuesday evening and thus today we went to a nearby park and took a little 15 minute walk and drove to a bridge where we hopped out and saw an alligator in the water, a few turtles and a couple of large birds (my father in law could say what kind they were- I only know they were thin and white with long legs and looked kind of like a stork to me only a skinny one). We came back with Burger King for lunch and all the kids took good naps while Brandon and I watched the Food Channel. Well, Brandon did computer stuff and I watched the Food Channel. Anybody for Eggplant Curry? Or Zinnfindel Poached Peaches? Or how about Portobello Hoagies? Mmm…sounds good to me…

This evening the Randall’s (who have treated us like royalty with their hospitality and patience) took us out to dinner at an all you can eat buffet. Actually I think the name of the restaurant had the word “Smorgasbord” in it and that was the first time I had seen that word spelled. We had a southern hostess in there- I know because she voluntarily told us about her granddaughter- Savannah giving her a hard time about not being able to get up off the floor quickly on account of a bad knee. Only in the South do perfect strangers give you this kind of information.

Ok, so back to the house, but not before a quick play on a playground and wading in the water at the lake nearby. Then home again, home again with sandy soaked children for baths and bed. By the end of the day today all of them seemed to be feeling much better and James and Jonathon had only very low fevers if any. Hopefully the sick bugs will be all done tomorrow when we head over to Ruskin for the next leg of our journey- the Turner/ Demme wedding. Hope we see lots of you there, but if not…I’ll try to keep you posted on the events.

That’s all she wrote tonight and aren’t you glad it was the short version!!! Haha.
….This was 5 pages in MS Word…sorry.