A not so good day

I had the great idea to take a family Saturday trip to the Rock Ranch. It is owned by the Cathy family of Chick-fil-A fame, known for it's farm feel and family atmosphere. Mind you, I have never been there before and only know one person who has... she highly recommended it. They were having a "free" Easter egg hunt for kids as well as a storyteller, pics with the Easter Bunny, etc. Sounds like fun day, eh? Well, we set out from Atlanta to drive there. Should've taken 1 hr, took about 1.5 on the way there b/c of some traffic. Things are still good though b/c the weather is nice... but the girls aren't sleeping like I'd hoped. After getting off the interstate and driving for what felt like miles, we finally arrive on the ranch ... as does the rest of the greater Macon and Columbus area with their entire extended family in tow. There were a million cars and people there. The first thing we noticed was that we had to park very far from where the egg hunt was. They had hayrides to transport you, but the lines were insane. That was the theme of the day... long lines. Being pregnant, I had to use the bathroom as soon as we got there. I waited 25 minutes. They had 3 stalls in the womens' bathroom for at least 3000 people. Need I elaborate... ok, I will. There was one small playset for all 2000 kids, smaller than a McDonald's type of deal. And then for the kicker... the egg hunt. They had 16,000 eggs and divided into age groups for 4 different groups. Do you know how many eggs our girls got between the 2 of them? 7 -- that's right... only seven.

I know I'm being so negative and should be grateful for the family time, the nice weather and the scenery. Please forgive me... the day just started to get comical from here. I felt so guilty b/c I knew Lover was miserable and could not believe we had driven so far for this racket. We decided to ditch after the egg hunt (after being there 1.5 hrs maybe -- 25 minutes of that in line for the toilets). We stood in line for the hayride, thinking "at least we'll let our girls ride this and have some adventure before we leave." We missed the first ride and waited for the second. When it arrived, it had 2 places where you could get on. So the line broke up and people poured into both entrances... guess who got cut off? yep, us. We were so frustrated at this point, we walked back to the car, hot and pregnant (one of us) with kids on our backs. To top it all off, it took 2 hrs to get home. Neither child slept a wink and were so needy the whole way...... lesson learned!

I promise I won't be so negative in the future... just had to remember this day!

Just playing inside

We have had many rainy days over the past month and have had our share of cabin fever. I tried to alleviate it with creativity and other painstaking/messy measures like paint and playdough and water. We bought a kiddie pool for the yard and it has become quite fun indoors until it got turned over and jumped on. Now it's in the storage room. They loved sitting in it and throwing things back and forth.

The basement has been a huge blessing as the girls love to go down there by themselves and play. I feel like I have reached a wonderful stage in their ages when they're finally happily playing together -- I guess it's good timing with #3 on the way? Makes me long for the day when all 3 of them will be happily playing together. My heart is so glad when I see them excited to play with each other. I want them to be the best of friends... makes me encouraged to have more kiddos. TSG gets so giddy when we drive up to Nucky's school to pick her up. She starts squealing as we drive by just thinking of seeing her big sis. For this reason, I will be happy to have another girl... though we'll wait to see what's cooking in there!

Circus and Sug

You know you haven't posted on your blog lately when you can't even remember your password to login... ugh. Sorry for any of you who actually follow us! Guess we've just been out enjoying the spring. I want to catch up on a couple of events first from the past 6 weeks... we went to the circus with Bibi and Gogo and the cousins (not the babies) and had so much fun. Nucky still talks about the horses and she seems to think that Gogo's horse "Whitey" (who is really my cousin Emily's horse) was one of the magical, fast and sleek horses who galloped thru the coliseum with a scantily clad woman on his back. That's ok... a horse is a horse acc to her. She ran out of steam after about an hour and started rotating laps to sit on. I enjoyed watching her enjoy herself as she stood in the aisle clapping along to something (see above). Thanks, Bibi and Gogo.

A huge blessing of this weekend was that we had planned it weeks in advance - drive to SC for the weekend specifically to go to see the Ringling Brothers et al. Well, as God in His sovereignty would have it, I was able to visit and spend some time with Sug who was in the hospital for various reasons. I am grateful for the few hours of time with her as she died the following Wednesday. I cannot even begin to describe what she meant to me, not to mention what she meant to every person who ever knew her. I have often contemplated "what will it be like when Sug dies?" and thought of how sad I would be ... it has been nothing like that. My memories of her are awash in childlike wonder when I think of all the fun I had with her. I was her buddy and companion for a definite stage in my life and remember going to spend the night with her (1/4 mile down the road), driving with her to Hartsville to visit my aunt while counting tobacco barns to pass the time, playing cards and any game we could find... she helped raise me and taught me things I never realized she was teaching... like the importance of a solid foundation of faith, being able to laugh at yourself, enjoying a hot beverage and even better, an alcoholic one!... this list goes on. She was a character to say the least and absolutely someone to model your life after (and she wouldn't like it that I just ended a sentence with a preposition). I want to start of list of ways I want to be like Sug -- I'll begin to take a stab:

1) look up every word in the dictionary that I hear and don't know

2) laugh often and complain little

3) go every chance I get (whether Europe or just "to town")

4) take extra measures to make every meal just right (breakfast is not breakfast without eggs, toast, HOT coffee and bacon) -- and might I add, no meal is complete without bread nor is it complete without something sweet to "wind up on"

5) remember funny jokes and tell them in any crowd

6) have lots of children (well, I might have to think about this one more)

7) be bold enough to speak my mind and even dress tacky on my 90th bday

... I'll add more later

I'm posting a few shots of her though they aren't the greatest. She would never actually smile for a picture. So annoying.

All this to say, her funeral was a delightful celebration of family and friends truly honoring her life and memory. She had planned 99% of it herself which made me happy to know that every scripture read was from her heart personally and each person who shared was handpicked by her. What a lovely woman! One of the things she would always say, specifically when we would pick on her, was "y'all gonna miss me when I'm gone" -- how right she was!