Louisiameron

 

A few months ago, we decided to take a little family vacation to Cameron and Lauren’s graduation from LSU.   We rented a house, looked at things to do, planned a route, and invited all our kids, our mothers and my sister.   We took off bright and early - well actually just early. The sun wasn’t up yet on Thursday morning.   It is a 12 hour drive that we were hoping to make in about 14 hours.  

Before we could leave, I had a few hundred things to accomplish.   Things like trying to keep Mr. Mackey out of the fences.  He will not stop sticking his head through the fence and then his horns get stuck.  Also when Jim and I went shopping for car snacks I happened to find a huge clearance sale on a bunch of garden plants and so I had to stop everything and plant them.  It seemed to be the week for insane weirdness.  

Anyway, we managed to leave at o’dark thirty and met up with our travel group.  My mom drove her car, mallory drove her car and we took our car.   We split the girls and hit the road.  We made it exactly 1 hour tonYates Center when we had to stop for a 5 year old who had soda for breakfast and now needed the bathroom!   I told her she was going to throw off our 12 hour time limit.  She just laughed at me.

We stopped somewhere in Oklahoma for lunch.  I wanted to eat before we hit the Indian nations turnpike through Oklahoma because I recalled there is literally nothing along quite a few miles of road.   I jokingly told Evie that McDonald’s was out of chicken nuggets, so I ordered her the gator instead.  She gave me the look of death, and Mallory documented it for me.  She does make me laugh. 

We hit the road and made decent time until we hit the Louisiana border.  Then it started to rain.  We could not drive as fast as the speed limit said we could because it was wet.   The drive from Shreveport to Baton Rouge is a little over 3 hours.  Except yesterday.  I don’t know how long we were out there, but it felt like 23522 hours.  Made worse when it got dark.  Made even worse when they kept coming in the radio to tell us that the national weather service issued a storm warning or a tornado warning for some Parish.  We didn’t know what parish we were in, and we were not able to drive very fast due to than road conditions.  When we were 2 hours away; we realized the Airbnb host had not contacted us regarding how to access the house.  Jim was able to find contact information and we talked to the host.  He informed me that the power was out, that he thought we were coming Friday, and that he had not yet cleaned the property.  He suggested we get a hotel.  I told him absolutely not. I already paid for this, we were coming and if the power was out, we had flashlights.  He said ok then, I’ll tell my person to unlock ir for you.  He also told me how to come in the back road.   We finally made it to the road you turn on to our Airbnb.  We had been on the road for 16.5 hours.  I was more than ready to be out of the car.  It was still pouring.  The gps was telling me to turn, but the name of the street the guy gave me did not match the sign in the end of the road.  I passed it. The gps rerouted me.  Onto a minimum maintenance type field road.  Nice. Just what I needed.  I stopped to warn the others who were following me.  And then I did something that I knew would come in handy someday when I bought my car, and I popped it into 4 wheel drive.  I managed to plow my way out and get turned around.  I then called the host who directed me until we managed to find our house.  

I like the house just fine, but he was not kidding about not having cleaned it.  And the house has a sort of weird vibe.  Like a very old property.  Harper  is 100% convinced the house is haunted.  She may be right, but I think it’s just old.  

Today we needed a little time to recoup, which we took in the morning. Cameron helped me get over to Walmart where we got groceries and cleaning supplies, and brought home lunch for everyone.  

Then we headed out for the Baton Rouge zoo.  We saw a lot of stuff and enjoyed an afternoon there.  

We returned to the house and made a nice dinner and hung out visiting.  It was  nice day and I am glad we had a little bit of downtime.  

Cameron gave Evie a can of air.  She very sweetly told her mother “mommy I love you!”   When Madison bent down to hug her, she squirted her in the face with canned air!   Little turkey.  

Colin’s flight got delayed, which means he missed his connecting flight.  He is stuck in Dallas and will fly in tomorrow.  Cameron is currently at the airport picking up aunt Amy.  Tomorrow is graduation day!   We are so proud of these kids!  (Photos from the graduate’s photo day at the stadium at the top).  

Last days first games

Mallory and Saige finish their school years out today.  Mallory was having some sort of weird day with her kids - water balloon fighting (so she can have a reason to throw things at the ones who annoy her) and letting them pie her in the face.  I tell you, they do anything to pass time the last couple weeks of school!  

Evelyn had her last day of preschool yesterday.  She is more than ready for kindergarten.  She cannot wait!  The rest of us are here scratching our heads wondering how she got so big!  She is probably going to give the teachers a run for their money.  I am here for it!  

Saige finishes 6th grade today.  Off to junior high.  Last week, she was awarded student of the month.  She is a good student, and although she seems to attract drama, I have spent this year shuttling her class on my shuttle bus, and I can see that drama might be warranted.  Her class is a little rough.  She had a much better year I think than the previous year.  She has grown a lot, learned a lot, and is excited about summer break.  

Evelyn had her first softball game last night.  She is playing coach pitch at Carbondale.  She is most excited to be on the pink team "like Saige" - I haven't had the heart to tell her that Saige's team is red and blue this year!  She played really well, considering they had a lot of their practices rained out.  She paid attention, ran after the ball, and was very close on her batting.  She also got concession stand money from Poppy!  

Wrenley also got some concessions - she latched onto my pickle, and I love how she puckers!  haha!  I have a similar photo of Evie eating a big pickle at about the same age.  I feel a crafty project coming on.  

It was a fun game, but long, as they went into an extra inning.  On our way out the door, I mentioned to Jim that I meant to grab jackets, but was too lazy to run back inside.  I wish I had brought a jacket!  It was chilly!  I was happy to get in the car and turn on the heat!  Jim and I ran to Topeka for a few things after the game.  It made for a late night, and an early morning.  I am excited that this is the last day of extremely early morning bus routes!  A little summer break - we all need it! 

Welcome summer! 

 

Mothers day

 

The girls were excited to spend Mother's Day at Gage park!  I was happy to hear that the train was running, as the last time it was shut down, and Evelyn was devastated!  :)  

My Mother's Day was spent working at the Liquor store.  The way they run the scheduling up there, is that you look it over, and sign up on the calendar for whatever days you want to work.  Between graduations, preparations for parties, hosting parties, and leaving on vacation (for another graduation), I did not have many days free for working.  I decided it would be ok to give away a few hours on Mother's Day.  In all honesty, all I really wanted for Mother's Day was a day of peace and quiet.  My little side gig job is pretty easy, and as long as the stocking is done, you are allowed to sit and read or do whatever.  I expected it to be slow, and I had downloaded a couple of books on my phone.  It was busy, but that just makes the time go faster!  It was, by far, not the worst day ever!  Plus I got to see most of my kids on Saturday, and have plans to see the other 2 later this week, so that always makes me happy.  Oh, and Jim didn't forget the chocolate....good man.

After the graduation party, we had our "Sunday dinner" even though it was Saturday.  We ordered pizza, and the girls helped me clean up.  Andrew and Jim went fishing.  When it got dark, Mallory forced me to run down the road because you were supposed to be able to see the northern lights.  They were apparently visible in photographs, but not the naked eye,  and I saw several very amazing photos from Friday night.  Saturday night, the sky was not vividly colorful, but the photos still look pretty cool I think!

Last week, I decided it was time to get the pool going.  I filled it with water, got the skimmer parts put back in place, and plugged it in.  Nothing happened.  I remembered there is a breaker on the pole you have to flip.  After I flipped it, I plugged it in, and nothing happened.  I got to looking at it, and noticed the wiring had been sliced.  I was sad to say the least, but also glad that I had not added any chemicals in the water yet!  I send off a text to Colin asking him if he might be able to help me on Saturday, and he said he would throw in a bucket of electrician supplies.  He and Preston (and Spencer) managed to get it put back together, and the filter is working now!  He warned me that it might be a temporary fix, but it worked well enough to get the chemicals in the water, and start stirring things around.  As you can see, we still have a little ways to go before we will be swimming!  Last year, we covered the pool for the winter.  When I noticed that the cover was filled with water and seemed to be dragging and pulling on the walls, Jim and I decided to uncover it, and the water was crystal clear!  Unfortunately, we have had several inches of rain, and some debris from the top of the cover fell in the water, and now we have a little bit of algae growth.  It is pretty easily fixable, and I will have it cleared up in no time!  Or at least in time for opening day!  I might need another bag of shock though!  

As we were driving to mass yesterday, I noticed these cute little goslings in the neighbor's yard!  They are Canada geese.  There is just nothing cuter to me than little baby ducks, geese, chickens etc.  Saige took this photo!  I hope they hang around so we can watch them grow!  

While I was at work, Quincy went to lunch with Jo.  They happened to see a wheelchair out in someone's trash, and grabbed it!  When she got home, she was telling me she always wanted to learn to pop wheelies and ride a wheelchair down some big hills/do tricks on one.  That is weird, but whatever.  The wheelchair was broken.  It did not unfold, and the seat was in pretty severe rough shape.  Into the garage she disappeared.  I heard her out there banging around for a very long time.  And then she appeared.....riding through the house on a homemade wooden seat, trying her best to pop wheelies and spinning and giggling like a maniac.  She even conned Harper into riding around and the two of them were laughing and zipping all around the house.  Jim and I just looked at each other and I told him at least I know when we get older, if we need a wheelchair, we know it will fit through the doorways?   Gotta look for the bright spots right? Having children brings a lot of things into your life.  We have met a lot of people we would never have known, and spent a lot of time sitting in a lot of gyms and random other places with them.  We have a lot of things like broken mowers, broken wheelchairs, and a shopping cart in our possession because of them.  We also have a lot of broken things in general because of them.  I have never had a clean sink in the last 28 years because of them.  I have the tow truck man's phone number in my phone because of them.  I have first-hand knowledge that the Heimlich maneuver works because of them.  I know all the rules to every sport, and where to get the best prices on sporting goods because of them.  I know how to get stains out of most fabrics, how to retrieve items out of tiny spaces, not to throw away random torn pieces of paper, and how to take apart the sinks because of them.  I know everything there is to know about chaos, craziness, bravery, and patience because of them.  But most of all, I know what it is to love unconditionally, and to be loved unconditionally in return.  I am so blessed to have these crazy kids who call me mom.