Are we there yet?

Okay, I am finally getting around to writing about our road trip.

Via e-mail, my Grandmama invited the whole family to my Great Aunt Alice's Open House in Athens, Louisiana the weekend before Halloween. I can imagine her surprise when I asked to go with her... two little boys in tow. We loaded up the car and headed out on our adventure.

Strongly devoted to movie-less car trips, I stuck to my guns, refusing the offers of several well-meaning friends and family members offering me their portable DVD players. "It sure doesn't hurt kids to learn to be alone with their thoughts! They need to soak in nature and learn to appreciate the world around them!" Famous last words. When we arrived at Grandmama's house, I realized I had forgotten the bag of books and toys. Luckily, I had just checked out five or six books on CD and had Jack's CD music library ready to go. We were about five minutes down the road when I noticed Grandmama's car does not have a CD player. Oh dear. So, we stopped at WalMart, bought a portable CD player, and hit the road.

Three hours, one feeding, and one baby wardrobe change later, I decided it was time to turn on some music. Jack had been alone with his thoughts long enough and Grandma and I were getting tired of playing "What starts with P?" We stopped at McDonald's to nurse the baby, let Jack play on the playground, and get the CD player all set up. We got there, took the player out of the box, and loaded the batteries only to find that it was broken. Even worse, there was no playground at that McDonalds.

So, on the road again, still no music, no books, and no movies.

Short story long, 12 hours after leaving Marble Falls we crossed the Louisiana border. We stopped to call Aunt Linda to get the final few turns when she informed us that we took a wrong turn somewhere and that we were still 3 1/2 hours from her house. Keep in mind we had been in the car since 9:30am and it was 9:30pm when we got this news. We had to laugh to keep from crying. I wished I had brought the DVD player, but super-impressed that Jack had behaved so beautifully thus far, we pressed on. We arrived in Winnfield, LA at about midnight. We promised Jack we would buy a CD player for the ride home. Bless his heart.

The highlight of our road trip to "Aweeziana" was introducing my boys to my four first cousins and all of their kiddos. We have resorted to watching each others' kids grow up via the Internet, so even though I was meeting them for the first time, I felt like I already knew them. Because of the sheer chaos and exhaustion, I took only four pictures the entire trip. That is SO incredibly NOT like me. I am so disappointed, but I was on survival mode. It's weird the things I DID take pictures of.

Anyway, I never realized what a city boy Jack Everett was until I took him out of the city. When we got to Aunt Alice's log cabin, Jack was immediately drawn to the black cows at the back fence. He (not before asking my permission) climbed up the wooden fence to be face to face with the cows. (I know, missed photo op.) My cousins and I were watching the kids through the screened in back porch. After a while, I realized he hadn't moved from the top rail of the fence and started to fear that he couldn't get himself down. I casually asked my cousins, "Do you think he is stuck? He hasn't moved in a while." Without skipping a beat, Brian yells out to his nephew across the ranch lawn, "Rick, can you run and git Jack? Boy's never been on a fence before!!!" We all laughed, but I knew it was true.

As he carefully climbed down in his pristine white "Vote Now" shirt, I realized he is definitely not Country Mouse. The other funny thing was that here we are in the middle of Louisiana on a moist night where you have to raise your voice to talk over the buzz of mosquitoes, and the only person with a bottle of bug spray was... you guessed it... ME. When I asked to borrow some, they were like, "Well, he has long sleeves on, socks, and jeans... do you think the mosquitoes will bite his neck or face?" I said, "Nope!" and sprayed him down. The next morning, no lie, he still had a huge swollen mosquito bite on his forehead.

Left to right: Landrie standing up, Parker holding Nolan, Rick holding Davis, cousin Jack, Jack Everett, Lauren, and Rebecca holding Julianne. Not shown: 1-year-old Bailey would not stay in the picture. She would run across the room and we'd try to catch her in the shot. You will just have to take my word that she was super cute.

We exchanged the CD player in a Minden WalMart, so the drive home was more of a breeze. We still managed to make a whole day of it between stopping to nurse, diaper blowouts, and road map mis-reads. It was the blind leading the blind until we got back into Texas.

On the last day, we made it to Tyler where we decided to get a hotel room. In this photo, we have loaded all of our suitcases (you have to pack a lot with a baby in tow) into the hotel-provided crib. We were thrilled that it worked out to drop in on Nanny Lucy, and the boys loved stretching their legs and getting some snuggle time with their Grandma. Sure wish Nanny lived closer. Davis thanked her for her hospitality by spitting up all down her shirt and recliner.

All things aside, Grandmama, the boys and I had a great time and the conversation was awesome. We talked about politics, family secrets, marriage, politics, parenting, how much we miss Granddaddy, and politics. We got to know each other even better than before, and I think she was reminded why God gives you your children in your twenties. My boys pretty much exhausted her. She was also pretty much forced to become more comfortable with someone breastfeeding at her table in a restaurant and taking a little boy to the potty. Sorry, Grandmama, but thanks for letting us come with you on a most memorable trip.

Last week Jack asked me where his friend Lawtie lived. I said, "New York." I reminded him that she moved far far away. He said, "Yes, but do you know what is really REEALLY far FAR away?"

"Aweeziana!"