The Day in Plains

It's quite unfortunate that when you get older, you only see your extended family at funerals. I love the town of Plains. My Great Aunt Virginia died this past Friday. I typed "passed away" instead of died, but I remember the pastor at her funeral today saying that it annoyed Aunt Virginia when people said that. So there. Aunt Virginia died.  I rode with Mama and Daddy down to Plains for the funeral. Although it was a sad occasion, Aunt Virginia lived a long and full life. So it's hard to be sad really. I think her house was the most beautiful house in Plains.  My Daddy remodeled it when I was just a wee one.

I was happy to see President Carter and Rosalyn at Aunt Virginia's funeral. President Carter and Aunt Virginia went to high school together and their families were good friends growing up. I was able to shake the President's hand. I don't care who you are, it will give you chills to say "It's nice to meet you, Mr. President". Please don't inject your politics here because A) It would show a lack of class and B) I don't really care. Anyway, I thought it was too funny that President Carter told my daddy today that he and Aunt Virginia used to be sweethearts. I don't think the former First Lady thought that was particularly funny. She shot him a look and walked off! Classic. I'm glad they made the effort to come, just as they did to Uncle Frank's funeral a few years ago.  It was good to see the Secret Service actually protecting a former president rather than what many of them are in the news for right now! 

While we were in Plains, I took some pictures that I've wanted to take for some time. 

When Jimmy Carter announced his campaign for President, I was just a tiny baby. My daddy was holding me in the crowd right outside this train station. Jimmy Carter reached out into the crowd and rubbed my head and said he'd heard it was good luck to rub a redheaded baby's head. Mama has that picture in a box somewhere!

Plains is the cutest little town. Mama and I went through a few antique shops while we were there. We visited Aunt Christine and had lunch with Daddy's cousin, Jaqueline. 

It was a long day but a good walk down memory lane. Hopefully it won't take another death in the family for me to get back there. Going to try to talk Pete and the girls into a couple nights at the Plains Inn this summer!  

Girls and Their Goats

No. I did not allow Addie to wear this skirt and boots to school today. She did wear the skirt. Look how dirty it is and we haven't even been to feed the goats yet! This dirt is just from school today!

Both grandpas and Uncle Ernie thought it would be a brilliant idea to get the grandchildren goats to show at the Georgia National Fair in Perry in October. It's amusing to me what grandparents insist grandchildren need. Anyway, these aren't just any old goats. They're SHOW GOATS! Saying that really makes me laugh. Anyhow, Uncle Ernie came down and helped Poppy put a shelter up and the farm crew built a nice fence for the goats. The girls fed up this afternoon. So far so good. 

Ali is the goat whisperer. The goats don't cut the fool around her.

Feeding the goats. In boots. And a skirt. With a bow in her hair. That's my kinda kid.

Dirt Clods

I was chastised for not posting any Easter pics of the girls on last week's blog so here it is! 

This week was great, and we rounded it off with a wonderful weekend. Addie and Ali had no school on Friday because of the EBA Prom. Ali Grace spent the night with her friend Emily on Friday and Addie stayed with Poppy all day. 

The most exciting development this week is........

NANNY AND POPPY are getting a pool! After 42 years of teaching, my Mama is FINALLY retiring. This is her retirement gift to herself and I am so happy for her! If you personally don't want a pool, please don't comment on this blog and rain on her parade. She had a pool back home in Hartwell for 20 or so years. She knows how much work is involved and how much money it costs. Why can't people just have their little money draining hobbies and let other people have theirs? Ugh!! 

This is my daddy checking the grade on the backhoe work. My Daddy really can do anything.

Addie watched the dozer work all day long and as soon as the man turned off the switch Addie was in the dirt hole! 

Colten and Addie played on the dirt hills from the fill dirt all weekend long. They were literally filthy. They looked like dust bowl children.

Ali Grace wouldn't want me to tell anyone, but she played on the dirt hills too!  Ha!

I took this photo as she came out of Mama's house. She had fixed some hot apple cider in Mama's Keurig coffee maker. She said, "Ahh Mama I feel like a college girl who just stepped out of Starbucks with a cappuccino! It really cracked me up.

We are gearing up for the CRCT this week at LMS and I despise this time of year. However, at least it's an indicator that the end is near. Can't wait to get on summer schedule! 

Beaches, Bums and a Bubba!

The two weeks leading up to spring break were beautiful. In fact, it was so pretty here I was just certain that spring break would be rainy or cold. 

Addie rode her bike... yes, in the dirt. Yes, in her Lydia Jane summer linen capri pants.. 

Roxy the wonderdog, escaped from the house a few times. She sneaks by the girls on their way  to get their bikes and by the time she blows by them, they're already well across the road on their way to Nanny and Poppy's. Roxy always looks back at them like "Ha! You left the gate open SUCKA!"

A week or so before spring break, lightning struck our house. I came home from work and was picking up the girls from Poppy's house and I heard my alarm going off across the road. Francisca was already on her way over to check it out. It's never good when your housekeeper comes out of your house yelling FUEGO! Luckily there was no fuego, only smoke. Lightning hit the soffit and shook the window enough to bust it out. I called my Daddy and he put out the smoldering with the garden hose. We have a horrible insurance company and I'm actually sitting here three weeks later with my front atrium window STILL busted out. Don't get me started on ANPAC. Pick someone else. That's all I have to say about that. Well one more thing... we still have no hot water on the left hand side of the house and despite the fact that I have 5 bathrooms in this house, I am showering in the MUD ROOM shower which is about the size of a locker! Yes, I have some hostility about it.

The girls played outside almost every day leading up to spring break. They were EXHAUSTED almost every night. Roxy was tired after her prison break too!

 The week before the break, Edmund Burke Academy held it's spring concert. The theme was "America's Favorite Folk Songs". I had a great time watching these boot clad kids sing! They were just adorable!

And then we started a six day beach trip that was just about perfect! My sister in law, Beth, came down with my nephew, Colten and spent the night Friday night. Early Saturday morning we headed south to Florida.  These pictures were taken our first day there, at Canova Beach, near Palm Bay.

These two refuse to put the tie around their ankle. They're definitely Georgia surfers!

While we were in Cocoa Beach, we went on a dolphin/manatee sightseeing tour. The captain of our catamaran was a former science teacher. She was very knowledgeable about the Banana River and the Thousand Islands area. 

To entertain the kids while moving to another sightseeing area, she gave the kids some shells and a shell book to figure out what types of shells they were.

For the rest of the week, we hit several different beaches. I think my favorite was the one across from Patrick AFB. We had a great time watching the HUGE cargo planes come in for a landing.

Addie lost her second front tooth while we were there. You can sort of see her snaggle toothed smile in this pic!

Thanks to my fabulous cousin in law, Goran "The Swede" for providing this nice Swedish flag towel. It protected my Irish skinned Ali Grace from melanoma. 

We really had a fabulous spring break. It was topped off with a wonderful Easter Sunday. The girls were beautiful in their dresses and a Georgia Bulldog won the Masters.. Seriously- how much better could it be?