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| Tractor Rides with Pawpaw |
I feel like James Taylor wrote Carolina In my Mind for me, but instead of Carolina, he meant Lee County (stretch that out in your head and it works, sort of, the moonshine part particularly holds up well). I sometimes just need to see those mountains and watch the tractors pass by to just feel at peace with this life I lead in the city. Fourth of July has become our de facto trip to Jonesville and to Teddy that means one thing: TRACTORS WITH PAWPAW. This kid will talk about tractors for the longest time with you and if you mention Jonesville, he only thinks of tractors, while I think of mountains and peace. (Adrian and I sat on my mother's porch on Saturday and just sat, with no real sounds around us and remarked that the only things you can really hear are the bees buzzing and the occasional car down on the road, unlike in Alexandria, where we chat with neighbors, listen to the ambulances, police cars, lots of cars and other noises. It does my heart good to just sit there and stare at the distance and try to hear the cows in the field.)
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| Traffic Jam, Jonesville style |
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| That is a frog, that Teddy caught, and held, in his hand. Ew. |
I also love, love, love seeing friends I miss and this time was no exception (though I did miss seeing a lot of people I love; next time). Going to Monica's baby shower (yay for Monica, so excited for her and for Miss Ernestine!) brought back so many memories and I got to see so many people I love there (Renia, Sandy and Miss Pat in particular). I will never live down the Apple Dumpling Gang incident with Monica and I cannot say I blame her; we are both scarred but for different reasons from it (long story short is that I do NOT eat hot dogs and there are just some things you have to believe a 5 year old kid about when they say they do not eat them, right Monica? ;-))
PIRATES
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| The Pirates arrived in Jonesville |
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| Giving guns to Nanny and Nana Ada. |
Uncle Bobby and GrandNan have been working on this party for several months and it was a Blast, a Pirate Blast! We enjoyed every moment of the party with family and friends to celebrate Teddy at 3! (He is so spoiled he gets to celebrate his birthday twice a year. I want to come back in my next life as Teddy Azer.) It was a hot day in July for the party, but never fear, the water guns took care of that (and somehow I ended up in the pool fully clothed but decided it was the better way to enjoy the party!) and fans did the rest. What a great day and fun way to watch all the children and adult alike play. Of course, no pirate party for Teddy would be complete without a cake to cut with a sword. Good times, great family and friends, super fun!
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| Mowing, for free, for now |
My parenting philosophy is simple, let's make it fun and let's wear him out. Teddy has never slept better than he did in Jonesville, and while I will credit the fresh clear air with a lot of it, I will also admit he spent way more time outside playing in the grass and in the pool. It's an amazing fact that in the country, we all sleep better and think clearer, which is why we need more time down there!
COUSINS
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| My cousins and their Mammas |
Teddy also got to see and play with several of his cousins, with more on the way (finally, some girls!) and had such a great time. Most of my fondest memories are from playing with cousins and having all kinds of fun and mischief with them (Tara/Kelly/Joey will never let me forget spaghetti and kool-aid; Cara and Sara will never let me forget our endless games of hide and seek, fighting and begging Nanny for a surprise). It was fun for Teddy to see and play with them all. Anything that Caleb did, Teddy did, even things he previously would not do, like jump in the deep end, ride in his power wheels, try his scooter and run around like a mad man. They just all follow each other around doing all these crazy funny things and playing.
GROVE PARK INN
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| Formal Wear is a Must |
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| The GPI view |
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| The Gents in their hats at GPI |
We love, love, love the Grove Park Inn located in Asheville, North Carolina and hold it dear to our hearts, as Teddy learned to walk there almost 2 years ago (gulp!). So we went back this time because Adrian thought it would be fun to do a driving course at the Biltmore with my Dad (this is a post all on its own, but suffice to say, the City Boy outlasted the Country Boy on this drive!). Uncle Bobby joined us to spend some quality time together and we just plain did nothing but play at the pool and in the hotel. Mother and Bobby also babysat Teddy and Orlando Roberson so we could have a double date at Table in Asheville. While the adults had a good time reminiscing about our younger years and Grandparents had a great time with the two little ones and just watched them play like we (Roro and me) used to play as well. (I thought it more than I said it, but I miss Sandy Roberson a lot.
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| The Pajama Part with Orlando |
I wish so badly she was here to see Orlando grow (and act just like Roland), watch Roland as a father and Brooke as the perfect mother, Naz as the doting aunt, along with others. She would be so proud and so in love. I told Brooke that she reminds me so much of Sandy that I almost call her Sandy.) Asheville has such a mystique for us and we love visiting there as much as possible.
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| Swimming with Orlando |
The one snag is that Teddy is potty training as we all know and decided to announce at breakfast on Tuesday morning to everyone in the GPI restaurant that he had to go "RIGHT NOW" and so I was obliged to take him, right then. But he did this so many times, I am certain that folks there thought I was a crazy woman. So we went every time, because of course, the flush is the best part to Teddy and the GPI flush did not disappoint. Then Teddy and I set off on an adventure, together, just the two of us, for nine hours to drive back home. (Daddy had to fly out from Asheville to Boston that morning for work.)
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| Playing with Uncle Bobby at GPI |
Props to Teddy for being such a sport; he did not have one episode that entire nine hours, he was the perfect child on that drive and made it such an easy thing for me, given my expectations were that (a) he would get irritated being in his seat for the drive or (b) he would not want to "hold it" for the trip and make me stop constantly. Well, I am such a great parent that I let him watch unlimited amounts of movies, play games on the iPad and eat ice cream from, gasp McDonald's, eat at the Cracker Barrel (he LOVED the beans and greens, I think he is a country boy after all), buy any toy he wanted in gas stations, you get the idea. I am not proud of that but I am proud of Teddy, he made a scary drive a lot less stressful for me and I appreciate that immensely!
fun
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