Fun Adventures in Dothan (June 8-12, 2009)

I love Dothan. I love going home. I love my parents. I love going home to my parents home. It's the house I grew up in. It's my old neighborhood. It's my hometown. I love Dothan. I love my parent's yard and love watching William play in their yard. I love going home. My last day with Baby Scott was June 8 (Monday) and as soon as he was picked up that afternoon I was in the car within 5 mins headed up to Dothan for the week! What a way to start off summer!! William was an angel the ride up and such a sweet baby for our week away. As soon as I turned onto my parent's road I squealed and let out a loud YIPPEE and clapped and honked the horn! William jumped and said "mama"...too cute!

I'm going to do my best to journal my visit with all it's excitement and adventure, so let's get started!! This one's going to be LONG!!

We arrived late Monday afternoon/early evening. Granddaddy (My daddy) was getting ready to clean some fish he and Holden had caught the weekend before. Maggie greeted us as we pulled in the driveway with a big hug. William went right to her to play. William was so interested in the fish and kept wanting to peek inside the cooler, but not touch them...he would say "no-no" when Granddaddy held a fish out for him. My dad was cleaning the fish for one of his uncles (a brother of my granddaddy who just recently passed). After the fish were done we all went back outside to check on Granddaddy's garden! It was so cool and fascinating to William! He kept wanting to pick all the veggies he saw! His favorite was the tomato (he called it a ball). William helped Maggie and Granddaddy pick a few fresh veggies and put in a cute little basket to carry inside. At one point the basket was pretty full and William couldn't get any more veggies in it (see video) so Granddaddy had to help him rearrange a bit so the okra would it :) We played and played in the garden enjoying the South Alabama sunshine late in the evening.

When Granddaddy pulled out the hose to water the garden, the fun really got started! William LOVED running in the water and wanted Granddaddy to spray him over and over! I just laughed and laughed. William was in just a regular diaper and shorts, so as you can imagine...the diaper began to swell and puff out of his shorts...but hey, he was having fun! My heart was just bursting with happiness listening to all the giggles from both William and my Daddy. Maggie was loving every minute of it too! She kept finding veggies for William to carry in his basket. Hunter came home around this time and joined us. He wanted a hug from William, but William wanted "OH Ho"! I couldn't help but laugh a little b/c the more Hunter wanted William, the more William called Holden :) Not to worry, William caved and gave Hunter a big hug and kiss...it helped that Hunter was tickling him and tossing him up in the air (only a little)! I stepped back for a moment to just watch all the happiness...all the laughter....and the smiles. I love summer afternoons right as the sun goes down...I love the summer breeze...I love my parents yard...

We quickly changed into dry clothes and headed over to Uncly Hidy's house to deliver the fish. Now Uncle Hidy and Aunt Evelyn have a beautiful garden!!! William was in heaven running all over their yard checking out the veggies and bushes! Uncle Hidy wanted to walk around with my Daddy to show him all his crops and give him advice on how to grow a garden.

****A side note...back when my Granddaddy was in the hospital a few days before he passed away, Uncle Hidy shared with my Daddy that Granddaddy had been his moral compass his entire life! What an incredible moving statement! Granddaddy and Hidy are brothers and looked like twins to me :) I will forever remember Daddy sharing this story with me. Daddy said that when Hidy told him that, he could barely keep the tears in... ******

Back to the story, we just all wandered around (well I was all over the place trying to keep William from stepping on the veggies) Moma and Aunt Evelyn visited and admired all the beautiful flowers in her yard. My favorite was the blueberry and blackberry bushes!!! YUMMY! We must have eaten as much as we picked...but oh how delicious! William loved the blueberries! He ate so many that I thought we would completely clear the bushes! As the sun finally went down we said goodbye to them and headed on home to pick up Holden. (he stayed to play with a friend while we went to Hidy's) Moma and Daddy took us to dinner at Olive Garden (scrumptious) that night. We enjoyed their yummy soup and salad for dinner. I was so proud of my little boy...every time the waitress would bring something to the table he would say "tank you" and said "hey" to everyone that walked by. At one point, I sneezed and he quickly said "bess you" We colored and read books while enjoying our meal. It was a great night! I had such a great day! Hunter and Whitney were back at the house when we got home, so they played a little with William before I had to get him to bed. Whit loves William. She is really good with him and loves to help out in any way.

Tuesday morning my Mom and Holden went to VBS for the morning while I slept in a little with William. William and I drove over to Enterprise to meet two of my dear college friends for lunch. I met Leigh and Candi for lunch at Jada's in downtown Enterprise...such a cute little lunch place. Sweet Leigh-Leigh is expecting her first baby in September and she is just oh-s0-cute pregnant!! She's all baby and just beautiful!! As soon as we arrived and were walking up to the place we saw Leigh and William said "Yee-Yee"!! It was just too cute! He gave her a big hug and then had to show off his shoes. He loves to show you he wears big boy shoes. Candi got there about that time and he gave her a hug too. He loved the attention he was getting from "AC" and "yee-yee". It felt soooooo good to be with these two wonderful friends and just be laughing and catching up! We were such a crew back in Troy...oh, the fun times we had...oh, the memories made...all the late nights! I can't wait to meet little TJ! He is due around my b'day, but I just know she's going to have him on my actual b'day!! That's what I'm hoping!! And...Candi is moving down to Florida!!!!! She's going to be in Crestview! I can't wait! Lunch with the girls was great, just too short! AC had to get back to work, Yee-yee was ready to get home and rest (she's teaching summer school this summer) and William needed his nap.

As I drove home, I called my mom and she said she would stay with William during his nap so I could take Holden to lunch (don't worry, I didn't eat twice). He wanted Subway, so that's where we went. The lady was not so nice...she seemed aggravated that I was letting him pick out the stuff for HIS sandwich! Can you believe it! He is 9 years old and can tell me what he wants! She looked at me and said "you know, it's just easier if you the parent pick out for him and not give choices" Can you believe her??? I quickly smiled and hugged his shoulder and said "I'm his sister and besides, it's his lunch and I want him to have exactly what he wants". Holden just smiled. Now, he knew exactly what he wanted and took no time to tell her, (bread, ham, white cheese, pickles, s/p) with milk and a cookie (he wanted it for William). I was just so furious that she could say that to him and to me. But, I was determined to enjoy my time with my little brother. We sat in the corner and he quietly ate his lunch. We talked about what all he was learning at VBS and what all he wanted to do over the summer. He asked some questions about what all William could do/say now and made sweet comments about how smart he is and will be...I was just so impressed with him. I was super proud to be sitting there with him and have that mean old lady watch us in action!

After lunch we picked up William and drove out to Headland to meet Anna and her kids to swim for the afternoon. Anna has 5 wonderful kids (Amery, Eve, Linden, Ava and Isabella) and is such a phenomenal mother. I love being around her and her kids. We always have a fantastic time together. Holden, Eve and Linden are super close and love hanging out. Amery is just so sweet and grown-y and is the perfect big sister. Little Ava is 90 to nothing and full of life! Isabella just tries to keep up! William and Ava play so well together. We just swam and enjoyed the sunshine (while dodging horse flies) William fell in love with scooting/jumping off the side of the pool. He kept saying "mama, moore" and would kick his legs and then scoot off and wanted to go under every time. He just loves the water! He and Ava had a blast climbing in and floating on the floats. They loved the noodles too!! We had such a great afternoon swimming with our cousins. I got such cute pictures of all the kids!

As we drove home, I snapped a few cute pictures of two exhausted and sweet boys! Daddy was working late so we went to dinner at Outback with Maggie, Holden and Poppi. William fell in love with their bread! He must have eaten a half of the loaf all by himself. He also loved the croutons off my salad. We all split the bloomin' onion...and wouldn't you know...William loved it too! He so surprised me by eating the onion, but hey, he's an eater! I enjoyed having Poppi join us for dinner. He's such a great man. He rode with me to dinner so I had some really good conversations with him. I love hearing him talk about whatever he's been up to...usually it's delivering things for the church or helping out some of the home bound members of his church. HIS LIFE IS CENTERED AROUND HIS CHURCH AND HIS FAITH! I love listening to him. He is so faithful in everything he does. He is such a perfect living example of Christ's love. I admire him beyond words. He is such a rock for others. I did end up leaving dinner early to get William and Holden on home for bed. Holden helped me give William his bath. He loves helping with his nephew. It is just so sweet! Once William and Holden were asleep I watched a movie with my parents. We watched Taken. It is so on-the-edge-of-your-seat and so intense! Daddy said it was hard to watch being a Daddy (the story line is about a father and his daughter who gets kidnapped and put into a human traffic-ing scheme and he goes on the hunt to find her)...Great movie, but HARD to watch and a bit sad. I loved getting to hang out with my parents and just enjoy some adult quiet time together.

Wednesday morning I went with Moma to VBS to help so William went into the 1-2 year class. I loved getting to see everyone from my home church! I loved helping with VBS as a youth and even some in college. I loved seeing all the kids I babysat now helping as youth. I loved seeing all my old Sunday School teachers again...they are still there faithfully serving at VBS. Moma was helping in the "preschool" story time. We helped with the craft for the story and simply interacted with the kids. Being a former Kindergarten teacher, I WAS IN HEAVEN!! I absolutely love this age! Their innocent minds and sweet sweet spirits are so heartwarming. It was so wonderful to be there helping out with those little ones as they experience VBS and learn about Christ and God's love. I was so tickled when I picked William up from his room b/c once he saw me, he started saying "bag" and pointing to his bag then wanted his "color"...He had made a sweet little artwork piece of Moses and the burning bush. He was so proud of his page! Just too cute! Mrs. Sharon Jones and Mrs. Margie Bivens were his teachers. They said he was great! Holden went swimming for the afternoon while William took a nap. I ran some errands and got some things for dinner that night. We just hung out that afternoon until Granddaddy got home. He kept William while Moma and I ran to the mall to shop a bit. The 3 guys played and had a great time together while we shopped. Moma and I decided to grab some cookie surprises for Holden and William before heading home. Moma and made a roast, Daddy did some yummy corn and veggies and I made broccoli slaw salad. Poppi came over for dinner too. William LOVED his butter beans! Maggie loved to have butter beans for WPJ! He gobbles them up every time! Of course, William loved his cookie surprise and wanted more!!

Hunter was playing softball so we headed out to the ballpark after dinner...just in time to see him make a fantastic diving catch in the outfield and hit a stand-up double!! Go Hunter! His team lost, but I was super proud of him for his two plays that I saw. After the game, I let William run around on the field for a bit...these are the same fields I played on growing up. He loved it! As you can tell from the video...Oh, HO was a big help and the perfect coach!

Hunter and Whitney played with William while I enjoyed a long bubble bath :) They also got WPJ ready for bed and read books with him. I just piled up in the bed and fell asleep with William. Sometimes it's just so nice to snuggle with him. He's a snuggle bug and loves to cuddle with his moma! I know there will come a day when he won't do so, but until then, I enjoy his chubby arms wrapped around my neck :) We slept all night long...until early morning..but Maggie came in and got my wide awake bundle and let me sleep in...oh how wonderful!

Thursday I went to VBS again and William went right into his little class. I thoroughly enjoyed the day again with the little ones during story time. I wanted to soak up all the excitement that comes with VBS. All their little voices telling the stories and sharing how God loves them...they were so full of His Spirit and excited to be there. I just love teaching and working with that age group. (One day soon enough William will be in that group and I will be right there with him) After VBS we just went back to Maggie's house to meet Anna and the kids. Eve had been going to VBS with Holden all week. Anna had to go to Walmart to pick up some groceries so I sent her on and I kept the kids (Amery, Holden, Eve, Linden, Ava and William) She took Isabella with her...even though I insisted she let her stay :) The kids had a blast! The big kids were hanging out in Holden's room playing the WII for a while then headed on outside for a bit...before getting too hot. I played with William and Ava and got some really cute pictures of the two of them. Ava was so cute...I'd say "Ava, what's my name?" and she'd say "You are "Ya-ya" and then run and give me a big hug!

Anna picked up some pizza for lunch and we had a good old fashioned pizza party with the kids! There's something about a pizza party and kids and summer time! The kids wanted to stay and play on the trampoline so I put William down for a nap and Anna took her little ones home for their naps. The big kids played outside enjoying the sprinkler and the tire swing and trampoline. We had such a great afternoon...until some drama happened, but I'm not going to include the details...let's just say everyone is okay and safe... Once Anna arrived we loaded the kids up and drove out to the Kiwana's playground for a family picnic with Poppi and the great-grand-kids. Heather (Anna's sister) was in town with her hubby and little girl so we all gathered to enjoy some family fun with Poppi. We had Uncle Michael and Sally; Heather, David and Sierra; Anna, Ben, Amery, Eve, Linden, Ava and Isabella; Holden, Moma and Daddy; William and me; and Hunter and Whitney. We took up 4 picnic tables!! The kids played and played on the playground climbing up and down and running all around. William wore me out! Ava loved helping William climb up the big kid part. Holden took turns sliding with William. Granddaddy even climbed up and slid down with William. That's a cute picture! Sierra was such a sweet little angel. She was ever so cautiously enjoying herself. Sweet Ava was just too darn cute about William. I was sitting at a table with William and Ava while we ate. She got up to get a bottle of water. She brought it back, took one look at William and decided he needed something else to drink...off she went. She came back with a capri-sun, opened it for him and handed it to him. He accidentally knocked it off the table and onto the ground and wouldn't you know...she came to his rescue! She jumped down, crawled under the bench and grabbed it. She wiped it off then took his little hand and placed the drink in it. She just looked up at me and smiled! I just love her!!

We wrapped up the afternoon with some family pictures. We just took over part of the playground for the pictures...Poppi with his 7 great-grandchildren...+ Holden...He's the same age as the others so he gets included with the great-grands :) We did manage to get a few with Poppi and the grand-kids and great-grands too (Anna, Heather, Lauren, Hunter and Holden). We were missing the other grand-kids (Ben, Brent, Braden, Dax, Scott and Chase) The cutest was when daddy pulled me aside to show me the slice of Watermelon he brought for William! He said to let him enjoy it first b/c it was just for him :) Ava saw it and asked uncle Bill for some and of course he had to cut her a piece...he's a push-over!

Grannymart had gotten home Thursday afternoon so we went over to her house to visit for while after the playground. William loves to visit her! She gets so much joy from him. They laugh and toss the ball around. She tickles him and he tries to wear her shoes. He loves to play with her glasses case. Grannymart is such a strong and wonderful woman. I'm so blessed to have her in my life. She has such strong faith and is full of wonderful wisdom. I am just so lucky to have my grandparents so close by. We had to cut the visit short b/c I had an extremely tired little boy on my hands. I headed on home to get him ready for bath and bed. Maggie gave him a bath while I packed up a few things. They blew bubbles and splashed all around. It was a great moment! Granddaddy, Hunter and Holden ran to the store and came back with a cute new little shirt for William to wear to his artclass on Friday...and they brought ice-cream! As you can tell William loved Granddaddy's peach ice-cream~

We had such a great time all piled up in bed reading books with william. And when I say all I mean me, maggie, granddady, hunter and holden along with william! After many books, maggie took Holden to get him to bed and hunter went to take a shower. Granddaddy stayed to read some stories with him. William couldn't quite figure out why Granddaddy was there with us, but nonetheless, he cuddled with Granddaddy. I almost had William asleep and Maggie and Hunter came back in to talk. William eased on off to sleep and we just chatted about anything and everything. It was just so cool to be hanging out with my parents and Hunter. It was such a great time together. Maggie and I stayed up really late watching a movie. I just didn't want the night to end b/c I knew I had to leave early the next morning.

To wrap up...I loved my week in Dothan. I loved every minute of it! I savored every moment and made wonderful memories! Thank you Moma and Daddy for a great week together! Thank you Hunter and Holden. Thank you Poppi. Thank you Anna and family. Thank you Candi and Leigh. Thank you First Baptist. Thank you Grannymart. Thank you Whitney.

Thank you Philip for "giving us up" for the week. It was hard being away from my husband and best friend, but I needed some Dothan time...and I got it!

Post Script: One - I let these two get away for a week and all they talk about is Olive Garden (Post, post script - Maggie knows Lauren likes their salads - ALJ) and Outback. Before they asked me to take them to Red Lobster/Joe's Crab Shack for dinner when we live a stone's throw from the Gulf, I cooked some fresh caught pompano. I know Dothan dinner choices are very limited, but I had to get them back to actual good food without the suggestive selling ("Can I get you a Presidente' margarita (for lunch even though you are in a suit an obviously working)? Okay, what about a round of appetizers (as I'm ignoring that you are checking your blackberry and obviously in a hurry)?"). Second - with full understanding that I'm coming off as an elitist, the Sandwich Artist (TM) was likely envious that Holden has a higher per hour earning potential as a 9 year old than she does in her 30s. His order was too complicated for her, not him. I guess they didn't cover various topping variations in junior level art history (sorry, Kayla) classes.

PJJ