Saturday morning we had brunch with my cousin Marcus who just finished his junior year at Morehouse. We're so proud of him! Then we headed to Georgia State to watch Maiela, who just finished her freshman year in high school, play in a bball tourney. It brought back some memories of my high school basketball days. Especially since she runs point like I did. I must say, her skills are better than mine ever were and she still has three years to get better. I hope to see her playing college ball in a few years.
After the game, we rushed back to Michon's house for baby Morgan's 1st birthday party. This is when the real fun began. Can we say seven kids all under the age of 6. Did I mention that their favorite game involved everyone running to and from the couch while screaming and yelling "Baby Carter," who somehow became the unofficial mascot. Maybe because his scream had the highest pitch. Even baby Morgan tried to get in on the action...from her high chair no less. It was a lot of fun to see the kids have so much fun but the screaming started to get old after 10-15 minutes so we had to find another game that was more sensitive on the ears. By the time the party was over, I felt like I was drunk, high, or a combination of both. My ears were ringing, my vision was blurry, and every time I tried to stand up my balance was just a little unstable. Who knew kids could reek so much havoc.
Sunday morning we enjoyed an uplifting church service before packing up and hitting the road to Pensacola. (Thank you Sherman for helping me load up the car. I think we both almost passed out from the heat.) It took us about 6 hours to get to Pensacola, which was nothing after the drive to Atlanta. My plan was to stop at the first Starbucks we came across to get my new pick me up drink, a Tall Chai Latte with a shot of espresso. Why did we drive almost 2 hours before seeing a Starbucks? I didn't think it was possible to travel that far in this country without a Starbucks. I was shocked and appalled and for the first time realized we weren't in civilization anymore. :-) I finally found one in Auburn, AL. After some quick caffeine, we were on the road again. We next stopped in Montgomery to eat the lunch I packed for us and to stretch our legs. Most of the drive in Florida was done on a local highway that weaved through small towns and farmland. On the major expressways you can forget you're driving through the South but when you're on a two lane road passing mobile home parks and houses on cinder blocks I was quickly reminded that I was in a world very different from the one I live in everyday. I felt very thankful and blessed to have the great fortune, family, and friends that I do.
Pensacola was great. It was our recovery stop after being in a highly charged house full of kids. When we arrived Sunday evening, my Uncle George took us to Cracker Barrel (apparently, one of his regular spots since the servers knew his name and sat him at his usual table). When we got back to the house my Aunt Alexa was getting out of a taxi from the airport after a 10 day cruise in Italy and Greece. What I saw next gave me hope that Jimmy and I will still be giddy in love in 20 years. As soon as George saw the taxi he immediately turned off his car (in the middle of the driveway) and raced over to the taxi to give Alexa a big bear hug and tender kiss. I don't think I've ever seen him that excited. It was so cute! In that moment, he forgot that Carter and I even existed.
The next day (I think it was Monday 6/25 but honestly I've started to lose track of days and dates) we explored Pensacola heading to downtown, the famous fish market Joe Patti's, an awesome new concept store called The Bodacious Olive, and the beach. The Bodacious Olive is a store dedicated to selling freshly infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. It was like a wine tasting bar but with olive oil and vinegar. You could taste as many flavors as you wanted and they even offered bread to dip. We settled on the Wild Mushroom and Sage infused olive oil and Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar. We also bought some freshly made penne to go with the shrimp we were planning on buying from Joe Patti's. We were planning on making the pasta dish for dinner but made the mistake of stopping by a world market grocer and having the most delicious sandwich I've ever had. It had tabouleh, pesto, and hummus, and was served on warm french bread. Oh my goodness! I know most of you won't think that sounds appealing but...oh my goodness...delicious! Needless to stay, I wasn't hungry for dinner so we had to postpone the pasta dish for lunch the next day.
Tuesday (6/26) we decided to stay low key and rest up for the trip ahead of us. We went swimming in the afternoon but pretty much veg'ed out for the rest of the day. Especially after eating the yummy penne pasta with wild mushrooms, zucchini, shrimp, and the infused olive oil we bought. Today we packed up, went to lunch at a lovely restaurant on the marina, and then hit the road for Jacksonville, where we are now. The drive was going smoothly until not far past Tallahassee, I-10 E was shut down at I-75. The worst part was that there were no signs directing drivers to the detour. In fact, the only way I found the detour was to pull over at a rest stop and look it up on my phone. Who does that! What if I didn't have a phone with internet. I would have been out of luck. The detour ended up adding at least an hour to our already long trip. By the time we got to our hotel it was 10:45 pm. I get out of the car and walk around to Carter's door so we can go inside to check in and as soon as I open his door his Mega Blocks start pouring out and fall to the ground. I had to laugh to keep from crying. Then, as if things couldn't get worse, the desk clerk informs me that there has been a water main break and that the water in the hotel will be shut off from 11 pm to 6 am. Fabulous!
As you can see, by the fact that I'm typing this at 3:39 in the morning, I still haven't wound down from the trip. That espresso stuff really works. I'm going to make myself go to sleep now so I can continue on our journey to Savannah in the morning where we'll be reunited with Jimmy after a week and a half away from him. We miss you honey and can't wait to see you!
Here are a few more pics from the trip so far.
Mama Nan with the kids.
The whole crew, one year older.
Carter with Uncle George and Aunt Alexa.
Even after the long drive, he's all smiles. You just gotta love this kid.
No comments:
Post a Comment