A week with Nini & Papaw

August was slapped full of trips and fun! After my backpacking trip, I headed to Louisiana to pick up the boys from Nini & Papaw's. The boys were happy to see me, but I knew they had a great time while they were there. They had lots of stories to tell me about their new friend Jayden, feeding the donkeys, getting their first wasp stings, visiting the fire station, etc.

Knowing that the boys were in good hands and had lots of fun things to do, made it a lot easier for me to relax and enjoy my time in Yellowstone. I didn't have to worry a bit about them. Thanks Margaret and Alfred for taking such good care of them!

Gratitude

After having the opportunity to get away and spend time with family exploring a really special place in the world, it was impossible not to feel an enormous amount of gratitude for the opportunity to go, the means to get there, the funds to make it possible, the people willing to make it all happen.

I needed the break. I needed time to myself to recharge. I came away with so much more than that.

It's a big deal to ask anyone (even family) to watch my kids. It's an even bigger deal to ask for an entire week.

I'm incredibly grateful that Margaret and Alfred were willing to take Ben and Zach for the week. I knew the boys were in loving and capable hands and not once did I worry about them while I was gone. Grateful....so very grateful!

The boys went to Papaw's house in the country and rode 4-wheelers, fed the donkeys, and instructed Papaw to finish their room in his house. They played outside in the sprinkler, collected bugs, "climbed" the tree, kicked the ball around, and played with Play Doh. They tried new food, picked up their toys, and snuggled up at night with Nini and Papaw. I'm sure they had more fun visiting them than being at home.

 

Margaret & Alfred - Thank you so so very much for taking the boys and giving me a break. You did as much good for the boys as you did for me. I love you and I'm so grateful for you both!

Nini & Papaw's

Darius' days off from the restaurant matched up with his days off from Delta last week, so he was finally able to use his flight benefits. We headed to Louisiana for a couple of days and enjoyed a nice visit with Margaret and Alfred. It was good to see Alfred getting around a little better than the last time the boys and I visited.

We had a little bit of time to spend with one of Darius' friends, John, and met up with him at his sister, Karen's, home where the boys got in some fun pool time. It just happened that his sister had a couple of boys that were older and had recently cleaned out a bunch of their old toys to donate. Karen and her husband, Steve, loaded the boys up with Legos, books, and stuffed animals. They were thrilled to say the least.

Margaret treated us to Johnny's pizza one night (the best pizza ever!) and made her awesome spaghetti sauce for us another night and sent us home with a big bag of the leftover sauce. She is also super sweet to have all the boys' favorites on hand when we come for a visit.

Instead of flying home, we were blessed to be able to drive back to Florida in a car that Margaret gave us a very good deal on! To be able to have a second vehicle now is huge. The past few months have been a challenge since Darius started working a second job. The boys and I have been limited in getting out, so to now have the freedom to get out (even for just simple errands) is a really big deal for us. Margaret, thank you again a billion times over for your generosity! You've lifted a big weight off our shoulders and we appreciate it so very much!

Caffrey Family Reunion

A few hours after our visit to the Masonic Cemetery, the boys and I accompanied Margaret to Uncle Gerald and Aunt Pauline's home where we met more of her mother's side of the family. Afterwards we all continued on to the Brockett Cemetery where we visited the grave sites of Laveta's parents, John and Dona; and her grandparents, James and Mary.

Later in the afternoon the Caffrey Reunion took place at a nice park in Pocahontas. I met lots more family and became even more confused trying to keep track of who everyone was. It's no secret that I'm terrible with names, so I didn't come away from the reunion with much more than I went into with. I can say that everyone I met was genuinely nice, and I definitely married into a family with good people.

I believe Zach's friend here is Riley, but I can't tell you who he belongs to! He was super sweet with the boys.

I'm beginning to notice a pattern starting with me....I totally fall for other people's dogs and want to take them home with me. Albert is awesome! I developed a soft spot for rottweilers after living next to one for a few years.

The family I met were all disappointed that Darius wasn't able to join us at the reunions, but it was because he was at home working hard that made it possible for the boys and I to attend. It was a great opportunity for us to meet some of his great aunts and uncles that are getting up there in age. I know it's important to take advantage of those opportunities whenever possible before they run out. It was also a bonus to have that time with Margaret and Alfred. The concerns I had prior to the trip were put at ease by the time we were headed back to Monroe. I would be happy to attend the reunions again next year, and hopefully Darius will be able to join us too.

Aunt Opal & Uncle Gerald

The day we returned to Monroe was Margaret's birthday and our last day before returning home. Margaret treated me to a super yummy shrimp po boy sandwich for dinner, and later in the evening the boys led a lively Happy Birthday song to their Nini and helped her blow out her candles.

Margaret & Alfred - Thanks again for everything. We're so glad we could come and share that time with you! We appreciate all you did to make it a great trip! Lots of love!

A pair of 4-year olds!

"So many good things come in pairs, like ears and socks and panda bears. But, best of all are set of twins, with extra laughter, double grins."    - Unknown

....there's also twice the noise, messes, tantrums, and tears but I wouldn't trade them in for anything!

Tuesday marked Ben and Zach's 4th birthday, and they had anxiously been counting down the days for weeks leading up to the day. The first thing out of Zach's mouth when he woke up was, "It's my birthday today Mommy, now can I have a piece of cake?"

We started off the boys' birthday with Mickey Mouse waffles courtesy of a new waffle iron from Nini and Papaw. I put a candle in each waffle to give them a little practice for blowing out the candles on their cakes. Ben, no problem. Zach, well let's just say there was a good layer of spit all over his waffle and a candle that still wasn't blown out.

While I made pizza dough and got ready, Darius took the boys to the store so that they could spend their $5 dollars from Grandma and Grandpa and buy new underwear for Ben. That switch finally clicked in his head, and we are beyond thrilled to report that he's finally potty trained! What a nice present for Mom and Dad!

Later in the day we took the boys to the Orlando Science Center. It was our first visit there and was an instant hit. We easily spent 4 hours there and could have stayed longer. The boys have requested a return visit several times already. There are a lot of great areas in the center that are geared toward kids their age, and right now they have a temporary Bob the Builder exhibit with all kinds of interactive stuff for kids. They boys spent the majority of their time in that particular room, so I already know there's going to be a lot more to see when we go back again to check out all the other areas.

After the Science Center we stopped at home to pick up the boys' cakes and all the fixings for pizza and headed over to the Bacon household for dinner. I love that we've been able to spend half of the boys' birthdays with the Bacon family. They were there to support us at the hospital when the boys joined our family, and it's nice to have those same faces with us to celebrate 4 years later.

The boys had their cakes picked out months in advance. Ben wanted "Dark Mater."

Zach wanted Wall-E and again coated his cake with spit.....

...and needed the help of Ben and Daddy to blow out his candles.

I love that the boys were so excited for their birthday this year and that they had such a great day. Darius and I never forget how incredibly blessed we are to be their parents. We adore them and love how special they are in their own ways. Our babies are gone, our toddlers are gone, we're now looking at little boys. Wow. Time flies.

Louisiana

We enjoyed warm weather in Louisiana for most of our stay. When I was packing for our trip, I had first packed a bunch of clothes for cold weather. I ended up checking the forecast before we left and realized I had to start over. It was so nice to be able to take the boys outside without being bundled up and just let them play and run around the yard at their Nini and Papaw's. We had the opportunity to take them to a park a couple of times and to the zoo.

During our week there we celebrated Darius' birthday, and after much persuasion he finally gave in and agreed to have a birthday cheesecake. He was glad he did. The boys helped him blow out his candles with much blowing and spitting. It was worth it just to see them in action. Margaret was good enough to watch the boys while we enjoyed a nice dinner out at the Warehouse No. 1. It was just as good, if not better, than what we ate when we celebrated my birthday there last year. We also took advantage of the time to do our Christmas shopping for the boys.

Before the trip I had wondered how we were going to get our Christmas shopping done. I had figured it would come down to one of us doing it on our own while the other stayed with the boys. I'm so happy that's not the way it happened. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to have the time alone with Darius to shop together. Thanks again Margaret! We ended up getting everything we needed and lucky for us we packed a few extra duffel bags for the trip home.

We enjoyed our trip, the time we had to visit with friends and family, and all the yummy food! We indulged at Johnny's a few times, Margaret treated us to her delicious spaghetti sauce and a fabulous ham dinner, I had my first Po Boy sandwich (so good!), and we had the opportunity to join Thomas and Annmarie for dinner one night and grilled up some salmon we brought with us.

 Our flights there and home again all went smoothly. It took almost 2 full days to get there, and then another 2 coming back. It's a lot of time confined to a seat, and I'm always amazed that the boys do so well with it all. We were glad to get home, but it was so nice to get away for a break! Thanks again Margaret and Alfred for the nice stay, and thanks to all Darius' friends we saw for the good visits! To all those we missed, we're sorry we didn't get around to see all of you. We'll catch you all on our next visit!

On the Bayou

Darius’ vacation time got switched from Dec. to Oct., so we visited Louisiana earlier this year than we had planned. It was mine and the boys' first trip there, and it was nice to see where Darius grew up.

We stayed with Darius’ mom and her husband Alfred (Nini & Papaw) in the same house which Darius lived in growing up. I got a kick out of looking through old photo albums. It was fun to compare Darius’ features from when he was young, with those of Ben’s & Zach’s.

The boys immediately made themselves at home. Zach found a Tonka ambulance that he immediately took ownership of, and Ben made quick friends with Papaw.

Margaret saved several things from when Darius was young. She has his old rocking chairs, Dapper Dan doll, rocking horse, and GI Joe doll and Jeep. Ben and Zach had fun playing with all of their daddy’s stuff.

Darius has a lot of friends that still live in and around Monroe. Unfortunately we didn’t get around to see everyone we wanted to. Sorry to those of you we missed! For the friends we did manage to see...thanks so much to all of you for having us over in your homes, or taking the time to meet us out, under short notice. We really enjoyed seeing all of you!

Darius made sure we took advantage of the shopping and eating options that were available to us. Margaret and Alfred were wonderful to watch the boys for us, while we got the shopping we needed to do out of the way. We ate great food from some of Darius’ favorite places. We must have had pizza/muffulettas from Johnny’s Pizza at least three times.

In Darius’ backyard there are three huge pecan trees, and we came at just the right time to gather the pecans that had already fell. Darius’ old hunting buddy, Barkley, kept us company while we picked up the nuts. Darius had told me before that his dog liked to eat pecans, and sure enough we could hear him cracking hulls as we worked.

On the last day of our trip, Margaret and I took the boys to the Louisiana Purchase Zoo. It had rained just before we went, and when we got to the zoo, there was only two other people that we saw there besides the zoo employees. It was so nice to have the entire place to ourselves, and it was the perfect sized zoo to get in and out before the boys lost interest. The boys enjoyed seeing all the animals…especially all the monkey exhibits.

After the zoo we stopped at a pumpkin “patch”. The boys had fun trying to move the pumpkins, splashing in the puddles, and playing with the wagons. We had hoped to find small enough pumpkins for the boys, that we could take home with us, but they were all sold out.

We had a nice stay in Monroe. Margaret & Alfred, thanks so much for all you did for us to make our stay comfortable. And thanks for watching the boys for us when we had shopping and errands to do…what a difference it made to be able to get things done in half the time.

Our trip home went well right up until the end. The boys did really well on all the flights, but unfortunately I picked up a bug along the way, and it wasn’t until yesterday that my voice came back and I started to feel human again. The boys ended up sick with me and we all missed out on Halloween. I did make an effort to make their costumes, but it was just one of those days that nothing would go right. It’s too bad…they would have made a cute Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum. I’m lucky that they’re still young and didn’t know what they were missing. Sorry little guys!

Recap

There are a variety of ways to measure time, but I find that I usually recall it best by chunking together the time I've lived in various parts of the country. As of this week, we're finally considered residents of Alaska. With the exception of a depressing winter, our year in Cordova has been a positive experience.

I'll probably always feel a little indebted to my parents for the opportunity they've given us to live with them. They're tremendous and although they'd say we're the ones doing them a favor, by keeping them company the last couple of years here, I still think it's the other way around.

Thank you Mom & Dad! We love and appreciate all you've done/do for us. We've enjoyed our time here with you, and I know Ben & Zach feel the same! Joy - a great big thanks to you too! I don't think I would have made it through the year, more sane than not, without you!

We've made some great memories here over the past year, more than my dilapidated brain can recall, so I'll just post pictures that trigger some of those memories for me.

Alaska is a special place. I'm happy we've had the chance to live here and experience a little of what it has to offer it's residents. There's so much more of this vast state I'd love to explore, and I hope to have the chance to before we move on.