Here's a bit of November. The kids & I traveled with Ray to TN to visit his grandfathers' 500 acres between two small towns. This is the hunting trip that Ray takes with his dad every year & in the past he's brought the older kids. This year it was a "guys only" trip but Ray really wanted our whole family to go so we drove up a few days before his dad & the other guys.
We missed our last day of Classical Conversations for the semester as well as a field trip to MOSI. I was bummed about that but Ray was so excited to have us with him.
There were many many things that happened on that trip. Many things that could be construed as "negative" so we'll just highlight with the fact that his grandfather hasn't lived in the 40-year-old trailer in a couple years, we had to clean up rat poison everywhere, my eyes turned red for the week from all of the dust, someone left meat rotting in the fridge & the 400 gallon propane tank ran out of gas (meaning, no heat) on the night it got down to around 20 degrees.
Ray & the kids did go hunting for a bit & I've now achieved redneck status as I have 3 squirrels in my freezer at home!
We were also only about 4 hours from my parents- yay! They met us on Tuesday & we hiked Fall Creek Falls together. That was a very nice time.
Me, being the kind mommy that I am, even brought school for the kids to do while we were away. We WERE on 500 acres with no tv, internet or cell service, plus, it was quite cold out. They could only go out for so long in our Florida "winter" clothing before coming back in. They loved hunting with Ray & went out with him several times.
Ray's dad & the other guys arrived at the end of the week so I packed up the girls & Jackson to drive down to GA to visit friends there.
I stopped at a grocery store Starbucks while I was driving & ran into a barista who used to work at my Target Starbucks at home! What a small world! I was so happy to see Fara!
Our first stop was to see Dave, Ashley & crew outside of atlanta. I spent the weekend with them, shopping, eating & making merry. The kids had a wonderful time together & I also got to see Ashley's sister, Sharon!
Ashley, me & Sharon
Dave gave the kids wheel barrel rides.
"Crying" in the hammock
Lunch at Zaxby's after church
On Sunday afternoon I headed over to some other friends a little further north, Dave & Nicki, plus their 4 kids. What a great evening! Ruth & her family also came over (minus Mike, who had to work - he was the first director I worked under at Camp Horizon!) as well as some other family.
Nicki, Me, Ruth & Kate
Ruth made homemade snickers. OH. MY.
We spent the night & then the kids & I took off around 5:30 or 6 the next morning to meet Ray & Clay back in TN, pick them up & head home.
