I'm Back!

Erika at one of our many stops along the way!

I'm not sure if this is ok to say or not but... I'm back from the funeral and had a wonderful time! It wasn't so much the funeral that was good but the time that I was away. You know you're in desperate need of time away when you come home refreshed from a funeral! Erika came to Dothan Thursday evening, spent the night, and we got on the road early Friday! We had to make a few stops along the way. There are just a couple places to shop between Dothan and Illinois! Our first stop was Sikes and Kohn where we ran into a sorority sister and I managed to find stuff for the girls and Justin but nothing for myself. We then headed up to Birmingham where we got trapped at Mazer's (thanks JM!)! What a find! We shopped appliances and furniture and didn't know the flooring warehouse was around back... don't worry we hit it on our way home! We did, however, after many laughs, honking truckers, crazy drivers, and a few junk food stops, manage to make it to the farm by midnight.

What a treat it was to be out of the humidity for a few days and to have 4 consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep! But the best was waking up in the carriage house to mom bringing us coffee in bed, opening the french doors and feeling the cool breeze off the corn fields... sounds like a story book doesn't it!? Just wait, after we had coffee in bed and enjoyed cool breezes we made our way down to the patio where we watched hummingbirds up close and personal for over an hour! What fun!

Howard's burial service was very touching and I hope not to soon forget it. The veteran's were there and did a 21 gun salute while the bagpiper played Amazing Grace... if you didn't get goosebumps or tears I'd have to guess you were either deaf or blind or perhaps both. Mimi is getting along ok and is probably catching up on much needed sleep after 4 long months of caring for Howard around the clock. It's always so good to see her and I hope once we get settled here that she will come and stay with us for a couple weeks!

Erika and I managed to make our way back to Dothan late Tuesday night. After many stops along the way to pick up a few necessities, like an antique mail sorter from a Franklin antique mall and under counter refrigerator drawers from Mazer's, we decided that since Chance bought a motorcycle while Erika was gone that we are going to buy a 15 passenger van to haul all our stuff for our next road trip. Which if it isn't to Houston to see Chris will be to Scott's and Lakewood! Can't wait... we'll fill up our van so fast that Chance will have that motorcycle sold before we get back.

Justin managed to survive while I was gone. Of course he did have the help of his mother and father... in fact I'm not sure he even stayed here at the ole rental house! What a stinker! He was very glad to see me return and I was refreshed and ready to see him and my girls. Little Raiger came down with a nasty case of pink eye while I was gone and Justin got her to the doctor and meds.... yay! The bad news is that this morning she woke up with it in her other eye! Thankfully we already have the medicine!