So, today we journeyed an hour North to stay the week with my parents. It will be a very busy time, combining several things needing to be done in one trip.
James really enjoyes visiting his grandparents, often several weeks at a time. However, he won't be able to do this once he starts class next week so here's his last chance to spend some time up here until probably Christmas.
Mom has decided it's finally time to go through a lot of my grandmother's stuff and we need to consolidate two storage units into one (a small one into a large one).
I also have an appointment to see a doctor a further hour North of here who will hopefully help me figure out what my problems are. I'm tired of being told that I'm too young for what I think may be happening, and have a family history of. The last three women on my mother's side has all had it, but we have no idea if it goes any further back because my great grandmother's mother died in the flu epidemic when GG was around 9 so not only was she too young to have been told any history, she probably wouldn't have been told anyway.
A chance for Carey to relax before he starts class next week.
Definitely very busy this week. I was happy that we got out of the house right on time, in fact a little early and all we forgot was Charles' suspenders. I had to leave the house a little earlier than planned because I had to stop in a little town on my way, about 30 miles out. There is a local cheapcycle group and a man listed some records of which a few I bought. I had to meet him at the local store and I wound up being there almost 30 minutes early. At first we waited outside, but it was so darn hot and the kids needed to use the restroom anyway so in we went. I especially needed to get Kitty in. She's been diaper free for over four months and I did't want her to have an accident now.
I only had three of the kids since James went up last night to my parents to have a little alone time with them. He's been very angry lately and I'm hoping this will help calm him down. They were all well behaved in the store. They calmly picked out a snack (it's Kitty's special day so she got to pick and she choose Scooby Doo fruit snacks), some banana's and a few other items. They even calmly put the candy back at the cashier when I explained they had already gotten the Scooby snacks and they couldn't have both. I got them loaded back in the van, and then noticed the guy with the records was there so I snagged them real quick.
It's an eclectic mix from Sons of the Pioneers to Frank Sinatra, Peter Paul & Mary, Johnny Cash, even The Night Before Christmas narrated by Louis Armstrong. They're all in good condition and I can't wait to hear them. I paid less than a $1 apiece, and although that's not quite as good as paying only $0.20 at Salvation Army it beats paying several dollars or more apiece.
We quicly continued our trip, and it was a blessed relief when I went from the open valley of agriculture fields and 100 F weather to the hills covered in trees. It was a marked contrast in temperature. It was cool and shady going over the pass and it felt wonderful to be home. I grew up in a logging community, surrounded by hills full of trees and forest only 10 feet out my grandparents back door. And while I'm OK surrounded by the agriculture fields of my current home, I think that's only because the closest tree's are only a quick 20 minute drive, if that. I could never live on the wide open fields of a prairie or the desert. It would drive me mad.
I rolled down the windows, turned off the raidio and breathed in the clean, cool, forest air. I told the kids to look out their windows, breath in the scent and look at the trees as well. This lead to Deedee asking if she could hug a tree. Since I was driving through a section of road that's part of a scenic byway with at least a couple of parks, it was simply to find a place to park although in the end I just chose a turn out because Deedee was getting antsy and we were between both parks. In the end, that was the perfect choice anyway.
It was right in the trees and it was level vs. several that angeled down. This one was also complete with it's own mostly complete deer skeleton. So the kids spent an interesting 10 minutes just looking at that. It had been a doe and was completely picked clean. So we looked at the teeth and talked about how they're different from our teeth and why. Bits of the fur was still there as well and they held some of it to feel the texture and stuff. But they're little so they quickly lost interest and went on to the original goal of hugging a tree. We walked about 20 yards into the trees and it was perfect. It was far enough way that we couldn't see the highway and the traffic wasn't quite as loud. We talked about the birds we heard, and the kids were happy to find a little brook they splashed around in. We wandered around looking at the different plants and flowers and even discovered a spider or two.. Oh, and Charles was really excited to find a little patch of thimble berries that he quickly scarfed down. His whole mouth was stained red and he looked like he'd smeared lipstick on like a clown. LOL Deedee said hello to several trees and collected some fallen leaves for us to identify later. She also said she found several gnome homes. :D
That little side trip delayed us by thirty minutes, but it was well worth it to see the looks on their faces and then listen to their excited talk in the back the last 20 minutes of our trip. When we finally arrived, they couldn't wait to tell their grandparents of their adventures. | 
