Poppy in the Pool

After a little over a week in Birmingham, staying with Jeremy & Heather, the boys and I packed up again and headed northeast bit to my parent's place in Jacksonville. Around this same, Jeremy and Heather flew to Nassau to pick up their adopted child...man what a story that is. You'll have to head over to their blog to read more about that, but I will say... this was at the beginning of June and it is now December and Heather is still there waiting for their court appearance. 

I cannot express the relief I felt leaving the city atmosphere and driving out to the country. The days going to the hospital were hard enough, and I won't even pretend to know how hard they were on my mom and dad, but being in the city atmosphere after being so isolated down here...it was totally overwhelming and just had me on edge at every turn it seemed. I'm pretty sure I rolled the windows in the car down when we got off the interstate. As we entered the green pasture-lands, I held an arm out the window and shouted praises to the Lord for the beautiful country, less traffic, less buildings, fresh air, less commotion... the boys probably thought mommy had gone coo coo, but they played along with it :) 

 We went to stay at my parent's place. It felt really strange being there without them, but it was also very nice. It's our second home, and we are very comfortable there. 

My dad came home one day while Bev and Xander stayed with my mom to help clean out the pool for the boys. It felt like a really petty thing to worry over and waste time on while mom was in the hospital, but I am so thankful he had this day with the boys. They had so much fun 'helping him' clean out the pool. And as you will see... this little pool got LOTS and LOTS of fun use during our stay. 

This first one immediately below this text here is one of my favorites of Poppy and Emit :) LOL I was having a blast watching them and snapping away with the pictures... in case you can't tell. 

 Our days were filled with play, play, play while we were at CC & Poppy's house. They'd get up and be ready to go out right away, unless it was raining. We'd go out, and before long they would wind up in the pool for a quick dip. Then head back in the house for some shows and lunch. Then head back for some time riding the gator, playing on the playground and then end with a final dip in the pool....USUALLY any way :) 

 I love the picture above with one little hand reaching out the doggy door. That was a VERY fun game for them... pretending to be dogs and taking care of each other. I think they confused Dumplin  more times than not, but she seemed to have fun with them...for the most part. 

 I tried really hard to get the boys to do some of our school work while we were up there, and I got a couple of days, but I just couldn't get them to cooperate easily and I really didn't want to spend that whole time arguing with them over their school stuff. 

 We played at the elementary school parking lot on their new bikes! Joss LOVES his 'big boy' bike. It has a handle that spins and looks like a motorcycle handle and he thinks that is just the absolute coolest thing ever. It was so cute letting them pick out their bike too. Joss found his right away. Surprisingly, Emit found some right away that he liked, that just happened to be the most expensive. So I gave him a few other options to choose from and he slowly changed from one to the next to the next and each decision got cheaper and cheaper in price. In the end, he chose one that he was thrilled about and it was the least expensive one his size...Score :) 

 I love these of them on the stairs. They were in such silly moods. I think at this point they were just so excited to be out of the car, out of the city and just running free and having a good ole time :) 

 So much laughter and giggles! 

I'm dozing here at the computer...time to say 'nite nite'! More to come, sooner rather than later, I hope.