Cross Country Road Trip: Days 2 &3

Day 2

Day Two was off to a smashing start. We loaded up the van, got cozy in our seats, turned the key……..and nothing. That was the 3rd dead battery in a week, so there was no escaping the fact that we needed a new battery.

We got jumped off from a kind stranger: a sweet little lady with a Christian fish on her van. You know, you have to really know you’re a good Christian to put one of those things on your vehicle. Me? I promise you to never put one on any car that I drive. Yes, I’m a Christian. Unfortunately, I’m not so sure my driving skills necessarily give Christianity as a whole a good name…

I decided this was just the opportunity I needed to squeeze in a visit with my good ol’ pal, Katie. Katie was my best friend in high school. We did a really great job at keeping in touch in college, visiting each other and such, and every once in a blue moon since then, we get together.

Since Alan and I were spending the morning at Walmart, getting a new battery installed, it was the perfect place. Thank you so much, Katie, for coming out to visit on short notice!

Once we got back on the road, all went well. JD slept and slept and slept and slept. That boy is the perfect car rider. He can even feed himself a bottle in his car seat–life is good!

As we entered, Alabama, we got a phone call from Joshua, anxiously wanting to know when we were going to arrive. I’m pretty sure we both had tears in our eyes. Our precious children were missing us. We could not get to Alan’s grandparent’s house quickly enough!

We finally arrived, after lunch was over, but at least we were in time for cake……birthday cake! JD had his own little chocolate cupcake, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

I was also really excited to get to ask Alan’s Aunt Karen a whole bunch of questions about the Classical Conversations school that her children attend. I plan on sending our boys to one this year, and it’s going to be a very new experience for us.

Karen threw me for a loop when she said that their school, in Alabama, had registration in January, and the classes for the next year were all full by February. PANIC!!!!!

What if all the slots are already full????  Then I have no back-up plan! I’m not thrilled with the neighborhood school there. This was the option that sounded best to us. I quickly located the school’s contact info and sent out an email.

I was so excited to wake up this morning to find an email, informing me that there is in fact room for our boys. Even better: there are information sessions in June and July that I have not missed!

**********

After the big family gathering, we loaded up and headed down to Alan’s parents’ house. Alan’s sister is here with her family as well. We are thankful to get to visit with them. This has been fun. Today we all took our kids to the home of a local big game hunter. He has a room in his house that is comparable to the wild animal exhibit of the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington, D.C. The boys LOVED it.

I try to avoid using last names, so I will call them Mr. Earl and Mrs. Mary. They were so gracious to let us all come and look around. Mrs. Mary even had a little disposable camera for each of the boys to use. They LOVED getting to take their own pictures, and the non-digital cameras were truly a new experience for them! Daniel, especially, was all about it.

We will have about 100 pictures, once we get them all developed. Here are just a few, that we took with my phone:

All of this made me think of Theodore Roosevelt.

All hunting was done with a game warden present. In Africa, they send someone from the government out with you, to make sure you abide by the rules. They only shoot old, male animals. They also have a big celebration when you get a big cat. There are areas where they are overrun by some of these animals, and they need people to help control the populations, to keep the balance of the ecosystem. I liken it to how thankful people down south are, for the people who keep the alligator population under control. In fact, Mr. Earl had two of those in his showroom too.

I tend to be a little under-adventurous, but this did make me want to go on an African safari–not to hunt, of course, but just to see all these animals in their natural habitat. How amazing would that be?

 

Tomorrow: It’s on to my parents’ house. This all seems to be going by awfully fast!