Alabama Next

Still more to come...

Alabama Journal 3

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

It's 8:05 AM, and I've been awake for about an hour, having called my Bride on her way to school (it was after she had already dropped off Ian & Emily). Yesterday was a day filled with laughter and good times:

Elliott called me to tell me that the battery was dead on Hope. Apparently one of the retractable headlights hadn't fully retracted when he got back on campus the night before, so his battery was drained. He couldn't find the hood release on the front of the car, so I had to describe how to find it over the phone. It took him several minutes but he did find it, got the battery jump started, and learned that he must make sure the headlight fully retracts from now on. Another Batman Adventure via cell phone! D he was pretty much finished with D-Group lesson writing for the day, and had some finishing touches to do on his Europe Trip paper, then would spend time in the pool that afternoon...a requirement of his job with the school. Tough job, eh?

Lil Bro and I tried to solve the mystery of the DVD player, finally deciding that we would have to get an RF converter box. Wal Mart here we come! Now, Lil Bro is anti-Wal Mart, but we had already decided that $1.49 soda at Winn Dixie was not acceptable. With the need for soda, and the RF converter, Wal Mart was the choice of the day. Lil Bro especially liked my attempt to "ambush" him with my camera phone in the Wal Mart parking lot, finally giving in and posing for the shot previously posted.

Upon arriving back at the house, we got the DVD player hooked up, and Napoleon Dynamite time is coming! SWEET!

Baby Sis and Dad both had doctors' appointments during the mid-day (or early morning according to their body clocks...10 AM and noon, respectively), so our trip to Pell City to meet the Goggans Clan was not going to be until 4:30 Central Time. Of course Baby Sis had forgotten to factor in the road construction on I-20 that none of the rest of us really knew about anyway, so we wound up doing the parking lot on the Interstate thing for a while, before jumping off I-20 and taking the "back roads" in to our meeting place: Western Sizzlin'. It was about 5:40 when we got there, having called Aunt Phyllis to tell her we were running late, but on the way. The visit with cousins Yolanda, Jim and Ray was fabulous! Yolanda's husband Robbie was there as well, and for an hour and a half inside the restaurant, and another hour and a half in the parking lot, we laughed and carried on like madmen and women. We all agreed that it was foolish for us to not get together more often, and Yolanda begged us to come stay at their home...a beautiful southern mansion overlooking a lake that they built themselves. I think next summer's family vacation should be a visit to the mansion.

I "asked" Lil Bro to drive back, so I could call my Bride and chillins, since it was 10:00 PM REAL Time. I got the shocker of the day, when my Bride told me that Turtle had gotten suspended from school for getting into a fight and breaking a guy's nose! Now, Turtle is the most docile dude I know, but apparently this other guy had been picking on Turtle all year long, and Turtle finally snapped. You don't want to mess with a Snapping Turtle! When my Bride told me "you'll never guess what happened at school today," she was right. I would never have guessed that in a million years! I also spoke with both Ian and Emily...Emily was excited because she did get a 4 on her FCAT Reading which should exempt her from her English Final. YAY! Both kids said they were helping to take care of Mamma, so that made me feel better. I am worried about her, since her throat is on fire and her sinuses are yucky, and I am not there to help out, but she will survive, and she will appreciate me that much more upon my return, eh? Watched some TV with Dad until midnight REAL time, and then hit the air mattress for the night, exhausted, but extremely satisfied with the day. Today, we plan to go to I-Hop for breakfast before Baby Sis heads off for her 12 hour work day work day, and we head off for "Return of the Sith," With some Napoleon Dynamite thrown in for good me measure! SWEET!