Grandma and Pawpaw's House

    During our trip to Mom and Dad's in January we also took a trip down south to visit Grandma and Pawpaw, something I hadn't done in a long time and need to do more often. We all loaded up and headed down to their house to spend the night.

Checking out the wood pile by the smokehouse.

 Always exploring!

Juice break!

     When we arrived they were happy to see us, however the boys took a little while to warm up. Uncle Bubba broke the ice by inviting the boys to go look at the tractor and then they were friends for life. Pawpaw and Cooper also got along great. He was curious about butchering and meat and the equipment used, and Pawpaw was happy to share his knowledge and instruction (4 y/o version of course). Cooper even got to use the meat slicer and made a packet of ham to take to his daddy. After the tour he came in the house and told me all about how butchering works…..first you take the fur off, then you hang it in the freezer, then you slice it up and put it in paper. He paid attention during his little tour! 

 

Cooper fell into some stinging grass and it hurt! 

He also was fascinated by Grandma's cauliflower she was growing.  

Wouldn't be a complete day without a fight…

this time Ace didn't want Tucker pushing his dump wagon.

    Meanwhile Mom, Grandma, Tucker and I got to visit some, inside and outside. It was another beautiful day, so we stayed outside….which was a good thing since the electricity went off about 3 and didn't turn on until 7pm!

Eating ham sandwiches by lantern light. The boys weren't complaining. 

Cooper was asking "Where does ham come from again? Pigs?"

     You know how my boys are when they get to play outside, they were filthy and I was just about to use up my wipe supply giving them a wipe bath when the electricity came back on. We've not been that thankful for electricity in a long time.

Trekked out to the pond to feed the fish. It was short lived fun because Tucker decided he wanted to go swimming and the other boys were trying to get closer and closer to the water. 

This picture says it all….Tucker's writhing towards the water….

Ace wouldn't stop ringing the loud bell to call the fish…..and I got a big whiff of the fish food…

Cooper's probably busy telling me what to do next. 

    Bedtime came and we all filed into Mom's (and her sisters) old room for the night. Cooper, Tucker and I took the bed and Mom and Ace slept on the floor on mattresses. As we went to bed Cooper and I kept hearing a creepy sound outside and he kept asking me what it was. I told him it wasn't anything to worry about and kept waiting for Mom to chime in and reassure me, I mean him, that all was good, but she didn't. Only later did I find out that she was a little creeped out by the sound as well, ha! Thankfully we had a fan to lull us to sleep…until the boys started coughing, and thinking it might help, Mom turned the fan off. Then it was quiet and still (not my ideal sleeping conditions), and at that point Mom was by my side holding her mattress trying to decide whether to move it to the daybed that it came from in another room. I laughed and then furrowed my brows….I wanted to sleep, not help her decide where to sleep! We heard the creepy sound again, amplified by no fan and Mom peeked out of the window while I held her mattress. Sound discovered…machinery down the road. I slept better after that.

 

Mom raking a house into place with pine needle walls.

 The boys were loving the hay loft…..somebody wanted to go up there really badly. 

Hanging out in the barn

    The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and Cooper helped Pawpaw feed the cows. Then we went to visit Kelsey and meet sweet baby Claire. First we made a stop at Aunt Katherine's house to visit her and Uncle Donald. It was a good visit, and we were very glad we took the time to stop.
     Claire was a sweetie and she kicked my baby fever into high drive when I held her! Of course Cooper liked her too and was disappointed that we didn't let him hold her.

Kelsey, Claire and me

I think she liked us.

     After our visit we took some chicken back to Grandma and Pawpaw's house and ate lunch. Then we visited Uncle Bubba at his house. This was big highlight for Cooper because Uncle Bubba let him work the excavator and move the bucket up and down. It was so nice of him to take the time to work with the Coopster. Ace watched from a tractor nearby but he didn't want to take his own turn.

 

 Hard at work. Love Cooper's expressions as he works hard.

     Finally it was time to leave and head back to GG and Papa's. We hated to leave them because we'd had such a fun time, and about 20 minutes down the road we'd wished we would have stayed another night. Instead we'll just have to make sure and go back very soon and visit more often.

One final picture before we left. Cooper wanted to stay there, next time he will.

     It was a great visit and I'm thankful to have grandparents with such knowledge and skills to pass down to me. After we'd been back a few days Cooper was asking about what meat was which animal and he said "How do you get the fur off when butchering?…..I don't know, but I know who knows…Pawpaw!!!" They apparently bonded during the visit. Grandma and Pawpaw are going to come visit me sometime soon hopefully and I'm excited to have them…..I'd better make sure my chicken pen is clean and my garden looks good by then!!!!

"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers." Proverbs 17:6