From the Mouths of Babes

Malachi has been sick for the last 2 or 3 days. It's his asthma again. So he and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. He started coughing a little but exaggerated it. I looked down at him, smiled, and asked him what was wrong with him. He responded, "I have asthma, duh!"

Thanksgiving

We decided to go back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving to see Ray's family again. Ray's mom, sister and niece were going too. They were leaving before we were. They asked if they could take Samara with them and we would just meet up with them when we got there. Hey, works for us! That way Samara and Jada (neice) could entertain each other during the trip. It was a great idea so I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was having Samara that far away from me. She's spent the night with family before, but it was always close enough that I could go pick her up if needed. As far as I can tell, she didn't have the same discomfort.

After Samara left, we took the boys fishing. There's a nice little pond we like to go to that has a walking trail around it as well as a basketball court nearby. After fishing for a while we walked over to the basketball court and played for a while.

The next day Ray and the boys left for Mississippi. I had to work that day as well as Thanksgiving day so I stayed behind. Ray's sister left her SUV for me to drive while she was gone, she's so nice! Anyway, talk about weird! I haven't been home alone in so long I can't remember! I had planned on doing some extensive housework since I had an empty house but opted instead to spend time with my mom and Rich. We went out to eat and then I went home with them. We stayed up late talking and watching t.v. It was so relaxing. I realized I really needed the break.

On the day after Thanksgiving, my mom took me to the airport at 5:45 in the morning. Crazy that people are up that early! I flew to New Orleans where Ray, Nehemiah and Billy Ray were waiting for me. We went straight to Mrs. Harper's house to visit and meet up with Rachel, Yvette, Jada, and Samara. The rest of the boys were there too. We had breakfast of grits, eggs, and sausage, Yummy! After visiting for a while, it was time to go get the hotel room. We were staying in Gulfport. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool and I was so disappointed that I didn't bring our swimsuits. I didn't have the heart to tell the kids that there was an indoor pool. Malachi started getting sick. Ray stayed on top of his breathing treatments every 2 hours. We were really concerned and considered taking him to the hospital. Thank God we didn't have to. He probably wouldn't have been able to go swimming after all.

The next day we went to Pascagoula. We stopped at Pizza Hut to eat. Then visited the Scranton Nature Center. They had several diaramas, some live snakes, a live baby alligator, and some birds and rabbits. The tour guide took the baby alligator out of the cage and let the kids pet it. After the tour, we went outside to play on the playground. There was a walking trail but we didn't get a chance to walk it.

That night, we drove to Wiggins to visit with Ray's dad's family. They cooked a big meal and there were lots of other family members there to share it with. Ray's sister Brittney, Ray's brother Bryan and his girlfriend and her two kids, Ray's sister Ernestine and her daughter were all there. Of course Scoop came over too. We stayed late, playing cards and putting up the Christmas tree. All the while, Malachi getting his breathing treatments every 2 hours. Poor guy. We played outside a little bit, but it was a little too cold. But the kids had to spend some time playing in the bus. Here's a picture of Seth on the bus. The next picture shows Malachi "driving" the bus and if you look really close you can see Samara's hair right next to Malachi.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed, watched t.v. and played on the laptop. Ray bought snacks for all of us. Nehemiah got a bottle of root beer and I took a picture of him drinking it...

We had planned on making our trip home an adventure. We were going to stop by a zoo, go to a childrens museum, and stop at anything that looks interesting. But the weather was cold and Malachi was just too sick to do any of those things. We did stop in Vicksburg and took a minitour of the town. It was really cool! Lots of steep roadways that lead right down to the river. We stopped at the Coca-Cola Museum where Coke was first bottled. Isaiah found an antique baby high chair and he was amazed!

On the way home from Vicksburg, we stopped at a gas station with a Whataburger attached. We were already in Texas but I can't remember the city. Anyway, it was the coolest Whataburger I've ever been to. They had a real Harley Davidson on display, as well as a full set of drums, and guitars and records hanging on the walls. Ray got our Coke out of a really cool soda fountain next to the register. If you look closely at the guitars that the kids are standing to you can see that they are actually signs for the Mens or Womens restrooms. Cool, huh?