Memorial Day in the Woods, Miller Style.....

Friday morning I woke up and headed over to teach my last classes as an abstinence teacher. I only had two classes for the day. Eighth grade classes. What a way to go out. They went well and I felt a little sad but very excited knowing I have this new career awaiting me. Either way, I didn't have time to sit and ponder it because I had to run home and start preparing for the week-end. I had piles of laundry to do, kids to get ready and bags to pack. After what already seemed like a long day we headed out for the Hundred Acre Woods on Blackberry Lane. Jake had just been to visit his family with the kids the previous week-end since I was had class and wouldn't be home anyway. Jude was excited to go back. I can't even really remember why our trip ended up being so long but it really ended up being about 2 hours longer than it should have. We didn't get there until around 11 P.M. When we got there the kids were wound up. Jude was jumping around and acting all crazy. Earlier, Linda had called and said a bad storm had passed through and the power had been knocked off. It was on by time we got there (whew one bit of craziness avoided). But it was HOT. Even though it was so late, it was still in the eighties. You may of guessed but we didn't have air conditioning. I didn't really mind. I prefer it to be hot. In fact, I am not really warm until it is around 90 degrees. All the windows in the house were open. Unfortunately, not all the windows have screens. Now, let me give you a few side notes. First, although the Miller Clan lives in the middle of a forest there really aren't that many misquitos. Really. You would expect since it is in the south and in the woods there would be a zillion of those pesky things but really I have only seen a few around. So, misquitos weren't really a concern. But other bugs...well, they came in the house. Nothing major...moths and stuff like that. But, Jude is a city boy. He doesn't like bugs. Even if it was a moth. He decided he wasn't going to sleeep in his "assigned" room. He ended up sleeping in bed with Mamaw & Papaw. It worked out well for us.

Saturday morning we woke up and relaxed. It was great. The Applehead family has some friends visiting from Ohio. We didn't really know them but they ended up being very nice people and had three small children. By lunchtime I was looking around and realized the kids outnumbered the adults (9 adults, 10 kids- 8 were 4 yrs old or younger!!!!). Because it had rained the day before it was a huge mud pit. The kids were loving it. Well, all except Jude, who cried and wanted to change his clothes because they got a little dirty. He is such a city kid. It was sweltering hot. I mean like 95 and no breeze. Yuck. The older kids started playing with these squirt guns. Before long they had this big idea to make a mud slide. No, not the drink...a real live mud slide. In the back yard there is this little "drop off". The kids sprayed water down the little hill and then started sliding down it on their butts. It was so funny. They were covered in mud. It was really innocent, good ole fashion fun. Jude didn't have anything to do with it. After the kids got cleaned up and in fresh clothes some of the groupd went on a hike. Jake and Elise went shopping and Jude and I took a nap. It was nice (but hot). After everyone made there way back, we got ready for dinner. We had planned to have our "family" birthday party. Remember I said we had a lot of spring birthdays? Well, this was the big one. Now, I am going to have to stop here because it is late and I am whooped. I will give you part two sometime soon so check back.