I’m still trying to get back into the regular routine of workdays, a week after returning from our brief vacation to visit Hubby’s family. His piece of land is looking more and more inviting. Hubby’s oldest sister put a very nice new mobile home on her land and had just moved in when we visited. Hubby and I are trying to figure out how to pay off some bills and start saving money toward an eventual little house on the land . It’ll be years before we have the capital to do it.

Peanut had an absolute blast with the grandparents. Papaw and Nana sent us home with a bunch of toys including a battery-powered scooter that goes forward and backward. Peanut’s not too sure about it now, but I have a feeling he’ll like it later. He loves the tricycle, but his legs are a wee bit too short to reach the pedals, which frustrates him to no end. He also came home with a toy bus and a toy plane, both of which hold adorable little passengers and light up and play music. He rocks out to the songs. Papaw took Peanut for laps around the backyard on the 4-wheeler. Each time he’d stop, Peanut would sign for more and exclaim “more more!” Nanny gave him a see’n’say (which I’m sure she was happy to get out of her house) and a cool toy that has a hammer and multicolored balls which can be smashed into holes.

Peanut’s gentle nature, especially with animals, impressed Nana and Papaw. When Hubby’s middle sister visited, one of her sons got after their dog with a toy bat and wouldn’t quit beating her. They couldn’t believe how gentle Peanut is and that all he wanted to do was pet and hug the dog. That’s one thing Hubby and I have worked and worked with him on. Neither of us can stand to see animals mistreated, so we started teaching Peanut to “pet nice” from the time he was tiny. He still sometimes smacks the dog or grabs a cat’s tail, but he’s generally very good to the critters.

He loved the squirrels, cows and horses at Nana’s. All we had to say was “Peanut, squirrel” and he would run to the window. He now responds with “moo” when we say “cow”. He’d run up to Nana and give her hugs around the legs…so sweet.

As usual, there was some minor family drama. Hubby’s youngest sister wanted to leave her dogs at Papaw’s house for the weekend, which he nixed. She stormed off and left then at Nana’s instead. On Sunday, which we had planned on spending with Nana, she dropped off her daughter and the dogs claiming she needed to break down the campsite, but we all knew she and the rest of the crew wanted to spend the day on their jetskis. She didn’t come back for her daughter until around 8 pm. We ended up taking our niece with us for lunch, both kids fell asleep in the car, so we got takeout instead, and it worked beautifully. Little niece is still on the whiny side, but she was a great playmate for Peanut and shared her toys nicely with him. He seemed to enjoy playing with her.

Hubby’s adult niece and her family were still visiting, having come in for her younger sister’s wedding (the one we skipped). She has a little guy just a few months younger than Peanut, so the two of them tore the place up. Her husband is stereotypical military, talks tough but has little to do with childcare. He left her alone with the baby and no car all day Saturday while he played on the lake with the rest of the crew. She and her mom went out on Sunday, and all he did was complain about having to watch his own kid and kept trying to convince her to go later in the day so he could go back on the lake for the morning. She stood her ground, told him he could go after they got back, and made me proud. She’s a stay at home mom on a military base overseas, and it sounds like she doesn’t know many people there. I’m sure she feels isolated and gets lonely and her husband being a dumbass about stepping up and taking responsibility didn’t impress me.

Hubby’s big sis mentioned something about younger niece wanting to buy/trade part of his property and Hubby laughed it off, basically saying no way. So maybe that’ll be the end of that.

We had a great visit, enjoyed seeing family and getting away from the heat. We even managed to squeeze in a movie while Nana and Papaw babysat. Peanut got so tired, he lay down and fell asleep BY HIMSELF. A feat probably never to be repeated.

I miss the mountains, the ferny scents, cool evenings, spring peepers, fireflies, winding roads, and being closer to family.