Last Day's With The Nana Kid's Part 2 & On The Road Again

                                                  Wednesday March 30, 2016

This is a rare picture of our grand kids being quiet and angels.

Thank goodness for the "Cat In The Hat Movie".

After spending the morning packing while the kids watched the movie, we went to the beach for Spring Break. This is the most people i have ever seen on the beach here in Gulf Shores. It is usually very quiet while we are here for the winter. It was a bit windy this day,

so we went to the indoor pool that my daughter's sister in law had rented for a few days. Alisha is in the yellow top swimsuit. Maddie in front of her and the boys in the middle of the pool.

The boys kept wanting to swim out to the outside pool, but it was too deep for Maddie, so they were stuck inside.

The hot tub was a great place to warm up in, from the cool and cloudy day. Even though kids are not suppose to be in it. 

The next day, Joe and I spent the entire day packing the car. We were so glad we had spent the prior morning packing, as it took us the full day and a half to be ready to hit the road the following day.

Once again the Beast was packed to the max, in fact, worse than when we came south.

Friday April 1, 2016

Our first day consisted of driving in the rain,

and constant rolling slow downs. We decided to never leave on the 1st again. Every snowbird was on the road, just like us, heading home.

On our drive through Alabama, I saw lots of wisteria trees in full bloom.

On one of our stops for Mallery, I got up close and personal. Their flowers are not the best smelling, but they are beautiful in bloom.

Our first stop for the night was at the Baymont Inn, in Decatur, AL. Decatur is located at the northern border of Alabama. We made horrible time with the 11:00 AM leave time, the rain, and the numerous rolling slow downs. We only got 351 miles in, for the 9 hours on the road. Mallery did really well sleeping on the floor next to our bed in her dog bed, even though it wasn't in her kennel.

The next morning we crossed Wheeler Lake, which is part of the Tennessee River, before entering into Tennessee.

At a Tennessee rest stop, I found these wild flowers. I think they are Grape Hyacinths. At first I thought they were Texas Blue Bonnets blooming in Tennessee.

In Nashville we had construction that slowed us down again. Note the semi in front of us is not going the wrong way. It is being towed by another semi!

In Tennessee and Kentucky, I started to see Red Bud Trees. I love Spring and all the beauty it brings. One of the many reasons I could never stay south all year round.

Somewhere around Louisville, KY, all trees were still bare.

We crossed the Ohio River on a new bridge from Louisville, Kentucky to Indiana.

After 347 miles and 8.5 hours on the road, we stopped at a Days Inn in Seymour, IN, south of Indianapolis. Another slow day  with extremely high winds, causing us to stop constantly so Joe could check the car top carrier. The high winds were moving it and Joe was nervous of it sifting and flying off.  Note the sign saying free breakfast  above. Note to self: DO NOT stay at the Days Inns again in Seymour, IN, as the room was nasty and there was not one warm item on their free breakfast. We will probably never stay at any Days Inn again from this stop.

Here is the car top carrier that Joe bought in Alabama to give us more room going back. Unfortunately for some reason the car was just as full if not more. I did do some shopping, but not that much!

On our 3rd day we entered Michigan, and found the first sign of snow.  Because of snow in Northern Michigan, we decided to make it a very short day and stopped at a Red Roof Inn in Muskegon Heights along Lake Michigan. Our mileage was 327 that day.

The next day we drove to Lake Michigan in Muskegon Heights, MI. before we continued north.

Our ocean in Michigan.

As we drove further north we hit a few snow flurries, but nothing sticking.

As we got closer to home, we saw more snow on the ground.

The snow that had fallen the prior day.

Ten miles from home we see Boyne Mountain where there is a ski resort, hotels, condo's and a indoor water park.

A view of one of the ski runs 7 miles from home.
Almost home!

Last Day's With The Nana Kid's Part 1

                                      Monday 3/28,/2016

The last week we were in Gulf Shores, it was Spring Break for the town and the Nana kids. I had promised Tiffany we could watch Lennox for 3 days, so she could save her vacation time to come see us this summer. Of course Lennox brought Slappy with him the first day. He wanted me to take this picture of him and Slappy.

Then he wanted to take a picture of his Nana with Slappy. Being 3 weeks post surgery, I was worried about watching him, because he can be a little bulldozer, but he was great. I always wear makeup, but since surgery, I have been makeup free. Lennox did a great job as a photographer considering his subject. Maybe he is going to follow his Aunt Weisha, and cousin Hayleah!

The next day we had sun and a much warmer day, so we invited Alisha and her kids over to join us at the pool. I was hoping we would get a nice enough day before we left so the kids could enjoy the pool.

This was the first day that the pool had lots of kids in the water.

The water was still cold because the nights were cold and the pool is not heated.

But the boys are tough and just went for it.

Maddie on the other hand is such a tiny thing and doesn't have any muscle or fat so it was much harder for her.

She got under the water a few times,

but then was freezing and had to get out to warm by the sun.

Lennox stood under the bucket until it filled enough to dump water onto him.

And cold water at that! What a brave boy to wait so long for such a bucket of shock!

Soon after the cold bucket of water, Lennox skinned his knee on the shallow rough pool floor. He saw his bloody knee and he thought he was dying. He's quite dramatic!

Joe went back to the condo to get a band aid,

By the time he got back the drama was over and he was dancing with the other boys on the table. Ok, hopefully no more boo boo's, but with boy's it going to happen many times.

Sweet-pea braving her toes in the water again.

With no lifeguards, I was the one yelling at the boys to walk, not run around the pool. But like most boys, they don't listen, and I soon saw Noah on the ground. Noah has turned the age where when he is hurt, he does not show it in front of other boys. He grinned and bared it until we left the pool, then he started to complain how his leg hurt.

Maddie our little star, enjoying her pink lemonade that I got for her from the club house. The temperature got to 80 degrees that day.

After swimming it was time to hit the golf course. We got Lennox in a cart with Joe, and Alisha and her kids in a cart with me. I forgot how to do the pedals, so Joe came over to show me how they worked again. Lesson one for adults: Never leave a 7 year old in or near a cart by himselve. As Joe headed back to his cart, we saw it heading backward down a hill toward the pond. Lennox had pushed down the brake release and the cart was off! Joe ran to it and grabbed it, but couldn't stop the momentum. A senior lady had to jump out of the path of the run away cart, then she tried to grab it to help Joe stop it. Both were unable to stop it still. Then a senior man ran up and grabbed the cart, and finally with the three of them, they got it stopped before it hit the pond.  In the picture above, we finally got going, but had to stop and wait for the golfers ahead to finish before we could continue. I am sure Joe was giving Lennox a piece of his mind about never to do what he did again, when alone around a cart. But in reality, it was our fault for leaving a 7 year old alone with such a temptation.

Joe was really ready to call the day quits, but I convinced him to continue. Now Alisha is saying to me, "Joe is going to get hit, he needs to step back", as he instructs Noah how to swing. Lesson # 2. Never stand behind a 7 year old who has never swung a club. The club swings and slugs Joe hard on his side. OK he really is ready to call it quits now!

Noah wanted to drive the cart, so he sat in my lap. Noah being the dare devil, I thought for sure would be the wild driver. To my surprise, he was very cautious. I guess after seeing what Lennox had done, he was so afraid he was going to put the cart in the pond.  He asked me to steer when near the pond, and kept telling me to slow down the cart. (I was handling the gas and brakes of the cart).

Because of all the rain we had had, part of the path was under the water. Noah decide to let me drive across the water (he was afraid he would put the cart in the pond),

and he crossed the path on the rocks.

Maddie also decided she wanted to try to golf. After missing the ball completely, she came running back to us crying. Later, she decided to try again, even though she could only get the ball a few feet away. It would help a lot, if she didn't have a club that was longer than her. Noah kept practicing, and really got some good shots in for his first time out. Lennox tried again, but I think he was still feeling bad for the run away cart, and was being quiet the 4 holes we played before calling it a day.

Maddie was a really brave driver, with no fears at all. She is the one that we do have to worry about, I guess. This was the first and last time we got to take Noah and Maddie on the golf course, and third time for Lennox.