Welcome In-Laws!

Grammy, Pappy, Uncle Tripp, and JACOB arrived yesterday. Jacob is Bubby's cousin and he loves to play with him more than anything. Jacob was a surprise for Bubby. He knew the rest were coming but he had no idea they were bringing his cousin.

We asked Bubby if Jacob was a good birthday present and he answered, "The best!" Maybe now I don't have to get him that Kung Fu Panda Wii game he's been begging for.

Our car started over heating and we had to put it in the shop. It was not a good time for it to need to be in the shop, but we are thankful to have access to another car to drive. It has taken everybody a while to get use to driving on the left side of the road. I caught Pappy with his hand over his eyes. He finally started riding in the back and made Uncle Tripp ride up front.

Bubby and Jacob playing Nintendos at Island Grill.

Ordering at Island Grill.

Eating at Island Grill.

Strolling through Mega Mart playing their Nintendos.

Today we got Bubby out of school early and went to Doctor's Cave beach. The boys and Uncle Tripp had a good time swimming and snorkeling. But, the best thing we did today was get haircuts. Uncle Tripp gave Bubby and me a haircut. It's a wonderful thing. We are having to stay local until our car gets out of the shop. Tomorrow we are going to Margaritaville. We have plans of going to Dunn's River Falls, YS Falls and Negril.

All Together Again!

Yesterday was a busy day for us. Uncle Howie arrived and surprised Nathan, Mama and Daddy. It is so hard to keep something like that a secret. All week I have almost said things like "when Howie gets here we can..." or "we need to wait and do...when Howie gets here." But, we pulled it off. My cousin April drove Uncle Howie to Orlando airport and knowing it was a surprise, she called and said, "The eagle has landed," letting me know in code that he had been dropped off.

Nathan had a football game yesterday too, so we had a lot of finagling to do. The plan was that Todd was going to go early to the football game so the DeeDee wouldn't have to sit in the sun waiting for the game to start. Really we just needed to drive separate so Todd could go to the airport to pick up Uncle Howie. And the reason he left the game early was to go pick up pizza for supper. Which he did after he went to the airport.

Nathan giving Uncle Howie a HIGH five.

Uncle Howie brought Nathan a "safari" style hat for culturama. Stay tuned... more to come on culturama later. He also brought him a Raiders of the Lost Ark movie and they were watching part of it on his portable DVD player.

Today we are off to Mega Mart. We are going to have an early birthday party for Nathan since the family won't be here in July when his real birthday is. He is so excited. On the way to school this morning he told me what he would like the menu to be for supper tonight. Let's just hope we can find everything at one store.

American Idol: We Were Disappointed!

David Cook was good but David Archuleta was our favorite.

Now on to what we've been doing. Mostly we've been doing a lot of eating, sitting around, eating, being disappointed at the American Idol results, eating, reading blogs and did I mention eating? Yesterday I took Mama to town. We went to the bank and to Mega Mart. We also ventured to the pharmacy, ate lunch at KFC and went to Super+. Then we went and picked Nathan up from school early. He was a filthy little boy so when we got home I scrubbed his white P.E. shirt and his socks.

Nathan doesn't get far from his DeeDee's side. Only DeeDee needs a throw over her legs in this hot tropical island.

Uncle Howie sent Nathan the coolest marshmallow shooter. It is made of PVC pipe and it shoots mini-marshmallows with precision. Nathan has had to practice because he can't quite blow hard enough to make the marshmallows go very far. Let me assure you he is getting better and thinks it's funny when he hits his granddaddy in the bottom. He really prefers DeeDee to shoot at him and he tries to dodge them. She nails him every time but he doesn't mind because he pops the marshmallow in his mouth. Hmmm, you know the sugar high gets on my nerves.

Granddaddy washed the dishes for us because he wasn't interested in watching American Idol.

He perfectly lines the dishes up on the towels. Just as he perfectly cubes potatoes and rutabagas when he cuts them up.

DeeDee has peeled a bushel of mangoes. Nathan enjoys gnawing the seeds like his Granddaddy and Daddy. DeeDee and I don't like to get the strings stuck in our teeth.