I feel like we have done a lot in the past week. So much for my "spending enough time that we just have lazy days to sit around" summer! I guess it's against my nature not to try to do things when I have time to fill. So this week we left Jackson and headed north toward my Aunt Gale's house in Starkville. Along the way I asked the girls if they'd like to see where my Papaw Chamblee grew up and they voted 2-to-1 to go see it. (If you know my girls, you probably know which one didn't want to) Anyway we left the trail and ventured to Freeney. After driving through it I actually couldn't remember how far away from the "town" Papaw's childhood home was, so we opted to go back into Freeney and see the "grocery store" there. Oh my! I wish I would have had the mind to take a picture. The Freeney Grocery store is like stepping back in time about 70 years. There are 2 old-timey gas pumps out front and yes they do sell groceries, but also hardware, Choctaw baskets, and who knows what. The lady inside knew my family (of course) and gave the girls each a glass bottled coke out of an old chest freezer complete with a bottle opener. She said to consider it a gift from Papaw. I had to explain to the girls when we left that people out in small towns will figure out who you are and how they know your relations no matter where you go in Miss. After this cultural experience we were back on the path to Starkville. I had looked at several websites to see what there was for kids to do in Starkville, and Gwyn had decided that the fossil and geological museum and the entomological museum sounded fun. Both of these happened to be on campus, so the next day we set off. I called ahead to the Dunn-Seiler Museum because it doesn't have regular hours, but opens for groups and such. They opened it for us and then a super nice professor, John Paul Jones, gave us a wonderful tour and explained so much to us! He even brought out his private collection for us to see and touch which included 4 hadrosaurus eggs and a toenail. How cool is that to get to see and touch these fossils!
We also got to see the difference between a mammoth tooth and a mastadon tooth, the 1st more like horse's teeth and the 2nd more like ours. They have a complete tricerytops skull there and a sabor toothed tiger - so cool! The girls got to ask lots of questions and see lots of different rocks and minerals in addition to the fossils - It was great! We even got an invite to come back and dig with the geology classes if we're back in town. After lunch we headed over to the Entomology Museum, which I had already warned the girls might not be as exciting as the fossil one. Most of their collection is kept cataloged for research so really only a minimal part of the collection is on display. Anyway we went and thankfully the butterfly case was first, because after Gwyn and Lyla saw the display on insect pests and the afflictions they can produce in humans, they were pretty much grossed out and done. While Celee kept a scientific head, I can pretty much be sure the other two will not have an interest in entomology. They were totally interested in the MSU ice cream though!
So after the girls sketched some of their favorite insects, we headed home to swim. It rained a lot that morning and later that night, but Friday was sunny so we decided to go swimming again. The girls got some more wildlife experience as we had to fish 2 dead tree frogs, 1 dead bullfrog, and a live crawfish out of the pool. I put the bullfrog over in a bush and it just looked like a live frog sitting there, the crawfish was mercifully put back near his pond.
After all that excitment we headed to Decatur, my home town. We all were to get together at Turkey Creek Water Park, which is a reservoir build by the corp of engineers, to stay the weekend in a cabin there for an Ezelle family reunion. It was great getting to see so many of my extended family members and the girls getting to play with more cousins. My cousin's daughter got to spend the 1st night with us and Jeffrey got to come and spend the next 2 nights with us in the cabin so it was like a cousin sleepover party the whole weekend. The kids played in the lake for hours, trying to catch minnows and giving up to catch lilypads instead. We all got ate up by ants, but we all had a super time. The cabin was small but just right for us. We even had a sort of sing-a-long on the deck one evening while I played every song I know on the dulcimer. I felt like I was transported back in time for a while. Oh and Lyla has fallen in love with her cousin Jeffrey. He is like the most awesome big brother ever! And this is kind of cool considering that in his family he's the youngest of 4.
My big accomplishment for the weekend was that I ran in my first 10K on Saturday at the ResRun. I had gotten up Thursday to go run. I wasn't familiar with the roads around Gale's house, but I figured I'd just run and then eventually turn around and run back. It was misting rain the whole time and I just didn't get tired. Finally I decided to run to the next mailbox and turn around, that way I could map it when I got back based on the address I turned around at. I still don't know if I quite believe the map, but it said I ran 7 miles. So then I decided if I could run that on Thursday, I could run the 10K on Saturday so I registered for it. It wasn't nearly as easy as Thursday. It was sunny and hot and Philadelphia is a lot hillier than Starkville. But I finished, definately in the back of the pack but not last. Now at least I know I can do it and I met that goal a little sooner than I had anticipated. I even got to have my picture made with the 2012 Choctaw Indian Princess. (That's Pete's finger on the pic ;)
After leaving the cabin and settling in at my parents' house, we did just chill for a bit. My mom took the girls swimming and riding on/driving the golf cart and I stayed home to try to make a muscadine cheesecake. I think I finally found the mysterious flour-based cheesecake crust I've been looking for! I was mixing and matching recipes to get what I wanted though, and this one collapsed in the middle. At least it tasted good - and of course I will have to keep trying to get it right! 
Tuesday the girls did finally get to go ride horses. The horse stables where they had been signed up for camp asked if we'd like to come have a complimentary lesson because the camp had been cancelled. Yes! Lyla and I got to do it too! The girls had a blast! Gwyn road Colonel. I rode Cowboy. Both of these horses were old teamster horses. Celee road a Welsh pony named Minnie And Lyla road a pony named Misty. I held on to Lyla's lead, but Gwyn and Celee got a lot of practice directing their horses - especially because Colonel was very old and didn't want to do much and Minnie really really wanted to eat the grass beside the barn most of the time. Then the girls got to groom their horses for a long time and feed them treats. It was very nice. I think with more experience the girls would be quite good riders, especially Lyla - she's a natural. I don't know if it's because she's so young, or just head-strong, but she doesn't have any fear of the horses (which frightened me at times) so she just did what Alison Scott the owner told her without reservations. Celee has been thrown by a pony before and so she has some understandable fear, even though she's our family's horse-lover.
Today I took the girls to Williamsville, another old-timey store/town. I promised them we would look for them some real cowboy boots, not the "fashion" ones they sell at Children's Place they told me. We did find some for Lyla and Celee, but they did not have any that Gwyn liked in her size. She's in that weird phase where she's at the end of children's sizes and the beginning of women's sizes. So we'll just have to keep looking for her some. Lyla and Celee were quite proud of their real cowboy boots though. After that, lunch, and a much-needed nap for Lyla we headed out again - this time to Hattiesburg. Since leaving Champaign, we've put around 1200 miles on the van so far and there is so much more I'd like to see and do! I will content myself with a fun week in Hburg for now.
I found this picture of me and Jason that I like and since I miss him so much, I'm putting it in. Doesn't he look handsome! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment