Happy anniversary

Last Sunday, Jeff, Biscuit and I went to church with Mama to celebrate Mother's Day. My brother brought his family over after church, and we all ate together. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon and played with the kids. 

We shot pool. We played basketball. We rode scooters and bikes. We took turns taking the row boat out on the pond. And best of all, we sat on the porch and listened to the wind in the trees. My parents live in the woods, so when you're sitting on their front porch, you don't even hear cars on the highway. It's very peaceful.

This is the pond across the gravel road in front of my parents house.

 
Later that evening, Jeff and I left and headed to the beach. 

Alone. Just the two of us.

We left Biscuit with my parents, and this might sound bad to admit, but I had no problem walking away from my sweet baby.

Jeff and I took our first without-Biscuit trip this past New Year's. As we were leaving, I was pretty emotional. I had a really hard time, and I didn't want to leave Biscuit. But Biscuit had no problem leaving me at all. He knew he was going to spend a few days with his cousins. And he was excited about it. He missed us while we were gone. I could tell that as soon as I saw him at the end of our trip. But he had a great time without us.


And as I remembered that first trip away from him, I realized that spending time away from Biscuit accomplished a couple of important things.


1. It builds Biscuit's independence. He had to tell his aunt and uncle about his routines and preferences.


2. It gives Jeff and me much-needed time together. Jeff and I work in the same building, but we usually only see each other at lunch. And quite frankly, most of that time is spent with us venting to each other about our jobs. When I was pregnant, Jeff and I had a long talk about us and our relationship. We both agreed that if our marriage wasn't good, our parenting wouldn't be good, either. We decided that as long as we put each other first, we'll be able to provide Biscuit with the love and support he needs. Plus, without being too dramatic, Biscuit is looking to us to learn what marriage is all about.

Anyway, we decided that he would spent Sunday night with my parents. Biscuit loves my parents and their house. He can't throw balls in the house, and food is restricted to the kitchen. Other than that, he has run of the place. And he loves it! Grandmama and Papa play whatever he wants to play. They read to him. My Daddy plays his real guitar while Biscuit plays his toy guitar, and they sing songs together. My Mama makes up stories (which Biscuit wants her to repeat verbatim at his command).


Then sometime Monday evening, Biscuit was to head over to stay with his aunt, uncle (my brother) and three cousins ... and 12 goats and 4 chickens and a dog. No explanations needed here. I'll just repeat the important words: cousins, goats, chickens, dog.


As Jeff and I were checking in to our hotel, we saw lots of college-age kids with duffel bags milling around the lobby. And then the fear set in.


It was confirmed when we rounded the corner to the check-in counter and realized that all those kids were checking in. To our hotel. To stay in the rooms near us. And to use the beachfront we planned to use. We were not thrilled.


I went to the beach after high school graduation, and we had a great time. It was one big 3-day party. And as a recent graduate, I was in celebration mode and had no concerns about anybody else. But whether it makes me an old fuddy-duddy or not, I just dreaded knowing that those kids were going to be partying 'til all hours.

It wasn't terrible, but there was one thing that drove me nuts. Those kids hung out on the beach all day, and when they finally went inside to get ready for a night out on the town, they left beer cans, red plastic cups, cardboard boxes, suntan lotion bottles and all kinds of other trash in the sand on the beach. They just left it there for the hotel staff to have to clean up. That was annoying.


That aside, Jeff and I enjoyed our time. We had a kitchenette in our room, so we stopped by the grocery store and got stuff for breakfast and lunch. Having those supplies meant that Jeff and I could sit on the balcony from the time we got up until the time we got dressed for dinner.

This was my perch from the time I got up in the morning until it was time to get dressed for dinner.

We had some great seafood. We saw two movies (something we rarely get to do anymore). And I took Jeff into some of the tacky beach stores that he so dearly loves.


But the best part was that we got to spend a lot of time just hanging out together. And Biscuit was very excited to see us.


"MOM! MOM! I missed you so, so much!" Biscuit said. Then Jeff got the same reception. "DAD! DAD! I missed you so, so much!"


Here are a few pictures from our trip:

The waves as the tide was coming in looked like steps.

Rain moved in every evening before sunset, but the days were sunny and clear.

Jeff found a nice perch on the pier.

This was the view of the beach and vacation homes from the end of the pier.