Memorial Day Fun

One of the big hits while at my parents was the 4-wheeler! At first they didn't want anything to do with it, but since we are such wonderful parents and didn't want them to miss out...we put them on against their wishes and they had a ball!

Daddy was brave and took them both at the same time! Then Mommy decided she wanted to take a drive by herself and the kiddos were not very patiently waiting for their turn!Princess was VERY excited when Mommy came around to get her!Boo stayed back and hung with Grandma Pancake and DaddyThen it was his turnPrincess telling a story (I am sure) and trying to be cute and convincing her Daddy!We made s'mores in a very redneck way (for me to know and not to share) and here Boo is waiting for his second!They really thought they were pretty good treats!But like always, all good things must come to an end. After lunch we had to head West again. It didn't take Boo long to snuggle up to his blanket and sneak his thumb and fall asleep!Around an hour and a half from my parents we ran into some rain, it was raining SO hard that it was difficult to see at times! We did enjoy our time with my parents over Memorial Weekend, and it was very nice of Aunt Lisa & Uncle Jody with Seth, Jess, & Kaylee to come and spend some time at the farm too! Always good to surround yourself with family!

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Another quick little story:

On Sunday afternoon Handsome and I went for a 4-wheeler ride by ourselves. Princess had just gone down for a nap and Boo was hanging out with Grandma and Aunt Lisa so they were in good hands. We didn't take our cell phones and had no intention of being gone very long...but since Handsome & I both grew up around there we decided to drive down memory lane again. This time was all about his childhood.

The first 'stop' on the tour was the acreage that his parents owned when he was small, someone still lives there and the trees were all grown up so we couldn't really see anything. But he did share a few stories.

The next stop was another place that his parents looked at, and he ever remembered some facts about it from when they were looking at it!

The last stop was a rental just alongside Highway 14 that I have driven past so many times...and even while he was living there and I didn't have a clue who he was...nor was I old enough to think about my future husband! It had recently been condemned because it is in such disrepair, but the out buildings were all open so we did a little snooping. There were no 'No Trespassing' signs around. The first thing we noticed as we drove into the yard were boards nailed onto the old barn roof. It is one of those old barns with a hay loft that has 2-3 different slopes on the way up to the point of the roof...Handsome told me those boards were ones that he and his brother had nailed on so they could get to the top and sled off. He got off, was able to force the barn door open, and take a peak inside. You could tell that it was slightly emotional for him, he walked out and pointed to a certain non-painted area of the door frame and told me that was where his sister had taken the mirror off of the old car backing it out. He reported to me that the old roof was caving in, but that barn and hay loft held many memories for him. Driving back a little farther we get to where Handsome and his brother had their 'shop.' The old story (and if you know us you have heard this one) of Hubby and his brother needing lights for their shop so they cut down the pole for the yard light. The first time they didn't plan it right and the pole fell on the light only to break the globe part, so they went to the other yard light and got it right that time...well those lights were still there! They put the broken one up outside the shop and the whole one inside. They wired the lights themselves! Handsomes very first folding ruler was still sitting on the shelf just as plain as day, it is now in our closet on top of his dresser! He showed me where the wood stove sat and how they found anything and everything they could to 'insulate' to keep the heat in! There was an old washing machine motor on the wall that he said they had rigged up so they didn't have to pump the water from the well by hand, and another one where they tried to make a fan! Nothing had been touched in 20 years folks...a real time capsule!

Then we went a little farther back and found 3 small sheds...one was Handsomes house, one was is brothers', and the last was his sisters. We only went in his, but he literally said that other than something a raccoon tipped over it stood exactly as it did when he left it! He had it set up at a house, the front door still had our last name painted across it and inside there were make shift tables, chairs, and other household items set up. A child's dream world if you take 20 years of weather and wild animals away! The wood burner that he had rigged up to drip diesel fuel onto the log so it would burn up and he wouldn't have to haul wood all the time was still there. The little stools him and his brother had made and carved their initials into were there, slightly rotted...but there! I managed to pocket a sword that Handsome had made when he was a little boy...this was incredible to me, but hurtful for him. He thought his parents had saved at least some of this stuff. After seeing what great detail he went to inside, I had to step outside and see the care he took in making his little house a home. He put brick pavers down in front of the door, build a little porch roof and shingled it, and planted iris' outside his home! It is kind of nice to see that he has always been particular...not just with my cleaning (or lack of!) I turned around and saw a pole with chains hanging from it...it made me wonder and I had to ask...he confirmed it was indeed the pole that him and his brother chained his poor sister to for 'not paying rent' and hit her with a bamboo stick! All of these stories I have heard for 7 years were coming to life! He also pointed out that one of the two silos was the one they (his siblings and him) filled with garbage and then started it on fire only to have fireballs shooting out the top!

He showed me where they had one of their two gardens, where the well was, and then we drove up to the main house. It was locked, but we walked around the outside. He showed the the roof that was a little sunk in because one time when he was shoveling snow off of the higher roof he shoveled too much onto the lower part and it sunk in a little. He also showed the the place between 3 lilac bushes that he choose to place with his farm tractors because he always loved lilacs. (He has planted a lilac bush at every place we have lived if they didn't already have one!) A few different make shift repairs he had done himself to the outside of the house. The last stop was peaking in the garage, where the free standing shelves his dad once used to hold his electrical supplies still stood! And he shared with me a story of how he worked in that garage as a little boy one particular time to clean it, working so hard to make his dad proud of him and his dads only comment was that he couldn't find anything.

While this was all very nice for me because I have seen very few pictures from his childhood, it was very painful for him. It brought memories that were not as sweet as one would hope from their growing up years...and brought more unanswered questions than we already had. Questions that I am sure God is protecting us from the answers because we might not be able to handle them. The few details we have regarding the questions are hard enough to swallow...let alone the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

***Countdown to my Birthday: 12 days!