Southern Babies: Surprising Callie!

If you think I was going to let Drew have all the fun last month you were wrong! Mama got a trip away for Memorial Day. Before the trip though......

The week before the fun had a couple different activities involved. Wednesday I took Lindy to my hair dresser after school and chopped her hair off! It was toooo long! I knew I was going to get it cut but I surprised myself by going with a bob cut. I was thinking it was summer and that it would be a lot cooler. She cut off enough to donate and I eventually will send it in, when I am ready. It is the cutest, most beautiful ponytail. That girl had some gorgeous colored hair! Lindy LOVES her hair! She thinks it is the best! I was a little sad that night, until she got in the shower and washed it by herself, and then I was happy! When it was long she could not get it all washed.   I still have to pull the sides up for school days because I do not want hair causing even more vision troubles. She has gotten tons of compliments on her new 'do' and is loving it!   I got my cut Thursday but that wasn't as exciting. I'm just cutting off gray hairs and that's not fun!

Friday morning the kids had a big morning at school, International Day. Which come to find out should have been called Africa day because each station the kids went to was about a country in Africa! I volunteered to help and I was put in another 2nd grade classroom doing a keychain craft with beads. Each class rotated through at some point. We helped the kids string beads and tie off the string. There have hardly been any chances to volunteer this year so it was nice to get to help out. The older they get the less help the teachers need. Kind of sad.

The fun began after I left international day. I headed to the airport and flew up to Hartford, Connecticut to surprise my best friend for her birthday. Her husband had called me about two weeks before and asked if he could fly me up (with his airline miles). We didn't have any plans because Drew was on call and preaching, so amazingly I was able to go. I got in around 6pm and her husband, Chris, picked me up. Callie and Chris live in NYC but have a house on a small lake in Hebron, CT.   Callie's parents live 2 miles from them. Callie and her kids, Jack and Stella, were at her parents', waiting impatiently for Chris to get back from 'picking up her birthday present.' Which she thought was a bike! ha ha! She came out the door and was straining hard to see who was in the car with Chris. It was so funny to see her face when she realized who it was! She was shocked! She had NO clue. Chris got her super good!!!   She said "I can't believe you are here" about 100 times that night!   We ate dinner with her parents and headed over to their house for the evening. Saturday morning Callie, Stella and I had a girls morning with antique store and lunch. Saturday afternoon we played on the lake. We rode on their new boat, swam in the lake, and paddle boarded. We headed to the farm in the late afternoon to help her mom with chores. I'm not real sure we were a big help, but we got to feed baby goats and feed the big goats. She moved them from one pasture to another and I stood in the middle of a goat stampede. Stampede might be a strong word, ha! Saturday night Callie's parents watched the kids while Chris, Callie and I went out for a birthday dinner for the birthday girl!

Sunday was the big birthday - although it wasn't real big as Callie is the youngest friend I have. She is a mere babe when comparing our ages. ha! We spent the first part of her birthday at her parents' farm moving cows from one field to the next. What an experience! They had me scared to death! We had to block all their paths so that they nicely moved up the path to the correct place. I had a stick and was ready to move some big cow along if need be. Thankfully the first set went fine but the second set turned out to be pretty tricky. Callie and I were blocking them from going any farther past the gate but they were running up the road toward us. Callie looked at me and said, "This isn't going to end well, Jamie." Ummmmm, way to build some confidence! And it actually did end well, kind of. Except for the calf that got left back in the other field who freaked out and wouldn't go out the gate. The big, gaping, open gate. We had to corner it and it still shot past us. They ended up having to get more cows to put in the field with it so it could join them and then move all of them to the intended spot. Can't say I do those things on a normal basis! Once all cows were in the correct location, we headed to the store to get some groceries for a birthday cookout. Not only was it Callie's birthday but it was her dad's birthday, too. There was a big cookout at their house that evening. Brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles all came over to party. We played on the lake some more and had a tasty meal.

Monday was my last day in CT as my flight home was that evening at 5:30pm. We woke up to rain that morning so Callie and I went for pedicures and lunch. We stopped by her parents' for some dessert before heading to the airport. It was sad to leave! It was such a fun weekend. I need to take the kids back. They would have so much fun playing on a farm for a weekend!   I appreciate Chris flying me up so I could see Callie. I am so glad we were able to surprise her!

While the cat was away, the mice did play. Well actually, Drew and the kids took it easy but they managed to have some fun. They went out to eat Friday night with Mimo and picked strawberries in Stokes County. Some old church members have strawberry fields so they went to say hi and get some tasty strawberries. It was our first free weekend so they lounged a bit, did some shopping, and made ice cream sundaes.

That wraps up the Memorial Day weekend. A fun and memorable one for sure!

Checking out the new hair do!