Back Down South

We aren’t expats anymore, but most of the time we still feel like we live in a separate country from our families and hometowns. Not only are the cultures and landscapes of the South and the West Coast very different but they are also really stinkin’ far apart. It’s daunting to fly cross country with a toddler and therefore I feel like anytime I go home it has to be for a substantial amount of time to make the cost and inconvenience of plane travel worth it. And then once I land in Louisiana it is a whirlwind of trying to see as many loved ones as I can, even if those loved ones are in different cities or states. 

Once you’ve lived in California (or Scotland), a 5 hour drive feels like a teeny-tiny distance to see your best friend from highschool. But anyway, the trip was a blur and I didn’t take near enough pictures, but here is my best attempt at recapping the trip: 

My dad picked Forest and I up from the airport in New Orleans and drove us the 50 minute journey to their house in Covington. My mom as well as my sister and brother-in-law and their 3 boys (and one more in-utero) were there to meet us and my brother and his girlfriend came in the next evening to spend the weekend. 

This was probably the time I was most looking forward to of the whole trip. We are literally spread out from coast to coast, so it’s hard to get all of my siblings together. It’s really special when we can all find the time to make it happen. The weekend was mostly spent swimming, playing in my parents expansive backyard, going out for breakfast and just having quality sibling/cousin time. 

The youngest grandsons...for the next few days at least;) Jamie is due with boy # 4 late September.

My sister and her family left for Florida early Sunday morning and my brother left around midday. Jonathan’s parents drove up for the afternoon to get their Forest fix to last them until the following weekend at the beach. 

The rest of my week was pretty open until we left for the beach on Thursday. We took it easy on Monday and just did some grocery shopping and having down time with the house to ourselves. On Tuesday my mom and dad babysat while I headed in to Baton Rouge for lunch with my college bestie, April, and then to my big brother’s new house to watch Big Brother;). 

On Wednesday I arranged to take Forest to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans to meet up with my elementary school bestie/college roommate Michelle and her baby boy who is just a few weeks younger than Forest. She told me about this cool thing within the zoo called the ‘Cool Zoo’ which she said was a splash park for the kids. I was thinking a few sprinklers and stuff so packed a bathing suit for Forest, but not one for myself. Upon arriving I immediately realized my mistake as I saw mommas in full on beach gear. It was a straight up water park complete with a lazy river...in the middle of the zoo! I should have known good-timing New Orleans would take the idea of a splash park and multiply it times a thousand.

So awesome and thrilling for Forest, but a bummer for me in my civilian clothes;) And of course my little daredevil wanted to go down the big water slides and I didn’t feel safe letting him do it by himself so I just had to deal with it and get soaked going with him. It actually felt nice in the Louisiana humidity. 

Peacock! Forest loved seeing him roam through the water park.

After about an hour of water play and lunch, we dried the boys (and ourselves) off and took them on the carousel and the train. 

Forest really liked the train since it gave us a comprehensive tour of the zoo and we could see several of the animals from the train. He is obsessed with animals so it was a thrill for him to see the giraffes and rhinos especially. Plus, what little boy doesn’t love trains? 

After the train we took them to run off some more pre-nap energy at one of the play structures. 

Soon it was time for both of these toddlers to take their afternoon nap so I loaded F up and he promptly fell asleep in the car. 

The next day we drove to my parents new beach condo in Pensacola, Florida which is just a 5 minute drive from Jonathan’s parents’ condo in Orange Beach, Alabama. We timed our drive with F’s nap time hoping he would nap a good chunk of the way. Well he surprised me by staying bright eyed and bushy tailed until we were about 10 minutes away from the condo (a 3.5 hour drive) when he finally nodded off. 

He was just too excited about the ‘ocean’ I guess. The next day was my only full day at the beach before I left the munchkin with his grandparents while I drove north to visit my BFF Talia in Jasper, Alabama. We went to the beach in the morning and later drove down to Jon’s parents’ condo to spend some time in their fully fenced in baby pool. 

The baby pool was awesome! I know whoever designed that had a kid like Forest in mind. It was so nice to be able to let him splash around without worrying about him dashing to the big pool. He had a great time swimming and learning how to blow bubbles from his Poppa George. 

That night we went back to Jon’s parents’ condo for dinner with my family joining us as well. Megan and Bryan came in for the weekend with baby Rayne so it was a real treat to get to have some cousin time with the babies!   

All that was missing was Jonathan and we surely missed him. 

The next morning I hit the road to Jasper while Forest got totally spoiled by both sets of grandparents. It was my first time leaving him overnight (and for 2 nap times!) with anyone other than Jonathan so I had a slight panic attack (my mom is rolling her eyes at the word ‘slight’ right now) upon leaving him. But as I hit the road all I could think about was how stinkin badly I wanted to hug my sweet friend Talia. 

It had been 6 months since I learned the prognosis of her in utero baby girl and 2 months since Aubrey was born and passed away, and I just could not believe that in all of that time I hadn’t gotten to hug Talia. I drove 10 hours  roundtrip to fulfill that need but I would have driven plenty more. Plus, I had yet to see her new house since she’d moved to Jasper a year before and I wanted to be able to visualize her life in her new hometown. 

It was indescribably good to see her. I remember when I first befriended Talia in 10^th grade. We were so inseparable that when she went to church camp for a week that summer I felt like I was dying of thirst. I seriously camped out on her driveway waiting for her to arrive home from the airport because I couldn’t stand to be apart from her any longer. Seeing her again after all the events of the past few months felt the same way, like quenching a thirst in my soul. 

I cherish that time I had with her so much! We just ate pizza and played with her 2 year old and rode a golf cart around her property and had a beer on the porch while watching a southern rain storm. 

And then Sunday we went to church and then had her in-laws over for a big family lunch. I loved to see such a natural snapshot of her life and I so wish I could be a daily part of it. But I know that no matter the distance, Talia and I will be friends throughout our lives. It’s a tough season for sure, with developing careers and growing families bringing us to opposite sides of the country, but we are averaging seeing each other twice a year which I think is pretty good! 

I had a pretty uneventful drive back to Pensacola but was so happy to be back with my boy!!  Of course he survived just fine without me and was happy to have unrestrained spoiling from his grandparents. The next morning Forest and I drove back to Covington with my parents returning later that afternoon. 

The rest of the trip was pretty low key- just swimming in my parents’ pool, eating sno cones, playing mahjong, and spending one last afternoon with my other BFF April. 

I was happy to have such a big chunk of time down south and to get to see so many old friends (seriously- my BFF from elementary school, highschool, and college all in one trip!), but I was also soooooo ready to be back with my hubby and out of the humidity! My mom flew back with me and stayed for about 5 days in California which was a huge huge HUGE help! 

We even managed a date night while she was in town! 

Ok, that’s as brief of a summary as I could manage. Thanks for following along.