With Disney under our belt, we didn't waste any time getting back on the move. The day after we got home from our vacation we made a super quick trip to Andalusia to help my brother Max celebrate his 6th birthday and my sister Anna Grace celebrate her 1/2 birthday. She turned 11 in December, but ice skating parties have gotten a little old to her so she wanted to wait for summer and better weather.
The girls were ecstatic to be out of the car once we got there late that afternoon...
They gave out a few hugs here and there, but had one thing on their minds...
Swimming!
Towns and Cate with Anna Grace...
Blondie with Uncle Max...
He's quite the ladies' man! And he doesn't waste any time letting you know it!!
Anna Grace with her friends...
This was so funny that I had to take a picture...
If you'll notice, the boys and girls are completely isolated from one another...the boys are in one corner and the girls in the other. I guess some things never change when you're a 6th grader! By the end of the night they'd meshed well and finally started speaking.
Time for ice cream and cake...
After we sang to AG and Max, my darling mother proceeded to tell the whole crowd that we needed to sing Happy Birthday a 3rd time...to her oldest daughter (yours truly) who would be 30 in two days. Nice Mom. 'Preciate that one. I wanted to crawl under the table. And what made it even more fun is all the 11 year olds saying "thirty??? that's soooo olllllld". Ha!
The next morning we left the city limits and headed to the country for a family reunion. It's my grandmother's side of the family whom I truly love to death. I have such great memories of going to the reunions when I was younger and playing with cousins while the grown folks talked for hours, and now that I'm one of those grown folks I love to watch our girls playing with their cousins.
When we first got there Max and Towns went straight for Uncle Charlie's lap...
He's a cowboy. A funny one. And the kids gravitate to him, although by Towns' face I'm sure you would think the opposite. She was so tired and a little contrary.
Only at the Soles/Eiland Reunion can you eat lunch on an upside down boiler and no one think a thing about it...
Cate loved it!
We didn't stay too very long because J and Bethany were wearing out my phone wondering when we were coming home. We got a few pictures in before we left...
Granny and her girls!
My mom and me...
Speaking of my mom...
I found this while I was there, and it instantly reminded me of when I used to play in that cheerleader uniform when I was little. Love it!
What these two didn't love was hearing that it was time to hop in the car...
Make sure you click on that one so you can see those faces up close.
You can ride to town on those bottom lips!
Before we left I snagged a picture of these to look at closer one day soon hopefully...
It fascinates me!
When we were trying to find a name for Cate, my grandmother begged me to name her Catherine Belle after her grandmother instead of Catherine Harper (what we went with). As much as I love her name, seeing these made me wish we'd thought it over a little more.
OOC crew...I don't want to hear a word about the Eiland part of this
Got it?!
Cate got her Pappy fix while I was saying last goodbyes...
Something about turning 30 and getting a little nostalgic made me want to show the girls a few places before we pulled out of town. Towns is finally old enough to really enjoy hearing stories from when J and I were young. So taking her by these spots where I spent so much time as a kid growing up was pretty neat.
I started with Church Street Elementary...
She thought it was so cool because she's about to start kindergarten and can totally relate! :)
Then I showed them the church I grew up in...
And good old Andy High...
To this day my husband and my pledge sisters don't believe me when I sing them our fight song...I love Andy!
This stop provided the most fun stories for me to tell Towns...
That's the old Coca Cola Bottling Company my grandfather managed. It was the only job he ever had. He started out driving routes and delivering Coke to grocery stores and gas stations, and then eventually worked his way up. I spent many a summer afternoon there with him, and the glass bottle Cokes came freely. They're still my absolute favorite thing to drink for that very reason. He went to work at 6:30 a.m. but would leave to pick me up at home and take me to school....until I was in 10th grade and started driving which completely broke his heart. I'd give him a hug and a kiss every single morning before I got out of the car, and he swore that the older I got the more I'd try to lean really far over to hug him so that no one would see. I have a hard time believing it, but I'm sure he was right. Those were the days, and I sure do miss them!
Taking the girls on the mini tour of my hometown on the very last day of my 20's had my mind reeling. It was the strangest feeling, but I felt like such a kid again!
That completely changed the next morning when I woke up and stared 30 dead in the face...
The girls were ecstatic to be out of the car once we got there late that afternoon...
They gave out a few hugs here and there, but had one thing on their minds...
Swimming!
Towns and Cate with Anna Grace...
Blondie with Uncle Max...
He's quite the ladies' man! And he doesn't waste any time letting you know it!!
Anna Grace with her friends...
This was so funny that I had to take a picture...
If you'll notice, the boys and girls are completely isolated from one another...the boys are in one corner and the girls in the other. I guess some things never change when you're a 6th grader! By the end of the night they'd meshed well and finally started speaking.
Time for ice cream and cake...
After we sang to AG and Max, my darling mother proceeded to tell the whole crowd that we needed to sing Happy Birthday a 3rd time...to her oldest daughter (yours truly) who would be 30 in two days. Nice Mom. 'Preciate that one. I wanted to crawl under the table. And what made it even more fun is all the 11 year olds saying "thirty??? that's soooo olllllld". Ha!
The next morning we left the city limits and headed to the country for a family reunion. It's my grandmother's side of the family whom I truly love to death. I have such great memories of going to the reunions when I was younger and playing with cousins while the grown folks talked for hours, and now that I'm one of those grown folks I love to watch our girls playing with their cousins.
When we first got there Max and Towns went straight for Uncle Charlie's lap...
He's a cowboy. A funny one. And the kids gravitate to him, although by Towns' face I'm sure you would think the opposite. She was so tired and a little contrary.
Only at the Soles/Eiland Reunion can you eat lunch on an upside down boiler and no one think a thing about it...
Cate loved it!
We didn't stay too very long because J and Bethany were wearing out my phone wondering when we were coming home. We got a few pictures in before we left...
Granny and her girls!
My mom and me...
Speaking of my mom...
I found this while I was there, and it instantly reminded me of when I used to play in that cheerleader uniform when I was little. Love it!
What these two didn't love was hearing that it was time to hop in the car...
Make sure you click on that one so you can see those faces up close.
You can ride to town on those bottom lips!
Before we left I snagged a picture of these to look at closer one day soon hopefully...
It fascinates me!
When we were trying to find a name for Cate, my grandmother begged me to name her Catherine Belle after her grandmother instead of Catherine Harper (what we went with). As much as I love her name, seeing these made me wish we'd thought it over a little more.
OOC crew...I don't want to hear a word about the Eiland part of this
Got it?!
Cate got her Pappy fix while I was saying last goodbyes...
Something about turning 30 and getting a little nostalgic made me want to show the girls a few places before we pulled out of town. Towns is finally old enough to really enjoy hearing stories from when J and I were young. So taking her by these spots where I spent so much time as a kid growing up was pretty neat.
I started with Church Street Elementary...
She thought it was so cool because she's about to start kindergarten and can totally relate! :)
Then I showed them the church I grew up in...
And good old Andy High...
To this day my husband and my pledge sisters don't believe me when I sing them our fight song...I love Andy!
This stop provided the most fun stories for me to tell Towns...
That's the old Coca Cola Bottling Company my grandfather managed. It was the only job he ever had. He started out driving routes and delivering Coke to grocery stores and gas stations, and then eventually worked his way up. I spent many a summer afternoon there with him, and the glass bottle Cokes came freely. They're still my absolute favorite thing to drink for that very reason. He went to work at 6:30 a.m. but would leave to pick me up at home and take me to school....until I was in 10th grade and started driving which completely broke his heart. I'd give him a hug and a kiss every single morning before I got out of the car, and he swore that the older I got the more I'd try to lean really far over to hug him so that no one would see. I have a hard time believing it, but I'm sure he was right. Those were the days, and I sure do miss them!
Taking the girls on the mini tour of my hometown on the very last day of my 20's had my mind reeling. It was the strangest feeling, but I felt like such a kid again!
That completely changed the next morning when I woke up and stared 30 dead in the face...
5 comments:
We KNEW y'all were related! No getting out of it now!
OK, so I totally just busted out the Andy fight song over my Raisin Bran, HA!!! Granny looks fantastic, love seeing her face. Since I can't make comments on one subject I am sending you a telepathic message and you KNOW what it is :)
I loved this post.... and now all I can sing is "Corn, Corn for old andy high... you bring the whiskey, I'll bring the rye!" :) Love you!
You are starting to sound a lot like myself by hopping in the car right after you return from Disney. I keep saying we are going to have to start school just so we can rest! :) cute post!
Great post! And Cate, in the picture with Max, oh my goodness - just give me a spoon because I could eat her up! We're running out of summer!
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