A Good, LONG Weekend {and a BAD start to my week…}

Friday, we packed up and hit the road to travel to Hattiesburg where my husband was playing in our high school’s first ever Alumni football game the following evening. It started out just like every other trip we’ve made with all five of the kids – and the dog - but when we got almost to Jackson, there was a speedbump-sized BUMP in the highway that stretched across the entire right side and then BOOM… the trailer that we were pulling with Barry’s bike on it slammed down and bent his kickstand pretty badly so he had to drive it the last hour of the trip. Sucked for me (5 kids and a dog in the Suburban by myself…) but he was thrilled LOL We got to the ‘burg and he took it and got it fixed so all’s well that ends well I suppose :)

We got there and hung around my mom’s for a while…

When I got tired of telling the kids to stay off the exercise equipment and out of the food, we decided to take them to see Barry’s mom and sister so I stopped by and picked up his cousin’s two little girls, swung by McDonald’s for dinner, and met him out in Oak Grove at my sister in law’s apartment. My husband adores his little nephew so I got some cute shots of them playing together :) This is Barry and our nephew, Kevin:

Barry with Kevin and our son, Tre:

We had a great time at the game Saturday… you all will not BELIEVE that I actually went to this game, saw just about EVERYONE I knew in high school and got photos of NOTHING. No people. No friends. Nothing. Just four very bad shots of the kids… which I get every day… with Summer in the background on the phone. As SOON as I left the game, I realized that and the ‘sickness’ set in. lol :( Oh well… maybe next time. They claim they are going to make this an annual event, so we’ll see! I did borrow a few game shots from my friend, Mary, the next day! Anyway, NORTH FORREST (our high school) won against our fierce rivals, the Forrest County Aggies :) 10-6. And guess who made an interception? And scored the ONLY touchdown? Yep, Barry. That’s my baby. He’s still got it… and don’t y’all forget it LOL!!

During the game, Barry’s wedding band got ripped off his finger without him realizing it so by the time he saw that it wasn’t there, it had probably long been pummeled into the grass by a hundred cleats. He got a nice chunk of missing knuckle to show for it though:

After the game, we went to my husband’s cousin’s apartment where he was boiling crawfish, potatoes, and corn on the cob. It was nice to get out without the kids, even if it was only for a little while. After about an hour, Briyana called and said Zoe was awake (and crying for Mama of course!) so we grabbed a bag of mudbugs and high tailed it home! I guess I should mention I got no pics there either. I sucked as a photographer for once in my life – ALL weekend long! Sunday, we got up and went to visit one of my friends from high school, Mary. She and I actually went to prom together LOL She’s now married (to a guy that went to our high school before we were there – and they actually met ON prom night!) and has four sons so all the kids ate pizza and played games while we visited. Again, never took the camera out of the bag. Oh wait, yes I did. And I took one picture. Of our feet. On accident. :(

While we were at Mary’s, Barry was actually able to get in touch with his sons’ mom and got permission to go by and see them. WHOO HOO :) Oh… but only if he came alone. Bummer. The kids were really looking forward to seeing them, but Barry was just happy that he could see them at all, so off he went!

I did get this ONE photo of me and my best friend – and twin – from high school, Summer when I stopped by her house on my way back to pack up the truck when I left Mary’s… time sort of has a way of changing things, but when we were in high school, even though she is biracial everyone ALWAYS asked us if we were sisters. No. Cousins? No! lol:

I decided to bring his cousin’s little girl, Kailyn, back with us so we stopped through and got her from her grandmother’s house and met up back at my mom’s to pack it all back in the truck and once all SIX of the kids were accounted for, luggage was tucked safely away from the dog, and re-secured the bike to the re-hitched trailer, Barry checked the fluids – only to find a hose leaking. Okay leaking is an understatement. The sucker was shooting a steady stream of antifreeze everywhere. So we hauled butt to Advanced Auto Parts to get the hose and took the truck to his cousin Charlie’s house who – thank GOD – is an awesome mechanic who we can trust and he fixed us up within about 10 minutes and we were on the road – AGAIN. And Briyana took the opportunity to snap a few photos of her own:

By the end of the trip, I was hurting so badly I could barely function! We got home and it literally took me nearly 3 days to recover. To make matters worse, Kailyn (KK) had been sick the day before we left and I got whatever she had so I topped off an HORRIBLE total-body Fibromyalgia episode with not being able to eat or even sit upright without feeling like I was going to pass out or throw up. I finally woke up yesterday around 12:30pm feeling like I was ALIVE again LOL I can’t say I’m totally looking forward to making the trip again next month to take KK back home, but I am looking forward to seeing my mom again for probably the last time until I graduate because after this summer, I will have NO time to travel because of a crazy courseload for the next two semesters and Christmas is iffy… but all in all, it was a good visit and we had a lot of fun, got to go down memory lane seeing SO many blasts from the past, and got us away from Louisiana for a few days. Can’t beat that, right?