Well Hello Again!
I'm on one of my blogging spurts...so you'll see a few posts back to back, and then I'm sure I'll get busy with something (or nothing) and not blog for a month or so. It's just how it goes.
Back to the subject....
Every year my mother and father-in-law invite all the family and friends down to their land in Sardis for a cookout/hayride. It's always very close to Halloween, the weekend just depends on the kids' schedule. (who knew a 12 and 8 year old could be so important!?) This year was the very first year that I've been able to attend!! I've been around for almost 6 years, and this is the very first time I've gone! (Side Note: it's not because I've never wanted to go, it just always falls on a weekend night that I have to work....yes, some of us have to work to pay bills and do not have the option of just "not working" or having someone else pay our bills) I was so freakin' excited!
So, because I don't drive to Sardis alone ( I could, but I'd probably never make it to the correct destination in a timely manner) I rode with Belinda. She drives a Genesis Coupe and had us there in about 40 minutes flat. My kind of trip! Besides the 8 phone calls from Bill, and I mean that literally, it was a pretty decent ride down there....just kind of caught up on family gossip and talked a little pregnancy talk... It was enjoyable. (and Bill called about every 4 to 6 minutes asking Did you get this? Do we need this? Do y'all want something from here? Can you stop and get that? ....and so on. Bless it.)
Bill, Belinda, and I got down to the land around 3-ish in the afternoon...perfect weather. We clean up the trailer a bit and start unloading the food and junk. Belinda starts all the food, the chili, the delicious white hot chocolate, the ruben dip, all the good stuff. Bill starts setting up the lights, getting firewood together, and packing the coolers. I sat my little butt down in the chair in the warm sunshine and watched :) hehe
Watching Bill and Belinda try to accomplish a task together was very comical to say the least...as you can imagine. At one point Bill was trying to get the lights set up and in the right positions and, simultaneously, Belinda was trying to make the chili on a burner outside....that Bill insisted would work just fine. Well, every few minutes Belinda would stop Bill and get him to turn the burner up or down or stir the chili or put a rock under the pot (?) or something!! lol Bill was getting very frustrated, but Belinda didn't care....it was his idea to have her use the burner and not the stove in the first place. I know he picked up and sat down the exact same light in the exact same spot about 10 times before he finally put it in it's appropriate spot. It was fun to watch...made me laugh. Well, I'm not sure if it was that that was so funny, or him mumbling under his breath the whole time! The chili turned out just fine...as long as you got it from the top of the pot and not the bottom! :)
Anyway, they finally get it all set up and everyone else starts arriving... We sit around the fire and talk for a bit....the music is going, the fire is warm, weather is cool, but not terrible at this point, kids are running around, and everyone is drinking some hot chocolate (or their preferred beverage). This is what it's all about...family and friends!
After we eat our chili dogs and corn dip and all the other yummy stuff, it's time for the hayride! It's what I've been looking forward to for 6 years!! Apparently we 'have' to wait for it to get dark before we can start the hayride...which means it's cold. Real cold. Not freezing, but I think it was about 40 or 50 degrees out. We all load up on the trailer and wait. And wait..... And wait. The tractor was acting up and it took about 5 guys to look at it and decide that it wasn't going to pull the trailer. So, BB decides to take his truck. That's okay...it still works and it'll still be fun, probably won't be able to tell the difference. Once we're all piled up on the trailer (again), between the hay and under the covers, we take off. (Side note: If the trailer would've had seat belts, now would've been the time to restrain ourselves) We had to go through a couple of fields before we could get out to the main road. Well. BB must have a lead foot because I swear as soon as he pushed the gas, we were going 45. In the fields. I do not mean fields of green and pretty luscious flowers. I mean bumpy, dirt, holey, trench-filled, hilly, bean planted fields. Fields with a speed limit of 5! They have to make Ben and Tanner move closer to the center so they don't bounce off the back! Seriously!! We finally make it out of the fields... all alive, thank goodness, and make it to the road. Well, we accelerate. No doubt. Now we're going about 60. Hell, it was probably 75. And the temp is steadily dropping...and the wind is picking up! We're all huddled up close together, on top of each other, covering our faces and ears. It was cold. We figure that the ride will last about 20 minutes...at the max. We could deal. Well. We figured wrong. 20 minutes into it we're still going strong...and fast. We yell out several times for BB to slow down...he doesn't understand. He keeps flying. I swear we were up on 2 wheels on one turn. We finally think the ride is coming to an end. Thank God in Heaven above. We thought wrong. He passes the drive to the land and decides to take a right on a road that it about 6 miles long.....and has no place to turn around. Perfect. My first hayride will be my last, and my unborn child will be just that. Benji yells and flashes BB with his red flashlight several times! Several! He even gets off the trailer and tries to direct BB in a clear path to back up and take us back. He backs up about 7 feet and decides that it isn't going to work....and hauls off in the same direction. Again. It's a good thing Benji has good reflexes, otherwise he'd still be left in the middle of that little, no end street. At some point the kids started singing some stupid, kid song. I thought I might lose it. Thankfully, that didn't last very long. The cold wind quickly took their breaths away.
FINALLY we find a driveway that is large enough for us to turn around in. And thank God, we did.... If the people who lived at that house would've heard us, we probably would've been shot. Everyone of us. Men, Women, Kids, and all. It was not a very "welcoming" house. We turn around, leaving rubber marks on the pavement and head back to the land. We make it! Everyone of us jumps off as soon as the truck stops! Not gonna chance him going for round 2. We go to the fire and de-thaw a little before we start making smores! Yum-O! I tell Mikey that it is time for us to go and I need to get home. It was long afternoon. lol Long and fun...but my toes were numb and ears would've fallen off if someone would've touched them. My long-johns were no longer keeping me warm, my hat was not keeping heat in, my feet warmers were even cold. It was just time to go....especially before my attitude came out.
It was a fun trip, and I really enjoyed being around everyone...I think most of us did. It's little things that I appreciate that makes life worth while. The kids had a blast... Jake was every where, JC was bossing them all around like a 16 year old would, and Tanner followed Ben around like a shadow. Good times and even better memories.
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