Pictures from the Farm

I didn't get any of the horses because they let them run wild and they're kind of elusive. As you can tell, we didn't really ever get good light, and Jeremy decided that the light was way too bad by the time I got up in the saddle to take pictures!

Anyway, here are a handful from the Traylor house!

Doe, she left her baby behind that morning

TJ and the crew-- TJ's the one who chases Earl around!

Tu, the new puppy, who has a love hate relationship with Lady

I couldn't get a shot of the wings open to save my life! I took about 20 shots trying!

I loved this gazebo-- it has hanging things, plants, and seats. So perfect!

The boys on the 4 wheeler

Tu

Josh and Sarah on the 4 wheeler

What vacation?

Sunday: I went and picked up the 2nd rental car from the airport and then we left for the Traylor house in Paris, TN to spend a day or so out on the farm. We got there about dinner time and settled in, Earl threw a bunch of brain benders at us and we sat up playing puzzles for the rest of the night. I am not that great at those things, but it was fun to watch Jeremy and Josh blow right through them! Sarah and I stumbled through a few and then brushed them aside when Earl wasn't looking!

Monday: Slept "in" and by that I mean we got up at 8a. Amazing what sleeping in entails when you're used to 6:30a! We sat around and watched some Discovery in HD, then Sarah went back to bed for a while (her stomach was giving her problems) and Josh and I went with Uncle Matt and Grandma Traylor over to the Mennonite store to do some shopping. I picked up a couple of little embroidered doilies for mom's belated present, some snacks for the car (yogurt covered raisins and figs!) and Matt got me some fig preserves to try out. We went to another Mennonite store, Yoder Bros., where the meat processing takes place and I bought more stuff! Matt had never tried Muscadines, so I returned the favor with some Muscadine preserves and picked up some Habanero pickles for Jeremy. Josh picked up some Habanero cheddar for us to enjoy, and enjoy we did! It was soooo nice and creamy, great flavors, and we still have most of it left to munch on for the rest of the week!

We got back and Jeremy started making yeast rolls, Josh and I watched more Discovery HD (seriously, Discovery channel is awesome, it's even better in HD!) and I went out and took some pictures of the dogs, turkeys, and birds. The neighbor Dan (Dan, Dan, the CIA man) came over for dinner and was a real treat. He doesn't talk about his CIA past much, but you can tell he's worked in the area.

After dinner, Earl took us back out to the pasture and saddled up the horses! He took me out on Buddy first, the easier horse, then I swapped out to Earl's horse Dago and Sarah got up on Buddy and we walked them around the yard; for those of you unfamiliar, the yard is reeeeeeally big! I walked us up to the porch so everyone could see Sarah on the horse (it was only her second time up on a horse) and they both spooked big time from some of the birds in the trees! I got Dago under control pretty quick, and Earl hopped off the porch and got Buddy out from under Sarah-- she was scared, but she held it together pretty well!

I rode around with Earl a while longer, then we put the horses back to pasture and went back to the porch to watch the storm come in. Then we got wise and went in to take showers in case the power went out! We watched some more Discovery channel, and fell in to bed.

Today: Woke up after a rough night's sleep (this cough just won't go away! Thankfully, Jeremy's seems to be getting better) and went with the boys in to the Suzuki shop after breakfast. We went ahead and stopped by Enterprise because the scraping noise in the car just got super loud! Poor little Paris, TN Enterprise only had about 8 cars on the lot and they were all going out, but they called the Decatur branch to try and swap it out for us. One of the guys at the Decatur branch (shockingly) said to send us up to get it checked out. So, we got in the car with the suspected brake problem and went up the street. The guy got us in and checked it out perfunctorily and sent us on our way. "Well, I don't hear anything and the brake pads look good so must be ok!" After wasting an hour there I said fine, we'll drive it back to Memphis, but if it makes one more noise I'm swapping it out.

We got back and had lunch, packed up and said our goodbyes and hit the road. The car was still making noise, so I called the airport and asked to come in and swap out. I gave them a little time to get some new cars in and went on up. They got me set really quickly, and even gave me the Hyundai Santa Fe (my dream car) and then... Atlanta wouldn't answer the phone to approve the swap. For over an hour. Today alone, I wasted 3+ hours on the rental car! This is the second one that broke, and if I don't have my Hyndai in the morning there will be even more hell to pay. I missed dinner with the family, Jeremy missed dinner coming to get me, not to mention the hassle.

Now I feel kinda sick again, but I'm trying to stay in a decent mood and stay up to finish the Deadliest Catch tribute to Phil Harris. So sad that he's gone!

Pictures later, and more vacation updates. Hopefully I'll come home with the right car tomorrow!

Erin go Bragh!

Atlanta has the fourth largest Irish population in the United States! Erin go Bragh! We went down with Michael and the kids for a day of fun, and even a little Irish weather when the skies decided to drop some cold rain on us. Saw a few people I know, and a lot of funny stuff in the parade. Who knew that Scions were such a BFD?

Seed'n'Feed aka The Marching Abominable

Ramblin' Wreck 2

Wells Fargo Coach and Horses

And their poop guy

Why doesn't FedEx have one, Marc?

Sequay cops!

These guys...

Did not have a poop guy

Vivi fell asleep in the middle of a parade!

Blues Brothers!

This is NOT a skirt!

These are not the Celts you're looking for

The whole Empire showed out!

These are mostly for Josh and Jan

The Go Kart guys were awesome-- they kept buzzing the little kids and giving them high fives!

Pipers avoiding Poop

Airport Fire Engine!

Don't know how they got it out for the day, but it was cool to see one up close again!

Even the Sherrif got in on the fun

FIERO! Seriously.

"Bono" even made an appearance

and the Trekkies, of course, wrapped it up for us

This is Halloween, everybody SCREAM!

Wednesday before Halloween: After School Costume Contest!

Kristen (mouse), Me (Nancy Drew), Katie (kitty), and Brandy (Ginny Weasley)

have a War Head face contest. We're still not sure who won.

Louis showing off the costume I made for him-- Hershey's bar was a big hit!

All the counselors decked out; from closest to farthest:

Richard (Max from Where the Wild Things Are), Sam (African Princess), Kristen (mouse),

Brandy (Ginny Weasley), Jenny Lind (Dorothy), Sharon (M.I.A. or Lady Gaga),

Louis (Hershey's Special Dark Bar), Me (Nancy Drew)

My friend Octavia's boys-- Jacorey (Buzz Light Year), Jordan (Lion), and Trevon (Transformer)

Our finalists for the costume contest: Nailah (old lady), Juliana (magician), Lyle (Indiana Jones),

Bryce (someone who's actually a football player), Eli (policeman), Kanyisile (cowgirl),

Henry (wolfman), and Sydney (Gryffyndor student)

Jenny Lind (one of my oldest friends) and I with Juliana

Friday before Halloween: We all just dressed up for the fun of it again!

Brandy (vampire) bites me! Oh no!

Well, at least she didn't get blood on my sweater. I did feel a little under the weather, though...

Halloween Day! We went and helped the Kelly family with their Haunted House and handed out candy.

The chandelier in the entry way

Daddums, master of his domain

Staircase with lighting

Spider!

The overactive fog machine

Spooooky even in the daylight

And they mean it!

Cool shot by Jeremy

Jeremy and Daddums, creators of the outside scariness

Me and Bobcat protecting the candy from grabby kids

All in all, it was a good Halloween! We had a lot of fun at the Kelly's, even if some of the kids were a little rude about "only" getting two pieces of candy! We hung out afterwards and watched the original Halloween, which I'd never seen so that was a lot of fun. We also had the best little munchies from TJ's thanks to Shannon! Halloween is the best holiday ever :) I was pretty proud of coming up with three different costumes (even if they were gimmies) in one week, too!