June 16th, 2006

The next morning, I went grocery shopping for our weekend in Wake. Eva, Eli and Shu Shu busied themselves on the porch watching a mommy bird bringing food to her babies in the bird feeder and the little ones making an appearance in her absence. We all piled into the Subaru for our trip to Richmond. Shu Shu was so sweet to accommodate a change in the schedule which entailed a surprise visit to Midlothian VA to see Billie and Ralph, as my parents were spending the night there. The trip along I64 was filled with stories from Shu Shu that kept the children's attentioned focused and begging for more. It was great seeing Billie and Ralph. They are such dears and bring sunshine to anyone they come in contact with. They had never met Eli and only saw Eva when she was 2 months old. The children loved playing with the dominos and visiting the backyard full of surprises (tin man sculptue, laughing trees, St. Francis statue, and Thomas the Train bird house). After lot's of kisses and hugs, we were on our way to the airport to pick up our rental car. Shu Shu was so helpful loading and watching the children during the big transfer to the Chevy Impala. Sweet kisses and hugs sent us on our way. The children and bounced along the interstate listening to Blue Grass music and hooting. We called daddy to tell him of our road trip adventures. Once we left the highway, the bridges, trucks, and farms entertained the children. We hit traffic that crawled along and drummed up some classic whining.

We arrived at Bonnie and Earls to find the Bonney clan arrived early. What a treat. The children took off and I barely saw them during the entire weekend, only to feed, cloth, and put them to sleep. Syd's older boys Jack and Cable arrived at Big Daddy's ready to become knights. They jousted with bamboo and made armored hats out of colored poster board. My lit'l ones just walked around pie-eyed, gazing at the goings on with wonderment. Earl shoffered the team in the back of the truck. Happy happy faces abound. After a meal of hot dogs for the children, mine were off to bed. Eva became queen bee as she got her own bed in her very own room. The look on her face as she crawled up in the big double bed, fluffed with a down comforter and crisp white, line-dried sheets, was enough to make my day. It took a little while to get them both settled down. I slept in the twins old bed and Eli on a pallet on the floor. The evening breeze was swift and cool, blowing through the opened windows. Birds singing and the sounds of crickets filled the air. It was heavenly. I joined the Bonney clan in the fabulous guest quarters Earl and his friends built this past year. I stepped in to the game in a complete daze from the travels only to help Sean miss his only point in Caribou. The funny part was that it was one of those tell what is different in one of the pictures, which Art can attest is my skill. After bragging on this fact, I missed it. Pretty funny indeed. Somehow, there was still a three-way tie. I struggled on my walk with Sydney to the post office. Man is she fast. I got a stitch in my side and had to trot several times to keep up with her. After a little kitchen chat with Syd, I went to sleep. Eli woke and came in to bed with me sometime in the morning. The birds were up early too. Eli paused and said, "I heard that bird at Shu Shu's too!" This is his first sign of listening to the sounds of the birds too.