March 28, 2009 (Murray Kentucky)

The next morning (Saturday), Nana was at my house when I woke up! I was surprised to see her but kicked my legs with excitement. In case I have not told you, I kick my legs when I am excited. Then she, Mommy and I got into the “SUV” (memory test, did you remember that this is our min-van?). We were in the van for a long time, going to Murray Kentucky to see Aunt Ruth (Nana’s aunt who actually lives in Gilbertsville, but it is close to Murray), my cousins Chansey and James and my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Mike (who live in Memphis but came to Murray to see us).

Do you remember when the big ice storm came through back in January? Well, this area of Kentucky got hit with so much ice that it looks like a tornado went through it. Nana and Mommy were in awe of the number of trees that were snapped in half or pulled completely out of the ground. When Nana is surprised about something she says “jeesh” with a sigh. You cannot imagine how many times Nana said that because the ice storm damage started north of Louisville and went all the way to Murray. We remember seeing pictures on the TV, but there is really nothing like seeing it in person (and having Nana go “jeesh” for several hours).

Mommy, Nana and I stopped for a few minutes to visit with Aunt Ruth. She is not feeling very well right now because her back hurts, I think it hurts even worse than Daddy’s. That must be a whole bunch. She was glad to see us and I had a good time playing with the Chinese checkers at her house. There is something else about visiting Aunt Ruth, and this goes back to when Nana was little. Aunt Ruth feeds you. It does not matter what time it is, it does not matter if you have eaten or will be eating later, she feeds you. So, for our afternoon snack we had fried chicken, homemade cole slaw and homemade potato salad. After our visit with Aunt Ruth, we headed to the Baymont Inn & Suites, the hotel we were staying at in Murray. Uncle Mike and Aunt Jackie arrived shortly after we did and my cousins Chasney and James came over too. None of them had just had a “snack” with Aunt Ruth so we went to dinner. We went to a place called “Tom’s Pizza” that has been in business since the 1960s. I don’t know when that was but there were pictures on the wall that were in black and white so it must have been before people saw in color. It was delicious pizza (that comment was from Mommy, I ate my fruit) and I got to walk around the restaurant after I was finished. I love to walk around and have everyone smile at me as I go. Mommy learned to dress me in pink so that no one would mistake me as a boy when I take my walks. After dinner we went to our first of 4 visits to Wal-Mart. We bought drinks and snacks and Aunt Jackie bought me a stuffed lamb (I called “Lamb”) that is almost as big as I am.

Mommy had my pack-n-play all set up in the hotel room so after dinner, I went to bed. Mike and Jackie had the room next to us so Mommy took the monitor everyone else went next door to hang out while I slept. Uncle Bubba was really into a movie so James, Jackie, Chasney and I went to the pool for a while. After that it was time for sleep. In theory. Mommy is a light sleeper and since Nana broke her nose in her fall, she snores a bit. And Mommy’s nose was really stuffy and she could not breathe very well. And I was coughing some. So, Mommy did not sleep very much that night. Do you remember from all of my stories that Mommy does not do well without sleep?