Farm Bureau Annual Conference

This week, we had something happen that has never happened before. The boys and I left home on a trip and Jeff stayed at home with the girls. At first, we were all supposed to attend the Georgia Farm Bureau Annual Conference, but the day before we were supposed to leave, we still had not found anyone who could take care of the animals for us. Jeff decided to stay and hold down the fort.

 The day that the boys and I were leaving, I was already feeling the unusually relaxed state I was in. I did not have to pack blankets, paci's, spill proof cups, coloring books, dvd's, nor did I have to make lists upon lists of ideas that will keep the two girls occupied and happy. No pullups. No wipes. The boys grabbed some clothes, movies, and their school work, and we hit the road. I was asked twice what time we would leave. It felt great to be able to answer, "Whenever". We headed out fairly late, stopping by for an hour and a half shopping trip on the way. Why? Because we needed some things... but mostly, because we could.

Thanks to Mim's GPS, we made it to St. Simons by 1am. Asa was bouncing off the walls! While Addison brushed his teeth in a zombie state, Asa unpacked all of the kitchen items and organized the snacks. Like his daddy, Asa has two phases: irritable/grumpy and bouncy/wide open. He was wide open. The trip was spent attending conferences... some very helpful, and some that didn't apply to me in the least. I always learn so much from the other Young Farmer Chairs, though. These are the people who I feel actually understand what we are trying to do, what our concerns are, and know who I should talk to in order to get questions answered.

The boys were troopers the entire time! When I was in meetings, they were completing their school work. But, whenever I had down time, we tried to squeeze in some fun. Once, we stopped on the side of the road at a little park area to feed the seagulls a biscuit. Addison even put down his book for that! The day before our trip, Addison bought three books. Two were from the Lorien Legacies series. The other was the second Michael Vey book. He has averaged one book a day, and these are not small books! I finally had to forbid him to read in the car, cranked up "Play That Funky Music", and made him participate in some good old fashion parent-induced embarrassment. The only time he has really socialized with me is when I got to hear his hour and a half dissertation on his new strategy to the game "Risk". Seeing as I have never played Risk, nor do I have the desire to play, it was a very one way discussion. He did also look up to see the salt water marshes off of the bridge from one island to the next. He said, "Just imagine those marshes in all directions, as far as you can see.... and imagine you were on foot with Sam and Gollum." Right.

We are really enjoying the time together. We've played board games at night, watched movies, and just appreciated the fact that we could walk from one place to another without having a temper tantrum or a whiny episode about not having the right sparkly shoes on. The boys are getting a great break from the girls. I am getting a great break from the monotonous and unwavering demands of domestic life.

Jeff, on the other hand, has sent me quite a few texts that read, "Your job is hard."  By the looks of things in the frequent photo messages I'm getting, he's having a great time with them.  But, I am also hearing how glad he'll be to relinquish domestic control to the master!