We got the to airport in plenty of time, and even made it through security in a pretty timely manner. Things were looking up. They remained up until we boarded the plane. Christopher decided that it was just way too quiet on that plane, and he needed to throw a fit before takeoff. It was about that time that essence of life started exiting my pores at an alarming pace. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh.....please start this plane and take off where this boy will stop crying and go to sleep". I must give Lori credit. She handles these situations much better than me, and I can only imagine how tough it is to actually be the one holding the little monster while exacerbated death stares surround your position. He finally went to sleep after take off, and was relatively quiet the remaining flight.
Nana picked us up at the airport, and after a quick trip through the drive thru at Mickey D's we were on our way to the farm. About an hour and a half later we arrived at the ranch, and one deep breath of that crisp mountain air made all of stress just float away.
The first few days we were there it rained.....and rained......and then rained some more. There was lots of time indoors playing dominoes, playing games, watching basketball, and just relaxing. It was fun, but we were all getting a bit stir crazy and wanted to go exploring outside. By the third morning, the rain had stopped, the fog was lifting, and blue skies were starting to show.
It was still a bit nippy outside, and we all enjoyed the warm fire in the fireplace.
By late morning it was absolutely beautiful.
Blue skies meant it was time to play, and Nana and Aidan jumped on the Gator.
"Hey....watch out for the photographer!" While they drove down to feed the chickens and horses and cows, Lori and Christopher and I went to take some pics of the scenery. Oh....and what beautiful scenery it is.........
By the next day it had dried up so much, we went uphill to play on the swing set. It was still a bit muddy (notice everybody's groovy boots), but that did not deter the fun. Christopher and Aidan really loved swinging on the swings, and climbing the "rock" wall. Christopher's favorite thing by far was the slide. He loved the slide, and wore out Nana and Lori.
Aidan loved swinging out as far as he could on the mountain side.
Now this is the look of a boy having fun with his Nana.
Here's Christopher having fun with his da da.
What an incredible view from up here on the playground.
The beautiful day was capped off with a stunning sunset. The camera does not even begin to do this sunset justice. There were so many colors in the sky, and it was so beautiful, it was almost indescribable.
The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day. The main thing on the agenda for the day was to go fishing. Aidan was really excited about fishing, and he let us know about ........ um.....50 times before we actually went. We left Nana and PawPaw in charge of Christopher, while Lori and Aidan and I went down to the pond. It did not take long for Aidan to hooked his first fish, and we were able to capture a picture of that monster before we released him back to the deep.
We all caught some fish, and had lots of fun.
We spent the next couple of days playing outdoors during the day, watching March Madness during the evening, and playing dominoes and Monopoly at night. On our second to last day, we went over to PawPaw's parents house for a short visit. Christopher was looking mighty handsome. Here he is with momma and da da.
Aidan had lots of fun playing by the creek that runs in front of their house.
It really is a beautiful area.
Out last morning was spent packing and getting our minds right for our plane ride home. We took a couple of pictures before we left, and then we headed on our journey home.
The plane ride home was one of our least enjoyable memories to date. Christopher was an absolute hellion, and was so distraught at one point, that the flight attendant asked Lori to go to the front of the plane with the boy. I guess there were fewer people to distract while sitting in the very first row. Needless to say, Lori was really embarrassed. Christopher did much better once he was up front, but he did not sleep the whole way home. Not good. Lori deserves a medal for her unwavering dedication and nerves of steel.
We did finally make it home late Friday afternoon. It's always a bit depressing leaving such beautiful scenery and then coming into our house and looking out the window. Talk about a major difference. Wow.
We had a wonderful time, and once again Steve and Dianne were fantastic hosts. We are already looking forward to our next trip up to Tennessee......one that will probably be.....driven.
William.
PS. I told Aidan I would not tell this story, but it's just too funny to keep to myself. (PLEASE CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON WITH THE WORD ROOSTER ABOVE IT. IT IS LOCATED ON THE UPPER RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE. AFTER CLICKING PLAY PLEASE SCROLL BACK DOWN HERE AND CONTINUE READING) About the third day we were there, Aidan and I went exploring. We were in the Horse stable when I decided to go out of the side door and walk over to one of the other cabins that Nana and PawPaw have on their property. Aidan said that he would meet me there, but he wanted to go down by the chicken house and wash his muddy hands off in a rain barrel that was right beside the coup. I made it to the cabin, and I was on the porch of the house sitting in a swing as Aidan finished washing his hands. He was a couple of hundred feet away, and after washing his hands, he starting walking up the road, and making his way up to the cabin. As he left the road and started up the hill, I noticed a Rooster peek his head out of the coup. At first I did not think anything about it, but suddenly the theme from JAWS popped into my head. The Rooster started stalking Aidan, who was unaware of the impending doom. I thought to myself "surely that Rooster is just showing off and has no real intention of attacking".......boy was I wrong. Aidan had left the road and was about 6 feet up the hillside when the Rooster went into his frenzy. No sooner did I get the words out "Lookout Aidan, that Rooster's coming after you" he was already on Aidan's back, and poor Aidan was already tumbling down the hill. Now, judging from the Ungodly blood curdling scream that was emitting from Aidan's mouth, you would have thought the Rooster might have died from fright, but that was not the case. Instead, he was attached to Aidan like a cat to a scratching post. Aidan was tumbling down the hill end over end, and screaming bloody murder. I leaped up from my swing, and made a bee line to the boy. I reached him after he had tumbled down 20 feet of the mountain, and I punted that Rooster off the boy's back. I have never seen Aidan that shook up. He was crying uncontrollably. After checking him out for cuts and bruises, I walked him back to the house. He came out of it with just one scratch on his back, and a buttkicking he will not soon forget. He did show his bravery later, and went right back in that chicken coup with Nana to collect eggs. He just took a big stick with him.....just in case. The lessons he learned........Roosters are MEAN.
Most importantly : Roosters don't sleep...they WAIT!
2 comments:
Thankfully Aidan was saved from a "beak" outcome from his hero Dad, that introduced the rooster to soccer. :)
After all, our farm is in COCKE county TN!. NANA
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