On The Road Again

OMG......major opportunity!  I'm so stoked, I can hardly see straight!

Vicki from vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com is hosting a blog party. I’ve joined her with literally hundreds of other bloggers interested in growing our blogs.

Remember when I said in my first blog, I started this because I liked to find the humor in everyday things…..from family life to my many adventures? I wanted to share my love of story telling and my dream was that one day, you would get up in the morning and wonder what LaLa was talking about that day.  Well…that may happen sooner than later.  I put my hopes out there in the blog-iVerse and lo and behold, I’ve been warned. Vicki said, get ready. You are going to grow! No sooner did I get that comment, I checked my blogs stats and I had a new follower and I’ve had more than 550 page views, all in the course of a couple of months. What?!?

This, my friends, is what I’ve been waiting for.   Welcome to my blog! I’m southern born and bred; sweet tea runs through my veins.  I love my family and I love adventures. Heck, I’ve been known to cause a few. I hope you enjoy my stories and please, come back anytime. I’ll leave the lights on for ya.

(Please read ahead to today’s blog where I’m “On the Road Again”)

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Oh first, in case you were wondering……

1. I haven’t run in over a week. This IT Band thing is frustrating. Going to try again this afternoon. Will keep you posted.
2. I’ve made 9 trips to the next town over from ours to take the grandkids to and from school.
3. Conversations with Sawyer and Lidia? Too many to count and loving every one of them.
4. This week’s theme song… “On the Road Again” (I’ll explain later).



This picture was taken Monday morning on the way home from dropping the grandkids off at school.



When my girls were little, it was my conviction to be a stay-at-home mom. And, I was very fortunate to be able to do that. Back in the 90’s, when my girls were in elementary and middle school, they attended a private school in the next town over from ours. So, my days mainly consisted of driving them back and forth. For four years, I was in my car so much so that, Willie Nelson and I became one. His song, “On the Road Again”, was my theme song. But as tiring as running up and down the road became, I enjoyed every minute. The girls and I talked about everything imaginable from homework, to grades, friends, cheerleading and the birds and the bees….to name a few.

Now, fast forward some 18 years later and Willie and I are “On the Road Again”.  Only temporarily this time, though. The Hubs and I have had our grandkids all week, while my daughter has been out of town for work. And have mercy, I’m exhausted y’all! But listen, I wouldn’t take a million dollars for this time with them. So, I thought you might like to hear about a few of our highlights.

Disclaimer: My husband, Cliff, is a bonafide Paul Bunyan who thinks children should be raised in the woods (aka The Camp) instead of indoors watching TV. For the most part, I do too. There are those unexpected creature sightings that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, though. Not to mention, Cliff gets a big kick out of “the shock and awe factor” that causes said hairs to stand at attention.

Sunday – Cliff and grandkids were chased by a rabid opossum. (Still can’t confirm that this is true)

Monday – Today was calm. The grandkids played with Bear Grylls, who they have nicknamed Camp Dog. Bless it….they wore him out. See picture below.



Bear is so dark that he looks like a big black hole laying there on the camp floor.

Tuesday – Camp creature sighting – Salamander. Cliff told the grandkids, who loves to catch lizards, to steer clear of this one. As told to me by my 8-year-old granddaughter, “Papi said not to touch salamanders because they’ll bite the “C” word out of you.” ……OK, need to talk to Cliff about the language.

Wednesday – Topic on the way to school…..Bullies.  Apparently, Lidia has been bullied by a girl in her class. The girl tries to push on Lidia, when she refuses to do the things the girl demands. For instance, said girl wanted Lidia to tear down some dance stuff other little girls were playing with. Lidia wouldn’t do it so the girl pushed her.

I explained to Lidia that usually kids bully because there is something troubling going on in their life or that they don’t feel good about themself. They will choose someone to take it out on that they don’t think will fight back.

Lidia definitely fits this bill. She is the sweetest, kindest little thing you’ll ever meet. BUT, we had some changing to do.

I told Lidia that the best way to deal with a bully was to meet them head on. Don’t back away from the girl, but get in her face and tell her in your own words that you’re not afraid of her and that if she didn’t stop that you would go straight to the teacher for help. Well, Lidia went to school that day with a renewed sense of confidence and when I picked her up that afternoon, she told me that she, in fact, stood up to the girl. The girl had pushed Lidia in the lunch line, telling her to hurry up and move. So Lidia said, “NO, YOU MOVE”! The little girl said, “Geez!” and then walked away.

Victory! And a visit to the school for a 'come to Jesus meeting', averted. The awesome part….they became friends. You never know, this is probably what the little girl needed all along.

Thursday– OK, what’s the world coming to? Mid January and you can’t even play in the woods without seeing a snake or getting ticks on you. All three…Cliff, Lidia and Sawyer had ticks on them. I freaked! I commenced to vacuuming everything they had touched prior to being hand-dunked in the tub a few times. Have mercy, if they get Lyme Disease while their mama is away….well, she would just never forgive me.  Oh wait, they cooked chicken on a stick. See picture below. Well, actually, it was already cooked. But you know you have to heat stuff over a fire….like Bear Grylls does. You have to know these things, if you’re going to survive in the woods. They made me proud.

A leg and a thigh. Ha!

Topic as I was tucking Sawyer in bed….Marriage. On a previous post of “Conversations with Sawyer”, someone wondered what Sawyer’s take on marriage would be. Why they wanted to know this…..I have no clue. But anyway, I decided just for the heck of it, I would ask him. Six-year-old Sawyer’s view of marriage….

“Well, I don’t really know what getting married means. But, I don’t think I want to because you have to get a job and I don’t want to get a job. I want to be a kid”.

Well, there you have it.

Friday – Topic of the morning…..Bear Grylls, of course. Here’s how the conversation went:

Sawyer:  LaLa, I wish Bear Grylls could come visit our camp. I think he would like it.

Me:  I think so, too.

Sawyer:  And, I would tell him that I ate an ant. It was a fire ant. It got on me and I ate it. It tasted like rotten cheese.

Me:  {Speechless}

Sawyer:  LaLa, can you text Bear Grylls. I really want to tell him and I can’t wait any longer.

Me:  Ummm, Sawyer, I don’t think I have Bear Grylls number.

I love this kid. He cracks me up constantly.

And Bear Grylls, if you happen to read this blog….you have a huge fan in Sawyer. He really wants to meet you. I understand that you are very busy with your TV show and all. But maybe, all it would take is sending me your cell number and we can text, instead.

Middle-aged motherhood revisited comes to an end today. I’m kinda sad. But let me tell y’all……..I’m exhausted. It might take me til next week to get rested up. For now, Willie Nelson, The Road and I will part ways. 

I hope you come back for regular visits. I’ve got a feeling there’s an adventure coming soon.

Until then,

Laurie