Summertime in Tennessee

The first weekend in August is always reserved for the McCullough family reunion, at Brian's Uncle Roy's house on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Roy is one of the 5 McCullough brothers, 4 of which are still alive and make it to the reunion every.single.year. 

With Brian deployed this summer, I thought that the kids and I would still go to the reunion for 2 days and then the plan was for Tate & Macy to go home with their Grandparents for a week while I worked, and I'd go to Knoxville the following weekend to retrieve them. 

Well, Aunt Joyce (wife of Uncle Roy) ended up needing open heart surgery that week, so the reunion got canceled. How would the kids get to Grandpa and Nana's house now?

Auntie Cathryn to save the day!

Instead of driving the whole way (7.5 hours) to drop them off for the week, Cathryn met me half way to pick them up on Friday August 4th. Tate spent a week with them when he was 16 months old, but other than that, we have always gone along too. Needless to say- the kids did not shed a tear over me not coming along this summer...

That night I came home to a silent house, cold glass of chardonnay and a stack of magazines-

 Needless to say, I did not shed a tear about not going along with them this summer either...

I woke up solo Saturday, and would be alone until I drove over to Knoxville on Friday. I wanted to spend the weekend with my beloved in-laws before I took the kids home on Monday.

That week was such a nice respite. Being a single (part-time) working mom is no joke. What I was craving was some time with friends. So I was very intentional with my time alone, and set up adult play-dates for 5 of the 6 days I was alone. It was the BEST!

And then it was time to drive to Knoxville. 7.5 hours alone in the car listening to MY podcasts- yes please!

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the farmers market- of course! After a week together, Macy and Gracie were attached at the hip-

A stop off at a favorite ice cream place on the way home- and in Auntie Kristen's honor, Macy ate her giant ice cream with the tiny sample spoon-

Thank goodness Uncle Peter works with teens, and is a big kid himself- who loves to build Lego! Tate was happy to help-

When Grandpa has a bad back, the grandkids take over his massage chair-

When Tate went to Boy Scout camp this summer, he didn't know there was a prerequisite for the Reptile & Amphibian badge he tried to earn. Apparently he needed to care for the daily needs of a reptile or amphibian for 30 days before he could complete the badge requirements. Hmmmmmm.... where would we get a reptile or amphibian? AH HA! Maybe we could borrow Auntie Cathryn's newt, aptly named Fig.

This newt is old- 20-25 years old. Way older than newts are supposed to live... Auntie Cathryn has come and gone over the years, and Gill continues to care for this newt. Gill assured me that it was simple, and was happy to loan him out, to ease her burden of having to care for and clean the tank. The plan was we would take him home to complete the badge requirement, and bring him back with us at Thanksgiving.

But first- the lesson of care and keeping of Fig-

 Drove home nervously with fig on the passenger side front seat floor- a bit anxious that he would escape the tank, or did of panic/anxiety.

He did neither! Tate loved having him in his room, and was a fantastic caretaker and playmate for Fig. Until.... it was time to clean the tank. It was October and Brian was home. I asked him to help Tate with this chore. No biggy I assured him, explaining the process like his mom had done with us.

The next morning, we heard Tate call out in a panic for us. We went into his room and he was holding a cold, stiff, lifeless Fig. He would later tell us that before he called out for us, he tried to give Fig chest compressions to bring him back to life.

The only explanation we have is that Fig has always had the same water, and it's well water at Brian's parents house. Perhaps the change to our city water was too much for this old guy to take? It was a sad had of consoling Tate and calling Cathryn and Gill. Brian and Tate put Fig in a small wooden box and buried him in our front yard together...

Tate better earn that damn badge soon! RIP Fig Newt(on)