The Reim Times

October

This month focused around my parents coming down for the Canadian Thanksgiving. For all you Americans who don’t know when that is, it’s the same day as Columbus Day. They ended up arriving 2 days later and stayed a whole week!

While they were here, we spent a lot of quality time together. Unfortunately, I still had to work, but they spent the daytime with Olivia and the kids. So, that Friday they went with Olivia to the Dothan Art Museum. After I got off work, we headed to Corn Dodgers to spend the evening. For all ya’ll who don’t know what in the world Corn Dodgers is, it’s basically a farm that’s been converted into a theme park for farm kids. There’s a corn maze, which we unfortunately didn’t go through, along with several other smaller attractions spread over a few acres.

They had a corn cannon and were able to let Tannin shoot some corn at the target for a chance at $50. Needless to say, no one hit the target. The corn was too misshapen and the cannon barrel all out of spec…nah, they just wanted to make it a challenge, lol.

Anyway, we got supper after that and then followed him onto a “train” ride where a lawn tractor had barrels painted like cows pulled behind it, with cutouts to ride in. It was pretty fun and Tannin had a blast! Then we jumped on a gigantic blowup trampoline where he held my hands and jumped with me until he fell down and decided he was done. It was time to move on to the petting zoo. He loved feeding the animals, but wasn’t sure how he liked the goats and piglets attacking him for more. He ended up pushing through them and trying to get out of the pen. He also got to ride a pony. Then there was a water racing station, the “Tower of Tires”, a grain bin full of corn kernels, and a pumpkin patch.

After racing the duckies a few more times we headed home after a long, fun day.

The next day I woke up sick and ended up sleeping most of the day. So, instead of going to the reenactment, everyone took it easy and hung out at home.

Sunday, I was feeling better and after church we headed out to the Battle at Newton Reenactment. Olivia got me hooked up with the crew and before I knew it, I was put on the cannon. I was put in position 4, which is the position to fire the cannon. I was given the pull cord with which to fire the cannon, which had a fuse on the end which was placed in a hole at the back of the barrel. It only took me a try or two to get the technique right (essentially an uppercut punch) before I was blasting the Confederates to kingdom come! Afterwards I found out that every time a cannon went off, Tannin would go, “Boom, boom!” along with hand gestures to emphasize the explosion. He’s pretty cute.

Tuesday, they headed to the beach while I went to work. They had a great time at Panama beach and even got to see a dolphin! I came home to two hermit crabs and even got to name one. So now, we have added Colonel and Jr. to the family. That night, I had to say goodbye to my parents since I was heading to work early that next morning. Olivia and the kids said goodbye noon the next day.

Thank you so much for coming Mom and Dad! We loved having you guys down South here! I know Tannin loved spending time with you too.

At the end of the month, since we were leaving for Atlanta before Halloween, we got Tannin a Captain America outfit and Alana a Ninja Turtle outfit and went “Trunk-or-treating” at a local church. Tannin had a blast playing the games, rode on a little train that they had and ran around in the pumpkin patch. I think that was his favorite part! At the end of the night, we picked out some pumpkins and headed home. Then, right before leaving for Atlanta, we carved our pumpkins, one for each of us. Olivia carved an oak leaf. It was kinda cool because she didn’t go all the way through, making it thin enough to allow light from the candle to get through. Mine was a creepy dragon-tiger face. Tannin’s was a super-T symbol, and Alana’s was a cute little face.

We left for Atlanta that last Friday and made the 4-5 hr trip. We left Tannin with the grandparents and experienced being away from our son for the first time ever! I remember going to the McDonald’s for some food and saw an indoor playground. I saw it and thought, That’s perfect for Tannin! I can’t wait to bring him here….when I realized I wouldn’t be able to since he was back home in Alabama…needless to say we missed our little boy the whole time we were there.