January

Where does the time go? Sorry about the delay. February has been a busy month (plus we kept forgetting to write it…) but now we are finally able to sit down and catch you up on the lives of the Reimers in January.

The month began with us heading home. Heading out from Great Falls, MT, we began our long flight to Chicago. We arrived at 3 in the morning only to find out that the hotel shuttle service didn’t start until 4, so we opted for the taxi instead, crashing in our room only to wake up 6 hours later to make sure we didn’t miss the continental breakfast. Getting our belongings together, we signed out and began heading home. Tannin slept the whole way, making it a great time for Olivia and I to talk and enjoy music.

The next day, Tannin got to go to a birthday party for our friends’ baby! We enjoyed some great snacks and I decided to spill some hot chocolate all over myself…and the wall…and the carpet floor, lol. Whoops. Luckily, everything cleaned up fine.

A huge milestone for Tannin, he jumped with both his feet off the ground on the 6^th! This isn’t supposed to happen until he’s 2 ½ to 3 years old! Wow, our boy is pretty awesome!

Right before this, I began driving bus again on the 5^th, followed by NTBI starting up again on the 9^th, though I was working in the kitchen well before then. Olivia got the break up until the 9^th though, lucky her!

One important thing we need to share with you guys that we have been holding back for over 2 months now (I suppose it’s over 3 months as of this writing)…my wife’s pregnant!!!...again, lol. So, on the 13^th, she went to her first midwife appointment and got to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Definitely assuring for her since she hadn’t been able to see a midwife for over a month since knowing.

The month closed out with a big surprise for my honey. I had been communicating with her family in Alabama and on the 24^th, right before her birthday, I picked up her sister Shelby from the airport. She had decided to surprise my wife and so I told Olivia I would do all the errands that day and she could relax at home until I got back. I originally was going to take Tannin as well, but he decided to get sleepy – those kids, lol. Well, that gave me the perfect excuse to go pick Shelby up, so I left early to get as many errands done as I could (because they did actually need to get done J) and then picked her up, stopping to pick some flowers up on the way back home.

Once we arrived at the school, I had her hide out of sight until I could go home and keep Olivia from accidently seeing her. We almost messed up, but Olivia thought I was just hiding a surprise present (which I was, lol) behind my back. So, she closed her eyes and then I gave her the flowers and we went to our house. A few minutes later, as we were talking in Tannin’s room, the doorbell rang. I told Olivia we should see who it is, and when she opened the door, boy was she surprised to see her sister standing there! It was a great time!

The next 10 days were great having her around. She was a real help, especially babysitting for us. She watched Tannin all day on the 25^th so that I could treat my wife for her birthday! We went to a tactical laser tag facility called iCombat and got to shoot each other with guns that made shooting sounds and had recoil to match it. Not to mention, the guns looked like real M16’s! It was a great time…even if she beat me. Then we had to race back for me to play a NTBI league volleyball game. Following that, I brought her out to Texas Roadhouse, one of our favorites!

The rest of the month was spent hanging out with Shelby and letting the two sisters catch up. That meant I got a lot of reading done…a lot, lol. It was good though. I had been wanting to get caught up on some of my reading projects and it worked out perfectly. I got a charter that last Saturday which meant that they got a full day together going to the mall, etc. From what they told me, they had a great day!

Well, that’s all folks. Hopefully we can get February’s done a little quicker. J God bless.

December

Wow! We are getting on this early! Woohoo, go us J This month began with our intern oral book reports. Richard got to go first and tell how he didn’t like his book lol. Then I got to do mine on how amazingly wonderful my book was J

This month we also had the Christmas party for the married students. It was so much fun and Richard’s first time to attend. Both times it came around while we were students Richard was working in the Resthaven café and I would have to bring him some food. I was so excited when I realized he could come with me. It was a get together and white elephant ornament exchange. We gave a spiderman ornament wrapped in a juice box and ended up with a small, mounted deer head.  The first year we got a homemade ornament that looked like a tootsie pop and last year we got a Gandalf/Santa/God the Father tree topper. So much fun!

The next day was the school open house. Pretty much everyone decorates their houses and dorm rooms and then opens them up for everyone else to walk through, admire, and eat their cookies and goodies they left out. It’s always a blast! Tannin loved getting wheeled around in his stroller from room to room, listening to the music and seeing the lights and decorations. He also loved the cookies…his face had chocolate chips smeared all over it lol. One room had racing chickens in it. LIVE CHICKENS! Mine lost but Richard’s won J So in preparation for that our tree when up, we hung our pretty new garland on the wall and got a couple of wreaths to hang in the hallway. We had the Veggie Tales, Star of Christmas, playing on a continual loop on the tv and I even made cookies!

The 12^th brought the last day of classes for the school which meant no more kitchen for Richard and no more desk work for me J He still had buses for a while but then got the rest of the day off.

Oh yeah. That last week of school Richard developed a weird swelling on his leg that by Wednesday got so big he could barely walk and was in constant pain. At that point we realized it was a boil. We tried to get it to the surface so we could pop it but the thing just kept getting bigger and bigger. After a failed attempt at lancing it ourselves (we looked it up on youtube) and Richard’s inability to go to work the next morning, I finally convinced him to go to the doctor. At the clinic they lanced it and packed it really good. Richard said that it felt a lot better while he was sitting. He could still barely walk but at least now he could get comfortable. He told me it was one of the most painful experiences of his life and gave him a new appreciation for the plight of Job who had them all over his body. After the lancing the swelling started slowly receding and now he just has a really nice thick scab.

The staff Christmas party was that weekend. There was a formal sit down dinner and potluck. Several of the ladies had claimed different tables and did the place settings and decorations. They were all different and it looked so cool. After the meal we played family feud with each table being a different team. Ours won! It was a blast.

To continue the theme of Christmas parties, our small group had one as well. It was a great time to laugh and talk. Richard almost got an electric thermos that plugged into the car lighter but it was stolen at the last minute. I got an interesting glass tankard and Richard ended up with a pretty, lacy, black apron with pearls on the neck. lol He traded with me when we got home ;)

Richard finished his buses for the year on the 19^th and we headed to Chicago on the 20^th for our flight to Canada. But before that, on the last day of school Richard went to work in a Santa coat and batman mask. lol He was Bat-Santa and the kids loved it! My husband is the best J

Anyway…we flew out of Chicago on the 21^st. It was Tannin’s first plane ride and he pretty much slept through the whole thing! lol We made it to Great Falls, Montana at about 4 in the afternoon. Richard’s parents met us at the airport and took us out to dinner at Denny’s. We had a good time catching up and letting them see Tannin for the first time in about 6 months. He’s grown quite a bit in that time. After dinner they drove us up to their house in Coaldale, a 3 hour trip.

Our first day in Canada was spent at the memorial service for Richard’s best friend Cam Enns. The two had been together almost since birth, in fact they were born two days apart! Cam had struggled with brain stem cancer for most of his life and had undergone three surgeries trying to eradicate it. We found out in October that it had come back and there was nothing they could do. He held on for as long as he could but in the end he passed away a week before we got there. Thankfully, Richard had gotten a chance to Facetime with him while he was in the hospital so he had gotten to see Tannin and the two talked for the first time in a while. If you guys could pray for his family and friends they’d really appreciate it.

The next few days we spent relaxing and helping out here and there with different things. Richard got to help his dad with scrap metal again and I got to go shopping for groceries with mom. Richard finished his slideshow for his class in February and started working on the homework booklet.

On the 25^th we visited Grandpa Reimer in the nursing home and got a four generation picture.

Christmas day, for us, was the 26^th. Everyone was there except Mike, Amy, and Jayda (Richard’s brother, sister-in-law, and niece). Amy is expecting and didn’t feel up to the trip. We got to meet Nathan and Vicki’s little boy, Julian, our nephew. Tannin wasn’t quite sure what to do with him and ended up barreling him over a few time, poor guy. lol Tannin got lots of toys and fun outfits from the grandparents and assorted aunts and uncles. We got some great stuff too, including the famed chocolate letters J The siblings had a gift exchange as well, Richard got some customized mugs and I got a quad-copter. Afterwards we enjoyed a turkey dinner and family games.  

The next day we headed off to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to spend some time with Mike and Amy. We got to meet Jayda for the first time and her and Tannin seemed to hit it off right away. Tannin followed her everywhere and she taught him how to go down the stairs. lol We enjoyed a couple of nights of family games and then headed back home to Alberta.

The last couple of days we lounged around the house and just hung out preparing ourselves for the long trip home on the 1^st.   

 

November

So this month I thought I’d take responsibility for the newsletter and look! it’s a little early. lol November began by me prepping for Tannin’s birthday party. I put aside all my other work so that I could make games and plan the decorations. Richard wants me to let you know that he was a great help! He made a last minute trip to the store to pick up extra cake stuff because I had ruined one….long story. He even helped prepare most of the games and drew me a wonderful picture of an 8 yr old Super Tannin to play pin-the-mask on the superhero. The party was a success. Most of our friends from the school came to hang out and play games and eat cupcakes. Tannin ran around in his batman costume, loving the attention and playing with the kids who came with their parents. When we finally got around to doing the cake, the little man did not disappoint. He started out just poking it. He kept asking me for permission to eat it lol. Finally he got the point and dove on in. It was…awesome! lol He had icing all over his face and clothes. He had so much fun J and we enjoyed watching him. Thankfully, one of our friends was able to take pictures of it for us so we have some amazing shots. After Tannin said he was “all done” I took him back to the house and stuck him in the tub. A few minutes later Richard comes home with cake all over his face. When I asked him what happened he said that one of the college kids had pied him with it. lol So he finished giving Tannin his bath and cleaned his own face while I went to say goodbye to the guests and start cleaning up.

Once the excitement of the party was over I had a lot of work to catch up with. Whew!

Not long after that we had to completely rearrange our living room because Tannin figured out how to climb onto the back of the couch to grab the goldfish bowl. I barely made it in time to keep him from dumping the bowl all over the place. We have now had to move to a whole new level of Tannin-proofing.

Not much else happened this month. We had Thanksgiving at our mentors’ house. Rick (a professor at the school) and Jonell Barth had made a wonderful spread and we had an amazing time. Their daughter was in town and she had a 7 month old who loved Tannin. In fact, she’s the first girl to ever scare Tannin away! Lol He would go up to kiss her and then she would grab his hair and kiss him and not let go. It was so funny! After he realized he couldn’t get away he started yelling for help. Oh man, it was great! We laughed so hard.

That last week the temperature dropped. It was so cold! That was when the car decided to stop working. Richard would go out to start it in the morning and it just would not start. It’s rebelling against us for bringing it back up here to the cold after it had gotten used to the hot southern weather. We took it in to the shop and lo and behold there was quite a bit that needed to be done.

All in all, I think the highlight of the month was Tannin’s birthday. My little boy is 1! I can’t believe how fast he has grown or how far he has come…

 

October

…And finally, the period of procrastination has ended: October, the month of candy! This month, we got to meet with the missions pastor at our church, Elmbrook, and discussed possible avenues to pursue in our end goal of becoming missionaries. He suggested that I get a PhD in something so that I could have some sort of safety net in entering foreign countries. I have a passion for teaching, and this would be a sure way of getting a good job at a university. We’re considering this option, but not sure if it coincides with our end goals.

Moving on, Tannin was able to have his first Canadian Thanksgiving! We met at one of the professor’s houses and shared the evening with him, his family, and all the other Canadians, half-Canadians, and tag-alongs that happened to somehow be connected to a Canadian in some vague way.

On the 18^th, NTBI had their somewhat-annual Fall Festival! One of our friends from our small group came and spent the evening with Olivia and Tannin while I went with a friend to enjoy watching Walking with Dinosaurs, an animatronic theatrical presentation. I came home to find that they had won 3 goldfish at the ping pong toss…they’re still alive.

Finally, on the 26^th, I worked my last day at The Elegant Farmer. While we were liking the supplementary income, we were really glad to get our weekends back! I think I’ve been appled out.

Then on the 30^th, while the entire school was away for the bi-annual Tribal Cup competition with the other NTBI in Michigan, Olivia’s father came up with his wife, Melissa, to visit us and see their grandson. We had a great time with them, getting to catch up a bit and letting them enjoy Tannin. We had a great meal at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant. I love going there as much as we can J Then they joined us (the Batman family) trick or treating as we went to a few different houses before we all ran back inside to the warmth of our friend’s home. We enjoyed a fun evening with our small group from church hanging out and eating candy. On the 1^st of November, we said our goodbyes and they headed back to the Heart of Dixie. We love you guys!

As for Tannin, he’s growing stronger and smarter each day! On the 16^th, he climbed out of his highchair and almost successfully jumped to the ground, but lost his balance when his feet hit the ground. Then, on the 17^th, he started kicking a soccer ball around, not by accident, on purpose! His last major milestone was on the 20^th, when we gave him his first haircut. We’d trimmed his hair before, but never done a full haircut. His hair had grown to 3”, and we cut 2 of them off. He looks a lot different…I think for the better. When we first cut it off, Olivia looked at me and said, “Are you sure we did the right thing?” I laughed and told her, “Ya, he needed it. Even if we didn’t, it’ll grow back soon enough.”

As for my class, I’ve started making progress. Olivia helped me organize my scatterbrained efforts, and now I’m beginning to make headway. I was able to ask a bunch of the professors how they prepared for a topical class and how to organize their topic headings and got a lot of wisdom from that. Apparently they told me exactly what Olivia had been trying to tell me all along, but I guess I needed an outside source to get it, lol.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I was the Batman bus driver! The last day before school was out for Halloween, I dressed up as Batman and had a great time making a growling voice, especially because I had a bit of a cold, so it came naturally. The time was perfect too! It was before the time change, so it was pretty dark out, only making me look more intimidating. Every time I came to a stop and opened the door, the kids would walk up the stairs and I would say in my gruff, Batman voice, “Good morning!” I scared at least 3 kids…hehehehe (evil laugh)…. One guy was late for his stop, so once he came to the bus and I said good morning, he froze in terror, and then the whole bus erupted in laughter. I even made a mom nervous. I pulled up to the stop and after letting the girl on and saying good morning, the mom laughed nervously and asked me who I was. “I’m Batman!” I roared back in a good natured Batman voice. She laughed nervously again, “No really, who are you?” So, I had to pull my mask up and show her that I really was just me. She laughed pretty hard before she said, “You shouldn’t be going around dressed like Batman. You might scare some children!” …hehehehe. All in all, a great day! When I yelled at the students to sit down in my Batman voice, everyone obeyed immediately. It was great…all that power! J

Well, that’s all folks. Thanks for stopping in for another episode of the Reim Times. See you next month…which is really soon, lol. Sorry!

 

September

 

And now, the long awaited continuation...(sorry about that). I suppose not much happened besides our lives becoming more busy than ever. I started driving school bus again as the school year started up on the 2^nd. This means early mornings for me…really early, lol. Like 5:30…I know many of you can sympathize, and even though I’ve already done it for one whole semester already it doesn’t get any easier.

I was also offered a job at The Elegant Farmer, a local apple orchard and marketplace in Mukwonago. Starting on the 7^th, I soon learned a lot about apples, from Galas to Honeycrisp to Grannysmith to Cortlands. Stocking the apple counters for 8 hours a day, I got to know the ins and outs of apples, despite the fact that I don’t really eat them myself. Kinda ironic, the apple expert who doesn’t eat apples…at least I appear to know what I’m talking about anyways.

At first, Olivia decided to stay home with Tannin while I worked, but soon she felt too lonely and so ever since, she’s joined me at the Farm. Tannin has got to ride the ponies all by himself – he loves ponies – and run all around the property while Olivia chases after him. I’m pretty sure she gets a full workout just keeping up with the little man. The pinnacle of their time, I would have to say, would be when Olivia got to take Tannin on his first helicopter ride! She was freaking out the whole time internally, enjoying the view and then realizing that Tannin didn’t have a seatbelt on and she was the only thing keeping him in the cockpit. She had a vice grip on him until they touched down again. As for our boy, he loved it and sat completely still the entire time! J

And now that we’re talking about our son, we might as well update you on all his new developments. As for the toddler bed, he sleeps great in it now. One of the cooler things is that he has begun to try jumping. He squats down and then straightens his legs really quick and throws his head back. At first, we weren’t sure what he was doing, but then after Olivia and I jumped for the basketball net and then watched him mimic us, doing what I just described, we realized he was trying to jump. After that, he would just walk around the gym, randomly stopping to try jumping, then continue on a few more feet. The amount of squats that guy does, he might just be jumping soon! Oh ya, and he’s also started dancing. He really likes to do dancing squats and nod his head emphatically while moving his hands up and down. Occasionally he can hold a rhythm…. J

As for interning, Olivia has had a bit of a change up. Instead of doing nursery, she is now a multitasker. Monday and Friday she works as a receptionist at the front desk, answering phones and checking in guests. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, she works in the school library entering the books into the cataloguing system on the computer. In her free time, she grades assignments and tests for various teachers. Once they discovered how efficient and prompt she was in finishing grading, she was suddenly being approached by multiple people. She’s keeping up though. I love my wife! She’s such a great worker.

At the end of September, I got to sit down with the AMT (Academic Management Team) and discuss the possibility of teaching a module course in Flood Geology. I was ecstatic when my wife told me that she had gotten an email approving my course. I am going to teach in early spring once we get back from Christmas break! I’m hoping that gives me enough time to get everything ready…there’s so much more to do than I ever thought. At first I thought I could whip up a powerpoint in a week or so with a reading booklet and such, but then I began to formalize my course into a syllabus and research specifics for my course material. I now have two reading booklets (1 for required reading and 1 for fun reading) – of which I’m still not done Day 1’s reading yet, the beginnings of a powerpoint, and a lot of notes written down. Taking what’s in my mind and organizing it on paper is hard stuff!

 

 

August

Welcome back folks. Here’s another edition in the life of the Reimers. There were a lot of changes that have happened for Tannin during this month, but first I thought I should catch you up on all the things he started doing during July. I was so consumed with telling you about all the things that Olivia and I did that I forgot about our little man lol. In July he had his first upper teeth break through, by the 27^th he had started clapping, by the 29^th he was using the sign for “all done” to get out of the waves, and he rode the kiddie carnival rides at Splash Adventure Waterpark.

As for this month, he stood up without pulling up on something on the 4^th. Around this time, he began walking. It started out pretty wobbly, but soon he was getting the hang of it. At 9 months, he was acting like a 2 year old. By the end of this month, he began to say “Dada,” when referencing me or pointing to me. Oh ya, and he’s pointing at stuff now! When he wants us to see something, he’ll point at it and start his baby talk J He’s so cute!

On the 6^th, we had the staff kickoff. I had just started interning in the kitchen and so got to help bring things to the park where we would be doing the picnic. Once there, I got to play some games with the guys while Olivia enjoyed talking with the ladies while keeping an eye on Tannin. Tannin was already walking fairly steady by this point and he was trying to get into everything he could. He loved the playground there!

Then, on the 12^th, we started our mentorship with the Barths. They’re teachers at the college here and we’ve enjoyed getting to know them. The next day I got to pick my school routes that I would be driving, and ended up taking one that included one of my schools from last year! J I was excited that I would only have to learn 1 new route for the morning and afternoon instead of 2!

The rest of the month was just full of busyness. We have been trying to get it under control, but each day is filled with something, whether we plan for breaks or not. So now, I get up at 5:30, drive until 8:30, intern from 9-1:20, and then do my afternoon school route from 2-4:30. Then, I get to come home to my lovely wife and son and enjoy them for a few hours before I start it all over again….then again, this would be an apt description of many married men in America, so I really have nothing to complain about, lol. Olivia, on the other hand, has to deal with our little monster during the night. Since I have to get up so early in the morning, she deals with most of his stuff during that time. Then, during the day, she worked in child care where she could spend some quality time with Tannin and the other babies. After that, she would come home, only to have to continue her child care in taking care of Tannin. Oh the life of a mom! I don’t know how she does it! I joke that she’s Supermom.

I’m working on revamping my blog into a fully functional website that will be much more user friendly and easier to navigate. In preparation for writing the material, I have been reading many books and still have many to go. My hope is to begin writing within a month or so, but we’ll see. I’ve organized the topics to be more logical and included a courses page which have the different topics in order of building from the foundation to the top. My goal is to provide Christians with a free resource to learn the basics of what they believe so they can more effectively reach the world and understand what the Christian life is all about.

On a final, random note, Tannin started sleeping in a toddler bed on the 30^th. The first 2 nights were rough, trying to keep him on the bed instead of sleeping on the floor, but it seems to be working now. J

  

July

And now, the saga continues. We left the Austin’s place and spent a few days at Grandma and Pawpaw Smitherman’s. Tannin got to meet his first set of great grandparents along with Brock and uncle Brett, aunt Amber, and their two kids. We got to ride the four wheeler (for all you Canadians, that’s a quad), and I practiced my ditch jumping skills, lol. I did manage to get around 6” by the end of the month.

Anyways, after that we headed 3 ½ hours to Newton, AL and stayed at Olivia’s parent’s place. We got to unload everything and enjoy being in a home that was really baby-proofed. It was great! Tannin could run around about half the house unimpeded and he really enjoyed all the free space.

During that first week there, I was able to help my father-in-law put up a door and set it in concrete as well as put up a bunch of roofing. He was building a shed for Shelby’s horse and needed a strong, young man…and I fit the bill. Oh ya. Also, we were able to build a rustic bedside table. We chopped it right out of a log, sanded it down, stained it, and then covered it in a clear-coat to protect it. It ended up being a little too moist and so we had to sand it down again later, so we weren’t able to finish it while we were in Alabama.

While we were there, we got to celebrate the 4^th of July and set off fireworks in their backyard by the pond (just to be safe). Being a Canadian, this is only my second time lighting my own fireworks and I had a blast (no pun intended).

On the 9^th, Olivia’s friend Ashleigh came up from Florida to visit. For those who were at our wedding, she was one of the bridesmaids. Then, that Friday, we headed up to Granny Evett’s place. On the way, we stopped at the Montgomery Zoo and Tannin was able to visit his first zoo! The leopards seemed to especially like him. The final part of the zoo was an open aviary. We got to go in and feed some of the birds and let them stand on our hands. We tried to have Tannin hold one, but it didn’t end up working. Maybe next time.

When we arrived at Granny Evett’s, we met up with Alex and Sidney, Olivia’s cousins. Shelby and I got to paint on the outside wall of Granny’s carport. Shelby did some word-art, and I did a mural. Granny asked me to paint something that represented Tannin. So, I thought about it for a bit, then decided on painting a knight with a Canadian-American shield facing off with a T-rex. It turned out really well and apparently some of the neighbors have been commenting.

We took Alex and Sidney back with us to Newton and during that next week, we headed to the beach in Panama City, FL. It was Tannin’s first trip to the beach! He enjoyed it immensely. Initially, he was unsure of the water when we brought him in with us, but later on, he crawled all across the sand and up to the edge of the ocean. He plopped down and let the waves hit him. It was quite a sight to see. As for the rest of us, we threw Frisbees around, buried each other in sand, made different sand carvings, and looked for different sea creatures. We all had a blast and finished off the night with supper at the Waffle House before heading back. I was so sunburned! It left the weirdest suntan I think I’ve ever seen. It was almost like someone had poured scalding water down my back or something.

On the 18^th, we celebrated Garrett’s birthday because we wouldn’t be there the next day. He got a lathe and chisels from his parents, a Doctor Who shirt from one of his friends, and from us, a face shield wrapped in Doctor Who boxers. We had an exciting evening before heading out back to Grandma and Pawpaw Smitherman’s. This time, Olivia’s two brothers Nathan and Logan showed up and got to see their nephew for the first time! We had a great time of four-wheeling, sword fighting, fire-bending (avatar style), among other things.

When we returned, I was able to show Garrett how to use the lathe and we carved a bowl (found out later the wood was rotting, so the bowl was just for practice). Our last project on the lathe ended up being rings. By the last ring, we were starting to get it down. Garrett’s turned out the best, being the thinnest and most refined looking. It’s trickier than it looks, trying to get it the right thickness, not only for your finger, but of the ring itself.

During this last week in Newton, we were able to visit the Dothan Waterpark. We had a blast! I was able to convince Sophie to join me on the water half pipe and then we joined up with the boys and raced down the slides on the opposite side of the park. Olivia hung out in the wave pool with her mom and sister. That way Tannin could crawl around and play in the water. We also got to visit Camp Victory for one day. Olivia had worked there as a CIT (councilor in training) and LIT (leader in training) and so she knew a lot of the staff there. Other than that, we hung out at Olivia’s parents’ place and enjoyed being with everyone.

That weekend, we headed back to the Smitherman’s and got to spend some more time with Nathan and Logan and the others. On Sunday, we went to Grandma Smitherman’s church, but there was no one in the nursery, so we ended up sitting in the hall, letting Tannin sleep in the nursery room while still being able to hear the sermon (it was a small church).

Then, we headed to the Austin’s once more and got to hang out with them again. Tannin seemed to remember them and started where he had left off. We got to go to a park where there were some small bowls and so the two boys and I went on our bikes and scooters and tried to see how much air we could get out of them. I think I got about a foot, but it felt like two or three. The next night, I got to help Scott move some furniture for a church charity organization and have some guy time talking about guy things.

On the 29^th, we got to go to Splash Adventure Waterpark. I got to go on all the water rides and I even convinced Olivia to join me on a few of them. Tannin got to experience the wave pool for the second time in his life (the one in Dothan had one too)! After lunch, Olivia had thought we would be heading home because it was going to be Tannin’s nap soon, but there was still the amusement park side to visit. So, we put Tannin on as many rides as we could cram in the time we had…and more. He went on anything from a child canoe ride to a merry-go-round to a flying kid ride where the different vehicles went up and down as the ride turned around in a circle, lifted up and angled. Finally, we went through a water maze before leaving. Tannin was exhausted! He fell asleep without a fuss on the way back to the Austin’s.

Well, it came time to leave and so we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Owens. Before we started though, we stopped by an herbal, natural medicine center. While we were there, Olivia had a doctor look her over and I had a chiropractor readjust my wrist because it had really been hurting. Unfortunately, him putting my wrist into alignment ended putting my back and neck out of alignment. So, my hand felt great, but that night, I was in a world of hurt, having major back pains and almost migraine headaches. Thankfully, my body’s leveled out again, so no need to worry…but I am going to see a chiropractor to try to get EVERYTHING in the right place so that doesn’t happen again. I suppose that’s the price you pay when you don’t see a chiropractor for 8 years, lol.

Anyways, we ended the month of July by reaching Olivia’s grandparents’ place and we got all our stuff out for the night. These grandparents own a bed and breakfast on a lake and it’s boat-themed, so their main attraction is their lighthouse, which has one room in it. Below, they just opened up the Barnacle room and this is where we stayed. They did a great job with the room and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, even taking Tannin for a swim in the lake with his new life jacket.

And now…I must stop. Actually, I think I’ll let this post bleed into August a bit. Our visit with the Owen grandparents ended on the 2^nd, complete with a ride on the tugboat on which we rode to a restaurant downriver, complete with its own docking areas for the local boats. As we started home, we had originally planned to only drive until Indianapolis or a bit further, but in the end, we decided to keep going and reached home around 1:30am. Exhausted, we only took out what we needed for the night and first thing the next morning and collapsed into bed after laying Tannin down. With having done around 15 hours of being on the road, we were all travelled out.

Well, there you go. That’s the end of our Alabama excursion. It was a lot of travelling, but it was a lot of fun, relaxation, and memories made with family.

Signing out,

Richard

p.s. I forgot to mention in the June post that we were able to get a 5 generational picture at Granny Knight and Pawpaw Joe’s place, with Granny, Pawpaw Joe, Rachel, Olivia, and Tannin.