Never Long Enough...

Last week, for the first time in eight years, I went on vacation without my husband or boys. I was a little leary of going alone (I've never been away from the boys for more than a night), but I am glad I went...it was definitely worth it.

I got to spend a whole week at my parent's house in North Carolina. The best part was my brother was there every day and my sister came home from law school for two days. I hadn't seen my sister since summer 2008 and my brother since summer 2007. I miss them both so much!

It was great spending time with my parents, too. My mama and I got to catch up on plenty of reading and talking. My dad even took a few days off to hang out with us.

We spent plenty of time wandering around old cemeteries. Most of my cemetery pictures were destroyed during the flood in 2005. So, it was nothing new, but I got to replace what I had lost.

Mystery #28...Why is Eliza Wells (my great-great grandmother) buried beside her second husband, yet have the name of her first husband on her tombstone?

I got to visit my grandparent's (maternal) old garden. It just looks like a grassy field today, but it used to be rows and rows of yummy vegetables. I spent many days helping and playing here...it seemed so much bigger when I was younger! This old water pump still works. It was how we got all our water when we were out there working.

Here is my great-grandfather's old tobacco barn. It's not going to be around much longer.

The second best part of my trip was eating good North Carolina seafood!! You would be suprised at the lack of decent seafood here in California. Thank goodness I can go home and get some! Aaah! Oysters and crabs...I should have taken a picture.

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My dad finally got hold of my grandmother's old photo album. My poor brother has spent weeks peeling the pictures out of the old album, scanning them, cropping and touching them up, and putting them in a new album. They are guessing there are over a thousand pictures! I can't wait until I get a copy! Here are my grandparents (yep, my grandfather was in the Coast Guard!)




Here's my daddy around his first birthday...Look at those curls!!

My cousin David was a North Carolina State Trooper. He was killed while on duty ten years ago this month. This bridge is located on Hwy 40 and is named in his honor.

I really missed having my boys underfoot and would unthinkingly break out with a Wiggles song every so often. Yes, I missed J, too! But it was so nice to be home for a little while. I think this is the worst part of the military life. We have at least six years (most likely it will be eleven) before J retires and we can move home for good. Until then, we only get to see our family a couple of times a year.

Visits are never long enough!