I'm typing this a day late. Yesterday I went out to the town on the bayou where Joni's parents live. The day got off to a bit of a rocky start when I came out and found the hire car had been wheel clamped. I'd paid the parking fee but failed to put my ticket on the dashboard. Arrgh!
A hundred dollars later I was on my way. Speed limits are helpfully high here, and I was able to make up some time as I went.
As well as Joni's parents, her sisters Debbie and Bev were there along with brothers in law Dwayne and Jerry. Good to see them all again, although I had to remember that now, they're more friends rather than family.
The girls were thrilled to see me again, and even more so when they knew I'd brought presents! They'd already eaten, so the adults had lunch and they were given their first two presents - inflatable animals for riding from Younger Sister and Michael, and plaster models of a dinosaur and a dragon to paint, that I brought over. They loved both of them, and while Joni went and inflated the animals, Bev let them paint their animals (Grace the dinosaur and Rachel the dragon). They enjoyed the painting a lot, even if the animals became a steady dark grey as the colours got mixed!
I should add that lunch was as awesome as my mother in law's cooking always is. And there's something special about good food eaten with friends.
The day was warm, and at about 3pm Joni got the girls into their swimsuits and my father in law hooked up the sprinkler for them to play in on the lawn. They had a few difficult moments reconciling hot sun and cold water but loved it once they adapted. At one point Grace wanted to go down their slide, and she squealed in fun when I caught her at the foot of it, or whooshed her back up to the top of it! Another time she grabbed a little foam bat and a baseball she wanted me to pitch to her. According to father in law, her form is good even if her ability to connect with the ball is a work in progress. Rachel, meanwhile, was walking through (and backing through) the sprinkler, intrigued by how the patterns of water changed when she moved. Both of them soon learned daddy would come running if they said they'd stepped on something!
Joni gave them a bath after their time outside, and I gave them their remaining presents: Angelina Ballerina books and jigsaws from grandma Judith and grandpa John, little white dresses and shell bracelets from the Islands from Aunty Kate and Uncle Nik, and also a dinosaur jigsaw. They were double-happy with all of it and squealed with delight every time. Cheeky little Grace kept saying "more presents!"
By this stage in the afternoon it was about time for them to go home. I gave them kisses and had them in return, and they each said "love you too". Awwww...
I stayed long enough to select some of Aunty Bev's pictures of the girls' year and of her new grandbaby, Avery (from the photos, a regular cutie!). I drove straight back to New Orleans. Dinner of tuna and tomato sandwiches in my room, with a couple of beers and two bananas. I set to work packing, with a break to walk to Rouses to buy some Community Coffee, some cans of Ro-Tel and 4 bottles of the Extra Hot hotsauce. I was feeling a bit blue as I packed; happily the TV was able to serve up some '30 Rock' and 'American Dad' to lighten the mood.
Today has been the last day with the girls; I'll cover that in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment