Home again, home again

William and I returned safely home to the desert last night. Our tour of Natchez was succesfully completed, albeit a week after we originally thought it would be completed. We stayed an extra week, due to the wildfires that were ravaging parts of Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley, not far from 29 Palms. Luckily, the fires never endangered our town, nor did they even necessitate the closing of the main road that goes from Palm Springs to 29 Palms. But I worried anyway, and I felt better, not trying to make it back last week, when the fires were not under control at all, and a sudden shift in the wind could wreak even more havoc.

I have to admit that I enjoyed the extra time away. We took a day trip up to Vicksburg to see my grandparents, and I got to eat a few more shrimp po'boys. And I got spoiled, having Mom to help me out with the baby. I was making a list of all the stuff that I did while I was away: I visited Magnolia Hall, one of the gorgeous antebellum mansions on tour in Natchez, I went to Vicksburg, I saw my grandparents, I went to church twice, I saw fireworks over the Mississippi, I met a lot of my parents' friends and neighbors, and I got to eat catfish, beignets and shrimp a whole bunch of times. All in all, a very nice trip.

And William got to spend a lot of time with his maternal grandparents.
I think he was a hit, too. He sure did smile at his grandparents an awful lot! And much to my mock chagrin, Daddy's magic touch came through. If William was wailing and "turning into a tomato," then all Daddy had to do was pick him up, and carry him around the house for a few minutes, murmuring softly to him. Zonk. Sleeping baby. And here I was, looking forward to William ruining Daddy's perfect record with crying babies during their baptisms. Well. October is still three months away. A lot can happen between now and then.

So I hated to leave Mom and Daddy, but I was glad to return home to my husband. Poor David: William slept all the way home from the airport, but as soon as I took him out of his carseat to put him to bed, he started objecting. Loudly. What a nice way to greet your daddy after not seeing him for two whole weeks, huh?

Now, we are really looking forward to our trip to Holden Beach, NC, with David's parents and the Bryans, McDonoughs and all their kids. In fact, we've been looking forward to it since we got home last year! But now I'm especially looking forward to it, because it will be fun to introduce William to everyone. And I can't wait for William to log in some quality time with his paternal grandparents. I think Diane is going to be amazed with how much he has changed since she cuddled a six-day-old William in her arms! He's smiling and laughing and cooing now, and he has so much more personality. At the time, I didn't realize how little and puffy William looked during that first week or so, but now I look at those pictures, and I marvel at how much he has changed.

Oh yes. Here's a picture of William with my father. This is a record of his first visit to a casino. Oh, don't worry. We're not introducing him to gambling at this tender age. My grandparents love to eat dinner at the buffet at one of the casinos, so we did that on our trip to Vicksburg. No gambling at all!



I'll post some more pictures from our visit as soon as I can get them downloaded.