208 In Mimi's Garden

We took a day trip down to see Chip's family in Cleveland, MS. It rained off and on the whole way down, the dark clouds closely followed by white fluffy ones and blue skies. I still love that you can see the rain falling in far off clouds. The slight grey shadow it creates underneath.
The moment I stepped out of the car I knew I was going to be taking A LOT of pictures. These beauties were the first things I saw!And then I took advantage of everything that would sit still. Which did NOT include the flowers! The wind was quite brisk and the flowers were waving wildly. And there is a feeling of peace and timelessness in Mimi's yard. The wind chimes sound softly.
And this patio set is straight out of the 50's or 60's. It came with the house. As I said, the wind was strong, and the flowers were swaying a good bit, but that didn't stop me from taking pictures ...

Katie couldn't wait to see her cousins. Tori was sick and was only able to stop in for a few minutes. Michael and Scott were there most of the time, and Will showed up a little later. They found a football to throw around, so Katie and Connor made a nuisnce of themselves trying to play along. Michael is a Dad, so I expect him to be patient with the kids, but Scott is just 14. Most boys his age try their best to ignore small children, but Scott is WONDERFUL with them! If they annoyed him trying to worm in on the football tossing then it didn't show. Katie had SO much fun with her cousins. She can't wait to see them at her birthday party next month!

Katie also took control of my camera for a little while. I love when she takes pictures! It is fun to see what she finds the most interesting, and to see how she improves in framing a shot. I did not retouch any of these, although there are a couple pretty good shots I might go back and clean up a little. Katie still has a bit of a problem getting the whole subject into her shot. She did pretty good until she asked me to stand by the tree. Then I ended up with a couple shots of my legs. She still tends to be happy as long as she gets at least part of what she wanted into her shot. I think she is doing great, and I am less tentative about trusting her with my camera.

And we got to see my Great Niece Presley. She started walking the night before and she showed off her new skills for us!
Connor was hilarious to watch playing football. He would just run back and forth, trying to be wherever the ball was. Every once in a while he would get handed the football, and he would walk it to the next person, or more often than not, SPIKE it like he had made a touchdown. Of course the instant the ball was taken away form him he would scream and cry. That part was not as funny.Connor also discovered Pop Pop's John Deere. What boy can resist a ride-on lawnmower??
We finished the evening off with a fish fry. The guys all sat outside and fried up a huge amount of crappie that Tanya's father had caught. It was the first time I had ever eaten crappie, and it was delicious!! Much better than the traditional fried catfish. And of course there were fries and hushpuppies. Oh, and Mimi made coleslaw that was so yummy! And to finish it all off ... PECAN PIE! Yum! Yum! and YUM!