OK, here we are two months later, and every time I come to post on the blog, I remember that I haven't finished this series of posts. Which makes me feel bad because one of the highlights of the trip was our visit with Uncle Joe, Aunt Suzi and Mary. So, finally, here we go...
Oh, last time we ended up in Nashville and had a fun afternoon/evening with my friend Jen.
Friday morning Jen, Nathan and I headed up to Lipscomb's campus so that I could see all the new construction and renovation that has happened on campus over the past few years. I have to say that the campus is so much more beautiful then when Brian and I were there! The new engineering building was so impressive, and so many places were unrecognizable due to the extensive renovations: Burton, the student center, Johnson dorm lobby. It was great to wander around and see all the changes in person! But the best was getting to visit with two of my engineering professors, Dr. Gilliam and Dr. Patterson. Jen and I chatted with both of them for quite a while and it was great to catch up on what was happening with the engineering program, the engineering mission trips and some of my old classmates. And Nathan was just wonderful the whole morning, even though he was tired from getting up early and we were pushing way into naptime by the time we left campus.
After heading back to Jen's, and a nap for Nathan and me, the two of us were back in the car to go to Uncle Joe and Aunt Suzi's house. It was so great to see them again and to visit their house, which was my "home away from home" during my four Lipscomb years. Nathan was comfortable right away at the house and with Joe and Suzi, and then did great again when Mary showed up a little while later. Here are some of my favorite memories from that evening:
- Nathan loved playing with Suzi's camera, turning it on and off and "taking pictures". She was so nice about letting him hold it and punch all the buttons. It cracked us up that he held the digital camera up to his eye to take pictures, but that's what Mommy always does with her big camera, so that's what he knows!
- Nathan LOVED running up and down the long hallway at the house. He would run from the living room all the way back to the bedroom and then back. At some point, he found Aunt Suzi's ear plugs and would run back to the living room with them in his hands. I would ask him to put them "back" and he would turn around and run put them where he had found them (and then repeat multiple times).
- Mary was working on a crocheting project while we were there, and Nathan was fascinated. When Mary would pull more yarn free of the ball and it would go rolling away, Nathan would grab it and bring it back to Mary.
- Nathan loved the perpetual motion toy that Aunt Suzi found for Nathan to play with. He was probably more interested in taking it apart and (trying to) put it back together then with the motion abilities.
It was so wonderful to visit and catch up with family! We ended the evening with a yummy meal of grilled burritos, which is a Grandmother recipe that I'd never even heard of!
Before Nathan and I said goodbye, I wanted to get a few good group pictures, so we braved the back yard heat and got some nice shots.
I think my favorite thing about the visit is that it really made an impression on Nathan. He still talks about Uncle Joe, Aunt Suzi and Mary. In fact, we have this magnet on our fridge that Nathan is convinced is a picture of Uncle Joe and he comments on it regularly (it actually was a freebie, an ad for some tv sitcom, but according to Nathan the man in the picture is Uncle Joe!). Now that I think about it, I guess I should replace that with some pictures of our family so that next visit Nathan will recognize Uncle Joe instead of looking for some stranger!
