Bootheel trip

Leah, Nana Jana and I made a trip down to the bootheel for the first time in a loooong time! It had been a year and a half - since Thanksgiving 2019. We’d planned on coming in February of 2020, but that was the month we had rolling illnesses and all 5 of us came down with flu and strep right after each other, so we had to cancel that visit. Then in March everything shut down.

It took us 7 hours to make what Google tells me is a 4 hour, 15 minute drive down! Memorial Day weekend traffic was atrocious and there were at least 3 wrecks, plus we had a meal, and 2 of our passengers had to make frequent bathroom breaks. 

I should have taken more photographs! In fact, most of these are from Aunt Lana’s phone. Playing piano: 

Leah threw a bit of a fit one day when we were there and had to sit in time out. This was on top of some sympathy tears and crying about her cousin going home. Closer to bedtime she told me “I’m embarrassed about my day,” and then after a pause, “I do my best.” 

We also got to see Uncle Jeff in Kennett, who fixed us up with bottles of water, pocket knives, and an apple for a snack for the road.

This series reminds me of the best series of photos from 3 years ago. 

And Grandma Doris with Leah on the porch swing: 

I did several rousing versions of The Gruffalo

You can see Nana Jana's reading it, too. 

We got to look through some boxes of photographs of my Uncle Robbie and Aunt Jewel. I took a few of me, mom, and Holly home, and then took pictures of photos of others just to have them on my phone. (I very helpfully sent my cousin Kendra her old school pics when I came across them when she was at the lake with her family. Ha!) This is my Grandma Doris and Grandpa Leroy, I'm not sure what the occasion was, but possibly my Aunt Lana’s wedding in 1987 (at first I thought it was maybe my sister’s wedding in 2005! Obviously Grandma has good genes!)

Here's my Grandma Doris as a young woman: 

She thought this one was from her sophomore year: 

Her sister, my great-aunt Jewel, in uniform. 

And all three of her older siblings - Bill, Jewel, and E.L. I asked where she when the picture was taken, but she didn't know.