This is one of those “better late than never” posts. I wrote most of this in June, but somehow never got around to posting it until now!

I had surgery in June, so our families offered to keep Turner in Mississippi for us during the first week or so of my recovery. He had never been away from home without us, so we were a little nervous about how he would do, but we decided to give it a shot.

Since we live about 8-9 hours away from our families, we decided the best thing to do would be to meet Aaron’s sister (Rachel) halfway in Ruston, Louisiana the day before my surgery. We hit the road around 6 AM and made it to Ruston just in time to meet Rachel and her daughter (LK) at Chick-Fil-A for an early lunch. We were super surprised and happy to find out that Aaron’s mom (Granny) came along for the ride! After the kids ate and played for a while, we loaded all of Turner’s things into Rachel’s vehicle and gave him tons of hugs and kisses goodbye. I was surprised at how nonchalant Turner was about leaving us. I guess it’s better that he was not sad!

Rachel said that the kids did well on the trip back to Mississippi. They chatted, ate cotton candy, and eventually fell asleep sometime before they got home. Once they got to Rachel’s house, Turner was excited to get to play with his other cousins Cannon and Edi. They played on the waterslide in the back yard and had dinner and popsicles outside. The next morning, Uncle Justin took the kids to get donuts and they played at home for a while.

On Saturday, Aunt Rachel and the kids made their way to my sister (Aunt Sara’s) house for Katie’s 5th birthday party! There was a huge inflatable water slide at the party, so Turner spent a lot of time going down the slide and playing in the pool. He was so happy to get to see my parents (Papa and Lulu), too! They said that he ate 3 pieces of pizza and decided to go to their house to spend the night. After church on Sunday, Turner and Katie spent the day playing at Papa and Lulu’s house and ended the day sleeping at Aunt Sara’s house. They were worn out!

The next day, Uncle Kyle took Turner to get donuts (I guess that’s the “cool-uncle” thing to do!). Papa and Lulu took Turner to Williams Brothers to buy him some new tennis shoes, too. I loved seeing pictures of him so happy in Mississippi!

The following day, it was time for Turner to make his way back to Meridian to spend a few days with Granny, Lyda Kate, and Cannon.  The kids had a full agenda over the next few days at Granny’s house.  Granny completely surprised us with was having professional pictures taken of the kids together! I was so thrilled to see these precious pictures!

Later, the kids played outside on the slip and slide at her house and even invited the neighbor kids over to join in on the fun. They had lots of snacks and laughs before taking a break to make homemade banana bread. Later in the evening, they met up with Harold to go fishing. Turner was so excited to catch some fish! They squeezed in a bit more fun on his last morning with Granny’s house by going bowling and getting happy meals. It was Turner’s first time bowling and he loved it!

When he got back to Papa and Lulu’s house, he played with Katie and then got to go to the movie theater to see Incredibles 2. Katie and Turner set traps to catch frogs one night (SO FUNNY!) and also spent some time swimming. They went to church on Sunday and Turner was so excited to FaceTime to show Aaron the Father’s Day gift he made at church. Turner spent the afternoon hanging out with Papa and Lulu.

After one more trip to the donut shop, it was finally time for Turner to make his way back home. We missed him tremendously, but I’m so glad that he got to spend the time with our families in Mississippi. This may become an annual summer tradition!