Joseph and Kirsti left very early in the morning, and I woke up early enough to say good-bye and hug Edward again and take a few pictures. Then I went back to sleep and slept forever – i.e. until 7:35. Finally, I got up and made myself an omelette for breakfast, the first time ever! It had pepper, ham, cheese, eggs (duh), oregano, salt, more pepper, avocado, onion, and did I mention pepper? Anyway, it turned out pretty well. Daniel was disappointed I hadn’t made him one. Ha! Anyway, cause I’m such a great sister I promised to make him one on Wednesday.
After breakfast, the adventurers – namely, Aunt Susie, Andy, Grandpa, Daniel and I – went to the Nashville Zoo. There we enjoyed seeing monkeys screeching, a giant anteater, a cougar posing, a meerkat peephole, elephants throwing mud, bats flying in the dark, small crocodiles from up close, and a jungle gym with fun ropes to navigate.
A little over halfway through, we stopped to eat honey/peanut butter sandwiches, but I had lost my appetite somewhere, and didn’t want any. I ate lunch at home, took a nap, and then went swimming with Aunt Susie at the fitness center. Grandpa, once again, took his puzzle and assured us he didn’t mind driving us there, and that it did his reputation good “to be seen with beautiful women.” 100 flattery points for Gpa!
After the swim, which was fun and uncrowded as usual, we showered and went to Aunt Shelly’s for dinner. We had a favorite dish which I recalled from last year – tomato pie! – along with green beans, squash, corn, and my favorite – ice cream – for dessert. Grandpa decided to educate everyone about manners, and offered instructions about elbows, letting certain people of a certain age and gender go in line for food first, and asking to be excused. I enjoyed the challenge of being on my best behavior and recalling the old-fashioned Southern way of being polite. The aunts discussed how Grandpa used to whack them to correct their manners as kids. (REALLY!!!!!?!?!??!!!!!!!) It seemed that Daniel and Andy were the worst offenders, though this could just be because the girls were more subtle.
After dinner, Andy and Daniel played croquet and badminton while the girls talked and then played a card game called Oh Heck, which turned out to be the same thing as Nerds from the Barlow Center, but more complicated since you weren’t divided into partners. We played to get 100 points, then a few more games, and I think either Julie or Becky was declared the winner, though I’m proud to say I came in ahead of both the grown-ups J. Now if only I can learn to shuffle the card deck properly… Seriously, Aunt Susie was doing a better job than me, and she only has one hand!
Back at Grandma and Grandpa’s I read some old Reader’s Digests before falling asleep. I didn’t want to start/finish the fourth Fablehaven book too fast—not before the airplane trip, anyway. I had some trouble getting to sleep, due to my itchy legs, but once I made it, slept soundly. There was a thunderstorm that night with lots of blue lightning and heavy rain. It was pretty exciting, and all too short. I loved seeing the blue flashes and remembering the thrill of being scared by a storm as well as excited. I miss Georgia!
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