We went down to GA this past weekend to visit my family and celebrate birthdays. My older brother is turning the big 4-0! Five years ago, we celebrated 30-35-40, so we decided to do it again. I imagine we’ll do it again in 5 years. 
Taylor got to meet Ginger. Ginger’s a little dog Kerin (sis-in-law) found. It was raining, the dog was in the middle of the road, she opened the door to shoo it away and it promptly jumped in her car. They already have a dog (a lab) and a cat, so weren’t too crazy about having another dog, plus there was some concern over the lab accidentally hurting her, so my folks took her in.
She barks like crazy at any “new” person. For the record, you’re apparently still “new” the next morning. I did learn from watching my niece, Lecil, though. She came in, Ginger started barking, Lecil immediately squatted down and started scratching Ginger’s back and talking to her. Ginger loves fetching a little toy and, thanks to Taylor, we learned that it is possible to wear her out. It took about 30 minutes for Taylor to warm up to her. Then Saturday morning, she wanted Mimi to hold her. Mom said, “I thought you and Ginger were best buddies!” Taylor said, “It’s too early for best buddies.”
The birthday party went great – lots of food and friends. We were told to bring CD’s from “our era”. My friend, Christy, brought some 80’s stuff and Phil (oldest brother) brought the rest. It’s a little difficult to define “our era” considering we all listen to mostly the same stuff. Except for me and my 80’s music. ;)Â But I listened to some of the same stuff Phil & Darrell did. Of course, we had to be sure to take all the CD’s out. The party was held at mom & dad’s church and somehow I don’t think they’d appreciate AC/DC or Bad Company. We cleaned up and packed up the leftovers (leftover eggrolls… oh darn!) and headed home Sunday morning.
The drive home was fairly uneventful. In fact, it was a record. We made it with NO STOPS. Yes, Taylor was with us. Almost home and Taylor is drawing on her Magnadoodle. I’ve written numbers down so she can practice. She was trying on her own and getting very frustrated. She then moved on to drawing shapes and at some point decided she wanted to draw a bus. Brian tries to tell her a simplified way to do it (a rectangle with two circles on the bottom for wheels). She’s frustrated and saying she can’t do it, we ask “why not?” She replies, “I can’t draw a bus because the pencil (on her magnadoodle) isn’t cooperating!”
We got home for a late lunch and Brian headed off to Huntsville… more on that in the Mommy-Daughter Night post.