A Blessed Time With Family

I have SO many new blessings to share!!! I've been collecting them over the last week without time to write them up.
Last Thursday, Sept 16, we impatiently awaited the arrival of Grandpa Gray, Aunt Chela, and Cousin Ana. They flew into New Orleans, got the rental car, and drove to my house. The way I felt while I waited was this: I don't know what all is going to take place over the next week, if we'll be busy, lazy, emotional, restless, tired, or what but I know that seeing my loved ones for the second short time in 18 months was great in itself; any fun or interesting memories that came of it was icing on the cake. Friday morning, we got the kids off to school and thought maybe we'd go to the Rice Mill or Tabasco Factory or have lunch at Ruby Tuesday, we were going to get ready and see what we felt like. 1:30 rolled around and we hadn't gotten ready for anything, we had visited at the kitchen table the whole time AND my family wasn't yet packed for our 3 day trip that was to start in one hour. Jac and I got packing and showered and we rolled out to get Thing 1 and Thing 2 (our nicknames for Logan and Kayla respectively). From there, we began our long journey to Long Island, MS. We got to the beachfront hotel around 11 and when straight to bed. 6:30 the next morning, the kids jumped out of bed ready for the complimentary breakfast. We were supposed to meet in the lobby at 9:30 so I optimistically decided to take advantage of the three hours my children granted me to get them ready. After breakfast, the kids went swimming. 7:30 AM with the beach's sunrise right behind the pool made a very relaxing time for me while the kids loved perfect swimming weather and temps. 9:30, we all met up and piled into the van to go to the wedding.
Aunt Bebe and Uncle Sid we renewing their vows for the 50th anniversary. Aunt Bebe is my great great aunt, my dad's grandma's sister. They are some of the best people! I have only gotten to know them since I moved to LA. We've gone over and visited with them a few times when my dad comes to visit us. They have four children who have children who have children. Aunt Bebe has six out of nine brothers and sisters who are still living. They have kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. ALL these people attended this precious ceremony. It was wonderful, beautiful, informative, entertaining.
From there, we dropped Jac and the kids off for a nap at the hotel and headed to my great great uncle's daughter's house. She had a video of my grandma and great grandma sitting down and going through genealogy together. I am not crazy about the genealogy but seeing their faces, listening to their voices, and watching them inevitably argue was a gift. Then, they took us outside to an underground door. I was so curious. There was a hill with a pathway through the side that led to a door. They called it the shelter. Opened the door. Stuck my head in. Lost my breath. This "shelter" had two bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. It had air conditioning, canned foods, keepsakes, etc. I've actually lived in a house smaller than this shelter and you know what? My distant cousin and her husband had built it all by themselves! Can you believe? It was so cool!
Then, we went back to get Jac and the kids and went to dinner at a seafood restaurant on the beach. YUM. I had promised the kids I'd take them to play on the beach while we were there but then, I had heard it still wasn't very sanitary/safe to play in so I decided to take them after dinner. Since it was dark, they didn't want to play in the water, it looked scary, and the sand was nice and cool, not burning the feet like usual. They had a BLAST! They made sand angels, rolling all around in their wedding clothes! Well, time for bed, headed back to the hotel to tuck the angels in before my big ladies' night. As I loaded them up in their carseats, I found that there was no way I was going to be able to throw them in bed and take off without bathing them, they were COVERED in sand. Change of plans- bathtime, THEN bedtime. Check, check check. Party time!
My cousin Ave', my cousin Ana (Ari, Ariana), and my aunt Chela went to the casinos in Biloxi. We gambled, danced, walked to the next casino, gambled, danced, went to catch a cab to the next one and a limo pulled up and told us he'd drive us for cab rates!!!! Aunt Chela had never been in a limo before. UNbelievable. We rode the limo to the next casino, it was lame so we called the limo back and rode back up again. It was so fun! I won $80 at the blackjack table. Jac was so proud, he taught me well. The club closed so we gambled a little and decided to go to breakfast, It was 4:00 AM!! After gambling, paying for 2 breakfasts, and paying for a limo trip, I returned to the hotel with $5 less than when I left. That was my cheapest night out ever!
9:30 that morning, I get a phone call that wakes the kids up. I counted myself lucky to have gotten four and a half hours of sleep but that didn't make the exhaustion go away. Soon enough, it was checkout time. Ana had to take Grandpa and Aunt Chela to a place the kids couldn't go so we went to see a movie and I got to catch up on my sleep. Haha. I've never slept in a theater but I was tired, it felt wonderful. When they were done, they picked us up and we headed back to Louisiana.
Over the next four days, Grandpa got sick, I had to work two shifts, and the kids had to go to school so we didn't do anything too extravagant but that was exactly what we needed. It allowed for lots of conversation- serious, funny, getting-to-know-each-other, everything. Grandpa read to the kids which I found absolutely precious. They all met most of my favorite people here. I took them to Alligator Cove to try alligator for the first time. They like it okay but they loved the restaurant and the manager, Mr. Menard (Jac's old partner's dad) sent an entire pan of my favorite dessert home with me even though it had been taken off the menu. How incredible is that?! That's the perfect example of just how people are here. SO nice.
This morning, when they left, I cried. I allowed that for myself. I just cried, called my mom, and cried some more. And when I was done with that, I got to cleaning. We hadn't cleaned ANYTHING except uniform shirts for the kids to wear to school and the dished we needed to eat off of. All the clothes were all over the house, dirty mixed with clean. Trash, toys, books, sleeping bags, it was everywhere. And it was totally worth it.

Now, for the thankful part. LOL
The first thing that comes to mind in my grandpa. Originally, he wasn't coming on this trip until a week before it happened. I'm thankful I had the space and the mattresses to accommodate him comfortably. I had never had that before Louisiana. I'm glad he came. The whole time growing up, while everyone was talking and playing games, he was quiet. I never really got to know him because he didn't throw his two cents in unless it was asked for, and I get the sense that even then, he didn't say anything that would cause conflict. But on this trip, he talked like I've never heard before. I was getting to know someone I never knew was there. He talked about his childhood, young adulthood, opinions about the world we live in, his likes and dislikes. Oh how wonderful it was to get to know such a wonderful man! And he was such a great grandpa! When he was sick and he laid in bed, Logan got up next to him and laid down and talked with him about I don't know what, boy stuff I guess. It was so sweet.
As I said, I'm thankful I had the space and mattresses to accommodate guests! It means so much to me that when people love me enough to come all this way to see me, I can make them comfortable.
I am so thankful that I have gotten to be a part of the Breland family. I've always known that we had family in MS but without living close enough, how was I to ever get to know them? It had been so valuable to me! Aunt Mary (married in through my Uncle Gene) told me this weekend that she learned very early on to say "whatever" because it wasn't going to go her way anyway, she might as well accept it and be happy and say "whatever". She said Brelands are very dominating, that's just the way they are. Well, I'm glad someone confirmed it for me: I am a Breland, Garcia, and Wood, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with a stronger urge to dominate. It's nice to know it's not just me. And I can't say enough about Aunt Bebe. When I look at her, she makes me feel like I'm home. Her face, her eyes, her gentility, sense of humor, gracefulness, she's heavenly.
I'm thankful that while all this time, I've wanted to share my Louisiana experience with my loved ones in person because I could never share it with just words, Aunt Chela and Ana actually came. And I think they saw what I meant. This place has changed me in so many ways permanently. I wanted them to see what I see so they'd know where I came from. And they were happy to share it with me and it made me feel so loved.
I'm thankful that Jac came to MS with us. Sharing the ceremony with him meant a lot to me, I look forward to that being us. They had tables full of collages of pictures of Bebe and Sid's 50 years. I can't wait for have 50 years worth of pictures and memories with my Jacob. When you hang out with Bebe and Sid, you can tell they are REAL. They are not at all imitation marriage. They have had struggles, disagreements, annoyances, sicknesses, and a TON OF FUN. I love it.
I'm also thankful that he intentionally blessed me by staying with the kids for naptime and for my girls' night. He knew how much it would mean to me if I could get as much time with the Brelands as possible and that I wanted to go out with my cousin Ave' really bad since I never see her. I really wanted an opportunity to include her in our family since she's long distance and let her know we love her and like her and want her in our lives no matter how much the distance separates us. I think she got the message, and it's because Jac stayed with the kiddos. Thank you babe!
I have to say THANK YOU to Amanda who watched the dogs for us. We thought we had a dogsitter lined up but then it fell through. I called her Friday morning and she agreed. How awesome is that?! Without her, the dogs would've been a disaster or we wouldn't have been able to go.
Thank you to Ruby Tuesday for being such an accommodating employer so that I can do all this great stuff all the time without worrying about work.
That's all that's on my mind for now but I feel like I'm forgetting something or someone so I'll be sure to add on as it comes up.
Thank you God for it ALL!