Mr. Turtle

There wasn't just a baby show last weekend but a whole days worth of activities planned back home. There was going to be a parade, a car show, vendor booths, activities for little kids, big kids and the really big kids. My mom and dad were hoping for a Turtle Race. They had been on the lookout for a turtle over the last few weeks so that when it came time for the race, Kaden had his very own turtle. 

Meet Turtle. Original, I know. 

I was kind of thrown back when I saw him the first time. He was little. Nothing like the box turtles that we use to race with. How was this guy going to keep up? But my mom made a good point stating that we never won with a big box turtle, their too slow. And sure enough this guy was a speedy one and he was going to win Kaden a trophy just like Logan's. But it rained. And rained. And rained. And frankly we aren't even sure that there was going to be a turtle race but we would have been prepared and we would have won--had there been one. So we let the little guy go back in the same place my mom found him only days before. He scurried off just as if he was in a race and Kaden followed right behind him, actually, on top of him. I'm thinking a new pet may be in store for us and something for Kaden to take care of and learn some responsibility from. 

But it wasn't fair to keep him. He had a family to go home too. So as soon as we let the turtle go we climbed into the car and head back to Jasper to take the little guy's mind off of his dear friend Turtle. 

Uncle Zack had won a gun raffle that Papa Tom put his name into. Papa Tom wasn't all that happy that he paid for the ticket and that Uncle Zack won it but thats how the cookie crumbles. While we were back in Jasper Kaden took to the streets. He danced a little by himself and then a little with the stroller too. 

Maddie and Logan did what they do best-SLEPT. We didn't stay long but long enough to see a best friend from high school and her little boy, a few old neighbors and to get our picture taken for some Ozark magazine-we're going to be famous.

It was nice to be able to go back home for a few hours and walk around the town and see the things that have changed and then other things that are just like they were when I left 12 years ago-WOW that seems like a long time ago when I typed those numbers. Truth is, it was. Here I was going back to my old town, driving by the house I grew up in, seeing a sold sign in my Grandma's yard--all while I had two little boys of my own gabbing away in the seats behind me. Growing up in KC will be a world away from how I grew up in Jasper but I hope someday they will be able to see and appreciate the beauty of growing up in such a small and close knit town. Cause I'll be honest, there are days that I couldn't help but want to be back in Jasper, closer to my family and some of my childhood friends. Watching the kids ride up and down the streets on their bike. Going into the local grocery store and picking up a pop and the cashier putting it on a tab for when Mom or Dad came in next. To see the line at the Dairy Cream out the door waiting for the delicious shakes.  But then I look at our life now and I couldn't imagine not being right where we are. I'll always have Jasper to go home to and to show my kids where I grew up and went to school. To take them to the farm and show them the country. But Kansas City is home now--I guess in some crazy way, we kind of have the best of both worlds. Lucky us.