Family Reunion, Covington edition

Despite my woeful absence of late, I have not abandoned the blog! This post is extra long to make up for lost time. We just returned to Texas after nearly a month long visit to the east coast. This was my longest visit to Charleston so far, and we had a wonderful time catching up with Sam's family.



I intended to use this visit to explore more of Charleston, but the heat, humidity and mosquitoes did their best to keep me indoors. These few photos are from an afternoon of walking around in the humidity, after which I threw my modesty aside and peeled off my leggings in the car to blast the air conditioning up my skirt.

Orchids in window boxes. I've never seen that before, but they were beautiful!

Passion flower spotted near Battery Park

The first thing we did when we drove into town was watch Harry and Jonah perform.

Various pets came to the windows and amused us.

Bagheera came to our second floor window several times a day begging to be let in and adored.

We spent an afternoon visiting with Sam's Grandpa George and his wife Becky. Meanwhile, Grandma Betty is staying at the Covington house while she recovers from surgery, so we got to see her every day. She celebrated her birthday while we were in town, too!

We decided to make Grandma Betty 39 this year

Blowing out the candles

A few of Sam's old friends were in town at the same time, and we had a great time catching up with everyone.





We originally thought we might stay 2 or 3 weeks, but we stuck around for the reptile show, which was pretty interesting, both for the animals and the people watching. Sam Sr. and Thomas had a booth, and it was fun to see them in business.

Chameleon yoga

Frog belly

At the church picnic

Brothers saying goodbye

Silly porch picture of the Covington men on our last day in Charleston

Awesome shrub on the scenic route out of Charleston

Thou shalt not covet... thou shalt not covet... thou shalt not covet...

We took the scenic route on the way home, stopping in little towns when an antique mall or flea market caught our eye.



We stopped for two hours at a large antique mall in Leeds, Alabama, where I made my first ever jadeite purchase for a steal! If you don't know jadeite, it is a rare and coveted kind of glass which just happens to be my favorite color. It's typical for a mixing bowl to cost over $100, and for something small like a cereal bowl to cost $40 or so. Meanwhile, I got a jadeite canister for $10. How? The lid was pretty badly damaged and repaired, but I decided I liked the container just as much without a lid, so I bought it anyway. It's the perfect size for storing my colored pencils. I have no idea if it's worth more than what I paid, but it was definitely worth the price tag to me.



I also got two screen printed vintage tumblers to match one I've been using for a couple years. It has always been a favorite of mine, and someday I'll collect enough to make a set.



We've made the trip from Midland to Charleston 5 times or so, but we've always done it in one long, 23-24 hours straight drive. This time, we drove straight to Charleston, which seemed harder than it ever has before. Is it because we're getting older, or because we've been spoiled by the shorter drives we took all over New Zealand? I'm not sure, but I was so happy we got to split up the return drive into 4 segments.

We stayed 2 nights in Atlanta with Sam's aunt, uncle and cousin, 1 night at a CouchSurfer's house in Jackson, and 1 night with my friend Erin and her boyfriend John outside of Dallas. It was so nice to be able to take it slow for once, and to see all these great people along the way. We met up with Sam's old friend Bandi in Atlanta, as well as one of my college roommates, Karolina. In Dallas we brunched with Erin and Cole, a friend of mine from high school who reminded me we haven't met face to face in a decade.



Overall, it was an amazing trip and some unforgettable things happened while we were there. It feels great to be home again, but I'm already looking forward to the next Covington reunion.