M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

Greg actually got Memorial Day off and so we decided to throw the baby in the car and hightail it out of Georgia! Where should we go? I know...where the weather is hotter and the humidity is unbearable...Mississippi! 

We thought Julia should meet her great grandmas, aka Greg's grandmas, since they are the only living grandparents on both of our sides. Fortunately they both live in Mississippi about 3 hours apart from each other. Did you know Greg was Mississippi bred? (Notice I did not say inbred.) 

Greg got out of work late Friday night, so we stopped at the cheapest hotel in Tuscaloosa, AL. Needless to say, it was pretty gross.

Julia got her own queen-sized bed which she thought was pretty cool.

Um yeah, that is a huge crack in the ceiling and a whole lot of dirt on the wall. We thought we'd better get Julia used to the fact that her parents are cheapskates right off the bat. We like to tell our little baby girl, "Only the cheapest for you!"

We headed to Forest, MS Saturday morning and got there in time for lunch. The minute Grandma McAlpin (Betty's mom) held Julia, Julia just smiled and beamed at her. It was adorable!

Seriously adorable.

Grandma McAlpin is 92-years-old, and she made us a 9-course lunch for just the three of us. Greg had warned me that his grandma makes more food than could possibly be consumed by a human, but I didn't believe him until I had lunch at her house. And he tells me that this was a light lunch compared to her younger days. We had fruit salad, potato salad, butter beans, sausage, rice/jalapeno/corn casserole, creamed corn, celery with pimento cheese, rolls, and barbecue ribs. Unbelievable!

Grandma McAlpin's father owned a chicken dynasty in Forest, MS with lots of chicken coops and a chicken packaging plant called "Lady Forest Farms." Greg would come and visit his grandparents here every year when it was a thriving chicken farm.

Greg told me how he used to shoot guns at this here pond.

And this is a now empty chicken coop. The orange feeders would drop down to chicken-level.

A Kansas girl at heart, I always love me a big ole tractor!

Greg was so happy to show me around.

And since it was Memorial Day, we went to visit the gravesite of his Papa (pronounced Pa-Paw) McAlpin. He sounds like he was the most amazing grandpa and spoiled those Dahl kids rotten. He even bought ponies for his farm so his grandkids could ride them when they came to visit!

The now-closed-down Lady Forest Farms chicken packaging plant. The woman's silhouette is rumored to be Betty's. I'm not sure why it's a rumor. 

Okay, so funny story. This fall I was talking to my cousin Ashley who had just moved to Mississippi for her husband's job. 

I said, "Where is Mike working?" 

She said, "Oh, just a small town in MS...you wouldn't know it. Forest, MS." 

I said, "SHUT UP! That is where Greg's grandma lives!!!!"

How random is that? So we spent Saturday night with them and got to meet Ashley and Mike's adorable 2-yr-old daughter Lizzy.

Ashley, Mike and Lizzy

2nd cousins Lara and Ashley

3rd cousins Julia and Lizzy

Greg fell in love with Lizzy as he does with all little girls. Such a sucker!

Sunday morning we drove to Oxford, home of Ole Miss, to see Grandma Dahl (Tom's mom).

Julia was a bit grumpy when they first met, but quickly warmed up to her wonderful great grandma!

And we gave her a bath in Grandma Dahl's little blue bathroom sink. It was adorable!

Grandma Dahl is no slouch in kitchen either and spoiled us rotten with amazing foods. I don't know why Greg ever married me with his grandmas setting such a high standard of cooking. If it takes longer than 15 minutes and has more than 5 ingredients, I'm out!

We had the best time hanging out with grandmas and having them shower the three of us with love and good southern cooking!

And I'm sure you're all wondering...Julia was a perfect angel the whole trip. She slept the entire time we drove and never made a peep. She's not a very good napper at home, so those long day naps were some of my best parenting moments so far!