Canton, GA and Molly

 This past weekend, Evie, Granna, Linda, and I drove to Canton, GA to attend Aiden's senior football game.  Evie and I hadn't been down there since Zach's senior game, so we were long overdue for a visit.  I checked Evie out of school early on Thursday and we picked up Granna and Linda.  We stopped for dinner in Alabama and made it into Canton in the late evening.  

Evie was thrilled that Molly, Lydia's dog, seemed to be interested in hanging with her.  Molly even slept with her on the air mattress, filling her need for a stuffy to snuggle with, but even better because it was a real animal.

Evie and Molly on the couch

Friday, I had to work about 6 hours, so Granna, Kristy, and Linda watched Evie swim in the pool for a while and then we headed out for lunch and some shopping.  Kristy checked Lydia out of school early so she got to come too.  Then we went back to the house for some rest before the football game.

At the game, we cheered Aiden on during his name being called, and then settled in with some stadium burgers and sno-cones.  After a while, Evie got a little overwhelmed with the noise/cheering/crowd.  She flinched every time there was a big cheer from the crowd.  I suggested to her that she try cheering too, but she said that didn't help.  Then a couple of minutes later, she said to me, "Maybe if I understood what was happening, I'd feel better.  Could you explain it to me?"  So I explained the rules of football to her as each play was happening, guiding her to look at the scoreboard and the flagmen (if that's what they're called) to see what down we were on and how many yards were left to go.  She really got into it and understood when we were supposed to cheer and joined in with the rest of the crowd.  She thanked me for explaining it to her and said it made her feel a lot better.  I told her I was proud of her for thinking about a solution to her discomfort that didn't involve leaving or "just dealing".  We did leave early, though, because we were both exhausted.

Saturday we went to the park where Lydia was leading some elementary school girls in cheer.  Evie played with some other girls, and then we went back to Kristy's house, then headed out for shopping and dinner at Chuy's.  We left on Sunday morning, so it was a brief trip but great to be there with family and see Aiden play.

I did a terrible job of getting pictures this trip!  I can't believe I didn't get any of Evie with her (well, my) cousins!  I did get some of her enjoying the pool in the backyard.

Aiden's senior football pic

Molly enjoying sweet tea - I mean water