another reason to be thankful and why my mother-in-law may never agree to keep her youngest grandson again

I think wish I had a picture of what happened today ... but then again, maybe I don't.

Ronnie and I left the Thanksgiving festivities with his family around 3 this afternoon to head home and get ready for our trip this weekend (see my last post). We had only been gone for about an hour when the phone rang. His mom calling us while we are on the road is not unusual, however, it only took about a minute into this conversation before I knew that something unusual had happened and only about a minute more to realize exactly what that something was.

Let me just tell you at this point - just so you know - Ronnie's mom is terrified of water. Trust me, this will be important later.

As usual, Thanksgiving lunch happened at the home of Ronnie's aunt and uncle. They have a beautiful home on a bayou off of the Back Bay in Gulfport. Today was a lovely day and some of us enjoyed lunch on the porch before the kids headed out to play in the yard. After lunch, the adults headed into the living room for coffee and conversation while the kids played. We could see the kids and even cautioned them a couple of times for playing too near the pool, but even with all of our warnings, D ~ our little hurricane ~ managed to step into the pool. No harm done, just a wet boot and a kid worried that Daddy was going to be mad at him.

Fast forward a couple of hours. Ronnie and I are on the road, having left the kids playing safely in their cousin's room, inside the house. But the beautiful day was too much for the kids and they were allowed to go back outside with the admonition to play in the garage or driveway, but not by the pool.

But, kids will be kids, you know.

So, while the two older kids (ages 8 & 7) watched, my 4 year old tried to use a pool net to rescue a pair of shoes from the pool.

I know ~ you can see where this is going, can't you ...

He managed to save one shoe just before falling in the pool.

Thankfully, the adults were very close and the older kids had the presence of mind to get an adult rather than try to rescue D on their own.

The down side ~ I am sure that we owe Ronnie's uncle a new pair of shoes.

The up side ~ we found out that our little hurricane can tread water.

So, what does a 4 year old say as he is being fished out of a pool on Thanksgiving day? Well, here's what mine said:

I'm okay, I'm okay, Granny ... please don't tell Daddy!

So on this Thanksgiving night, I have something new to be thankful for. No harm done, just a wet, and hopefully forgiving, uncle and a wet kid, still worried that his Daddy is going to be mad at him.