'Taking Care of Business and Florida Fun' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Taking Care of Business and Florida Fun"

• To keep the tree business going while he is recovering from shoulder surgery, Gil has help from his boys. Their job for the day is to cut down a tall pine tree.
• Lawson wants to ride in the cherry picker bucket, something he has never done. Nathan ends up filling the role.
• “It’s pretty cool being out with the gang and cutting trees and just working in the sun,” says Nathan. “It’s more like fun than work.”
• At the Paines’ house, Erin and Chad discuss plans to fit four kids in one bedroom.  “When we had Zach, we were in a little one-bedroom house,” explains Gil. “Then we moved to a two-bedroom. We were like eight kids in an 800-square-foot house.”
• After Holland moves out of Erin and Chad’s room at five or six months old, Everly will move out of the crib onto a trundle that pulls out from under the bunk bed. “As far as the timeline for finding a house, Carson’s four, and you really don’t want your little boy sharing a room with girls for a long time,” says Erin. “I mean, he needs his own space. So I know that it’s going to have to be in the next year for sure.”
• “I honestly love a small house,” continues Erin. “I mean, I love the fact that it’s easy to organize. All I want is one extra bedroom and one extra bathroom.” She and Chad are open to flipping an old house that has charm, but they are also searching for possible property to build on.
• Gil and Kelly arrive at the Websters’ place in Clermont, Florida. “As parents, you long to just stay in close fellowship with your children, with your grandchildren,” says Kelly.
• Kelly brings the girls crafts, and Gil brings them princess dresses that he found at a discount store. Gil cooks with Zoey in the play kitchen while Kelly does crafts with Allie and Lexi.
• “Every night at 5:00, as soon as he got home from work was playtime with Dad while Mom cooked,” says Michael.
• “I can look back in my life and remember the people that were grownups that got down on my level, and that just really speaks volumes,” says Gil.
• Later, they walk around the downtown area of Winter Garden. Gil, also known as “PawPaw,” gets a haircut from John’s barber, Earl Brigham. Earl is deaf, but Gil is able to use the little bit of sign language that his dad taught him to communicate.
• “He’s cut my hair since I had hair,” says John of Earl. “One time I went somewhere else, when Earl was out of town. Never again.” John grew up with Earl’s children. He and Alyssa are teaching the girls sign language.
• After the haircut, they have a picnic, prepared by Alyssa. “If it was me and Gil, we would carry everything to the table in grocery bags and just plop it in,” says Kelly. “Whatever container it came in, that’s the container you’re going to eat out of.” Alyssa thinks of everything, even decorations for the table.
• During lunch, they discuss Alyssa heart problems and two surgeries. “Alyssa had some heart issues, and the doctor said most likely she was born with it, but it did not show up until this last pregnancy,” says Kelly.
• The first surgery failed, but the doctor thinks that the second surgery was successful in treating the initial problem, which was life-threatening. However, Alyssa is now having symptoms of AFib. “My heart just is more sensitive and I’m noticing more because of the surgeries, and it’s not something that’s like life-threatening,” she says.
• “Alyssa is the strongest human you’ll ever meet, much less the strongest woman I know,” says John. “Watching her battle all these health issues and still stay strong is amazing. Makes me feel like a little wimp.”