Happy Belated 4th of July!

May we continue to remain an independent country and not become dependent!

The weekend began with us traveling north to spend the weekend with mom and dad. It was pouring cats and dogs with a few small rodents thrown in and amongst there
upon arrival.
Just as quickly as it began it subsided....but not without leaving Jay a new found toy!


I told Michael when the weather cleared he and his dad needed to go out in the boat and fish ... they didn't want to. Next, it turned into me encouraging him to go kayak fishing. Then, it turned into Mike and I going kayak fishing. I was refusing as Jay was a mini monster...he wanted desperately to climb the blocked off stairs...all to no avail. I was being prodded by my inlaws...and for that I am grateful! Quick check of the radar showed the storms had all passed. Off we went to Yankeetown to fish! We stopped for some bait and then hit the water paddling. I had a lot of bites and some stinker kept taking my bait. Then, as the sun was going down I threw up into an oyster bed and caught a beautiful sheepshead.

It's beautiful until it opens it's mouth! Weird stuff right there!

Now, that's just weird! Seriously...this is NOT photo shopped!

Neither of these are pics of my fish...but I wanted to show you what it looked like. It was about 14 inches and a definite keeper, but I gave it to some Mexicans who were fishing the banks as we only caught one keeper fish.

Then it was home again to a sleeping child and wonderful babysitters!

The next morning was 4th of July! Jayda pulled out all the stops with her jammies!

Then it was off to the pool for some fun! Jay stands on the porch and says "set,go!!!" and Jake and Jayda respond by jumping in and doing some sort of acrobat. Jacob did the nestea plunge...once...and I missed the shot, but caught him at the beginning. No amount of begging could get him to redo it again for photo shoot purposes!
I love this picture of Jayda...she really does not pose for me. So self-conscious. I love it when she let's go and becomes a little carefree in front of the camera.
Does this child remind you of Mogli from the story the Jungle Book? He has shot up and thinned out so much!
Just imagine, "set, go!"
Jay is a stinker about the TV. We had to move the table in front to keep him from doing it...but he knows how. Notice the pool noodles as safety precautions...we should have patented this idea...LOL. It is on every sharp corner in our house and the grandparents houses!


The goggles are a constant...he wears them all the time. Oh, and as for the clothes...he strips those down and BEGS to go "smimming"!

His new water wings!



By the end of the weekend, he could maneuver his body around and would keep his head up and mouth closed upon encouragement. A great feat in that he used to just drink the water and choke on it.

I had done some research on what to do in Ocala for the 4th. There is not much to do in Ocala on the day of the holiday...except for an activity called God and Country. It was "free"...except we had to pay a dollar to park. WTH? Now mind you, a dollar is not a big deal...but they advertised it for free. My guess is something sneaky was going on there...and someone was making money??? Could have been the guy who took our money and had a tatoo of the numbers 5150 across h
is forehead and eyebrow measuring about 3 inches by 6 inches....SCARY!!! What were we getting into?!?! hahaha
Well, we park and get out in ankle deep grass in an old pasture and head to the "festivities" a few food vendors, a few games, some kiddie things, a helicopter pad, and camels you can ride!?! Yes, I said Camels.
Jacob and Jayda have now officially lived...they have ridden a camel!





Then it was back through to a funnel cake stand...where they weren't so ready for customers yet, and a roach was running around the table, and the guy was making it with no gloves on and touching the batter...okay, I better stop here. I just hope oil at 300* kills everything!!!!
Then of course, you can't leave without a sno-cone!

Traipse back out across the field and pile back in the vehicle. Where we all agree, that we never need to go back to that place again. Although, who would have thought you would ride a camel in Ocala...horse country!?!

Back to the house for some more swimming...errrr...kayaking!!!



Does it get any more American than apple pie and corn on the cob???





We ended the evening by playing trivial pursuit and watching Jay. He can be so entertaining. Remember that flyswatter he is always playing with? Well, he took hold of it, walked over to the lamp shade and started whacking it with the swatter and dust was flying everywhere. Immediately Mom was mortified(for those of you who do not know....her home is gorgeous and very well kept!) yet somehow she never imagined she would need to dust the lamp shades weekly...after all, not too many folks do! Well, we laughed and laughed til we were all crying. It was funny, mortifying, and well downright naughty of him to be doing...we know this. But, it was just so funny! All laughed and still are talking about it today!
Out to set off some fireworks and do the holiday right!
The next post will be of the Kayak trip Jayne and I took down the Rainbow River!