Friday night was the long awaited repeat party for Lydia. Since she kinda "missed" her 21st party a few weeks ago Debra gave her a new one and called it the Rednecks Gone Wild Party.



It was alittle hard to dress up since this is pretty much the way we look normally, but we tried.

Kim and Tammy

John and Turtle, redneck newlyweds.

Tammy and Debra

Jack and Gina

They are such a good couple, she continues to amused at his antics.

Have Mercy!

How many rednecks does it take to operate one of these da*% digital thangs?

I can to play with the palm tree if I want to!

Ben began keeping score of the people that petered out early.

Tammy was first, but look, she went down with a smile on her face.

Lydia, are you feeling OK? I would hate for Ben to check you off on the petering list.

Gone

Lydia is back in the game, you go girl.

This is how Dale plays pool redneck style. Is that the right end of the poolstick?

Well, looks like it worked.

The Pitts Clan Finally Comes For A Visit

My brother and his family finally had the opportunity to join us this weekend. his work schedule makes it tricky but it finally feel into place. My brother and I went thru a hard time between Thanksgiving and Christmas but the old saying about something good coming out of everything sure is true. I thought Merritt and I were close before but our grandpa gave us a gift when he left us on Christmas. The gift was our time spent together with him that taught us we were more than sister and brother, we were FRIENDS. They arrived Friday night. Saturday morning we went for a walk along the Aucilla Sinks. I am so glad that they could come.

Trip was trying out his waterproof boots.

Hannah was hesitant at first, but she sure got the hang of it quick.

Sarah is happy to follow Hannah.

Merritt nearly had a mishap. The camera was ready but believe it or not he found his footing. It would have been a shame for him to get wet since he was just beginning to thaw out after last night in the camper.

Even though Trip is getting help across he still has to give it a little jump of his own.

Sarah gets a helping hand across.

Hannah is too big for a helping hand. Check out Trip on the far right. He was having a blast.

After explaining to the kids that Black Bears live in these woods, they were on the look-out. Fortunately, this was the only bear we spotted close-up today. I tried tricking the kids several times with "bear sign" but they are too smart for me and never fell for it.

Dead Man's Sink

Hannah was about to bounce and Sarah had just seen the camera. Watch out, she hates it when she sees the lens aimed at her, even though I wasn't taking her picture, I was trying to catch Hannah.

The three of them were really good about taking turns. Trip had just landed and was on his way back to the line.

Poor Debra, Mark is a slave driver. He's driving (or attempting to), Lydia is taking a picture and little ol' Debra is pulling them out. She's stronger than she looks!

Ben's in the background doing God knows what, you would think he could help Debra.

I rode on this trailer for a very short time, it was rough! Finally, I decided to ride in the back of the Polaris and Trip took my seat. He and Monica look pretty happy despite the constant bouncing. We made memories this weekend that we will all cherish a lifetime. I hope it is just the beginning.

Back To The Campfire After A Day Full Of Exploring

It is really fun to explore and find new interesting places but there is an experience that is even more rewarding. Showing it to someone else. We have been thru this area 3 times now but that did not damper the excitement I felt while showing it to my brother and his family.

Hannah was alittle tired at the beginning of this trip which amounts to be honery for all children. We worked hard to cheer her up for awhile, nothing seemed to work. We stopped at my favorite site for looking for arrowheads. After a few minutes Hannah decided to see what all the excitement was about. She finally wandered out to where I was . I showed her a few pieces of flint and pottery that had washed to the surface after last week's rain and she was hooked. She and I had a wonderful time. This picture was taken on the final stretch back to the camper, she was definitely enjoying her dad's company.

Once we were back at the "hunting camp" (named by Trip) we were ready for a fire. Duck was ready with a little diesel. Merritt was backing up. After playing mad scientist last year, he's not much on fire and explosions. Trip was excited. The entire time the fire was burning he was bringing moss, tree limbs, palm leaves, plastic, whatever to the fire. I promise you there was nothing left on the ground to burn within a 50 feet radius of that fire. He stayed so close for so long that he chapped his face pretty good.

This picture was taken just seconds after the one above. Diesel lights pretty fast. INSTANT HEAT.

Zelda was enjoying the heat. Once again we were invaded by Duck's family Lawrence, Paul, Buddy and his wife. It sure is nice when they are around cause I love hearing all their stories. We learned this weekend that their mother was 4'10" and still managed to raise 11 children.

This is see-sawing Goose Pasture style. It looks like a broken-arm waiting to happen. Luckily no one got hurt. You can spend a lot of money on toys but they usually have more fun with something homemade like this.

This is a rare photo that Sarah actually LET us take her picture.