Lake Seminole

The plan was to take my 90 year old grandparents to the cabins at Lake Seminole and have the whole family there for the weekend....We had two cabins and the Treehouse in the middle of the woods all reserved.  Sadly, my grandfather started having some slurred speech on Thursday before we were to leave and ended up in the hospital all weekend...my dad's "non-camping" sister and husband took very good care of Granny and Granddad and encouraged the rest of us to keep our reservations at Lake Seminole.  Turns out, Granddad is very healthy and the doctor said after running many tests that he can now go run an marathon:)  We were all SOOOOO sad they missed it but enjoyed the time together with cousins from Jacksonville.  All the kids love nature so frogs, lizards, fish, and birds were the big hit! 

Emily taught herself how to kayak all over the lake

Cousin Mark caught a huge catfish off the dock early one morning

Kids couldn't stay out of the water

Taking a hike

The newly engaged couple...

This is the treehouse in the middle of the woods that some of our party slept in....including John, Emily, and John Daniel.   Molly and I opted for the beds in the cabin!

bananas, animal crackers, and peanut butter make a great Noah's Ark....Thanks NeeNaw!

Pop Pop liked it too

John Daniel's Pioneer Party

While spending time over at our friend's house in Madison one weekend, we came up with a fabulous idea...to combine our boys' birthdays and have a good ole country pioneer party with food, archery, shooting range, outdoor fun, and friends!  What a great time we had celebrating my boy's 8th birthday and our friend Grayson's 6th birthday!  They both LOVE anything outdoors and anything rough and tumble.  John Daniel told me coming home that it was his best birthday ever!  I think the families that participated really enjoyed it as well...especially the dads!  We had them bring pumpkins, guns, ammo, and targets and let everyone safely shoot at the homemade shooting range in our friends' backyard. 

The birthday boys!

The cooks

What a fun way to spend a Saturday...friends and food!

Mr. Jeff giving safety instructions!  This birthday party definitely was a different sort...live ammo and arrows!

The boys with their war paint on

archery station

Gun range station...the dads were super cautious and super alert....the idea was to invite families that were already "gun aware" and ones where the dad could come along and help.

Weapon of choice was a Ruger 10-22 rifle.  We had three!~

I have to say...and John loves to talk about it...John Daniel is one great shot!  He is really good at target shooting!  They shot at pumpkins, clay targets, paper targets, and milk jugs.  I even had a go!

Target cake and birthday boys!

Today was my sweet boy's birthday and we continued to celebrate with family...cake, apple pie, ice cream and presents tonight at our house...

cousin love!  John Daniel had a fabulous birthday.  He is really into legos right now and received tons of Legos!  He also got some really nice clothes, money, a DS game, a model plane, a Lego organizer, and a PAPER SHREDDER which he really wanted!  He loves to watch the machine and how it works....so funny!  J.D. is such a blessing and I get told on a weekly basis what a fine young man he is, what a hardworker he is, and what a joy he is...I would have to agree!  Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Who needs FB when you have such awesome long time friends!

Today was my birthday!  I celebrated the weekend with my girls.  First Emily and I went out of town on a mother/daughter retreat by ourselves to the beach...it was great.  We were both very relaxed, talked a lot, slept a lot, and ate good food.  I look forward to many more times with my big girl!  We came home to be reunited with our little girl, Molly.  The whole family...my parents, grandparents, and girls took me to Vertigo burger joint (hamburgers so good they make your head spin).  My boys were on a Father/Son camping trip to St. Andrews all weekend.  Sunday church was awesome and then two of my besties took me out to lunch at Momo's with all the daughters (all of the men/boys were still camping).  I received messages/emails/texts from Amanda, Rebecca, Brother Nic, Lorie, Ann, Abbie, Harriet, Debi, Sis in Law Edi, Papa and Mama, Karen, and more wishing me a Happy Birthday.  The reason I list names is this.....I have really great friends and family...I am so blessed.  When on FACEBOOK, you receive about 100 Happy Birthday messages because FB reminds you that it is someone's birthday....I will say that I thought about that 4 weeks ago when I deactivated my account..."Man, I won't see the yearly FB messages from "friends" wishing me a Happy Birthday."  Well, I'm here to say that I didn't miss a thing...my birthday was great, my wonderful friends blessed me and I truly know what it means to have the greatest family and friends on the earth...that face to face, personal contact through a call and or visit is so important...and I need to remember this as my friends have birthdays as well....who needs FB when true friends make such a difference in your life:)