Jump Rope Camp.......and my first attempt at adding a video.

Jumping for joy in the summertime!

Our 25th Anniversary

For our 25th wedding anniversary,

Brian and I decided to check out

Cabbage Key.

We reserved this cute little cottage.

The only way to get there is by boat.

And since we don't have one, we took the ferry.

We were both impressed with the quiet.

I guess you never realize how much traffic noise

there is in town, until you are far removed from it.

Inside our cottage were hundreds of shells lining the walls.

On closer inspection we discovered that couples had written

their names and anniversary dates on their shells.

What a great idea!

We found a shell on Cabbage Key and made it our own.

So if you are ever in the little cottage,

look to the left of the window...

and there it will be.  

The cat needs a name.

As anyone would suspect, naming an animal is serious business.

~ and everyone has opinions ~  

We finally settled on First Timothy.

Our preacher was giving us a lesson from

 I Timothy the day we found him.

And, thankfully, he is a boy.

So Timmy it is.

Or as Matthew calls him; T-Dog.

And, no, there is not a Second Timothy.

In the Bible, yes.

On our farm, no.

Church Cat

It was a normal Sunday morning.

We got up, fed the animals,

got ready for church, and went.

During the service, when our song leader told the congregation

that there were kittens in the parking lot 

that had crawled out from under a car; 

it never occurred to me that it would affect me.

Personally.

Ahem.  Well.

It did.

As we were minding our own business,

and starting to leave the parking lot after services,

my darling daughter Ranae pointed and screamed,

"There is a kitten under that car!"

What does a person do in that instance?

Well.  We did what most people would do.

We stopped and tried to help get the kitten out from under the car.

And then we took it home.

That's what most people would do.

Right?

All My Kids 2014

If I think it's hard to get 5 children to all smile,

look at the camera,

 and have their eyes open at the same time,

then adding 6 goats does complicate matters.

Sometimes we have to stop.....

wipe the goat kiss off,

and try again.  

6 Mile Slough Field Trip

^

Today Sarah's second grade class

took a field trip to our 6 Mile Slough.

They have these wonderful boardwalks

in among the trees and up above the swamp.

We looked and saw all kinds of wildlife.

At one point, I noticed a squirrel 

and it seemed he was laughing at me.

I really thought he was laughing.

But it was just a nut.

We had a volunteer walk with us

and she helped us find and identify

so many plants and animals.

We really wanted to see an alligator.

And later on, below the boardwalk,

we saw tracks in the mud from an alligator.

It was cool under the canopy.

And it was cool under the pavilions.

And then it was time for lunch.

Show Time!

Today my oldest daughter left on her Outward Bound trip

in the wilderness of North Carolina.

And my youngest daughter performed in her 

ballet studio's Spring Show.

They both were looking forward to it.