a day in the woods...

Cattle rustlers & team penners

It was family day, for some by force. But we won't talk about that. He was glad he went in the end. Anyway – we went, as a family, and helped/participated/watched in a benefit team penning for a local boys/girls home. As hot as it was, it was fun and we are ready to do it again. Every one of us.

Just look at that arena – it's so quiet and calm as the cowboys all walk down to begin the process of moving and tagging the cattle. The cattle had to be numbered for this event. Cattle don't like to be numbered and I think on some level I can relate with that. I think I just admitted that I can relate to a cow. Please ignore that.

They didn't particularly like being crammed up into a little bitty pen and forced down a chute single file. They really did not like the single file part. Cattle are the darndest things. They all wanted to be first. Now, if I was a cow, I'm thinking that I'd just go on and let the rest of them beat me to whatever fate waited for me at the end. But there I go again, thinking like a cow. Or trying to at least.

That's the "other end" where their fate awaits them. Lucky for them, today, it was only getting a number strapped around their neck. That's Dr. D – the head honcho of the entire event. He did an amazing job organizing and getting it all together. And the cowboy on the right there, is a stranger to these parts – he looks familiar, but I can't quite place him. Hmmm….who could that be?

Now we have more cowboys congregating at "the end" trying to determine the most effective method of strapping the numbers on. The cattle, meanwhile, are getting a little restless. And I'm thinking #1 in line is regretting his own hastiness to get to the front right about now. Hey, I see Hubby from my bird's eye view over there on the left. Hey Hubby!!! Wave at me! He was too busy doing cowboy type thinking to notice his wife with the camera.

And so it begins. And there's that stranger again. Who let him in? The cowboy on the left doing the numbering is MDN from over at A Nichols Worth. They made it a family day too. But when they make things a family day – they do it right. That stranger? That's MDN's brother Cowboy Reese. And were we ever so glad that Cowboy Reese was with us today! He was the only one who thought to bring gloves. Just check out where his hands are and you'll see why that is important in this whole process. Cowboy Reese had his girls with him, all 5 of them. Sweet ones they are too.

Yes, I'm thinking that we'll just let Cowboy Reese and Cowboy Matt have the job of holding the tail end. Although, I will insert here that I did not escape un"dirtied". Sweet Baby was fascinated by the whole process. We stood not 2 feet away from the chutes. He reached up and wanted to pet one of them and came back with a handful of poop. Nice, fresh, warm poop. And then proceeded to wipe it down the side of himself. We made a mad dash for the restroom to take a quick bath in the sink. He left a little behind on me and I smelled lovely the rest of the day. Good thing I was in the bird's nest.

And there's Hubby – he got the job of moving them down the line. I think he enjoyed that job until the cattle were not content with their place in line. Here, I'll show you what I mean.

Number 4 decided he didn't like where he was – he needed a new spot. He's doing the leap frog right over the one in front of him. I told Cowboy Reese he was letting them get all out of order and messing up the whole system, but he {seriously} looked at me like I was crazy. I am not a fan of getting things out of order, he should know that. And now he does.

As you can see, it takes lots of help to number cattle. Thank goodness we weren't putting those earring looking things in their ears – I would think that would hurt, but I've never asked them. Maybe I should. Hubby keeps wanting to put one on 50 Head, but I won't let him. I'm protecting her.

And then this happened. #4 decided that he did not want to go any further. He was done. So he sat down in the chute. Try as they may, these cowboys could not get him to budge.

And the more they beat on him, the more irritated he got. They were trying everything. They even broke out the shocker thing. I stayed waaaay back when they were using that.

This cow seriously almost lost 2 ears. Didn't seem to help.

Their faces, their drenched with sweat shirts just say it all. To me, this was the fun part but I'm sure to the cowboys trying to figure out how to get him out of there, it wasn't so fun.

How about this way? Um, no. Not working either Cowboy Hubby. K1 has joined the spectator crowd. He's as curious as we are to see how this ends up.

AAHH!!!! No! K1! Don't do it! You don't have gloves! Let Cowboy Reese in there to grab that tail. Eeewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!

Evidently that was the magic formula because he jumped up and bolted. I think the rest of the cows behind #4 learned their lesson – not a one of them sat down in the chutes after that.

As you can see, we had all kinds of help just standing around waiting to be shouted an order by one of the cowboys. Not me, my job was catching it all on film.

I tell you one thing – if there was anyone in their element, ever, it was my husband on this day. He loves this kind of stuff and longs for the day when he can own his own ranch, stocked with cattle. That day isn't on the near horizon so he's not quitting his day job just yet. For now we have 50 Head and that's plenty. But when he gets to do this kind of stuff, it always rekindles that desire in him to be able to do it full time.

They have to move them quietly down the arena and through the "penning" pen so that the cattle know to go in the pen. Then they take them back to the other end to wait for the teams to come and sort them and try their hand at penning a certain 3.

Awww! The little man got to work the cows too for a little while. I think he and Daddy will be thick as thieves when it's time to be riding horses. They are thick as thieves as it is, but when it comes to horses and cows, Sweet Baby will not be left behind, no matter what.

The team penners gathered and had a meeting of the minds before the event. Really I think they were all standing around texting each other because they have forgotten any other method of communication.

Dr. D meets with the judges in the bird's nest. That's where I was stationed during the competition. I was a time keeper. Because I couldn't hold a stop watch and a camera – well, I could have done it but I was afraid some parents might question the validity of their kids' times – so I relinquished my camera to some of the Nichols' Worth family in hopes of capturing my kids in action. Here is what I did not expect:

Can you say absolutely priceless? My heart melted, on the spot, when I saw this. Something about seeing my oldest, side by side, with our youngest just made everything complete for that one moment. If I died today, it would really be ok. In my oldest I see the past 16 years – all that our family has gone through, all that our marriage has gone through, all that God has taught me from raising 3 kids. And then along comes our youngest, Sweet Baby, and he represents all that is to come, all the memories yet to build together as a family. Together they are my life from beginning to end and everything in between.

K2's team was up first. They came in slow and steady. They were ready to get to work. Their job: cut the 3 cattle with their designated number, take them to the other end of the arena and pen them, without allowing the rest of the herd to cross the "foul line". And lots of other minor rules that, apparently, are essential to completing the task. Just ask M1.

For K2's team, it was not to be. They had too many trash cows. Trash cows are cows that are not their designated number.

And their run was over. Just like that. This scene played over and over throughout the competition. Those cattle were tricky. Only 3 teams were able to pen at least one cow.

K3's team suffered the same fate. But they were oh, so close! They had it going for a while. K3 totally disagreed with the judge's call, but he only expressed that to me, I hope. I told him I wasn't the judge and he just had to accept the call, like anything else. He got over it pretty quick.

He works hard at whatever he does, this child of mine. He didn't even want to give up when the judge gave them the flag. I'm proud of the efforts of both my kids. They did well.

I'm thinking her sweet friend took this picture of her. This was right about the time when the cattle had to be moved and she was designated "pedestrian patrol". She did a good job at that too.

It was a fun day spent raising money for a good cause. It made me leave wanting to find other ways of helping out. I know God will provide the right opportunities at the right time. For now, I am blessed to be involved in the lives of some of the kids that live at the boys and girls home. They have touched my life and changed me.

This is what we do too

Isn't my little firecracker cute?! We have also done lots and lots and lots of baseball this summer. K1, so far, has played on 2 different summer teams and 1 more to go.

I know, it's blurry. But you know what I'm going to blame that on don't you? That's right, that darn fence.

This is what she does during the games. Actually, I thought it was a picture of her texting on her cell phone. I just realized it's her camera. Rare.

More baseball fans. That's my dad next to my hubby.

Be still my heart. I love watching him play.

"Run, Forest! Run!" His name is not really Forest. That's just what goes through my head every time he takes off running. Sometimes it comes out of my mouth and then I just look around as if some other idiot in the crowd yelled it and I'm trying to figure out who just like everyone else.

And this is what Sweet Baby does when he gets hot. He bums snow cone bites off his brother. What a sweet brother!

What's wrong in this picture? Hint: it has nothing to do with his form.

I could do baseball year round. I mean, I could be a baseball fan year round. I'm not sure my oldest is a fan of year round play. To him, everything has a time and a season. And baseball is no exception. That's ok. I'll take what I can get when I can get it.

This is what we do

June was busy. Beyond busy. If not for the camera, I would not have remembered much of it because it was fast and furious. Rockport was only the beginning. Good thing we start our summer off with an early vacation because I'm not sure we could squeeze it in anywhere else. There ought to be a law…

Anyway, this is how we started our summer and how we will end our summer – drill team competition. As you can see, from my conveniently labeled photo, two of my K's are participating in drill and, also conveniently, are on the same team. Yes, those are pink scarves around their necks. Yes, K3 had a slight issue with that, but not much. When he heard that their theme for this ride was Pink Panther, he was okay with it. They looked sharp!

That's M1 in the front, K2 right next to her. Yep, M1 is on the drill team too! She came in as a true 12^th man. She completed the team and has amazed all of us. She's quite the rider.

K2 & Jules. We are so proud of how well she has done on this 3 year old.

I love this kid. I love the other ones too. Something about this one that melts my heart when he smiles at me.

And check them out all dressed up for their speed drill.

Wow.

Here they are in action. I thought their costumes were stunning. They chose a "ballroom" theme. They looked great.

They did not place as high as they had hoped. 4^th in their first event and 5^th in this event. Something just wasn't right about that. Now, don't accuse me of being a bad sport – we're all good with it now. But we knew they deserved better. When the coaches for 2 of the teams that placed higher than we did came over to us and said, "something's not right" once the placings were announced, we knew they didn't get the recognition they deserved.

That's ok. We're moving on to State later this month. The teams have been busy practicing as much as they can. In this heat, it's exhausting for everyone involved. They are excited though and ready to improve upon their first performance. They are all hard workers and I'm so proud of them!

Parking Lot Clutter

So, it's the end of the trip. We've had a great week. Why are these people sitting on the sidewalk looking worn and weary? Well, the answer lies in the parking lot. All over the parking lot to be more specific.

The story goes something like this – on the day we had to leave, just us mind you – not the rest of the family. On the day we had to be home at a certain time, K2 and I decided that we would be extremely efficient and pack the car while we waited on the guys to return from fishing. That way, all they needed to do was shower and load their bag in the car and we'd be off. We worked so hard – packed it just right. We were all set.

The boys returned, got their stuff together and went out to the car. The girls and I were saying our goodbyes in the hotel room when my mother came in and got my dad and said he was needed immediately. I pretty much ignored it. My mom is known for finding "orphan" animals – I figured it was a crab or a seagull that she needed his help rescuing. You just have to know my mom. Anyway, we said our goodbyes to my brother and his family and walked out the door. This is the picture of what I saw.

UH – helloooo – what is all our stuff doing all over the parking lot! My mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that my dad in his must-pack-it-just-right disorder decided that I had not packed my car efficiently enough so he decided to unpack it and repack it for me. I could just see him viewing that as a favor to me, in his eyes. Seriously – I was thinking that.

My mom set me straight though – she said, "K1 didn't mean to do it – he opened the back of the suburban and it all fell out!"

Oh my. Really. What can you do? Laugh, that's what I did. That'll teach me to have a schedule. I'm learning, really I am. Thankfully, I had my dad the "expert" on packing to rescue the mess. I will admit this here, because my dad is not a blog reader (that I know of), but he actually did pack it way better than I did – I could see out the rearview mirror. Not so with my packing job.

It was a wonderful trip. It's always a fun way to start our summer.

Kayaking & the Fish Fry

Every year our beach trip involves fishing. Whether it's fishing from the pier or fishing with the guide on the boat, there's always fishing. But this year the guys decided to try something new. Something they've always talked about doing but have never done.

Kayaking.

To me, kayaking is like snow boarding or golf – I cannot fathom what would possess someone to actually want to do that. However, my brother has been obsessed with the idea of trying it for the past year. He finally got to "test the water" on this trip. All the boys went – I was extremely leery of letting K1 go, much less K3. All I could picture in my head was them flipping over and drowning because they couldn't get the boat flipped right side up. It's the stuff nightmares are made of. But I have to pick my battles and this was just one of those I wasn't going to win. Besides, I trust my dad and my brother completely.

Can you imagine the sheer relief I felt when I woke up to the sight of completely calm water in the bay that morning? It was the one and only day the entire week that the wind did not blow. That was a God thing. My sister-in-law and I had prayed hard for their safety on that particular day. God was watching out for our guys.

Seriously, would you look at that water? That is just not typical water in the bay. That's K3 in the boat with my brother. Looks like he's got something.

And then there's PawPaw and Thadd. I'm not sure PawPaw is ready to kayak fish again – most definitely not with a guide, or this particular guide. Let's just say the trooper caught onto something that his trained eye is sensitive to.

 

K1 had a boat all to himself. I think he liked the independence of that. Whatever faults the kayak guide had, I have to hand it to him for coming through in the picture department. Did our guys take a camera, noooooo. But the guide was Johnny-on-the-spot and e-mailed these to my dad the other day.

What a great shot! I'm still in awe that the water was so still – we were there 6 days and that just happened to be the day they had scheduled for the kayaks – I don't think that was coincidence.

Normally, near the end of our week, we take the fish that was caught, or some of it anyway, to a local restaurant and they fry it, grill it or bake it – whatever we ask for – and we have a wonderful meal on the water. This year, with all EIGHT grandkids in tow plus one very special guest, I think PawPaw got a little nervous about taking them all to the nice, quiet restaurant. So he made an executive decision – he decided to have his own fish fry right there on the hotel grounds. How original! I thought it was a fabulous idea.

And there is the fish fryer himself. He tested, tested, and retested his batter to get it just right. He didn't want to have it too spicy for the kids. Did I mention there were 9 of them?

It turned out to be a beautiful breezy evening and just right for hanging out near the picnic area. The kids enjoyed running and playing with each other.

Well, the big kid got put to work but I didn't hear him complaining about it. He got to be the official "sampler". That's a good job to have.

The rest of them just ran around or climbed trees – the usual. Have I ever told you that mesquite trees are my very favorite tree? They are.

And here's the obligatory group photo. We didn't get a picture with the entire group so we settled on getting a shot of all the kids. Wow – I just love this.

Oh wait – I blinked. WHAT IS GOING ON? These 2 are not little anymore. Sniff, sniff. I seriously caught my breath when I saw this picture because they both look sooooo grown up. They were both an asset to me on this trip. Hubby not being there was tricky at times. They really stepped in and helped with ALL the younger ones, from baths to swimming to entertaining. I'm so thankful for them.

It's been a fun trip – tomorrow I'll close with the story of the parking lot clutter.

Back at the hotel

After we wore ourselves out at the beach, the hotel was a welcome sight. A nice cool place to rest, nap, swim and play.

There was always something to do, someone that needed to receive a text message. There was no shortage of entertainment.

MeeMaw can always be counted on to supply the little ones with toys. Even the simplest of things, a small torpedo, keeps them busy for hours.

This particular toy was not supplied by MeeMaw, it was supplied by PawPaw. It's ok, it was a Styrofoam sword, even the babies liked to play with it when they could get their hands on it.

And then there are the sea shells to gather. They found some really nice ones. I'm not sure what they are going to do with them, I'm not sure where they ended up actually.

Sweet surprise J Hubby sent these to me on my birthday. You see, he was not on our trip, had to work. This was such a surprise because it's really not like him at all to send flowers. Flowers on the way home that he grabs at Kroger, maybe on Valentine's Day, but never sent by a florist. I love them.

Speaking of birthdays, the entire week is really one big birthday celebration. My sister-in-law, my dad, my oldest and I all have birthdays within the week leading up to and during our annual vacation. We usually pick one night and celebrate them all at once. This year it was toned down a bit, but we still celebrated. Good times.

He looks like a regular just sitting there watching all the action. He's not normally a climber, but for some reason these chairs attracted him. All he wanted to do was climb up and get down and occasionally turn around and grin at everyone to make sure they saw him.

And occasionally he would decide that he needed to get in the pool. When he did, he always made a big splash!

He loved to jump. He would giggle the whole time. He's definitely not afraid of the water, but he's not 100% fearless either – which I think is a good thing.

Then sometimes he would let us contain him in his cousin's float, but not for long. He likes to be free, no constraints.

And then it was time for a snack. He and his cousin sat and enjoyed their "crunchies" together. We love "crunchies". I have no idea what they are – some new baby snack that they've developed which probably cost 3 times as much as it should, but Sweet Baby likes it so we buy it.

But don't run out of "crunchies" before he's done – whoa we were in big trouble here. We gave him the empty can to play with to take his mind off the food. Didn't work so well.

Tomorrow – kayaking and fish fry!

Vacation

Main Entry:

¹va·ca·tion

Pronunciation:

\vā-ˈkā-shən, və-\

Function:

noun

Usage:

often attributive

Etymology:

Middle English vacacioun, from Anglo-French vacacion, from Latin vacation-, vacatio freedom, exemption, from vacare

Date:

14th century

1: a respite or a time of respite from something : intermission2 a: a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended b: a period of exemption from work granted to an employee3: a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation <had a restful vacation at the beach>4: an act or an instance of vacating

You never knew there was so much to one word did you?

Every year my family retreats, or 'vacations', to the beach. I'm really not the "beach type", even though I grew up spending weekends with my grandparents at their beach house near Freeport. I've always thought of the beach as sandy and dirty, not to mention scary with all its creatures located just past the shoreline.

But my dad is an avid fisherman, as are my boys and my brother. So vacationing near the sea is a given. We have been going to Rockport for years now – since K1 was very little, maybe even a year old. It's a sweet little fishing town, not a whole lot of tourist traffic, a lot of retirees. It's quiet. Every year my dad heads home with several numbers for realtors in that area, seriously intending to search for the place in which he will retire. But then it's back to the real world and somehow those numbers just get shoved aside. Some day he'll make the call, when the time is right.

Me, it's a place that's fun to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. I'm not big on humidity. But it's beautiful and I enjoy the time we do spend. This year we took a special guest with us.

She's amazing, this one. I am so thankful her sweet family let us borrow her for the week. If I were to list all the special things about this girl, we'd be here all night. I'll sum it up by saying that she is one of the few people I know, regardless of age, who truly, truly, truly have a servant's heart. She is special indeed.

This is the view from our hotel room. It's not exactly "beach" front – but it is water front. The actual swimming beach is a little ways down the road. This is the pier that we take our nightly walks to and sometimes the boys either fish or catch crabs. As you can see, we had the place almost to ourselves last week.

And then there's this little guy. He loved the balcony because the birds would come right up to our patio to see if we had any food to throw their way. He's a bird watcher so that really made his day. He had a blast on our trip and was so much fun to watch as he experienced so many new things.

He is a magnet to sand. Although I missed the photo op – shortly after this picture was taken, he simply put his hands in the sand and slowly lowered himself, ending up on his belly and just moving his arms and legs back and forth in the sand. He was in heaven.

Being the expert in all things 'sand', he was ready and willing to help the big kids with their construction project. I'm not sure they were as eager for his help as he was to offer.

Ok, now I know what you're thinking: "Is that a swimsuit or pants that he has on?" It's a swimsuit – given to him by his aunt & uncle. It's a little big and that's why I chose it for the beach. More clothing = less sunscreen to apply. Think practically. It will also be around next year, I hope!

And this handsome one who, incidentally, turned 16 yesterday, spent his entire week fishing. Except for the beach day – so I did get a few pictures of him.

He made a few avian friends while he was there. Evidently, seagulls like Cheez-Its. They also like Nilla Wafers and Cheetos, even if they have to pluck it right out of your hand, or the hand of a Sweet Baby.

That's my nephew. He liked the beach too. I think it's all that dirt sand in one spot. It was a bit overwhelming.

Even the youngest was a bit taken aback by all the dirt around him. He didn't quite know what to do with it. He stared at it for a while. Then he decided he needed to do what all babies do and experience it with his mouth.

Notice the arm in the picture – it's his momma. She has no clue at this point what he's doing. She's busy talking or something. But not me, I'm just enjoying the show.

He got a mouth FULL. What's funny is that he really didn't seem to mind the taste.

I'm a horrible, horrible aunt. She's gonna kill me when she sees all these pictures and knows that I didn't stop him out of a sense of duty to document his first beach experience with the camera. She'll thank me later though.

My heart just skipped 3 beats. Moving on.

Now, you can't see it very clearly, but this is (or was) a jellyfish sting. K3 got it good. It wrapped all the way around his wrist. It swelled the entire lower half of his arm. Not fun.

And this was how he spent most of the rest of his time at the beach that day. Wait, I think I see someone else just like that!

She's not looking like she's feeling too well here. She got stung too – on the back of her leg. OUCH. Jellyfish: 2 Us: 0. Time to quit before we all ended up like this. We headed back to the hotel and the pool. Ahhhhh, the pool.

I knew this would have to be in parts. You can't just tell the story in 50 words or less. Where's the fun in that? Part II tomorrow, I hope.

Baby Cuteness

Totally.

Cute.

No other words needed.

But I'll give you more words anyway.

He wasn't happy with me for some reason.

Rarely does he get "not happy". So I took a picture.

And then he left me.

And I had to take more pictures.

I'm in love.

This could be a problem

What am I talking about?

Here, let me show you.

This –

And this –

And we'll throw this one in for good measure –

Are you getting the picture? Pun intended. I could sit here for hours and just create fun stuff with this new-found thing called Picnik.

Great – just what I needed – something else to waste my time. But it's so fun!!!

Hope and other things

For whatever reason, this year I have absolutely loved working in my garden. I usually give up about the time the produce starts coming because of the work involved {I'm usually the lone garden worker} and the weeds usually take over and I'm deathly afraid of snakes. But this year, it's my refuge. I go out there and it's quiet. When it's quiet, I think.

The other day I was pulling weeds, watering and just inspecting the sudden burst of productivity that was happening. My thoughts wandered to the pioneers. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, especially when it comes to the days of the early pioneers. As I wandered in the garden and examined the small veggies beginning to form on their plants, I thought about the pioneers and what they must have felt when they walked into their garden on a day like that.

Can you imagine it? The hope and promise of sustenance for another season. I think we are so spoiled in this day. I don't think we have any concept of what the pioneers had to go through, physically and emotionally. Physically, the work it must have taken to work their land to produce all that they would need to survive. Emotionally and spiritually, the faith that they most assuredly rested on. Today we have our food, clothing, shelter upon demand. But back then they had to make it happen, they had to work for it, and they had to have faith that God would provide where they could not for themselves {i.e. rain}.

I think a major reason that society has distanced itself from God is the fact that we are more dependent on acts of man, than acts of God. We depend on the grocery stores to have ample food for us to buy, instead of depending upon God to send the rain so that we can grow our own. We depend on clothing stores rather than slow down, take the time to create our own. I'm just as guilty here – it's just something I've pondered. It makes depending on God a little tougher, a little more challenging because we do have so many things available to us whenever we want them.

Has progress removed God from the picture? Did God intend for it to be so? I don't think He ever intends for people to stop depending on Him. Our challenge is to depend on Him to provide, to seek His will, to share what He's done in our lives – despite the society in which we live.