Are You Ready For This?

Warning: This is a long post FULL of family pictures and stories. There is a card too. But not until the end.Enjoy!

Yesterday, I told you you would not want to miss the picture of my crazy dad.

This is it.

This picture COMPLETELY represents the kind of person I think my dad is...a businessman with a whole lot of country boy underneath. I have to explain this picture though.

I came home from some errand to find him in his "old" dress shirt with his "daisy dukes" (not sure what the male version of those is called....BO dukes maybe?!). Anyways, it cracked me up. I asked him what he was doing. He explained that he was trying to protect his sunburn while working around the yard. Doesn't that make sense? Don't you see this a lot on farmers/gardeners? At least his shoes are better. He used to wear farm boots with his socks rolled down around the top. We always picked on him that they looked like donuts around his ankles. Getting way more stylish dad:)


Speaking of stylish....here he is getting down at my cousins graduation. Looking a little Jack Nicholson-ish

We had so much fun while we were there. This is a direct quote from my daughter....

"It's always an adventure at Poppa's."
That it is. We....

...rode go carts

Danced!

This is my little guy getting down to BON JOVI. They are his favorite group. He listens to them every night while going to sleep.

I got to see my sister for a brief visit. I haven't seen her in almost a year! UGH! My double UGH moment with her.....one of my very old teachers....VERY OLD....asked if she was my daughter. HELLO!!!! People USED to think she was my OLDER sister. Dang! I've got to find some good wrinkle cream. Any suggestions? Yeah that about ruined my whole trip. He thinks my name is "Chris" BTW, so I just chalk it up to him being slightly CRAZY!

My dad took my kids on a paddle boat "adventure" through his marshy area. They looked for frogs, geese and ALLIGATORS:) This pond was almost non existent when I was a kid. Over the years it has really taken on water. He always wanted it to be a real pond. Almost there dad.

This is my daughter AFTER she fell in. Apparently, my dad and son "forgot" she was standing at the back end of the boat when they decided to pull in up onto shore. SPLASH! She had to be hosed down. She was such a good sport.

My daughter caught so many frogs! This is "King." Thank goodness he didn't come home with us. It was like Wild Kingdom at my Dad's. He caught a raccoon and opposum in his live trap. The kids helped him release the raccon. I had visions of it attacking like in the movie, The Great Outdoors. The kids thought it was "COOL."

What about the opposum you say? Well, my son noticed that it wasn't moving. My dad was like, " It's playing opposum....haven't you ever heard that? See...?", as he kicks the cage a bit. Um, no, really dead. So much for the live trap.

We also saw deer everyday. You can sit and watch them in the woods across the street. They also just come up into my dad's yard.

This little guy came right up to the edge of the road as my dad and I were talking on the porch. I NEED a telephoto lens. I had a hard time trying to get a good shot and not move to spook him. Not sure where his momma was.
We also saw turkey, pheasants, crane, geese, rabbits, cows, strange bugs and ....

THIS BIRD!
Why is this bird so special? Well, I was standing there talking on the phone when this bird drops dead RIGHT in front of me...or so I thought it was dead. I guess it had just flown into the house and knocked itself out. Because about 5 minutes later he shook it off and eventually flew away. It was just so weird.

Speaking of WEIRD and BIRDS. I really wanted a picture of my kids with my dad at his house. It was too bright out for a good picture so we pulled a bench up under this tree. This was my practice shot and my dad notices that there is bird poop right next to them. My daughter just cracked up.

And this is right after my dad informs my son he is sitting on bird poop. It wasn't "fresh." We aren't that mean.




My old house is so peaceful. It is the perfect place to go and get away from the city noise and just bask in the presence of nature. I knew that a bit when I lived there as a kid. I appreciate it so much more now. Thanks for hanging in there through all my family pictures. I tool 181 so think of yourself as lucky that I didn't show more....at least not today. *wink* I do want to show a few more tomorrow of our camping trip. I have a typical "NIKKI" incident to share.

Ok! HEEERRRRRREEE'SSSSS.........A Card!

This card is for fun. It is comprised of almost ALL scraps I had laying around.

Stamps: Bevy Butterflies(Unity), Beautiful You (Verve)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Tea Stain, Soft Sky
Paper: Digital Mini Kit, K&C CO., Soft Sky, Vanilla
Other: Scalloped Circle Nesties, TPS Lace, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, dazzling diamonds, MS glue pen, Janome Sew mini, distressing tool, sponge, dimensionals