cat-fishin'

i took jack and reese fishing for catfish today.  they were quite successful!

reese caught five.

 and jack caught six...including the biggest one that was landed. 

 (two were line-breakers)

all the commotion attracted attention from a few visitors.

 what a view! 

sussies

the retired travellers went to new zealand/austraila and all

we got was headgear!

county fair time

the girls showed their rabbits on wednesday at the county fair.  they weighed them in a bucket, which seemed fitting for meat pens. 

 here are the girls preparing the rabbits for show.  they used a secret recipe to get their fur nice and clean and soft. 

reese's rabbits won reserve grand champion!  (that means 2nd place and they made sale for saturday). 

today, for the sale, she walked around the arena and sold her rabbits
in a basket.  she did great and was so excited to make a nice

profit on the rabbits!

doesn't she look cute?!?!

at last....

 mackenzie has been saving her money for years and finally decided to make a big purchase...a new camera.   

a friend of mine took this picture of her on our roof (no parental comments please).  she climbed up there as soon as she heard there was a solar eclipse.

this is the pic she took while on the roof.  the local paper published it the next week. 

and today, mackenzie caught buster trying to bury the bone we gave him for his birthday.

bday celebrations

for my bday...guess what i wanted to do??

  fish and canoe with the whole family!

 it was a perfect evening of fishing.

 and we got hang with some sweet friends and see a beautiful sunset!

 

on sunday we went out to hibachi with friends, opened presents and ate some cold stone.  yes, that is toilet paper in my hand.  reese and mackenzie gave me some toilet paper with pop rocks stuffed inside the hole.  :)

signs of a good memorial day

canoing

family

fishing

more fishing

and swimming

mmmm.....

there's something about memorial day weekend that makes me crave crawfish.  colin did a fabulous job cooking them and

they were huge this year!

 our very talented friend gina made this cake and brought it to the boil.

 jack happened to find a little mud somewhere in the yard...shocking.

finally a teenager

mackenzie opted for a big present and a small party this year and

 she got both.

 

 she has been wanting her very own gun...and was so excited to get one!

she invited two friends to hike, swim and play at the state park.

we ate shish-k-bobs and boudain and watched the sun go down.

then they made duct tape wallets, ate cupcakes and slept out on the trampoline.  so far, having a teenager in the house is not so bad...but it has only been one day.