Christmas Day Fun and Grossness

OK the gifts got a little out of hand, but the tree was very compact.

On Christmas morning Janna came in to our room to say "Merry Christmas and get up please", but instead she said, "Eeeeeewwwww Dad, what's that on your back?"  I said, "I don't know.  Does it look like something I can pop?" 

It turned out to be a tick about half finished getting inside of me.  Here is most of him.

OK so you're looking at the whole thing except the head which is the hard part to get out.  The right thing to do is heat a pin and zap the little sucker in the rear end.  He then opens his mouth to say OOWW!, and he backs out of his hole to see who was rude enough to burn his backside just when he was having a good burrow.  We tweezerd his back end and I nearly lifted off the bed before his body broke.  Then it was a simple operation of sliding a needle under him, lifting hard and slitting him off with a little bit of my back.  Burn me with some high power peroxide and I'm good to go.

One more gross thing.

This is called a grub worm.  There are lots of these or at least pieces of them in the dry firewood you can chop up around here.
Christmas was really fun, except for missing family.  James and I finished his birthday with a campout about a mile out in the swamp.  We got to see a possum up close while he was pretending not to be there.  We went to sleep to the hooting of barred owls, and woke up to cardinals chirping.  We also got to play 4 uninterrupted games of chess.  Good night!

Loving the Slow Lane This Christmas

When you stroll in the jungle it's not surprising to encounter monkeys.

James is better at this than me.The vines hold him.

We like these guys.

 The local weather.

 About 25 people showed up for our carol sing around the fire.  They didn't drink enough apple cider.  We had 8 gallons left over, but we had a wonderful evening with lots of worship and lots of laughs.
 We all sang happy birthday to James and to Jesus.

Christmas in the Bayou

I forgot to mention, one week ago Sunday we went to Church in Destin, Fl. and this wonderful board member treated us to lunch the next day at his Chick-fil-A restaurant.  Jake OD'd on cherry coke and doesn't care for it anymore.



We arrived at Lake Fausse Point State Park South of Lafayette, Louisiana via Fountaine Bleu State Park, where we all got to pet a baby alligator.  We've set up here for Dec 19 to 27th, so we could have a place to call home for Christmas.  We're in the sticks of the sticks, but we've got the best WiFi yet.  These wetlands are full of Live Oak, alligators, snakes and armadillos, with waterways everywhere.

 The kids got creative and built a nativity scene for our Christmas decorations.

After the stable was built it was time to work on gingerbread houses.

Tori definitely won the award for most detail and for making the gingerbread from scratch.

James actually touched this little fellow on the back.

Can you spot all three geckos?

We spotted an alligator here after we were on shore.  This is the dominant landscape in this region.

I'm sure I saw this guy in Enderby once.

 Both boys needed their turn at pulling up this night line with its catfish.

We asked if we could host a carol sing around our campfire on Christmas eve.  The lady at the registration center got the permission and proceeded to print up nice invitations for us to give out, as well as posting it several places around the park.  The camp host delivered firewood to our sight today, to help.  We're expecting to give out around 40-50 cups of hot apple cider.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thank you Jesus for being Emmanuel.

New Orleans

We had to practice a little juggling before heading into the city this morning.

 James owes his mom $90

 This is Canal St.  It's the historic trading zone between the French and the Spanish.  James and Janna are just trying to get a trolley car to stop.

 On the bank of the Mississippi River.

New Orleans traffic jam.

I got to harmonize with Willy doing a jazz style Silent Night.  It was the best part of New Orleans for me.

This is where to buy beignets

This is where to get a guitar lesson.

This is where to shop.

This is where to honour the Yanks.

This is a typical view, but what it doesn't show is the struggle this town is having in recovering from Catrina two years ago.  There is a lot of sin and brokenness in this town.  Some people we met put their hope in Jesus.  Almost everyone puts their hype in the Saints. (NFL for you non sports types)

OK it's worth stopping for beignets again before leaving.

Buildings marked with an X usually had dead body or dead animal issues after the hurricane's flood.

 This bridge leaving town is about 5 miles long, but the one going straight North is about 25 miles long.

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home is on most of the license plates around here, but just leaving Florida, on the beaches near Pensi- Cola, you can see some cool houses.

They plow sand like snow here.

December 13 - 14 we weren't thinking much about snow, but I guess it's still cold for around here.

 At Johnny's RV , near Theodore, Al. you can use the boats for free, but the paddles aren't much.

This piece of conduit worked pretty well.

 James tried a seal launch and got about 4 gallons of water right in his lap.

Time to head for New Orleans.

North of Orlando again

We headed back to Wekiwa Springs, which we heard about the last time we were in Orlando.  This place is beautiful, with over 30 miles of running trails and a natural spring that makes it worth the stop.

This Spring pumps out 42 million gallons  per day and it's always 68 - 72 F.

We also took in a Dino (pianist) christmas extravaganza...........

It was a mistake...............
Voyage of the Dawn Treader was way better.