Oh, my

As Gregg, Cathy, Chris & I were sitting at the dining table this evening, Magnolia wanted to play "driving". This involved baby boy being placed in his carseat on the floor with Nolia sitting in one of her little chairs beside him. She "drives" the bus and asks Chris (the policeman) for directions to the bus stop. After thanking him for his help, her bus pulls out and "eerrrk" she has an "akident". "Are you okay?" asks Chris-the-policeman. "No" she says, "I need a drink".

Small town life

So Chris & Magnolia are off to go tubing down the river with Gregg & Cathy. Baby boy & I are staying home as he's too little to spend a couple hours in an innertube floating lazily in the sunshine (especially given that it's July in Florida and REALLY hot today).
Gregg & Cathy are visiting for the weekend. Gregg got a job as a bio professor at a little university in Missouri and will be moving away in 2 weeks. We had a party last night at our house so his G'ville friends could hang out before he hit the road. Hopefully he'll be able to come back and visit a lot as we'll really miss him.
There was a friend of a friend of Gregg's that came last night and was seemingly FASCINATED that I grew up in Starke and enjoyed the experience. He's working there now, but relatively recently moved from a long stint spent teaching in China. Having apparently never lived in a small Southern town (or a small town, period), he is experiencing a bit of culture shock. Granted, he had a few beers in his system (at least), but he couldn't stop talking about how everybody knows everybody and if one were perchance to pass out in the parking lot of a local restaurant after drinking copious amounts of margaritas, EVERYONE would know by the next morning. Especially if you're theoretically old enough to know better. Hmmm, go figure.
Starke is a small, Southern town. You either love them or you don't. You just have to figure out which camp you're in.

Summer in North Florida

Spending time outdoors in Florida during the summer pretty much requires that you be in or adjacent to water at all times. So this means we spend as much free time as possible at either the lake or in pools belonging to friends and relatives. The lake is our favorite, and we spent the past weekend at the family lakehouse with our friends. It's an old cracker-style house built by my great grandfather in 1909, and I absosolutely love being there- so peaceful and I don't even mind if it rains as I love the sound of it on the tin roof. Luckily for us, our friends Alison & Ryan also enjoy staying there, and also don't mind sharing the rather rustic abode with the bugs and spiders who are only temporarily displaced by our sweeping (and sometimes more drastic, but never permanent, measures). Magnolia is in heaven whenever we are there, and to spend THE WHOLE WEEKEND is sheer delight. The fact that Lily & Eli were there to be her partners in crime just raised the level of elation even further. "We spending the night here again?" she kept asking with glee shining in her eyes. Saturday & Sunday a lot of family came out, so there was organized chaos with up to 14 kids running amok (okay, so David isn't running yet, but he can get a good roll on). Most of the kids were 6 years old and under, so it was quite the spectacle.

It was a pretty relaxing weekend. The kids would wake up much earlier than we grown-ups would have liked, but they played in the house while we became conscious with the aid of coffee (they did have to tickle Chris awake). Then it was down to the lake to swim and go tubing behind the boat. Naps were hit or miss (mostly miss), but that was okay as there were no melt-downs. There was the occasional impromtu parade- Alison carrying David around the house and Lily, Eli & Magnolia tagging behind chanting "Hey, David! Hey, David!". Magnolia announced she was going to marry Eli, which prompted Lily to claim baby David- way to go girl, getting yourself a younger man. Baby dolls were stripped of their clothes, kids ran around half-dressed, books were read, and copious amounts of watermelon and Cheetos were consumed. There were amazingly few requests for t.v. (good thing, as there wasn't one around). Chris & Ryan discussed politics on the back porch. Time was spent on the swing hung from a big live oak in the backyard. Chris entertained us with his guitar- lots of "Wheels on the Bus" requests. Kids (and Chris) boogied on the dock to Abba's Tiger song. Magnolia serenaded David with her original composition, "You are a cutie every day, you are a cutie baby boy" and David rewarded her efforts with a chuckle and a grin. Everybody wore themselves out during the day, so bedtimes weren't too traumatic. I even got most of a book read and went for a good, long swim.

Can't wait to do it again.