After sleeping in Big Cypress, camping deep in the no-where, lol we traveled back down the 18 miles of potholes and continued to explore. (Dennis posted some great photos that he took from our campsite, sunrise on the long bumpy road and such over here)  Occasionally we got out of the car to walk a path or such and a few times I asked Haden to snap a quick photo of us.  So here we are after surviving the long (scary) night, lol.

We did travel another dirt road – I think it was called the loop – into the everglades and were greeted by views like these from time to tome.

At one point we even ran into the end of the Florida Trail, I think the sign said it was 18 miles to the visitor’s center, which means it was also 18 miles to the next road.

Most of the road looked like this. Yeah, not a lot of other cars and we could easily just stop in the road, get out, snap a few pics, then continue on. It was a great adventure! I must say I felt much safer exploring this way than hiking for miles, it made me nervous leaving the road and traipsing down paths. I would get so caught up in getting closer to birds I feared I would step on a gator, lol.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

My sweet grandson turns 3 years old today and all I can wonder is where these years have gone! They are flying by too fast! I just want to hold onto every precious moment!

One his first few geocaches, lol.

Happy Birthday Little Man! I can’t wait to celebrate with you at Chucky Cheese!

My dad is the kinda guy who eats every single thing with a fork, yes, even bacon and french fries! So when we stumbled on this fork in a kitchen gadget store we absolutely had to get it for him!

This is my son Mikal.

This is his fiance, Amy.

We were shooting their engagement photos when they each had phone calls.  Now I know they’re not talking to each other, but they both look so happy. . .wonder who was on the other end of that line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ummel & Brockman

The engagement of Amy Brockman and Mikal Ummel is announced.

Amy is the daughter of Ron Brockman and Sue Kuse of Marshfield.

Mikal is the son of Dennis and Lisa Dewane of Plover.

A June 26, 2010, wedding is planned.

What have we here? This is a Christmas quilt my mom made for us.

But all Tristan sees is roads for his cars.

So many cute little Christmas items embroidered.

The funny thing is, when I was a kid, I would have seen roads for my cars too.

December 18th marked Adrianna’s 1st birthday. Of course there was a party.

And cake!

Her mama made the cute little bears, pink for Addy and white for Twister. There’s a story behind the bears, each one of my children had bear cakes just like these for their first birthdays. It makes me so happy that Britney is continuing it with her children too.

And lots of girlie presents.

She figured out the whole wrapping paper thing pretty quickly and it was good practice for Christmas a week later, lol.

Not to get all mushy but I love this girl SO much! She is so affectionate and tiny and cute and sweet and funny and huggable and I could go on and on. A year ago I wondered how I could possibly love her as much as I did Tristan, but I do, and it took a while for her to like me, it seemed, but she sure does now. There’s nothing better than having both of these babies on my lap.

And princesses, lol.

Another first birthday tradition that Britney has started is pizza. We anxiously watched our little peanut sample her first piece of pizza.

She figured out what to do with it quickly.

Pizza in one hand and cake in the other, could there be a better day?

Tristan did very well throughout it all. He wasn’t jealous of sister getting presents at all. But I love the expression when he sees his bear on his tray.

Lil ham.

He figured out what to do with the bear pretty quick.

As did Addy.

Yep it was a good party!