Girl with a Pearl

Another adventure to Sea World, and another time for Railee to beg to go see the "mermaids" that dive for the oysters. You can get one for $15.99....so Railee brought her birthday money this time!

So this is how it works:
First you go to the bridge and ask the divers for some oysters to choose which one you want!

They say the ugliest oyster is the pretties pearl, but Railee chooses a pretty oyster...

Now it is time to get the oyster open to see what beauty it holds,

Repeat after me...
Opa, opa, OPEN

Sorry Railee, couldn't hear...say it louder!

And behold the pretty pearl your oyster has made!

Time to get it cleaned, polished, and measured!

Now Railee is...

A Girl with a Pearl!

A day of Scalloping

July 8th, started out in a gloomy way. We had big plans to go scalloping for the first time, but the weather radar showed us that it might not be possible.

After looking at the radar, we believe it is going to blow over, so we decide to head to the boat ramp.

Well we get on the boat and we are sure that the kids are suited up! They are so excited!

Zibe, Lois, and Railee

Once we get to hopefully to a good spot, we dive in, on our search for some scallops.

Zibe, Houston, and Railee

The kids had a blast looking for sea creatures! That included scallops, sea urchins, a shell with a crab inside, and some "round thing" as the kids called it!

Sea Urchin

Shell with alive crab inside!

SCALLOPS!

Some "round thing"!

The kids had a great time on the water. It was their first time being on a boat! They became natural scallop divers.

And we can't forget how the girls had to layout...to get a sun tan!

Or the boy having to catch a nap!

When we got back to the boat ramp, the kids had a great time look for fiddler crabs. Poor crabs, the kids never gave up...but never caught one!!

On the way home, let's just say the kids were hungry!

Especially Zibe!

Next came a lesson on cleaning scallops! Can I say INTERESTING! Scallops on ice, a Shop vac and a spoon! I would have never guessed that!

Houston sucking out the "stuff"!

Railee scraping out the scallop!

Zibe scraping out scallops!

Can't wait until the next time we get to go scalloping!

Going straight and narrow!

All my life I have wanted to change my curls and swirls into the straight and narrow. Well today was the day!

I had my hair appointment, and I walked in there telling Marsha I needed the usual trim but it cut tighter in the back! Plus, I asked if you could blow dry it straight for a change!

I know what you are thinking, if you have curly hair you want it straight and then the other way around.

It didn't hurt to try something new! Plus, none of my friends have ever seen my hair straight!

I absolutely love it!

Now the truth really comes from your family though. It doesn't matter much unless the ones you love...love it!

Well my BFF loved it! That was a big plus! She had never seen it straight. My children loved it, wanted me to keep it like this forever! My mom and mother-in -law liked it too! Man, I thought, I have me a new hair do!

Well, Houston, my husband, didn't like it so much! He said my curls are me!

So the next time you see me I will be in my curls, but it was fun being someone different for the day...straight and narrow!

Fishing as a McKenzie

Let's just say, today was a beautiful day for fishing.
Here was our plan:
We have 11 red bellies in our fridge soaking in water just waiting to be battered and fried up for dinner. We decided this day was the day we were going to catch the rest! Houston and Railee had found the "Honey Hole" and we were bound to catch us some good size red bellies to finish us off. So we wake up at the crack of dawn to come to our secret spot. Has soon had Railee cast her pole... She is a natural fisheman...she gets the first bite on the pole!

A red belly!


"It is going to be a great day," she says! Well then two minutes Zibe's pole is being pulled on by another fish. He says this will be the biggest red belly yet. The fish is putting up a fight, he must have known what was coming to him!
Finally when he gets it reeled in...it is not a red belly at all. You'll never guess what it was! No not a tire or seaweed.
It was a:

A large mouth bass!

Well as you can see, the bass wasn't 12 inches, so we had to put it back in the pond. You want to talk about one up set boy, ranting and raving about how it is not fair that Railee gets to keep hers and he had to put back.
Let's just say... That was the start of our bad luck.

We weren't getting any bites, so we reel up the lines and check the bait and recast. Well when we recast Railee's brand new pole, the whole reel comes flying off, we are able to get it put back together and realize the button is missing and no where to be found.

Well then the same thing happens to Zibe's! Both buttons are missing, we are through with fishing, until we notice the buttons in the shallow end of the rock pit. So here goes the brain to working... Houston decides to go in and get them so we can continue to fish.

Well we get the poles fixed and think our luck is on the rise... NOPE!

We sit and sit for another bite and we are getting nothing!

So after hanging out for about 3 hours we decide to try a different "honey hole".

We think our luck is on the rise. Nip, nip, nip on all the poles, then a bite!

To small to keep but at least we had a bite! Well, that was it! Nothing else but nibble and nips here and there. Must be the turtles that were swimming around stealing our bait!

We ended up with 1 red belly, so we will have 12 total! Guess we will be eating fish and chips for dinner, more chips then fish! But we had a great time, as a family fishing.

Blogging on the Cell

Trying to learn new things all the time. Well this time, I am learning how to blog through my cell phone... We will see how it goes.

Life is a Beach!

We were packed and ready to a week at the beach, and all Zibe could do is ask, "Which way to the water?" He was so excited. I am not sure if it was his new googles, or the fact that we had burned his water wings and he was going to get the chance to swim like a "BIG boy." And as you all know, he is a BIG boy!

On our way out of town I met up with my BFF, Christy to do some last minute beach shopping. We tried on a variety of hatys and this big floppy one was the best choice. When Houston saw it, he asked me why I didn't get a "Kenny" style hat! What a country boy!



Well we had at the beach, alot of family time...lets just say 11 of us, 6 adults and 5 kids...which one of those was a 6 month old baby.  But our vacation didn't start out has a blast. We get to our hotel on Wednesday which ends up not meeting our expectations...even a roach would not stay there! so we load all of our luggage and to one vehicle and all the bodies in another and drive down the beach hotel to hotel to find something, anything, better than what we were in.  We finnally did!

Ocean Treasures

One of the days we are in a hunt for awesome shelss, which are rare to find (unless you go to the junk store across the street and buy something) My awesome hunters, Houston and Zibe fing a live star fish and a snail!
If only we had a salt water tank to keep them alive...well we don't so we are going to murder them for our shell jar. Pray for our sins!!

The beach trip is over and we had a great time!

Trees are brown!

Living down this dirt road, it gives me so much to learn about life. It helps you slow down and take it day by day! (If I was always on the go, my car would be dust color.) My kids have taught me so much when is comes life. Most importantly I learn their interest and passions. For example, Railee loves horses. Anything about them, books, figurines, etc. She is nothing like I was has a kid...who grew up on pavement. Now Zibe is my outdoors boy. Just like his daddy. He loves fishing and hunting and can't forget catching bugs. Another way he is like his daddy is eyes. Even though Zibe's are brown and Houston's are green, they see life the same way...in simple colors...that they see the same. Zibe has taught us that when we look at trees that they are one color... BROWN. Not just the trunk but the whole thing. Got to love living down a dirt road!