Alive!

Well, we all survived the weekend. Barely. I don't think I'm quite sane anymore but I am present and accounted for.

• It rained when we first got there. It was dark and we couldn't get set up quickly, so a bunch of our stuff got wet, including bedding and the inside of the tent.


• The temperature dropped into the 40's. Did I mention that our bedding was wet? Ugh!


• Connor got lost in the woods. In the dark. Twice. Well, once he wasn't lost, he just left camp with a group of kids and didn't check in with anyone. It was scary. The camp is a very big place, 100's of acres of woods, on the banks of a huge lake. There's lots of danger out there.

When people think of Florida wilderness, I think they mostly think of alligators as being the dangerous creatures. They don't think of all the other scary things that lurk in the pinewood hammocks.

Rattlesnakes and pygmy rattlers, bears, panthers and bobcats, coyote, water moccasins, brown recluse and black widow spiders and, yes, alligators. To be perfectly honest, it's the snakes that scare me the most. Yes, very frightening.

He was pretty scared the night he got lost, too. He's still afraid of the dark and he was totally on his own in the woods. He went off with another, older boy and then the kid ditched him. I don't think he did it on purpose, just being careless. The other kid is 10. Connor is 6.

On a happier note, the kids both got to shoot BB guns and practice archery. They raced pinebox derby cars. Connor was actually a finalist in the Rain Gutter Boat Races. He was only beaten because his opponent, an 11 year old girl, was taller than him and better able to reach her boat. He just couldn't get high enough to blow on it as well as she could. Still, she barely beat him. She went on to win the entire thing.

It all worked out in the end, though, and the kids didn't want to go home!

Safe and Sound

On a work note, I stumbled across this piece of jewelry, made with one of my margarita beads, yesterday. I thought it was so cute, I just had to post a picture of it.

You can find this and other creations at the beautiful Mermaid Creek shop on Etsy.

I'm a huge fan of her jewelry. In fact, this is a piece that I've had marked as a favorite for a long time. As soon as I make enough money to do more than just cover my bills, I'm going to get it for myself. So pretty! !!

I've got some new things to list on Etsy myself, so I'll update in a day or so to show you what I've got.