The Early Bird Gets the Worm...

and the Gulf Fritillary...
and the Fiery Skipper...

and the Long-tailed Skipper...

and the Hummingbird :-)

Playing with Fire

Happy 4th!

Never Ends

but happy to be able to pay them :)

Summer Bokeh

I Swear

Lots going on around here lately...one of the biggest is that my oldest son took the Oath of Enlistment to join the Air National Guard...

He is the 4th generation in our family to do so, following my Grandfather, my Dad, and my brother. Here he is with proud Papa after the swearing in...
Afterward, we had lunch on base and then stopped by the Air Guard museum. There are a bunch of monuments and memorials, lots of history. This is a monument to the units that served during the cold war era, my Dad and his Dad together here...
This F106 Delta Dart is what my Dad worked on during a lot of his years on the Flight Line. These were replaced a few years before his retirement by the F16. He was on the team that moved this one here to be put on display, outside the main gate at Camp Blanding. It was brought in by helicopter and mounted on the pedestal. I'm sure that was an interesting day, would liked to have seen it!
So another generation in our family, heading out to Lackland AFB in Texas for basic training. I'm nervous and excited for him, big changes but I know he will do well :)

New Obsession

Our 4 yr old recently started asking for a fishing pole...specifically, a "Lightning McQueen" fishing pole. I have no clue what gave him the idea, but he wouldn't let go of it. We were at Target last Friday and we looked at the poles of the tot-variety. No Lightning McQueen, but they did have Spider Man :) He decided that would do fine. We took him to one of the lakes in our subdivision, where he surprised us by casting like he'd been doing it all his life. We took him out again Sunday, between church services at a lake on our church property. Melinda and cousin Tori came along, and here is RJ checking out the first catch of the day, by Melinda...

He was excited, but also anxious to catch one himself. Much to his dismay, sissy caught one after another...
and then to add to it, Tori caught her very first fish, ever!! :) She likes fishing...the actual fish, not so much, LOL

Well, it was about quitting time and we were PRAYING for that boy to catch a fish. At this point, he would cast his line and then start begging the fish to bite. He would say "Pleeeeaasse!!! Please fishy PLEASE bite the worm!! I KNOW I can DO this!! PLEASE!!!..." and so forth. Very comical, but still, we wanted him to get his first fish. Suddenly, Tori started squealing...she had gotten a bite. Rory ran down to help her, and then RJ just went NUTS... "MOMMY MOMMY!! I GOT ONE I GOT ONE!!!" I didn't hurry, because he had been doing that every time his line caught a bit of drag on the weeds, but when I turned around the boy's pole was bent!! I ran to help him and he finally caught a big one :)He was interested in it, but he wouldn't touch it for anything. Like every other true fisherman, he was ready to get back at it and catch the next one. Yep, he's hooked big time :)
We let all the fish go...I would like to say no fish were injured, but let's face it...hooks hurt!! LOL

Harry

Our local zoo has a new baby jaguar. I took a trip out there with a friend a while ago to check him out. Of course, ANY baby animals are adorable to me, but I could literally watch this little guy all day :) His Mom, Zassie, seems to be his favorite chew-toy...

If you google "Harry the Jaguar", my nephew-in-law's blog comes up pretty much first :) He has some great shots of him when he was smaller, check them out at First Coast Photo

Rebel