Wow, I had so many thoughts running through my mind this weekend that I wanted to blog, but we had company and were having lots of fun. I didn't take much time for the computer and then when I finally decided to update my blog, our phone and internet service were down (from Sat. till Monday afternoon!! :P)
So Wed. night Dan's brother Sam and his wife Katrina came down from SC for Thanksgiving. They got here late, but we still stayed up and talked for awhile! The cool thing about the long weekend is that Dan had off work the whole time and even got his school work for the week finished before they showed up Wed. night!! :)
Thursday we just bummed around the house, then had a big meal for lunch. After that was all cleaned up, we headed out to town to take some family pics. What fun we had!! And everyone was a good sport. It was cool and windy and so bright and sunny!
Here are a few samples of the pics that were taken....

Danny ~age 10 (but only for a few more hours!! :) )

Tamara Quinn ~Age 8

:) One of the "fun shots" :)

Dad and his princess~


We also took along the guys remote control cars and stopped to play awhile at the park. I only took video's there...no pics. (Wow, I figured out how to add a video!! :P)



Then we stopped at the train when it was almost dark and had a little fun there.
Katrina with the kids on top of the train...

Sam & Katrina


Friday morning we ALL got up at 4 AM and went Black Friday shopping at Walmart. What a unique experience! We got most of what we went for and were out of there by 6. The kids did great! I got a birthday gift for both of them and just hid them under my jacket. Once we got to the register, Sam and Katrina took them out to the van while we paid.
We came home, ate breakfast and then took naps! :) After lunch we headed down to Panama City Beach to take more pics...this time, mostly of Sam & Katrina, but we did a few family ones too.


It was so bright and most of my pictures turned out too bright...was not real thrilled! :P It was also very chilly and windy which makes it hard to keep hair in line!! :)

After the photo shoot on the beach, we went to Pier Park. Had fun window shopping and taking a few more pics!

Then we went to Olive Garden for supper!! :)

After supper, we walked to the center of Pier Park where they had caroling by the tree.

Christmas in the south.... :)

While I was shopping in Carter's, Danny had my camera! :)


Saturday we just had a lazy day....played some games of croquet, had a visit from Sharon Schrock (Dan's moms cousin), and took naps, trying to catch up from the lack of sleep the previous nights!! :)


Sam and Katrina had told us that they wanted to take the kids out and do something fun with them one night and give Dan & I some time to ourselves! :) :) :) We were thrilled! So late afternoon Dan and I headed out to Tallahassee. We did some shopping and enjoyed an Auntie Anne's pretzel in the Mall. Just had a great time lollygagging. No agenda, no hurry to get back! :) A great evening for us.....
.....but the other's think they had more fun than we did!! :) They all went black light mini-golfing and tried out the maze in Marianna and went out for supper. I know they had a good time because the kids couldn't' get done talking about it. :)

We said goodbye to our "guests" Sunday morning. What a great weekend we had!! Thanks Sam and Katrina for coming and making our Thanksgiving vacation so enjoyable!!

Last Friday, RHE took a field trip to Zoo World in Panama City Beach. It was a lovely day....warm and sunny! :) We had never been there before so we weren't sure what to expect. It was a nice little zoo!

Monkey's have got to be one of my favorite zoo animals. Maybe because they have so many human characteristics!?? :)

This monkey was wanting to share the hammock, but the one already in the hammock would push his foot loose every time he grabbed a hold!! Just like children, right! Finally the second one gave up and went off somewhere else! :)

A type of Lemur....they had 3 different kinds in the same cage. Looks like someone just got lunch!!

Joy and her son Austin. :)


I was taking some pics of this macaw, when the white peacock jumped up on the bird bath beside him! I guess he didn't want to be left out!! :)

Bird show....

This intern had quite the time of it with the lemur. He was full of energy and was jumping all around. Then he climbed up on her head (and pulled her hair in the process!!) They called him Julian (from Madagascar) :)

Cute Kaden talking on the phone to his mommy at lunch time!

Yes, these monkey's were enjoying the zoo!! :)

In the petting zoo. Tamara especially liked the equine section! :)

Danny, Dylan and Austin feeding Mr. Giraffe~

Handsome? No?? I think not. And I took a picture of his good side. He had a big growth on his cheek on the other side.

This donkey cracked me up!! When no one was paying any attention to him, he would raise a fuss...and made some funny faces in the process!! :)

Baaahh to you too!!


The camel was not supposed to be bothered. The sign said he was on a special diet and was cranky. I know how you feel, Camel Boy!! :) Diets are NO fun!!

We sat down to wait for the Wolf show to start. Austin was sharing his lemons with Tamara...or maybe he was asking her to hold them for him, so he could go sit in the front row. They couldn't have any food up front when the wolves came out.

I had never seen wolves in a show at a zoo before. They didn't really do anything special other than let the kids pet them. I was hoping one would howl for us, but the trainer said they have never been able to do anything to make them howl....except if the monkey's got too noisy or if an ambulance went by with it's sirens on....which happened AFTER the show was over! :P


Beautiful eyes....


The children had their picture taken with one of the wolves after the show!! :)

So did Bailey and Victoria~

~Sweetness~

Wishing it was the real thing!! :)

Tigers...such beautiful, majestic cats!!

The King of the zoo!! :)

:) He wasn't too sure about being hugged by a tiger! LOL!!

Turtles basking in the sun....

A pretty rainbow in the fountain...

~~Friends~~

All through the zoo, they had signs telling you what a family group of each animal was called. There were quite a few funny ones that I had never heard of! Wished I had remembered or took pics of more of them!


Ready to head home!

We had advertised a set of end tables on Craigslist the day before and a guy replied that evening yet and said he would really like to have them, but lives in Panama City and had no way to get them since he only had a car. He asked if we would deliver them if he paid $20 extra! :O Of course I said we would since we were going to be down that way anyway!! So after our zoo trip, we located the guys house and delivered the end tables. He was very happy with them and I was thrilled to have my gas paid for the day!! :)

Today was a very good day. Started out by having breakfast with 3 good friends from church. Each of us ladies have an only daughter and the 4 girls are each about a year apart! :)

Our morning did not go as planned. We were going to meet at a new place in town, The Country Creamery. On their facebook page, it said they opened at 8 on Saturday morning, so we planned to meet at 8:15. When Amy and I got there, we discovered they were still closed, and then found the sign on the door that said they opened at 10!! :P There was an older gentleman working in the flower gardens outside and he told us that they had been opening at 8, but were not getting customers that early on a Sat. so they changed their hours....
....so we, flexible women we are, went to McDonald's instead!! :) :) :)
We had a great time visiting!! And I hope we can do it again soon and next time try out the Country Creamery!! :)

Going around the table clockwise from the left.....
Yolie M., Amy Y., Tamara (8), Heidi W., Maria W. (6), Ayla Y. (5) and Carmen M. (7)


Angie Y. is another friend from church with only 1 daughter....her 4 month old, Jasmine. But they are still recuperating from the Whooping cough!! Keep praying for them!

I thank God that no matter where life takes us, He puts people in our path to encourage us and carry us through.....and these ladies are just those people in my life right now! <3>

After Tamara and I got home, we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon cleaning and washing. Then around 3 we took the kids to Rocky's for the evening while Dan and I did some birthday shopping. Danny's birthday is Dec. 3 and then Tamara's is Jan. 2. And with Christmas in there, well, you'd think I'd learn to shop ahead of time!! :P
I enjoyed the evening with just my man....doesn't happen too often these days, but I sure cherish it when it does!! :) We got most of what we went for....and a few things we didn't!! :P The kids had a great time making smores, roasting hot dogs, and playing football with their friends! :)

While we were in town, Dan's boss called and asked if he could work for him tomorrow. His boss hurt his back and won't be able to be at the prison. So, Dan will be preaching at our church in the morning and then going straight down to the prison to preach twice there. I think he will be ready to rest tomorrow night!!

Ya'll have a blessed day tomorrow!! :)



**And I am excited that we may be getting company around Christmas.....my parents!!! It's been 4 years since they were down here!! :) Can't wait!!