Day Five

This post is a little later because my day was longer..........just think about it for a while.


We started out baking another great loaf of banana bread-everybody helped and it went well. We were biding time while Grandpa got the boat ready for its first float . It took longer than he thought so we went over to my neighbor's goat farm for a visit. The goats were playing King of the Hill on the tree. The goat at the top, her name is Candy, beat everyone off and then jumped down herself and everyone left....the game always ends so abruptly so says their shepherdess!We followed them up to the other pasture and got a chance to pet them.

Hilary was just as curious about the kids as they were of her. She did little head butting wars with David, nibbled his flip flops and tried to eat his shorts-all of which entertained him greatly. Abigail put up with none of that and retreated to my side if Hilary lowered her head just the slightest-the horns looked scary to her.

After we went home and read books, watched a video, played John Deere trucks, princess dolls and had a million snacks...........Grandpa said the boat was finally ready! He showered while I put supper on the table and we all gobbled as fast as we could. When he finished his plate, the kids and I loaded into the car because I had the kid seats and we were not up to changing them around! -Bill in his van pulling the boat we headed out

for Welaka-just 12 minutes away to the St Johns River to launch the boat. We did pretty good for a couple of rookies and David was really a great hand with the ropes!

We are on the water at last and leaving the land lubbers dock behind! When Millie, the goat shepherdess, heard we were making our first boat ride later she gave us a map of the St Johns River so we felt armed and ready to go. We sure did use it and were very grateful for its information , twice in fact, during our voyage! Things look different from a boat and the shore looks the same in many places............we will learn!

We traveled for about 45 minutes north on the river until we came to a bridge that had to be raised by the keeper when you wanted to pass-we turned around and headed back south.
Bill felt the weight of his station, Captain, but did manage to smile quite a bit in spite of the responsiblity; I was pretty relaxed as First Mate because I was holding the map!

The kids loved most of the trip; David had investigated every inch within minutes of leaving shore; it felt like we had 7 little boys with us! Abigail felt safer in the cuddy cabin but did come out for a snuggle every once in a while! After the trip was over she said she loved it-


Both of the kids
were interested in
driving and Grandpa was very accomodating

We saw quite a few of osprey nests on top of the river markers.....
and this is Sunset Landing where we used to eat and watch the boats go by when our children were little. It is closed now, sadly, because we had a lot of happy memories there.

Managed to dock it again and pull it out without too many goofs..........what a great time-

we will repeat the trip later this week when the rest of our crew arrives! Hurray!