Year: 2015

We headed up to Ocala a bit early and stopped at the bookstore along the way. We also spent some time at Silver Springs State Park walking the trails. We saw wild monkeys. Years ago when it was a private park they had monkeys on an island. Little did they know that the monkeys could swim and the rest is history. We say about 10 monkeys, including 2 cute babies! They were too far away to get a good photo.

Mom had a 5 lined skink run up her clothing all the way to her head, TWICE!

We saw lots of lubber grasshoppers.

Checking out the spring head before we head out to camp.

This is my second year at Ocala Adventure Camp sponsored by the FWC. Last year I took the hunting camp and this year I picked the anglers fishing camp. We were first into the cabin so I got to pick my bed. I picked a top bunk right by the counselor. Mom and Dad got me all set up right as the torrential rain started. There are 11 boys in my cabin ages 10-13, plus two counselors.

 

Looks like a great group of young men. Mom and Dad are hoping I have a better time with the older kids this year. Last year my entire cabin were 9 year olds. I wanted to wear camo to fit in better and oddly I am the only one in camo! ACK!

 

We have started back to school for the summer. We are only doing a light schedule and mixing it up with fun with friends. We have been bowling a lot lately with the Kids Bowl Free program. I tried an entire game without bumpers. I got a lot of gutter balls but took it in stride. I FINALLY got a strike!

I am loving my new drawing program. It is a right brained vs left brained system. You do a lot of things at the beginning to get your brain working. This image of a deer was upside down dn we had to copy it to the grid without looking at the correct image. Another fun activity was called faces and vases.

Another day back to bowling with friends. The parents were showing baby pictures! I think this was a battle of who drew on their face the most with markers!

We spend a lot of time checking out the bird feeder. We have had quite a zoo! Today we had a Eurasian Collared Dove! It was HUGE!

 

 

This was my second year attending Camp Ocala. Sadly, the camp is closing after this year and the 4H camp for our county will be moved to Camp Cloverleaf in Sebring.

We had to catch the bus early early and right before a massive storm hit. I had LOTS of friends going to camp this year so I was super excited.

I was SO happy to have my pal, Lex, join in this year!

We sat next to each other on the bus and had beds next to each other in the big nice cabin!

We were a bit goofy before camp.

 

There are no after camp photos because I was not interested in pictures. I had a great time at camp. I had four classes: Aquatic World, Quidditch, Archery and Mad Science. I loved all the classes. I made several new friends, I tried new things. I sang camp songs (I would love to sing them to anyone who will listen). I managed to bring home all of the things I took to camp, except one sock and my water bottle (that went missing on day 2).

I lost my toothbrush on day 3 but Mom found it in my shoe when we unpacked. I only had one tick on me! I was covered in ant bites but I wasn’t complaining. I asked two girls (sisters) to the dance and then apparently blew them off to hang with my guy friends after a few dances. I wasn’t teased this year, except for asking a girl out. I showered a few times. I couldn’t find my underwear until the last day so I wore my dry swimming suit under my shorts all the time, including jeans. My hair was knot free, mostly! My shoes didn’t smell TOO bad, but Mom washed them anyway.

My shirt has signatures all over it this year! Last year it had THREE! I am excited to go back to 4H camp next year with even more friends. What a great time!

I have two more camps coming up in July, 4H Marine Camp and FWC Fishing Camp. I am excited for both but won’t know anyone at camp so I am a bit nervous but I will be okay.

 

 

We recently renewed our Disney passes for the year. We have made a few trips to the water parks so far. I went on Crushing-Gusher, Humunga Cowabunga and Summit Plummet. These are all the biggest slides at the parks. I was so proud of myself. Only one gave me a wedgie!

We also took a short weekend getaway and enjoyed EPCOT and then Magic Kingdom. I had a fondue platter for dessert one night and the strawberries were as big as my head, not really but pretty close!

I have missed the castle!

I finally rode Space Mountain and LOVED it! I have now conquered all three of the mountains. We were in line for the new 7 Dwarves Mine Train but the ride broke down and they said it would be about a two hours wait. We opted to pass for this visit.

 

 

Mom said we needed to spend the morning weeding and mulching the front yard. I convincer her to let us get some new butterfly plants from the store. So we added those to the list and spent 6 hour hours outside working.

The yard came out great and it started raining just as we wrapped up. That saved us from having to water all the plants we just put in.