You "Otter" See This!

Yesterday I went on a 5 mile walk around our Nature Walk at South Lake Howard Park. While I was walking I saw an otter cross the street from the big lake and get into the retention pond. Let me tell you that he was not the least bit camera shy.

He had jumped in the water near this guy. He tried to get the bird to play with him, but the bird would have nothing to do with him.
He seemed to sense I had a camera. He came right near the bank by me.
Here he is swimming around in circles and back and forth in front of me. He seemed very friendly. I'm not even sure if it's a he or not, but for my purposes he's going to be, lol.
Here's another close up of the little cutie.
This picture is not so clear as he was too far away but I snapped it anyways. At least you can get an idea of how big this otter was. He was done playing and getting ready to cross the road back to the big lake. I watched him and he really did look both ways before crossing.

Best Dang BBQ on this side of the Mississipi

Well maybe not the best, but it was pretty darn close.

Smoke on the Water BBQ Competition. This was the first year we have gone and we will definitely be going again. Proceeds from this event go the the Boys and Girls Club of Winter Haven. Alot of local teams out there but there were also teams from Tennessee and Wisconsin and who knows where else. 78 teams were out there trying to win. And some of the names they come up with. The next few ( yeah right) photos are some of the vendors that were out there.

Don't some of these names just crack you up. But the BBQ was fantastic.Our very own Fire Chief was there with his competition BBQ. This was Hut's favorite stand.Here's Hut eating the Fire Chief's ribs. Finger lickin' good!This was our favorite stand. You didn't even need BBQ sauce for their BBQ. Hut said they won 5 awards for their BBQ.This sign cracked me up. It was hanging at one of the stands.And our wonderful Sheriff Grady Judd was there. Hut is on his advisory committee. Sheriff Judd laughed at Scott's t-shirt and told him he should post this photo on his FB. This Sheriff is awesome. Our Governor was also there, but I didn't really care because he hasn't done a damn thing since he got in office except to run for Senate. Lord help us if he wins.

There were probably 10,000 to 15,000 people there. If they didn't go home full it was their own fault. There was also banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, fried candy bars and fried strawberries. Yep fried strawberries. We were going to try those but the line went on forever. Maybe next time.

Road Work

Saturday morning all I heard was something BIG driving up and down our road. We are due to have our road worked on. New sewage and water lines and the road repaved.

This front end loader was making all the noise. Driving up and down the road with loads of rocks and sand. I took all these pictures on Monday when I got home from work, as they were at it again. That's our driveway.

Another shot from the front door.

He was driving just beyond our next door neighbor's house. I'm not sure what exactly they are doing.

Our poor neighbors at the end of the road couldn't leave or get to their houses. We live on a dead end street. I have no idea what they are doing across the road there. But this is just a sampling of bigger things to come.

More Rossi

Grampy's birthday was yesterday and he decided after breakfast at Fred's that we were going to visit Rossi, Layla, Diana and Wade. Scott and I had no idea we were going anywhere and we weren't even dressed for it. Oh well at least it was family. We surprised Diana when we got there. Wade was off at the BMX track with is friend Tony. None of us had a cell phone on us to call them to let them know we were coming.

When we got there, Layla had to walk us over and show us her sister "Wossi Jean".

Layla stylin' and profilin' for the camera with "Wossi Jean"

She was sleeping when we got there. She is so precious.

Diana took advantage of us being there and jumped in the shower. She told me I couldn't take a picture of her just out of the shower. Oh Yes I Can! She's always beautiful, no matter what.

I love this picture of Diana and Rossi. You can just see the love on Diana's face.

Layla holding her sister.

Uncle Gotty holding Wossi Jean. He just loves that baby. I told him not to get any ideas, lol.

This picture was taken in a mirror. There is a big mirror on the wall behind where I was sitting. Rossi was looking at herself in the mirror.

Nana and her girls. Layla is so proud of her baby sister "Wossi Jean"

After all that, we didn't even get a picture of Grampy holding his girls on his birthday. My next goal is a family picture with Wade, Diana and the girls. Probably won't happen until the weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. And what a great birthday gift he got early. Here's wishing you 52 more years, lol. I love you.

Rossi.....Day 2

You all know how much I love my sweet Layla. Who would have thought that precious little Rossi would make me burst at the seams with so much love. She is my sweet little angel. I can't even find words to describe the emotions I am feeling. I haven't even seen Layla since Rossi was born. But cute story from Mom and Dad. All of Layla's cousins are younger than her, so they've all been babies to her. When she first saw Rossi, she said "There's my baby cousin". When she was corrected and told it was her baby sister, she kind of went into shell shock. She thought her baby sister was her momma's belly, lol. Well once she got to hold Rossi, she wouldn't let anyone else. That's her baby sister and she's not sharing, lol.

Doesn't Diana look wonderful? They took all her IV's out and she hasn't had any pain meds since. This woman is awesome and we just love her.

Here's Daddy with Rossi. Wade is so good with her. She is spoiled rotten already. I wish I had taken a picture of him when he first came out with her right after she was born. He was just glowing and proud as a peacock.
Here's Grampy holding her. This man is amazing with kids. I really wish sometimes we would have had a baby together. He loves Layla and spoils her, now Rossi is going to be just as spoiled.
A close up.
Uncle Gotty is in awe.
He is so proud of his niece. Just look at his face.
Isn't she just so sweet?
She is such a content baby. She doesn't care who holds her.
Rossi's telling Nana stories.
Grampy busted in the act!

We had such a wonderful visit. We are going to give them some time to get home and get settled in and then we will go back for another visit. We are hoping that the family gets to come home today. If not, for sure on Saturday.

Welcome...........Rossi Jean

Need I say more????? Of course I do. Rossi was born at 6:24pm 1/27/2010. She weighed in at 7lbs 4oz and she's 19 inches long. Diana's surgery was later than we thought and by the time she would have gotten out of recovery visiting hours would be over. So we couldn't see Rossi for more than a couple of minutes tonight. But that was enough. I got to hold my precious new granddaughter.Here is Rossi's first picture.

They bring the baby out long enough for family to see and then take them back to their moms in recovery. The nurse said it was okay to take some pictures, so I have a couple to share.

A close up shot. Isn't she just the most beautiful baby you've ever seen? I think so.Nana holding her precious Rossi. She wasn't too happy at first but then she settled right down. She is so beautiful.Diana's sister Jessie was there too. She also got to hold the baby. No one else really wanted to. Hut and Scott said she was too little right now. Not sure why Liz didn't want to. You better believe me when I say me and Jess definitely wanted to hold the baby.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Rossi. I enjoyed sharing her with you. We are going back to visit her tomorrow so you know I will be getting more pictures to share.