The Lake House

Summer is hard. It's this thing that looms in front of children with promises of freedom and fun, beach trips, sleep overs and absolutely no responsibilities. Staying up late and sleeping in, and most of all - no school. All of that joy lasts about 3 days in my house, and then the boredom sets in. And what do kids do when they are cooped up and bored? They bug mom, of course. Thankfully, my family is amazing and came to my rescue. My Aunt Margaret and Uncle Joey own a beautiful lake house in the middle of the Ocala National Forest, and were gracious (or crazy depending on your point of view) enough to invite us up for a weekend of tubing, bear hunting (armed with only cameras, of course) card games and general FUN. My babies were able to have a little bit of magic in their summer after all, and so was I. 

Florida thunderstorms are always so lovely.

My baby girl really wanted to see some critters, specifically a bear, so we got up early and ventured into the woods armed with cameras and hope. Our first sighting was a quail followed by a couple of deer. Sadly, we just missed mama with her cub and a different BIG boy. I'm still pretty stoked about the tracks we found though, and about the time with my girl.

After the bear hunt I was feeling daring, so we let my 7 year old drive the golf cart. Ya know, because bad decisions sure are fun. 

Last minute side trip to Gainesville to fossil hunt some of the creeks. We didn't find anything big, but the colors sure did make up for it.