Fred Visit Day 8

Fred and me right before we took off down the river!

Before canoeing

It’s a gator we saw on the river!

Gator

 This is another gator. Actually I took a bunch of shots of gators but not all of them are that interesting so I just put the two best ones.

Gator

We ran the canoe onto the bank on purpose so we could have a picnic. This is me and my mommy relaxing.

Mom and Ivy picnic

This is what my mom described as the “big honkin’ tree” that we used as our landmark to find the picnic place. (It was pretty honkin’.)

Big honkin tree

 We’re shoving off to paddle the rest of the trip; me and Mommy in the canoe.

Mom & Ivy canoe

There was some awesome scenery on the Hillsborough River! Lookit how the reflections are in the water.

Nice scenery

A pretty bird in a picturesque scene!

Nice nature

 WOW. Look at that reflection. It totally bowled me over, I’m glad the quality translated to digital format.

Nice nature

At the end of our trip, we spotted this WILD CHICKEN. Also known as gator food. Heh.

A wild chicken

I met my friends at Beer Belly’s, where some came for the beer and some came for the karaoke. (Guess which reason was mine?) Here we have me, Phil, Steve, and Meghan.

Phil, Steve, Meghan at Beer Belly’s

Same people as above except now you can see Ammy. We’re trying to decide what to sing. (Steve is only concerned with getting shitfaced. Which he did well.)

With Ammy, Phil, Steve, Meg, 7/2003

Ammy, me, and Phil. Probably saying or doing something goofy.

Ammy, Ivy, Phil at Beer Belly’s

For some reason this is what my mom did when her picture was taken at the karaoke place.

Mom licks her drinks

It’s Ammy singing karaoke.

Ammy sings at karaoke

Fred’s turn to sing!

Fred sings at karaoke

It was so special that I had to have two pictures. 🙂

Fred sings at karaoke

 Here’s me singing karaoke, from far away.

Ivy sings at karaoke

Meghan’s turn to sing! She is a doll.

Meghan sings at karaoke

Phil’s turn. My mom forbade him to sing the song “Chef’s Salty Chocolate Balls” this time, so he ended up singing Adam Sandler’s “Ode to My Car.” Just as raunchy. You can tell from his hand gesture.

Phil sings at karaoke

Beach with Ammy

We went back to Tampa in the morning and met up with my good friend and old college roomie, Ammy. While we were in the process of picking her up, her aunts and cousins came in, and one of her cousins got excited at the prospect of showing us her pet chicken. Then we all went to the beach, but kind of got rained out. This is us standing under the hatch of the SUV, hoping the rain will let up and allow us on the beach again. (It didn’t.)

Ammy & Ivy at the beach

After we’d gotten changed back to regular clothes, we went to the Tampa Pitcher Show for dinner and a movie–at the same time! Here is Ammy and me pretending we think we’re hot stuff, sitting on the car.

Ammy & Ivy at the beach