Fred Visit Day 8

2003, Gatherings, , , , , , , , , ,

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

Fred Visit Day 7

2003, Hangouts, , , , , ,

I’m going through the memory boxes at my mom’s house.

Going through a memory box

There’s me and my baby sister L, posing for the camera. (Damn, she’s tall.)

Lindsay & Ivy

Here’s me and my sister with her cute-but-freaky-looking chihuahua, Pork Chop.

Lindsay with Pork Chop

The dog being cute. (But how can she help it?)

Pork Chop being cute

She does this cute thing where she stands on her hind legs and actually turns around if you bribe her with a treat, like my mom’s doing here.

Mom does a trick with Pork Chop

Fred Visit Day 2

2003, Hangouts, , ,

We went on a picnic. Here’s Fred by an attractive tree.

Fred at picnic

On our picnic, I tried to climb a tire. (Notice the deedlybobs on my head. They’re cute!)

Climbing big tire

Look, I’m going to town on the DDR machine.

Playing DDR

Fred’s going to town too. Maybe not town, actually, more like a small settlement . . . but it’s his first time! Cut him slack! Hehe.

Playing DDR

Beach with Ammy

2002, Vacations, , ,

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

All World Acres potluck and drum circle

2002, Vacations, , , ,

The next day, we got out of the tent and sat around for a few hours. Here is me, newly awake and already being baked by the sun.

Breakfast at All World Acres

Fred makes a meal of canned pears.

Breakfast at All World Acres

Most of the day we just hung out with other campers and the kids of the people who own All World Acres. We played chess, cooked, had a bonfire, a potluck, a drum circle . . . and played with the cats.

Fred enjoying a cat

We also played a fair amount of cards. I taught a girl how to play several kinds of solitaire and another game, and when things got boring I built a card house and put a ketchup bottle on top. It stayed up ’cause I’m just so good at that.

Built a card house that supports ketchup

Camping at All World Acres

2002, Vacations, , , ,

On the day we were to camp, we stopped in Tampa to get some supplies at my mom’s and then we visited Meggie. We all went shopping and out to eat.

Visiting Meggie

We got to the campsite before dusk and managed to set up our tent. Here’s me inside it!

Tent at All World Acres

Fred is sitting in front of the tent after we’ve got it all set up, wearing his “Don’t Worry, Be Hopi” shirt.

Tent at All World Acres

Fred also photographed me sitting in front of the tent, and the random dog ran into the picture too. (The dog belonged to the owners of the land.)

Tent at All World Acres

Just some being silly around town with Fred

2002, Hangouts, ,

During some of our adventures having fun and going out, I wore this neat silver dress. It was worthy of a picture.

My silver dress

Of course, the string of the silver dress came out and strangled Fred.

Don’t choke yourself Fred

At Wal-Mart they sell these awesome chairs that are perfect for people my size! Fred has photographed me sitting in one here.

Tiny chair

And here too.

Tiny chair

Sometimes just hanging out can get tiring.

Fred with witch hat