The Boondocks

We had a great Memorial Day weekend in the “boondocks” with MeMe and PawPaw!!

We spent most of it camping on MeMe and PawPaw’s land in Dickson, TN!  Mom, Dad, Alex and the dogs “roughed it” way more than the rest of us- they slept in a tent, while Dan, the girls and I slept in Mom and Dad’s RV! 

The land is gorgeous, with crops, a tree stand, lots of open space, and so much to do!  The creek feeding into the river is my very favorite part!  I love to dig for amazing rocks there (there are PLENTY of amazing rocks, and I will post pictures of them below!).

The drive is always interesting when all 6 of us, plus 2 dogs are packed inside!  Here is Stoney begging to be held, and Mosby battling for space against Ashi’s foot…

These are pictures from when we first got there…

They have crops planted on one part of the land-

Dad has a tree stand (there are turkeys, deer, pheasants…)

Here are Dan and Ashi pitching the tent

And Mom and Dad’s RV

Mom and Dad’s Tent

The dogs trying to rub Atlanta off in the grass…

I love the scenery here.  It reminds me of some of my favorite Bible verses:

The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…

He leadeth me beside still waters…

He restoreth my soul.  He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou has anointed my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER. 

Psalm 23: 1-6

Right away, Alex and Mosby went off to explore, while Courtney and Avery played in the GoKart. 

It wasn’t long before PawPaw and Alex found their way to the creek with some fishing gear!

Alex and Mosby later snuck off to do some shooting.  He’s getting good with his target practicing!

Dan took over before too long.  He received tons of medals and recognition in the Army for his expert shooting, so he wanted to see if he’s still got it.  ;) 

Ashi came to check things out!

Next, it was off to the creek!   My favorite part!!  As you can probably imagine, Alex is in his element here.  Mosby… not so much.  Our dogs are sufficiently citified.  You’ll see what I mean in a minute…

 

Here are PawPaw and Avery exploring

This butterfly seemed especially fond of MeMe and PawPaw!

See what I mean??  How cute is this picture?!?!

My Dad- the SURVIVORMAN!  :)  This crawfish was holding on for dear life to my Dad’s TONGUE!!!!  EWWWWWW, DAD!  :0)  LOL!

Mosby was SOOOOO afraid of the water!

At first, Stoney thought about just hanging on the raft…

Then he got VERY brave!  See him out there??  You can barely see his tiny head just past Alex!  That water was up to Alex’s chest, and Stoney is swimming right through it!  He looked just like a musk rat!

Here he is, swimming again, and Mosby finally got brave enough to go check on Stoney to make sure he’s OK!

But Mosby opted to stay on the beach almost the entire time, and waited for drinks of water from MeMe’s hands.  City dog…

Here’s my whole crew.

These boys LOOOOOVE fishing!

That boy would have slept in the creek if I had let him…

Bow fishing???  I dunno…  But he brought his entire arsenal.  Bow and arrows, BB gun, you name it.

Alex and Courtney romped around for hours!

Ashi enjoyed rides in the raft

Ashi’s scowl.  This look absolutely kills me!  She has it down to a fine art, too!

Sweet baby!!!!!  Look at that face!

My Avery bear.  I love, love, love this picture!!!

She was throwing rocks for Stoney to fetch- you can see it flying, and Stoney watching it!

Yep, this is what it took to get Mosby in the water!!!

Alex caught a frog!  Unfortunately, he didn’t last much longer. 

RIP, Mr. Toad…

More raft rides!

OK, so this was my LEAST favorite part of the trip!  Look how HUGE this guy is!  Big spiders are plentiful there!  ICK!!!!

Lovin’ life…

  

MeMe fishing…

With coffee in hand, of course…

Oh, don’t let Stoney’s swimming skills fool you.  He’s still a city dog.  He fully expected to be bundled in towels after his swims.  He would sit like this until he stopped shivering, then go for another swim.  :)

Later, there were rides on the GoKart!  Here’s Alex speeding around…

     

Dan’s turn…

MeMe’s turn!

And EVERYBODY watch out for PawPaw!!!!

Check out all these fish the boys caught!!!  There were some really big ones on here, but they’re hard to see against my camo-clad boy!

The girls, just a-swingin’

Next… SPARKLERS!

Avery and Ashi had a bath in the RV.  Can you believe how much these two look alike????  Avery (4) is on the left, and Ashi (2) is on the right.

 

And last but not least… Here are the pictures of the rocks we found…

These just have very cool shapes!!!

These have incredible fossils in them!!!  Double click to enlarge!

Here is an up-close example of the fossil in one of them!

I had a very hard time getting a clear picture of this one.  Dan found this, and it is AMAZING!!!

The upper tip of this rock looks like scales are imprinted in it!

These are just SO cool.

Thanks again to MeMe and PawPaw for an AWESOME trip!  We love you!

And thank you to all the vets out there who have served our country, left their families, and given their lives so that we can experience these kinds of freedoms!  You are our heroes!