As I posted a few days ago, Barb and I drove down to spend a long weekend last month with her and her kiddos in Florida. With just getting home from a big trip (not to worry...I'll be blogging about that soon!) and Thanksgiving busyness last week, I got side-tracked but I still have more stories to tell about our sisters' weekend.

Maria's daughter/my niece Seanna is 16, and adores her horse Reese.

Seanna works at this nearby horsebarn...

...feeding the horses and cleaning out stalls to earn Reese's room and board, along with some extra spending money.

Teenagers (well, I guess adults too...) never have enough extra spending money...

I think Maria loves Reese as much as Seanna does!

One morning we visited Sweetwater Wetlands Park...

...where we saw lots of waterfowl...

...a few gators....

...and other sundry wildlife!

My, what bright yellow feet you have, Mr. Egret!

Canoodling dragonflies...

A nice morning outing before the sun got too high in the sky and hot for us!

One day we went kayaking on the Santa Fe River...

Yes, those are my grotesque toes in the neon green kayak.

Barb...

Maria...

...and Maria's son/my nephew Wyatt. Wyatt is a sophomore at nearby University of Florida and took the day off to spend with his Indiana aunties. Such a sweet young man and gentleman... he took good care of us and helped us as needed. Like when it was time to climb OUT of the kayak....

I kept pausing to take photos and got behind the others. By the time I caught up with them, they would start paddling again!

Yes, that's me moseying along...

Thanks for this shot, Barb!

We were not alone on the river. But we never saw an alligator, even though I'm sure we kayaked right past some along the way...

On the van ride back to our starting point...me and my Reezie...

Barb and Wyatt...

And yes, Wyatt was even a good sport to do the cheesy touristy photo with his momma and crazy aunts!

It was worth putting up with us for a few hours as Reezie treated us all to a wondeful meal at a nice local restaurant. When you're a college student, a treat like that is much appreciated!

Maria has a few fun little critters around her place that somehow make their way inside. This little gecko/lizard may or may not have crawled up Barb's pajama pants. Whether or not it truly happened, I'm sure the poor animal is deaf from the ear-splitting screaming that y'all probably heard in Indiana that morning....

Never a dull moment...

...gallivanting with Reezie.