A Day in the Country

When Daryl and I had been dating about two months, he told me, "My family wants to meet you.  We're going to the country."  Little did I know that I was heading down to meet the whole Stone clan--all 21 of them.  And the country?  I'd never been to the "country" before.   But indeed, as we traveled farther and farther away from the interstate and anything resembling a store or restaurant that I had ever heard of, we were definitely in the country.  Actually, it is Luthersville, GA, and Daryl's aunt, uncle, and two of his sisters and their kids live there, all on one road on connecting properties.  In the ten years since that first trip to the country, we've been there many times for baby showers, wedding showers, and even a wedding.  And this past Friday, we went down their just the seven of us, for some summer fun.

 We got to the pond with the fishing poles, the tackle box, the worms, the crickets, and the chicken livers, and what interested Hannah and Charlotte the most?

The bathroom.

 I would say we had been there all of ten minutes when Charlotte slipped and fell in the mud.

 They all fished, while I chased Charlotte around, trying to make sure she didn't slip and fall again.

 Josh caught the first fish...on his first cast.

(Doesn't he look handsome now that we can see his eyes?)

 Hannah chased baby frogs...and caught several.

Daryl, Maddy, and Sarah all caught the same snapping turtle. 

 Hannah got bored and left her pole on the ground to chase frogs and caught a fish.  Doesn't she look thrilled?

 Finally, I gave up the fight and took the girls up to the house so we could swim.

 We had a great time swimming and visiting with Aunt Patricia.

 It was getting close to rush hour by the time we left, so we decided to take the back roads home instead of the interstate.  We managed to get behind every slow driver and get stopped by every red light in Fayetteville, and Charlotte slept 12 minutes.  Maybe.  She grumped a bit, but not as much as Josh who was in the back seat and ready to be home.

I know it's politically uncorrect to say that I love her little sunburned cheeks, but I do.  I did put sunscreen on her--once at the pond and twice at the pool!