Monday Afternoon, February 28, 2011

A little bridge fishing for Jim this morning (no luck, wind was really whipping around), a little horseshoe game this afternoon for Jim, a little reading for me.

We plan to spend tomorrow at the Lee's, hopefully painting a deck, so, we decided to stay here today.

I currently have some laundry going and Jim has returned from horseshoes.  He and Frisby were partners again this week. Partners are drawn, so, interesting and a little unique that Jim and Frisby are partners for two weeks in a row.

Frisby - Frisbee - I have been spelling his name Frisbee.  I noticed today he was wearing a shirt with "Frisby" spelled out! So, I am correcting myself.

Yesterday was fun with Hillary, Walt, Gabby and Lily.  Jim and I got to Mattheson's before the Lee's so we grabbed the big circular back booth.  I noticed Christine, the owner, cutting up a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs for her boys and my mouth started watering.  Spaghetti, and a big bowl of it, was my lunch and it was wonderful.  I had starved myself all morning, not eating breakfast, so I would have a big, big ole appetite for lunch.

The walk down the street for the Art Show was fun.  There was a sign "art is bought, not sold" that I found interesting and I am imagining that is the feeling of the artists, although I have never even thought about it!

The booths were primarily paintings.  There was a booth with show casing a lot of ladies shirts.  These are pretty much works of art themselves.  I did buy one of her shirts at the art show we went to a few weeks ago - reading, across the front "I kiss my dog on the lips."  Yeap, that's what it says, and I just loved the message. 

When I walked by her booth yet again, I noticed a shirt that has pretty much a flowing, uneven hem, a patch of fabric on the back side of the hem, and the usual patches of fabric on all of her shirts on the front.  I loved this shirt as well, and, gosh, I had to have another one!  Just call me piggy....

We cut the afternoon short with the Lee's so we could stop by the grocery story and Jim could check his bait trap before the 'volunteer dinner.'  He did get some bait fish, and the fish in his bucket were still alive.  So, things are looking up for this part of Jim's fishing, maybe he'll catch another mangrove snapper to join the one we have in the freezer.

The volunteer dinner was just the nicest occasion.  The work campers were out in full force, as well as the owner of the camp ground, Joe Cleghorn. 

Chuck gave the opening welcome and then Joe took the floor, thanking each of his camp workers, and thanking us because he said we were the ones that made things happen.

Chuck had prepared two soups for the beginning course.  A hot mushroom soup and a cold french soup made with red bell peppers.  Liz, the lady that works in the office on Donna's day off, came around to the tables, taking our order for pete's sake, hot or cold soup.  Jim got the mushroom and I got the bell pepper soup - we traded tastes, and, of course, the decision was that Chuck is a master chef!  As Joe had said when he was recognizing the work campers, "Chuck is a man of many talents."

After the soup course, we were served salads and lasagna.  And, please note here, we were served by the work campers.  Every meal we have at the clubhouse is prepared by the campers themselves and there is a line for serving.  For the volunteer dinner, all of us campers just sat at our tables and were served.

Ice Cream was dessert and we did line up for ice cream.  Too many big tubs of ice cream, and too many flavors, so it would have been a difficult job for those options to be served at the tables.  The ice cream would have melted before they could have gotten around to all the tables.

Rumblings of a marbles game after dinner and, of course, Jim was invited to play and, of course, he joined in.  I hung around for a while, and after several people asked "Karen, aren't you playing?"  I ducked out and came back to the camper.

Jim has just left to go up to Cudjoe Key to the Fishing Supply Store.  I think I saw him talking to John and Marty during the horseshoe games, and Marty must have leaked out another fishing secret that Jim needs to take care of!

Pictures of Sunday Afternoon with the Lee's and Sunday Evening at the Volunteer Dinner:

This little boy is Christine's son (the owner of Mattheson's)  He just climbed out of his booth and up on the wood separating the two booths.  Notice the man in the booth next to him!

Gabby enjoying some ice cream after her lunch.  The neat thing about the girls getting the ice cream is that the adults can generally finish it off.

Lily with her ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.  Yes, that is Jim, headless, in the background.

This is a sand sculpture of a turtle that has just laid eggs and is using its flippers to cover up the eggs.  Both girls know I love me some turtles and they were very anxious to show me this work of art.

Has anyone ever heard of a kinkaju (I think I spelled that right)?  At the end of the street art show there is a building that has a toy store.  The girls had gone into this store some time back and discovered this cute little creature.  He belongs to the owners and sleeps behind the checkout counter during the day.  The owners take him home at night and he is nocturnal.  So, good for business, he sleeps all day, and, he is prone to keeping the owners up all night while he is on adventures in their home at night.  Absolutely adorable, easy and sweet.  The lady holding him here in this picture works at the store.  She says they can live to be at least 23.  That there is one in a zoo up in central Florida that is in its 40's.  She also said she can't think of one think that isn't fabulous about the little guy, except, that, of course, he could keep you up all night!

I realize I look very sad in this picture - actually, I am overwhelmed that I was holding the kinkaju and he was just curling up, wanting to go back to sleep.

Too cute - you can see, all the little critter wanted to do was go to sleep.

And, as soon as the Kinkaju found someone big enough with a shirt big enough, he just burrowed down.

Lily did get to hold the kinkaju for a second.  Then on to bigger and better things.

Our dining table awaits us at the Lazy Lakes Volunteer Dinner.  The center pieces of flowers were meant for each of the ladies at each table to take home a carnation.  The ladies at our table, and at the adjoining table, asked me to take both arrangements and give them to the grandchildren - so, they are here in the camper, still looking good and hopefully they will stay pretty until I can deliver them to Gabby and Lily.

Sitting at our table, Niels and Joann to Jim's left - then, Ralph and Sharon arrived, Walter and that is Lorraine next to my empty chair.

Table behind us - do not know the lady about to sit down, Char and Floyd - Char's husband, Jerry and Floyd's wife, Terry were up taking pictures.  There was a picture taking frenzy.

Our friend Larry to the left, Liz - office worker in the red, not sure about the next person, then, Linda, the Camp Manager in the blue top.

Table in front of us, Dallas in the green shirt, JoAnn looking at the camera, her husband, Charlie hidden by Dallas, Joan in the white, her husband Mike in the brown t-shirt and Martin in the torn tank! :)

A view down the 'other side' of lined up tables.  Frisby with the brown/green camp, Gary walking toward the camera and Joan taking a picture of her table.

That is Liz's husband looking at the camera and Sandy in the orange tank with husband John beside of her. Lady with the long hair? not sure....

Our friend, Larry, Liz, Linda, Chuck in the orange shirt (Chuck is pretty allusive - every time I try to get a picture he moves, so I have to take a picture from afar.  Hopefully, before we leave here, I'll get a good photo of Chuck.  That's Marty in the jean shorts walking by.

Ralph and Sharon - they were a little late getting to the dinner and fortunately, we still had two empty chairs at our table.

Again, our friend, Larry, and the owner of the camp, Joe Cleghorn.

I snuck into the ice cream line thinking, again, I would get a picture of Chuck.  He escaped again!  That is Steve from Lexington SC talking to Marty and Dale and Ray about to serve the ice cream.

Dale and Carolyn on Monday (earlier today) about to get ready for horseshoes.

Sunday Morning February 27, 2011

It is 10:30 in the morning here at Lazy Lakes.  And, no, I did not make it to church this morning.

I have laundry going up at the laundry room, have read the paper and we are gearing up to join the Lee's after church at Mattheson's and then on to the Street Art Show in Key West.

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday afternoon, we just kind of hung out here at the camp all Saturday Afternoon.  This afforded me the opportunity to take several candid shots of the gathering for the hamburger cookout.  I wanted to get those pictures off the camera and into the blog - so, a little pictorial of our Saturday Afternoon friends at Lazy Lakes.

We sat and visited with Sharon and Ralph Shoemaker from Greenville NC during our burgers.  I failed to take my camera earlier, so, I had to capture them on film later in the afternoon while Sharon was doing laundry (laundry and bathhouse - green building behind them.)  As mentioned, Ralph was a professor of music at East Carolina University and Sharon was a teacher in the public school system, teaching LD Students.  They leave tomorrow to drive up to Venice Fl. to watch a little baseball spring training.

Marty and Donna.  Donna is the key office person here and one of the most likable people you could ever meet.  Marty is the ace fisherman I have mentioned so often.  Donna was wearing a dress on this day.  She does work on Saturday's and as Saturday is the free food, music and beer hosted by the owner, Joe Cleghorn, (trying to lure potential campers or buyers of lots into Lazy Lakes) Donna generally dresses for the occasion - for those visitors that may be prospective buyers of lots or future rental patrons.  Marty is currently suffering from the same illness that I, as well as many of the other campers have had in the last few weeks.  He had just walked up to get a hamburger and was then "going back to bed."

During hamburgers, Terry was recruiting marble players.  So, mid afternoon, the table was set up, that's Jim shuffling the cards.  You see a part of Jerry in the green shirt in the background.

People gathered around the grill for burgers.  Seated is Carolyn in the white shirt, haven't met the lady in the blue stripe shirt, that's Char in the black shirt, Lorraine in the white tank top and Terry talking to Dale at the grill.

Quick, candid shot of Dallas and Floyd.  Dallas has been coming here for years (as well as Floyd and Terry) although we did not meet him last year.  He was unable to come down in 2010 because he was going through his cancer treatments.  Everyone here was glad to see him back and we were happy to get to meet the infamous Dallas.

This table had already enjoyed their burgers and were visiting as well as listening to the music.  The band was playing out by the pool.  That is Frisbee with the cap (one of the nicest guys in the world - always even, kind and smiling), Peggy to his left, Sue with the orange cap and Pat across from Frisbee.  Pat is the person that broke her little finger while playing horseshoes.  She and Peggy are the two sisters that, amazingly to me, spent four or five months here every winter, leaving their husbands back home.   Sue is from Lexington SC.

John, Sandy and Mattie sitting by the pool enjoying the band.  the band is playing to Mattie's immediate left.

A birds eye view of a marbles game.  I stood on top of a picnic table that was behind the players.

Players, starting with Chuck with the band around his head, Char, her husband Jerry, Lorraine, Terry, Ron, Jim, Walter (Lorraine's husband) and Floyd (Terry's husband.)

This is Jake.  Jake and his Dad, Bob, have lived across from us for about two weeks.  Jake, as you can tell, is a love.  He is 18 months old.  He and his Dad are from central Florida and they left to go back home this morning (Sunday morning.)

As I blogged yesterday afternoon, I could look up through the front windows and see the sun.  I have enjoyed this view from the campsite many, many times.  I just stopped blogging and walked up to the clubhouse at the horseshoe pits to finally get this picture.  The sun is going down over the salt shallows or flats.  Just beautiful.

Saturday Afternoon February 26, 2011

It is about 5:00 in the afternoon here at Lazy Lakes.

We have kind of 'hung around' most of the day right here.  Although, I did talk Jim into going up to Summerland Key for a community yard sale event.
these community yard sales are particularly fun because they offer to Jim and I a grass roots view of neighborhoods and houses.  This was a particularly pretty neighborhood with most all of the houses situate on a canal and/or the ocean. 

But before today, we had yesterday! And, a terrific turtle experience. 

Our turtle tour started with the 2:00 p.m. group gathering in a room, with instructions to sit in our favorite 'gray' chair and listen to the tale of turtles.

Our guide was a cute and personable young girl and she held the attention of everyone (well, Lily veered off course occasionally.)  I spent a lot of the tour with Gabby. It was amazing to watch her face as our guide described the turtles and some of their health concerns.  Gabby's expressions would range from wide-eyed wonder to having furrows on her brow as she listened to how the turtles can be hurt. 

Gabby also raised her hand to answer a question from the guide.  She was fully involved in every way.

I must say that Lily would generally raise her hand when our guide would ask if the group had any questions.  Once drawn out for her question, Lily would just burrow her hand in her mother's shoulder.  Our guide enjoyed this and said she would be getting Lily to talk at some point in time.

Our tour then went to the operating room for the turtles, and then onto the ex-ray room.

Lots of turtles were without one or more of their flippers.  Some of the turtles would be brought in because they were found floating.  Many times this is because they have eaten something (things as strange as shoe soles) and had become bloated and subsequently 'impacted.'  When this happens they feed the turtle Metamucil and lots of oil and they generally, after several weeks, are able to relieve themselves and can be put back in the ocean.

Turtle flippers often times get entangled in fishing line, the fishing line eats away at the flipper joint, resulting in the lose of a flipper.

Also, there were turtles that are called bubble butts.  These turtles have been hit by a boat and their shells become bubbled and they cannot dive for their food.  These turtles are experimented with putting different weights on the backs of their shells.  Seems it is difficult to find a 'good' way to keep the weights on the shells as well as getting the right size of weight. The bubble butt turtles (not the breed, simply what their malady is called) spend their life at the hospital.

I was only able to take one picture of a turtle.  Seems I was always at the back of the group! :)  And, the picture I got was one of the last turtles we were able to see as everyone else was going out of the turtle area.

Some of the turtles were in tanks to themselves.  One turtle, because he had become too aggressive at feeding time and other turtles because they were at some stage of recovery.

The tanks were large, in fact, the tanks that held the groups of turtles in various stages of recovery, were in what was called Hurricane Tanks 1 and 2.

I think I read correctly that this particular turtle hospital in Marathon was started in the 1980's by a couple.  They bought a motel and the lobby is the gift shop and where we signed up for the tour.  The ex-ray room and operating room were in a separate adjacent building. 

The turtle tanks are at the back of the motel lot, along the ocean side. 

When we left the buildings to walk back to the turtle tanks, our guide cautioned us to please stay on the gravel walk and please, please do not get in the grassy areas, because of fire ants, etc. 

Well, this piece of advice sunk into Lily.  When we were almost to the turtle tanks, the entire group spied an iguana.  We all looked at it from afar, BUT, one lady walked on the grass to take a picture.  Lily saw this lady, her eyes got big as saucers (I happened to be carrying Lily at this point) and she said "Amme, that lady is going to be in big trouble."  Just shows you, you never know what little ones hear.

It was a great afternoon and I think everyone enjoyed the visit to the Turtle Hospital.

Once back at camp, Jim had returned from the Lee House and was sitting outside.  We all got a snack and the girls wanted to go on the 'big walkabout' which means walking around the lake.  I was game, Hillary said okay, she and Dad'n Dad'n would visit, so off we go.

Gabby had hidden her 'stick' and she was able to retrieve it.  Gabby uses the stick to get moss out of the lake and Lily looks for flowers that Barbie will like.  I only wish I had a tape recorder with me to capture the quick sound bites the girls throw out at me.  Too wonderful......

Once we get back to the camper, Hillary says it is time to get home.  Both girls pretty much crawl into the car with no problem.  I think they are pretty well worn out.

Jim and I have a piece of Dion's chicken (he had picked some up on the way home from the Lee's) and have our cocktail sitting out here by the camper.  Our friend Phyllis comes by with Jane, the dog, and asks if we are going to be out for a while and she comes back after delivering Jane back home.  The three of us enjoy a nice long visit until after dark.

Now, for some pictures.....

Lily and Gabby in the lobby of the Turtle Hospital as they patiently wait for our tour.

We have driven by this sign many, many times.  I really never thought I would be able to tour the Turtle Hospital.

To the left is the line of motel rooms.  I understand the staff that works at the hospital lives in most of these rooms.  And the white gravel pathway is the pathway we were cautioned, above caution, to stay on and not to get in the grass.  The turtle tanks are at the very end of this path along the ocean.

An ocean view at the back of the turtle hospital.  The tank buildings are to the right of this area.  I didn't take a picture of the buildings because from this vantage point, all you can see is a chain link fence.

The iguana on the rocks that Lily and I stood way back from on the gravel path.  Just up from us, Lily saw the lady walking on the grass and got very concerned, although, she thought it kind of funny that a lady would get in trouble and not a little girl!

This turtle tank was the only one I was able to get close enough to for a picture.  This particular turtle, as you can see, is halfway floating and has his head way down under the water.  Our guide said he had just had an operation, was on medication and that is why he was floating like this.  She 'moved' him a little, he stuck his head up as you would expect a turtle to do and then moved around the tank and got back in this same position.  So, our guide said not to worry, he would be alright, it was just taking him a few days to recover.  There were turtles that were huge, 100 lbs or more, I just was not able to get pictures of those guys.

As we were coming around to the back side of the camp ground, Captain Bill happened to come by with Cudjoe, the pup.  The girls, of course, loved Cudjoe and Captain Bill was more than friendly and kind to the girls as they loved on Cudjoe.

This cute little sign is on the backside of the campground.  Gabby did not get her picture with Cudjoe because she was excited to have her picture made, alone, at this sign.  She had no idea that Lily was standing behind her at the time!

As Gabby thought she had her picture made alone, she was anxious to scurry off.  So, this left Lily, getting her picture made by herself!  Oh, the stories we can tell.

Around the bend, on the backside of the campground, one of the campsites has a man made sandy area with a tiny little dock and you can see the little one man sailboat.  Lily wanted to check this area out, so, again, she gets a picture by herself.  Gabby has walked way on ahead of us.

This is one of the houses in the neighborhood of yard sales this morning.  Fortunately, for my picture taking, there was this empty lot directly across the street.  This house sits on the ocean.

Side of house and view of ocean at Summerland Key neighborhood yard sales.

Friday Morning February 25, 2011

Another deliciously beautiful day in the Florida Keys.
I remember, last year, talking to our neighbor in Norwood, Debbie, and she asked what the weather was like here in the winter.  I hesitated, because, I really wasn't sure, as we had not, yet, spent a winter in the keys.  I told Deb that I guessed it was somewhat like our spring weather there in Norwood.

Well, this year, the weather has been exactly like that.  Most days have been in the mid 70's - earlier on there were some 60 degree days, and occasionally, we have an 80 degree day. 

All that said, "Nothing can be finer than to be in Carolina"; although, as Jim and I are getting older, this warm tropical weather suits just fine, thank you!

I know I have mentioned there are not that many folks from the Carolina's that camp.  At least nothing like the number of people from Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and most especially Michigan. The people from Michigan just grin and say "well, if your winters were like ours, you would be anxious to get out too."  

There are some people leaving now.  Russ and Marsha from Pennsylvania are leaving today.  Our friend, Larry, from Pennsylvania, leaves, I think on Sunday or Monday.  Ralph and Sharon from Greenville NC leave on Monday.  And, of course, Jim and I leave on March 15.

The camp workers say most all of the campers are gone by the end of March.  The campers that work here are here until the end of April or first of May (again, those folks from Michigan.)  

After blogging on Wednesday, I rode up with Jim to the mangrove area off Hwy 1 to check his bait trap.  He had a lot of pin fish in the trap.  Jim mentioned that several were a little large to use for bait and I pleaded with him to put those back in the water for release. 

Those smaller bait fish he transferred to his orange home depot bucket, filled with ocean water about 1/3 of the way up.  The remaining 2/3rd's of the bucket is drilled with holes.

I don't think I have mentioned - although Jim is using his chum for the bait trap, with great success, he was having a little problem with his home depot bucket.  Seems that after he put this bucket in the lake here for keeping the fish alive until he could go fishing, he would check on the bucket and his fish would be dead.

Oh, the trials of being a fisherman!  Jim subsequently drilled bigger holes in the top of the bucket and seems to be having a little better luck in keeping his fish alive.  He talked with some of his fishing buddies, i.e., Larry, looked at his buckets and could not see any difference except maybe bigger holes.  

And, of course, since he brought his pin fish back here to Lazy Lakes on Wednesday Afternoon, Jim has not had time to go fishing again.  

We did have our steak dinner, with baked potato and salad on Wednesday Night and it was delicious.  Phyllis walked by with her sweet dog, Jane, just as the steak was coming off the grill and had a hard time tugging on Jane's lease to get her back home.

After we finished our meal, we had some cuttings from our steak, and a bone that I took down to Jane and Phyllis seemed delighted and allowed Jane to have a treat of steak.  Perfect!

On Thursday, February 24, I did get to go up to the 'kitchen' to help Carolyn cut up some onions and peppers for the baked beans she was going to serve with the shrimp for the anniversary dinner of JoAnn and Niels.

The camp kitchen is a separate, tiny little building at the back of the pool area.  Here, in this area, also, are a couple of storage buildings with tools, lumber and any assortment of camp supplies that cannot find a home anywhere else.  All of these little buildings are nestled in an area that is not really visible to the clubhouse and/or pool area, which is a good thing.

The kitchen does offer a refrigerator, stove, pots, pans, counter space, sink for washing up dishes and a washer and dryer for laundry of the rental units.

I enjoyed my time in the kitchen with Carolyn.  As Carolyn is always taking care of something, it was nice to have the time and space with her for conversation.  

Then, off to Key West/Stock Island/Key Haven to do a little work before the big art show at 5:30.

Jim and I were fortunate to have Walt bring Lily to us while we were at Home Depot.  We did our little shopping, Lily and I walked over to the Walgreens to get a sympathy card (Walter's brother up at West Palm did pass away on Tuesday Night) for Walter and Lorraine; and, I promised Lily some chocolate!

When we about to check out at Walgreen's there were two checkout lines.  One line worked by a man and one line worked by a woman.  Lily looked up, saw the two lines, and said "amme, let's don't get in the boy line, let's get in the girl line."  Well, the lady at the checkout loved this comment and loved Lily for saying it.  We had a good conversation with her as Lily 'paid for our card and the chocolate.'

I had decided a good little project for Lily and I when we got to her house would be to paint the concrete wall that is along the canal side.  And, this plan did work out perfectly.

I got the very pale pink paint out and mixed it with some of the white trim paint (trying to match up the faded pink on the wall), got Lily a small roller brush, another brush for us both, and a large roller brush for myself.

As there is nothing to harm with paint drippings except some mulch, Lily and I rolled paint and had a grand time. 

And, Lily was very, very patient as we opened the cans of paint (I showed her how), poured paint in the tray, mixed and got started.  Lily was very deliberate in trying to squeeze the paint from her roller in the tray, asking "amme, now is it ready?"

I will also have to say as we rolled paint, Lily said "amme, you are the best grandma."  Priceless.

Of course, I saved a little area for Gabby to paint when she got home from school.  By now, things started getting a little crazy with two little ones and Gabby really wanted to paint on the canal side as there were dirty spots there and we started getting paint splatters on the concrete walk.  Time to stop and take a rest for this day.

Big event - The Co-Op Art Show and we started getting ready to be there before the 5:30 start time.

This art show is so much fun.  And, lots of good food.  In fact, Gabby told me that she would spend a lot of time eating while we were there!

Lily had a total of 14 pieces of art - ranging from a portfolio of painted art, to pottery, to a paper plate necklace, to an egg entitled 'faberge egg', a framed piece with glass beads, just lots of great things.

Once at the art show, you buy 'stickers' to stick on the pieces of art that you want to purchase.  We were anxious to get our stickers to get them on all of Lily's art before someone else bought some of her work.  

Gabby and I were alarmed when we got to the table holding Lily's art because her pottery piece already had a sticker.  Oh, no, someone had already bought it and I was sorely disappointed.  Once Hillary got to Lily's table, she assured us that she had arranged for that sticker to be put on the pottery earlier. What a relief for Gabby and I.

After the art show, once we got back to camp, Jim did walk up to say hello to our fellow campers at the clubhouse.  Dinner was over and the Lazy Lakes Trash Band was performing!  I, of course, went to bed.

Hillary is to pick me up today at about 12:30 and she and the girls and I are going back up to Marathon to the Turtle Hospital.  This will be a full afternoon and I am looking forward to it. 

Now, time for some pictures -

Hillary and Gabby on the back deck.  This was just after our painting project.  Note the decking, because Jim and I are planning on painting that deck next week after a little more pressure washing (pressure washer to the left)!

Lily playtime before we get ready to go to the Art Show.  The wall behind Lily is the wall that Lily and I had painted earlier in the afternoon.

More playtime - Gabby.

Gabby getting sea grape tree leaves out of the pool.  The wall behind Gabby is the wall that the three of us (Gabby, Lily and I finished up our painting project on)

This is a paper outline of Lily that was attached to the ceiling in Lily's class.

Lily's art collection. 

About the artist - On this information poster, you may note, Lily wants to be a "Barbie Musketeer" and her favorite color is purple.

Hillary getting our stickers onto Lily's artwork, as Gabby looks on.

The artist Lily beside of her artwork.

Lily as she takes a break from her showing - having a little chocolate.

The big room of food, punch and art with just a sampling of the attendees.

Lots and lots of people mingling and as this room is small for the crowds, art patrons were outside as well.

We found a semi quiet corner outside to enjoy our food.  You see Gabby as she is finishing up her plate of goodies.

After a stressful art showing, the artists are getting in a little fun.  That is Lily with her back to us.

That is Hillary and Walt's friend, Brenda in the white with the red purse.  She talked the little girls into posing for this picture so I was able to capture them as well.

The children lined up these foam and plastic chairs and made themselves a train.  Lily was sitting in the blue chair, got up to report "amme, he hit me"  - after I assured her it was an accident, she lost her place and with no problems, pulled up another foam piece to join in at the back of the line.

Lily is easily entertained.  She found this mermaid doll and enjoyed playing with it for a few minutes.

At the end of the evening, Lily and friend decide its time for a little fruit, veges and dip.  Immediately after this picture was taken, Lil had had enough and told her Dad she wanted to go home.  So, she, Walt, Jim and I took the tired little artist home while Hillary and Gabby stayed around for the cleanup.