Kailey Ashlyn needs

Playschool is having this giveaway for $75 worth of baby items.... and I think the NEWEST member of our family (Kailey Ashlyn coming to a house near us by Christmas this year) will probably need 95% of the items in the giveaway and will want the other 5%, so I thought I would try to win it for her! AREN'T I THE GREATEST GRANDMA EVER! (well maybe we could substitute cheapest for greatest....but if I won then I could spend the $75 or so I would spend on buying these items for her on something else right!

My favorite MUST HAVE item in the bunch is this.....

They have some that are PINK.......I haven't gotten to buy PINK since Rylee was born and then she was a Thumb baby not overly fond of the BINK........I love babies with PINK BINKS. hehehehehe!

My friend Drea has all the details on her site so hop on the train and go see what I'm raving about......TRAIN........choo choo

Tree takes a HIT

Here's the promised pictures from our tree being struck by ligtning. The same strike that caught our neighbor's house on fire.

The places that show reddish brown (obviously a different color than the rest of the tree) is where the bark was knocked away by the strike and according to the "Tree" doctor will probably cause parts of the tree to die if the shock went deep enough. CRAZY!!!!!

This last picture is actualy of the ROOT that was under ground and the strike bounced off of.....we think that the bounce is what hit the neightbor's house.

Lightning Strike

Lightning sparks house fire in *******

Last Edited: Monday, 13 Aug 2007, 5:48 AM EDT
Created: Monday, 13 Aug 2007, 5:48 AM EDT
Firefighters believe the blaze was sparked by lightning.

******** – Firefighters say a lightning bolt is to blame for sparking a house fire on Sunday night in ********** County.
Fire crews say the blaze started in the attic of a home on ********Drive and ******* Drive in ******** when a lightning bolt hit the house. They say it a bolt also struck a tree, and left a gaping hole in the ground.

The family that lives in the house was home at the time of the strike. They say they were all a little rattled by the experience, but they are thankful that no one was hurt.

Neighbors say they were also affected by the strike when their electronics were shorted out. But, they say, it could have been worse.

"Like I said, it's material stuff. I'm not worried about it," said Randy Hubbard, who lives nearby. "The house is fine. Marshall's fine. Everything can be replaced."

************************************************************************************

The previous was an article off of a local news site. This is our next door neightbors house. Randy and I were about a block from the house when this lightning struck. Our truck filled with HEAT - and we commented on how close it was. When we got home we started in the house and I could smell melted plastic, so we looked all around and found NOTHING. We went in and started to eat and heard the BLAST from the firetruck horn. We went out the front door and the neightbors house had FLAMES coming out of the roof. I ran over started beating on her front door yelling her name. Randy said she's across the street. So we all stood in the pouring rain and watched the firemen do their thing. They went above and beyond - they extinquished the fire, they moved her antique table and couch so they could minimize the damage when they cut a hole in her ceiling to remove the smoldering insulation - dropping the insulation on a tarp they brought in to minimize the mess. After they were done - I asked if we could use their ladder (which was up still) they said if you would bring us the tarp and nails we will hammer it up for you. It was a very sweet gesture.

I will give you an update with Pictures of where the same strike hit our tree later today.

Camping, Exploring, Hiking, etc..........

Randy and I met our friends Eric, Julie & their kids at the Florida Caverns campgrounds on Saturday. We did lots of SWEATING and yet had a GREAT time so I thought I would share some pictures with you.

OUR TENT & Seth having a snack in our Kitchen - I didn't think to take a picture of the whole set up but know we only were lacking a bathroom for it to be home sweet home!! (see Randy in the back ground?

Rachael having her bath.........isn't that the sweetest bathtub ever? She thought it was so funny!

We had a little visitor to our tent - Hey Mr Turtle I miss you!!!

The Caverns.

And they are ready to roll on Monday - Aren't they cute?

This picture kind of explains why there isn't any pictures of Ethan (I at least got him to look up from his DS long enough for this one......hehehe)

But like his Mommy said this is his vacation also and this is his way to relax and have a good time - so let him have a good time!

He did meet the boy in the site on the otherside of us and I think they would have done a bunch of things together but the days we had free they spent at the beach so the boys didn't get but a couple of hours the first night we were there together.

Randy and I drove home on Tuesday - and on the way home we discovered this LightHouse.......it was magnificient! (And it is one of the few that are still used here in Florida)

Another Give AWAY??? Too good to be true?

Hmmm what I could do with a $75 dollar gift card to Chittypulga I could buy each of the grandkids cute clothes or toys that would stretch their imagination............or I could just concentrate on the 2 granddaughters because I have to say they have some of the cutest girls clothes EVER~!!!!!!!!!!

Go here to to try to win the gift card YOU COULD BE A WINNER.