New Life

I'm very proud to say I'm an Aunt AGAIN!! Carter was born yesterday at 12:50pm is 7 pounds 10 oz., and 20-1/2 in. long! He is so cute and very expressive. I'm so glad I could be at the hospital for my sister who I count a best friend. I love you JO! I'm so very proud of you!! You have a beautiful Baby boy!

It was pulled back ready to strike...

I'm really not trying to make you wait. It's been really crazy around here. And for me I really have to be in a writing mood!! So if you haven't checked out the first and second part of my story check them out!


I backed up quickly and she stayed still, while the rest of us went around her. No one got bit. They said that was a rattler too. I thought it was strange cause I didn't remember seeing a rattle or hearing it. Talk about having enough snakes within 3-4 hours! We continued on our hike. We got to stop at a really cool place called the Grato. The water was beautiful. Such a crystal clear blue! But too cold for me to swim! We did have fun climbing on the rocks and got some pretty good pictures. (which I can't find, sorry.) After about an hour at the Grato we headed for our campsite for the night. We had about 2 kilometers left to hike. I barely made it back. (for those of you who don't know, I have lyphodema. It's extra tissue fluid in my feet and legs. They swell up pretty bad in heat and with a lot of walking.) My feet and legs were killing me. But none the less I did make it back! What a sigh of relief!! After a little rest some of the ladies got dinner ready. I couldn't eat. I just started breaking down crying, I had had enough! I headed for the ladies washroom and one of the ladies on staff came and talked to me. She was so sweet. She let me know she believes God has His hand in everything. Including snakes. We may not always understand it. She let me know that we had seen more snakes that day than she had seen on the same hike in the last 6 years!
At that point she asked me to decide if I thought my legs could handle the next day. Which was a 19 km hike with rough terrain. Since my legs were hurting so bad and I was emotionally spent, I told her I didn't think I could. We decided I would do the last 6-7 km and finish the hike. Whew! Was I relieved. I was then able to eat a little. A few of us decided to go wash our hair with my Herbal Essence Shampoo in the lake!! It was "Refreshing" to say the least!! haha! Then we all sat around the campfire, sang songs, and made s'mores. All of us were on a total of 3 campsites. The main site we cooked at was on one side of the road. The other two were on the other side. We slowly all headed for bed. It had been a very long and draining day. My friend Avie and I shared a tent, and Hemp was in the other (right next to us.) Everybody else was across the road. I was so excited that I would get a good full nights sleep without being woken up by Arika. (She had woken up every night in jungle camp, since she always got out from under her covers and would get cold.)
I drifted off into sweet slumber, so welcomed after a long trying day. Only to be woken up by my friend Avie Yelling, "JOY, SOMETHING IS TRYING TO GET IN THE TENT!"

Memories Part II

Okay, so I know some of you are upset with me. Here's another part of the story. If you haven't read the first post check it out! Here's some pics!

The group of ladies for the hike! This was right before we left.

This is at the "Top Noch" restaurant, this is Ruth sitting right beneath the buffalo!

Hearing our last instructions from Shane before we hit the trail!

So we got to the trail and got all geared up. They suggested we only take the necessities. Like water, extra socks, bug spray, etc. So we hit the Bruce Trail. It had some difficult terrain. Rocky, slippery, and a lot of up and downs, not just up, down, but UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP, DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWNS. Like holding on to the trees while you went down so you didn't roll down and die!! I felt like we were RUNNING!! (Remember I'm 5' 2" with very short legs, I was still sporting a good amount of baby weight and very, very out of shape.) I was in the back of the group having a very hard time keeping up. I took a little side trail with one of the ladies to see the bay, and there was a flash of green that slithered across my path! I let out a scream, then realized it was only a garter snake. Whew! We hiked for about an 1 1/2 hours an stopped for a break at a beautiful lookout spot, it was like we were all on a huge rock with cracks in it. Some of the ladies decided to hike down to a cave. I decided to save as much energy as I could! I sat down next to two of our staff members, but careful not to sit over a crack. Unlike one of the staff members. She looks down and says, "oh, hello." and got up. You guessed it! A snake! I was out of there so fast! Then I totally freaked! I started bawling, not just crying but BAWLING! They said it was a Mississauga rattler. It took everything I had to look at the snake. But I wanted to know what they looked like. Everybody was taking pictures, all excited about it. Then they had us stand back so they could make it rattle so everybody would know what they sounded like. They poked it but couldn't get it to rattle. It just slithered off.
So we continued on. I tried to stay closer to the front. They said it was good for the morale. We couldn't keep up with the lead. So I had one of the ladies (Avie) walk in front of me!! No way was I going first! As we were walking along, She just about stepped on a snake!! It was pulled back, ready to strike...