Day two at Ray’s place was a little calmer than day one. Ray decided to cut down a tree that was blocking his DirecTV dish. After it fell, he chopped it into nice splittable logs, and we started moving it all into the shed to dry out. Then Matt saw rattlesnake number two slithering from the trailer to the woods. We grabbed rakes, sticks and the camera, but he was already hiding in the ferns. At one point, he poked his head up and stared at us for a few seconds before heading right for what was left of the tree Ray cut down. The rest of the day was spent on snake watch.

Ray, Matt, Ken and I drove out to Ray’s family campsite, “The Castle Too”, for a guys’ weekend of doing nothing. A few minutes after we arrived, we were taking the tarp off of the front of the woodshed when we heard what sounded like a large locust buzzing. Nobody knew what the noise was, so I started unhooking the second eyehole of the tarp, and the noise started again. This time, it ended in a distinct rattling sound. We all knew that there was a rattlesnake in the woodshed.

After running around in circles crying and screaming for a few minutes, we managed to get the rest of the tarp off, and found the snake sitting on top of the wood pile in the back left corner of the shed.

We had no clue what to do, so Ray called Merle’s house and spoke to Andy. Andy said he’d call Merle and send him over. A few minutes later, Merle showed up, unaware of the snake situation because he didn’t have his cell phone. He was just checking to see if we had arrived yet.

When we told him about the snake, he looked at us like we were the dumb city slickers that we are, and told us to get a stick like the one next to his truck and kill it. So we did….well….Matt and Merle did with a rake and a stick and an axe. Ken held a flashlight on the snake’s position, Ray stood off to the side mumbling about needing a new diaper, and I stood up on the picnic table with my camera….to get a good angle for photos, not because I was convinced we were all going to get bitten or anything….

After the snake was gone, we had a fairly normal night of burning stuff, drinking beer, and talking about snakes.

Here are some photos. If you don’t like seeing dead snakes, or their heads, don’t look.

Melayna passed out snuggling against Brayden this evening. He was very proud that he helped her fall asleep, and asked me to take a picture.

Poor Bray had a fever of 103.8 this afternoon, a virus is going around, and all we could do was treat the symptoms. Luckily, the fever broke quickly, and he’s fine.

He was worried that he’d make Melayna sick by watching TV with her. He didn’t understand that if she’s going to get sick, she’s going to get sick just from being in the same house.

The girls all got together to take Christy out this evening since she is moving in a few weeks. They had a nice dinner at Siam Cuisine and then went dancing at the Freight House.

There are a few really dark photos in the Freight House, but it looks like they figured out how to work the flash in the end.

Tish and Kenny threw a great party for Leah and Olivia’s birthdays tonight. The weather was perfect, and everyone enjoyed the pool, the food, and the cake. Here are photos of party people.

Fourth Fireworks, Family, Friends, and Fun.

We had a long last day in Ocean City. We hung out with Jenny, Chad, Emma, Maeve, Matt and Colin on the beach. Then we saw fireworks from 23rd street at night. It was a fun final day at the shore.

Surreys, Sweat, Sand, and Sideshow rides.

Do you really need to know anything more?

Bikes, Beach, Birds….Dinner.

Today was a busy day for being on vacation. After a nice bike ride we hit the beach. Melayna learned all about feeding seagulls…not that that made the people around us happy. After we were thoroughly worn out from that, we cleaned up and went to Carmen’s in Sea Isle City for dinner, which was lots of fun.

Beach beach beach, and dolphins!

After a day on the beach, Melissa met Aunt Joann and Uncle Rick on the dolphin watch boat with the boys. Aunt Joann and Uncle Rick had a great time. Melissa got seasick, and the boys all fell asleep.