Don't tread on me.

So, I didn't sleep well last night.  Once I got to sleep it seems that all I dreamt of was snakes.  

It seems to be my week to find them. 

You will recall that we have a history of snakes showing up on occasion at our house.

To refresh your memory, we had a visit from a corn snake on our front porch here.

And a visit from a Copperhead here.  

And, there was also an undocumented visit from one that literally slithered in under Josh's feet into our house and behind the deep freezer.  It was quite frightening since we thought it was a Copperhead.  We later realized that it was a Corn snake.  Corn snakes are a beneficial snake since they will kill poisonous snakes.

So, on to this week...

I was preparing to leave the house with Benjamin on Monday to go to town and do some errands for VBS.  (I'm the VBS director for our church this year.)  I was then going to meet up with Josh's sister and a few other friends to walk the mall.  I was loading the stroller in my trunk when I happened to look down.  Not even a foot from my own flip flopped feet was this guy.  This is pictured after he slithered over to our back porch. 

I quickly took pictures for Josh's co-worker who helps to identify snakes for us.  (Thanks, Tonya!)  I also sent pictures to Josh, and tapped my foot anxioursly meanwhile going and locking my child in the house so he could not join the party.  I was pretty sure the snake wasn't poisonous, and they confirmed that he is a rat snake.  A young one too, since you notice that he doesn't have all of his patterning.  The only reason he looks so defensive in the last picture is because I was trying to coax him back into the woods with a broom.  I gave up since he is relatively harmless.  He is a beneficial snake that will kill other poisonous snakes.  As much as I am creeped out by those snakes around our house, I would rather have them helping to keep us safe.  We found a skin in the rafters of the same porch a few weeks ago.  We think it was probably his.

Flash forward to yesterday evening, Thursday night.  I was out walking our driveway trying to get some exercise.  Yay, me!

I look ahead of me to see this.

I won't apologize for not having a better, closer picture of this heavy bodied fella.  You see, I happened to notice his tail, and I wasn't about to get too close.

I wasn't 100% sure that we had rattlesnakes in this part of the country, and I tried to call my husband up at the house, but his phone wasn't on him.  I watched as the large snake crossed the driveway, paying attention to where I saw him cross, and then I ran up to the house to show Josh the pictures.  Fortunately, this duded was closer to the road than he was to the house.

He followed me back down to look so he could help gauge where how long it was, and we could still see the tail sticking out of the grass where it was trying to blend in -- quite well I might add.  I was cautiously keeping Benjamin far away from it, with good reason.  We used a few pieces of gravel to rustle the grass around it so as to be able to hear what its tail sounded like.  It was our first experience with a rattlesnake.

Through our research we have realized that most snakes don't want to have anything to do with people, they won't seek you out, and when they strike it is only because they have been threatened or feel cornered.  Most bites happen in instances where they have been accidentally stepped on.  

I was quite unsettled last night after seeing that rattlesnake.  Not only had I walked up and down that same spot of driveway about half a dozen times that night, but Benjamin had run up and down it several times too.  The cows had been in the field, and Benjamin wanted to see them, so he was having Daddy time while I walked.

Cue adorable pictures of them playing catch...

\

I talked with God a lot last night.  I thanked him, and thanked him, and thanked him for his precious timing.  Not only did the Lord time that snake (which was probably spooked by the herd of cattle it was in the field with), to cross at a time when I wasn't looking down at my iPhone (I like to listen to music when I walk), but he also timed it after my son was running back and forth in that area.  I praise God for sparing us all the pain.  It is in those "what if" moments that I realize how deeply I love my child, and I would do anything to keep him from harm.  I also realize that I shouldn't dwell on the "what ifs" because if the Lord blesses us enough to spare us, then we should rejoice in Him whenever possible.

Wonderful Wet Wednesday

Today was a very rainy day with showers off an on most of the morning.  Benjamin and I enjoyed sleeping in after a late return from Riverbend the night before.  Poor Josh had to get up and go to work.

Benjamin enjoyed a morning bath due to his ongoing tummy problems that seemed to onset after returning from Dollywood.  Best guess for us is either teething or a lingering bug.

I noticed once we were up and moving that Benjamin had a slightly swollen right eye with redness in his eye.  After watching him a while we decided that he must have bumped it just right last night in all of his fun playing.  He falls a lot, bless him.  All boy.  He wasn't favoring it, so all seems to be well.

I was admittedly lazy this morning, and Athena chose to sneak some cuddles since she didn't want to be out in the rain.

She's so ferocious.

Okay, well, just yawning.  She is such a sweet girl and tolerates Benjamin amazingly well.

 

Benjamin took about a 3 hour nap.  I snuck in some rest time myself--not all three hours.  lol  When we were up and moving again Benjamin continued asking me for something that he had asked for most of the day, "Stabees."  aka.  Strawberries.

We headed out to the Piggly Wiggly and the Family Dollar for a few things, but mostly for strawberries.

We tried out the Bat mobile for a quarter.  He didn't like the way it moved.  

I splurged another 50 cents for the carousel, expecting potential meltdown.  

 Does he like it?  He did tell the horse to "Giddy up!"

Wait, what is that?  A smile!?  Well, I may have started pretend to chase him around it.  

I splurged another 50 cents for another minute of riding for him.

After our shopping we came home and I watered a few plants on the porch.  Benjamin wanted in on the fun.  Our water hose attachment has a mist option that he enjoys.

The watering of the plants created a puddle below the porch that he enjoyed running through.  He was not happy when it started to be absorbed by the ground.

I decided to let him make his own puddles.

Inevitably, he tried to get me.

He thought it was funny.  Stinker.

We went inside for another bathtime.  And, he enjoyed his strawberries right after that.  His appetite was in full swing this evening, and I let him chow down.  Horse ridin' and water splashin' must make a boy hungry.  

We enjoyed some time with Josh after he got home from church.  He hadn't seen Benjamin awake since Sunday due to our late nights this week.  Benjamin enjoyed his Daddy time for sure.

Riverbend 2014

So, if you live in our area, you know that we have had a lot of rain lately.  We had plans to take the teens from our church to Faith & Family night at Riverbend Tuesday evening, and we waited out a summer storm then headed out with some cheap ponchos and a prayer to stay dry.

The Lord was so good to us!  

It didn't rain anymore where we were, and it was about 68 degrees with a breeze.  

We were blessed with a beautiful sunset.

 We went specifically to see TobyMac.  We visited vendors and meandered around for a while.  I didn't realize that they had a token system in place where you pre buy tokens and then give them to the food vendors instead of money.  Tokens are 50 cents, and for example, the 32 oz Coke we got was 6 tokens with 4 token refills.

We had a great time!  

The only downside was getting home super late.  It was after 1:00 AM before I was rolling into the driveway\with a sleeping Benjamin in the backseat.  He stayed with Josh's parents, sister, and Christianna for the evening.  He had such a great time he didn't go to sleep until midnight.  He hadn't even taken a nap either.  He was no worse for it though.  He slept in today, and then he took a 3 hour nap despite having slept in.

A day at Dollywood

Last Thursday we took a day trip to Dollywood with Josh's parents, sister, her husband, and Christianna.  

Benjamin loved seeing the ducks walking around.

He chilled out during most of the stroller ride.  Looking at these pictures, you would think that he is all legs.

He rode the carousel with Josh.  Not sure if you can tell, but he had a death grip on Josh's shirt the entire time.

Papaw took Christianna for a ride as well.

Benjamin then rode the ducks with Christianna.  It went better than the last time which was by himself.  (Not sure if I have posted those pictures?  Needless to say, he didn't like riding solo.)

As you can tell, he wasn't so sure even with his cousin with him.

Next was the bees...

And then the pigs...

Yup.  He was stone faced the whole time.

While Christianna went to try out the elephants with her Daddy, Benjamin tried on her super cool Little Mermaid shades.

He enjoyed the "Choo-Choo."  We did not opt to ride this time.  We will let him get a little older.

By then it was nearing time for a nap...Doesn't look tired at all, does he?

We walked towards the other side of the park, and we noticed many pretty flowers...Including these...Anyone know what they are?  I'd like some in my garden.

He finally gave it up, and he stayed out for about two hours.  After some weather delays for the rides, we took the opportunity to leave him with Nana and go on some rollercoasters.

We started back for home around 5:30 or so since Josh had to go to work the next day.

After some horrible storms on the way home, we were blessed with a beautiful sunset.

Benjamin blessed us with a blowout diaper on the way home as well. SHEW.  He ended up with a bath once we got home.

Before bedtime I tried on his souvenir from Papaw and Nana.  For $15 one would have thought it would already have batteries, but alas, no.  It's a long story, but he was promised a miner's hat upon his first visit to Dollywood nearly 1 1/2 years ago.  It finally happened.  lol.  Ironically he wouldn't even wear it.