Hodges Family in Panama



He's back!

Here he is, all grown up, and back in Panama!!

Billy picked him and Barb up just outside Panama City, she took this pic at a pit stop they made at McDonald's. Eventually, I'll take some group shots, but since this was the first in year and 9 months, I thought I'd share! Besides the fact that they're armed with food, words cannot express the joy I know they were feeling at that moment! Yay!

Well, Billy finally had time to tile the front porch!

We were in desperate need of porch furniture,

and the only stuff we'd seen that we liked was near Panama City.

So, when Billy picked up Barb and Lil' Billy, 

he also picked this up!

I really love it, it's so very comfortable!

All we need now is some tables. 

(And the fact that I didn't have to make a decision, or the 10 hour ride pleased me very much!)

I'm making slip covers for it now,

something I can take off and throw in the wash as necessary.

The New Arrival:

I've replaced my Nikon Coolpix,

the one that went for a swim.

Her replacement is this Pentax,

fully submersible, 12.1 mega-pixel,

HD Video, shockproof camera,

that even comes with a life jacket!

It takes ok pictures,

especially in perfect conditions.

The only reason it makes a better camera than the Nikon is the fact that it can take a swim, which is pretty cool!!

And obviously with my luck, I need something more durable!

Overall rating: 

Decent boat camera.

Lil' Billy's first real day here:

Daddy had him crawl on this hole to help him work on the boat.
Apparently he's claustrophobic, poor thing.
Not only was it like 110 degrees in there,
but he got stuck and couldn't get out without help!

Side note:

Billy didn't pack swimming trunks for the trip,

and in response to the question..."WHY?"

he replied by saying that he didn't come down here to swim,

he came down to work.

(Ok!?)

Anyhow, he just borrowed a pair of his dad's...

Can you believe it!!??

He fit in his dad's trunks!

My photo-phobic son comes to me and says that he'd give me one last chance

to take a picture of him with hair, that he was going to buzz it off.

(I couldn't convince him to remove the hat however.)

He says that he was waiting for his brother to get here to do it.

Now all my boys have the same do.

 

Aaww...my boys!

Ughhh! My boys!

50 pellets, 50 beebe's and a stick of dynamite later...

Poor Bart Simpson!

(Boys will be boys!)

Boat Days:

Well, since I couldn't pick just a few pictures of fish,

I put together a slide show:

(press the play button)

The water visibility was not very good over the several days I took pictures.

Some turned out ok,

and the others not so much.

We went over to the beach for an afternoon stroll.

And score!

The guys that sell lobster were coming in with a fresh catch.

They had 13lbs, we bought 10.

$40.00

;)

SO!

For the second night in a row,

I ate lobster.

We went out to dinner with our friends Jim & Suzy (Kendall)

the night before to a local restaurant by the beach...

and had lobster..

yay.

A couple weeks ago, Dylan and his 13yo friend Joe went "camping."

(They were still on the property.)

Dylan put a bunch of thought into the idea, and quite a bit of time preparing.

The only help he asked for was having dad help him find a spot for the fire.

I figured I'd give him his privacy, so I was just going to sneak over and get some pictures...But I thought better of it after I asked him if dad and I could check out the site and he was happy to oblige. 

The boy can build a fire! But as far as putting up a tent, that was another story. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but I'll just say, he was glad for the assistance.

Well, long story short (I suck at that!) they were home between 10-11pm.

They heard coyotes. Dylan swears they were on the property, that he even saw them.

(I'm not saying they weren't here, I just find it unlikely. Because were surrounded by water, they'd have had to cross the bridge to get here, and I just don't want to believe they would?!)

They had Pepe with them, and said he was going crazy and they were worried he'd lure the coyotes...

So that was the end of that!

A weenie roast, no pun intended:0 was about all it amounted to.

Billy took Barb to the airport this morning.

It was a great 2 weeks!

Now the vacation is over for all of us,

and back to work we go!