Stephen Foster State Park-May 24, 2010

Joey actually had a day off today and we were REALLY missing all of the "day trippin" we did while in West Virginia. I had a GREAT idea to go to Stephen Foster State Park for the day. My Uncle Mitchell (Mom's brother) is the Park Ranger out there and he's told us countless times that we need to bring the boys and go on a boat ride, so today was the day!

We packed a picnic lunch, filled up the Civic with gas and headed out. Stephen Foster State Park is in Fargo, GA, which is about an hour and a half from Waycross. The kids actually behaved most of the drive there (even Brodie).

Once we got there, they promptly set us up with a boat. They were going over all of the safety rules and fitting the kids for life jackets. Finally, I said, where's our driver? My uncle turned and pointed at Joey. I was like, "No, seriously." Not that I don't trust my darling husband with our lives, but we were going out in gator infested waters, so I was going to have to LITERALLY trust him with our lives!!!! My uncle laughed and said, "You'll be fine."

So, we piled into the boat and headed out the small inlet into the main part of the swamp/river. Almost immediately we began to see alligators. Some, so close, I swear we could've just reached over the side and touched them on the head.

Also, one of the coolest things ever was the heron that we saw. As we watched, he flew off and I got a magnificent picture! AND to top that off, we saw a deer standing in the water, eating some greenery. I'd say she was the bravest deer I've ever seen. Not only did she stand there patiently while I snapped dozens of pictures, HELLO, she's standing in gator infested water!!!!!








Our Tour Guide

Brodie doing what she did the ENTIRE boat ride!








All in all, it was a pretty fantastic day! And Brodie even woke up right before we left. Her look seems to say, "What? DADDY drove the boat through gator-infested waters??" :)