The River

Hello everyone! Happy official first day of summer!

I feel that I've joined the ranks of bloggers who feel the need to apologize for their constant lack of blogging. Life is very full around here lately. All good, but full.

Stephen Grande spent the majority of the weekend working on the new room that is scheduled to be done NEXT WEEKEND!!!!!! In case you don't already know, we have been working on a sunroom renovation project since February. It's been a slow process, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

By late Sunday afternoon after all his hard work, we were ready for some serious recreation. Since the Alabama river is a mere 15 minutes from our house AND since we are the owners of a really awesome boat named Dumbhead, we ventured to the redneck riviera for some sun and swimming.


Dumbhead pictured below, in all her glory. Many of you might not know, but this boat was given, yes, GIVEN to us by some dear friends of my family. When they learned of Stephen Grande's passion for all things boat, they thought he would be just the right owner for their unwanted and neglected piece of aluminum.

We have loved it to say the least....all but the sitting in my side yard part. To be honest when we moved to our street we were a little concerned about the neighbors. You never know who is going to not mow their lawn or keep junk in their yard. Well...he who is without sin cast the first stone. Those neighbors with the unkempt yard and not only 1 but 2 boats in their yard/driveway would be none other than little ol' us, the Spooners.

And as if we weren't rivertastic enough cruising along in Dumbhead yesterday, we were escorted by our relatives in this fine piece of aquatic machinery (see picture below).

This would be Lucy and Nick's boat, also a gift, given to them by my aunt and uncle. If I remember the story correctly, they (my aunt and uncle) saved up one of their salaries their first year of marriage to buy it. When I first heard this story, I thought..."don't tell Stephen." I don't want him to know there are women out there equally committed to buying boats. I fear he will regret that he married the wrong woman.


I will admit that compromising our curb appeal is all worth it when we find time to take these family river trips.


Stephen Small had the largest time. He played so hard and we all know what that means: a good night's sleep for mama.

We even convinced some of our friends to join our redneck fest.

And I brought along a little picnic snack-supper. We still went to Moe's when we got back to town.


Aunt Lu took a family photo for us.
That's pretty much it. A perfect way to spend Father's day.

I'll conclude with our family's finest display of class, Uncle Nick drinking a beer while skiing. Our hearts were so full of pride.

Hope y'all are having a great start to the week. This river rat will be back soon (hopefully).