First, our oldest daughter, Cherish, has found the one whom her soul loves, Mr. Patrick Knudson. They tied the knot on April 18th in Duluth, MN. Thankfully, we found a friend in Ignace who was able to come out to camp and hold down the fort for us so John could get to the wedding to give his daughter away. Joanna and I traveled to Duluth a week before the wedding to meet up with our son Jonathan, his wife Reseth and their two precious sons Aaron and Titus. We don't get to see them very often, so it was a real treat to be able to spend some relaxed time with them. I just can't get enough of those cute little grandchildren.
The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and inspiring and fun. Aaron and Titus were the ring bearers and along with Ilea, the flower girl, they stole the show. Such a beautiful bride and a handsome groom who truly adore each other. It's like a fairy tale. John and I were on a high, so grateful for the wonderful man the Lord brought to our daughter, so thankful for all our dear friends who attended the wedding (almost 200 guests) and thoroughly enjoyed all the festivities together as we rarely get out together for fun. There was a DJ and lots of robust dancing. I wish you could have seen John cut loose on the fast songs. Twenty-five children attended the wedding and they had no problem freely dancing through the night. A wonderful time was had by all!!
A couple of days after the wedding, Joanna and I flew down to Orlando, Florida where my sister, Nicki, picked us up and drove us over to Melbourne for a week at the beach. Usually on our Florida vacations, we spend most of our time in the ocean boogie boarding, or walking the beach or sun bathing. But this time we experienced a part of Florida we never had before. Some friends we were staying with had a friend, Rick who had a large ocean going vessel. He took us out on the open sea to do some shark fishing which was a first for us. It was fabulous.
After that fishing experience, we became very conscious of sharks. While out swimming in the ocean and doing some boogie boarding we actually saw two five to six foot sharks swimming near us going after the small fish. We didn't want to take any chances that they would mistake a hand or a foot for a small fish, so we headed into shore.
Another evening, he took Nicki, Joanna and I shrimping in a smaller boat on the Intracoastal Waterway. He put some green lights down on the shallow bottom of the lagoon so we could see the shrimp float toward us with the tide and we scooped them up with our nets. We did this from eight till eleven o'clock at night and were able to fill a five gallon pail. What an experience that was. Rick offered to make us a nice shrimp meal the next day, but unfortunately none of like shrimp, so we told him he and his wife could keep them all to themselves. He didn't mind that one bit.
On yet another day, Rick took us all out on his large air boat down the St. John's River. This river is a wild and scenic waterway with lots of different animals and birds. I was glad were were sitting up high because as we rode along, we must have seen over a hundred gators who were sunning themselves on the shoreline, flip themselves into the water to hide. They don't like the sound of the air boat. I would not have wanted to swim in that water after seeing what was in it. Quite an unusual experience though.
Our last night in Florida, we were part of a group celebrating the anniversary of some of our relatives on a party boat on the Intracoastal Waterway. We got very close to a pod of dolphins that were swimming close to our boat. We could almost touch them. I would sure enjoy swimming with them someday. They are such interesting and intelligent fish.
Our last leg of the trip was to North Carolina to visit my Dad, my sister Wendy and her family and my brother Rick and his family in north Georgia. Dad is 90 years old but still very sharp. He can still beat all of us in a game of checkers and is a tough competitor in chess too. We had a grand time together and even got to spend one day with Cherish and Patrick who were fresh back from their honeymoon. The flowers at Mom and Dad's house were blooming to beat the band. Just gorgeous.
It was a refreshing and invigorating vacation filled with rich family times. My favorite kind of vacation. But it's always good to come home to our peaceful abode at Agimac River Outfitters. John so graciously allows me to spend time with my southern family even though it means he's home alone for quite a few weeks. We had a sweet reunion, then jumped right into spring cabin cleaning for the upcoming fishing opener. Looking forward to seeing all our wonderful guests very soon.
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