Hey noodle what did you do today?

Well mum came downstairs and woke me up at 9:45ish, and after rousing myself out of bed and brushing my teeth I went upstairs with my bag of pretzels. I ate 4 of the minibags with a Pebis, then we sorta sat around for a bit as everyone collected themselves. We took a group photo with all of us wearing our matching shirts, then after packing up dad's truck and mum's car, we headed out around 11ish!

We got to Golden Pond Visitor Center, then everyone poured into the back of dad's truck. We were pretty squished-in, but after driving about 3-4 miles north, we pulled off onto a small back road heading towards Barkley Lake, and when we did Alecia, Debbie, and I got into the bed of the truck and coiled beneath sleeping bags. We drove for what felt like quite some time, and I was pretty close to falling asleep, but we stopped and got out at a cornfield. We searched for a minimum amount of time before finding a really really good tree! We tried convincing mum but she felt it was too early to get one, so we walked further and further into the woods, over ferns, through creeks, and into a new cornfield. By this time mum was holding a stone about twice the size of a softball that had concentric rings in the middle, and our tiny dog Chloe was hopping after us. Just outside the second cornfield I found a tree that looked as if it had been shredded along one side, but it was possibly dry rot or a blight. We eventually turned around after mum wanted to go back, and she found this weird growth on a stem (which dad later identified as a praying mantis egg), which I carried back to the tree.

We got to the tree and managed to convince mum to accept it. I cut the tree while they sang, then I drug it back toward the road as dad got the truck (he'd moved it closer to where we were, but the easiest route was backtracking). We loaded the tree into the back, then put sleeping bags in the cab and piled back in. The sleeping bags themselves actually made it soooo much more cramped in the back, and we stopped to put them in the bed on another little back-road...And holy cow, it was more roomy back there! We headed to the Elk and Bison Prairie and didn't see any for a while, tho toward the second half of the loop we saw a few elk and even a bison as we exited the area. Amber was nervous the amount of people in our car would have us getting pulled over (There was a volunteer corps member ahead of us), and I told her they didn't get paid enough to give a shit. Also Alecia took a medicine to help with motion sickness, and it made her sleeby!

We drove back home after going to Golden Pond, and en route I wound up nearly falling asleep a couple times...On the cusp of sleep! When we got there I rested and relaxed as mum made dinner, and we all had grilled chsbrgrs and french fries and cobbed corn and tater tots. It was really good, and I think a testament to Florida's powers that even cheeseburgers, which are almost always amazing, managed to taste bland and tasteless when Grandma made them.

After eating we rested a bit more. I laid on mum and dad's floor, poking my head out into the living room while watching Austin Powers 2 as Alecia sorted wedding flowers in front of me. However we quickly cleaned up and moved the tree inside, decorated it, tinseled it, then took a few photos. When all was finished I grabbed some things and told everyone goodbye, then headed out to Murray. I stopped at Taco Bell and got a steak quesadilla meal with a Baja Blast and soft taco and a 2 pack of rolled chicken tacos. When I got to their place I ate, drank, and made merry!

Wes came over, and Jesse, Alex, Ralph, and Jim were already over there. We played some fighting games (I lost all but 2 I played, lel), and I think I got a second-hand high 'cause I just ate a lot! Cookies and pizza slices and french fries, while also drinking beer and even some Rip Van Winkle bourbon, which is super hard to get 'cause collectors usually snatch it up!

At around 2:30 we settled down to bed, and I slept on the living room couch and Jesse insisted on sleeping beside me while Wes slept on the floor. We watched Home Alone, but it went off around 4:30 when Kevin went to the church right before he Rube Goldberg'd his house. I was in the bathroom at the time but went to bed soon after.

I hope everyone has a tree-hunting day! <333