It's a keeper!

Well my friends, I have finally found my hobby(s). Yes, I have always liked playing the piano and it is a great stress relief, but I can't quite drag a piano with me everywhere I go, and even if I could, it's a bit loud. Thus I have found my new hobby: Crocheting while I watch the Law and Order series.

Laurel just taught me how to crochet on Saturday. It was allot of fun spending time with her. The only bummer out of the deal was that as I was getting started to leave, I realized that I had skipped every other stitch, so I then had a scarf only half the size that I wanted it. Ugg. But it's all good because I started all over again last night while I watched Law and Order.

And while we're on the note of the show that I said I loved. Let me clarify that I understand that not all of their shows are good, and since I rent them instead of watching them on TV, I can skip the ones that I don't like.

Well, I need to go do some math before Bible Institute tonight. Oh, and maybe even memorize a verse or two out of the 9 that I was assigned. Hmn. Wishful thinking. :-)

How can a person lose so much in life and yet feel so full?
It seems as though every time I turn around lately something is being taken away from me.
It may be a friend, it may be a possession, it may be a hope, a dream, a family member.
I tell myself that this is life, things come and things go.
But I understand now that it's way deeper than that.
I have learned so much in the last year it is indescribable.
If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would keep some things the same,
but other things I would change.
I should have listened more to my parents, been a better friend, been bold enough to tell my friends when they were wrong, studied harder, listened more, talked less, prayed more, read my bible more, witnessed more to others about my personal relationship with Christ, gotten to know more of my extended family, smiled more, been more content, help others more, let God have more control of my life.
I feel like I have failed in so many things, yet God still continues to bless me.

My family loves me so much more than I deserve.
With out my Mom I would be nothing.
I am sitting here thinking about what I could say to describe my Mom, but nothing seems sufficient, I can't even come close to describing her amazingness. Any one of you who knows her knows that.

I have such a special relationship with my Dad.
He gives me so much good advice, and even better than that, he stops when I've been quiet for too long, just to ask me what I'm thinking.
He will never know what that means to me.
I can disagree with him so much at times, but then I realize that it doesn't matter, life is too short to have arguments with your parents. Just smile, and know that God is in control.

Oh my Tori,
how to say what her personality means to me.
My mom used to tell us in the midst of our fighting that we would be best friends when we were older, I deep down disbelieved her.
But now I look forward to Mondays, and Wednesdays, and Fridays, because I know that I will be able to go to work and be with my sister all day.

And what would my life be without my darling brother Mason?
No one would ask me to wake them in the morning so that they could make me breakfast.
No one would ask me to take them shopping because they know that I will pick out everything that they like too.
He is calm, he is quiet, yet I can always make him laugh about the stupidest things.

"Ashley" Just hearing the name makes me think of a sweetheart with blond hair and blue eyes.
She reminds me allot of myself when I was younger, but way more special.
She is going to be the greatest Wife and Mom.
Every night when I get home from work, she is always dieing to tell me everything that happened that day, whether I want to hear it or not.
She talks to me when I'm doing school, when I'm playing the piano, when I'm sleeping, when I'm cleaning my room.
I may complain to her about the loss of sleep that I get from it all, but I still feel so special that she just wants to talk to me about her life and hear about mine.

Who has the energy of Foster?
I could take a million energy supplements, and never match his energy.
He jumps out of bed in the mornings just to give me a hug and kiss before I leave for work.
He greats me at the door with a hug and a smile when I get home from a long day.
He still isn't too old to sit and cuddle with me.
You can almost always talk him into going and plugging in your car when it's twenty below.
He's Foster, he's special.

Without Jenni, Emily, Kassandra and Angela, I would do nothing besides work and school. I would feel so empty without their friendship. I don't see most of them very often, but I still fell them with me always.

So here I am, sitting here having cried for the last hour from being so overwhelmed.
Not knowing why God chose me to make so lucky.
But yet so thankful that he did.
People around me are in so much suffering, yet I live on.

To my Family to my friends, to those that mean more than life to me.
I love you all.
I pray that you are as blessed and loved as I.
Lanae`


It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

The moment you've all been waiting for!

Well here it is folks, the moment you've all been waiting for. I'm actually going to post something. You've been checking my blog night and day waiting for an update on my oh so exciting life just waiting to see how I'm doing. Will I post about my work? My family? My friends? My dog? Oh wait, I don't have a dog, just a family dog, and I really don't love her enough to post about her! :-) Ok sorry, I got my sarcasm out for the day. I'm alright now, I'll go on with what ever it was that I was going to say. Hmn, what was that anyways?

I really got out of the habit of blogging when I went down to my grandparents for Thanksgiving. For some reason I couldn't log into my beta account, thus meaning, no blogging. Tori had no problems as you all would notice from the fact that her blog is continuously updated. Oh to have such time to waste as she does. Just kidding Tori, you can put your eyes back in your head now. :-)

Work has been going well, I have been feeling more confident about knowing what I'm doing. I like having the assurance that I'm doing something right, and not having to constantly go in and bug someone to tell me what to do. And the coolest thing about work is that I got a raise on Monday. And who says that Mondays are bad?

I'm still in search of a vehicle. Ugh. I"m so tired of looking and waiting. I found the car that I wanted, a 2003 Trail Blazer, but my Dad and Mom don't want me to have to take out a loan so that didn't work out. I'm really dissapointed but trying to accept the fact that God has a vehicle out there for me and hopefully it isn't a junker. Sigh.

I told my Choir director today that I might not be able to continue playing the piano for the choir next semester. I'm so bummed and he was really dissapointed too. It's like the highlight of my day to go and interact with those kids, but now that I'm the only one in the office I can't just take off and leave for an hour and a half every day at a set time. It hasn't been too big of a deal yet, but we're only going to get busier as the months go by and it's not very fair of me to ask that of the company. It's going to be really hard to when the kids find out. Yesterday I lost track of time at work and was 10 minutes late to choir and when I walked in the class Mr. Trimbal was sitting at the piano about to attempt to plunk out some notes and when the kids saw me walking through the door they all jumped up and started screaming and clapping. So ya, I think I'm a litte attached and I'm definitely going to shed some tears over that one.

It really doesn't seem like Christmas is only like three weeks away. Aack! Three weeks! Oh my word, I thought that I had like 5 weeks. Ugh. I'm so stupid. I really need to get on to my shopping. I'm cleaning and decorating the office right now and I think that every artistic bone in my body left for the evening. Well, it's not that bad, but I'm not really in the mood for decorating. Thus I am taking a break and entertaining you all so that I can go back at it with vigor after this. Hmn, well it looks good on the page here, but I'm not really feeling the whole "Vigor" thing.

Ok, enough, enough. I fit in the family and work which seem to be the biggest things in my life right now, so my posting about my friends and my dog will have to wait until next time. Oh ya, I don't love the dog. :-)

Good night all.

Well, uh.

Sorry guys, I don't really feel like posting. But no one else has been, so I feel like I can't get on them for not posting if I'm not posting either.

I guess there's plenty to post about. I could bore you all with the whole car having power steering problems thing, but I'm tired of talking about that. And I went to the sound of music last night so I guess that I could post a video of me singing the "Do-Re-Me" song since I'm now oh so inspired to sing it. Or then again maybe I should let you guys go one more day thinking that I'm a normal person. :-) Or, maybe it's too late and I should do the video...No I already took my makeup off. lol.

I'm going to bed, good night everyone.
Lanae`

And the Verdict is...........

Ok, well I decided on a Navy Blue Razr with a plan through Cell-One. I'm pretty happy so far, although it's only been like 4.5 hours that I've had it, but surely that's besides the point. :o)

The only down side of it all is that I only have 39 minutes until Friday when the next cycle starts. Something about a prorate something or other. Ugh. I don't think that I will actually use that many in just two days, but you never know. I think I'm just paranoid. :)

Now I just have to figure out how to use the silly thing. When Tori got home, she just grabbed it and started punching keys and suddenly, wala, there she was, my first contact in my phone book. I would have like went and read the owners manual first just to make sure that I'm doing it the best way. Yes, I'm lame. And the ring tone kind of creeps me out right now. I'ts all like "Hello Moto", and it's this guy saying it. The lady @ cell-one said that I have two free ringtone down loads, so I just need to figure out how to use those. The Picture quality is good, but I still don't like how I look in cell phone pictures. They bring out the worst and give you this whole distorted look. At least I won't be taking pictures of me, just my friends. So you all get to look distorted, aren't you excited?!

Well, I HAVE to go to bed. Eileen is no longer at Ridgetop, so it's all me at work. It's going to take some getting used to but hopefully I'll manage. Good night all.

Lanae`

Oh, ok. So here's a question for you all: How do you kill the battery in your phone when you can't talk on it and have no time to play games or mess with the settings?! I want the battery to completely die so that it's all up to snuff on my trip.

Hmn, so maybe not.

Ok, well I was going to post pictures. But this computer suddenly doesn't like me and won't let me. So Whatever. Good ridence to this thing, I'm going home!...Well hopefully soon. Dad is still in there working so maybe I'll drag out the biology...or maybe I'll just crawl up under my desk and sleep.... zzzzzzzzzz

"Where oh where has my little dog gone, oh where oh where could he be?..."

Well, I haven't quite lost my dog. I would be happy right now if I had... :0} But what I have lost is my page counter. I seem to have misplaced it, has anyone seen it? I know that I could go and get another one, but I really liked seeing how many people had viewed my blog since I started the blog. But oh well, life goes on with out the page counter....just keep your eyes on the look out in case it appears somewhere.... :)

And please tell me that you all know the song that I was singing!!! You have my sympathy if you don't. What would life be w/out children's songs . :-)

They're gone!...now what?

My parents just left this afternoon with the pastor to go down to Mckinley princess lodge for the weekend. I would usually be excited that they were leaving and be planning all the fun things that I would do. But as I think about what I'm actually going to do, it's pretty lame. I work tonight, I work tomorrow, Tomorrow night I have the highlight of my week (no joke) and I go babysit, Saturday morning I have piano, After piano I go straight to work, and once I finally get home around 7:30 on Saturday night I lock myself in my room and do school until my eyes threaten to fall out of my head and on to my book.

Oh joy. Have I ever told you that I'm a very happy person and love my life? :0) Really, I do. It's ok if you don't believe me though, I sometimes don't belive myself either. :o)

celley phone

Oh ya. I want your guys' input on which cell phone service to go through. (Cell-one, or ACS) And if you have any suggestions on a phone. I am either going to add on to Tori's plan w/cell-one, or Mom's plan w/acs. The only problem w/ either of those is I think that Mom has too few minutes, and Tori has unlimited, which is kind of silly for such a non social person as myself. :0) And I'm considering a Motorola Razor. What you do all think?

And think fast, because I'm going to be getting this in the next few days. :-)

It seems as though lately I've had so much to pray about. If it's not one thing it's another. Ranging from school, to work, to my vehicle situation, church, friends, family. Oh, the list could go on and on, and every thing that I've stated is very vaugue too. I don't know what people who aren't saved do. I would be so stressed out if I didn't know that someone was in control besides myself. I guess that's why they all think it's important to have self confidence.

I have been doing much better at actually doing school this week. God has really helped me to put aside time to do it. Well, not quite aside, more like, "oh an extra five minutes, yae, I can do school". :o) It's not really that bad, well, ok so it is. I would be doing it now, besides the fact that it's at home and I'm at the office waiting for transportation. Dad had winter tires put on the Suburban and Tauras today, so we've been shuffling vehicles back and forth to the tire place all day. But I am so not complaining, because I didn't feel too safe w/the tires that were on either.

Well, I'm going to stop rambling. Until next time.

Me, Myself and I.

Ok, so I know it's a lame thing to post after not having posted in so long. But you have to start somewhere right?

1. What is your middle name? Rose...ya I like it too :o)

2. What color shirt are you wearing right now? My igloo for rent one. I would tell you all that is written on it, but for sake of time I won't. I'ts real cute though. Red and white.

3. What are you listening to right now? Solopianoradio.com, the best at work music...and mason trying to ask me how long to cook the popcorn for.

4. What is the last digit of the year you were born? 8

5. What was the last thing you ate? Grapes

6. If you were a car what kind would you be? Fast. Quiet. Deadly

7. Favorite Holiday? I love Christmas because I really enjoy giving gifts. Which is a good thing, although my budget doesn't agree. But I enjoy any holiday that I spend with friends or family. Especially with my Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents, etc. The whole works!!

8. Last person you talked to on the phone? Tom, our manager in the Hawaii office. I can't remember the last time I talked to a friend on the phone. It's an exciting life, I know.

9. Favorite radio station: If we had a good selection of stations in this town I might actually list one. Oh, I like 630 on the AM dial.

10. Do you believe in aliens? No. I'm not much of a fantasy, fairy, ailien believing, type person. You can thank my Dad for that. Plus, they're real ugly.

11. Morning or night? Night. But I am getting better at mornings.

12. Favorite snack: It depends on the mood.

13. Potatoes or Rice? Potatoes definitely.

14. Yellow Gold or White Gold? White!!

15. Natural Hair color or Bottled? Natural usually, because most people go with the bottled and end up as Rebeka said "trailer trashey".

16. Eye color? Hazel, unless you're lucky and see the green that I get from my mom. It all kind of depends on the shirt that I'm wearing...Mason just informed me that my left eye is blue and my right eye is green. Uh. Hopefully that's just his opinion. Kinda creepy.

17. What is the oldest childhood memory you have?

18. Do you wear a watch? I couldn't live with out one.

19. Favorite time of day: Choir practice at the middle school, I love those kids.

20. Favorite kind of music: Christian, Classical, but too much classical is annoying.

21. Favorite actor: I'm the one who is clueless when people start rattling off names of peopl that "every one" knows.

22. Favorite actress: See above answer.

23. Where did you meet your significant other? I was saved in my room. Jesus has been my true love ever since.

24. Spring or Fall: Spring!! it gives hopes of warmth and sun. Fall is just pretty for two weeks and then the cold and dark start. I would probably enjoy fall if I lived someplace other than AK.

25. Pierced Ears? Maybe soon.

26. Least Favorite Food: Nothing in particular. Have I ever told you that I love spinach dip?

27. Favorite Vacation spot: Well, I have allways enjoyed going to California, but I liked Hawaii too, and Florida was awsome. So I'm kind of seeing a trend with warm places going on.

28. Do you want your friends to write back? Nothing would make me happeir. Ok, so maybe somethings would...

29. Who is most likely to respond?? What kind of a guilt trip question is this?

30. Who is least likely to respond? Real guilt.

31. Mountains or Oceans? Oceans. As long as they are warm.

32. What would you like to do on a rainy day? Clean my room, catch up on school, wash dishes, do laundrey, clean out my car, send Rebeka her bridal shower pictures, make those appointments that I should have made a month ago. Oh, the question was what would I "want" to do not what I would actually do! Sorry. Be cozy and read or watch a movie.

33. Favorite card game: Rummy, oh but I do have good memories of playing baloney a few summers ago. Not that I remember how to play it now.

34. Single Flowers or Bouquets? I'm a sucker for any flower(s).

35. Have you ever been horse back riding? Yes, I even leased my very own giant piece of glue for a summer. But obviousely those days are over.

36. Do you crack your knuckles? Not too often, I used to be really bad about it.

37. Favorite Breakfast Food: French Tost, pancakes.

38. Have you ever locked your keys in your car? No, well I did lock the keys in mom's car once, but that was just a missunderstanding, a kid told me that they had them, and come to find out. oh there they are in the seat. Thank goodness for hidden spares.

39. Have you ever run out of gas? I don't like to live dangerously. My car gives me enough grief when I do take care of it, none the less, if I didn't!

40. If you won a million dollars what would be the FIRST thing you would do? Pray, because I would need allot of guiadance with what to do with all that money!

41. Have you ever had a ticket? Like to a movie? Sure. No, just kidding, I haven't ever gotten a ticket for a traffic violation.

Well, I think that is a pretty lame question to end with. No depth to it at all. Anwho. Now you all know more about me. Aren't you glad you just wasted the last 5 minutes hoping that I would reveal the deep dark story behind Lanae`, just to find that, uh, there isn't one. Ok, well you just found that I have sarcasm. That's exciting right? :o)

Well tomorrow's the big day of the concert. It's probably going to be the shortest concert in the history of all time. We only have four songs to go through so the introduction and the bows will take longer than all of the songs together. They were going to have the choir sing on Wednesday night when the band played, but I said that I couldn't do it on a Wednesday because I have church. So I'm not going to complain about the shortness of the concert since it's partly my fault.

On one of the songs that were singing starts out with a solo/duet part that we decided to turn into a trio part. Almost all of the kids in the choir wanted to audition for it, but we narrowed it down to two sets of three girls and then finaly just down to the one group. But the sad new is that we lost one of the girls in the trio because she beat up another girl after school on Monday and is now suspended and who knows if she will ever come back. And then today another girl from the now duet didn't show up to school, so it may become a solo after all. And the ironic thing is, that the girl that got beat up was one of the girls in our second choice group for the trio part, so we can' t even trade groups. This poor girl can't even open her mouth more than a 1/2", and I think that her jaw is broken or something like that. Who knows who started it all or whether it was deserved, but I think they both ought to be spanked.

On a lighter note, Mr. Trimbal had me direct warmups today while he logged the attendance record into the computer. It was fun standing up there acting like I know what I'm doing and these kids actually (kinda) listening to me. It wasn't that big of a deal, just one of those things that changes the pattern of my day and makes me happy. :-)

Well I'm going to stop wasting minutes of my precious sleep time. I'll talk to you all later.

Today, as most of you know, he whole town didn't have phone or internet service. That's all fine and dandy, except that every one at the office has nothing to do unless we have phones or internet. I did ok since I am working on submittals and I didn't need either of those, but it was still annoying. The phones only rang like 4 times by the select few that actually got through, Eileen and I would jump for the phone like we had never answered one before. It was pretty sad. Speaking of Eileen, please pray for her she is having allot of health problems right now. With out God, I know that I couldn't go through all of the things that she has.

Choir went horrible today. Mr. Trimbal had the choir go out onto the stage so that they could practice for Thursday nights Concert. Which would have been totally harmless besides the point that they were all screaming and jumping around and wouldn't stay in their spots to save their life. And to add to that, the shell behind them was doing a great job of making their shouts even louder. Going through the music was a joke, the stage is attached to the cafeteria where everyone was having lunch so they kept jumping off the risers in the middle of the song and looking out the curtain to see what was going on. The principal ended up coming in and giving a little pep talk about how if they goof off when they practice they won't do as good when they perform. But as you would guess, a bunch of 7 and 8 graders don't really care about what she is saying. I think that they should have written 30 out of the 37 up for detention. But that could be my whole no-tolerance view point coming out. :o)

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be brighter. I'm kind of groggy and slow right now, I think that I just need sleep. Lot's of it. Later

Tonight I went over to Phils for his annual Pig roast. It was allot of fun, really cold though. Oh, and Joanna, ten points on the pumpkin cheese cake. :-)

Anywho. I decided that I am not going to catch up on the rest of my trip. It's pretty meaningless now to keep dragging it all out. And I want to post about what's happening now in my life, not what happened last week. And nothing too exciting happened the last two days anyways. Oh, actually I take that back. I went to a beauty pageant on Saturday night that Ray Noel was in. (The daughter of one of the guys that took us alligator hunting). It was allot of fun to go and watch it all. I have never been to one of those before so it was pretty cool. And after like 20 min. Of sitting with Ray's family they all acted like they had known me since I was in diapers, so that was pretty cool. I am really hoping that their family comes up to Alaska to visit. That was kind of the deal on the Alligator hunt, like they take us, and then we take them. I think the reason why I liked Florida so much was the people there. If I had gone and never met these two families I would have just thought of it as another warm and sunny place, but just with hurricanes.

It's amazing how God puts certain people in our lives. It was really cool because these families were Christians so it wasn't all about hunting and stuff while we were there. Dad and them would talk about hunting, but then also about God. It was just this all around good time.

Ugh, there I go again. Talking about my trip. I've got to stop doing that! Well I'm off to bed. I have to help mom clean and cook tomorrow, and I have a piano lesson, and I have to clean at Todds. And some time I have to put together my music folder for the concert on Thursday. It is coming up way too fast. I just hope that it goes well and I don't do something like drop my music all over the floor, that would be classic.
Until next time.

Ok so I am figureing that most of you are probably going to just look at the pictures and skip the novel that I wrote. That's ok with me, I probably wouldn't read it either. :o) But it's there for those of you who have enough time in your day to do so. You are the lucky ones that get to know what's going on in my crazy mind. =) Love you all. Maybe someday I will finish up telling about the end of my trip. Just think, only three days left! Aren't you all excited?

I Love this Picture

Well this is my favorite picture of all time. Ok so not quite. But is it not georgeous? It is at our hotel in East Point.

My Aligator

Well I guess that I like this picture so much that I'll post it twice. Either that or it somehow got on here and now I can't get rid of it. You can pick your theory. :o)

Dad's Aligator

Day Seven!!!!

Dad and Foster woke me at like 3 in the morning when they came in from hunting blubbering something about getting a aligator and that we would need to wake up at 7 to go meet the guys and take care of the aligator. All I know is that I was like Uh, ok, huh? And 'clunk' went the head to the pillow.

I got up at seven to take a shower. And much to my dissapointment it was another cold shower. I don't know what it is with me and cold showers this trip! Well I later found out that...well maybe I shouldn't tell you all this, I'ts kind of, uh, blonde...well I guess I will, you all love me right? Well the problem was that I had the "cold" nob on instead of the "warm" how I managed to do that, well I don't know, but that was a wasted shower if you aske me!!

Once we got over to Mr. Dewitt's house (one of the aligator guys) we took the humongous aligator out of the truck and hung it on a tree to take pictures. and more pictures. and more. And then we all got in their truck and drove to the proccessers place. It was hot and they were cutting up alligators (what you're sapposed to do at a proccessors) so you can imagine the smell. Ugh. not the pretties, but I didn't say anything. No I left it up to Foster to do that. :o) I video taped and took pictures while they skined him. I don't recomend any of you with weak stomaches to look at those pictures, just to forwarn you. :-)

Foster and I went to the beach later that after noon with Mr. Ray's (the other aligator guy) wife Jimmy, daughter Ray Noel, and son Hunter. It was allot of fun. These people were so nice and we just really hit it off. I some how didn't end up with any pictures of them, so that's kind of dissapointing. But anywho. the water was awesome, really clear and there was only sand on the bottom, no rocks like the other beaches that I've been to. But the only dowfall was that the water was so clear that you could see the little fishes swimming around your feet. And you all know how I feel about little fishies swimming with me. Well maybe you don't, so here is my theory: if there's little fish, there's probably big fish. And big fish mean that they could swallow me whole. How much lot you take in that theory is your choice, but that's just how I feel about it!

That evening Dad dropped me off in the little town next to ours. It has the coolest name ever: Apalochacola. A definite mouth full! They call it Apaloch for short. But I have to admit that it was kind of fun rattling off the whole word. :) there were a bunch of little touristy shops there and antique stores which were fun to go into. But I didn't have too much time there since they all closed at like 5:30. After that Dad picked me up and we went to dinner with Mr. Dewitt and his wife Connie. You all should be proud of me, I actually tried oysters. And they weren't too bad. Not too good either. :-)

Oh, and I don't know how I forgot to put this in there, but somehow it was decided, I think by Dewitt, that I should go aligator hunting with them again that night. And I actually consented to doing it. Uh...is this Lanae` we're talking about? the lanae`...the girl who doesn't like hunting? Well I guess there's a first for everything!

We met with Ray and Dewitt around 9:30 that night and headed out. They had went hunting in a river type place the night before with all the tangly branches and all that hanging down, so that's what I was expecting. But we actually went out into a bay in the ocean, that was really clear and open. Much more my style. They had been scouting this area for a while and thought that it would be a good spot. And obviously, as most of you know, it was.

So here goes the story that you have all been waiting for: (drum roll please)

It was about a 15 min. boat ride to where we wanted to be, but once we got out there we spotted the one that they had been scouting right away. How they knew that it was the same one I'm not sure, something about it living in the same corner of water most of it's life. But anywho. How you spot them is you have this mega flash light and you scan the top of the water with it. You're going along just seeing water, and boom, there it is. A big glowing eye staring at you. Talk about a little chill going up your back. So we start slowly making our way over to him, but before we get there he dives under the water. And once they do that it's game over until they come up again. They had brought bait just in case this happend though. And let me explain what this bait is. Ok so you know how if we run over an animal here in Alaska, such as a moose or rabbit, we can't take it home right? Well in florida you can. So if they see a raccon that's been road killed, you pull over and stick it in the back of the truck. Once you get home you put it in a bucket and let it sit in the sun for like 4 days. You can imagine the smell that it puts off! So once you're out there and need bait you tie a rope to the racoon and tie a buey to the rope and then put the rope on this pole that you stab into the bottom of the water, and the raccoon is so baloated that it floats on the water like a balloon. Very discriptive, I know. The water I might add is only 3 feet deep with miles and miles of mud beneath it. So after we got this hooked up we went to the other side of the bay to look around for other aligators. We almost got close to some but nothing really came of that. It kind of spooked me though. I had to stand up on the front of the boat where there isn't a ledge and you if I stabbed the aligator a little too hard and lost my balance I would go tumbling in the water on top of it! When I say stabbed I mean harpooned. It's this long metal pole, probably 12 ft long with a spear end on it. The actual spear/hook thing, is only like 4 inches long so it's kind of aquard wobbling around with this huge pole. If we were trying to get one of the aligators to come to us Mr. Ray would lean down into the water and splash around with his hand and make the noise that a young aligator would make, and all of a sudden you would see like 3 aligotors coming right at you. this is actually really dangerous because you don't know if there is an aligator right next to you under the water that is going to pop up and eat your arm off. And yes, he has had close experiances so he usually uses a stick instead of his hand. The water ended up getting too shallow and we had to go back before we got stuck. On our way back we noticed that the aligator that we wanted hadn't eaten the bait yet so we came up from the side of it and this made him go out and catch a whiff of that oh so yummy raccon. We gave him a few minutes to swallow it, but after that, it was game over for little aligator.

He once he realized what he had done he tried to swim away but it was no use since he had a buey traveling behind him. After chasing him around for a while he got tired and let us get close enough to him for Ray to grab the buey and pull him close to the boat. Here it was, the moment that I had been waiting for, I was going to harpoon the aligator. I was ready to give it my all, and I thought that i did, but I guess that I didn't hit it hard enough because after I stabbed down on him he took off with out the hook in him. I was pretty dissapointed at myself that I hadn't gotten it on the first try, but they all reassured me that it was no big deal. We chased him around again and finally pulled him close to the boat. They told me to hit it like I was going to drive it through to the other side of his body, although that is virtually impossible. I struck harder this time and tried to think that, but it didn't quite do the trick for me. I later found out that I was only like a centimeter off the spot that I was sapposed to hit. (right behind the head in the neck next to the arm) Once again. Dissapointment. How could I mess up twice?!! And what if I just couldn't do it? Then what? I had dragged my rear all the way out there and wasn't going to go home with an aligator, and not only that, but I had put these guys out by them taking out this lamo girl that couldn't even spear an aligator! So I was kind of worried. and it didn't help that they were concerned that he would associate us with the raccon that he had just eaten and spit it out. Because then it would be all over for us. But even through this all the guys were really encouraging and kept saying that I would get it next time. (How many next times would there be, is what I was thinking) So all of this rambling was going on in my mind while I prepared for the third time around. They once again pulled him close to the boat and I struck with all my might, which actually didn't feel very hard since I was hitting such a hard surface. I didn't actually think that I had hit him hard enough but they were all excited saying that I had got him and that it had stuck really good. I was so relieved, talk about emotional havok! This is why girls don't hunt people! The Aligator took off and dragged us with him because the harpoon is attached to a rope which is attached to a buey that we hung on to. Once he tired out again Ray pulled him high up to the boat and Dewitt hit him right past the head with a bang stick that was loaded with a 243 bullet. (that might mean something to some of you, but nothing to me) After that they took 1.5 inch tape and taped his jaws closed then took a chisel and a hammer and broke his spinal cord. This is to make sure that after we get him in the boat his reflexes don't kill us all! The guys then heaved him into the boat, which was about approximately 500 lbs. And then it was like this great relief. Yes, I had finally done it and it was over with. I was so tired I had almost falen asleep when we were looking around for other ones. I was so ready to go back and go to sleep.

The aligator kind of creeped me and Dad out though. On our way back to the dock it was kicking around his foot which is probably from reflexes, but then he opens his eye and looks right at Dad and then up and down the boat. Talk about spookey! Let's just say that Dad joined me at the front of the boat, which was away from the aligator's mouth!

So there you all have it. The story of how Lanae` Killed the aligator. Probably not my best writting work but it's all out and you people can stop bugging me about it. :-) I am sorry that it's long, really long actually, but you get what you ask for! Ok well I'm going to go post some pictures of this beast. I"ll talk to you all later.

Day Six!!!!!

Ok so here we are going back in time to last Thursday where I left off:


Dad came back to the hotel around noon and we dragged all of our stuff down to our car and headed out. The drive went well. Actually I take that back. It didn't go "bad" but there was room for improvement! First off, Dad had gotten instructions from the lady at the "sportsmans lodge" where we would be staying in east side. She said that going this way would be faster and that there were only like 3 little towns on the way there and they wouldn't slow us down too much. Well come to find out there were like ten towns and the speed limit averaged at like 50 instead of 70 like the other way would have.

And speaking of speed limits... We were coming off one highway that was 70mph and turning on to another and Dad was on the phone with work and I had my seat down and was resting, so neither of us noticed when the speed turned to 60. That is until the sirens came up behind us. the police said that he clocked us in at 73. Which was probably about right. So the verdict on that one was a $155 dollar fee and 3 points. Or was it 4? I guess that the points can be dismisssed if he takes this on line class (which he plans on doing) but it's not really going to help the fee. So Dad's real excited about that, naturally.

We got in to town around 7. Well I can't really call it a town, village would be more appropriate. It was really cute but tiny. Dad got in contact with his aligator guys and met them around 9 that night while I stayed at the hotel. Sleeping didn't come as easlily as I thought it should. But that could have to do with the fact that there were probably bugs in that room. And yes Tori, I did your routine check on the bed. And thankfully found nothing. If I had I don't know what I would have done there's not really anywhere to run. You go outside and it's like jumping from the pan into the fire! But any who, God blessed and made sure that all the bugs stayed under the bed and didn't crawl in with me. :-)

I'm back!!

Well I got back this afternoon around 5'ish. I have tons and tons to post but I am so tired. Not as tired as I thought I would be, but it's like almost 1 in the morning my time and I have to work tomorrow. So I'll fill every one in tomorrow night. But just FYI: I had a blast. Florida isn't as lame as I thought that it would be and I even want to go back. Well I really need to get to bed because if I'm not careful I'll blab on for an hour or two. So farewell for now.

Foster found some of his relatives at the aquarium.

This is the shark show that Foster and I went to at the aquarium. I thought that he would lose interest but he really enjoyed it.

Day six!!!

Well it's not going to be all about day six since day six has just started, but we have to give the latop to Jerry before we leave this afternoon so I decided that I better get my blogging in first thing. I should be able to continue blogging on Dad's blackberry, but I don't think that I can down load any more pictures. Whaaa. that's dissapointing because I don't think that you all really care about all this bla bla stuff. Anywho.

Church went well last night. the church building was large but there was only about 14 people there. and besides the song leader and his wife the rest were over the age of 70. It was like being in the pioneer home or somthing. But they all had a great spirit so it was a blessing to go.

We went to this little mexican place to eat for dinner last night. Actually the people weren't mexican, they were salvadorians. (I really don't think that's how you spell it) and didnot know a word of english. Uh, ok, am I the only one that thinks that's real weird? How can you live and operate a buisiness, and not just a business, but a restaurant, in the middle of Tampa, florida, and not know a word of English? who knows! We laughed most of the time because Dad loves being in those types of environments, so naturally he wanted to know what everything on the menu that he hadn't heard of was. and the girl was all like, I don't speak english. so we ended up with Foster getting a chicken casadilla and I got fried pork chops, and Dad ordered some steak thing that was really good. and although that turned out ok, Dad wasn't happy until he experianced a mexican desert. I felt bad for this girl, she was probably 22 or something, and she didn't know what ice cream was, or pie, or cake. but we ended up ordering "Flon" It was some custard style dessert. The first bite was delicious, but it was one of those things that the more that you eat, the grosser it is. But Dad got his dessert so that's all that mattered!

I have allot to do this morning. I have to go down stairs and do laundry, take foster to the pool, ask for a late check out, pack our bags that are strewn all over the floor, and have everything ready to go by the time that dad gets back at noon. Which is just 3 hours away. Plus I have to post aquarium pictures, for you all. So I think that I'll get with it. Oh ya, a shower too.

I hope that you all have a fabtaculous day and hopefully I will still be able to post tomorrow.

this is the view out our window. It's actually allot more vast than it looks. and I am totaly convinced that his hotel is ok. A lady just nocked on my door and handed me a little bag of chocolate covered pretzels, and asked if I would like fresh towels. Ya tori, you're right. I'm ok with this kind of living. but don't believe that I don't really apreciate "real" people!

Day five!!!!

Well the aquarium went great. Foster enjoyed it even more than I thought that he would. Allways a plus! He especially enjoyed the water area outside that kids can play in. We were able to watch divers in with the sharks and other fish and they told us a bunch of educational stuff that I've already forgotten, but hopefully foster remembers. It wasn't just fish either, they had birds from the wetlands also. So all in all, it was a very good choice. I need to figure out what church we are going to tonight, so I'll talk to you all later.

Well, the aquarium opens in 15 minutes and I still have to take a shower and get dressed. So I better go. Good morning to all of you, and I hope you have a blessed day!

Here's Foster living it up in the luxurious, fluffy, down blankets.
Foster and I on the Trolly. He love it until they told us that it was the wrong one and that we would have to go to the next stop, which turned into like 3 stops later. He was highly dissapointed that the side of the trolly said that it went to hyde city, but that the driver said that it was wrong. The poor kid couldn't understand why it would say something like that and then not actually go there. So all in all, he's very dissapointed with the trolly system.
this is the back side of our Hotel. We are the ones on the very top, and over to the right. Scary, I know.

Foster is now tall enough to drive one of the cars himself, but the only down fall is that although these cars are on a track they are actually harder than real cars to drive.

Ok so Foster was not very happy in this picture. He had just convinced us that he absolutely loved splash mountain, so we get back on it, and we end up getting allot more wet the second time since we were in the very front. But the good thing was that we only had to listen to him whine for 5 minutes because the sun dried him up in no time.
Woody's round up gang was parading down the street so we got to join in.
They had some big musical thing about dreams coming true or something like that. Not quite christian I know, but it was pretty cool.

These were on tom Sawyer Island. I think that I was more afraid of the dark caves than foster was!

scroll down please...again

Well, Dad is turning out the lights on me, so I'll finish posting pictures in the morning. But besides that you all know the drill: scroll down to the "day three and four" posting, and then come on back up. Oh, and enjoy the novel. :o)

When we went on this jungle cruise we ended up sitting in the front and foster was chosen to "drive the boat". It was obviously on a track, but you really couldn't tell since there was water under us.

Ok, so he's not as cuddly as Mason. What can I say? I love him!

This was in the splash mountain ride. He is having a good time by the way.:-)

Well here we are, just walking in and already soaking with sweat. But rememver, I love the sun, right? :-)

Day three and four!!!!

We almost melted at Disney world yesterday, instead we settled for the wilted look. It was the same story as usual with foster, at first he was timid and then he was allover the place. We ended up taking him on every ride in the park (besides the baby rides) and that includes the space mountain rollercoaster. So all in all it went well. I will never come here on spring break though. Oh there was allot of people. And it was ok but any more would have been just annoying. But any who.

After Disney we drove here to Tampa, it was about 11:30 before we got to bed. Well, actually we seemed to keep up the vacation tradition of staying up past 12. This hotel is really nice, all business and class. And then….dun dun da……the Clarks arrive!!! We pull up to the front entrance, a gentleman comes and opens my door and then Foster’s, he goes to greet Dad and figure our parking and such, but we didn’t quite understand that this was a valet only hotel, so when the guy wanted our keys it was kind of confusing. We go inside to check in and Dad is in his swimming trunks and Hawaiian shirt, Foster and I are in our Bermuda shorts, tee shirts, and sandles. Normal right for a person visiting florida, right? Well all I’m seeing in this vast and gorgeous lobby is men and ladies in suits and dress wear. Ok, so we’re talking sore thumb extreme. But it’s all good, it’s late nobody really cares. So we go back to the car to get our luggage and I start getting it out of the car and one out of the ten guys just standing there waiting to help come rushing over with one of their carts, And Dad and him finish doing the luggage while I sift through the the mcdonalds bags, paper plates, misc. car stuff that gets thrown all over the place and ends up falling on the ground when you open doors. Talk about funny! But we’re just getting started. Dad’s in at the back of the car all the while telling the guy not to mind us because we’re used to $29.99 a night motels, and then trying to talk the guy into letting us take our own luggage up to our room. He tried to ignore Dad at first and just do his job, but Dad was persistent so he finally let us have the cart. And we had almost made it to the elevator when another one of them comes running over apologizing for us having it. It was a very awkward ride all the way up to the 27th floor. The guy tried conversation about something or other. I don't really remember, it was the usual questions like: are you enjoying your vacation? And then telling us that the spa and pool was on the third floor. (like we're going to use the spa!) :0) And then Dad told him that we're not really use to this, and he could just call us joe hick. hahahaha. I smiled, it was all I could do not to burst out laughing at how weird we looked. It was quite the procedure getting into the room but well worth it since it's really nice here.

This morning I went down to the conceirge desk and looked into shopping in the area. Well, let's just say that there aren't any real stores, just places that think it's normal to spend $110 for a shirt. Hello? We're talking about real people here who shop at walmart and are dragging their little brother up and down the streets by foot and trolly. He did really well, well as good as could be expectetd, but that could have to do with the fact that I bribed him with cold stones creamery. Actually, I "rewarded" him for his great behavior. Sounds way more political huh?

We just kind of hung out for most of the day and spent a while down at the pool but it was good to not really have anywhere to go. Tonight Dad and I tried figureing out the rest of the trip. The final verdict is that he's going to figure it out. I am way to opinionated to go with the flow every time that he changes his plan. So I'll just go along with what ever happens.

I'm actually excited though because Dad is going aligator hunting on thursday night so we will be out in the middle of no where. I like staying in the city but I don't feel like I got the actuall experiance of the state.

Foster and I will be going to the aquarium down the street tomorrow. It should be fun because not only do they have the aquarium but also a water area to play in. So it will be cool for us to have something to do.

So I'm done rambling on now. But maybe I'll down load a few pictures before heading out to bed. Love you all!

please scroll down

Well this is really out of order. It took me an hour just to load these pictures on her, ugh. So my suggestion to you all is that you scroll down to the "day two" post and then go from there up. It might make a little more sense. Good night every one!

This is the Daytona 500. for those of you who, like myself, do not know what that is, it's some big famous car racing stadium.

Here we have a krispy kreme, if you don't know what this is, well, you're hopeless! We didn't have time to go in this one, but I promise you that we will by the end of this trip.

sorry about all the me and Foster pictures, there seems to be allot. We'll have to work on that.

These are both me taken, I guess my arm's longer than I thought it was!

Foster seems to be conquering the waves just fine. :-)

Oh the classic Dad picture with the sun in our eyes.

















and has anyone wondered what Lanae` looked like w/a fro?

Here's Dad and the Foster, and me and the foster. but ya'll knew that right? Sorry about the sideways thing, I don't know how to fix it.

Here we have the before and after of Dad's first castle of the trip. Yes, foster is in the pictures, but no, he didn't help. short attention span or something..:-)

Day two pictures.

Well here they all are folks. Well, not all of them, we actually took 119 just today. But I don't really want to be sitting down in the lobby for that long, and you probably don't want to see them all. But here are some of the better ones...

Day two!!

Well today we ended up going to first baptist church in Ocoee. I'ts about 30 minutes away from here. It went pretty good. The message was fine, but Dad said that he read in their little booklet that he's from some college (I can't remember where) that promotes easy believeism, so that's not too good (duh) but you couldn't have told from what he preached.

We ended up going to Datona Beach after Services. That was pretty cool. I've always heard the name, and it's like printed on shirts, so the fact that I actually went there is cool. :-) The tide was high today so we went to the spot where it was flat for swimming. And yes, Dad did make his sand castle. :-) I don't think that there has been a time that he went to a beach and didn't make a sand castle. I think that's awsome. Anywho, after being there for a few hours we went to leave, but ended up going to the spot on the beach with all the waves and strong current. I had already changed and didn't want to get my bathing suit back on, but Dad and Foster were still in their shorts, so they went and dove in. Well, not quite dove, but you know. :o) I got lot's of video taping of it and also pictures. Oh ya, pictures, well I kind of forgot about those, I will have to go upstairs and get the memory card so that I can down load some for you guys. I am down at the pool right now with foster. Can you believe that he wanted to go swimming again after spending all day swimming? Crazy kid.

On our way home we stopped at a few tourist stores but I didn't end up with too much luck. and speaking of shopping, I can't believe that I forgot to mention that I went to Cato's yesterday. Love at first sight. Well, actually, I was in love with the store from all the things that I had heard about it before I even saw it. But you get my point. It was pretty cool that the first store that we went to on the entire trip was the one that I wanted to go to the most. I made sure to thank Dad for that! We still have to do the whole outlet mall thing, but I'm not too worried, we'll get there eventually.

Well, I'm going to go up stairs and get that memory card. So I'll see you all in a bit.

Day one!!

Hello everyone. Today we went to the water park and had a blast. I decided to play it smart this trip and use sunblock so that I don't end up burnt. I was kind of worried that I wouldn't get any tan, but I am convinced that I will do fine. How do I know this? You ask. Well, it could have something to do with the fact that I have this ultra funny tan line on my foot from my sandles. And let me tell you! I can't imphasize the fact that it is real funny! I guess that it's a good thing that it will be winter when I get back to AK and I won't have to wear sandles. :-)

Foster was a bit timid to go on the rides at first, but he loosened up later on and suprised both me and Dad. It was real glad that he wasn't a total stick in the mud.

Dad was just looking for a church to go to tomorrow, and can you believe that they actually have an "independent baptist" church here called: banana bay baptist church? I've heard some pretty funny names but none that crazy yet. Are they actually on the bay? And does every one hang out on the beach after church? or better yet to they have church out side? Sorry for the sarcasm, it just seemed really funny to me. :o)

We are going to Disney World on Monday. We weren't planning on going, but Dad can't stand the fact that we're taking Foster to Florida and skipping Disney world. Thus, we're going.

I have this pounding headache. I don't know where it came from, all I know is that I hope it's gone by morning. And I guess that in order for that to be a possibility I should probably get some sleep. So until next time.
Lanae`

P.S. the hotel here is pretty nice and very clean, which is always a plus.:-) I was kind of worried this morning though when I let the water run for over 30 minutes and it never got warm. I haven't had to take a cold shower in a long time. And I don't think that I've missed anything.:-) when I asked about it down at the front they said that it was because the boiler went down this morning, but it will be fixed by tonight. So I am definitly looking forward to a "Warm" shower tomorrow.

going...Going.....GONE!

Well, at least I will be gone soon. I just can't wait for it to be 2 am in the morning, and I will be flying away on the airplane. Yes!!

I have been really stressed lately and need to just go and get it over with. I am looking forward to going, but it is seriously messing with my schedule. I am so busy as it is, that trying to find time to pack and figure out all the details is pretty pathetic.

And I'm sure that my Mom is dying for me to be gone also. :-} I haven't been the best of company lately. So Mom, when you get on here, I'm real, real, sorry for being so grumpy. I try to be nice, and just let everything flow, but it hasn't been happening for me lately. I think I'll just have to try harder....

Anywho. My flight leaves at 1:05am, so that means that I have a whopping six hours and ten minutes until take off. Speaking of take off...I just love it! I forget how awsome it is every time and still get a thrill out of it. I am usually next to Tori as she clenches the arm rests and tryes to breath (although, not with much success), and I'm just smiling because I'm having the time of my life! I'ts quite the scene. And I have no problem with the lay overs that I have because that means that I get to take off 3 times! Wha who!!

I'm looking forward to flying alone too. I know that sounds really young and wanna-be independent, but I think that it will be a fun experiance. Dad and Foster will be with me on the way to Seattle, but then I go to Pheonix and then Orlando by myself, while they just go straight to Orlando from there. They will be getting to Florida 5 hours before me, but I'm totaly ok with that, because that means that they will already have the car, and be checked into the hotel.

Wow, well I think that I just made up for the days that I didn't post this week. Sorry for the ramble. :-) At least from now on I might have something to say. Farewell my friends, I love you all, and I shall return! (October the 9th at 4:47 PM to be exact.) :o)...Well that is unless the plane goes down and we all die. But hay, we're not going to think about that right? Well, if you were going to think about it at least look at it on the bright side, I'd get to heaven before all of you!! :-)

Crazy...Crazy...did I mention Crazy?.....

Oh my word. I am just running in circles. I am seriously ready for 2 AM on Friday. Because that means that I will be in the air and flying away. And if I forgot something, well, then it's tough luck. I am pretty much packed. But then again. Not really at all. I have all my clothes picked out and in the suit case, but that seems to be the easy part for me. You got to think shoe, makeup, shampoo, conditioner, curling iron, flat iron, blowdryer, facial cleanser.....yada yada yada. It goes on and on. Oh, and maybe I should throw in some soap too. You never know when you might need some of that. :-) I am running to walmart tonight to go get last minute stuff. so I better go. I'm sorry that I haven't been on here since Friday. I really want to get on here every day, but that's not happening. Just know that I love you all!! And soon you will be able to hear about my trip. I better have time for blogging down there!

Crazy.....Crazy.....did I mention crazy....?

Oh my word. I am just running in circles. I am seriously ready for 2 AM on Friday. Because that means that I will be in the air and flying away. And if I forgot something, well, then it's tough luck. I am pretty much packed. But then again. Not really at all. I have all my clothes picked out and in the suit case, but that seems to be the easy part for me. You got to think shoe, makeup, shampoo, conditioner, curling iron, flat iron, blowdryer, facial cleanser.....yada yada yada. It goes on and on. Oh, and maybe I should throw in some soap too. You never know when you might need some of that. :-) I am running to walmart tonight to go get last minute stuff. so I better go. I'm sorry that I haven't been on here since Friday. I really want to get on here every day, but that's not happening. Just know that I love you all!! And soon you will be able to hear about my trip. I better have time for blogging down there!

It is funny how all through the day while I'm working, I come up with things that I could post on my blog, but then when I get off of work and go to post. It's like...uh...uh...hm. It just kind of dawns on me that either no one really wants to hear about what I was going to post. Or, I have already forgotton what it was! Usually the latter of the two. :-} So, to all of you expecting to see something actually interesting on my blog...well...maybe tomorrow.

Well cleaning my room went pretty well last night. It's really nice to have the boys gone. I put all of my clothes (the ones that are sapposed to be in the closet) on Mason's bed and all my shoes on their floor. That will be the all fun project tonight. Oh wait, scratch that. I think I am going to finish getting all the clutter out of my room. I really don't like clutter, but I have a ton of it. Just little nick nacks all over the place, and since I am going away from the hawaiian theme I am going to get rid of most of it. But the real good news is that I didn't trip or have to step on a pile of clothes to turn the lamp on this morning. And belive me, that is a real, real, big thing in my little room! Well, I am off to beaver sports to meet mom. She said that they were haveing a really good sale on somethings, and you all know how Mom and I are about sale shopping. Well, maybe you don't, but you will find out soon! :-)

the sun is shining!!

Well, It's a beautiful day here, and I am quite enjoying it. It is so warm that I even had to use airconditioner in my car during lunch. Now that's talking about a heat wave! Speaking of lunch, choir went well, (as well as you would expect a public middle school choir). But I still need to talk to the lady in the office. She was on the phone when I went in to see her, so I'll have to come back another day. She left a bunch of paper work on the piano for me last Friday, and didn't explain what it all meant. So I need her to tell me what I need to fill out. One thing that I did understand is that I will need to get a back ground check done. Who knows what kind of a life I've lead for these last 17 years! I'm real excited about standing in line at the DMV for 3 hours, as you would expect. :-) I'm headed off to go home and clean my room. Yaaa! I also have bible institute class tonight. I am taking Bro. McBrooms class. I don't remember what it's called, but surely that's not important right? I hope every one is having a fabulous day!

ok, so I just tried to put a counter on my web page. But I don't think that I did. Ugh. I don't know what happened to it, it should be there at the bottom of the page. But...it's not. Oh well, I've wasted enough time trying to figure it out. It's off to do english for me!! Oh the fun.

Well I haven't been getting on here as much as I thought I would. When do you people find time to post? By the time I work, go home, eat dinner, and do school, it is definitly bed time, thus leaving no time for blogging. Well, anywho. Mom and Tori are back from their trip now, and I am real glad. The whole working mom thing didn't work out too well for me. :-) It was okay for just the two weeks. But it would definitely get old quick! Well, I'm starting my night job, so until next time.

This is Mason and I at Sadie Cove this summer. I went there with Dad, Grandpa Clark, and the three little kids this summer. I wasn't crazy about going clamming. But I went and ended up not having too bad of a time. The fact that we hardly got any clams was a good thing, because we were going for steamers. Those are the nasty ones that you just boil for a few minutes and then eat them guts and all. I tried it, that's all I have to say!