The Lake Claiming the Shoes

For Christmas Eve, Caleb's Mom and Dad loaded up the 4-wheelers and we drove about 30-minutes outside Decatur to somewhere in the middle of nowhere to ride. Having never been on a 4-wheeler before, I was a little nervous.... helmets? safety goggles? flares in case we got lost? I was definitely channeling Laurette. Anyway, Caleb and I were on one and the girls were on the other:

The place we went to was beautiful and perfect for 4-wheeling. We found this huge field that was actually a dried up lake (because of the drought going on right now). There were huge shells all over the ground and large dead fish that couldn't escape as the water dried up. I of course took a pic of one of the fish. Caleb said it is a Garp. It has teeth by the way. These dead garp were everywhere:
So we are riding all over the place. The very large lake (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what it is) had dried up a little bit on the outskirts so we drove on the dried up sections of the bank. We were rolling right along until we hit a section that had not dried up enough and was still pretty lake-ish. Oops. Both 4-wheelers get stuck:
Caleb, Jessica and Amanda work hard to push the first one out of the muck. As official photojournalist, I did not help and stayed on higher ground.

Then Amanda got very very stuck. Up to her knees stuck
So Jessica went out to save her sister. She gets stuck as well. As photojournalist, I am now laughing hysterically, while still staying on higher ground. Please noted how Amanda has really sunk to her knees:
Former Boy Scout Caleb knows exactly what to do. Extend a large tree branch to the QuickSand victims:
All four shoes are claimed by the lake. Jessica somehow salvaged hers from the muck:

Amanda was not so lucky. The land swallowed up her shoes as soon as her feet were free.

It took awhile to get the other 4-wheeler out but we still managed to get home and shower in time for the Christmas Eve Service at Decatur Baptist where Caleb's dad works.

We then ate a great Christmas Dinner and opened presents. I hope 4-wheeling on Christmas Eve is a new tradition!