Float trip to the Ozarks

We finally got a weekend to head south and visit CJ's relatives who live in Southern Missouri. We really don't see them very often, so to say they were overjoyed to see the kids would be an understatement. His Grandmother always insists on cooking these big country meals for us everytime she see's us, we all eat till we're sick to do it all justice.

I think they'll love a copy of this picture, the kids were all well behaved and respectful of their grandparents, I was really proud of them.


We left West Plains and headed a little bit north to the Current River in Eminence, MO. The whole area is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which is beautiful and unique area. This river in particular is spring fed, ice cold and beyond beautiful. The first day we just went and played at the gravel beach near our cabin, it was pretty cold but the kids still had a good time. Here is a picture of Sissy crawling up Daddy to get out of the cold.

The next day was our float trip, the kids decided to jump off this rock after seeing some other rafters doing it. I insisted they jump feet first, the other folks were diving and doing flips and I was having no part of that. You can get to help with a broken ankle, a broken neck would be a whole different (read tragic) story.

This was one of the many beautiful sights we saw along the way, a natural cave, carved by the water. The picture really doesn't do it justice, it was gorgeous.


Here's the guys floating while Hunter, Sissy and I manned the raft. They floated along quite awhile, the water was a little cold for me.

This is one of the many springs that feed the riverways of the Ozarks. You can't see it very well, but water was just pouring out of this cave structure and it was icy, it is such an awesome display of God's power. These rivers are some of God's most beautiful work in the Midwest, I'm so glad that they are respected for the Gift that they are. You could tell that people respect the rules, even though there are alot of canoers and rafters, you saw little to no trash anywhere in or around the rivers. Everyone is very careful to leave the area as they found it or better, you really can't ask for more than that.

We saw some truly wonderful wildlife, I was stalking this Heron? to try to get a good picture. It's a little blurry but you can tell how beautiful he is.
Last but not least, a picture of everyone on the deck of our cabin before we headed home. Can you see the beautiful, blue-green water in the background, the rivers in this area look like this. I think it is the limestone that the springs bubble up from that lend this color to the water. It was a quick but wonderful trip.

Photohunt-Theme Rocks

I think I found a few good examples for this week's theme. I haven't participated the last few weeks, it's been a bit busy around here. Glad to be back. All of these were taken on our California vacation in January, it was one for the books. La Jolla Beach area, specifically.

Summer day at the Zoo!

We had another great day at the zoo. We lucked into some reasonably good weather, overcast and breezy. The primates were the 'fun' animal of the day, everyone was putting on a good show, even the baby.


I've been trying to take some interesting pictures at the zoo, the kids and I intend to enter the best of them into a photography contest that the zoo holds annually. I thought we could choose one's I took this year and next year they could work towards submitting their own photos. I want to include some digital photography for some of their art curriculum this Fall, along with everything else I've chosen.

Wordless Wednesday!!

Our 4th of July!! Belated.

Our 4th stretched into the whole weekend. I of course forgot the camera on the actual holiday, so I have no pictures to show. Suffice it to say, we had fun and there were no injuries, barely. We had a couple of the big nighttime fireworks misfire, so there were a couple of near misses, but no one sustained any actual injuries. Everyone developed a healthy respect for the guys who blow this junk up for a living. We really enjoyed the whole day though, not just the explosives, we barbecued, swam, had a bonfire with s'mores, ate watermelon, I think that we hit all the highlights.


July 5th we spent the whole day at the amusement parks in our area, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, we had a fun and exhausting time. By the time we headed to the parking lot, we had been going strong for 11 hours,maybe exhausted doesn't do it justice.

Keeping Cool in KC!

All the kids insist on wearing these, I'm lovin' what they're doing to Ry's ears, hope they don't stay that way!!!


It has been a really hot summer so far. We had over a week of 90 plus temps here, I guess it's not considered a heat wave if it's not 95 or higher for 4 days in a row. It only registered about 92-93 but the humidity was unreal so the "feels like" was in the 100's, but it's not a heat-wave folks. Good to know!!! We've been spending a lot of time at the pool. Sissy is finally potty-trained so a lot of our time is spent running up and down the stairs taking her to the restroom. I don't know why I was so worried about her getting trained, once she decided she was a big girl, that was it, potty trained. No accidents!


We all got together the day after Father's Day to celebrate. My dad's birthday was on June 24th and my sister's was on June 19th so we all celebrated in one gathering. My dad got a new chair for his birthday, perfect for evenings when he gets home from work! It's always a fight to get Sae in the pool but Uncle Eric was able to get it done. He had him jumping in by the end of the afternoon, it was so funny though because he was dragging him around the pool and all of the other kids decided to pile on, he got a workout for sure.


The rest of my time this summer has been spent planning for Fall, getting the curriculum picked out and ready. I've pretty much made all decisions, now it's time to organize. I'll be posting about all of that sometime after the holiday.