Bike Time

The weather is warm, the sun is shining, and the evenings are getting longer.  This is my favorite time of the year.  My kids can NOT stay out of the hose and sprinkler.  The laundry pile is growing faster than normal because they can't take the time to put swim clothes on, so they're soaking two or three outfits a day. 
Yesterday, we fixed a bunch of flat tires on all our bikes.  And, here's what we've been doing for the last two days, both here at home and at the park!


Turner

Allison, who got on Ryan's old bike, YESTERDAY!

Ryan's new bike - we picked up for a total of $11, which includes new inner tubes.

 

He really likes it!!  Oh, and he had never tried no-training-wheels until YESTERDAY.  Um, yeah, he got the hang of it!

Lucy, watching the crazy kids.

Allison and Wicket, and the top of Pearl.

Turner's old bike, with no training wheels.  Ryan went back and forth between the bikes tonight. 

Passing on the road.

Wicket got a hair cut, so she's half the dog she was! :)

 

Pedal, pedal, pedal!! 

Pearl, trying to stay out of the way!

 

 

 

 

 

Wicket, making sure they all come back.

Did I mention I love this time of year!!??!

BETH MOORE in Kansas City

This past weekend, after recovering from the Stomach Flu, I headed North with some friends from my Bible Study class.  We went up to see Beth Moore's Living Proof Live. 


We ate dinner at Buca di Beppo on the Plaza.  I just ate a salad and some bread, but everyone raved about the food.  I'll be back when I'm eating real food!!


Beth taught a great message (as if she wouldn't??) on 1Thesalonnians 1.  We learned all about the WE's, YOU's, and THEY's of every church.  It has to be a fluid motion.  Hopefully you're training up new YOU's to make room for the THEY's.  It sounds very confusing, but it was VERY convicting and insightful! 
We had a fabulous time!! 

Silver Dollar City

WOW!  I had heard about how family-friendly SDC is, but I was really impressed.  There is so much for little kids to do, it was great!  Of course, the first stop, for Allison, was the merry-go-round.   

 

We stayed for quite a bit at the tree house place.  So much fun.  They'd just run by, scream "HI!" and keep going!

 

Finally we told them we needed to ride some rides! 

Here's Andy showing Allison how to ride a roller-coaster!  Turner is in front of them, and Ryan rode in the last car, by himself!

 

 

They all loved the Happy Frogs, too.  We had them measured, and this was one of the rides Allison could ride unaccompanied, so she was really excited!  Sorry, it's a bit blurry, they were hopping by.

We ate a very expensive lunch (now we know, pack your own!) and had some cotton candy. 

 

 

Then we headed out to find more stuff.  We ended spending almost an hour at Geyser Village.  I think we could have spent all day in this one area.  Ball shooters, cannons, water guns.  Another area where they would run by and scream, "HI!" and keep going.  So much fun!!

 

 

We really did enjoy ourselves!  What a great day.  I can't wait to go back, and I think the kids agree - it was worth it!!

Mini Adventure

We purchased Silver Dollar City season passes this year.  None of us have ever been to the park, but we hear wonderful things about it!  This last Saturday was the only one for 6 or 7 weeks with no soccer game, so we decided we'd take the kids.  Friday morning, Andy decided we should just go that evening to Branson and let the kids stay at a "helltell."  I don't know what it is about kids and hotels, but they all ask, quite often, when we're going back to a hotel, or as Allison calls it, "helltell". 
We didn't tell them where we were going, just that it was an adventure. 

This is Ryan, upset about not knowing where we're going.  They saw the suitcases in the back of the van, so they were having fun guessing where we were going to sleep.

Allison is always ready for adventure!! That's my girl!

My new camera has a setting that it will automatically take a picture if it detects a smile.  I was testing it out. :)

Here we are at the hotel.  They had so much fun rolling and falling and being silly.  Ryan even pretended to be Allison in this picture - he has Bear. 

 

 

 

 

Dickerson Park Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, I metioned going to the zoo.  There was a 30% chance of rain all week, but nothing ever happened.  So, that Friday, we loaded up and went to the Zoo.  Fun!

The kids were so excited to see a Military Macaw.  The last couple of times we have been, the Macaws have all been red or blue.  This one looks just like Grandma's Macaw, Katie.

There was a pea cock sitting on top of the Macaw enclosure.  He was making a LOT of noise, so I figured he wanted his picture taken, too.

The boys always love to go see the warthogs.  I have no idea why.  They were excited to see them up and about, not napping.

The bald eagle enclosure is always one of our favorites!

How exciting, that a snake had just recently shed its skin!!!  Man, we were excited!!

Ryan started getting tired, and when he gets tired, we're done.  So, it was time to go.  We love visiting the Dickerson Park Zoo!!

Gone Fishin'

On Wednesday, the kids asked Daddy to take them fishing in the pond.  Man, I think they asked at least 6 times, each, during the day.  They couldn't wait.  By the way, the fish are BITING right now, so fishing is fun for our small group with little attention spans.

Loaded up in Daddy's truck to head to the pond.

Turner, Daddy and Ryan fishing.  Happy happy boys!
As we were packing up the stuff, when we were done, we noticed the calves had got out of the barn yard.  We quickly loaded up the truck and headed back through the different fences, hoping to herd the calves back towards the barn.  Wicket was with us, and ended up helping immensely in getting the calves home.  Andy would drive the truck around one side of the calves, and Wicket would go the other way.  It was really rather amazing.  She had just been to the groomer on Tuesday, and was given a cute bandanna to wear.  I think they knew she would be a working dog this week! 


Wicket, cow-dog extraordinaire!!