Spending the 4th of July on Lake DeGray with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephews! We love the lake...
Tubing is one of the kid's most favorite things to do. Here are my 4 getting ready to ride.
Emma, getting ready to ride with Uncle Tommy.
Never short on silliness! He's making sure it's a fun ride...even if there's not much wake to bounce them around
We like to float around and relax too. And act goofy. All the time.
...I love this one!
And I love this one too. Nothing like the rocking waves, warm sunshine, and the lull of the boat motor to put you right out!
Sweet cousin love! But only for a few seconds. The moment he realized her arm was on his back, it was OVER. :)
Lots of fun was had at the lake. Later that night we went back out on the boat to watch the firework show. By that time we were all exhausted. Taylor & Emma stayed at the camper with Nana & Papaw and the rest of the crew. Nathan, our two little girls, and I headed back to his parent's house to spend the night. Very fortunate that they don't live too far away from the lake!!
Next up, we decided to go climb Pinnacle Mountain. I wasn't sure what to expect so I made arrangements for mom to take care of Macy. When Emma heard me say we're going to "climb a mountain" she promptly informed me that she was NOT climbing a mountain. So she too spent the day with Nana. Here we are with Nathan's mom, Meme, about to climb the mountain behind us.
She's ready...
He's become accustomed to carrying pink items. We like pink at our house. A lot. He is not ashamed. I did offer to carry it but he must've been feeling chivalrous...wouldn't let me carry it. It was heavy...3 large bottles of water, first aid kit, snacks...
Addison was a trooper! She led the way almost all the way up. Nathan and I took turns keeping up with her the whole time.
The views on the way up were beautiful...
And the climb got steeper and a trickier! We didn't expect to be actually climbing up rocks. We thought there would be a nice dirt path all the way. Pssh!!
Turns out, we took a wrong turn at some point and ended up climbing these rocks straight up when we should've been on more of a path. Still a rocky path, but more of a horizontal climb than this vertical one. We found that OTHER path on our way down, thank the good Lord. I was getting nervous about having to come back down these rocks!
We made it to the top and it was absolutely beautiful. And we were quite proud of ourselves for making it all the way up and living to tell about it.
(Yes, we're missing Meme. She made it almost to the top, but when we got to where the rocks were more jagged and steep, she decided to sit and wait on us to come back down.)
The Arkansas River as seen from the top of Pinnacle Mtn.
We made it back down the mountain and then went to eat Mexican food in celebration of our awesomeness. We'll use any reason to celebrate with a Mexican food feast!
I found this one among our "Arkansas" pictures and it has nothing to do with our trip, but...Are these not the most fabulous eyelashes you've ever seen?? People pay good money for lashes like these. She will love them one day. Or not even care about things like eyelashes...
(She'll thank me one day for showing the drool bubble. I'm sure of it!)
A few days later, Mom and I took the girls to Branson, MO to play. I was forbidden to visit the outlet malls. We won't say WHO put his foot down on the shopping...but I think we all know who it was! Uuhhumm, NATHAN! ;) We found a place that had an indoor and outdoor water park attached to it so we stayed and played there. The girls had a great time. They love water.
We also took them to see the Dixie Stampede. They loved it! Addison had a conversation with this guy before going in.
He told her she could a ride a horse any time. Just hop on and go. On the way home, driving through eastern Oklahoma, we passed several farms. She said "Mama, I need you to stop at the next barn." I was thinking this would be yet another need for a pit stop! Nope, she informed me that she "needed me to stop at the next barn so that she could ride a horse and show me what she could do on it." She liked the trick rider girl a bit too much at the show. Now she fully believes that not only can she ride a horse, but she can ride it while hanging off the side, upside down. No lack of confidence with this one.
After we got back to Nana's & Papaw's house, we spent the rest of our time just hanging out with cousins, riding 4-wheelers, and enjoying being in the country! While jumping on the trampoline at Uncle Tommy's and Aunt Lesley's house, Taylor mastered her back handspring! Thanks Aunt Lesley!! Here's the play-by-play... :)
There were lots of tears on the day we left to return home to Oklahoma. We love Oklahoma, but my kids long to live in the country. They're country kids being forced to live in the suburbs. Me too. Maybe one day we'll have the opportunity to return to my roots and live in the country. ...with our 4-wheelers, and our yellow dog, and deer in the front yard.
One last event that warrants including... (another reason why we long for the excitement of country life)...
On Saturday, Mom and I were cleaning and doing things around the house all morning. She stopped for a lunch break, taking her sandwich plate out onto the back porch to eat. She came running back in yelling for me to "come help, the cows are out!" They were leaving our field and heading straight for the neighbor's field. Mom ran to get one 4 wheeler as I went the other direction to get another one. In the process, I see the dog with his front paws on the outdoor table, finishing off the food on Mom's plate! She begins screaming at the dog, but it's too late. Entire sandwich and whatever else was on the plate, GONE! Next as I'm coming around the house on the 4 wheeler, I see mom running from the barn (where the other 4 wheeler is) holding her shoulder in pain. Wasps. Two stings. She's HIGHLY allergic. I proceeded into the neighbor's field and after about three rounds, got all but one cow back into our field. (There's always that ONE! Little HEIFER!!) ;) I left her. By that time I didn't care if she got back with the rest or not. Mom had just been stung by a wasp a few days before this and had to go get a shot. Fortunately the shot lasts a while so she didn't swell up beyond recognition. Later that day, Tommy and I went out looking for that cow that wouldn't cooperate. At some point in the afternoon, I guess she decided to jump the fence and return to her friends because when we checked on them, there she was. Heifer!
