More Vacation Pics

New Castle Beach Lighthouse















Sarah and Daniel not eating sand.















Sandcastle construction




























Libby telling us how it should be done.















Kirk of the high seas!














Captain Bob teaching us about lobster.














Captain Katie teaching us about patience.




























Murderess















Isaac examining dinner.















In Maryland, on our way home.

Vacation Pics

Mississippi River in the background

















John Deere "Museum"































Niagara Falls


































This is directly behind Katie's back yard!















Tree frog.
















Portsmouth, NH





























Squam Lakes Natural Science Center

Spring Break Camp-out

The first camp of the year. We all had fun trying out our new tent and the boys' new bags.




Even Lucy slept in the tent with us and she was amazingly quiet all night. The only noise was from the freight trains and the neighbors arriving home from Aggieville.

Family Time in the Mountains

We just returned from an amazing time at Kirk's family reunion at Snow Mountain Ranch in Colorado. Family came in from California, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Florida. It was good to get to know his family better.














I was amazed to discover that, even upon closer inspection, Kirk has a family of really nice people. Some highlights for me:

• Uncle Harold reminiscing about camping when they were kids. Orva brought Grandma's scrapbooks from the trips.
  
• Aunt Elaine blowing bubbles, surrounded by happy children.
• Boys spending hours playing in the dirt with trucks and tractors.
• Eating Alaskan Halibut caught and prepared by Andy.
• Hearing Nora and Uncle Merl's story of tipping their canoe!
• Enjoying the beautiful Colorado scenery. The air smelled of pine and I swear I heard a Mountain Lion one night.

The only unfortunate things about our trip were that not everyone was able to come, the really cold nights, and the dead and dying trees. Apparently the area has been ravaged by the Pine Beetle, so parts of the campground were really barren. The mountainsides were covered with brown trees. But, all things considered, it was a good trip.

Camp Mahoney

In-between storms (see post below), we returned Saturday night from the Williams family campout at Mahoney State Park in Nebraska. The plan was to stay until Sunday morning, but with thunderstorms in the forecast we decided to head home early. Packing in the rain and unpacking wet tents & luggage was not appealing. With three "siren calls" in a week we'd had enough. There weren't any tornadoes Sunday morning, but there was a lot of rain so it was a good call to pack up early.

Cool nights, warm days, and lots of sun - perfect.
















Life is good...















Got it!
















Gimme s'more!

West to California

A fast, fun trip to California where we visited my brother and sister-in-law. Planes, trains, automobiles and the ocean. Midwest Airlines is a carrier of choice in my book - business class seating throughout the cabin, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, and a FULL can of Coke (not just a bit poured over ice - in a small cup - like some airlines offer). On our flight to L.A. Joe received a "First Flight" certificate signed by the crew along with a BAG full of cookies. While waiting for Craig to come home from work the first day, Jackie and Joe played an amusing pretend game of Dorothy the Dinosaur (Jackie) meets Bob the Builder (Joe). Although our stay was brief, we enjoyed ourselves and Joe was an excellent traveler. The whirlwind, off-the-beaten-path tour included visits to Travel Town, Santa Monica Pier, and, for late afternoon relaxation, Roxbury Park (and to make sure Joe was good and tired). It wouldn't be a vacation for me without a "won't find it in Kansas" dining experience. In Santa Monica I feasted upon a Cornish Pastie, chips & peas (yum - thanks, Craig) at Ye Olde King's Head while Joe gulped his spaghetti. Unfortunately I was too full to partake of the Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert.

Look! Out the window, it's.....

I had to reflect on our recent trips to Missouri & Arkansas after reading the column My Turn in the recent issue of Newsweek ("...we had daily 'tech checks' to make sure everything was charged. There were so many cords traversing the minivan, it looked like a fully equipped kidney-dialysis unit."). While our trek was quite a bit shorter than the 1200 miles undertaken by the author and her family, it was, nonetheless, uncharted territory for us. For most people (without children) a journey from here to Arkansas would be about a 6 hour drive. With children, especially when both are under 4 years-old, it could be 7 hours, it could be 10! The longest journey we'd taken with Joe, prior to Columbia a few weeks ago, was 4 hours - also to Columbia - and he slept the whole way there - and back if I recall! Isaac had never traveled more than 2 hours before going to Columbia and he did amazingly well too. We left at 7:15 am for Arkansas to allow plenty of time so we didn't arrive just before sunset and have to eat, set up our tent, and get the boys to sleep. Also, not wanting to press our luck, we had a DVD player as our backup plan. Fortunately we've been blessed with two wonderful young travelers as both were able to entertain themselves or were napping. Of course, there were also the requisite diaper changes and potty stops. Occasionally, Joe even helped entertain Isaac. I have to admit, though, traveling is easier since Joe is a bit infatuated with all things mechanical - trucks, trains, buses, planes, farm equipment, even irrigation systems. All of which were in ample supply the entire route. On the return trip we didn't rush quite as much (partially since found out that when our speedometer showed 74, we were actually doing closer to 80 - so that's why no one passed us!). However, we also spent 45 minutes for lunch at the county park in Butler MO. It turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the whole, 9-hour trip. I'm happy to say that for the whole time we were gone we never even turned on the DVD player. Granted they're still quite young, but I'm going to encourage my boys to watch as much scenery as possible. When you're traveling scenery changes and it's gone once you're past it. We can watch a movie anytime, anywhere.

A trip to Eureka Springs

We just returned from a trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas with my family. I would rate it as neutral. Nothing bad happened and it was nice spending time with the family, but ES is not ideal for small children. We did find some neat things to do. We saw Onyx cave, went on a ride on an old fashioned train, saw lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) at a wild animal refuge and did a lot of swimming. It was just tiring keeping Isaac entertained while keeping him from choking on the billions of rocks filling our campsite. We were also interested to discover that Eureka Springs is like a Mecca for bikers. The KOA was filled with Harley's. I must say they were nice people, they just stayed up a bit later than I would have liked. My favorite moment was Joe explaining everything to us about the railroad. I don't think I've ever seen him that happy.