Fun Fourth

I'll have to start with a disclaimer on this by saying I did a very poor job of taking pictures on the 3rd and 4th of July.  But luckily through the magic of Instagram I was able to hijack some memories from Philip's postings and accountings of the weekend.

On the 3rd we went down to Yukon and spent the afternoon with Philip's grandparents, where Philip cleaned up his old John Deere for Denver - he was a big fan.

We then ate dinner with his immediate family and walked to the park to enjoy the Vetran's celebration.  This is the lone picture I got from that night.  Denver carrying his little chair.

Philip did better than me though and snapped this pretty picture of the beautiful fireworks. Annie was so pleased with herself because "the fireworks are going and I'm not scared!"

We had a great time and then late into the night we drove out to Sayre to celebrate with my family.  The kids and I spent the morning "helping" Papa with his chores and the cattle.  Annie drove us home from the pens.

The kids spent the afternoon playing with their cousins which included jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it and this was genius and it essentially blew their mind. Who would've thought of that? Basically every kid before you that has had a trampoline but I'm not going to change anyone's mind when they think I have an awesome idea.

That evening we headed to a friend's for a weenie roast and all other sorts of creek fun.  The kids got to ride on a paddle boat, eat hotdogs and smores, fish, ride with Philip on the kayak, swing on the tire swing, and run around and get dirty.

(this guy was adamant he wear his boots and stomped around as happy as a lark in them all night)

Since a great majority of Denver's fun fell under the category of "getting dirty" which consisted of him just throwing big red dirt clods he had a sink bath before bed that night.

Skinned knees and sweet baby face, be still my heart.

The next morning the kiddos dressed for church in the finery Nana had bought and after some photos we went to services and enjoyed seeing and visiting with lifelong friends.

We then headed back to Stillwater after a fun few days of family, fun, and being reminded of how blessed we are to be Americans.

Big Cedar vacation

On Philip's birthday we left for a family vacation to Big Cedar Resort in Missouri. We'd heard nothing but good things about this place and since it's only 4 1/2 hours from us - ROADTRIP.

On our way there we took a side bar and stopped in Catoosa, OK to see the Blue Whale that is a popular Route 66 attraction.  

The whale and swimming hole are way past their prime (as in there appears to be a layer of gasoline on top of the water and the whale walkway has boards that are iffy at best) but it was a fun stop and the kids thought it was cool.

We then ventured on through the Arkansas route, which was a really pretty drive but added to our time in the car making it close to six hours.  Translation - we exhausted our list of songs and I had personally performed "You Must Pay The Rent" enough that it was worthy of a Tony, if they gave those for one-man Broadway shows that lasted 20 seconds.

We arrived to stunning views and a lovely resort

After checking in we got a bite to eat

and then played our first round (of what would be many) of miniature golf at the cutest little course.

The concept of golf was difficult for Denver to understand as he really isn't one for just letting balls roll around and not make it to their desired location. He found it was much easier to just run pick it up and throw it in the hole.

We had the best time.  We went canoeing

this was a little stressful as Denver really enjoyed leaning over the side for as close of an encounter as possible of the lake.

Annie was very helpful and pitched in paddling,

and holding Denver in his seat when she got tired, which really was a bigger job.

During our time canoeing we had a slightly scary experience when we came into contact with some low trees and almost ended up with a snake joining our party. Beyond the mild cardiac arrest I incurred it allowed for a good story to tell and surprisingly after that Annie was able to spot numerous snakes in the water that were not visible to the regular naked eye ;)

We also went to Silver Dollar City (Or Big Dollar City as Annie named it) for a day which was a big win because the kids really enjoyed the amusements and Philip and I got to consume large amounts of frozen lemonade.

Denver was a big fan of any type of ride and there were many here he could participate in

Some on his own

and others with an adult.

A good time was had by all

(maybe not by this cow)

A favorite part of Big Cedar for the kiddos were the pools and lazy river

They also had a nice beach with sand for sculpting and playing in

We celebrated Philip's 36th birthday at a fancy restraunt at the Top of the Rock and again were impressed with the beauty of the Missouri mountains...I'm partial to this view in particular :)

We also did fun golf cart tour that took us up and down a mountain and through a cave

We spent the majority of our stay on the resort grounds giving us the perfect break from our regular schedule and allowed us to settle down and relax and just have fun together.

Welcome back summer - we missed you!