Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Pool fun






Michelle and the girls are staying with us a few days. They love to spend time in the pool. Here are some pictures of them enjoying the pool. In one of them, Holly is eating her lunch on the deck. The deck is not finished yet. David is working on it this summer, trying to redo it. He has only a little time now and then and the priority has been to make sure the pool is secure from little ones being able to getting through the fence. Caroline, of course, found a way into the pool right away, so Poppy had to put up more chainlink fence around the deck, but it is pretty secure now. The pool has provided lots of fun over the years, but now with small grandchildren around we have to be diligent with safety measures.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Camping at Queen Wilhelmina Park
















This weekend we went for an overnight campout at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. It is located in the Ouachita Mountains and is about and hour south from where we live. The whole family went, except for Matthew (who is working away in Brazil) so we had a great time. There was a bad storm that moved through our area just after the kids left for the campout and before we left for it. I was a little frightened and David called from work to check on me. Ryan and Sarah got hit by some pretty bad hail and now their cute little Volkswagen has hail damage.

When David got home we packed up and left for the campout. When we got there, the kids had our tent up and ready for us. David said he could get used to camping like that! The temperatures were about perfect, which is what I enjoy. We had lots of fun being with the kids and grandkids and talking and laughing. We grilled a couple of beef tri tip roasts and hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst. We were so full after eating that we decided to save the dutch oven dessert of apple crisp to make for breakfast.

There is a little train that runs through the park that people can pay 4 dollars and go for a ride and see the great view of the Ouachita Mountains and the parklands. Before we got there, the kids went on it and enjoyed it. The tracks for the train ran beside our campsite and whenever that little train went by Caroline and Holly would get so excited and wave. I had fun going for a walk down the tracks with the little girls. We saw beautiful wild flowers and butterflies and woodland (Caroline called it the jungle where the bears live).

The park people came by and told us to be sure to put all our food in the car because a lot of bears were in the area. Michelle was worried about using her sweet smelling lotion. : )

A heavy fog and mist moved in during the evening hours which was pretty cool looking. We all settled into our tents for a nights sleep. Of course at 2:00Am I woke up and needed a quick trip to the restroom which was hidden in the fog. I drove to it. There was thunder going on and I figured I better go before the storm hit. Diana wasn't so lucky. When the rain started her husband and her got up to make sure everything was put up safe and then she had to go to the restroom. She walked up there in the pouring rain.

By morning the rain stopped and the fog moved back in. The sun coming up through the fog was really cool. I took lots of pictures. The fog soon burned off and we had a beautiful day to enjoy. We had eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, biscuits, and apple crisp for breakfast. No one went hungry on this trip! David and I took Caroline and Holly up to the lodge to look around and play on the playground while everyone else went on a hike. Later it was time to pack up and go home.

It was a great time. The only part that was hard, was that I missed Matthew so much. He would have loved being there with us.