Family Time......

This weekend we had our annual camping trip with the kids. We went to White Water State Park again this year. We had perfect weather all 4 days and had tons of fun. We had lots of beach time, hiking, biking and just relaxing. 

 The water is super cold since it is in the river but that did not stop us from enjoying it. Liam was  the first to jump in.

                              Eli and Oliver like to take is slow going in.

                                    Liam and Christa playing in the sand.

                                                  Josie just being cute!

            My favorite picture of the trip. Jese was putting lotion on Oliver and he was laughing.

              Rick took this from down by the river as we watched him bike on a very little path.

                            Christa and I after we finally made it to the top on our hike.

                                              Hiking back down.

           Rick made pancakes for us for breakfast and Cassie provided the Adult beverages

       We took the kids on a hike and Christa was our guide so we did not get lost this year!

 Almost to the top of our hike with the kids. It was only a mile but that is a long way for the short little legs of the kids. And it was up up up!

 Oliver and Eli checking out the cave. Don't worry Cassie was blocking the edge so they would not go over.

                        Uncle Nick showing the kids how to climb a tree.

             Finally made it back to the campgrounds with some tired kids.

                                                                             Pretty

 Jese and Rick went on a father son hike. They had a good time hiking for 2 hours with no kids and no women :)

                 On Saturday night we were hot so we went down the river and waded in.

                                                    Cute picture of Christa

          Nick decided wading was not good enough and jumped in the freezing cold water.

                                                            Cute picture of Cassie

                      We were waving at Amy and the kids, they were on the bridge watching us.

 We tried to make orange cake on the fire. It was a fun project but they did not turn out very good. I did not scoop out enough of the orange so the cake stayed too moist.

                       The kids had fun making it so that is all that matters. 

 On Saturday night it was a Super Moon. It was so bright that Rick was able to get some great pictures of it.

                              Oliver found some spider webs on the bridge.

                                    Uncle Nick and Oliver enjoying the fire.

                    I cannot have a blog about camping without picture of the campfire.

We love White Water State park and hope to get back there again soon. They have so many trails to hike on and a nice beach for the kids. Area to bike, Liam and Rick had a great time biking around the campgrounds. And trout fishing right in the park.  It is less then 3 hours for all of us to get there and that is a big plus.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Sharon

Chief White Crane Recreation Area......

                              Rick practicing for the NFAA National Field Tournament.

Thursday we took off for Yankton SD so Rick could shoot the National Field Tournament. We decided to make it a camping trip so I booked us a site at the Chief White Crane Recreation Area. It is always hard to book a site when you never been there before. I did a little research and then just picked a site and hope for the best.
I am very happy to say that the campgrounds was great! The camp sites were huge. We were right next to the lake so we had a wonderful view. I was a little worried about how noisy it would be because it is a huge campgrounds but it was not noisy at all. Everything was so clean and the campground host and state workers came around often.
We were sorry that we did not bring our bikes because they had a very good tail system.

   This was the view from our campsite. The lake has no motors on it rule so it was very quite.

We took the dogs for a walk down to the Missouri River and Dexter jumped right in. He was hot so he decided he was just going lie in it. I need to take him swimming more!

On our way to the campgrounds we saw all these boats right below the dam. I guess they were bow fishing for paddle fish. I hear it is big deal in SD

                                                       Another view of our site

We had perfect weather all weekend. We had just a few sprinkles on Saturday night but by Sunday morning the clouds moved out and and sun returned. 

On Saturday evening the clouds were coming in at sunset when the beam of light broke though the clouds. It made for a beautiful picture.

Rick had lots of fun shooting. They do not have the scores up yet so I cannot tell you  how he did but he figures he is in about 7th-8th place.

I had a wonderful relaxing trip. I did some reading, walked the dogs, and even went for a 4 mile run. Well more like a run/walk. It was hard to leave on Sunday.

Good thing we are going camping again this weekend!

Later Sharon 

Eli Day....

On Wednesday Christa decided she was going to have a garage sale Thursday, Friday and Saturday since it was city wide garage sales and Truman Days. Amy went down to help on Thursday and since she was going to have to bring all three of her children with her I volunteered to watch Eli. I never get to have just Eli so we had lots of fun. In the morning we went to Fleet Farm. He was so good. I saw that they had some little boy shirts on clearance  so I went to look at them. Eli got all excited because they had big trucks and tractors on them. He got even more excited when I told him I would buy one for him. He wanted to put it on right there but I told him he had to wait until I bought it. Once we got to the check out he once again wanted to put it on. I told him he had to wait again. So when we finally got to the car he could not get out of his shirt fast enough. He was very happy to have his new shirt on. He is just too cute :)

Rick stopped home between jobs and Eli got to help him get the mud ready for the next job. He was a big help. Rick even had him helping unload his truck.

 
After Grandpa Rick left Eli was playing in the sand box when he told me he was bored! It was so funny. I'm sure he does not even know what it means to be bored. I think he has been hearing his big brother say it and thought he should say it too.

Since he was so bored we went in the house and played with play dough. He did not even make much of mess. I have decided watching one grandchild at a time is the way to go :)

Grandpa Rick made it home again before Eli left so he asked him if he want to shoot bow and arrow. He did very good for a 3 year old! Rick was impressed with how fast he picked it up.

                                 He even figured out how to put the arrow on the string.

 After a couple of time with Ricks help he was able to pull the string back all by himself! The string was a little long for him because it is set up for Liam but he still managed to pull it back and release the arrow. He was so cute after it would hit the target he would get all excited and run and get the arrow. I think we have a new archer in the family!

Later Sharon

Ready For It To Rain.......

 I finally got my rain jacket made! I got the fabric this spring and never had time to get it made until this past week. I figure now that I got it made we will not get any rain for a long time :)

 I still have to get the button and button holes done. I have to get some buttons bought so I know what size to make the button holes. I have never sewn with laminate fabric before, it made for a lot of extra steps. Since you cannot iron it every seam had to be sewn down. It was also lined so you basically make it twice and then sew it together.

                                           Here is a view of the back and the hood.

                                     It is a very fitted jacket so lots of darts in it.

                                 It even had pockets with a pleat in them.

I think it turned out very cute and fun. I will be styling when it rains out now.

Sharon

The Killing.....

Cassie made me watch the show The Killing. It is such a good show Rick and I could not stop watching it. We have manged to watch three seasons in a little over two weeks. Now we have to wait until August first for the last season to come out on Netflix.

In the show they are in a graveyard several times and in that graveyard are the most beautiful gravestones. They had one like the gravestone above. They are so sad yet so beautiful at the same time.

So now looking at these gravestones has fueled my obsession with graveyards and statues of angles. They make me want to know the story of the the person that is buried there and the people that loved them.

I told Rick that since I am not going to buried I should have a statue of an angle now for the yard so I can enjoy it. He did not think that was a good idea for some reason.

Back to the show. If you love a good mystery it is the show for you. And it is only four season so it make for good binge watching. 

Happy Tuesday
Sharon

Beautiful......

Great song with a great message!



Have a great day and remember you are beautiful!



Sharon

Selfie Fail...

On Sunday after the parade when Cassie, Amy and I walked down to the river we all decided we needed to take a selfie with the Grain Belt sign. My first attempt I was talking to myself trying to get the sign and me in the picture when I took it.

Second attempt is no better. As you can tell it was a bit windy so my hair is really looking good.

Third attempt my head is covering up half the sign and I look like I am two inches from the camera. My arms are just to short! 

Forth attempt I took my glasses off...makes since....can't see a thing so I am squinting and have my hand in front of the camera when I take the picture.

So I look over at Cassie and Amy who are also taking selfie's and ask them why don't we just give our phones to each other and have the other person take the picture. We were all giggling pretty good by then. Finally Cassie stopped laughing and took a picture of me.

So I have decided that I cannot take a good selfie, I am a selfie failure.  But the girls and I got a good laugh at all the bad pictures I took of myself....

Have a Happy 4th Of July!
Sharon