Our latest trip to the Ozark foothills

Here's a firt. We went to our vacation home in Cherokee Village, AR and stayed the entire time in it! We didn't have to take advantage of my brother's place while we are working on ours. Another first is we had a guest! Alyssa invited her friend, Haley, to spend the time with us. Everyday I tried to have something for the girls to do. On Sunday we stopped at the falls in the city center of Cherokee Village. Not a lot of water falling right now, but the girls enjoyed checking it out.

Everywere Alyssa goes she can make a Titanic moment out of it.

After having fun taking pictures at the Falls we went to Griffin Park and the girls went on a horse ride. Haley's horse's name was Hiram and Alyssa's was No-Ears.

After a ride of abour 40 minutes, the girls were back. They had some stories about the horses being horses that I won't discuss here, but a typical complaint they expressed was sore butts. Alyssa was also jealous of the name of the horse in back of her being Ozzy. Apparently that's really cool.

Monday we went to downtown Hardy (try to control your laughing at calling it "downtown") and did a little shopping. Alyssa had been looking for a "dream catcher" to match her bedroom in Arakansas. The last time we were there the Native American shop was closed. This time it was open so we stopped in. The door greeter wasn't doing her job that day, so we had to go to her. Cheyenne is a little sweetie, just a little slow.

Tuesday we went to a natural wonder called Grand Gulf State Park in Mossouri. It's nickname is the Little Grand Canyon. I don't think I'd go that far, but it was fun to explore. To the bottom of the crevice is 70'. To get there you have to take 119 steps. There was a nice breeze blowing at the top, but nothing at the bottom. That equals HOT. No complaining by Alyssa - yeah right. She is NOT on my list of traveling partners. Nope, doesn't even make the list.

We did make it to the bottom, but we didn't stay long.

I think it might have been getting to be a long day. I had to stop the girls from throwing Don over the edge.

After the Grand Canyon we went to Mammouth Springs, AR. We went there last time we were in Arkansas, but thought Haley would enjoy seeing it.

A new tradition is to feed the ducks while we're there. That is the most important thing for Alyssa, actually. We had to plead with her to get her to go see the rest.

The spring has a couple of muskrat inhabitants. If you think of them as otters they are a lot more cute.

We got the flooring in! Huge in my book. Trying to sweep the OSB clean is next to impossible. Plus, it looks great. We are getting it that much closer to complete.

As you can see below, we also have a refrigerator now (way to the right in the pic)!!! No more daily runs to get ice for the cooler. I made and hung the curtains and got some decorations up on the walls. The chairs for the table were reupholstered in blue denim. Adds a little color and is more durable - definitly need durable.

Thursday we headed back. We stopped in St. Louis and went up into the Arch. Haley was never there. Just over a year ago we were there. Little did I know I would be passing the Arch SEVERAL times since then to our new place in Arkansas!

What did we see at the top of the Arch? The Cardinals stadium for one.

And the paddleboats and barges for another.

Hopefully everyone had fun. We got a lot of work done again,too. Our next trip is sceduled with Mom and Brian in November. The leaves will be coming down then and we'll be able to see more of the foothills. Then only a month later we'll be down at Christmas. Eric requested I post the pics from our lastest trip asap (preferably while we were down there) so here they are. We only went to one place that had free Wi-FI so I didn't post earlier. Thanks for looking, Jill

Wineless at a winery

The weather Saturday night was beautiful. We went to my brother Eric's and helped him pick up rocks with the the bonus of getting to drive the Skidsteer around! I think I did pretty well! After we went to Parallel 44 Winery for a free concert. It was a jazz band called "The Salernos". The sound system could have been a lot lounder, but what we could hear was very nice.

The winery set up a tent with a variety of wines for people to purchase.

The vineyards are gorgeous. Don and Eric took a self-guided tour.

And here are Don, Eric, Lys, Mom, and Aunt Kay enjoying the music.

Too bad it was the last concert of the summer. I would definely go again. Jill

And fun was had by all!

I have some really tallented nephews. On top of that, they are some real sweethearts. I was invited to their last baseball game of the season. A championship game, and they won! Couldn't happen to a nicer couple of guys!

I think Lys should spend more time working on her photography skills. She caught this picture of a hummingbird on our trumpet vine in the rain. Very cool. The vine is messy when it loses it blooms, but so worth it to see the hummingbirds and how happy the blooms look, even in the rain!

This past weekend we went to our place in Athelstane. We hadn't been there in months. Rolling up to the camper we saw what a jungle it had become.

Pay-up time . . . . .

Saturday we had an AWESOME time on the 4-wheelers. We stopped at McClintock Park for a breather.

Sine we had boots on, Don and Lys checked out the river.

Lys is also infamous for her ability to catch all manner of wildlife. We had seen some small schools of fish while we were walking along the bank which must have given her the idea to catch something. She eventually cornered this little guy. Don't worry, no crayfish were harmed in the catching of this river life. She let him go a little bit later.

On the road again . . . .

This morning Don and Lys went fishing. It was apparently a successful venture. They count who catches the most fish. Doesn't matter how big the fish is. Just has to be a fish. Lys won.

Very fun weekend. Only two weeks till we're off to Arkansas! In between we have Alyssa's birthday party and going to Parallel 44 for a free concert with my brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Michele. Jill

Look what I found!

I went out to the backyard to take a picture of the pumpkin patch because its looking so good. On the way I noticed how big the grapes are getting. So I thought I'd take a picture so I could brag a little. They were supposed to be seedless, but never trust the tag in the pot apparently.

Then I noticed that I have some cherry tomatoes that are just about ready for Mellie to fight me for them.

As long as I was in the front garden I thought I'd checkout the cucumbers. I haven't tried cucumbers in the front garden because they are vines and I thought they would get out of hand. I was right. However, I was very surprised to find these huge examples! I thought I might find some tiny little ones just starting. Surprise!

I finally got to the pumpkin patch. As you can see, I was running the sprinkler. Pumpkins are thirsty and we want them to be as big as possible for my nephews who worked hard planting all those seeds. I think the patch is coming along great!

Then back up to house where I was once again pulled toward the front garden. Mellie was staring at the fence at the green beans. How could I deny her one of her biggest pleasures of summer? She LOVES green beans.

And two rows over are the peas. I might as well let you see everything that's ready or almost ready to pick.

Well, that's it. Things are growing and it won't be long till it's time to harvest! Jill

Yet another trip

Back from another week in Cherokee Village, Arkansas. We were there for a week and got a ton of stuff done again. Our place has an old air conditioner. I am happy to report that it works because every day the temps were over 100 degrees. Here in Manitowoc we heard the temps were almost as high. I think we chose the best week to go because the humidity is really low where we were and there were NO MOSQUITOS!. We watched the fireworks on the 4th and I didn't get a single mosquito bite - that was a first.

We also did a little recreation this time. We took a morning and went to Mammouth Spring.

It is a state park and it is really nice. Alyssa always likes to visit the gift shops wherever we go, but she also enjoyed feeding the ducks and pigeons.

Like I said, we got a lot done. More than we thought was going to be possible to be accomplished, in fact. We brought down the kitchen cabinets with the intentions of just getting them there so that we wouldn't have to pull a trailor again. However, Don got them installed! They don't have the crown molding on them or the other trim, but close enough that I got all the dishes and other necessities in them! We were even able to measure for the countertops.

Don's and my bedroom has all the furniture in in. We brought down our bed from here which is a full size. I've been wanting a bigger bed for years and full size bedding is getting harder and harder to find. Soooooooo, we got a new set for here and its a queen size! It's a firm mattress to boot! Mom made the awesome quilt on top. There is also a smaller matching quilt that I plan to hang up on the wall opposite the bed. The blue and yellow theme is so happy feeling.

Talking about quilts made by Mom, she also made the ones in Alyssa's room. They turned out so nice and Alyssa loves the black and white theme. Purple is the accent color. A very fun room for our teenager.

Not all of the trim is complete, but we also have all of the living room furniture in. I need to get some pillows and a rug to get the color theme going. But I'm just so happy that the main pieces are in place.

Got the mirror hung in the bathroom. That really opens it up and makes it feel bigger. The electricity for the exhaust fan and the caulking is done. I made the shower curtain out of a blue and natural colored toile. I think it turned out pretty good.

And do you remember my post about the little upholstered foot stools I recovered? Well, here they are under a console table I found on target.com. They look great in their new home. Need to get some pictures and what-not on the walls, but it's really coming along.

Looking forward to our next trip down. It will be a lot more relaxing because there isn't much left to do on the inside to complete it. While there we did get some bad news. Our neighbor and self-proclaimed neighborhood watch leader, Smitty, passed away. She apparently had cancer which she hadn't told us about. In May she had surgury and never came out of it. She will be missed by us. She was unique and was our very first welcoming committee when we arrived. In the next couple of weeks we will be going up to Athelstane to our camper. Alyssa LOVES to go fishing with Don up there. I go along to take pictures. According to Alyssa that is my job. We are also having another game night. Eric is looking forward to it I'm sure (notice how I got your name in there, Eric?). My pumpkin garden is going great guns. Hope to get a picture on here of that soon. Hope your summer is going well! Jill

Last school dance as a 9th Grader

Last Friday Alyssa went to Wilson's last dance for the 2011-12 school year. It was a very special evening for her, so we got a gorgeous dress for her a couple of weeks ago and some silver sandals. She looked absolutely beautiful! She went with her good friend Hailey. They call themselves twins. Other than blonde hair and cat-eye make-up, I don't see it. But they think it's fun and that's all that matters. Hailey's boyfriend got to be sandwiched between the twins. What a lucky guy! Saturday I did my annual walking of the Bellin Run Race. I didn't beat last year's time, but it was REALLY hot and I got a blister on the heel of my right foot (first time for a blister in the at least six times I've walked it). I'm blaming that . . . . That's my story and I'm sticking to it! And finally, ERIC He won't make any comments on the post unless his name is in the entry. Whatever makes him a happy camper. . . . . Hope you are enjoying your summer, Jill