Park Play!

VBS

Last week was VBS at our church!  I volunteered to be a guide for Clara's class!  VBS is for kindie and up, but since I was a volunteer, VBS is provided for younger kids too, so Nora and Lila got to participate!  It was so fun!!  I really enjoyed it and so did the girls.  The last day was Friday and Friday night was Family Night where the children got to perform three songs they had been working on.  Lila's class did not participate (they are a bit young) but Clara and Nora sang!!

Can you find them?

Happy Father's Day!!!

Once home and recovered from the rattlesnake incident, we unpacked the camper.  Brian deserved a lot of love, plus a steak and a couple of beers.  We headed for Outback where he got all three!

Muddy Meredith

Camping trip number one...and it was muddy and windy!  The girls did not seem to mind the mud! Nothing much can stop them.  They had fun on the jet skis, playing with bugs and riding on the boat.

When we got to the lake on Thursday afternoon, we had a rain storm...then an awesome rainbow!

Friday and we are ready to hit the beach!

Saturday was a lot like Friday, playing!

I was not kidding about the mud

Afternoon cousin fun!  Snack and craft time!

Nora ran around with my camera...she got some really good pics!!

After a lot of fun all weekend and a bit of drama on Saturday morning it was time to go home on Sunday.  We are always the last to leave.  We have a pop-up and I like to clean it up so we don't have to open it again at home to clean.  After I clean it, I have the girls eat lunch outside while Brian gets the camper down and finishes packing us up.  Brian went to slide the bed of the camper in and looked at the ground and right under by his foot was a rattlesnake!!!   I got the girls in the 4-runner while Brian went to get a huge rock.  He tossed the rock on the snake and pinned it's back half.  The thing tried to strike at Brian.  Then he had to get a pole and move the rock to keep it from striking.  He went to get a second rock the finish it off.  It was the longest five minutes of my whole life.  We couldn't get out of there fast enough.  Thinking we won't be camping at Meredith again!

We like to bounce!

Yeah!  We promised the girls a moving prize last year.  After trying to decide what we wanted and where to put it, we decided on a trampoline!!  Our friend, Andy came over to help Brian and I set it up!  It was an instant hit!!  

All the kids, included Anna, are enjoying!

Yep, we jump on it everyday!!

Look close...mama robin is nesting 3 perfectly blue eggs in our backyard of all places!

Before and After

Before:

Never loved the Xeriscape.  Some yards it looks great, but ours did not.  That is a lot of junipers and a lot of rock.  The middle patch in the yard was just ground cover and some plants.   

After:

Yeah!  We have grass, bushes and couple of flower beds.  We also added a stamped concrete boarder on either side on the drive!  We love it!

Arkansas!

I am always amazed that we drive to Arkansas each summer and even more amazed at how well the girls do in the car for that long!  We leave Denver and stay in Tulsa, which takes about 12 hours with stops.  This year I packed breakfast and lunch to eat on the road and we only stopped for gas and potty breaks!  From Tulsa to Little Rock, it is about 4 hours, so we got into town around noon on Friday.  We met up with Brian's parents and Granny.  From lunch we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a dip in the pool. Little Rock was having a "cold" spell, so the weather felt more like Denver and the pool was really cold.  Didn't stop Clara and Nora! (Lila was enjoying a snooze!)

We bit the bullet and had a real DVD player installed.  IT. WAS. AMAZING. The girls could all see and hear and they loved it!  I even sat by Clara in the back and enjoyed also.  You can see we are watching the camping video from 2011!  

On Saturday we headed to the Little Rock Zoo with all the family.  It was fun and the kids all enjoyed the animals!  It wasn't even crazy hot, so we picked the best day to go!  After the zoo, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house...you'll never guess what the girls wanted to do!  Back in the pool!

Cousins!

Lila was worn out and this girls can sleep anywhere!

The kiddos!

Taking a ride on the train!

Coby insisted on holding Clara's hand!  

The merry-go-round!

On Sunday, we relaxed a bit in the morning and then headed to visit with some family.  Brian's grandfather, Casey, and his wife, Virginia, live near Brian's Aunt Pat and Uncle David.  Brian's cousin Toni, her husband Brian and their family also came to say hello!  It was so nice to see everyone!!  From there we headed to the Traveler's game, Little Rock's baseball farm team.  Ice cream and cotton candy made the game a hit with the girls! 

We hung out on Monday, with a low key day and a big storm.  That night, everyone came over for dinner and then said our goodbyes.  We did the usual last pictures.  It was a nice trip!

Proof I was there...Scott's girlfriend was thoughtful enough to offer to take a picture of me in it!  

The guys

The gals