Here, There, Everywhere!

I am still here... well, not really, 'here' per se. This photo is in Saint Louis at the Mississippi River in July looking across towards Illinois. (They might have had a bit of water in that there river!)

While I AM still here around the internet, I am feeling a bit like this statue! Drowning... Swinging my hat around in the air to get someone's attention. Anyone's attention really! I'm drowning here in all this fun!

This week we are outside of Kansas City in Lawrence, KS at the Jellystone Park. Fun abounds. The treekids are thinking they hit the jackpot! Activities are scheduled for every hour on the hour from 9am to 12pm and then again from 4pm to 8pm. Sheesh! This just might be too much fun for me! I don't know if I will get out of this raging river of fun often enough to check in much, load pictures, write about the pictures or the like. But, toss me a life line here - leave me some comments letting me know what you are up to so I don't feel like I am waving my hat to no avail!

10,000 +++ Points

Well, the photos were from our trip to St. Louis - back when my blogging was spotty at best!

Here, Bump is checking out the view from 630 FT in the air!
What was his view? A bloated Mississippi River. Hard to believe, now. We have been in these dry and drought stricken areas in Kansas and Oklahoma and can hardly believe how much water is just barely out of reach for these dry areas...THE obligatory kid pose for mom. Can you tell who would rather be looking out the window instead of at my camera?? Yea, no points for that one. It was too easy!And... yes, GO CARDS, Chad!!! I did get the view on that side, too!Look at those teeny tiny windows up there... hard to believe they are actually the size of about 4 of Bump's head!! A good guess by both Jessica and Kim... we are in Oklahoma right now. We visit many museums... and Friday, while you were guessing, we WERE at the Science Museum in OKC - AND, I totally understand where that guess came from! I'll post our pic by the outside of that museum soon. JR was being very very tricky with his digital sleuthing... I figured that people might have known about the little cars/elevator/ferris wheel ride that you must go in to get to the top, and the shiny metal exterior, BUT I didn't really know that there was a whole Museum of Westward Expansion underground! WOW - Wow - wow!! What a treat for our little trip!
The 10,000 points go to CHAD!A 1,000,000 point consolation prize goes to J.R. for being too computer savvy for his own good.Jessica and Kim - not many entries... I will send a ~little~ something your way too! Thanks for playing along!!!
Everyone email me [afamilytreehouse {at} me {dot} com] your shipping address. Expect something to arrive after a little while - we are packing up and heading out tomorrow morning and will be galavanting around Kansas a bit!!

What is Your Guess??

We are headed out for some more fun, but while we are galavanting, will you guess?? Where are we (in the photos)?!?!

Leave a comment (Jump in the leaves) with your guess before Sunday, Aug 21st, 9 pm Central Time - comment moderation is "on" so your comments will not appear. I will select a winner from any correct guesses!!

What do you win?? Well, Pops says, "10,000 points" a la Drew Carey's Whose Line Is It Anyway? "Where everything's made up and the points don't matter." These points can be used virtually anywhere and practically nowhere.

I, on the other hand, will dream up a lovely prize for the winner. No fancy Kitchen Aid mixers, No Elvis boots, No baking sessions in the trailer... just a little treat for playing along!

Maybe some lovely Charming Charlie's bling - or maybe not. Maybe a book, or maybe a bookmark, or maybe a bag of tricks or treats. I just don't know!

But, your 10,000 points will go further than virtually anywhere and practically nowhere!! :) With your guess of our location, toss out an idea or two for great prizes to win!!

Good luck!!

Rewind

I was going through some old pictures (I say "old" - tongue in cheek... they are 2 months old!!) and found these little beauties and couldn't let them go without sharing!!

When we visited my folks back in June, my mom hosted a fancy little tea party for my girls and the neighbor girls. They all seemed to love it. I think my girls liked the getting ready more than anything!

We scoured a couple thrift stores for some fancy dresses to alter a bit for the girls. There was actually very little altering necessary! Cheap and Pretty!

Then off to Charming Charlie's AND Geemah's closet for accessories and shoes!

I stood by with lip color, blush, eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara... NO, they do not usually wear this much make-up!!

Geemah gave manicures and pedicures and turned hair into soft, shiny locks with a blow dryer.

The girls loved being glamorous for the day. It was a sad, sad moment when I said, "Time to wash your faces." What a buzzkill I am!!

YIKES! I can't believe how grown up these babies are!!!

Sign Me UP!

Last Friday we took the kids to a PBR event in Tulsa. Lots of hoopla and hype. Fire and Firecracker... Smoke and Lights. Fun! (Out of the 322 photos I took... here are 12! No charge for weeding out all the blur, people walking in front of me, wrong side of the cowboy entertainment, etc... etc... etc... Perhaps I'll share more of them later, we'll see!)

Here we have Silvano Alvez, the current number one in the Built Ford Tough Series. He made the 8 second whistle on this bull, named Priceless.

I love this one... check out the ladies in the stands... on the left - she's a hollerin' and hidin' behind her strong burly man. On the right, stonewall face leaning in to her man. Lady on the fence clapping and man on the fence on the left - checking to make sure the cowboy is making all the right moves (I think he is the judge!). And that bullfighter on the left - he is just BEGGING for trouble isn't he?

Oh, yes he is! You KNEW he was...

And making it difficult for a fancy dismount... Priceless brushes the cowboy off into the chute gate. And if you know the answer to THIS question... who is that cowboy on the left trying to skewer... the bull or the bullrider?!!?!! YIKES!

Speaking of fancy dismounts... this guy took the cake on my camera (a bit of an early dismount... at only a few seconds out of the chute...).

After that great burst out of the chute he slipped back towards the rump of that big ol' bull and POP! Up in the air he went...

The bull kept bucking and...

the cowboy hit the ground rolling away! He ran to safety and was just fine.

It is so much fun to go to bull riding events! This time, Bud (who would always rather read a book than attend any kind of rodeo event) said, "WOW! That was the coolest rodeo I have ever been to. I would do that again. Sign me UP!"

I am crossing my fingers!!

Fun For All

We are having a great time here in Oklahoma! This weekend, we met some "neighbors" that are here for a while... a full-timing family with four kids and a dog in tow! Bud is in "boy heaven" with their three boys - 9, 10 & 12! Branch and Blossom are enamored with their 15 year old daughter, who luckily pays them a little bit of attention!! Bark likes how their yellow lab smells, I think. I am not sure about wet dog smell... but that is one crazy swimming dog! She will swim and swim to get a tennis ball over and over and over. She even will be swimming around and catch a ball, tossed her way. Crazy... amazing! Easily impressed dog owner? I dunno... it was pretty spectacular, though!! But, enough about the dog - what about swimming and where, anyway!!

Yesterday, we all headed over to Lake Carl Blackwell for a bit of fun. Of course the kids all wanted to be wet and in the water, so much for the game I brought to play...

I am aching to know the plan these girls appear to be hatching...

The family that we met had a lovely little kayak - and after watching many of their family members working the craft, Bud wanted to give it a try. So, they cheerfully offered him a try!

Up and in he went and a few instructions about holding the oar...

how to move his feet to steer with the skeg...

and he was OFF!!

Bud appeared to catch on fast and really enjoy himself.

What do you think? At each pass of the others in the water he seemed to be braver and venturing further!

It was good for him and I am thrilled he got to try it out! (Who needs summer camp anyway!?!!)

The girls kept working at swimming while big brother was working on kayaking... I loved this sequence and just HAVE to share!

Goggles On.

Deep Breath. (Pinch Nose, if needed!)

Puff Out Cheeks and...

GO... Go... go...

Uh, UNDER!!!

yes, the surface of the water - get your WHOLE self in for the hokey pokey!!

Or, not.

Just psych mom out so she takes pictures of you going in for the big mermaid dive.

OH, well! Fun anyway and they were wanting a little turn in the kayak, too!

Both girls had a chance to climb inside and be pulled around a bit. No turning them loose alone, yet! I think their smiles say that it doesn't matter how they got around in the kayak so long as they got to have a turn!

Bump enjoyed the lake, too. He took his new "ish pool" down to the shore and cast and reeled in a few times. No worries about his lure... it is a nice looks like everyone else's, let's not pitch a fit, we'll remove the hooks from it style. Swimmers are safe!!

Pops says that maybe fly-fishing will be in his future with all the casting and little reeling!

So long as he gets to hold his own Cars pole, he doesn't mind that nothing comes back in on a hook.

He tries to reel it all in every now and then...

But, Bump just really likes to toss the line out over and over and over!

I enjoyed the breeze, a book and a chair on the lawn and when the other parents joined me we all enjoyed some great visiting time while the kids turned into little prune skinned guppies! We picked up and left our little slice of paradise with this view...

What a GREAT evening!!!