Sunday, October 28, 2012

Lake DeGray Activities

Welcome to the SEC.

We have heard that ALOT this weekend. Of course, mainly by the LSU people who like anyone that LSU outscores.

Our other activities over the past couple of days have been walks and a boat ride with the park rangers.



First, we went with Jason on a walk that explored the history of the land. Barry and I were his only two guests.



We all went with Jason on the Owl Hike that evening, but no owls. That could have been because of the twenty other people along or because there were no owls around.


Yesterday morning, we headed out on a boat ride on the lake with newbie ranger, David.



The Bald Eagles were abundant.



The other tourist on the boat were hilarious. They were from India, but here working for Walmart Corporation. For some reason they wanted to take photographs of each other the whole time. This guy would strike his best modeling pose to be photographed the whole cruise.



But I must say he was photogenic.

Then there was some golf, kayaking, fishing, and a lot of eating to finish the day.



Nap anyone?



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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Boys and their Toys

"That is not good."

Those are not words you want to hear first thing in the morning. Barry and Jerry were checking out something under the trailer where the holding tanks are located. There was some kind of problem, but it wasn't major.

Then, I found Barry doing this.



Then he was doing this.



So, I got Kathy, Bingo, Magic, and Ollie, and we went for a long walk.

When we returned Barry and Jerry drove by with this.







They seem so happy when taking things apart or transporting grey water.



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Friday, October 26, 2012

The Deluge




Yesterday, we spent time exploring the park.






Well, if you don't count the run to Walmart in Hot Springs for a few items.

We also found a little roadside vegetable stand close by.
They sell double yolk eggs, and Barry is still trying to figure out why the hens lay double yolk eggs. The ladies that were working the stand couldn't really answer any of our questions. For example "black apples" were listed on their sign, and yet they didn't really know what people did with the black apples. Do you just eat them, bake them, or feed them to your horse? If you know let me know. ( plus they don't look black.) I am a bad photo blogger because I didn't take any photos. I had a stomach ache and was being whiney.

After lunch, Barry and Jerry decided to kayak. Unfortunately, the did not get far before it started raining.



It rained off and on the rest of the evening, but Barry was still able to cook some hamburgers for us.

After dinner, the storm hit. It rained all night and made for some good camping weather in a nice, comfy trailer. I don't think it would have been a good evening to be in a tent. Plus, I think the snakes may have been taken by surprise by the cold snap. Jerry and Kathy saw two yesterday ( or maybe the same one twice) around their campsite.

I know this is riveting, but once all the prep work is done camping is pretty relaxing.




The cool snap should reach Texas soon. Enjoy.







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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Maiden Voyage




At o'dark this morning, we hooked up the new trailer for its maiden voyage. We hit the road for Arkansas after a week of supplying and packing the trailer.

Around 9:30, we met Jerry and Kathy in Mount Pleasant for breakfast. Bless their hearts, since they live in Houston, they left at really early 0'dark. We and about 1/4 the population of Mount Pleasant had breakfast at IHop. Apparently, it is the place to be on Wednesday morning.

Our destination was DeGray State Park in Arkansas.

Bingo being the seasoned traveler took it easy on the trip.



Magic felt the need to be Barry's navigator.






Barry and I practiced our team trailer backing and with Jerry's help got the trailer on the itty bitty pad. The park is really nice, and we are looking forward to camping in the new trailer.







Hopefully some more leaves will be changing with the impending cool nights.

Right now we are just settling in and enjoying our first evening.






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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Family Fun Continues

Saturday morning, Ben had a soccer game, so we all met at the field.



Joanie multi-tasked by watching Ben and Cora.


Brett helped the coach by instructing the defense. You can see it was an intensive assignment.


As you may have noticed from earlier photographs, Lucy enjoyed being with her "Poppy." 


Scarlett and Ava tried to avoid the paparazzi. 



All the while, Ben was busy playing his game.






It was a fun weekend full of family. 


It had been three months since we were together. Of course, we missed Shannon & Jacob-who were out of town, but we made sure their respective children had fun.   


The End


Monday, October 15, 2012

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

Jacob had plans this past weekend, so Joanie and the girls decided to come to our house. Joanie wanted to take them to the Texas State Fair. This was always an annual outing for us and our kids.

So, Friday morning, we followed the OU and Texas buses into the Cotton Bowl. Actually, we had to stop in the parking lot.


Our first stop was the Gone to the Dogs Show. After all these years, you would think that the producers of that show would know that we cannot understand a word the guy is saying about the dogs. Let's do something about that sound system Fair officials!

"HuH?


Next the girls needed to tend to the farm chores.

There was milking to be done.


Planting...

 Harvesting...


and taking the crops to market.



As a reward for their hard work, we let them go to the Petting Zoo.



Nothing says cute little animals to pet like a buffalo, right Ava?


Lucy had no problem feeding her cow.


Bye, little goat. We're off to the rides.


First Jumping Jumbo- not to be confused with Dumbo or the jumping dogs. 


Next the motorcycles. Ava's smile tells me this was more fun than Jumping Jumbo.


 Look at this smile! And he didn't even get to ride the motorcycles.


Our visit would not be complete without visiting the World of Birds Show.
Fishing Eagle

 Ava found this young man, but she just knew something was wrong with that shirt he was wearing.

"Shouldn't those horns be upside down?"

Then it was off to the Auto Show. Sitting in the cars was the most fun at all. 




Well, gymnastics with mom was pretty fun too.


The day with a four year old and a twenty month old went by very fast, and it was all about them. So on the way back to the car there was just enough time for a ride on the Texas Star.




Then a little nap on the way to the car. 


And guess who came by for a visit after we got home?



This is a grand kid picture overload, I know. There may be a few more in the next day or so. Family get-togethers call for a lot of photos.