My First Turkey

   I was looking through last year’s photos and remembered a landmark event I forgot to post on the blog namely the first time I got a turkey:

WAIT, that’s not it!  Look down there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6/3/11

Calm Before the Storm

  For months we’ve been greatly anticipating the upcoming CHEF Conference-as we do every year.  However, this year we know a lot of families that are either coming to the conference for the first time or will be staying at the hotel that’s attached to the convention center.  It’s great to see families that may live some distance away and it’s always fun to learn together.

  We’ve been hustling around this week to prepare for the conference.  We’ll be bringing a bunch of extra food, a few card games (I’ll challenge anyone to a game of Dutch Blitz if they think they’re up for it ) and we’re even going to bring our Keurig coffee machine if anyone would like to try one of the many flavors of coffee.  However, this week has been such a whirlwind that it makes me think, “If this really is the calm before the storm…what will the storm be like?”

  CHEF-MO recently released exciting news about next year’s conference, so I’m already excited about 2013’s conference!

Martial Arts Class

Opening the class in prayer

  Had a great time at martial arts class this morning with our “Sensei” Uncle Jeremy and our cousins.  I also got the news that Benjamin and I will be eligible next week to take the test to get our Orange belts.

Camping at Cuivre River

 

A few weeks ago we packed up the van, loaded the canoe, and headed for a quick one-night camping trip at Cuivre River State Park in Troy, MO.  It was great to get away from the house for a little while and experience the “great outdoors.”  As you can see in the picture, we had the van loaded down with the essentials of summer fun…namely a cooler full of bottled water .

 

  After finding our camping spot and unpacking our stuff we headed to the lake:

(I think Benjamin thought he looked impressive standing in the canoe.)

 

Lydia was one happy camper

   When we got back to our tent we found that the raccoons had gotten in our food and run off with our dinner!

While we had smores…

….Kate made some fried cinnamon apples.

   While we were making food around the campfire you could hear the raccoons in the woods and when we’d search the woods with our flashlights you’d see a few yellow beady eyes peering back at you from a few yards away.

  Before going to bed we made sure to put all of the food and trash inside of the van, but the raccoons still to the camp site and brush by the tent.  They were obviously very used to human campers and were bold enough to get within a few feet of us.  A couple of them got unto the rack on the back of our van (see first picture in post) and tried getting into the water bottles.  They kept us up for a few hours, but we eventually fell asleep. By the way…I do have some of this on video-it was very dark out, so the video look about as smooth as a security camera, but I may post it sometime.

The next morning, after breakfast, we hiked a trail along Cuivre River that took us to Frenchman’s Bluff.

  Most of us walked the trail

Benjamin, inspecting one of the many cedar trees that would grow right on the side of the bluff…

…and showing Mom a fossil he found.

One of the bluffs:

Cuivre River down below

We went swimming and canoeing one more time and explored the lake’s dam before we packed up and headed home:

Hmm…may work well for a new blog banner…

 

Packing up:

Oil Change?

   His skin looks so different in this picture it’s questionable whether Noah changed the oil or the oil changed Noah.

  We had a lot of trouble getting the oil filter off-it took a couple of hours and about 6 people crawled under the car to try and get if off.

Riverdance @ Fox

See if you can find the differences between this photo and the blog header. (There are 3)

  This will be the Riverdance’s last year on tour and last year Kate got us tickets for their performance in St. Louis.  I’d seen the Riverdance at the Fox Theatre when I was …so about years ago!

 

   The seats were great and the performance was fantastic-it’s very amazing that people are able to dance like that.

We tried getting photos inside the theatre, but there wasn’t enough light. It’s decorated in a “Siamese byzantine” theme.

Braces!

Airsoft Fun