Memorial Day Camping Trip

Let me start off by saying YES...you are about to be subjected to a TON of pictures :) But it is SOOO hard for me to pick and choose what I post. And trust me there are 3x more pictures for me to post...but I haven't got that kind of time to wait on blogger to upload them :) Besides, I think pictures tell the BEST stories!!

For Memorial Day we went camping at Mineral Wells State Park. My parents also got to come and that was a lot of fun. It did rain the entire time we were there, but that did stop us. Heck we had a week of London just like that PLUS frigid weather to top it off! Friday evening and Saturday we pretty much just lazed around and watched the on and off rain fall. Cut a few ZZZZ's here and there. It was perfect! Sunday we were ready to explore!!! There were 2 main trails they had marked on the map of the park (there were others but they were a bit to primitive and marshy-like due to all the rain). We got to the area where the trail indicated that there'd be rock climbing. We get there and it's gated off because of the all the rain...guess they didn't want to deal with the whole being liable for someone slipping off the cliff and dying...or something silly like that :) Well that didn't stop us...we slipped under the gate and man am I glad we did!! This place was awesome and I recommend that EVERYONE (if given the chance) go check this out! Now we were forewarned that a group of people had seen a copperhead...but we plugged along (we'd already checked it out once earlier in the day and this was actually our second trip cause we really wanted Mom and Dad to see it). Take a look below and you might be able to understand why...and I see now that pictures just don't do it justice.

Jim took this shot just as you come under the gate this is one of the first sights you see. A bit intimidating to peer over the cliff and see how far down this is...possibly 40-50 foot drop. The kids were stressing me out by how close they were getting to the edge!














This shot might help you see the depth. (That's me holding Brayden.)














There were several caves and crevasses and the shots below show just how big some of them where. Mind you that the walls of these caves/crevasses were lined in several places with zillions of daddy long legs!



















































Matt (being the camera ham that he is) wanted Dad to catch him jumping off this rock embedded in the crevasse)...

**I have a great shot below of Jim and the kids in the rocks...dadgum Blogger erased it and I can't get to reinsert correctly**

Ready



















Set














Jump














Land














...promptly plant butt on ground :)














She really wanted me to take a picture of this huge leaf that she'd found, but as you can see...that was not the natural beauty I was wanting to capture!



















My kids were really wanting to climb some rocks. This one was about a 45 degree angle and was pretty tough!



















Nat really didn't have the proper shoes on, but she didn't care...she wanted in on the action!



















She was bound and determined to go higher than Matt did...shoes or no shoes! ...and she did!!














Matt was pleased nonetheless with his achievement :)














Still in the mood for more they decided to move to the next higher set of rocks...














**I have a shot of Natalie crossing the rocks in the blog below. Blogger's being a real pill tonight and I don't know why it keeps deleting my pictures. So, see below....**

Daddy even joined in on the climb, and I got a great shot of my climbers.















As they made their way down I was being beckoned my the little one to witness his rock climb...














He had his sights set on a rock that he wanted scale!














And with a little help from the Pop Pops...he did it!!














My Ladies Man and his Pop Pop! You'll see Grandma in the pink shirt headed up the stairs. I don't think she was too keen on the idea of the copperhead in the rocks :)

















**Again, please see the blog below for a shot of Brayden with his Grandma horsing around with the faucet while we are down below rock climbing**

The caves above Nat's head are first seen as you descend on the stairs that lead to the ravine. We decided to try an alternate way back to the top...


































On the way back to the campsite the kids wanted to walk thru the spillway (which is at the entrance to all the camp areas). With all the rain it was coming over non-stop. The top of the spillway is at eye level as you drive by. It's kinda odd...

You'll notice that Matt's a bit wet...that was NOT by his own doing. Daddy drove by in the suburban and doused him!!!







































This smile says it all.....it was a GREAT time!

..addition to the blog above

100% & A Hair Raising Experience

I got an email from Matt's teacher the other day telling me the most WONDERFUL news. Matthew has scored a 100 on the Taks test. This is the test that every year the kids get all stressed out about. (Stress that's put on them by the schools cause if the kids don't do well the school doesn't get as much $$...or something along those lines.) And Matt WAS stressed of this. She told me to act surprised when Matt told me that afternoon and I said "you bet". As soon as Matt piled into the truck he said "Mom, guess what?... Mrs. Martin pulled me out into the hall to tell me my Taks score today and I was all 'Oh man, did I fail?' And then you know what she told me Mom???? She said I made a 100!!!!!" I of course squeezed the air out of him to show him how proud I was. Then we immediately HAD to call Dad!! We are so proud! Nat made a 100 in 3rd grade also....what a great tradition :)

Now...on to a hair raising experience....really! Last Sunday I asked Jim t got to the trailer and get the griddle so that I could make pancakes. He saw mouse droppings!!! Ugh...I hated that news. So I went to inspect the trailer in hopes that it was just a few mouse "pellets". NOT! It was a mouse party! Nasty, filthy freakin mice have gone everywhere and pooed and pee-ed! All over the stuff I'd washed and put out there...blankets, pots, pans.... So I was gathering up the pots and pans to take them into the house ans wash them. As I was doing this a storm was building just south of us. I'd seen a few lighting strikes but they were a ways off and I wasn't sweating it. I had the trailer door propped open and I was right in the door way leaning over to pick up all the pots to take in. Just as I was picking them up I heard and felt something very eerie.... You know that kinda crackly noise that come right before a SUPER loud boom of thunder? Well I was hearing the very begin of the crackly noise and all the sudden my hair stood UP OFF MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! ........and the BBBOOOOOOOMMM!!! Uh yeah...the storm was right up my butt (figuratively speaking....but not far from reality) and I was standing in a metal trailer, in a metal doorway, on metal steps, holding metal pots and pans. I quickly discarded the pot and pans and hauled a-- into the house! I told Jim what had just happened and he was like "if you'd been struck we'd had no idea! We would have thought you were just messing around in the trailer." Not a great thought! So no more working/playing in the trailer during a lighting storm!! Yowza!

Great Mother's Day and Jim Blogged another great one!

I believe I've contacted everyone who reads this blog already...but again, I hope all you Momma's had a great Mother's Day. I sure did :) ......ate WAY too much...yowza! I think my goal of not being larger at the beach than I was last year is not gonna be met. BUT, I am back on the wagon again starting today so we'll see what I can accomplish between now and June 15th.

Jim has recapped our softball action again, so drop by his blog when you get a chance.

Oh and one more exciting development in our household is...Matt's loosing teeth!! Anyone who might remember a few years ago I sent out Christmas cards of the kids at the beach and if you looked really close Matt's bottom teeth were JACKED! That's because he has serious issues with loose teeth and them coming out. Uncle Bobby had to take out that awful tooth out and ever since then he's thought Bobby needed to be the tooth puller...and that was the only way they could come out. Nat on the other hand was always delighted to find a loose tooth and typically from the time she would tell us she'd found a loose tooth to the time that it came out was usually an hour or less :) Well after Matt's last dentist appt we found out that he has 5 teeth that he needs to loose and if they don't come out it'll cost like $100 a tooth to get them pulled (so permanent funky tooth doesn't happen). So I've been telling to to work on the teeth and wiggle them. He's been telling me "none of them are wiggly"....he's a stubborn one. Well, it finally sank in I think cause last week he came out of his room with a tooth...I was so proud :) The tooth fairy (with encouragement in mind) left him $2. Now I think Matt sees that $2 x 5 = $10...cause last night he came out with another tooth! And I'll gladly see that the tooth fairy pays out $10 opposed to us paying out $500 to the dentist!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great day!

Jim Blogged!!

...nothing more to say than that! It's a great blog and he put a LOT of time into it!! Check it out...

Piano Recital and Spring Concert

As mentioned in an earlier blog, Natalie had her first piano recital this Sunday. She did awesome. She didn't miss a beat. And she told me she wouldn't. "Mom, I know this song like the back of my hand", she told me. And she wasn't kidding. We were very proud. A few tears tried to creep into my eyes, but I fought them off so that I could take pictures :) After the recital her Grandparents gave her flowers and she was delighted! (In the group picture below you may or may not notice, but Brayden got a substantial haircut. Yes I did took him and no I'm not happy!)














Last night we went to her Spring Recital. They played 2 different songs. One of which they just played at the Sandy Lake competition where they received a "1" which was the highest score! They sounded really good and Nat was beautiful...as always :)








And not to leave Matt out...He had a practice for Battle of the Books today and his group got first place! He's really pumped about the upcoming "battle" :)

That's all for now... If you get a chance, leave me a comment. I miss hearing from everyone :(