Day 5 of "Stay-Cation" Fall '11

I've tried uploading some more pics and they are still kind of distorted. I have so many more that I would like to share, oh well.

Friday morning we left Columbia, Missouri and drove to Olathe, Kansas to see my brother Harold at MNU. We had a great time with him and we went to Bass Pro. Shops. The girls love to go there.

#86 is Harold. This was their first game and he was still in the process of getting his eligibility. In future posts I will share pics of him on the field playing! We're really proud of him1

Everywhere we went during our vacation, this little cat went along with Mary Ellen. She didn't want it to miss out on anything! As you can tell!

This is our dream purchase... a Bass Buggy Bass Tracker Pontoon! Maybe one of these days...

And that was day 5 and day 6 of our Fall Family "Stay-Cation." We returned home late Saturday night and attended church on Sunday!

Day 4 of "Stay-Cation" Fall '11

On Day 4 of our family "stay-cation" we drove an hour and a half to Columbia, Missouri in order to go to Stephens Lake Park. It's a very nice park within the city limits of Columbia and has a large man-made lake with park-like attractions around: playground, picnic areas, etc. Beside the beach area of the lake they had a really nice sprinkler system for kids to play in. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect!

Here they are in the shallow beach area of the lake. It may not look like it from these pics, but the water "seemed" really clear and clean for lake water.

We stayed there most of the day and enjoyed the hot sun! Afterwards we drove to a nearby Missouri State Park and Greg took Lexie and Leah on a hike to a cave. Meanwhile, I stayed with Mary Ellen and Molly while they napped. If I remember right, after that, we went to Wendy's for supper and then on to our friend's house, Mark and Teresa West, to spend the night. We sure appreciated their hospitality.

I might add that this day too was very affordable. Stephens Lake Park and the State Park and our lodging were completely free. Praise the Lord for giving us wisdom to take such a vaction! However, we did have the cost of gas and food! Nonetheless, it was an awesome day spent with our family!

Where to next on Day 5? Hmmm..... stay tuned!

Day 3 of "Stay-Cation" Fall '11

On Day 3 of our family stay-cation, we stayed home and my friend Esther Jarrett, who has since passed on to heaven, helped me break and can about 30 quart jars of green beans.

That's it. That's what we did on Day 3. If you know anything about canning, then you completely understand why.

Fall '11 Vacation Day 2

You may remember that back in September we had a "stay-cation" for our family vacation. For 6 days we chose different places around our home to go and visit. On the first day we went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park. You can find that blog post in our archives. Since I've had the extra time over our Christmas break, I thought I would try to catch us up a bit. Here is Day 2 of that "stay-cation." Enjoy!

I have lots and lots of really neat pictures to share, but for some reason, blogger isn't downloading them properly. They come out with lots of distortions. However, it did this just fine.

On our 2nd Day we went to Missouri's State Capital in Jefferson City. And after touring the capital and some surrounding buildings, we had a picnic outside the capital, then went to the mall for some FREE playtime for the girls! This entire day was absolutely FREE, except for our picnic lunch and our gas to Jeff City! Praise the Lord for that!