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!

Christmas Eve Night and Christmas Day 2011

Here is the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve night after the girls had gone to bed. Their treasure hunt riddles are in the tree (to find bicycles) and gifts on the floor along with the manger and Baby Jesus, the greatest gift of Christmas.

The stockings were hung on the doorway with care...

The girls on Christmas morning with Baby Jesus and their new homemade night gowns.

Leah loves Nutcrackers and was really hoping that she would get this gift.

Mary Ellen loves copy paper and is always wanting our paper out of the printer. So now, she has her own white paper to color on. She was soooo excited!

Leah loves astronauts and space stuff. She asked for a rocket and an astronaut to go inside. We were excited when we found one for her.

Lexie with her requested Littlest Pet Shop toy.

Hmmm..... wonder who those hoodies came from?

Molly got a Minnie Mouse hat and some bubble bath which she will love later.

Harold got a new back pack to carry his books next semester. Or at least that was our intention anyway!

Preciousness...

More preciousness.... Molly ready for church.

Leah ready for church with her new shirt. It says, "Ribbons and bow and camo clothes, that's what little girls are made of."

Harold and I were trying to take a pic of ourselves with the timer and this is how it turned out. We laughed and laughed and laughed because he looks like a giant.

Greg came to the rescue and took this one... lots better!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We had a great day of celebration not because of gifts, yummy food, warm home..... but because we have room in our hearts for Baby Jesus! We hope hope you do too!

Christmas 2011

We hope that you each have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy spending time with your families. We are praying and asking God for creative ways to make Christmas more and more about Jesus this year. Hopefully over the school break, I can get caught up on our blog... stay tuned!

Merry Christmas from Greg, Sara, Lexie, Leah, Mary Ellen and Molly

Fall Family Vacation - Day 1

Recently we had our first "family" vacation. We usually spend Greg's vacation time in Monticello, Kentucky. However, this time we decided to do something w/ just the 6 of us. So....

On the first day, we went to a near-by Missouri State Park called Ha-Ha Tonka. It is basically the old homeplace of a very rich man who was trying to build a castle. Near the castle's completion it was burned, leaving some amazing castle ruins for families to tour decades later!

Our picnic lunch was one of the best parts of the day. We enjoyed many picnics that week. It just doesn't get much better than a blanket-picnic-lunch w/ nice fall weather.

There was an amazing natural bridge where we enjoyed cooling off after we ALL walked a VERY LONG hiking trail w/ 300+ steps each way... yep! 300+ down the path and 300+ back UP the path. Greg and I took turns carrying the girls. Whew! We were exhausted! But we made some great memories!

After the park, we went to Culver's Restaurant for some butter-burgers and their amazing crinkle-cut fries. And after that, the girls were fast asleep!