It is over

Yes, vacation is over. We have returned to our nest in the North and I was freezing the moment I got off the plane. Complaining aside, it is nice to be back in my own bed and to have our routine back in our days.

Vacation is a funny thing.
We anticipate it with such gusto and enthusiasm. However, we anticipate its end just as much.
We had such a laid back vacation this year, we all feel a bit lazy and have tackled projects around the house with a vengeance. Brad and I have sanded and painted furniture, moved furniture and I am completely unpacked and have but one project left to finish from the things we brought back with us for the house.

Isaak has decided he needed some money and has taken on raking all the rocks out of our yard and dumping them along the side of the driveway (I estimate that he has almost 3/4 of an acre of yard to tend to). He is on day 3 and the size of the task is starting to shake his confidence and challenge his work ethic. But, he trudges on.

We had a few warm and sunny days last week for our return, but now we are looking at 57 degrees, cloudy with sprinkles. Yuck! Crossing my fingers for some more warm weather before I go back to work.

I have decided I am going to revamp my blog this fall. Just have to find someone that can do that sort of thing.

Till then...

St. Louis Day 2

Today we went to the St. Louis Science Center and the Zoo.
Our first stop was this station. Totally fits right?!

Here we are in the natural science lab. Yes, we had to wear lab coats, safety goggles, and gloves. It makes for a realistic experience for the kids. The stations were really set up like a lab. Fun. The kids have been asking alot about DNA this summer and they had a DNA lab. We extracted the DNA from wheat germ! The computer takes you through each step and explains the science behind each step. Really interesting.

Everyone had steps to do. There were test tubes, stir sticks, pipets, scientific fluids to mix with and guided observations. Very well done and so very interesting.

Here is the DNA. See the white stuff floating in the clear liquid area? That is DNA. It was very cool. Each step was described perfectly for the learning mind. DNA extraction, who knew!

Here baby O played us a wonderful little tune on the laser harp. Very cool. No strings. As your hands pass over the laser, a specific note sounds. Technology always amazes me.

Inside the bird house, these little guys were quite friendly. Little E wanted to join the parade.

Little E outside the Bug House. This one is going in a frame for his room, right above his bug collection. He said that he couldn't decide what part of the zoo was his favorite, he loved it all!

The hippos were amazing to watch. So graceful under the water. They were trying their best to stay cool. It was a scorching 102 that day.

Another wonderful, science filled day. My mind feels so full! Full of facts, fun and memories!

St. Louis Day 1

We have come and gone from St. Louis. It was a great and busy trip! Sorry for the underlined text, I can't seem to get it to stop.

First stop, the Arch.

The interior elevators that take you to the top are under repair so we did not go inside this year.

Next we went to the City Museum downtown. It is incredible! An old building reconstructed to be an amazing interactive art/science museum. Check out the website for more information: http://www.citymuseum.org/

Yes, the oldest is pushing the next oldest into the hind end of a whale. Apparently there is a tunnel that goes through the whale.

The inside lower level is made of mazes, caves, tunnels and slides that range from sea life, to tree forts, to stalactites.

Here the kids were coming out of the whale's mouth...

Here Av is climbing somewhere in the forest above us...

One floor was a giant skate park, minus the skateboards and bikes. All you had was your body. The boys spent most of their time here of course.

Here you could run on the side of the wall. It was harder than it looks.

Of course there were several ball pits.

Another fun area was a carnival type room with odd and end popular characters. The whole place was just odd. You never quite knew what to expect around any corner. I like to describe it as the ADHD museum that was allowed to grow and develop as its mind wandered.

Here is a picture of the exterior. The plane in the front is part of a maze of cages and walkways that lead to an actual plane. You can also walk out onto the plane wings and through a cage back into the building. I believe the plane is about three or four stories up. Av was the only one who did the whole thing! He is Amazing! The roof is a whole nother play area. Yes, you can go onto the bus and sit in the drivers seat! That area was extra and we were overwhelmed by that time, but promised ourselves to come back another year to give it a go. And, there is a ferris wheel on top too!

It is truly an amazing place. I HIGHLY recommend it! It is only a few blocks from the Arch and totally worth it! When we were done, the kids were covered in sweat and the goobers of all humanity. But, the smiles on their faces and the bounce in their step out weighted all of that.

Up next, Science Center....

Catching Up

I am getting behind in posting our events, so I will do a quick post on the events over the past week.

Brad and I went to Mexico, Missouri and saw Big Smith in concert. They were great!

On the way back the next day we stopped in at Fulton to see the Winston Churchill museum. On the campus of Westminster College, Winston Churchill made his famous Iron Curtain speech during WWII. In the 60's an organization decided to have this church (it had first been constructed in the 1400's, then bombed, burned, gutted, rebuilt, bombed again and left for ruin) moved from London, brick by brick, and then reconstructed in Fulton (with a museum added) in memory of the famous speech. Fascinating!

Here is the website if you are interested in learning more: http://www.churchillmemorial.org/

Winston Churchill's granddaughter made this art from pieces of the Berlin Wall. It blows me away to be able to see and touch such a piece of history.

We took a stroll around the capitol one evening and saw the new Lewis and Clark exploration area.

This is either Lewis or Clark. Not sure.

Again, Lewis or Clark. Not sure. But loving the new pic app on the phone. Fun!

State Capitol. Looking at it from the Missouri river side. We sat in the treed area between the columns and the building for the fireworks on the 4th.

Monday, we took the kids to an area water park in order to escape the 104 degree temperature. They had so much fun! Everyone became a pro at the river rapids and body slides. We came home tired and only slightly sun burnt. But we fared well for 7 hours in the sun.

That should just about catch you up.

St. Louis trip next week and then travel home shortly after that.

Communing with nature

One of the things that I like the best about our time in Missouri and with our family is the large amount of time that we spend enjoying, observing, and learning about the natural world.





The day after the 4th, we loaded up and headed to the country again. My grandpa, the two oldest boys and Brad were heading out in canoes to fish another section of the river.






I love to see their eyes when they first get their feet in the water. It is cool, clear and begging to be explored. You can't help but dive your fingertips into the gentle rush of a small current beneath you as you rapidly look at all the different rocks below your feet. Rocks that are great for skipping, throwing, using as a dam, and sometimes using to kill snakes (but not on this trip). As we put the canoes in a deer was crossing the river just ahead of us. Time stood still. We all watched in silence and awe. After the deer crossed into the brush on the other side, we all seemed to exhale as if we had all held our breath as we watched, wanting to be completely aware in the moment.

The boys had many natural experiences that day. It turned out to be rather stormy and from their reports they had to go to shore a couple of times and take cover. I believe that lightning struck nearby a couple of times and they had to bail water occasionally as well.

But the fishing was good and we will be having a fish fry soon enough.

The Conservation Department for the state has many conservation areas throughout the state. There is one here that has a wonderful hands-on museum. My mom is a volunteer there and was conducting a class this last weekend on dragonflies. Little E and baby O went and had a wonderful time. We went to one of the ponds and tried to find dragonfly nymphs (no luck) as well as adult dragonflies (lots of luck). We also explored the museum, which we intend to do again this coming week. Mostly because they have a turkey in the bird area and I find turkeys to be very funny.

4th of July

I know this post is coming in a bit after the fact, but as this vacation has gone so far...

Nothing happens when I expect it to.

The 4th of July is my third favorite holiday. Christmas and Easter are of course my first two with them being the birth of Jesus and his Resurrection. But, as for the independence of the country that I am so privileged to be a part of, it certainly ranks third in holiday favorites.

I love how we as a people come together to show our respect and appreciation for those who have come before us, and those who currently serve our country, to grant us the opportunity to live as we do today. I am so very thankful.

I have to be honest though...I also love the food that comes with the 4th of July. This year was fried chicken and garden fresh veggies at Granny and Papa's. Then downtown for all the festivities.

We wandered the streets and saw old cars and monster trucks,

visited the local firefighters,

watched a motor cross exhibition (the boys were in seventh heaven!),

played in the children's area,

and let the kids ride some of the fair rides,

Then fireworks while sitting on the state capital lawn.

Total dream!

Blackberries and spiders

We have had a relaxing week back from the country. Each of the kids have had the opportunity to have a "special" day out with Granny this week and we have had a good amount of time in the pool.

The lawn was in need of a mow so yard work was on the calendar one morning and this is what was found on a branch by our oldest....

Little E, the little scientist he is, immediately asked for a jar and captured it. Luckily for the critters he captures, they are released quickly after their visual inspection. We are not sure what type of spider is was. Hopefully my entomologist sister will be able to identify it in the photo.

GPop planted blackberries this season and the harvest has been plentiful. He is picking around a gallon each day. One morning we went to help. Everyone used their blackberry spotting vision and we cleaned those bushes of each ripe berry we could find. So sorry birds, none for you today!

I'll just leave you with this thought.

Blackberry cobbler each night after dinner...Mmmmmm.

Snakes in a boat

I know it does not really sound as exciting as snakes on a plane, but when you experience it in person, snakes are exciting. Especially the surprise snakes. We experienced two of the surprise ones on the river.

With river snakes you have to be mindful of the venomous ones. You know, the ever dreaded cottonmouth or as I like to call it, the "Oh, S*#t" snake. It is the most common venomous water snake.

If I had time, I would tell you the tale from my childhood when my dad killed a huge cottonmouth on the bank of a river with just some rocks. It is a great story. Ask me sometime and I will tell you all about it.

But this time we had a snake sighting up river and notice from other swimmers to bale quickly. And so we did. It is really funny to see some one get notice that a snake is coming their way and then see them high stepping out of up to 2.5 feet of water to shore.

Go ahead, get up, try it. Remember that you have water resistance to confront. Oh, don't forget to have a beer or cool beverage in hand. Oh, don't forget to grab what ever young child is near you as you plow to shore.

That being said. We all stood on shore and watched this long black snake swim gracefully through the water, fairly close to shore. He tootled along until he got a little too close and someone felt the urge to throw a rock at his head. I believe that he has had previous snake killing experience because he hit dead on first shot. He took a couple more rocks for good measure and them threw him to shore to investigate.

My crew couldn't get down there to take a look fast enough! I did not go. Neither did baby O. The report was that he was probably a cottonmouth. I am not buying that at this time. But, it makes for a good story.

Roughly a week later, several of us went canoeing again. I believe that it was our 3rd canoe trip and we were all feeling a bit big for our britches. We were having to paddle in some pretty strong winds and were doing quite well for ourselves. This trip the canoes lined up as so:
Brad, our oldest, and our baby O in one canoe
My sister, her husband (also known as my brother in law) and little E in another canoe
My brother, his wife (also known as my sister in law) and their oldest son in the third canoe
Me and my dad in the last canoe

We all did extremely well with the winds and some challenging rapids. Then we were hit from the side with an unexpected wind which blew dad and I into some low hanging trees. Everyone knows that you will occasionally find snakes hanging out in trees. So, always look before going under them. Well, we didn't have time to look as we were shielding ourselves from being taken out by the trees. Once we were through and had gathered ourselves, we made our plan to get back into the stream when dad yells, " SNAKE IN THE BOAT!"

Yes, I said a few choice words. Remember I did not have children in my boat. I looked around and it was coming my way. If we had a child in our canoe, the snake would have been on the child. I have no idea what I would have done. Perhaps I would have done some superhero magic and flung the snake to the other side of the river while managing not to tip the boat and continue to paddle in the right direction. Maybe, maybe not.

Imagine if you can the shape of a canoe. I quickly balanced myself on the tip of the front of the canoe waiting to see if I needed to jump ship. I didn't, somehow dad got the snake out with his paddle. I don't know how, but he did. I sat back down, said a prayer, said a few more choice words and we went on our way.

Can you guess what type of snake it was?
Wrong, it was just a common northern water snake. I think it was still out to get me. I could see it in his eyes.

We will go to the river again in about a week or so. Maybe if you are lucky, I'll have another snake story or two. If I am lucky, I won't.

Till then...
Happy canoeing.