I can't post all of the photos from vacation, so there is a few of my favorite ones. Please enjoy and again, apologize for the delay in updating the blog site.

Kyle and Grampy in what Keith and I like to jokingly refer to as the "man room".

Kyle is showing Nana and Grampy how he does a NASCAR race. He is very imaginative and he can find anywhere to do one.

Casey took Dad and Kyle on a hike through the forest. Casey and I went with Nana last year and really enjoyed it. Along the trail, they had totem poles that guided you through.

The first time I have ever seen a whirlpool just out of nowhere. I had Nana stop her car on the one lane bridge so I could get a photo of it. Just so happens that there is a stick in it kind of pointing to the bottom of the whirlpool. The kids found it as fascinating as I did.

Another beautiful shot of the kids.

The kids really liked the idea of being able to jump off the end of the dock. I liked letting them have the chance to do so.

Here is Casey with a different kind of floating device. Kyle is taking his turn on the Kayak with Nana in the background.

We were invited over to Nana's best friends house on Lake Thunderbird to go swimming. The kids absolutely loved it. Here is Kyle playing with a really huge tennis ball and Casey is in the background with Nana on her Kayak. Casey and Nana really love kayaking.

They have made it.

The kids working their way up the waterfall.

I love this photo of the kids. It has a beautiful landscape, the kids in their favorite setting-the water-and they are both happy. Nothing better than seeing them in that element.

Here are two photos that is one way to describe the difference in the kids. Kyle is picking up a piece of the road that is in the water to throw and make a big splash--being strong is important to him. Casey is concentrating really hard to catch a fish as Kyle watches. She is gentle and genuinely cares for nature.

We all got warm at the Homesteader's Day, so we took the kids to Papoose Park. They absolutely love water, so it's kind of hard to keep them out of it anywhere we go.

The kids were able to make their own dolls, out of fabric-? I have several photos of the process of making them, but it would make the posting was to long.

They had what was called "Homesteaders Day" in a small town called Hardy. At this homesteaders day, they had all the things that were used back in the day. We saw old crank engines, a still, a tractor that you could attach to a saw and cut wood. Homemade food, quilts, turtle races, and may more things. I enjoyed going back and seeing exactly how easy my generation and younger have it compared to then.

A couple of shots when Casey and Kyle were getting some painting tips from Nana

In this photo, Casey is off to the right, you can't see her, but it seems as though the gopher is swimming toward her.
The first time we went to the park 3 years ago, we saw a small glimpse of this critter in the water. This time, I was able to get a few pictures of it. I believe it is a gopher in the water, but I am not sure. Either way, it's really cute to see. I have couple of photos of it.

Casey, Kyle and Nana riding the paddle boat at Mammoth Springs. They really enjoyed that. Casey was able to help paddle and Kyle did the steering.

Casey and Nana at Mammoth Springs park. We have returned there every year since we started going up there. I think we all just enjoy going there. It's a beautiful park with a waterfall for a hydroelectric plant, if I am correct. Kyle loves the waterfall there, it is definitely hyptonizing to watch the water fall. Casey and her Nana love the outdoors.

Here are some of the photos. I really enjoyed this trip as well.

The kids and I followed a trail along the edge of the canyon and found a way to get down into the canyon. It was about 1/8 of a mile long--which is really not that far to me, but that was going down steps. Going down was easy, going up was hard. Here are a few shots of the view from down there. I tried to get one going directly up, but I don't think it serves it's purpose.

We went to a State Park in Missouri that was called The Little Grand Canyon. It was really beautiful and the kids and I walked around it. I am sure it is not as wonderful as the real thing, but it's close enough. This is a shot that is up from a look out down into the canyon. It's probably doesn't give any idea how far down it went, but to me, it was a good ways down there. Of course, I have never been to the real Grand Canyon.

Just a shot to show how close the geese came to the talbes that we were sitting at.

This park had a pretty good size lake in the middle of it and the kids walked all the way around it by themselves. They seemed to enjoy it. We were able to keep a watch on them from the picnic table that we sat at.

We also went to a few different parks in the surrounding areas. This one is in Salem, not really far from Cherokee Village, and the ducks and geese were eagerly awaiting to be fed by people. Casey really enjoyed it, Kyle did too, but lost interest after a while because he wanted to play more on the little playground that was there.

On top of being in the "forest", Casey always made sure the bird feeders were full and aligned correctly. When she woke up every morning, usually before others, she quietly looked for deer at the deer feeder. Sometimes she saw some, sometimes she didn't. I believe that was her time to enjoy the quietness and beauty of nature, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

As well as Casey loving nature, she can also draw and paint wonderfully. Nana is an artist and worked with Casey a lot with tips on drawing. Here are a few shots of some practice drawings that she did.

Casey is here trying to figure out how to stand on, I believe, is called a Boogy Board. She did it several times and seemed to enjoy the challenge. Being outside, whether it's in water, or in the trees, or forest, she is a true nature girl and finds beauty in the simple things.

And of course, we took the kids swimming as much as we could. The clouds hung around most of the time, so when we got some sunshine, we headed off to the beach, or park when possible. Casey is on the right with a friend that she made while we were there. Jasmine was a very nice girl and Casey really enjoyed playing with her. Of course, any time Casey is in water, she is in her "element". Kyle is on the left just staying busy with his imagination-which never fails to amaze anyone.

Kyle is really good about finding the trains to ride-or makeshift ones. Trains and cars right now are his favorite thing. Sometimes I wonder if he will be a race car driver or a train engineer.

We went to an Airshow in the village, which I really liked. It was on a smaller scale than in Houston or Lake Charles, but it was quiet, not crowded, and definitely not loud. We had a front row seat to watch the show and I think the kids liked it.

This is at the bottom of the falls, which actually leads to a cavern. It's hard to see, but under the brush towards the top of the picture is where a cavern starts. The way nature does things like that is absolutely amazing.