Fun Four Day Weekend
A day (and night) at the lake...
Heading out and all smiles.
Saturday morning we headed to the lake to spend a day at the Porter Lake house. Tubing, boating, swimming, eating. I think the kids were in the water and tubing most of the day. It was a lot of fun. We had intended to go home and sleep at our house before heading to SE Missouri the next day, but the evening was a little more eventful than we had planned.
Gracie and Nova
Riding the Pegasus
Ruby went with and was trying to figure out how to get out of the water.
She was so funny and did so well at the lake!
She figured it out.
Owen tried the paddle board, but this was short-lived.
Swimming with Ruby
Nova and Gracie are pretty funny.
Love these two.
Tubing!
I think the kids spent about 3 hours being pulled on the tube.
I would've been exhausted.
They got the hot dog out too.
All four kids... Gracie, Nova, Kegan, and Owen
We ended up having dinner down there and taking the boat out for ice cream later. Little did we know the weather change that would occur in the next hour or so. Around 9 pm we decided to head back because it looked like rain on the radar. The whole ride back was exciting with lightning and fireworks blazing the sky, but still pretty calm with no rain. It was quite the show, and I think Gracie was a little nervous. We made it back just in time, and not even 5 minutes after docking, the wind came up and it started pouring. We hurried to get everything stowed away so it didn't blow away, then headed to their house. We gathered all of our things and got in the car to leave, but not even 50 yards into our return home there was a tree down on the road and we could not get out. Good thing Porters could host for the night! The kids were so excited to stay and have a sleepover. Thankfully the tree was cleared enough to get out by 7am the next morning. So we got up, drove home, did a load of laundry, packed again, and got back in the truck for more adventures.
More Driving...The kids are tired the day after tubing and boating.
Owen... in the fetal position
more sleeping... Ruby's like, I don't know why you're all so tired.
Day 1: Elephant Rocks State Park
We first went to drop our stuff at the airbnb, but unfortunately couldn't get in until after 4pm. So we went back to Elephant Rocks to do some exploring and hiking. It was a pretty fun place to visit and there were lots of things to climb on for our adventurous boys. I got a lot of good pics from that afternoon.
Nick with Ruby
Owen and Nick on the top of something
Gracie and Owen
Climbing
On top again
Best way down
Gracie and Owen
On the hiking trail
Ruby did great and luckily, the trail was not too busy
The Ruins
It was an old train station I think
Owen is walking by. He didn't slow down much while we were out exploring.
Gracie and Nick
Another pic of Owen high above a small pool of water.
Nick took this one.
Owen
On top of another rock
More rocks to climb. It was a fun day.
The first day ended with Mexican for dinner and then joining another family at their cabin for a fire and smores. We headed back to our house by 10pm to get some sleep before a long day of floating on the river.
Day 2: Monday morning Owen got up to run with me and then we left the house by 9am to head to Black River, about 30 minutes away. We rented 2 kayaks for the kids and canoe for Nick and me. The Rackers family rented a raft for their family.
Getting ready to launch.
Owen paddling on his kayak
Nick and I are ready to go!
Gracie on her kayak
The kids having fun in the water
Nick being a kid on the rope swing.
I don't think he will ever be too old to have fun.
Dropping into the water
Helping Gracie grab the rope
Kids waiting in line for a turn on the swing
Nick took another turn on the swing. This time without the hat.
It was a little deformed after the first jump.
Gracie and Chase
Gracie paddling her kayak
They all took turns between the kayaks and the raft.
The kids decided they wanted to float alone for awhile.
Fighting in the water.
Gracie and Owen were tired, too.
We looked back not even 2 minutes after leaving Black River and they were asleep.
We went back out to see Rackers again and grill for dinner, then headed back a little earlier than the night before. It was a fun day again.
Day 3: Taum Sauk Mountain State Park
We had planned to go to the Johnson Shut-Ins, but after reading about it, realized that we could not take Ruby there, so our plans changed. We hiked the highest mountain in Missouri instead. We did a 3 mile loop that was supposed to have a waterfall at the halfway point, but it was pretty dry. Ruby found the best (and only) spot to cool off. It was hot, buggy, and humid. I was sweating for the second time that day before noon. Unfortunately we had to check out of our rental house by 10am, so there was no showering after the hike. I couldn't believe that Owen was not even sweating when we got done. I had to work pretty hard to keep up with him when we were hiking back out.
Ruby was tired
But we are so glad she did so well on vacation with us!
Owen found a perch
We are at the highest point in Missouri. Right here.
Selfie!!!
We stopped in Caledonia, MO on the way home for ice cream. It was a neat little town with a lot of shops on their main street. There was a hot dog specialty restaurant, but I got the Trash Tots, which were amazing! It was a long drive home, but we made it in time to go to a friend's house for 4th of July festivities. What a fun mini vacation!
Ready to go watch fireworks!
When we got home, the deer had not found these lilies yet. The lilies were blooming on Wednesday. The deer had eaten all of the flowers by this morning (Friday).
Back to the grind and one more week and a half of competitive softball for the summer. Then one more basketball tournament. It's crazy how fast it goes.
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