Branson 4

Talking Rock Caverns

Very steep climb down to the bottom. And poor Levi wore his skate shoes. It was slippery.

Branson 3

LOTS of swimming! We went to a beach too that was very nice, but I didn't get pictures that time.

Branson 2

The Hollywood Wax Museum
Sahara and Caleb with 'The Terminator'

Pretty Boy with Hef

Sahara at some weird mirror room

Misty and Jonny Depp. We were disappointed that he wasn't in "Sparrow" attire.

Branson trip 1

The Cousins
Kristy Misty Tony (aka: pretty boy)

A robin had her nest at chest level in a bush/tree right be the elevator of the timeshare. It was so pretty, it looked fake. But she would come and sit on her eggs.

The kids, the first day there, out by the pond. It was very pretty and it was our view from 4 floors up :)

A tiny water turtle was trying to go up the waterfall. So cute but too tiny to get a good picture of.

Our Branson Trip

Yay! We had a great time in Branson.

There were some difficulties in the beginning. Kristy's plane (with Caleb and Emily) was half way to Dallas when they decided to have engine trouble and headed back to Seattle. Good thing tho because Dallas was under 10 feet of water at the time and the airport had been closed for hours. Mom, Dad, aunt Carol, and uncle Jim's flight was canceled from Phx due to Dallas closing. However, Kristy was able to catch a later flight to Dallas and then on to Little Rock putting her here a few hours later than she had intended. But at least she made it on the same day she was supposed to make it. The other group from Phx didn't arrive until the next afternoon and went straight to Branson. Tony (and Levi and Jimmy) came in an hour late, but because the other groups didn't come at all, he was stranded at the airport. So, we ended up with 9 people for a sleepover the first night in my tiny little house. It was cozy :)

Then, Tony landed himself in the hospital the second day with chest pain and very high blood pressure. He is getting that under control with meds now and better eating. Luckily he was only there for several hours.

The rest of the trip was great and fast! We went to museums, caverns, shows, water parks and swam a lot. I will post pictures soon.

The Travelers Game

Gosh, does the air conditioner in my truck feel good or what!?! The game was great tho I don't think Canyon had much interest. Actually, when the kids came off the field after playing around with the Travelers players, 1 1/2 hours before the game started, he said he was ready to go now. Flint Wipke #18 of the Travelers signed a ball for Canyon and Sahara and I thought Evan Scribner #34 of the Missions was pretty darn cute.

Here is the mass of kids waiting on the field for the Travelers to play with them.

Canyon and Sahara wait in line to catch and throw the ball.

Canyon throws the ball back to the Traveler. He actually had a great arm and direction considering he didn't bother to look where he was throwing :) The Traveler playing with him asked Canyon if he was a pitcher on his team because he had such good form (!) Sahara told him no, he just played any position.

He managed to bring home 3 rubber baseballs, 1 signed ball, 1 ball tossed to him while on the berm by a Missions player and 1 give away ball. Plus 3 packs of trading cards and 3 team pictures. We all got over heated and Sahara is sunburned. But, it was a nice place to visit. I'm sure we will go back some day when it's cooler.

Sahara's camping trip

Last Sunday thru Wed Sahara went camping with her friend Paige and Paige's family. They found a cool creek to swim and wade in. Actually it looks too cool for me by the look on Paige's dad's face.

Last Spring Game

This was supposed to be a short 10 second video, but as usual, it's a no go :(

Here is Canyon on 3rd base and his run home. (or somewhere near home away)

And everyone gets a MVP trophy.

Tomorrow is the Travelers game. He is bringing an extra new ball for autographs.

The hair cuts

Sahara's is not sooo blond. She lightened the picture to try to make the wall behind her yellow and gave herself a bleach job in the process.

Canyon has a typical boy cut.

Misty's is just a shoulder length bob.

1st official day of summer

Sahara came home after 4 days of camping. She said she had a great time. Met some boys. (ug) and did a lot of swimming. I tried to mow but again the belt fell off the mower half way thru. I hate that! Plus I hand washed what I could reach of the eve faces (or whatever they are called) on the house. I couldn't power wash them because it lifted the roof shingles up and that wasn't a good thing. Canyon spent a few hours with Rusty (his wavier worker) and now we had corndogs for dinner. Tomorrow is haircuts! I will post a picture if it all turns out ok :)

SuMmEr TiMe !!!

Saharas last day of school was last Tuesday. She only had to really show up to present a slide show 4th period. Then, being exempt from semester tests for good grades and not being absent this semester, she was done. Canyon went on thru to Friday and now he is done. I still have to go back Monday and Tuesday for make up days for weather. Canyon will be going to work with me because Sahara gets to go on a 3 day camping trip with a friend of hers. Baseball is on for today because we have no rain!!! YAY! And the Travelers game has been rescheduled, but I don't know when because when I try to open their blog, I can't get the latest post to show up. On my blog by the Field of Angles link, it says their new post is that the game is rescheduled tho. Anyway, hope we will be here for it. Will find out at the game in a 2 hours I guess. Getting all excited about Branson and ready to start packing! Let the summer fun start!

Gosh Darn Rain!

Another 5 days of it predicted and the Travelers game has been canceled. :( Why can't we have May flowers like everybody else and put this rain behind us. Now we will be stuck with kids bouncing off the walls the last week of school and no recess time. Grrrr.

YaY! We got to play today!

The weather held out for us today and the games were on. I really like the smaller field that we were on this time. The kids had room to spread out, but not so close that they were running over each other. Tomorrow is the Travelers game in Little Rock and then fireworks. Hope the rain will keep it's distance!!!

The following was taken off the Field Of Angels Blog ( I was just so excited that Canyon was mentioned I had to copy and paste it here. Hope that's ok with Heather and Mark:)


Saturday, May 23, 2009

The Sun Is Shining!
Thank goodness the sun was shining and we were able to play today. My day started off with a hug an a kiss from Canyon. That is a pretty awesome way to start the day! The fields were dried out, so the younger team was able to play on the t-ball field. We tried to play three innings, but we didn't quite make it. I hear the big kids had a great game as well. Mark handed out the players pictures. If you didn't get yours today, check with him tomorrow or at the next game.Speaking of tomorrow.......Tomorrow is the Arkansas Travelers game in Little Rock. I may not be able to go so take lots of pictures please. Everyone have a great time!

Detention !

Sahara received her first ever detention(s) and will serve them Thursday and Friday morning before school starts. The reason is not so bad. Passing notes in class.

On today' list

The threat of rain canceled our game. So we went to the Pickle Fest in Atkins instead. It did rain/sprinkle on us there and we stayed about 2 hours. Canyon REALLY wanted to play on the inflatables, but because there wasn't a guarantee on if they would be open, or close up due to rain, I didn't want to buy the arm band and then he only be able to go on one or 2. An arm band was the only way to play on them. But he got to ride the ponies again. He really enjoys that. Sahara had a friend stay the night last night and they made Kris Allen Kick Awesome shirts till the wee hours of the night. After Pickle Fest, Canyon and I napped :) and the girls continued to paint the shirts. Her friend was picked up and now we are watching a movie till 5:30 when we head to a skate rink b-day party Canyon was invited to. It is supposed to NOT RAIN AT ALL NEXT WEEK! After 3 straight weeks of rain, I am so looking forward to some dry days!!

Game 2

Before the game, we took individual and team pictures. Here Canyon is with a few of his teammates.

Then a bit of practice before the game started.


In the dugout, Canyon and Sahara wait for their turn up to bat.

Running to home plate.

It doesn't appear to be too muddy, but getting to and from the fields were quite a mess. I hope we have some drier days soon.

Lake Dardanelle State Park field trip

Luckily the rain stayed away for Canyon's field trip. And most of it was indoors. At the visitors center, the kids learned about what it was like to be a kid before the lake was developed along the Arkansas River. The kids here played games like Graces, if they were well to do and travelers always had extra rice and grain sacks for sack races and three legged races.


Outside we had a group picture taken by the same fireplace we used to take our Christmas pictures this year. We lucked out being placed in the small group. The other 4 groups had 30 kids in them.

After lunch and a play at the park, we walked back to the visitors center for more learning about boats of the early settlers. Canyon and a buddy were arm in arm the whole way back :)

rain rain...go AWAY!!!

I am so sick of rain! It has been almost none stop for 2 weeks now. Last night a storm rolled in dumping 5 inches in 2 hours. Then it let up for a couple hours just to start up again with a steady rain since. We are probably up to 7 inches now. The worst part is that the 'severe storms' aren't due to get here till this afternoon! We might wash away. And, of course, Canyon's game was canceled today. :( He had been looking forward to it all week.

Party In The Park

Russellville had it's annual party in the park and right after the game, a quick change in the car, and Walmart shopping, and lunch, we headed there.

Sahara fell in love with the little mini ponies and really want to take this one home.

Canyon got to ride a little Appaloosa.

Canyon loved the inflatables.

Play Ball ! ! !

Canyon had his first ball game today. We got there extra early and got to see the older team (11 and up ) play first. Canyon will be on that team next year. It was great. I loved to see all the faces of the kids I have worked with in the past out there.

Here Canyon and Sahara practice before the game starts.





Canyon's first time around to home plate he stops to pick up some bats laying around and poses for a picture. What a goof!

Swing!

Wooo Hooo! Another run! I love that I got the picture with him in the air!


They all had a great time and played hard.

The big switch-a-roo

It's time! Time to dig out all the summer clothes and pack up all the winter clothes. I usually do this on Spring Break, but we still had some chilly days ahead after then. It was in the 80 last week and I don't see us heading back to the 50s in the future. The week ahead is 80s and 70s. The pollen is THICK and everything is covered in yellow pollen dust. Canyon seems to be doing all right and Sahara seems hardly effected, I have major congestion and cough and sore throat and sneezing.

Canyon's first big game is in a few hours. I'll post pictures as soon as I can :)

I enlisted the help of a couple of Sahara's guy friends, Teri and Zach to help with my flower beds. (They were claiming to be bored so I put them to work)


Of course the had to give us a show. Acting as if the 40 pound bag of potting soil was too much to handle.

Oh boyyyyys!

Yep. Whatever they can do, she can do better!


Mila and I ( and the kids) then went to Lowe's and got new flowers to plant.