Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend we did a short overnight trip to Hartford

We meet Russ' brother and his boys for some fishing

We stayed at this little cabin (it had A/C yeah!)

The pond was just outside the door

The first I thought when we got there was . . . 

"Awww it is so QUIET"

after much noise on the trip there, it was a relief!

Bobby popped a fish out of the pond right when we arrived

Cody and London just chilling while waiting for a fish

Bobby jumped back from where he was standing

Ugh - it's a snake - a big one

Mike tried to get it to move - the thing grabbed his worm

He was very big - 3 feet long

We were all very intrigued by this snake even though none of us like them

How do you get a snake of your fishing line you may ask?

Like the Queen of Hearts said,  "Off with it's Head!"

That was the beginning of the excitement for the weekend

First Fish

 London's first time fishing

Russ had her fish with a cane pole
She was very excited about fishing

 Her very first fish

I told London that the first fish you catch, you have to kiss it

We settled for just "petting" them

 cute little thing

Overall she caught about 5-6 fish

She seemed to have a good time

It was nice that she could fish and then go play and come back and fish some more

She became the "water girl" - getting everyone drinks

I don't know which she enjoyed more

24 hrs of just fishing/hanging out/relaxing

 Taking a break from fishing

 There was a hugh catfish on the other side of the pond

Kassade is "petting" him - you could practiculy grab him with your hands

 London doesn't like worms - we can't ever get her to hold one

Finally, I think Kassade talked her into picking one up

Had to have a picture to make this occasion

 Kassade and her first fish

I definately can say she is most entertaining person to watch fish

Mike described one catch as "the fish was waterskiing"

Not a fish

While we were just relaxing and hanging out fishing

We saw Bobby across the pond - his fishing line behind him with something on it

Russ asked if it was a cat he caught, we couldn't tell what it was because it was covered in moss

Keyton pulled off this big old bullfrog

He suffered no harm after being drug around the pond

 and hopped back into the pond

London's gift to Russ

For either the first or second father's day that Russ and I were dating

I had the older 3 kids make stepping stones with their hand prints

It was a lot of fun and how they personalized them

London wanted this turtle - I realized after the fact we couldn't put her hand print on top

so, we traced it and she put the glass around the edges  

We also decided put her hand print on the bottom of the stone and dated it

Russ was hinting (sending pictures/texts etc) to Kassade about an ice cream maker

This is from all of us

Russ said this was one of the best Father's Days he has had 

I am glad you enjoyed it so much and got to spend time with your family

Thanks for being such a great father to the children

My Cow Girl

London loves wearing this outfit

she would probably wear it every other day if I let her

She likes being a "cowgirl"

the boots are from a neighbor

the hat is from "The Big Texan" restaurant in Amarillo

and the dress is from a consignment sale

Looks like I am going to have to find some new boots for this winter

She is already wanting a "pink" cowgirl hat

Crazy Kansas Weather

Yesterday afternoon it was hot, muggy and windy

Then it clouded up and then we heard some thunder

We had a nice rain shower for about 10 minutes

The sun came out again - still hot, muggy and windy

When Russ got home - he said it look like it might storm, strange looking sky

It clouded up again and began to rain

then it did this - hail

 "Mama, what is this? I've never seen this before" was London's comment

Yes, it continued to hail

Pieces got larger

and it came down harder

 Not snow

Not rain

It's hail in this picture

 Soon the yard looked like this

It was bouncing all over the place

Thought we might get an eye poked out or something if you didn't watch it

 It continued to grow

(please disregard our toe nails) 

We did paint them last night after I noticed how bad they looked

 Fortunately my flower beds weren't harmed too much

 Picking up some of the larger hail stones - I think the biggest was quarter size

She wanted to keep them so bad

So we now have a cup full in the freezer