First CARES Award

RyAnne was chosen for the CARES award the first month of school.  She was honored because her classmates choose in 4th grade - and they picked her!

Blurry picture of her walking the red carpet.

All SMILES!

First Day - Hey Hey

First day excitement!

RyAnne - 4th grade Mrs. Kern

Dakota 7 bailey - 1st grade Mrs. Rosin (Again - YIPPEEE)

Dakota's sign pic got lost :-(

We're ready! Bring it on!

Road Trip

First stop, St. Louis, Missouri.  The kids were amazed by the size of  the arch.

 After spending some time in the Gateway Arch Museum and learning a little history we headed to the top!

Wow...what a view!

Dad and RyAnne goofing around at the very top - 630 feet.

 Overlooking our hotel, the Hyatt, on the right.

We had a view of the arch from our hotel room which the kids thought was really AWESOME!

 We ate downtown and then took in the spectacular views at night.

Next, we headed to the Ozarks!

The Duck Ride in Branson.

After a short road trip, our "Duck" dove into Table Rock Lake.

RyAnne driving the "Duck".

We had a blast at Silver Dollar City.

RyAnne, Mom, and a bunch of high school and college kids were the first ones in line for the new roller coaster 'Outlaw Run'.  It is the 2nd fastest wood roller coaster in the world!

RyAnne and Mom went on it, then RyAnne got right back in line to go on it again with Dad.

Taking in the scenes.

The kids enjoyed taking a break during the day to play games.

We saved the water rides for last.  Dakota and Mom got soaked on the 'Lost River of the Ozarks'

Dinner and show at the Dixie Stampede.

Checking out the horses before the big show.

Branson Landing

Branson Landing had great shopping, food and a water show the kids enjoyed.

Bailey was a hoot at Joe's Crab Shack. She insisted on cracking her own crab.

Birthday Wish

RyAnne celebrated her 9th birthday recently.  Her wish, in lieu of gifts, was that her friends brought donations for the Humane Society.


As the girls were arriving our unsocial cat, Trooper, came out to snoop around.  I wonder why he is liking these gifts so much?

Dog bowl cake!

RyAnne and her friends "adopting" animals.

A bunch of happy animals have been adopted.

Lucky to have a summer birthday......

Gifts for the Human Society!

Of course we had to have a look around.  The kids all found cats that they REALLY wanted and Dad is lucky that little 5 year old yorkie Mom had her eye on was already adopted!

See RyAnne on the Humane Society website:

http://www.giveshelter.org/whos-helping-animals-with-team-bark.html

Dad's Fishing Buddies

Dad and the kids have been having a lot of fun fishing at the cottage.  The main reason is because they have been catching bluegills, crappie, and perch (or as Dakota calls them "Chirp") left and right!

Off they go.....again.

Mom's waiting for them on the pier to come in for the night.

The kids like the new 3 Queen's dine-in and ice cream at the end of our road!

And, as always, Smores!

T-ball TIme

Dakota and Bailey had their first t-ball practice.  They are on the Coconut team.

The weather wasn't the best, however, it didn't stop the enthusiastic kids!

Bailey up to bat.

Fielding.....

Dakota crying after getting hit in the mouth by a ball his sister threw!