Friday, July 2, 2010

On Friday we packed the kids up and took them to meet their dad in Neosho, Missouri, for a family reunion. Alli wanted to wear her fancy black dress with the fringe on it that Aunt Lisa gave her, but I talked her out of it. Instead she opted for a black skirt and her tshirt autographed by all her friends in Colorado. She has her "ears" on, ready for the long ride. Wally wouldn't allow a picture to be taken of him. I think it might have been because he didn't want to leave and in fact he came back to us after the weekend. His time here by himself will be a separate blog. We love you and miss you Allison. Hurry back and stay longer next time.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Last full day here for Wally and Alli, or at least for Alli. So naturally we went swimming again, this time to the Buffalo River.

Wally has always loved swimming here. The water is clear and always a comfortable temperature in the summer. I love it too.

Grampa is being a smart life guard and staying in the shade.

Allison is trying to catch a few more rays of sun, but it's late in the day so no real danger of burning.




There were lots of tiny frogs on the beach and even Alli got into the spirit and captured some. She used a shell to catch and hold them so she wouldn't get froggy smelling fingers.

They both love playing with the new puppy, L. G. (Little Guy). He is really into belly rubs.

The puppy's eyes are closed in total enjoyment of the moment. Our big dog is in the background, hoping to go unnoticed.

The puppy looks bigger lying on this dog bed with Allison, but he's only about 30 pounds.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 continued

As if swimming at the lake wasn't enough, we stopped on the way home at a local swimming hole next to the White River. This water is spring fed and icy cold. I could only stand to put one foot in and got right back out. Wally joined the rest of the kids in swinging out over the water on a rope and dropping into the water.

In this next picture, Wally is on the rope, about to drop into the water. In the background you can see Alli sunbathing on her towel. She actually did do the swing and drop once but she said it was so cold she felt like she couldn't breathe so she didn't do it again.

I told her that was ok. She did it once to prove she could and now her job was to sit in the sun and look glamorous. She does that very well.

Grampa does a good job of that too.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Today was the day to go to Bull Shoals Lake where we keep our pontoon boat. At the marina, there are huge carp that hang around waiting for handouts. We obliged by buying three bags of fish food.

The carp are huge and get into quite a feeding frenzy.

I was a nervous gramma, worrying that the kids would fall in.

We went to a place where Wally could jump off the rocks into the lake. Even Grampa did it once. I stayed below with the float to help them as they surfaced. Alli stayed on a raft. She didn't want to chance getting into the water where the fish were. She was afraid of the big catfish (maybe she was thinking of the carp), and I can't really blame her. Actually I'm more worried about the needle nose gar that inhabit the lake. Here's one that is about 3 feet long and I didn't even get all it's nose in the picture.

On the way back to the marina we pulled the kids on a tube that is made specifically for that purpose.

They barely both fit in there and probably won't next year. Alli will have to learn to ride it by herself. She might like that better anyway. Wally always wants to go too fast for her.

Those cliffs behind the kids are where Wally was jumping into the water.

Alli got out of the tube and let Wally have a turn by himself so he could go as fast as he wanted. Our pontoon boat is not real fast so it was still a tamer ride than he wanted.

Alli got a new two piece bikini swimsuit for her vacation. She looked so cute in it.