We were supposed to be going to Disney with our friends the weekend after Cale's birthday. But for obvious reasons we couldn't do that (it's been moved to November - cross your fingers!) So we decided to drive to Missouri and camp for a week there. Missouri wasn't a random choice the place we chose his parents both live there and he was born there, it also is on the Current River which we al know our family loves to go to a good ol swimin' hole.
What's funny about the small town (population 1,900) is that almost everyone knows everyone - so driving around with Georgia license plates was getting some looks (I can only image what Washington Plates would have done but we just switched all our cars now that he is retied) - I kept joking with my husband, "don't they know who you are? I mean you are a local celebrity - the new years baby of 1979!"
We left at 3am in the morning. Cale slept most of the way. Kennedie was a sweet sister and let him lay all over her.
Up for about 10 minutes and he racked back out.
Crossing into Arkansas (I think!)
Finally got to the campground. So we walked around to see what was around us. We were ready to get out of the car after driving for 9 hours!
He was excited to get on his bike.
We were so close to the river where our spot was.
Skipping rocks.
When we travel for longer than a weekend I really have to make a meal plan. I have to know what I already have and what we need and where I need to get it.
We don't necessarily eat that meal on that day but it's just a guide for what we have bought and how it needs to be prepared.
There were ants invading our camper so Tim was spaying them.
The area our spot was in was a roundabout. There were about 2-3 campers there when we arrived Monday morning. But it was pretty empty through the entire campground, for majority of the week we were there.
Since the campground was so empty we decided it would be a good place for her to practice her driving. She compensates too much on her turning and needs to work on that and turning from a stop. Just trying to build that confidence!
I love just sitting outside and reading, listening to the nature around me.
Boys went for a run along the river.
Then came back and wrestled.
Gotta keep that champ status!
Air fryer burgers are the best!
We went to dinner at Patsy's one night.
The next morning my husbands Grandma came over for a visit. She is 90 years old!
Don't worry its biodegradable soap!
These udon noodles are super easy to make, I got them from Sams.
Then made rice in the instant pot. I have never made rice in the instant pot before. Probably shouldn't have tested this during a trip! Thankfully it ended up being a non-issue and it was great!
It started to rain so I started one of these.
I had to go to dollar general to get some more charcoal - this guy pulled in off the highway. I can't make this stuff up!
We had alot of friends and family showing up so we put out our flag so people would be able to find us!
We went to Float Camp Recreation Area and the boys floated, and played in the water. This part of the river wasn't as fast flowing so it was easier to just play in the water.
I love just hanging in the shade and reading.
Kennedie loves to sit and draw.
Then our friends came! The guys were stationed together in the army in Alaska (there are 3 of them) they were our first Army family. They live in Missouri and we were lucky they didn't have any plans for the weekend we were there and brought their two boys down (little does our Boy know but we will be seeing them again in November at DISNEY!)
When we came back from the water before our friends came our area BLEW UP with campers and people. All those empty spots were filled! It was crazy how in a few hours it filled up!
Tim is a gentleman and let Lisa stay in the camper with the air conditioning and he slept in the tent with the boys!
Cale was super excited to sleep in a tent!
Friday morning we went tubing down the river. The campground that we stayed at had a tubing/rafting rental. We got two rafts and a couple tubes and they drove us to the drop off place. (we would finish at the campground)
GROUPIE! Tim's sister her boyfriend and two of her older boys joined us!
Getting dropped off.
We are very proud Alaska girls!
So as I was trying to get our raft untangled from a branch (a bungee we had a tube attached too got caught and we couldn't get free because of the current. And I took a tumble and went under the front end of the raft, popped up (yeah I was worried when I realized I was under the boat), then I popped up but because the water came up to my shoulders the current was so strong I was just hopping along trying to stop myself but the current was so strong. I kept looking at them saying "I can touch the bottom, I can touch the bottom" (all while having an ore in my hand!) then...."Ok I can't touch the bottom anymore." Thankfully there were boaters that stopped when they saw me in the water (because they were zooming in and out of tubers and rafters all day long - and it was making me angry how fast they were going!) and stopped and were flagging down other boaters to stop. Because my family was still attached to the tree at this point, the original boater stopped and told me to grab ahold of his boat. He slowly drove me back to the raft and I was able to get back in. But PHEW that current was STRONG to dry and paddle/swim/keep afloat in.
Cale REALLY thought he was going to lose his mommy in that moment. He was solemn for a while after the incident.
She immediately jumped over into my boat and gave me a big hug after I was able to get back in the boat - she was scared too.
Then we came upon a rope swing!
This was how our campsite looked for 8 people.
Because we made a reservation so late we had to leave Saturday morning. So we packed up camp and moved out to our property 3 minutes down the road (why didn't we stay on our property the entire time? We wanted to be a right on the water. We wanted our space [he has family that lives on the property] to do our own thing and relax - and there is now water/sewer hookup at the property, only electricity.) These are pictures of the campground as we were leaving. Up until about Thursday night the entire campground only had a few campers in it at any given time.
As we were packing up our camper another group was setting out to go down the river.
He was really hot so he put the bag he was icing his knee with on his head!
As much as I tried to keep applying Sunscreen every 2 hours I still managed to burn! ugh!
We were invited to a private party on the river. We went for a couple hours and played in the river and we met some new friends!
It was nice to sit in the shade with our feet in the water!
We came back to the property and started off our fireworks!
The sunset was really pretty that night. Such a great country we live in!
Love this girl! I have known her for 20 years (the entire time I've known Tim. We both dated our spouses together and married within years of each other. Her kids are a little younger than mine but with our other friend we make a great family!
I'm never sure how I get these weird bruises!
We let the boys shoot some guns in the "pit"
He didn't even realize a spent round had hit him!
He thought how the shotgun hit the can was really cool!
As we were leaving we stopped as his dads house to say goodbye. This is the boat we bought like 10 years ago, made it on the water for ONE trip. Put a new engine in and everything - we moved to Texas and pulled it from Georgia to Missouri and it's been on his dads property since. The motor is still brand new and since Tim has been leaning auto mechanics since retirement he has plans to go back and pull the engine out and either sell it or put it on a vehicle somewhere!
When Tim brought his racecar to work on back in March he left some parts accidentally at his dads - so we had to search to find them.
Then Grandpa gave him a sword.....
We left around noon the next day and took the long 9 hour drive home! I returned to work Monday morning and I was exhausted!
