We are MARSHALL

Cub Scout Day Camp

Spencer and Zack are in different packs, but they had their day camps the same week in different locations. I was a walking leader one day for Zack's but didn't take pictures. Then on Friday, I took Spencer and 7 other kids to the water park for the last day of his camp. I met a friend there with her three kids and we had quite the adventure. 2 adults and 11 children. We spent half of our day there looking for one kid or another. It was INSANE! Thankfully everyone made it out alive!

Spencer, Jonathan and Tyler with their kites...

Spencer's shorts that ripped. He still had to wear them all day. Good thing the t-shirt was long.

Olson's quick visit

My dad had a conference in Nashville, TN in June. My parents used that as an excuse to fly in here to see us. They flew in and spent the night with us, drove to Nashville and then came back for a few more days after the conference was over. Zack and Spencer had their Cub Scout Day camps this week, so they missed out on real time with them. I wasn't good at taking pictures, but here are a few...

Board games...

My Mom gave Sidnie's hair a needed trim.

Before...

After...

We renewed our Zoo membership and took them to the zoo. They took pictures this time, and I didn't.

Last goodbye's before the trip back to the airport...

Saying goodbye at the airport...

It had been a year and a half since we saw my parents. We love time with family and wish it could happen more often.

The Boys and Flowers in our yard

I helped at Relay for Life this year on May 17th and 18th. We had the theme of Going Coconuts. The boys got these left over torches from our decorations. They couldn't wait to use them.

At night for better effects...

Fun flowers grew and were blooming in our yard in late May/early June...

Lillies

Little purple flowers that are off to the right above, from up close...

Zoo

After all the yard clean up, we headed to the Zoo since it was the last day on our year membership.

This Silver back Gorilla was standing on the ball so he could see out of his enclosure.

Mother and baby...

We got them to come closer by throwing food...bread and carrots.

I always take pictures of the otters. I love these cute little guys. And yes, we gave them food too.

Wild Wind Storm

Thursday night on May 30th, there was a crazy wild wind storm. Around 9:30 the power went out. Then the tornado sirens went off and we spent time in our closet. Sidnie was scared, but went to bed with a flashlight and her sister Kammie in the same room. I'm never that convinced that anything is going to really happen with the storms, because it never has and it feels like the sirens going off is "crying wolf." Better safe than sorry, I supposed. Friday, we woke up to see that there were trees and big limbs down all over our yard and in the neighborhood (on the golf course around the big circle). It was the last day of school, but we didn't send the kids. James stayed home from work to help clean up the yard. After a run in the mugginess of AR, we worked on cleaning up the yard. We were blessed that the big limbs and trees that came down did so in between ours and our neighbors house instead of on one of them.

On our deck out back...

View from the deck...

The other side of the yard...

A widow maker stuck too high up to be able to get down.

The power ended up being out for 17 hours. We used our generator to keep the fridge and freezer outside cold and moved stuff from the inside fridge out there. We also let our neighbor plug his appliances in for a time. Since the power was out, we built a fire in our fire pit and the kids roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. We also made tinfoil dinners. YUM! The power finally came on around 2pm.

Around the small circle (block) from us, this big tree came down and took out part of a neighboring tree. It was also blocking the road, and had to be cut back so cars could get past. CRAZY!