Before Missouri (the State Named After a River State)

Here are a few pictures from before we left for Missouri (the Retired Peoples of America State). We hung out at the splash pad with my dearest friend Rachel one afternoon. Rachel was in town for her brother's wedding and some family reunions, but she was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to chat with me. It was lovely. I miss her face. Kate took these pictures. I was dying of heat, but since Rach is used to Texas weather now, she didn't think it was hot at all.

Laura dressed Jude up as Farmer Jude. Adorable.

For one of our activity days activities this summer we are making pvc pipe bows and arrows. I wanted to make one before we left for Missouri (the Everyone Dresses Like They Are Going to Walmart All the Time State) so the cousins could play with it, and so I could be sure it would work before the activity. Jeff Hawkins was kind enough to help me the whittling and cutting, and Brad Hawkins tested it out for me.

The finished product! I shot this baby from my yard, across the street, and onto the neighbor's roof. (Don't worry, it bounced off and didn't get lost.) I had a hard time sharing with the kids, because I wanted to keep shooting it.

Wednesday morning was our first activity days of the summer. We did fire starting in Tracy Hawkins's backyard. The girls were great. They cut up kindling, built the teepee, started a fire, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, and built candy fires. We all had a great time.

Our new couches were delivered Wednesday afternoon! We have been without couches upstairs for about a year. We ordered these last April, and they finally arrived! They are perfect and I love them. I picked out the design, fabric, and pillows. I couldn't be happier.

It was kind of a crazy week before our trip, but somehow I managed to get everything ready to go to Missouri (the State) despite all the nonsense!