TORI

CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING?

For Ash and Clay

This is what you guys should do at your wedding.....

Bass Pro Shops & more MO. randomness

After we visited the zoo in Springfield we stopped at the Bass Pro Shops. I don't understand all the excitement about this place. I don't really like to look at a bunch of dead animals hanging on the wall, but Cary and the kids love this place. I think once you've seen one Bass Pro Shop you've seen them all. So I found a bench and enjoyed people watching while the rest of the family ogled over animal heads.

On to Missouri Randomness.....on our way home from one of our outings we saw this lovely, furry vehicle. The kids thought it was so cool.

In Springfield we went to Lamberts, Home of the Throwed Rolls. This place is so yummy and the kids really got a kick out of hot, homemade rolls being thrown at them. They serve delicious home cooked food. They keep bringing it out until you say stop and no doggie bags allowed. I ate so much I felt like I was going to have to be rolled out of there.

We ordered Kate and Joshua kids meals. They brought out their drinks in these gigantic mugs. They were in soda heaven.

We have passed by this tank for years on Main Street in Joplin at the Veterans center. The kids always want to stop and look at it close up. We finally made the stop and Joshua got the picture that he wanted.

Springfield Zoo

While in Missouri we took a day trip to Springfield, which is about an hour and a half away from Joplin, to see the zoo. The weather was nice and we were pleasantly surprised at how nice the zoo was. Kate absolutely loves the zoo! I think this was the highlight of the trip for her.

One of our first stops was to feed these very hungry fish. They wait at the surface of the water with their mouths open waiting for food to be thrown in.

Next stop was the petting zoo

There were beautiful flowers all over the zoo. These hibiscus were the size of Joshua's head.

My very cute niece Payton. She is the best baby in the world.

This was my favorite part of the zoo. We were able to get so close to the giraffes and feed them. They were very stinky and slimy but it was still tons of fun!

Petting a bearded dragon

The one and only hippo that the zoo had. He looked like a very large baked potato.

The End

More Nature

We went to the Wildlife Glades Conservation and Audubon Center while in Missouri. There were several trails to hike and a little museum to go through. Again, my kids love anything that puts them in nature so this was a perfect place for them. Here they are in a field of Daisy's with their cousin Sophia.

Braeden trying not to get eaten alive by this gigantic clam.

These were skins of little critters that we might see along the trail. A skunk, several types of fox, a wolf, and a raccoon.....poor little critters.

This is how most of the trail was....covered in shade by gigantic trees. It was really pretty.

We found berries along the trail. These were unripened black berries.

A very hairy caterpillar.

The bat cave

This was the end of the trail. The only stinky thing about this trail was that it did not go in a complete round...so once you got to this bridge you had to turn around and go back the exact same way you came...lame.

Candy House

One stop we made on our trip was to the Candy House. It was so cute and filled to the brim with all kinds of delicious candy. Taffy, jelly beans, gummy bears, suckers the size of your head, toffee, gum, hard candy, and almost anything that you can think of was covered in chocolate. I was in HEAVEN!!! I could have spent hours sampling all the different kinds of candy. There was so much to choose from that I had a really hard time deciding on what I wanted. We ended up coming away with gummy frogs (for Kate), gold mine gum nuggets (for the boys), taffy of every flavor, home made caramel (it was the softest, most buttery tasting caramel I have ever had in my life...YUM!!), chocolate covered caramel, chocolate turtles (Cary's favorite), and my favorite toffee (we bought 1/4 of a pound of toffee and I ate all but 2 pieces by myself...it was that good). Needless to say we spent way to much money on candy this day but every penny was worth it!

Grand Falls

My kids love to do anything that is outside where they can explore, dig, and get dirty. So, we kept those three things in mind while we chose what we would do while we were in Missouri. They can spend hours and hours just in Grandma's yard alone. In fact we had to pry the kids away from her house, but I think they enjoyed the activities we had planned for them.

The first stop on our agenda was Grand Falls. I think they are man made but I am not sure....My kids loved this. They could have stayed for hours looking for frogs, bugs, crawdads, turtles..you name it and they will look for it. Cary gets in on the action. I on the other hand just sit back and take the pictures.

Preview

Here's a sneak peak of our trip to Missouri....

The kids ate tons of Popsicles

did lots of snail watching

My sister Becka looks like she's got a good tennis serve.....

but she's really zapping bugs with this electric fly swatter...this provided lots of entertainment.

We had lots of snuggle time with my niece, Payton.

The boys did lots of yard work for Grandma

This is Braeden is his camo..

And we had lots of cousin time...

We love going to Missouri. The weather is so much more pleasant then our good old Texas heat. We sat on the porch a lot and rocked in the rocking chairs and just enjoyed the nature. We ventured from Grandma's house a little more this summer. We went to Grand Falls, a nature preserve, the Candy House, and we took a day trip to Springfield...more posts to come on those excursions. All in all it was a nice relaxing trip but it is always good to come home even if it is to 100+ degree weather.