want to print your blog page to a book?

found this... and ordered our first 6 months of blog posts with Eli.
just incase you are interested for your own blog page
http://blogger.sharedbook.com/pilot/framesetHome.do

Lunch with Pops

The Saturday after our trip, we went to Willie's Icehouse to eat lunch with Pops. It was his belated birthday lunch... Eli loves his Pops bunches and bunches!

A visit to Grams....

The weekend after we got home from the trip to Arkansas, we went to visit Gram, Uncle Jamie, and Papa James in Fannett. Papa James got a new vehicle... lets see how long he keeps this one....
Papa James' other toys... jeep, boat, camper, big ford truck... inside the garage were 2 kayaks, 2 of his bikes, a rubber raft boat, and much more...
He is a man of many toys. The Murano is a new addition to his collection.

Grams helped Eli balance and try to walk

Eli and Uncle Jamie napped for a while........

Pics from Mothers Day...

Yes I know these are completely out of wack (order) as compared to the rest of our adventures. I will blame this on last month of school, heading on a long vacation, coming back and getting ready for the next, then starting some staff development courses. So here we are posting Mothers Day... next post is Fathers Day...
On Mothers Day we went to Nanna's church in Magnolia and then for lunch at her house with the rest of the family. I absolutely love being a mom. Eli is the best thing ever! I am very thankful for Jer and Eli. The two of them have put more smiles on my face than ever. Every day I love Eli more and more. He shows me what life is all about. I often catch myself wondering "how do moms walk away from their children?" I couldn't imagine... this love is so strong and so amazing and hard to describe.
I am so thankful for my Aunt Denise (Nanna) who raised me. She is my "mother". She may not have given birth to me but she might as well have. She is amazing and I am so thankful for her taking me in and loving me as her own. I love you Nanna! We are so glad to share our moments with you and give you the smiles and joys you deserve

Mommy and Eli napped on the couch after church

Eli and Great Uncle Joe

me, Eli, and Nanna

Uncle Adam and EliEli snuggled with Pastor Patty after church

Uncle Michael comes to visit

Uncle Michael has started coming to visit Eli. The week after our trip, he stopped by before his softball game to "swim" with Eli. Eli loved the company in the pool.

It was cute watching the two of them in the pool

Michael and Tracy stopped by for a bit when Peggy and Jamie were there to visit in May. Michael made his loud "booop" noises to make Eli jump. Eli wasnt too sure about it.... look at his expression!

Uncle Jamie--Look what I found!

These are pics from the first of May... I am a bit behind!! I thought I would post these pics and moments of Eli with Jamie and Poppy. They love smooching on Eli and playing with him.

Eli gave Uncle Jamie is birthday present (late). It is a memory/pic book of all their adventures together from birth to April... Jamie loved it and is looking forward to his next book from Eli.

Oklahoma-- last days...

We left Queen W State Park and headed down Scenic Drive Road 1 into Oklahoma. What a beautiful drive! Perfect for motor cycles and convertibles! The road went up and down along the mountain ridges and you could see the road several mountains back that you were on and parts that were up ahead... so great!

We stopped for lunch in Talihina, OK for lunch and headed back on road 1 to 259 to Idabel. This diner was great! Eli had his first mashed potatoes and gravy. As soon as we were seated the waitress brought them out for him to try. He loved it!

Pam's Hateful Hussy Diner-- loved the name! mashed potatoes and gravy hanging down on his chin
Talimina Scenic Drive

map showing the drive... if you click on it, it will zoom and you can see where Gretchen & Jason are from... Heavener!

the drive....

look closely... you will see "white lines" along the mountain tops... that is the road...

We stopped at Broken Bow Lake... Eli and Mommy snapped a "sunglass shot"

Queen Wilhelmina State Park

We stayed the night at Queen Wilhelmina State Park on June 8th. It had great views and was a beautiful drive up the mountain. We went for a hike the next morning before heading out. As you can see, Eli wasn't too happy about this early morning adventure! He napped on the hike.
Entering the Lover's Leap Trail to check out the "look out point"

the lodge

view of a rain storm coming in.

Dry Counties....

Somewhere along our trip to Devils Den, we came across dry counties....

We didn't realize it because all through Arkansas and our trip we saw liquor stores everywhere (not that we "frequented" them... we just noticed). Long story short.... we stopped at a gas station and asked where we could buy beer or alcohol. The woman at the counter was very offended by my asking and said "You can't buy any of THAT here! This is dry county. You have to drive into Oklahoma for that!" I called Gretchen since she is from the area (kind of) and she said we were in major bible country and the woman was probably thinking we were going to hell and how dare we drink with a baby! After some giggles, I was determined to get some brewskis for Jer so I could drink my wine. Jer doesn't like wine. So off we went.... about 30 extra miles to get some beer for Jer... About 5 miles into Oklahoma territory, we came across 2 beer stores... we stopped at this one... It was a woman's mobile home that was added onto and had a burger place and movie rental... along with the beer and wine cooler stuff. Jer purchased a 6 pack for $5-- cheap!
This was our other option... a drive thru beer store. Otherwise it was another 50 miles to Broken Bow to get a "real" liquor store!

Back to Arkansas and on to Queen Wilhemina State Park

Devils Den-- Happy Anniversary!

Devils Den State Park was amazing. We spent Sunday night there and oh do I wish we could have stayed longer! The beds there were awesome (like mine at home!) Jer was so nice and let me and Eli sleep in on Monday. We slept until 10am! WOW! The park was great too. It had lots of things to explore and do. We plan on coming back.There was a lot of wildlife. Jer saw some gophers, chipmunks, & squirrels... Eli and I slept in and missed most of it.

There were some sandstone caves and they were called the "icebox". A cold breeze came out of those caves!

Jer and Eli outside of a bat cave.... we didnt see any bats.. but we didnt crawl in either!

Lots of cracks and crevices.........

Eli and Daddy checking the trail map

Our cabin

Jer and Eli in the kitchen of the cabin

Where the Buffalo roam....

Sunday was quite fun! After Blue Spring Heritage, we headed towards Devils Den and came upon buffalo!

I just wanted to show you what the back of my sequoia looked like on this trip. Every night it was all unloaded.... and every morning reloaded for the next stop! We took out the 3rd row seats and left them at home so we would have more room. It was crammed!