Favorite Photos Friday

Although it's late on Friday night, it's still technically Friday. It was a busy day today. Anyway, here's my favorite photos for the week.

These are photographs I've been holding onto since Easter. I was unable to share them until the adoption of Girlie and G5 was final.

Daughter has a photographer friend who generously offered to make the trek to our house for a photo shoot.

This is our complete family.


We thought it would be pretty cool to take a family picture out in the field with AD's 1958 Massey-Ferguson tractor. It's powered with propane.

Dennis, the photographer, did an outstanding job capturing the cutest pictures of Girlie.


This one makes me wonder what she's thinking about.

The wicker rocker was one I bought when G1 was a little guy. It looked great in the tall grass.


Look how cute Girlie and G5 are sitting on the tractor. G5 really liked "steering" it


and did NOT want a female at the wheel!


Here's Girlie with her daddy walking back up to the house.


G3 brought G5 back laughing all the way.

Earlier G3 took his turn sitting on the tractor


and here's G4 sitting on the front.

G2 posed with his momma. Her hair used to be as blond as his.


That's it for this Friday.

I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend whatever your plans.

If you happen across anyone who has or is currently serving in the military, be sure to tell them how much they are appreciated.

Squeamish? You May Not Want To Read This

Lately our wildlife camera hasn't caught too much other than the wind blowing in the grass and Mikey.

Every once in a while a deer will appear. I think this one looks like she might be pregnant.

She's there on the left in this picture. Do you think her belly looks a little enlarged?

Yesterday when AD brought the camera chip in there were over 300 pictures that looked similar to this

and this. The time started at 12:53pm on Sunday and continued until 9:39am yesterday.

Evidently a snake took a liking to our camera.

Another Fun Weekend

After the adoption celebration last Friday our weekend continued.

Saturday nights are generally spent at a local race track watching G1 and G2 race. This past Saturday was no different. They both raced in the same heat race with G2 finishing in first place and G1 finishing third.

When the checkered flag fell at the end of the feature race, G2 had again placed first and G1 was close behind finishing second.

It was a late night at the track. We got home at 1am and grabbed a few winks because on Sunday morning we were off for a couple of days in Branson, MO.

G1 and his gf went with us. She'd never been to Branson and it was fun showing her around.

Our first stop was in Ozark, MO to eat at one of our very favorite places - Lambert's!
Of course we love their "throwed rolls" and we also look forward to their "pass-a-rounds".

If you've never been to Lambert's, you place your order but then some of the guys and gals come around with big pots of pass-a-rounds. There's blackeyed peas, fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, macaroni and tomatoes and of course the rolls and sorghum if you like.

AD's favorites are the blackeyed peas and the okra. My favorite is the fried potatoes and onions. Daughter's favorite is the macaroni and tomatoes. And we all have to have us some throwed rolls.

Then it was off to Branson. After a bit of shopping at Branson Landing we checked into our hotel. G1 and his gf took some time to cool off in the hotel pool.

A trip to a miniature golf course came next.

There are a number of miniature golf courses in Branson. G1 likes the "Lost Treasure" course. Actually they have 2 courses - the Diamond Course and the Gold Course. G1 chose the Diamond Course.

Normally I am the one that ends up on the short end of the club so to speak. I'm not sure if G1 was just being nice because gf was with us or if he was having a bad day or if I just had an EXTREMELY good day because I - that's ME! - I WON!!! Woo hoo! I. NEVER. win. The gf came in second and I can't honestly remember who came in 3rd and 4th but it was the guys.

After the round of golf came it was on to the Lumberjack go-kart track. The kids enjoyed the karts while AD and I spectated.

By the end of the ride we were all pretty tired so it was back to our rooms for some much needed rest because

Monday found us at Silver Dollar City. The park is celebrating 50 years in 2010.

My how times have changed. When I first went to the park as a kid, other than the tour of the cave, there was only a stage coach ride and the train. Over the years rides have come and gone

and the parking lot has expanded to parking lotS.

For years our family had season passes to "the City". Then a couple of years ago when we were working on the house we decided we wouldn't have time for any visits for awhile.

Even more changes were in store for us when we arrived yesterday. The parking lots have changed some and so have the trams that take you to the entrance.

Look at that nice new tram. The old ones were green and the roofs were very low. I'm not very tall and I bumped my head on the old ones more than once.

Once inside G1 and gf headed to the Wildfire roller coaster. They stood in line extra time just to be able to ride in the front seats. G1 says that's the only place to ride in order to get the full effect. Personally I'm fine on the observation deck.
Then it was off to Powder Keg. Again they stood in line extra time to be able to have the front seat viewing advantage.

After a bar-b-que lunch we met up with one of gf's friends and her family in the Grand Exposition area of the park.

gf and her friend wanted to ride the Electro Spin. It's kind of hard to describe other than the track is sort of a U-shape. Riders set on the seats as you see in the picture. The seats are attached to a spinning platform. As the platform spins it also starts going back and forth from right to left, each time going a little higher. 55 feet is the maximum height that it goes, all the while spinning round and round.

Try as she might, gf just could not coax G1 getting on the ride. His point of view was that he'd just eaten a big bar-b-que lunch and he just didn't think his stomach would be able to handle the motion. A very wise choice in my opinion and I'm sure the other riders, had they known, would have appreciated him choosing not to ride too.

The last ride of the day was a wet one in the Lost River. The kids were ready to call it a day and so we headed home.

It was good to get back to Branson and "the City" after a 2-year hiatus. I'm pretty sure AD and I will be making at least a couple more trips this season.

A GRAND Celebration!

AD and I are just back from Oklahoma City.


We were there today for a long awaited happening - the reason for the GRAND Celebration!

I'm pleased to introduce you to Girlie and

G5!

G3, Son, Girlie, Son's wife holding G5 and G4

At approximately 1:47pm CDST Son and his wife officially adopted our two newest grandchildren.

Everyone is very excited and happy to have everything completed.

One of Life's Milestones

Last Friday evening G1 graduated from high school.

It seems like only yesterday that AD and I watched as Daughter (G1's mom) received her diploma.

Where did the time go?

The Class of 2010 chose this motto: "Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live."

Wise words, I think.

Congratulations on this milestone in your life, G1! Your family is so very proud of you.

Busy Week - Short Post

Some have heard about the storms and tornadoes that hit Oklahoma yesterday.

Somehow the storms went around us. We got some rain and the wind blew pretty hard for awhile but we were very fortunate not to have any of the really bad stuff come our way.

Please keep those in Oklahoma and Kansas who were affected by the storms and tornadoes.

According to the news report that I heard this morning, 5 people were killed (2 in Oklahoma City and 3 in Cleveland county) and at least 58 were injured. You can read more about it here.

It's another busy week here. We have 4 things on our schedule for the weekend so I'm trying to get the house in order plus do a little baking.

I'll be checking in with my bloggie friends but you'll probably not see another post from me until Sunday or Monday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! See you soon.

Happy Birthday, G4!

Today is G4's 8th birthday.

I went to his party on Saturday.

It was a "red-neck" themed party.

There were games like red-neck golf (this is G3 taking his turn), sunflower seed spitting contest and hubcap throwing (similar to frisbee).

Son made a red velvet "road kill possum" cake and there were red-neck mouths (apple lips, peanut butter gums and mini marshmallow teeth), RC Cola and mini Moon Pies.

Notice there were only 7 candles on the cake. The lighter provided the 8th "candle."

All of G4's gifts came wrapped in plastic or brown paper sacks. Except for the one from Daughter's family and AD's and mine. The gift from Daughter's family was actually in a plastic sack to begin with but I wrapped it.

Silly me, I wasn't thinking about the theme of the party and I actually wrapped his gifts. In my defense though I did use red paper.

It was a fun party and I'm glad I got to go.

Happy Birthday, G4! Have a great day.

Favorite Photos Friday

G1's senior prom was last Saturday evening.

The weatherman had predicted rain and when we woke up Saturday morning, the sky looked like this. There were rain showers throughout the day. By Saturday evening it didn't appear rain would be a problem.

G1 giving his gf (girlfriend) her corsage.

Her mother wanted to do a photo shoot at their house. Daughter went and took some photos.

Here's his girlfriend pinning on G1's boutonniere.

Then they came up to our house and waited for me so I could take a few photos.

At my suggestion G1 opted to buy new black tennis shoes to wear with his tux. Times have changed, the shoes looked ok with the tux and G1 was comfortable on the dance floor. (I saw one girl with tennis shoes on and a couple of the girls were wearing their boots under their beautiful dresses although if you weren't paying attention you would have never known. They were wanting to be comfortable too.)

A lot of the guys were wearing their shades to the walk-in. I don't think we saw any that weren't white rimmed.

This is one of my top 2 favorite photos.

AD told G1 he could borrow the truck for prom. I wondered how G1's gf was going to manage to get in. The step stool helped.

G1 was in a hurry to get to prom. He didn't want to be late.

They weren't late. In fact they were about 10 minutes early.

AD and I were the ones that were late.

So we didn't get to see this. Daughter said when G1 picked his gf up out of the truck and set her on the ground everyone that was there said, "Aaahhhhhh!"

I wish I'd been there. I'm just glad that Daughter was able to get this photo


and this one of them walking in.

This is my most favorite photo.

After all the kids walked in, they had them all come back out and stroll down the sidewalk when their names were announced. Cameras were flashing everywhere. All they needed was a red carpet.

G1 and his gf had a great time. They went to after prom too and had fun there too.

As a granny I really liked how after prom was handled. When the kids left prom to go home and change, they had to be back at the school by midnight to catch a bus to the after prom party. When the party was over they were bussed back to the school for breakfast.The party lasted until 5am so by the time breakfast was over it was 6am. G1 and his gf thought it would have been better if the after prom party had been over about 3am. They were worn out.

But they had lots of fun and made a ton of memories. Good times!