Roaring Springs Ranch Rodeo

Friday, August 25 –

As always, the evening starts off with a prayer and the national anthem. It’s always so moving.

This boy, Riggen Greer, was the “wool fighter” in the “Muttin’ Bustin'” which is wild sheep riding for kids.

 

 

Family Vacation 2018

Sunday, July 29 –

This year we decided to try and get all the kids and grand kids together for a family vacation. We stayed at a house in Kerrville, Texas. Since Jordan had never had an opportunity to see the Alamo, and since Fredericksburg is always a fun place to visit, the location of this home worked out well. We spent one day in San Antonio and everyone spent at least one day in Fredericksburg.

 

Atlanta and Jordan were the first to arrive with Andrea and Laredo not far behind. The girls got started right away on fixing something for supper.

It was so good to see all the smiling faces. Everyone had grown so much.

Right away, the piano was a big hit with the little ones. The bench just wasn’t big enough.

Most of the group hadn’t even met Travis yet.

There was a goldfish pond out front. The kids really loved this. Alan is trying to shoot one.

Everybody really loved the pool. It was the perfect time of year to enjoy swimming.

Baby Travis turned 3 months old on the trip weighing in at around 22 pounds.

There was always lots of good food and fun games going on.

Granddad always had someone to hold.

There was a game room that offered pool, foosball, air hockey or just hanging out with one another.

Cousins met new cousins and got to know each other. Elsie and Axel are checking each other out.

Marian, the oldest cousin, is getting so grown up.

 

Travis and Axel, the youngest cousins charmed everyone.

One day we went to San Antonio and spent time at the Alamo and the River Walk.

We ate supper at a Mexican food place on the river.

Marian liked feeding the pigeons her left over rice.

When we got home, the kids had fun playing with their Alamo play set.

Big Group at Crosbyton Church

Sunday, February 11 –

With the Goodwin’s in town, we all attended church in Crosbyton because Laredo was preaching there that Sunday. They served lunch as well. It was fun and Laredo did a great job.

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Quick Trip to Carlsbad Caverns

Monday, July 31 –

Trying to get a quick trip in before the summer ended, we decided to visit Carlsbad Caverns over in New Mexico. We arrived in the town of Carlsbad before noon (since we gained an hour on the way). We walked around the “river walk” where the city has really made a nice area around the Pecos river that runs through the city.

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There’s a long walking bridge that goes across the river over to a large “castle” park. We were so wishing we had all the grand kids with us.

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We rented a room in White City at the Rodeway Inn and the kids really enjoyed playing in the water park that was on site and included in the room price. In fact, they pretty much had it to themselves. The sun had come out and it was a good time for a quick swim before exploring the cave.

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yeah, that’s right, we’re country people…

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Now that they were cooled off, we drove to the Carlsbad Caverns Visitors Center.

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Here’s the entrance to the cave. It’s really impressive when you see it for the first time, or for the fifth time for that matter.

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The view from inside looking up. It takes a while to walk down the bottom and then go through the entire great room, but it’s well worth it.

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That night we drove into Carlsbad to eat supper. A bad thunderstorm hit while we were at a Mexican Food place. The lights went out during our meal and were apparently out all over town. We had to finish up in the dark. Sadly, the restaurant had no candles for the tables, and when it came time to pay our bill, the staff had no idea how to do anything by hand. They were all in a panic wondering how to get along without their computers and cash registers. Our little waitress finally brought us a hand written ticket and tried to convince us that our total was 126.57 for 4 dinners. When Nathan laughed and told her that that was impossible, she said “But I added it up twice!” Good grief. Is our society that helpless now? It was funny and scary all at the same time. (Here’s a picture I took of it. You can see the first total marked out.)

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Baby Shower for Courtney in Midland

Sunday, July 9 –

We got up early and traveled to Midland in order to attend a baby shower for Courtney that the Fairmont Park church of Christ was giving her for her expected baby boy in September. After the shower we got to visit with both our Midland grand babies and then attend church with them on Sunday night before returning home.

The first thing we did was meet for lunch at Cracker Barrel.

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Then it was on to the shower for the girls. The Fairmont ladies really outdid themselves with a darling outdoorsy hunting theme for the decor.

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Courtney got so many cute and useful things at the shower.

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Afterwards, we went back to Cim and Courtney’s and played with the grand babies again.

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Cim gave us a demonstration of lifting using his homemade atlas stone.

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The evening brought another fine sermon from Laredo at Fairmont Park church of Christ. It also gave us a little more time to spoil Callahan and Bella.

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Dinosaur Valley State Park and Creation Museum

Saturday, April 15 –

We took a little side trip on our way home from Dallas. We spent some time in the Glen Rose area. We went through the Creation Museum, ate lunch at a great BBQ place and then spent a few hours at nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park.

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The museum was great. They had some nice exhibits including a small scale Noah’s ark. We also had fun at an antique shop before stopping for lunch.

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Then we headed back out of town past the museum and on to Dinosaur Valley State Park. The only draw back was the fact that since it was Easter weekend and perfect weather, we weren’t the only people there. But it was fun and we definitely want to go back and explore further sometime. (when there are no crowds)

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Stockton and Carolina were able to cross the river and see the dinosaur tracks near the other bank in a place or two. They enjoyed getting to swim and cool off.

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Quick Stop in Washita Mountains

Saturday, July 16 –

On the way home from our trip to Tennessee, we stopped in Oklahoma and spent the afternoon in the Washita Mountain Reserve. We really enjoyed seeing some buffalo up close. We stopped for a while by the side of the road and filmed a couple of bulls building up to a little skirmish. The weather was so beautiful, we decided to take a little hike, too.

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