Bass Pro

We found two treats on our way to Kirksville:

#1) Highway 63 is now 4 lanes all the way to Kirksville (with the excpection of the city of Macon)!! Yeah!!! I would have paid a lot of money for that when I was in college!

#2) There is a Bass Pro Shop in Columbia!

We decided to stop and enjoy the Bass Pro experience on our way home.


(I do feel the need to mention that we did go to church in KV. It was so nice to see old friends at GCBC! We left town right afterwards. Hence the clothes. There's just something about experiencing Bass Pro in your Sunday best that is very funny to me!)


As we were wandering around the store we noticed that they had a deck out back over looking the pond, where the kids could fish for free! (We don't even own fishing poles!) When we went out there we found two boys with the fish they caught . . . the girls each got to pet them : )


Ali's turn to fish. She was very excited about this . . . it really kind of surprised me.

Emma's turn . . .

Meg waited patiently for quite a while and was very excited to get the pole in her hands!

Julie didn't want to fish at first, but changed her mind. I'm surprised that she didn't drop the pole in the water as she was more interested in looking at the turtles.

Aquariums are always fun and the was no exception.

I wish I could say that Bass Pro was the last stop of our trip . . . When we got out to our van we found a flat tire! Bummer! Aaron changed it and I felt overwhelming gratitude when I saw how the side of the tire was practically ripped out . . . gratitude that that didn't blow out while we were on the highway! It's amazing to see the little ways that God takes care of us. I've never been so thankful for a flat tire.

So, one more stop for a new tire at Sam's (we didn't want to drive home on our spare) and then it was clear sailing back to Pacific. It was such a fun weekend!! We are already thinking about what our next trip may be . . .

It isn't a swimming pool . . . but they sure thought it was awesome!

What camping trip is complete without swimming in a lake?

This was a first for my girls. They've done the river thing, and Ali has been to the Atlantic Ocean (as a baby) . . . but for the most part they are swimming pool girls. I think they preferred the lake to the pool . . . because of the sandy beach!




They kept asking if there would be shells there for them to collect. I kept telling them "no" because it's a man-made beach. I was really getting sick of the question to be honest. And sure enough . . . they proved me to be an idiot. Yes, they collected quite a few shells, here Ali was proud to find the first of them.


Enjoying the sun and the sand.

Seriously . . . is she the cutest kid ever? Okay, so maybe I'm biased.

"Look mommy! I'm doing what Miss Jodi taught me!" (Yes, Jodi tried to teach her to float on her back - never mind the fact that she's lying on the sand!)

The lady at the gate even let the girls borrow some sand toys (again, proving me wrong after I told them that there wouldn't be any toys there to play with!)

Poor Ali couldn't get her hair wet because she had a reverse perm on Thursday. She made the most of it though.

Emma, on the other hand, got her hair plenty wet.

That evening, after dinner, we went out to The Point to take some sunset pictures at the lake. Once again, I nabbed the opportunity to get some shots of the kids. It was too windy, but I still got some cute ones.

Meg's turn!

Ali . . .

. . . and Emma

Sunset at The Point

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I should probably mention right up front that this post is going to be long . . . and if you've never lived in Kirksville, you probably won't find it very interesting!

After breakfast Saturday morning, we decided to revisit all of our old haunts in Kirksville. The kids (especially Ali) were very eager to see everything . . . I to my surprise, they thoroughly enjoyed all of it. For Ali, she had a lot of history there that she has no memory of . . . so she thought that was really great. Here is the abbreviated version of our wanderings . . .

Our first stop was the University. Our overall impression (unfortunately) was that it was so ugly!! It's such a beautiful campus, but there were tons of things under construction! So, my pictures on campus were few, but I got a couple of the "typical" Truman shots. The clock tower is, of course, one of those.


Kirk Memorial. The front of it was all roped off and torn to pieces, so this was the best I could do. They have a lot of work to do before classes start!


The bell wall on the quad

Here are my girls "experiencing" the gum tree. Apparently the original tree died and a new one has been adopted by the students. I don't think I ever put a piece of gum on that thing.

The sunken garden. One of my favorite spots on campus . . . unfortunately the pavilion at the end was full of folding chairs . . . not very picturesque, but the flowers were beautiful, as always.

My poor kids . . . I couldn't pass up such an opportunity for a group shot . . . I assure you . . . I took many of them!

I've created a monster! Yes, here's Emma with her camera, asking Ali to pose by the flowers. And of course . . . she comes by it honestly. Here I am taking a picture of her taking a picture! Ha!

This one made me laugh! Here I am trying to pose the girls for a group shot on the quad and Aaron felt the need to snap a few pics. Of course they're all looking at him, and paying no attention to me!

This is one of my favorites of the whole weekend! Isn't she a doll?

All of the buildings were locked, except for McLain Hall. This was a treat for me b/c this is where I took most of my Spanish classes and where I did tutoring. I was surprised at how fascinated the girls were by the place.

My advisor's office . . . yep . . . she's still there!

Sign for the Spanish Honor Society. I was a member (though admittedly, not a very involved one!)

After wandering around campus for a while we went to the house where we lived when Ali was born. 416 N. Elson Apt. B It's even for sale! : )

The hospital where Ali was born. She's been wanting to see this place for years! All of the other girls were born at St. Luke's and they've been back there since then. This was Ali's turn!

109 1/2 W. Washington St.

Lidia and I lived in this apartment for a few months my Jr. year. Incidentally, it is also where I met Aaron for the first time, August 1997! : )

Washington Street Java Co! And it even still has the same name (I think it changed names like 4 times in the years that I live in KV) I spent many many hours in this place. It was right downstairs from the above mentioned apartment!

Pagliai's Pizza!! Home of the Ronza. A Kirksville tradition. Aaron worked here the first year that we were married.

Ali's first Ronza experience

Emma's first Ronza experience

Meg's first Ronza experience

Julie's first Ronza experience

Our little pieces of Kirksville history : )

October 1999 & January 2000

The trucks are still there! This is a newer one, but we did see one of the older ones when we first arrived.

While on the square we also enjoyed the farmer's market, but no pics to show for it.

And last but not least . . . The Bevier & Southern Locomotive in Bevier, MO . . . the home of The Pear Tree. (Okay, it's not in Kirksville, but still an old haunt of ours.) The food was fabulous . . . what a treat!

Camping

It's been 9 years since the last time we went camping.

Friday morning I called Aaron at work and said "Hey, what would you think of going camping today?"

After a few hours of scrambling around to get ready, we were on the road, bound for Macon, MO (near Kirksville). About half way there we changed our minds and decided to go to Kirksville instead. Most of the places we were wanting to see were in Kirksville, so we thought that would be a better idea. Thousand Hills State Park . . . here we come . . .

Considering the suddenness of our decision, we really didn't forget much. Of course one of the things I DID forget were clothes for Emma. Genius, I know. I had thrown some clothes in the wash for her, and ended up leaving them behind. Thankfully I did pack panties and a swimsuit. We also brought clothes for Sunday morning. So $6 later, Emma had a new cute outfit from Walmart - tax free even! : )


We arrived at our campsite just in time to get our tents up before it was dark. Of course, we had to get some s'mores in before bedtime. They all thought that was awesome. Julie loved roasting "Marsh-pillows" Love it! I think the name just might stick!



Our first morning - here they are toasting biscuits over the fire. They thought that was pretty darn cool as well!



Our Campsite

. . . with even a little view of the lake!

There were a couple playgrounds in the park. Emma thought the monkey bars were awesome, and she could actually do them! (But she isn't thrilled with the blisters that resulted!)