Jesse James Days

This past weekend was our town's annual Jesse James Days celebration. Yes, Jesse James was a thief and murderer, but in our area, where he is from, he is celebrated...go figure. I have read that he is compared to Robin Hood...so, yes I guess he is a hero....somewhat!

Anyway, every year, our local historical society, who is in charge of preserving the old train depot we have in town, puts on a weekend long celebration. Saturday is the day where most of the action takes place. The day started with the Boy Scouts raising the flag, a baby show,a parade, then the Boy Scout Tribe of Mic-O-Say dancers. The day wraps up with a country music show presented by local talent. It really is a fun day and a neat time to live in a small community.

Posted below are some pictures of the kids. Marshall took third place in the Little Mister Winston Show. The boys rode their four-wheelers in the parade!

Morgan and Marshall lining up for the parade.

Marshall with the 1st and 2nd place winners for Little Mister Winston!

The Boy Scouts during the flag raising ceremony.

Morgan's Basketball

Morgan has been busy playing, practicing and attending basketball camps this summer....he still has one left. However, the team has done very well. Both Winston teams played in a summer league in Bethany and they were 2 of the 3 tri-league champs! In late June, he attended the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat Basketball Day Camp (go Bearcats). This is his final year to go to the elementary daycamp as he will be going into 7th grade next summer (gasp!?!) I went with him the final day and took a trip down memory lane on campus....though a lot has changed since I graduated! This week, the boys have been going to camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joe. Today, he received a plaque for the Most Improved in his age division! Morgan puts a lot of time into basketball and loves playing. Even though he has been busy this summer with basketball, he is still enjoying it!

His dad and I are pleased that enjoys playing and puts his best effort forward every time he steps onto the court! Good job Mo!

Boy Scout Float Trip

This past weekend we ventured to Lebanon, Missouri for a Boy Scout family float trip. We took all five of us plus my mom along too! There was a total of 7 families who went along. This was our first official campout and float trip as a family. I am not a camper, but did enjoy the weekend.....as long as I had my air mattress and fan!

We got to the campground late Friday night and set up our tent in the dark. Needless to say, the kids were very tired, but super excited to be at the campground. Getting to sleep was hard!

Saturday started out rainy and I was kind of scared for what kind of day we were in for, but eventually it cleared off. It was done raining by the time they put our canoes in the water and it stayed dry the rest of the day except for a few minutes in the early afternoon. Most of the day was cloudy until after lunch and then the sun came out! The river was PACKED! At some places, it was difficult just to navigate around the other canoes and rafts and move along. My mom, Maggie, and I shared a canoe and at one point, Maggie tumbled from the front of the canoe into some REALLY COLD water! Other than the shock of it, she was just fine, but she was not impressed about going into the water! Later on in the day, we almost had a flip-over accident, but managed to save ourselves; however the canoe behind us went over!

All in all, it was a pretty nice trip down the river. Once we returned to camp, we spent a couple of hours swimming in the pool at the campground. Since Saturday was Maggie's birthday, we finished out the day with dinner and birthday cake! It was a very relaxing, fun-filled day.

On Sunday, we broke camp and headed home through Warsaw to go to the Truman Dam Visitors Center. We ate lunch there and then took the kids to see the fish below the dam. It was very fun, but we were all worn out from the previous day!

This is Maggie and Rachel at Truman Dam

All three kids pictured at Truman Dam

All three of the kids feeding fish at the Bennett Springs fishery!

The birthday girl and some of her presents!

Sunday morning sleeping.....she fell off the air mattress onto the ground and didn't even wake up.....that's one tired kid!

This cake travelled four hours and looked great....only to get knocked over by one brother to be destroyed......we did the best repair job we could do in a campground!! All the cake was devoured!!

The canoers prior to departure!

The boys Saturday morning!

We were responsible for the grocery shopping and the food prep prior to departure....this is Maggie's solution to crying while chopping onions....pretty ingenius, huh?

I've been TAGGED by Megan to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy.

1. Riding four wheelers with the kids and Greg!

2. Naps!

3. Watching General Hospital!

4. Turning up the radio and singing in the car!

5. Karaoke!

6. Going to the movies!

Tags go to:
Angie
Julie

Summer update

Well.....last night Greg went and picked up another "little" four wheeler for Morgan. We got a smaller one last year for the kids to share, but as it always goes....one is not enough. So, we sold one of our big four wheelers and Greg found another small four wheeler for the kids. Actually, it is just the boys because Maggie doesn't care to drive....she just likes to ride with Mom and Dad. So, now each of the boys has a four wheeler that they can drive and is their size. Posted below are pictures of the boys on the four wheelers. Notice that Marshall's is very muddy. I'm sure it is no stretch of the imagination to know that he LOVES to find mudholes and go through them!! I know.....it is VERY unlike him to get dirty...... I also posted a few pictures of Maggie and my niece Aubrey from their dance recital. They did a gymnastics number, a tap number, and a jazz number. This was Maggie's sixth year in dance.....time does fly! We have FINALLY finished baseball season. Morgan has one more summer basketball game next Wednesday and then I start softball! I play on a slow pitch team and enjoy it as my summer winds down. Last year Greg played, but since his back is bothering him and he is working to get the school finished, I doubt he will play this year. The kids enjoy going to the games and playing and kidding me about my stellar athletic abilities!