This kid can bowl!

The sleeping porch...

Building a rabbit cage

The Gift of an Ordinary Day.....

Someone sent me a link to a video of an author reading the essay "The Gift of an Ordinary Day."  If you haven't listened/read this, it is worth the time (about 7 minutes).  It has had me thinking about "the ordinary day," and how it is the ordinary times that provide my fondest memories of my girls childhood....like hot summer days getting ready to go to the city pool and then coming home and the girls would be so tired they just wanted to lay down and watch a movie....and how much cooler it would seem in the house with the lights off in the hot afternoon, fan blowing and quietly watching "The Goonies"  or "Summer Magic." The excitement of getting ready for our family vacation because it would be one week of just us....all four....24 hours a day.  And I always had a stack of "hand work" to do on the way because I had made new outfits for the trip and had only to hem or sew on buttons....

With that in mind, here are some pictures of our ordinary days this summer....

And yes, I have on my clothes....but I wasn't going to let

the fact that I did not have my bathing suit on keep me from

having fun with my grandsons!

Rodeo of the Ozarks

Springdale hosts the Rodeo of the Ozarks every year, but it is usually too hot for me since it is 4th of July weekend.  However, this year the weather was great!  Phillip and I went on July 3 and the high temperature was 85 degrees...perfect!  Phillip and I took Jayden to a rodeo in Cody, WY last year and we had so much fun I've been wanting to go again ever since.  The boys were enjoying their 4th of July holiday in Hot Springs or we would have taken them with us.  

It was a good rodeo, but the hot dogs at the Cody rodeo were better....or at least in my memory :)

Starting this vacation the right way!

I have been so anxious to get some good seafood and we started out at a good place.  This was at the Oyster House in Mobile, AL.  We always ate at the Oyster House in Gulf Shores, but had never stopped at the original one in Mobile.  This was the BEST shrimp!  

We arrived at our condo around 7 pm on Saturday.  This is the same condo that we had last year.  It is a two bedroom, but we will have company later in the week.

Loving lake life...

I love being at the lake!  Having a dock has opened up another dimension for us in lake living....I never realized how much I would enjoy spending the entire summer here.  Phillip and I walk down to the dock and sit and watch the sunset...and sometimes fish a little....

Some birds built a next in one of the cupholders on the boat...

We took the boat out for a ride and the momma and daddy birds were going crazy! 

We got back to the dock and I looked in the cupholder and realized why....the birds were

just starting to hatch.  We decided to not take the boat out the rest of the day 

and we were leaving for Florida after that.  It was just enough time...by the time we got

back the birdies had flown from the nest.

Here are two other baby birds in our garage - not the same birds as above.  They had hatched in the

garage and the one night I closed the door while the parents were outside getting food.  The

next meeting I saw the two birds outside this window trying to get inside and saw that

their babies were sitting on the window ledge.

And one morning I walked out to the deck to have my coffee and found this little egg sitting on the rail... the wind blew it off and it broke :(

This is only a sample of the wildlife around here.  We have seen a fox several mornings and deer every morning.  We have also seen a marmot, snake, turtles (alligator snapping turtle, box turtles and a BIG turtle swimming in the lake) and alligator Gar.