Missouri Memories

Chuck and John were both born in Missouri and lived there on and off through-out their childhood. All of their Dad's side of the family still lives there. We've had the opportunity to visit several times over the years. But this time was extra special. Their youngest cousin, Jon, was getting married and John's son, Logan, was to be the Ring Bearer at the wedding. Also, it just happened to coincide with their Dad's 70th birthday. We thought that heading to Missouri a few days before the wedding to spend some time with their Dad would help make it a meaningful and special time for him. He's asked us to visit him at his lake house at The Lake of The Ozarks for years, but our schedules never seemed to allow it. But this trip was extra fun because the brothers and their families got to go together - which if given the choice, is how they would always prefer to do things.

This was our little slice of lake-life for 2 days.

8 of us shared this little cabin. It's bigger than it looks.

 As usual, the boys had a ton of fun playing together

And jumping of the dock

More jumping

Cartwheeling 

More jumping

 Handstanding

Pushing each other off. 

Floating like otters.

Being vessels for transporting children.

Our cabin was only 10 minutes away from Danny's. Our floating vessel is the one in front, not the nice one.

This is Danny's pontoon, The African Queen, that he carted us all around in. Yes, all 9 of us fit in it and we didn't sink.

We even had a captain.

We had a monster storm come through our first morning there. Thankfully, the sky cleared up and we were able enjoy all the lake had to offer. Here is Danny enjoying floating with the little ones.

Lots of games were going on in the water. This one involved tying all the life vests together, all hanging on, and then all letting go to try and sink to the bottom. To my knowledge, no one was able to actually touch the bottom of the lake because it's like 30 feet deep.

We had loads of fun jumping off the boat (getting back on was a little bit of a challenge though). Bennett looks to be headed for a belly flop here. That little bit of water entertained us for hours. The water temp was perfectly refreshing.

Mason was all smiles on this day.

To top off the fun day at the lake, we also got to ride a pair of jet skis. This was our first time ever and boy was it exhilarating and fun!

After 2 days at the lake, we headed north to Kansas City. They were experiencing an unseasonably hot Spring. It was approaching 100 on this particular May day.

The day of the wedding we had some extra time on our hands to explore the city. We learned that KC was home to the largest ever WW1 museum. We knew we'd have to experience that. It was built in 1926 during the Neo-Classical architectural period. There was a lot of Egyptian influence in the design as it also coincided with the discovery of King Tut's tomb. I highly recommend this wonderful museum. 

We visited the famed Union Station

And last but definitely not least, we attended the beautiful wedding of Jon and Hannah.

These two! So grown up (and sun burned). My favorite people to hang with!

The only picture we have as a family from our entire trip! And it's still not a complete family picture because its missing Gavin. Unfortunately, it's our (sad) new reality to experience events without him now that he's away at college.

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