This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I can almost hear him say 'wanna ee og.' He had been throwing rocks in the pond all morning (sorry cabin owners) and he found a frog on one of the rocks. He was so excited he made sure he showed every single person. Now you might be wondering how he convinced the frog to stay on the rock. It was a half baked frog, so it wasn't going anywhere. I'm sure Michael was glad, in a way (well, and he didn't know differently) because other wise it would be jumping all over the place.
Throwing rocks in the pond.
All.the.time
Though occasionally he did enjoy this little rocking chair.
This is also one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Michael looks so happy with his Aunt Trish on the hammock. (It was in a screened in porch over looking a (sadly) dry river bed.)
We went to a restaurant in a little town called Jasper after hiking & swimming in our clothes, so we thought we'd be a sight to see, but we seemed to fit right in at the Ozark Cafe. Check out the wall decorations!
At the bar
Need a napkin? No problem.
While we were waiting for our food (Christopher ordered grilled cheese & french fries-he was soo excited to choose his dinner. I think it was the 2nd time he's had that opportunity. I ordered chicken strips & french fries for Michael & he ate it all!!) Michael and I went outside because Michael wanted to see this bear. He was soo excited about it.
Still waiting for food, on the rocking chairs outside the restaurant. I ordered chicken fried steak for the first time. It was good for the first half, but by the second half I wished I hadn't ordered fried food.
Sorry the pictures are blurry, I bumped a button on the camera, so it changed the setting. Rob's brother Thomas (we celebrated his 15th bday there!) ordered the double Excaliburger. It was 2 huge hamburger patties sandwiched between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. Wow.
Gonna need a napkin for that!
Walking around the little town we saw this building. It intrigued me because of the bars on the windows-was it a jail? No, it was a food bank. But a note on the door said it was closed, but if someone was in dire need to call & it had a couple phone numbers.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Christopher from the trip. He loved this raft that uncle Thomas gave him & used it quite well in the swimming hole. It was fun too see him paddling around. When he felt like swimming, he jumped out- and he could get back in by himself too!
Michael and Aunt Trish on the kayak in the swimming hole. Michael loves his hat! I"m glad- it keeps him from getting sunburned.
This was the beauty by our swimming hole. It was soo warm. That and the fact that the water at the bathrooms smelled like sulfur made us wonder if there is a hot spring here.
Earlier that day we went on a hike to a crag. See that rock edge- that's where we are taking these next pictures. (though it is not near the swimming hole)
This is where Rob's dad stood to take some pictures of us.
I made sure someone was holding Michael at all times! This was an insane ledge. When we got back to the cabin, we saw a book that showed a guy hanging by 1 hand on the ledge of the ledge. Yikes!
Rob-close to the ledge
On the hike back to the cars either Rob or Thomas found this walking stick. Rob wanted to show everyone, so he passed it over mine and his sister Trish's head. I ducked& got out of the way. Just in time- it dropped down on Trish's head! She does NOT like bugs & Rob always teases her w/bugs, but he swears he didn't mean for it to actually touch her.
Rob showing off how big it was.
