The Lieslands

I am a little slow on the post, but last week Mari fell off the ottoman and had to get 3 stitches on the inside of her lip. It made for a long day, but overall she handled it well.

Yesterday we had to take our large, borrowed, dining room table up to Ames and while we were there we decided to go play at Ledges State Park. The main road through the park was washed out, over, under and away in the floods last year, but if you are willing to walk a little bit you can experience beautiful, overgrown, abandoned trails and recreational spots. The kids had a blast!

We are officially homeschooling our kids next year! I just filled out the paperwork and put it in the mail. There are some good school options in Des Moines, but no Waldorf schools, which is where our loyalty lies. It should be quite an adventure and I hope that we can give our kids an education like no other!

Mari got a butterfly house for her birthday. We are waiting to order the official caterpillar or caterpillar eggs, or whatever it is we order. In the meantime we have found some caterpillars in our backyard and currently have two Swallowtail chrysalides and two monarch caterpillars who should be about ready. We have all really enjoyed watching them!

This morning we headed to Yoga in the park at Gray’s Lake. Susan practices yoga occasionally, it was the kids’ second class, and it was my first class ever. We all had a good time and hope to make it back more often.

After hitting the pool for one last swim, we headed out of Branson. Our drive home included a one-night layover in Kansas City, where we got to celebrate Colin’s 13th birthday with the Connors.

We had a nice dinner then hit their neighborhood pool for some ring-diving, wrestling, and relay races.

This morning we hit the fish hatchery, and saw a lot of trout. Then we hung out by the lake and watched the boaters roar up and down. After an afternoon swim we hit downtown Branson for some light shopping, then we had dinner at a cool old-fashioned diner. After dinner it was time for more go-karts and bumper-boats, then back to downtown Branson for ice cream and a carriage ride around the town.

For dinner tonight we went to a show – Yakov’s Dinner Adventure! We all had a great time. Mari even got to go on stage for part of the show!

Today we spent the morning and afternoon at Tablerock Lake. The water was very refreshing and we had a great time swimming, floating, and looking for cool rocks.

Today we made the six hour journey to Branson. The kids were excited to arrive and were in their swimsuits and dancing on the walls as soon as we arrived.

After a visit to the hotel pool we ate some dinner, ran some errands, and then the kids rode some go-karts, which is all they talked about the rest of the trip.

Rob, putting Elliot to bed: I love you, Elliot. I had fun swimming with you today.

Elliot: I hate your breath.