Another Family Tradition

For as long as I can remember, Gram and Pap have taken us kids to Delgrosso Amusement Park every summer. It's always a summer treat, though we still like to grumble that they took the pony rides out and replaced the ferris wheel with the crazy X-Scream Tower! (I rode that thing once, and that was enough for me! I'll stick with the Free Fall!) And this time Pharoah's Fury was closed! Being worked on, I guess. Bethany was very disappointed cause that is her favorite ride. But we still had a lot of fun! Probably rode too many spinny rides, but no one lost their lunch! =)

Daniel and Gram on the merry-go-round

Bethany on her black horse she always rides

Me and Daniel

Cowboy Dan

Daniel enjoyed playing the little games, like catching so many balls or ducks or whatever. I don't know cause I don't play 'em! I'd rather spend my money on funnel cakes and cotton candy... yeah, pure sugar, I know.

Daniel with a stuffed dog he won on one of the games. He originally named it Bulldog, since it is a bulldog. But we convinced him to go with something more colorful, and he changed it to Billy.  =D

Try as we might, we could not convince Daniel to go on any of the big-kid rides. He was terrified of the Free Fall, resented the wacky worm (which is basically a kiddie ride anyway!!), and refused to even try the Crazy Mouse! Or the Paratroopers, etc. etc. etc. He did ride the Bumper Cars (or Dodgem, I guess it's officially called. Don't know why we've always called it bumper cars, but we have!), the Scrambler, and the Tilt-a-Whirl. But that was it! Thankfully, he was just short enough to still ride in the Kid's Kingdom! I don't know what he's going to do next year!

Daniel on the Scrambler

Beth and I on the Scrambler

Bumper Cars!!!

this was Daniel's first time to drive himself

Lunchtime 

Beth and I on the Free Fall! I love that ride!! =)

Beth and I in front of the Crazy Mouse, which we probably rode the most!

Then we come to Pap's favorite ride (besides the park bench...lol)... THE TRAIN! =D

Pap on the train!

Gram, Daniel, Me, and Beth

Thanks, Gram and Pap, for taking us!! 

Getting Our "Grandparent Fix"

Whenever we kids go stay at our grandparents, Mom always says that we're getting our "grandparent fix." So we're getting our grandparent fix this week!

Monday morning we picked blueberries at a huge patch about an hour from Gram and Pap's house. They had a "bumper crop" this year... I don't know about you, but I was like, huh? Translation--a really good crop... so the bushes were absolutely loaded! They were also wet cause it had rained that morning, and the best and biggest berries are, of course, on the bottom and middle of the bushes where people rarely pick! Consequently, we were all quite soaked by the time we were done. But we picked 52 pounds in three hours!
Gram and I both forgot to take our cameras to the berry patch, so I don't have any pictures of us picking, only sorting and washing them after we got home.

Sorting out the stems, leaves, and rotten and unripe berries

Gram and I

Daniel and Gram

Bethany hard at work 

Me, Pap, Daniel, and Beth

Gram washing the berries

Tuesday Gram took us swimming! Several of their church members have pools and always invite us to come over and use them! And we always have a lot of fun!

Daniel squirting a big water gun at Grandma

Beth, Daniel, and I on a huge flower floaty, looking like three drowned rats! =)

We went to an amusement park yesterday, but I'll post the pictures of that in a day or so. I don't want to bore anyone with too many really long posts! =)

Bill Rice Ranch--Family Camp

July 1-5 we went to Family Camp at the Bill Rice Ranch. And we had so much fun! It. Was. Awesome. Amazing. Fabulous. Fantastic. Can't-think-of-enough-words-to-describe-it fun. Yeah, we liked it. =D Even though it was a long nine-hour trip. 

Welcome to the Bill Rice Ranch!!!

The cool thing was, the first person to meet us was Nathan!! It's his job to be at the welcome house and direct those who are coming in.

Gram and Pap met us when we pulled up by our cabin.

The section our cabin was in

Inside the cabin--it was pretty good size, though it had only one bathroom. ONE. (Yeah, I know, we're spoiled!) But we managed just fine.

Unpacking

There was an illustrated message every morning in the rodeo arena...

...and pony rides for the little kids afterwards. Daniel was able to get on Nate's horse.

Mom and Dad on the rodeo arena bleachers

Cowboy Town, located beside the Rec Center, was open every morning from 9:45-10:45 and every evening after services. You could buy T-shirts, notebooks, song/piano books, hats, candy, drinks, snacks, milkshakes, ice cream cones, etc., etc., etc. And buy tickets for trail rides, the Wild Frontier BBQ & Western Show, and the Cowboy Cookout.

Gram and Pap at the Town Square

At the Rec Center you could play putt putt, volleyball, basketball (shootout, or knockout, was a big favorite), torpedo ball, ping pong, and fuse ball. 

The view of the Ranch after a hike to Lookout Point

 Activities...

We got some of our friends together and participated in the Wild & Wacky Relay!
Bethany, Cassie, Missy, Me, Courtney, and Lincoln (our cousin)

 Come And Get It!

The dining hall was separated into two different rooms; the main dining hall, and the Tennessee Room, which was upstairs. We got to eat in the Tennessee Room,.

Our "kids table," where Beth and I sat with our cousin Lincoln, and our friends the Bryant kids, and their cousins the McCaslins. 

Inside the John R. Rice Auditorium, where we had the main services

Trail Ride...

Dad and Nate

Saddle up!

Nate, of course, had to critique our riding =)

The Boss--Cowboy Mike

Nate and the Boss

The Wild Frontier BBQ & Western Show, Tuesday evening...

the Wild Frontier Western Show starred Davy Crocket, aka Matt Downs

(the guy with the guitar is Georgy Russel, aka Tim Thompson.)
Davy Crocket had to outrun the "girl of his dreams" and outwit the sinister Black Bart . And tangle with gigantic fleas! Guaranteed to be a story of Davy Crocket that you've never heard before... because they just made it up this year!

The Cowboy Cookout, Thursday morning...

 waiting to ride out to the cookout site at 7 a.m.

the cowboys served scrambled eggs, hash browns, Tennessee toast, and steak...

...with cowboy coffee and wonder juice... take one sip and wonder what it is!

Me, Courtney, Missy, Emily, Kaley, and Bethany

Nate, Mom, Dad, and Daniel

Dan Potter and Cowboy Nate providing genuine cowboy entertainment!

Nate and Tim Thompson in the skit, singing "I've been Everywhere"

Nate, Tim Thompson, and his son Seth, who sang the 50 states song. He was so cute!

Riding the Fony Pony back

And the highlight of camp week... THE RODEO, Thursday evening...

Carrying in the flags... Nate is the one with the Christian flag on the left

The audience is divided into two teams--the red team and the blue team (we were on the blue). Then there are hay races, horse mounts, pig chases, and sack races in which the two teams compete. The blue team won this year!!

the hay race. Dad is on the left

Sack races. Beth is on the far right

Daniel is the middle one in the blue shirt

Pig chases. Most of these got a little blurry

Cowboy Nate... that's my brother!!

Our many family pics

So, we had a great time, and hope we're able to go back next year! If you've never been to the Ranch, GO! It's a great vacation with great practical preaching and fun for the whole family! (Now I sound like a commercial!) Register today! For more information, go to http://www.billriceranch.org/    =D