Caught'cha . . . reading!

Summer "Make a Splash" Library Reading Program

Andy's

School is coming to a close and summer is quickly approaching.  Most equate those two events, not even waiting for the official start on the 21st of June. We seem to be overlapping them!  Since our home school schedule is flexible, we didn't get started until September of last year, taking one week off during Thanksgiving, several weeks off at Christmastime, one at Easter and another at the end of April. This brings us to June with another week of school to go.  But the library doesn't know our schedule and their summer reading incentives began about 1 1/2 weeks ago!  So, I guess it is kind of like mixing business with pleasure - the kids get to count their "school reading" for the hours and activities that the library requires in order to get some cool treats this summer - coupons for free stuff, basically.

Here we are at Andy's where the kids enjoyed a small concrete.  Dave and I were content to have a few bites of theirs.  Well, at least I was . . ..  

On the way home we saw the sun setting and parked the car so we could run up the bridge that spans the train tracks and buildings and capture the sunset on camera (right before my battery ran out!!!).

What about your family? Do you have any fun activities, free or otherwise, on your list of "things to do" this summer?

Check out the library if you're looking for some new, low-cost ideas!

Castle ruins in the state of Missouri

In all the years we've lived here, not once have we traveled about 2 hours north to explore the castle ruins in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. It's fun to say! We only scratched the surface during our mere hour visit, but it was well worth the stop. We had a chance to see the Castle ruins, the dream of a man wanting a little European experience in America, purchasing 5,000 acres of land and building a mansion, his castle, overlooking the beautiful landscape. Sadly, he died before it barely began, and the enormous structure, completed by his sons, was destroyed by fire after only about 20 years standing. Now it's ruins stand vacant on the state park of Ha Ha Tonka overlooking the amazing natural land formations that exist because of the karst topography there. I hope we go back to take a trek over the natural bridge, or on a hike to see the spring that is the 12th largest in Missouri - supplying 48,000,000 gallons of water DAILY! You might want to include it in your Summer plans this year. Maybe we'll see you there!