No pool? No problem!

Oh, you don’t even have a bucket my size? Hmmm, at least part of me will fit…….

Gotta love our girl Marley!

 Sometimes you just have to work with what you have, and be a little creative………..

Puppy love……..

Welcome Margot to my family, my little brother’s new Weimaraner puppy. She’s beautiful and fun, and quite a handful…I got to see her last month when we went to visit my brother in Nashville. It was a great trip, too short, but I finally got to see his new house and meet our new family member!

By the way it is Justin’s birthday today, Happy Birthday Bro! I love you and am so proud of who you are! May your soul continue to shine in everything you do!

Here is a fun video of Parks and Justin having a jam session:

done

I also got to pay a quick visit to Madison Creek Farms right outside of Nashville and snag a fresh  blueberry pie. Worth a visit for fresh produce and flowers. Peggy also schedules some great events there during the year, check out their website for the schedule: http://www.madisoncreekfarms.com/

To see pics from Nashville trip, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23622566@N03/sets/72157621452155255/

Stay cool……………

Summer Day

I had a toasty Saturday cruising the town, I headed up toMcKinney for their weekly farmer’s market at Chestnut Square.

I didn’t spend all my money at the market, just picked up a  bunch of lavender (which I’m attempting to dry and it’s shedding all over our dining table, but gosh it smells good) and some yummy mango drinkable yogurt from Lucky Layla Farms.

 

Here are some more pics from the day…

Chestnut Square………

Downtown McKinney…

 I also  stopped by Jacob’s Reward Farm to pay Cindy a visit and got to say hi to her new alpaca boys. They are less then a year old and just so darn cute, still a little skiddish, but will soon warm up to their new home and barnmates. You can check out some funny videos and her updates on the farm on her blog, http://www.jacobsreward.blogspot.com/. She’s even started recording a podcast, so check that out too. She’s a wealth of knowledge and it’s been fun to pick her brain on some things. I hope to visit her world again soon and give Jeff the official tour.

  The new boys on the block…..

Thing’s I’m loving:

Mary Jane’s Farm magazine: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/magazine.html

Crissa’s Closet , a women’s consignment shop run by Hope’s Door, Plano women’s shelter. Designer clothing at less then $10, and your cash goes to a good cause, who can beat that? Much of my excess clothing that was weeded out last year has made a home there too.

Currently reading: Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest’s Most Controversial Season, next up are Truck and Population: 485 by Michael Perry,  just finished Farewell My Subaru by Doug Fine,http://www.dougfine.com/ ,  (a must read!)

Take it easy, stay cool, I think we’ll be hitting the 100 degree mark here next week, thank God for air conditioning………….

The Natural State

Lookout, originally uploaded by dancemntn.

Alright, I’m back to the blogging world. Today’s goal is to get some photos from the past few weeks uploaded, so I thought I’d start with our recent trip to Arkansas. We headed up to Hot Springs last week to stay for a few days and explore one of our favorite states.  Our stay at the Lake Hamilton Resort was, well, interesing. You would definitely want to hang out there if your decor preference leans towards mauve and lots of it! It was a little outdated, BUT  it perfectly fit what we needed for a few days. It was clean,  very roomy, allowed pets and offered free breakfast every morning, so no complaints here! 

We started the trip off with a visit to the Mid-America Science Museum . I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, we all had fun with the hands on projects. Parks and Jeff could have stayed for hours just trying out the earthquake engineering (Lego and Lincoln Log play for big kids!) Then there was the sand pendelum, that was my obsession, it was just so meditative…….. sand………moving………sand……Anyway, we headed up to Petit Jean State Park the next day to do a 2 1/4 mile hike down to Cedar Falls. The falls were roaring!  It had been years since Jeff and I had enjoyed the beauty of that place. Parks had a great time on his “adventure” and Jeff even braved the slick rock to take him behind the waterfall. I decided I would just be the dog sitter at that point, and let the explorers do their thing. It was a great workout and just felt so good to get OUT! We also drooled in the museum of automobiles there on Petit Jean mountain. Great collection which included  Bill Clinton’s Mustang,  one of JFK’s family cars and some of our favorite classic rides.  We rounded out the trip with a tourist stop at the Hot Springs Duck Tours. Jeff and I had never ridden the ducks, so we thought why not!? Parks had a good time when the duck hit the water and it was a needed break from a very hot and humid day on the town. Next day’s travel was to West Monroe, LA for a quick visit and to drop off Parks for a week visit with the grandfolks-then back to TX for work for Mom and Dad-ugggh……… Vacations go so darn fast!

Check out the flickr photos from Petit Jean State Park  here, Hot Springs here, and our short visit back to West Monroe here.  Also, I uploaded some fun birthday party pics of Parks from last month at the Frisco Horse Park. Goats and horses aplenty! Check out the party pics here.

More blogs to come soon- maybe even a book post, we have been making more time to read lately……………

Crossroads

 Gotta love some Tracy Chapman when you just feel the need to stop pretending that everything our lives  is perfect.  I’ll just keep it real and  let her do the talking ………..

All you folks think you own my life
But you never made any sacrifice
Demons they are on my trail
I’m standing at the crossroads of hell
I look to the left I look to the right
There’s hands that grab me on every side

All you folks think I got my price
At which I’ll sell all that is mine
You think money rules when all else fails
Go sell your soul and keep your shell
I’m trying to protect what I keep inside
All the reasons why I live my life

Some say the devil be a mystical thing
I say the devil he a walking man
He a fool he a liar conjurer and a thief
He try to tell you what you need
Try to tell you what you need

Standing at the point
The road it cross you down
What is at your back
Which way do you turn
Who will come to find you first
Your devils or your gods

All you folks think you run my life
Say I should be willing to compromise
I say all you demons go back to hell
I’ll save my soul save myself

Written by Tracy Chapman http://www.tracychapman.com/ (if you haven’t checked our her site in a while, click on it-you can color her web page!!!!!)