Chatter Boxes

We did not actually take a summer vacation this year. We're okay with it. As much as I enjoy traveling and exploring new places, investing that time and money into your dream house isn't a bad trade-off.

We did get a chance to visit John's parents a few weekends ago. John threw in an overnight trip to Robber's Cave State Park on our way.

Enjoy the pictures.

Here's our cabin at the park. The bed was on the front porch when we arrived. I kinda make fun of the tendency of Oklahomans to store indoor furniture in the great outdoors and I love photographic proof! On this same trip we saw a house with no less than 20 refrigerators in the front yard. I would have taken a picture but we were driving and somehow I don't think John would have stopped...turned around...and let me get just the perfect shot.



Here's John checking out the info on Robber's Cave. It was supposed to have been used as a hideout for outlaws because of it's rocky terrain and isolated locale. There no proof that outlaws actually used the cave. But I could see how they might.



Here's me hiking



Here's me in the cave



John's shadow in the mouth of the cave (is that what you call it?)



We drove onto John's parent's house Saturday morning. We attempted to fish several times over the weekend, but it was just too hot! We waited for cloud cover and were finally able to take the boat out on the pond. We did well despite the 106 degree temp (IN THE SHADE!)

Here John displaying the fish who are headed for the fish pond in the sky!



I love this picture. I know it's blurry but it looks so Norman Rockwell-esque. The sun had gone down by the time we got around to cleaning the fish (and I use the term "we" very loosely!). John's dad is an expert fish cleaner-upper. He rigged up this spotlight so they could see and there they sat...father and son...teacher and student...one generation extolling wisdom to the next. They would probably roll their eyes at how touched I was and say, "We were just cleanin' fish." But I thought it was neat.



We had a great time and got to meet our new niece, Katie Marie, on our way home. This picture was taken when John's parents went to see her (we weren't there). I like this picture a lot too. There's just something about the contrast of the sun-tanned rugged arms of a hard-workin' man against delicate, brand new, pale baby skin. John's brother took this picture.



And finally...here's a picture of John's mom's dog, Marty, which qualifies this post for Pet Pic Friday. She's a lot of fun. She's a herding dog and takes her job seriously. She'll herd you, cows, other dogs, sometimes even herself.



I'll have updated pictures of the house up soon. It's looks quite different than the last time I updated. And at this very moment, it's clean, so I'll try to get pictures before it's all cluttered with equipment again.