From Our Neck of the Woods...: Good times at Thunder Duck Ranch

We were in Oklahoma visiting my mother and sister and her family the first week in July. It was the first time we could see Mom's new house with walls! This was Doug's first trip ever to their homestead in Oklahoma. The Poppe's built a beautiful addition to their own home, giving us TONS more space to play! And Mom's place looks great! Doug helped with some finishing touches like putting up more siding on the front of the house, hanging Mom's pictures, and putting in her window coverings.

We had a great time on the 4th - the men took the kids to see fireworks and they shot off their own from the front yard. They have a nice covered picnic area where we grilled out one night or the kids hung out to play games when the heat wasn't TOO oppressive. The kids played a ton of the dice game, Farkle; and the adults played games every night, too! Sadly, Cassandra and I were trounced every night. Shocking and embarrassing, really. Oh well. We also visited a very nice, FREE nature museum in Arkansas after church and donuts.

My city kids loved being in the country, getting up to check on the chickens for eggs, feeding the ducks and goats, checking the gardens, and playing with the dogs. They did not want to leave and I wasn't ready to leave either. Or maybe I was dreading the 3-day car trip to get back home. Actually, it was both. We pushed through the first day all the way to Nashville, TN, which took forever. The next day, we stopped overnight in Luray, VA. After exploring the caves and mining for treasure, we finished our drive home the final 5 hours. PHEW!