Tree Removal

Korte Tree Care came with their big expensive equipment first thing in the morning on Monday to take down the rest of the tree. They seemed surprised that was precariously still standing somehow. Ratliff, who wasn't able to do it, was in the neighborhood for a different job (they are all very busy with all the storm damage!) so he stopped by and watched for a bit, which I thought was kind of funny. He was super nice about it. 

Amelie and Sam and I watched, too, but then I had to leave and go to work. Sam took photos. Here's the beginning:  

And the expensive piece of equipment for the hard-to-reach tree: 

It looks like a dinosaur: 

Look how bare it is back there, now! Hopefully the tree next to the one that was removed will live. 

Now we're in the process of getting estimates for the damage to the house - and everyone we call has been swamped, but I'm glad that the tree at least is taken care of. 

Playground & School Friends

I took the kids out to the playground one day last week before all the rain. Stephen's Lake is the only nice shady playground in Columbia that I can think of. I'm on the lookout for other free outdoor places to go. When we got there, one of the City of Columbia's camps was using it, and it turns out several of Amelie's friends are enrolled in the day camp. 

Leah climbed on the rocks: 

She scraped her knee (on different rocks!) and I rinsed it off with our water bottle and then borrowed a band-aid from one of the teenage camp counselors. She didn't cry, though - one of the other kids said to me, "Your baby is tough." 

You can see here that she's just inserted herself in the friend group. 

I was eventually finally able to pry them away and we swam and splashed some down by the beach area and splash pad. It was awfully, awfully hot, though. 

Mark Twain State Park

We went back to Mark Twain and stayed in one of the camper cabins for 3 nights. I was glad for the extra day since the first night we were there was a terrible rain storm which made the second day unseasonably cool (high of 71 degrees, so no swimming!)  We did get to swim the first evening we after dinner and we put on a brave face and went for about an hour the last full day when the high was in the lower 80's, but it was too cool to be 100% comfortable. We played Clue and went for a short hike. 

This is a view of the cabin from the trail by the lake: 

Isn't this the most interesting tree? 

Amelie spent quite a lot of time inside the cabin reading. 

I forgot to pack my book and she offered me one of hers. 

Here's a list of all the other things we forgot:
My sandals, which were drying on the back deck

Bowls

Spoons

Butter

Water pitcher 

James took a pack of 100 poppers. He shared with Leah,  and then we picked up all 100 little leftover bits. 

There was a really nice overlook  with a large sign about how dangerous it would be to jump off. 

This picnic shelter was built in 1941. I like how Amelie looks the same in all three photos. 

The kids played at this playground: 

And they also played at the smaller play structure actually in the campground. Leah made friends with 6, 11, and 17 year old brothers and played so long with them that eventually Amelie and James came down to see what we were doing and they all had a rousing game of tag. 

Here's Amelie making clover chains there: 

James and Sam had a good time skipping rocks. 

I was in charge of the fire for dessert. 

Sam got to take many photos and videos of nature - with the added benefit of being able to use them in his music videos. 

This flower has the most wonderful smell. I was raving on about it so Sam wanted to take a picture. Later, I looked it up on the MO Dept of Conservation website, which told me the name is Mullein (figworts family) & also that the leaves can be smoked. 

While we were gone, the terrible storm that didn't bother us too much in the cabin was knocking down a giant elm tree at our house. The city came to take care of the wire, but said we needed to remove the tree. 

It just barely got the eave and gutter of the house. Of course it's been raining and lightening and will require special equipment to remove - hopefully Tuesday if it doesn't fall down the rest of the way before then. (This part's been moved off the house & a tarp is on.)

I felt badly for our house/dog sitter who had an unexpectedly stressful gig! And very grateful for my mom who could come over and help deal with the mess so we didn't have to come home early. 

I also felt badly for Leah, who must have swallowed some muddy lake water, since she was up puking 

the last night we were there - no one else felt queasy and she got over it after the one bad night. I was worried about the car ride home, but it was uneventful, and despite all the minor setbacks we all had a good time (really!) 

Static Electricity and New Dress

We were walking by and the kids wanted to stop at the park on Wednesday. There must have been a lot of static electricity build up on the slide! This doesn’t even fully capture the extent of it - she slid down several times!

And then Wednesday evening I didn’t have any other commitments, so I sewed Leah up a new dress! 

I made it large so she’d have room to grow, but I still had to adjust the neck opening even larger to accommodate her giant, genius-sized head. She was not patient with the trying-on portion of the program. 

Finger Lakes State Park

We drove 30 minutes up to Finger Lakes State Park last week (and also today, but no pics from today). It was very nice, and the water seemed much clearer and cooler than Stephens Lake. 

We were there 3 hours - from about 9:30am til 12:30 - and we were the only people at the swim area the entire time! I even called Sam and asked him to check the water levels online and he let me know they were tested & found acceptable on the 1st. We did see several folks canoe past us, including a mom with three young kids right after I told my 3 kids that I couldn’t take them on a boat  without Sam. 

James collected several small seashells and we saw lots of fish in the water.

James was breakdancing in the water:

He tried breakdancing on land, too: 

After a while, Amelie found a shady spot to read her book.

She also took this photo of us, and managed to be in on it as well, with her thumb.