Wisconsin wedding, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri

Ryelle was beautiful on her wedding day, and I was grateful to have been able to go celebrate with her. Jolie worked on the last few details of her dress the day of. It was so nice to see a lot of the family. I braided Jolie's hair using extensions for the first time and it turned out just like she wanted. I was very pleased.

I left Wisconsin very soon after the wedding. It was a very fast trip. But there is always time for a quick scare...

While I was gone from Paul and the kids, they found a Robbers Cave, explored it, went swimming and paddle boarding on a lake and had the best time. Paul is just the kind of dad I hoped for, for the kids. He's awesome.

I flew back into Oklahoma City, tracked Paul and the kids and found them.  The kids found some fresh water clams, paddled around, then we set up camp and a nice stranger brought us an old cage from a dryer so the kids could have a fire. We watched the set and went to bed.

One of the days there, Matix and I watched "The Visit" which was very jump scary, and Matix loved it.

Filling up gas was tricky since we couldn't fit into all the gas stations. 

We found a great spot in Arkansas for trail riding.  Paul helped tune up all the bikes and off we went. There were a few crashes and falls, but the kids all had a great time. 

Lullaby found a cool spider and ended up doing a bit of a deep dive on it. She wrote a research paper on it, and learned SO much. 

There is always time for some silliness with filters. The kids like to do that while we're waiting for other things.

We finally got into a big enough town to find a tire store to get our flat tire replaced, and all new tires put on. The company we bought the camper from paid for everything and was so nice to work with. While the kids and I waited in the store, Paul set up his StarLink, did some emails, and a meeting from the car. The camper was done before Paul's meeting was, so we headed to Chick-Fil-A. Paul finished his meeting, and backed up, forgetting about the StarLink, and crushed it. We were close to some of our friends, only a few hours drive away, so we changed plans and headed there. 

Lullaby and Lanna were reunited and so happy to be back together again. We were friends with the Dortch family on Oahu, and then again on Big Island before their house was lost to the lava, and they moved to Missouri. We stayed and played there with them for a LONG time. We met all the animals on their farm, helped them clean the rooms for guests in their inn, and Paul worked to fix the StarLink.

The kids got to ride on the ATVs and golf carts. They hunted for crystals in the forest and we ate out for most of the meals. Branson had SO many choices. 

We went for a hike along the river and then to see Table Rock Lake. It really is so beautiful in Missouri. We skipped rocks on the lake, and built towers, and reminisced. 

More from their property, we toured around, collected eggs, talked story and went thrift shopping.

Lullaby and Lanna got matching shoes and then wore them all day long. 

We made it back to the house, the girls got matching outfits, then we went out to eat and to see a show. Branson has SO many shows to see, and the Dortch family is friends with many of the owners, so we got to see most of the shows for free. 

Out to eat more and to another show. So fun.

More eggs. They have so many chickens and emus, that Solace collected about 20 each day. Wow!

Hollie Made these pancakes for us. German pancakes? Belgian pancakes? I'm not sure, but it tasted SO good!

Out to eat again

Late night with Lanna on the porch. Cute girls. 

Chris created a mushroom farm behind one of his sheds, and gave Paul a tour.

Paul's cousin Ryan sent out a new StarLink for him and it arrived just as he fixed the original enough to try it out. The broken/fixed one wasn't in the greatest of shape, so we shipped it back to Ryan for him to use for parts, and we kept Ryan's for the rest of the trip. 

So many late nights up with the Dortch family. They were so welcoming to us, while we stayed there. We parked our RV at their inn, slept in the RV, but used the inn during the day. They have several small apartments and one large one. They let us have the large one.

Headed to "The Tower" in their giant 15 passenger van to watch the sunset and play Human X.

A few more shenanigans in Branson before headed out. Pancakes the size of the platter, games, golf carts and caterpillars.  

Goodbye to the Hummingbird Inn, the Dortch family, and Missouri. Such a great part of the trip.