Laird Park and our house!

Welcome to Laird Park.  This is Zirker Bros lodging.  The boys took such pride in a clean and tidy tent.  They weren't sure if they wanted Kevin to move in with them when he showed up Friday night.  We had a girls tent, a boys tent and a grandparents tent. 

Here is what camp Zirker looked like.  The camping spot was amazing; by water, bathrooms, and plenty of sunshine/shade.

 

On Friday, we attempted two hikes.  The first ended 40 feet after it started so we went to the other, well known, hike across the dam and this is what we found.  A police line.  A 10 year girl said her friend's dad was attacked by an Osprey about a week ago so it's roped off for now.  (After we got back started talking about it, who knows if it was the true story or not, either way we weren't allowed to go that way).  So after two attempts we decided we weren't supposed to go hiking so we wandered to the water.

View from the dam toward looking toward Camp Grizzly

This is one of the many activities we did while at the water front.  The kids were catching baby fish.

Braxton and some other boys (whom were neighbors from Moscow) built this dam.  They worked on it for HOURS!

And we had to try out the new raft.  We are not pro at steering yet, but it was fun to go out and relax.

And this is what I did while the kids played for 4.5 hours on Friday.  (But I did jump off the dam twice, and the water was colder than the lake.)

Kanyon built us a teepee fire.  Meanwhile I went off to get some wood,  We had a briquette fire with a little cedar wood Thurs, but since Kevin was coming Friday we wanted a real fire.  So I went up to the ranger station, in my flip flops to get the last three tree rounds for our fire.  The campground host took pity on me and loaded them into the Mazda (over the tailgate because it is stuck shut!)  Then he offered his saw for us to cut up some dry branches that he told me about.  So Adria and I went over to the pile, loaded these odd branches up and took them back to camp.  

Here I am trying out the saw.  Each kid got a turn.

After three fun days, we stopped at "the rock" to take a family picture.  Surprisingly everyone was still in good spirits.

It was a good weekend and we'll have to check it off our Summer To Do List.  We're not sure what we'll be doing this next week.

And now onto the best news yet...our house was started this week.

Day #2-a hole in the ground

Day #3-footings poured

We don't have an end date but it is just good to see it started!!!  We're still praying for a miracle.

Video

We had a great time putting this video together for the girls in our stake.  I kind of helped out a little.  We did have some choreography, but by the 50th take, the boys were just jumping around.   Spot Tyler...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-QvQZsURGQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUjmPyVgEA0qwpKjD6sqym4w

Annual Laird Park Report

 We went camping this week with Kevin, Lisa, and family

 Mom reading her annual Lois L'Amour book (not visible)

 My reading material and crossword book

Practicing with my telephoto lens



I'll leave most of the details for Lisa.  We camped from Thursday till Saturday afternoon.  Days were cool and nights chilly.  Food was excellent and too much.  Swimming was great, crafts were challenging, forest was beautiful, relaxation was the best.

 

 



SOLD

First showing, got offer for full amount, sold.

We were in the process of signing the papers to allow the realtor to handle the showing and sale when they had a showing.  The person liked the house and offered the full asking price.  They want to move in one week before closing so we will "rent" it to them for a week.  We now have to wait to see if their financing works, and if the house passes inspection.  Thanks for all your prayers concerning the house.  This is the end of another era.

Jones Family Adventures

We had a bit of fun yesterday.  We drove about 45 minutes Southeast of us and went to Myakka River State Park to see some alligators.  We had two goals: a boat ride and a canopy walk through the trees.  As we walked up to the ranger station to purchase tickets for the boat ride, the lady informed us that the ride had been cancelled due to lightning and that the canopy walk was under water...

So, we did the next best thing and headed to the gift shops.  The boys picked out some shark and alligator teeth necklaces, Seth got a badge for his walking stick and I got some postcards.

We heard that we'd be able to see some gators at the birdwalk in the upper part of the lake, so we went for a little drive.

We saw some turkeys along the way.

We were a little timid on the birdwalk.  Well, I was a little timid.  Only part of it had handrails and the water levels were high because of all the rain we've had.  On our way out, a family said they had spotted a teenage alligator just off the walk.

 



If you look closely, you can see his eyes.

After the bird walk we headed back to the boats to see if they were going to do their next tour.  They said yes, so we got tickets and waited.

We didn't get a picture of the boat.  So I bought a postcard of it.

Then took a picture of it.

I added the knives just for good measure.

We sat in the back of the boat on the side facing us in this picture.

We were the really sweaty ones by the time the ride ended.

I swear no one else was even glistening.

This is where our boat docked.

Brady loved the ride for about the first ten minutes and then the other brothers wanted to look out the window.  The ride was about an hour long and went across the lake and over to the other bank.  Because the water was so high, we were able to get real close to the trees and spotted several gators and some other birds.  They said there's about 500-1000 gators in the lake which is about 1/2 mile wide and almost two miles long.

The boys looking out at the lake.

We saw plenty of them.





After the boat ride, we decided to check out the Canopy Walk.  As we were driving in, we saw a family carrying their shoes on their way in and walking barefoot.  In swampland.

This is the trail we headed down, with our shoes on.  The sides of the trail were mushy, so we were able to make it to the trail near the canopy walk.  As we got closer the trail was covered in about a foot of water.  Most people turned back and as the boys and Seth were convincing me that we should wade through the water, a couple people came up, took their shoes off and just kept walking.

In the swamp.

Another family came up with two young boys as we were turning back to the car and their dad eventually found another path to the tower.  Seth and the boys mucked through the swamp with them, while I stayed back with the mom.  We chatted for awhile until her boys came back to get her and we both reluctantly headed in.  I was carrying Brady and he did a good job hanging on.  I thought our shoes were all done for, but I washed them last night and they actually came clean!  

As we were trying to decide what to do about getting to the Canopy, we found an armadillo.

At this point it was really starting to feel like the Fiery Swamp in the Princess Bride and the armadillo was our ROUS.

The boys on a landing at the canopy bridge.

Walking the bridge in the middle of the trees.

 

At the top.

Looking out over the trees.

Looking down at the palm trees.

The tower is almost 75 feet tall and built in a square spiral.  It was actually pretty sturdy.

It was fun to start in the swampy bushes and then gradually climb to the middle trees and then breakthrough the tops of the tree.  It was a cool perspective to look out over all the trees.

 

All in all, it was a great day of adventure.

 

We had a good day at church today.  Seth gave a talk about his pioneer heritage and I was in Young Women's and will be teaching the Mia Maids the rest of the month.  One of the grandmas came and sat with me while Seth spoke.  She ended up helping out with nursery and so she came and told us to bring Brady in as his first week is supposed to be next week.  He didn't miss us.  We're really starting to like the ward...

Alabama picture dump

I came across this little sign in Arkansas. I guess the alligator enforces all parking restrictions.

 This sign was on the outfield wall in Warren, AR. Through Facebook, Brad Stinebaugh told me Potlatch has a mill there.

 Throughout the South, there is a chain of diners call Waffle House. There is a Waffle House at almost every freeway exit in any town over 20k people - and usually a few more scattered throughout the town. Much like Denny's, it's a late night favorite for cheap, quick food. The kitchen is open to the restaurant and they call back the orders using short-order cook code. $6.99 will get you the All Star Special - A waffle; two eggs; toast; bacon, sausage or ham; and your choice of grits or hash browns. 

 A water tower in Clanton, AL

 A few of the questions Kelly and I were asked on our recent UK visa applications

 I found this guy chiseling himself out of a block of marble in Sylacauga, AL

 We celebrated the 4th in the usual manner - teaching kids how to shoot roman candles, shooting mortar shells from a hand-held tube, and dropping lit mortar shells in a recycling bin and quickly running away. 

Storms brewing over Montgomery, AL

 I reset the mileage on my gps one week after I got here - the number in the top right is my total mileage. I've since added 3k more miles to my total

Nasty pic of the week - roach pieces