Girl Scout Bridging

Last night, Kristen's Girl Scout troop bridged from Brownies to Juniors. It was a nice, short little ceremony.

She felt a little down, I think, because she just joined the troop this year, and doesn't have the history the other girls have. That, and she missed a few of the extra activities. (We're going to try and be better about getting her to those, especially since her leaders really want to take them camping.)

Even so, I'm glad she wants to stick with it. I think she'll have a good experience as she goes on.

Kristen and the River

One of the things we did this summer was to make sure Kristen had as wide a variety of outdoor activities as possible. The latest was an early-morning tromp in the river. (I'm assuming it's a branch of the Arkansas, but I don't know for sure.)

Russell wasn't planning on staying with her, but he'd brought the camera, and she begged him to go along. So he did. I'm glad (even though it ruined socks and I'm still sweeping sand out of the house), because it looks like Kristen had a fantastic time.

It's Always Fun to Get Your Face Painted

Especially if you can have someone creative do it.

Horses!

There was a little program at the library by a horse rescue unit. Kristen missed the first little bit, but she was there in time to see the actual horses, which made her very happy.

Cousins!

I told Kristen that when Wayne and Rebecca and Family came through again on their way back to South Dakota, we needed to get pictures of people. So, she did.

It's always fun to see cousins!

Obligatory Swim Lesson Photos

It wasn't the last day of swim lessons; because of rain, they get to go one more day (and it'll be HOT, finally). But, since I have to work on their last day, I thought I'd go and take pictures. Except, I got there and they said "WE DON'T WANT PICTURES". So, I snuck a few. Just because I can.

Farm to Table

Russell, over the years, has made lots of friends in the local local food community (yes, there needs to be two locals there).  One of those happens to be the people that run this place:

They grow blackberries. It's an interesting story (they didn't grow up in the country, they didn't major in agriculture, they're basically learning as you go), and so when I needed blackberries for jam this year, we knew exactly where to go.

Then I read in the paper that every Thursday-Saturday, they do a morning farm-to-table breakfast at the farm. We definitely needed to go. So, we took the two kids who were up early, and headed out.

Breakfast was delicious. (Unless you're under the age of 40, then it was "icky".)

(Veggie fritatta, blackberry-lemon scones, yogurt with homemade granola and fresh blackberries)

Then, we went on a tour of the farm:

And we kicked around to see the horses and play on the swings.

It was a delightful way to spend a summer morning.

Summertime at Botanica

At the beginning of summer, Russell was puttering around the internet looking for things to do, and stumbled upon the offer that Botanica was going to be cheap on Thursday nights throughout the summer. We decided, since it was a nice night (not too hot, though a bit sticky from the rain that day), that this past Thursday was a good day to take advantage of it.

It was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.

Games

We actually got out games this week. One because Kristen begged to do something as a family. So we played Quelf.

Oh the things you do for Quelf.

The second was because Wayne and Rebecca and kids dropped through (on their way to Austin) and brought the came Caitlyn wanted to play at the reunion in May. Unfortunately, she was tired because of rehearsal and didn't play with us.

We one the first round. But Wayne eventually won the second round, though it took a long time. Kristen put up a good fight, even though she lost in the end.