This is the first time we have grown this type of CUCUMBER...
It's a Limon variety. It tastes pretty good, but not a lot of cucumber, so I don't know if I'll grown them next year or not. It's nice to try though. I think my favorite type of cucumbers, are Armenian. They are a light pale green color and grow pretty long...so you get more meat out of them.
Chantel and Norah
My sister, Chantel just had a baby girl and named her... Norah Ryann Wilkinson! She is a replica of Chantel in my opinion...especially her eyes. Both are doing well. She had her Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at about 8:30 a.m. She was a big 9 lbs! Congratulations Chantel on going natural ... that's the way to do it, but many give up and can't stand to go through pain for longer than 2 minutes, so WAY TO GO SIS!
Goodbye Missourian Cooley Family!
Abby, Lydia, and Rachael playing with the cute little kittens!
Qaiden and Abby
The Cooley Cousin Train...
Rachael wanted me to teach her how to float!
Aleah, Emma, Neil, and Abby in the little kid pool!
Jacob had fun throwing the rings with Wesley and diving for them afterward.
Swimming is fun!
After two days in Branson, MO at Silver Dollar City, we drove back to my sister-in-laws home for the night. We woke up late on Thursday morning and drove up to Nevada, MO which is 1 hour north of Webb City (where we stayed at the Swarnes' home) to visit, eat lunch, and ride on ATV's at Oralea's In-Law's (Mary & Neil Swarnes) home. Mary traveled up to Logan, Utah when we lived there with her son Joe and Oralea about 7 years ago so it was nice to visit with her again. They have a nice home with their own pond for fishing, and a nice piece of property to ride the ATV's. The kids rode little battery operated 4-wheelers, while Joe with my daughter Rachael in back and his son Neil in front drove one ATV and Rich and myself drove the other one around the property in the backwoods...there were lots of spider webs and the trail had definately not been used for a while, but it was nice with the breeze blowing...always an adventure when ATV'ing. After eating lunch, we got ready to leave and headed over to Rich's other sister, Gayla's mother-in-laws home just 5-10 minutes away. While there, we played with their 3 little newborn kittens, little newborn puppy, and let the kids play and swim in their outdoor swimming pool! It was sure nice of Gayla's mother-in-law (Blanche) to host all of us Cooley's at her home! Everyone had a blast, especially our kids with their cousins, Wesley, Abby, Ally, China, Lilly, Neil, Lydia, Emma, and Anna. They didn't know them at all, so it was a much needed family gathering. After swimming some, we layed things out on the picnic tables for a big BBQ dinner. After eating, visiting, swimming, playing, etc., we drove back to Oralea/Joe Swarnes home. Friday and Saturday were our last two days. Rich wanted to go to his 20 year High School reunion. So, Friday night, we went to the park to see some of Rich's classmates...it was weird and not that exciting, but we ate a few snacks, let the kids bounce in the bounce house, and at the playground for a while. It was the first part of the reunion. On Saturday, we visiting with two of his best buddies, John Cyr (wife, Casey and 8 yr old daughter, Saddy) and Daniel Dillon...they met us at Oralea's home and had lunch with us along with Rich's other sister, Tawnya and her two girls (China and Lilly), Roger (Rich's brother), his Dad, Oralea's family (husband, Joe and kids Lydia (6), Neil (4), Emma (2), Anna (2 months), and we were surprised to see our ex-brother-in-law Bill Ringen who visited us when we lived up in Alaska when he was married to Rich's sister, Nikki. It sure was a nice visit with all the family and close friends, and much better than any school reunion! Saturday night we did go to the Country Club for a nice buffet dinner and an awards ceremony...Rich won the award for "Robbing the Cradle"...I was the youngest spouse there (7 1/2 years younger)!!!! That concluded our trip to Missouri...which was one we'll never forget. We left Sunday morning after a yummy full breakfast of sausage/potatoe dish, blueberry muffins, canned fruit, and juice. We drove all the way home and didn't get there until 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning...long trip, and glad the driving is over. We thank Oralea and Joe for their hospitality in putting us up for most of the week. We wish we lived a little closer to the Cooley family members because we had a really nice trip!
Our kids wanted to stay at
Silver Dollar City forever...we should have left them there!
Tea Cup fun...Dad and the 3 older kids are in the middle teacup.
The flying swings.
The Racing Regata...which boat do you think won?
We rode the train through the park as we shared two cotton candys and the HUGE dill pickle (I guess I was having one of my cravings)!
Aleah spent a lot of time in the stroller, but she had fun nonetheless. We got a lot of treat to keep her happy. Look at the cute face!!!
The kids are waiting in line for the
Fire In The Hole coaster ride. Richard was watching the show just next door but the kids wanted to do the ride instead. Aleah and I just got some snacks while we waited.
Mom coming out of CRAZY
Grandfather's Mansion...everything was either upside-down or not what it seemed! ...very interesting!
The little kid coaster was short but worth the ride, even for the big kids!
Here is Jacob and Rachael on the
Electro-Spin ride. As it spun, it also slid up and down on a coaster type rail.
Dad on the
Electro-Spin ride...the kids had to find a seat ont he other side of the ride.
Front to back: Jacob, Rachael, Qaiden and Dad on the
American Plunge! I told Rich that he wouldn't get very wet...hee, hee, hee...little did he know!
Ok...I guess I WAS having more fun than I thought!...nice picture, huh?
Our next stop was the
Butterfly ride...only Qaiden and Aleah had fun on this one...Jacob and Rachael were ready for the big kid rides! I was actually allowed to ride this one :)
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee...
The
Frog ride was fun....I don't know why my kids are so fascinated with frogs...
After the Marvel Cave, we were walking past the
Blacksmith's Shop and Richard said he wanted to stop and see what they were doing. The guy let the kids' hold a sword that they made and showed the knife they were in the midst of working on.
Goodbye MARVEL CAVE...it was fun!
Richard and Aleah climbing the stairs to get on the train.
This was the Marvel Train we took coming out of the cave.
Do you see the bat? We saw a few flying around...this one's sleeping!
Richard and Aleah looking at the cool formations.
Our tour guide was really nice and had a fun sense of humor!
Looking up, you can see the
original entrance to the cave that they had to enter suspended from a rope.
After walking down the steps, we were in the main room called the "Cathedral Room".
Wednesday, July 29th was another fun day at Silver Dollar City. This time, we started by visiting the famous and beautiful
Marvel Cave. The tour guide said that it was fairly strenuous and there were many stairs. He took one look at me and said, "there have never been any births in the cave before...so that would be a first!" It wasn't strenuous at all but one of my favorite things to see and do! At the end of the tour, we took the train cars out of the cave and back to the entrance of Silver Dollar City and the gift shop there.
We stayed the night at the
Gazebo Inn in Branson City (right on the Strip-the main street of entertainment) and the next morning had breakfast and took off back to Silver Dollar City for more fun!
The
Powderkeg ride was pretty fast and went upside-down...we heard screaming a lot!
Dad and the kids are waiting to get on the
Thunderation ride.
Rachael and Qaiden got wet on the Lost River ride, but we were already pretty wet from the Waterboggen ride.
A look at the Lost River ride from above.
The Lost River ride was nice because it wasn't too fast and so I was actually able to ride it!
In the afternoon, we went and saw the Peter Gossimer magician show. It wasn't very good, but the kids thought it was a little interesting...he needed better and more kid-oriented tricks!
We continued to have fun riding on rides, eating really good food like Kettle Corn, Dippin Dots ice cream, fried chicken and catfish and the kid's ate corn-dogs (at Aunt Polly's for lunch).
Qaiden, Aleah and I waited for the others while they rode the Giant Swing.
The
Giant Swing in the Great Barn area.
You're soooo fast Dad...go...go...go! Qaiden was just there for the ride of course.
Dad and Qaiden riding the High Low ride...let's see how fast you can pull it up...
The kids did the
High Low Silos ride where you had to pull yourself up to the top.
Poor Aleah didn't get to ride many rides because she was too short...she didn't mind though!
DON'T YOU DARE SHOOT YOUR WIFE...!...he got me the little stinker!
Boys will be boys...
Aleah had a lot of fun next door playing with all the balls.
See, I told you he had a lot of fun...especially SQUIRTING some random kid that was squirting everyone! Get 'em Rich!!!
Dad had a lot of fun at Geyser Gulch!...
Qaiden and Jacob had a lot of fun despite Qaiden's exagerated frown!
Richard got this photo when we were coming down...it was such a fun ride and one of only a couple rides that I could actually go on...BUMMER...
We started out by getting on the Waterworks Waterboggan ride (the 3 older kids and Mom) and got completely SOAKED! Maybe not the best choice of ride to begin with because we were wet almost the entire rest of the day! It was tons of fun nonetheless! Qaiden was so scared at first...take a look at his face! Afterwards, he actually thought it was fun and the next day, he went on it again without being scared at all.
The tickets to
Silver Dollar City are regularly $54/adults and $44/kids, but Rich had a military I.D because of his being a Captain in the Air Force Reserves, so we got two day passes for the price of 1 AND the kids were ALL FREE both days!!!! What luck...only $108 for 2 days of FUN! So, we played until we were pooped and then left a little after 9 p.m. and drove to
The Gazebo Inn for a night which only cost us $39 + tax! Here are some pictures we took the first day...
On the tram on our way to Silver Dollar City entrance...
Tuesday, July 28th, we left about 8 a.m for Branson, Missouri. We arrived at Silver Dollar City theme park about 10 a.m (they opened at 9:30 a.m.). We parked our car at the back of the parking lot (where we had been directed) and took the tram to the park entrance. While standing in line for the tram, a little boy said, "Mom, look...that lady has 4 kids, and she is going to have another one!" I just had to laugh...people looked at us funny the whole day...we're not in Utah anymore that's for sure!
Funny Kid Moments!
December 20, 2011- We were all in the kitchen making gingerbread and I had just taken out the first batch of the gingerbread boy and girl. As I attempted to scrape up the girl on the spatula, she was too soft and started to fall apart as I quickly placed the mangled mess on the brown paper bag! Qaiden pointed to the messed up cookie and said, "Ladies first!" and "Mom killed her!" It was just so funny I changed from being really upset that I had ruined the cookie to laughing so hard at the random funny comment! I keep telling the boys, "Ladies first", and I guess it is sinking in!
November 2011- I like to recycle plastic containers and so I had just washed out one of them and placed the plastic lid on top the toaster (near the sink) to dry. Jacob went to put some bread in the toaster and while in there, the lid melted! Just a little while later as I was getting dinner prepared, Qaiden sat on the stove counter right next to the hot stove top. I told Q to get down off the counter but he was slow to obey. I had turned off the stove, but one of the burners was still hot and so as Q sat there, his coat was lying on the still hot burner and his inner part of the coat melted. I was a bit angry with him for not being obedient and was pretty frustrated. At this point, I turned to the boys and said, "Ok, and the winner for the 'NO-BRAINER' award goes to...drum roll please...QAIDEN!" I changed from being angry to laughing because of how funny my own comment seemed to me! ;) (Sometimes you just gotta laugh at yourself!)So, whenever we do something stupidly funny, we call it the NO-BRAINER award! It's become quite funny to see some of the silly things we do each day!
May 25, 2010- As the kids got ready for school this morning, I asked Rachael if she remembered to get a leotard for Gymnastics today after school. Qaiden overheard and said "...it's NOT Aleah-tard, it's a Rachael-tard! And I would wear a Qaiden-tard!" Ohhhh the silly things that kids come up with!
Jan 20, 2010- I was in the middle of winding the cord of our kirby vacuum cleaner while singing 'Ring around the rosies a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down'...and Aleah just standing there all the sudden dropped to her bottom without bending her knees (looked a little awkward). It was just one of those moments that made me laugh because it was so unexpected!
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Aleah, Emma, Neil, and Abby in the little kid pool!
Jacob had fun throwing the rings with Wesley and diving for them afterward.
Swimming is fun!
Our kids wanted to stay at Silver Dollar City forever...we should have left them there!
Tea Cup fun...Dad and the 3 older kids are in the middle teacup.
The flying swings.
The Racing Regata...which boat do you think won?
We rode the train through the park as we shared two cotton candys and the HUGE dill pickle (I guess I was having one of my cravings)!
Aleah spent a lot of time in the stroller, but she had fun nonetheless. We got a lot of treat to keep her happy. Look at the cute face!!!
The kids are waiting in line for the Fire In The Hole coaster ride. Richard was watching the show just next door but the kids wanted to do the ride instead. Aleah and I just got some snacks while we waited. 
Mom coming out of CRAZY Grandfather's Mansion...everything was either upside-down or not what it seemed! ...very interesting!
The little kid coaster was short but worth the ride, even for the big kids!
Here is Jacob and Rachael on the Electro-Spin ride. As it spun, it also slid up and down on a coaster type rail.
Dad on the Electro-Spin ride...the kids had to find a seat ont he other side of the ride.
Front to back: Jacob, Rachael, Qaiden and Dad on the American Plunge! I told Rich that he wouldn't get very wet...hee, hee, hee...little did he know!
Ok...I guess I WAS having more fun than I thought!...nice picture, huh?
Our next stop was the Butterfly ride...only Qaiden and Aleah had fun on this one...Jacob and Rachael were ready for the big kid rides! I was actually allowed to ride this one :)
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee...
The Frog ride was fun....I don't know why my kids are so fascinated with frogs...
After the Marvel Cave, we were walking past the Blacksmith's Shop and Richard said he wanted to stop and see what they were doing. The guy let the kids' hold a sword that they made and showed the knife they were in the midst of working on.
Goodbye MARVEL CAVE...it was fun!
Richard and Aleah climbing the stairs to get on the train.
This was the Marvel Train we took coming out of the cave.
Do you see the bat? We saw a few flying around...this one's sleeping!
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Our tour guide was really nice and had a fun sense of humor!
Looking up, you can see the original entrance to the cave that they had to enter suspended from a rope.
After walking down the steps, we were in the main room called the "Cathedral Room".
Wednesday, July 29th was another fun day at Silver Dollar City. This time, we started by visiting the famous and beautiful Marvel Cave. The tour guide said that it was fairly strenuous and there were many stairs. He took one look at me and said, "there have never been any births in the cave before...so that would be a first!" It wasn't strenuous at all but one of my favorite things to see and do! At the end of the tour, we took the train cars out of the cave and back to the entrance of Silver Dollar City and the gift shop there. 
