Cousins Whit (5th), August (K), Linton, (4th), Stella (3rd), CoCo (9th), Reece (preK) and Katie (2nd) This was taken
next door at Stan and Beth's, they have a splendid home!

Here's Pharoah and Sunny, a kitten we're fostering....He's so good with cats even though he is a sighthound

Beth texted me this photo of Chloe (6 yr) and Linton (1 yr) ....Chloe's dressed in her jockey
Halloween costume....so cute, blurry I know, but great memories!

Monday, August 17, 2015

We have a high schooler!  Chloe started 9th grade with toenails painted, eye brows plucked, makeup done (I'll elaborate on that experience at the Macy's Mac counter at Oak Court Mall in a minute) and backpack ready.  She's so stinking cute and we're so proud of her.  She's loaded down with 4 advanced classes, she's on the high school golf team and continuing piano.  She's also writing for the school newspaper and yearbook (something her dad and I did in high school too:)).  We're finally packed up from another successful Midsouth Kids Triathlon which was two weeks ago.  So hopefully I'll get caught up on blogging.  Happy rest of the summer ya'll!

PS. I've got a great story about having Chloe's makeup done for the first time.  I had an appointment to get my gray roots colored the Wednesday before Chloe started school so I had her eye brows done for the first time and she had a pedicure.  After that, we went over to the mall next door and had an appointment with a Mac cosmetics stylist.  Well they wrote it down on the wrong day but we were able to get in with a little wait.  Her artist was really a man....I kept looking at him not staring too much.  He was very patient with Chloe, did a great job showing her how to "cover her red spots" instead of calling it acne, which it is.  (Her dermatologist started her on prescription scrubs and ointments about a month ago, it's better but she has my skin which is yucky).  I confirmed it was a man when I saw his tatoo on his arm that said, "Momma's Boy".  Next time you're in Macy's Oak Court, go by and see if she/he's there.  :)  Btw, Chloe didn't know the difference...wigs, makeup and nail polish and shaved arms works.

Chloe running to get on her bike at the kids tri

Whit, red goggles, about to start his swim leg.  This is, by far, my favorite age group to watch during the kids triathlon

our 9th grader

After the first day of school, we went to meet the levee board over at the Memphis Redbirds game.  It was the Susan G
Komen game.  We had a splendid box as you can see.

Stan and Katie before the kids tri

Me, Chloe, Pierce Hill and Whit...these three have done our kids tri 5 years in a row so they got a pair of goggles

August at the finish line, he, Stella, Whit and Chloe all got trophies this year

Stella, she had a bad black eye from two nights before....due to falling out of a bed

This past Saturday we all went to the fabulous Wilson Cafe in Wilson, Ark.  We highly recommend it for dinner or lunch.
front, Martin, Kara, me over her shoulder, Mel and Jerry Harvey and Cecelia, back row: Kyle, John, Jackie, Neall,
Becca Joy, Ashley and Jon David King and Beth and Jimmy Huff.  We had a great time and celebrated Mel's first night
out since she broke her collar bone after being hit by a dog on her bicycle.  We also celebrated Neall, Jon David and Joy's
birthdays in August.

Deadwood, South Dakota

George Mickelson Trail between Hill City and Deadwood

I got a ton of photos of Chloe from behind

This was when Chloe basically said she was DONE and over it....Only 15 more miles from here

An interpreter at Crazy Horse.  This is a privately funded monument that sits between Hill City and Deadwood.  The monument was started in 1931 by Chief Henry Standing Bear.  He commissioned Korczak Ziolkowski to design and build the monument.  From the web, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too." This was in response to Mount Rushmore being built just a few miles away.  The monument officially was under construction in 1947.  For more history on the monument, check out https://crazyhorsememorial.org

Jackie had some heavy bags...

A good photo of Crazy Horse 

Crazy Horse monument in the distance

Chloe's gears kept messing up (as they did in Chicago a few weeks ago).  Jackie got it working in no time...

If you read this blog, you know I have to take a photo over my shoulder which isn't easy to do....In fact, I got a ton
of footage of Chloe riding on the bike movie style and it was scary a couple times trying to watch where I was going...

A view of downtown Deadwood

So proud of Chloe making it 50 miles on Friday and doing 129 the whole trip (yes, I know, I didn't start the odometer
on time).  She hiked probably10-12 miles in-between bike rides 

Chloe ready to get in the car and take a shower like me...whew it was fun but boy were we glad it was O.V.E.R!

Friday, July 31, 2015

We arrived in Deadwood early afternoon after riding 50 miles from Hill City.  Jackie had the pannier bags packed full of our overnight things...This ride from Hill City climbed over 1,000 feet but once we hit the top, there wasn't any pedaling coming down into Deadwood.  Chloe did remark on the last 15 miles of the trip, "stupid hills".  And I was done too when we arrived in Deadwood.  Chloe kept saying on the tour of the George Mickleson Trail that she kept thinking she heard helicopters but of course, it was 750,000 Harley Davidson bike riders coming in town for the 75th Annual Sturgis Festival.  You know on her quote list was "Every time I open my eyes I see a line of motorcycles".  Saturday we headed for home and stopped in Kansas City.  Photos to come...

Badlands, South Dakota

Beautiful

First day of biking in the Badlands

Chloe climbing the Badlands, South Dakota...my favorite photo of the trip

Chloe won the Polka Dotted Jersey several days in a row....(that's the hill climber in the Tour De France in case
you didn't know....:))

Hiking in the Badlands

This is a descent with motorcycles all around me after that big hike

First day in the Badlands, beautiful

Saturday, July 25, 2015

We arrived late in the afternoon in the Badlands, about 4 hours from Sioux Falls.  Jackie got a cool cabin in the Badlands National Park where we stayed for two nights.  The park is covered in beautiful landscape, hiking trails and we rode bikes both days in the park.  Chloe and Jackie went to an after dark astrology course put on by the park that they loved.  It was beautiful weather there and great weather during our entire trip.  It was 105 both afternoons so we had late lunches, took a nap and tried to stay out of the heat.  We did our riding and hiking both mornings.  I will say the restaurant at the park wasn't that great so we were glad we came with provisions from Sioux Falls and had lunch and breakfast inside the cabin.  We recommend seeing the Badlands, it was ultra cool.  Next we went on to Custer State Park for three nights to hike, see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse...photos to come...

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls has a 20 mile trail from downtown, past the Falls Farmer's Market and around.
This is starting out from downtown

You can see some falls along this part of the Big Sioux River

I give myself a black star for not using Jackie's extra cup holder to take one of the three Cokes I had packed....
we stopped a trailhead so he could ride over to Fairfield Inn and get me one.  Here we are resting.

Friday, July 24, 2015

We set off from Birdeye at 5 am (Chloe's recommendation, can you believe it?) for Souix Falls, South Dakota, about 12 hours away.  Jackie and I both agreed that it was the smoothest 12 hour trip we've ever had.  (We do these 12 hour trips to Crested Butte during spring break and we've gone to Jacksonville, FL too)

What a delight Souix Falls was!  I highly encourage all of you to consider this place for a family vacation.  We stayed right on the Big Sioux River downtown.  It has a cool river walk filled with splash parks and bridges to walk over to restaurants and about a mile away is the Falls Park Farmer's Market.  We were only there one day but fell in love with it.  We also had excellent authentic Mexican food at Jacky's.  I highly recommend it when in Sioux Falls.  We need to go back again.

The trail we did Saturday morning is a 20 mile loop and Chloe did it with no problem.  I think with her new Specialized Hybird Ariel, she needs to ride instead of babysit during the Birdeye Bicycle Club's group rides.  Just saying.