Keystone Lake

 After the zoo we had lunch with my friend, Missy, and her two girls Sara and Sydney.  Unfortunately, I was having such a good time that I totally forgot to take photos.  Afterwards, we met up with Daniel's parents, Glenda and her kids, and Daniel's sister, Robin and her kids at Keystone Lake.  It was beautiful.

Some of our kids had never swam in a real lake before.  Swimming in a lake in Oklahoma is a very different experience.  The water is muddy brown and you can't see the bottom.

There are lots of rocks that are either sharp or slimy with moss.  Some kids were jumping off of a large rock and we saw one of them slip and fall.  Looked like they hit their head, but they were okay.  Kevin got to test out his new airplane raft with attached water gun that he got for his birthday.  I enjoyed swimming with the kids, but I'm a Nervous Nelly, worrying constantly that someone will drown.  I had more fun playing with Glenda's baby, Sarah.  She is just so squishably cute!

Tulsa Zoo

 We went to the Tulsa Zoo with my friend, Glenda, and her children.  We also brought Cousin Rhema.  It was probably one of the hottest days of the whole summer.  We were all melting!  But at least we got cheap tickets.

We survived as long as we could and took lots of cute photos.  It was important for my six newest kids to get to enjoy my favorite zoo.  We had so many cute photos of our other kids there, I wanted to have photos of ALL my children at the Tulsa Zoo.  Glenda was a real trooper making it through the whole zoo even though the kids were falling apart.  We especially loved the penguin feeding show.

Oklahoma Love

 Some other photos I love from our trip to Oklahoma!

Things that go Boom!

 The majority of the fireworks experience was fun.  Jordan and Michael had never actually done their own fireworks before.  The men helped the younger kids out for the most part.  Unfortunately, some of the guys thought it would be fun to show the younger boys how to set explosives inside of a doll's head.  We had to drag our fascinated sons away from that.  Danya and Rhema had a good time being in charge of the camera once the sun went down.  All the really cool fireworks pictures are ones that they took.  They experimented with different settings to get different effects.

Shane's Son

 My cousin, Shane, is finally a daddy.  I think of his son more as a nephew to me.  Caden is so sweet and active.  He reminds me a lot of Kevin at that age.  He gave me lots of kisses and hugs and let me play with the pool balls with him.  You can tell that his dad and his mom, Rachel, are raising him right.  I hope I get to see him again in November.  It was so great that they were all willing to drive to Ripley to come see us.  I could see that Caden's grandma, Aunt Kathy, was just busting at the seems with pride.

Family on the Fourth

 Aunt Jennie, Aunt Robin, Uncle Terry.  People we only get to see once or twice a year, but wish we could see more.  Holidays just aren't the same without them.

Arrested Development

 Aunt Kathy came by the house and promptly arrested a few of my children.  Let's hope this is the only time they ever experience wearing real handcuffs.  My aunt works as a correctional officer at a prison in Oklahoma.  It's a scary job, but she's one tough lady.  The kids thought her handcuffs were very cool.

Fireworks!

 Last year was such a disappointment since fireworks were banned in Oklahoma.  This year we made up for it by buying an insane amount of fireworks.  We tried to limit it to roughly $10 per person with a few extras on items that we like to make sure there is enough for all the cousins, too, like parachutes.  In the end, I think it was close to $200 worth of fireworks.  Did I mention that this is one of my all time favorite holidays?

Ricky's Family

 We spent some time with my little brother, Ricky's family on our first day in Oklahoma.  Not as long as we would have liked, but at least we got to see them for the first time in a long time.  He has a new little boy that I wanted to meet and I wanted to introduce him to our new kids as well.  We had some pizza and hung out and talked.  We also got a tour of his new home.  They've done an amazing amount of remodeling and decorating.  It was beautiful!

We're hoping to get to see them again the week of Thanksgiving.  My boys were really impressed by Uncle Ricky's home gym out in his garage.  Rick says there's a great duck pond within walking distance that we'll have to check out next time.  I'm so glad that all the kids instantly got along.

Granny Jo and Grandpa Clint

 We visited my parents while we were in the Oklahoma City area.  My dad showed me his new work truck that he was so proud of.  He even let the kids sit in it and gave some of them rides.  My mom was thrilled to hold her great grand baby, Alayna, and told Molly how proud of her she was.  It was a really surprisingly good day.

Sadly, this was one of the last good days.  Things have gone downhill from here for them.  Dad no longer works for this company and they have struggled through several issues over the summer.  I'm continuing to pray for their salvation and that God will keep them both safe and well and give them every opportunity to come to Him.