The Joy of GINGERBREAD

Top Moments from Labor Day

I can never get enough visits to the Bluffs back in Missouri. It is such a thrill and a certain peace (all at the same time) when we share these family traditions together. There is much more where these came from, but its late and I wanted to share what was on my mind.

This stone foundation is all that is left from a swinging bridge in Monegaw, MO. Its random, but the stories of family past and the reminder of the stone foundation always speak to me...

... family is only as alive and close as you keep it. We can feel far removed, or we can feel close as kin, either way it is of our choosing. Whichever we choose will make all the difference in our lives.

How this bridge support and the river that runs along the bluffs remind me of family, I may never know... but I do know that the love of family brings us back each time.

Then onto the rodeo... I must say, a rodeo is either good or its a DUD... Lets just say the company of family makes all the difference... and we will come back and do it again every time...

My Childhood Home

A little reminiscing for a moment.

Since I moved back to the Midwest five years ago, I have always wanted to go back to the childhood home of my memories. We moved to California when I was five, and though I spent my childhood growing up in California, the Midwest has always felt like home for me. Some people refer to it as a 'slower' pace, while I think of it as a 'simpler' life. I guess having family to come home to always made it a sweeter memory.

So this past week when I drove from Kentucky to Missouri to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday bash over Labor Day weekend, I went down memory lane through the town I was born in... Warrensburg, MO. Simple enough huh?!

So I thought I would share a few memories, with a twist on then and now.

This is the tree I used to climb while playing in the front yard. It still looks big to me, only because it has grown.

Okay, this is my favorite... this little niche in the wood post was made by me when I was a little girl. I used to take these red berries from the bush just next to it and squish them in the little round hole of the post. Hannah has had moments just like this, and it has always taken me back to this... this is Hannah's hand here...

Along the front of the house, which was a duplex, there was a walkway that gives an impression of a porch with the row of posts here in front. I used to run up and down here playing make-believe, and living the female version of Dennis the Menace to the old man next door.

This is in the front next to the infamous post, where the berry bush used to grow. Behind Hannah, across the street is a grass lot between two houses. There are railroad tracks running JUST behind the houses, so I used to count the cars of the train as it ran along here. Yet the train seemed to jump out to me as it appeared between the two houses behind this lot.

Simple enough... yet full of vivid imaginations for a four year old girl playing outside her childhood home.

Missouri's State Park... Ha Ha Tonka

Ever since I heard my G.Mama describe her visits to Ha Ha Tonka State Park in the springtime, I was dying to go... maybe it was just the fun of saying 'Ha Ha Tonka', or the thrill of taking pictures of castle ruins... or just seeing the children enjoy the discoveries outside our hometown. Yeah, I think it was a bit of it all rolled up into one... since anyone could hear us chanting 'Ha Ha Tonka Willy Wonka' while we hiked around searching for the balanced rock.

While my grandparents were at work, my cousin Bekah, the kids and I drove about an hour out to the Ha Ha Tonka State Park, which is along the Ozarks in Missouri. It was gorgeous and terribly easy to get around to visit the different sites here. There wasn't any large groups of people there so it still felt like you had fallen off the beaten path and made some wondrous discovery all your own.

Now, the pictures here are the grounds around the castle, the water tower and overlook to the springs. I didn't realize... but swimming was actually allowed in the springs with the waterfall. It looked like it would have been surreal to swim in this spring water of amazing shades of blue and greens. It was tempting... no, not really. I'm not a fan of water, no matter how tropical and surreal it may seem. There was so much more we didn't get a chance to see and enjoy, but enjoyed what we could for the afternoon. I want to take Paul and go back in the spring for the blooming dogwood.

Here is a link with the original home and the history of its beginnings at http://www.mostateparks.com/hahatonka/history.htm

Snapshots... from the Bluffs

I spent some time at the bluffs in Monegaw Springs with the kids while visiting my G.Mama on our way to Kentucky. These bluffs are infamous. They are sentimental. They are historical... well by the way of our family anyhow. They are historical... in that they always seem to bring us together... even when it doesn't seem likely.

My mother and her parents, and theirs before them... and so on... have all come to these bluffs. You will see what is left of the bridge along the river here... it was a swing bridge and the only access across the river.

(You will notice I didn't get much pictures of the actual bluffs... as I was corraling three kids on the cliffs and afraid to lose my balance while shutting my eyes to peer through a lens...)

Despite that, it is a beautiful spot to return to... again and again.