memorial weekend 2011

Well I am thoroughly exhausted from this weekend.  As you know we stayed in a cabin with the in-laws near the Illinois River.  

Jimmy and I  stayed upstairs in the loft and put Kiera next to us on a cot.  It faces the east so one morning I woke up and was able to see the sun rising.  I quickly covered my head because it was too stinkin' early and went back to sleep.   

We took a number of walks around the pond to look at the fish and feed them some bread.  There were some huge bull frogs in there too along with a few turtles and a snake.

We ate some great food.

I started every morning off on the deck drinking coffee...alone. 

 

We took a drive to Tahlequah to kill some time and went to the Cherokee Heritage Museum.   We didn't actually walk through the museum or the village, just stuck to the gift shop.  I plan on us going back to the center Labor Day weekend (since we will be camping then too)  because they will have demonstrations.  Have I ever mentioned Kiera just received her Cherokee Citizenship card a couple weeks ago?  The girl needs to learn her roots.   

 

I want that wood sculpture in my home. 

We planned on doing a 12 mile float trip but the river authority wasn't letting anyone under the age of 10 in a raft.  The river was still up after all the storms that have been passing through here.  Luckily we found a gravel bar that hadn't changed like the rest of the river has and was able to swim there.  Alright the water was still super cold so wading was more like it. 

Those are my new water shoes.  I love them.  I would have liked hot pink put all they had were baby blue and these pink ones.  The ones I had before I bought in 1999 or 2000 before my first trip to the river with Jimmy and his family.  They were bright blue, neon green and white.  I threw them away.  I actually held them over the trash and looked at them one last time before I dropped them in. 

Across the street from the resort they have this super slide.  Kiera and I went down this slide about 5 times which took up the 30 minutes I paid for.  She loves it.  I don't really love climbing up the stairs to get to the top but whatever.  I need the exercise.  I actually carried her up on my back one time so we could get up there faster.  My legs did not appreciate hauling an extra 38 lbs up there.  A couple times some teenagers stopped right before the bottom and we slammed into them.  I thought it was funny.  Kiera would scream at me to let her go in the pool and would fight me to get out of my arms but she can't swim yet.

(picture borrowed from War Eagle Resort photos on facebook)

 One evening we took the J5 drive backwards!  Crazy I know.  Kiera was dying to get out and walk so we stopped and walked around.  She didn't want to get back in the car when we were done, she wanted to run.  



 Ya see that little white speck under the red arrow?  That's Kiera.  She was walking with her Nanny and then she decided to run.  Nanny stopped so we could pick her up and Kiera just kept going.  Jimmy said she was running fast too.  We had to haul butt to get up to her before the truck around the corner did. 

Then the next evening we were headed towards the J5 again and decided to go down a different road because we didn't know where it lead to.  After a couple miles we come across this limestone waterfall.  There are tons of little creeks around the IRR where water rushes through after a big rain but nothing like this.

 

 

   

The water was fa-reezing cold.  Didn't phase Kiera one bit.  She had a blast and was a fearless little thing, she kept jumping in, crawling out and jumping back in.  

Oh it was a lovely weekend.  We can't wait to do it again.  Actually I can cause I am pooped and our backs are killing us from the crappy mattress.  Oh yeah and I am burnt...after 2 measly hours in the sun.