Hailey was out sick and it was my turn to watch the kiddos so I took everybody to Bonkers. Zane and Wren came along, too.
The boys taught her how to go down the slide
and how to climb back up it. 
She also had her first baby prison ink 😁, lucky 13.
After two and a half hours everybody was completely worn out. 
I can't sit next to Alice. She smells like watermelons and French toast.
The weather is perfect, the birds are singing, and my children are playing. It doesn't get much better than this.
https://youtu.be/j_3NAz3NhIE
Today was a bit of a rough day. Â Archer and Griffin got back from Grandmommy and PaPa’s house late last night. Â They had been there for three days because we didn’t have a nanny for them for the mornings. Â Both boys were grumpier than usual all morning (it usually takes a day or two to get them back into our home routine) but they turned it around mid-afternoon after they got back from see the local production of Godspell Jr. Â Alice and I stayed home since we didn’t think she would be able to sit through it and I think it did both of us some good. Â Opportunities to play quietly together are rare and I treasure them.
Her personality is really shining through in her little smirk. Â She is one of the happiest babies I have ever seem but this little lady’s little smirk gets me every time.
Archer needed some recent headshots and I didn’t have much time to get them ready, so I am very lucky that he is so comfortable in front of a camera.
I might have to call the media. This is definitely the cutest thing ever.
After watching Archer unlock the gate, go through, and close it behind him, Alice figured out how to work the latch. Â If she holds onto the bars and stands on her tip-toes she can push the latch just far enough up to pop it open. Â She is very proud of herself and has been going back and forth and back and forth through the gate for about 20 minutes now.
The Bunker Hill Retreat is a special place. Â The quite is the first thing that struck me. Â No cel service or phones of any kind, no TVs, no wifi, no loud cars, no loud music, and no need to drive anywhere. Â The retreat is a very isolated vacation spot on Jack’s Fork in southern Missouri.
When I first described it to Archer he panicked a bit. Â A whole weekend without the internet?! Â No YouTube? Â No video games? Â Whoa. Â When he put it that way I felt a bit uneasy too. Â When we drove in the cellular internet started to get spotty about 30 miles away and had completely dropped out about 15 miles out. Â Now it’s getting serious.
It didn’t take long for the beauty and isolation to win me over. Â It’s like a small community cut off from the outside world where you can let everything go for a few days. Â What’s the latest news? Â Who knows. Â You don’t have any way to check even if you wanted to. Â We arrived in the late afternoon and by lunch the next day I had stopped reaching for my phone every five minutes. Â Its a weird habit until you notice how absurd it is.
The meals were all provided and served family style where we ate at long tables with everyone else who was staying, maybe 15 families in all.
The kids had a great time once they got the place figured out and I can’t wait to go back.
On our first night we played on the rick beach. Â Griffin had never seen so many rocks to choose from. Â It took some persuasion to get Archer to be comfortable throwing rocks into the water, skipping them across the top, digging pits, and stacking them however you want. Â Alice tried to eat them all. Â It was nine at night with very little light when I took these first photos and I am very impressed by how well my Fuji performed.
Day two was filled with exploring the river by canoe and we finished off the day with a campfire by the water complete with s-mores.
We were all a little sad to say goodbye to our little cabin.
Dang we have some good kids!
