July 5 - Ozark, Missouri

Happy Fourth of July!

Fun times with friends

Rose (10), Caleb (12), Titus (7)

Water balloons on July 4th

It was a fun and fierce battle.

Jenn and Erica

Toby and Ken

The kids 

Great memories.

Titus at his swim meet.

He did great.

We parked in their driveway and enjoyed 

the amenities of their lower level suite. 

We all enjoyed the extra space.

The kids enjoyed lots of play time.

Time Traveler roller coaster

at Silver Dollar City.

Caleb and Titus after their baseball teams won.

They both did great!

We enjoyed a lovely date night at

a nearby hibachi restaurant.

Action shot of Titus.

He’s a strong boy,

Street fireworks. There were lots of fireworks

in the neighborhood but were somewhat cut 

short by God’s fireworks aka a big thunderstorm

that evening.

Ken preparing to help Toby with

backyard fireworks.

What a great week full of lots of quality time with the Long family. Rose has been waiting to see Caleb and Titus for 11 months and finally we arrived at their lovely home in Ozark for 8 nights. (Reminder - we were neighbors with the Longs in Soldotna until they moved to Missouri in 2021.)

When Titus (7) toured the camper he said “It looks like you’re living your best life” which was so cute and nothing like Rose’s recent quote “Since I had to suffer so much going on this trip, I think I deserve a huge prize for success and surviving.” Someone also asked Rose if Titus could go back with us and sleep in one of the bunks. She wasn’t interested. I said as much as she talks about wishing she had a friend traveling with us, she is holding onto all of the square footage that she can.

The weather was mostly hot (high 80s and 90s) so the pool across the street from their house was a perfect way to spend the afternoons and sometimes evenings. 

The kids enjoyed playing, watching movies, ice skating, Silver Dollar City, Fourth of July bike parade, fireworks, building forts, air hockey, ice cream, open gym at gymnastics place, and more. The adults enjoyed coffee, conversation, date night, projects (Ken and Toby) and a massage (Erica and Jenn). 

Jenn wanted to cook taco meat while Erica and Ken worked one day but since she couldn’t get her skillet with a lid to work on the induction stove she opted to just cook it in the camper. But since the camper wasn’t hooked up there was no air conditioning and since it was in the 90s even the “laundry dress” was too hot hence the decision to cook in a swimsuit. After cooking Jenn headed to the pool so the attire was perfect. Like Jenn told Erica “Camper living isn’t as glamorous as it looks.” To which Erica replied “I never thought it looked glamorous.” Lol

Saturday morning we are headed to Iowa with a few family and friend visits on the way. We are roughly 26 days away from being home, Yay!  Thank you SO much for the prayers for safe travels and health as we head back. Hope you had a lovely Fourth of July weekend. 🇺🇸