Happy Fri-yay!

Happy Fri-yay!  We've made it to the end of another week!

Guys!  I wish it would stop raining around here.  It's rained every day this week!  Some days were huge storms and others were just a constant drizzle.  

Tomorrow is August already!  I cannot believe it.  The days, weeks and months have been blending together.  

This week was another pretty boring one.

I worked all week.  Doing the same tasks as before.  They pushed back our open date to August 17th, but they are thinking about pushing it back to September now.  I have a new manager starting on Monday.  We haven't gotten an intro or email or phone number from her....maybe today that will happen.

I ended up making a few things this week.  I love cooking, but quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it.  I made a sheet pan dinner.  It turned out delicious. I had planned on making a baked chicken dish on Thursday, but Alli said she thought Subway sounded good.  She was right, it did.  We did Subway for dinner, but I did make an apple crisp for dessert.

Tanner has been able to text me a few nights this week.  He has to buy his wifi and did that for a few days.  He plans on getting a hotspot, so he doesn't have to pay by the hour.  I mailed his package.  I've mailed stuff overseas to military addresses before and have never been asked what region I'm sending it to.  The postal worker asked me.  I'm not sure if she was just curious or needed to know.  It's been about a month since I last sent a package overseas and was not asked that before.  I grabbed some customs forms and priority boxes, so it will be easier next time I go.  I will already have the form filled out.

Alli worked her normal schedule.  

Peyton is still just chilling his summer vacation away.

I washed all the comforters in the house.  Some of them you can't put in the dryer and since it's been raining a lot, they got put all throughout the house to dry.  The upside is: they smell v nice!  

Not sure what I'm going to be doing this weekend.  I saw that on Saturday it is supposed to be clear!  I'll try to get outside and do something.

What are your plans?  Anything fun?

Monthly Musings

I'm going to try out a new link up today called Monthly Musings!  The topic this month is vacations!  I love travel and vacations, so this is perfect!

Click here to join the link up!

1.  Top Five Items You Pack When Headed on Vacation

• Sunscreen!  Even to cold destinations.  Vacation sun seems to be brutal
• Pillow and a blanket!
• Camera!
• Cooler full of snacks and drinks!
• My favorite traveling shoes (whatever they may be at the moment)

2.   Packing Cubes?  Yes or No?

    I don't even know what packing cubes are!   I do take a laundry basket with us if we are traveling by car, that way we can stick dirty items in there and it makes it so much easier when we get home.

3.  Do you prefer warm or cold destinations?

    Both!  We've done summers in Alaska and Florida!  We are all over the place!

4.  Favorite Vacation Location of All Time?

    So many!  I love Destin, Seattle, Alaska, all the National and State Parks!  Cities to visit!  Love them all!

5.  What are your Staycation tips?

    I don't have any!  We are doing short trips to outside destinations!  I'm saving up my vacation time. (I have so much!) for when we can do things!

6.  Camping?  or Glamping? or No?

CAMPING!  Love it!  But I also love hotel vacationing!

7.  How many states have you been to?

31 states and 4 countries!  I am hoping to add more states and countries soon!

8.  Have you traveled by RV?

Yes!  My grandparents took us on lots of RV adventures growing up!  

9.  Most Random Place you have ever been to?

Weldon Springs, MO -- I always find weird, random places and want to go check them out.  I might write about it sometime, or maybe I already have.

10.  What is the first place you traveling when the Pandemic is over?

Hopefully, Disneyland!  Since I've already paid for the trip and the plane tickets!!  I love Disneyland so much!

What's Up, Wednesday?

It's What's Up, Wednesday? Link up here and go browse the other blogs! I would love to see what you are up to!

One time, not long ago, Alli ended up locked in a State Park bathroom.

It took us a minute to get her out.  But, there was a pretty butterfly, so I took

it's picture.  She got out and everything was okay.

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:

Whatever I can make from stuff in the house. I don't want to go to the grocery store. No particular reason why. Plus, we have enough food at home.

2. WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Vacations! So many good memories posting on my timeline.

Alli doing Arts & Crafts in the hotel room!

She didn't make a mess.

3: WHAT I’M LOVING:

I don't know. Life is pretty non-eventful at the moment.

4: WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:

Working

Going through and cleaning out kiddos rooms

Working on my family tree. I have a ton of DNA matches I need to go through.

Not the final room, but it is her new bed. The dogs

dogs love it.

5: WHAT I’M DREADING:

The office opening and there not being a clear cut plan and getting a new manager right before it all happens. That will be interesting.

6: WHAT I’M WORKING ON:

My family tree. Reading books. Planning out blog posts.

Oh, hey, look at this crazy baseball news! So awesome!

7: WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT:

Maybe doing a few more outdoor things? I will have to research and see what I come up with.

8: WHAT I’M WATCHING/READING:

I like watching videos on TikTok. I've been watching way too much Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. I have Disney+, but haven't watched the most talked about show. I'm not super interested in watching it either, unsure why.

9: WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

Just the radio when I'm in the car. I finished two audiobooks recently.

10: WHAT I’M WEARING:

Shorts and t-shirts mostly.

11: WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND:

I have no idea. Probably a little bit of nothing added with more of nothing. :)

12: WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

Nothing that I can think of. I don't have any plans laid out because of the state of our lives right meow.

13: WHAT ELSE IS NEW:

Tanner turned 21 and he's overseas right now! If anyone has a group that wants to send packages to soldiers overseas, let me know and you can have his address. I'm sure he would love all the gifts.

Box of Goodies for him.  I got the same word search and I challenged him.

To see who could do the most.

I mailed in my primary ballot.

We went on a long weekend trip, I have posts coming about the places we went.

Alli is still working.

Peyton is still chilling.

School doesn't start until after Labor Day. Alli will be doing remote learning. Peyton will be doing the hybrid learning (2-3 days in person and 2 days online)

Taum Sauk Mountain State Park

Taum Sauk Mountain State Park was one of our destinations on our long weekend trip.  There is a lot more to do here then we actually did.  We had just finished up swimming somewhere and it was incredibly humid!  I do think I would visit this park again and take a little longer there.

Taum Sauk is located in the St. Francis Mountains.  What?  Mountains in Missouri!  Yep!  This mountain range is believed to be 1.5 million years old.  That's why it is not as high and majestic as other places.  It's simply been around so long that it has eroded down.  What is left is just the roots of the mountains.  It is now covered in forest and glades (and I noticed LOTS of poison oak!)

This state park is pretty large in size.  You can drive up close to the highest point in Missouri.  They have a nice pavilion and a vault bathroom.  The park does have 12 basic campsites with water.  Might be an idea for a future camping spot.

Alli and I hiked about a quarter of mile (Peyton said his feet hurt and stayed in the car) to find the highest point in Missouri.  Thinking highest point, we thought we were going to see some great outlook over the valley or something....nope.  It was kinda of a let down, but still kinda cool to be standing in the highest point in the state.

There are other trails that we didn't take, but next time we will!  We most likely would have this time if Peyton had wanted to get out and hike.

The Mina Sauk Falls Trail is around three miles long and is described as rugged.  At the end of it, you will find the Mina Sauk Falls, which drops 132 feet over rock ledges.  Past the falls is the Devil's Tollgate which is a eight foot wide passage through volcanic rhyolite!  Geology is awesome!  I love it so much!

There is a trail that leads to the Johnson's Shut Ins that is 13.9 miles and said to take 10 hours to hike.  I will post about Johnson's Shut Ins soon because it is so fun and amazing. (That's where we had been swimming before heading here and why Peyton was exhausted)

There is a lookout that you can stop at and see the views.  I did a little video of it because the birds were so loud!  You can hear a car on the gravel road towards the end of it though.

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#taumsaukmountainstatepark #stateparks #mostateparks #missouri #missourioutdoors #missourimountains

A post shared by Morgan (@morganc324) on Jul 27, 2020 at 10:52am PDT

I did get some still shots with my phone too.  It really is beautiful.

 Would we venture here again?  Absolutely!  I would love to hike all the trails and see the falls.  Also, do a picnic lunch in the shade there.  Maybe even spend the night.

We did see a lot of Eastern Collared lizards!  They were big and fast.  We saw a few butterflies and heard the birds sing.  I'm glad we didn't run into a scorpion coming out from hiding!  

Happy 21st Birthday to Tanner!

Happy 21st Birthday to my first baby, Tanner!!  I am so proud of him in so many ways.  He's spending his 21st Birthday overseas!  Here are some pictures of him throughout the years!  Some recent and some 21 years old!  

Happy Monday to everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  I'll be sharing about ours soon!