Okay, well I wanted to do these in order, but that hasn’t been working to my advantage here lately, so I’m just coming out with it… hubby and I are now Scuba Certified. That means, we can go scuba diving! It all happened the 13th and 14th of July. After we got our certifications, then we were allowed to go out on our own. Oh and just a side note, later that week I went and picked up our cards. Hubby and Pokey were 2 of 7 who were accidentally put in as junior divers. Junior divers are 10-16 years of age, lol. Hubby called and asked how old he needed to be to be a full time diver since he was 30 :).
Here are photos from our first dive. Hopefully you enjoy.
Since you can’t really talk under water, this is the symbol for “I’m ok”
Here we were doing headstands. Now a few weeks prior to all of this I got a huge ear infection so hubby found special diving ear plugs for me. They worked great until that Sunday when I did my headstand. I got a little water in my ear. It only took me about 4 weeks to get over the ear infection. It sucked!
I finally came up because other students needed my gear, while hubby and JT went down for a dive. So I was sitting around yacking with everyone when they got the fun idea to write on D the Man’s back in sunscreen 🙂
Our first night in grandma’s RV was quite, um… interesting. Between the night before when I had an adventure getting to the bathroom and then in my sleep I kicked my leg, hit the wall, kicked back and hit hubby and then turned over and grumbled at him. Needless to say he slept in a different bed the remainder of the night… lol.
That morning hubby’s alarm was set to go off at 6am. Just shy of the alarm going off though, I swore I smelled bacon. I opened my eyes to see hubby across the RV sleeping and then his alarm went off. The night before Earl and I were discussing how if you thought about a smell, you might just actually smell it. After that, I believed :).
Hubby went up to AL & JT’s camper before I did, to start the bacon and eggs. Our plans were to have Bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Sadly though, when we got up there, the raccoons had gotten into the bread box. The funny part of it (even though it was more aggravating than anything) was they got into Moo & AL’s specialty bread and one package of hamburger buns and left all the rest of the bread alone. Moo can’t have gluten and AL can’t have Gluten, Rice or Eggs, so their bread was the most expensive. We joked the Raccoon’s have expensive taste.
Hubby’s rear hasn’t shown up in a while, I just had to share… lol. I was teasing him because both of his pocket flaps were up.
Oh goodness, this bacon was awesome. We prefer the Hormel Black label thick cut maple bacon. Pokey dropped a piece on the ground and ate it anyway even though we told him there was plenty more. He was like it’s too good to waste.
I was half asleep and somehow got my flip flop on wrong. Oh well, it happens.
As hubby was finishing up the bacon, JT started the eggs to scrambling.
As I mentioned, AL can’t have eggs due to allergies so we made special pancakes for her. We took care of her even though she hates when people plan meals around her. It’s all good, AL, just remember, we love you!
We decided with the eggs and bacon, we needed OJ. It was delish!
We had a big day ahead of us, stay tuned to find out what we were up to!!!
So a couple weekends ago we headed to the lake again. Another camping experience under my belt. This time we borrowed my grandma’s Winnebago. It was a bit of an experience getting down there. We got about 40 minutes from home and the RV started surging. We were a bit freaked out. We pulled over 20 miles later (first safe place to get over) and were in a Wal-mart parking lot. Hubby and JT ran in to find parts. Luckily JT and AL were following us!
We finally made it to the lake and got our RV set up, then we got JT & AL’s camper set up. It was a warm day so we all changed clothes and headed down to the swim area to play around a cool off.
Ok, yes, I said fishies. I know that is not a word and that is not proper, I know that the plural of fish is fish. I just wanted to clear that up… lol 🙂
So to finish up our weekend at the lake, let’s do some gardening, what do you think? But this isn’t your “normal” gardening… nope, we’re talking about an underwater garden….
Hubby and I were on Divergirl’s Diveyak and we hauled the flowers out to about where the underwater garden was. Now JT told me to look for the bubbles and drop them down. I questioned if he was being serious, he told me no. He said that Divergirl would be up to get the flowers as they were ready for them.
At the end of the day we were all exhausted and hungry. Dinner was was Chicken salad on Croissants, Chips, Pasta Salad, Corn Bean Salsa and Peach Cobbler for dessert.
Pete even thought he should get in on that.
D the Man might have even slipped him a bite or two… er… I mean he kept saying Pete don’t eat that and when he’d look back it was gone… lol
My feet were topics of many conversations over the weekend, but the dirty look I swear is tan lines, not dirt. That’s what I get for wearing my Keen’s all the time.
After I fell asleep sitting at dinner they woke me up and 10 of us piled into 2 vehicles and took off to the Dam. The cute thing though was TB and Moo actually thought it was a Beaver Dam being at Beaver Lake. I love kids!! Once we got down to the Dam, we went to the bottom side. The water on the bottom side comes from the bottom of the lake, therefore it is way colder. Once you dropped down a bit, the air temperature even dropped. It was crazy.
Because of the air temperature difference, you even see fog sitting over the water.
Hubby and I have this thing about having our photo taken in front of dam’s we visit.
You can tell the lake was up from this photo. That’s a good thing!
We missed Sunset by a few minutes, but the sky was gorgeous.
Ever been on a Safari hunt? I haven’t, but I really want to, especially this type. Read and find out!
The morning began with certifying a scuba diver. D the Man worked with him and he was certified. Then he was qualified for the Safari hunt.
The Safari hunt didn’t actually start until 1pm, however some of the divers were getting in the water earlier in the morning, partially because they wanted too and partially to see if they could scope out where the animals were. However all divers were called out of the waters at noon, Grady and D the man went down to hide the animals and John went down to create a diversion.
AL & JT wanted to take Zebra girl out and do a refresher course with her just to make sure she remembered everything since it had been a while since she had scuba dived. Hubby volunteered to help her carry her tank down the steep hill.
And trust me, if anything was needed at the lake, it was the sunscreen!
Moo grabbed Waldy’s wet suit and “suited up” so she’d fit in with the rest of the crowd.
Here is the collection of Safari animals that the diver’s were hunting for. Each animal had a number. That is how they decided who would win what prize.
JT was playing with Leo (sometime I should tell you his whole name, but someone will have to tell it to me again and again so I can get it typed out. Yup, it’s that long). We found out Leo doesn’t like the water so much. He also doesn’t like being ignored and if Dani is anywhere within sight, Leo wants his momma. (Dani is a human momma)
At 1pm, everyone entered the water and here they go.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKRY_Mk8euw]
While the adults were out on their Safari hunt, the kids were having a ring hunt of their own. Earl went around dropping rings for the kids to find. I was volunteered to take photos of the hunt.
Once each kid got their ring they won a prize. The prizes ranged from a fishing game to water guns to goggles and I’m sure there were other things as well.
Each kid had a ring waiting for them and each kiddo was entitled to one ring.
A great hat for the occasion.
Once the divers headed out, hubby went to grilling the hot dogs. Lunch was provided for everyone involved.
Lunch consisted of Hot dogs with mustard, ketchup &/or relish, chips and cookies for dessert, plus there was lots of bottled water.
YUM!
And sadly there were even a couple party fowls.
ZebraGirl was on the hunt and she got a prized animal.
Because she got her animal, she actually wound up with this nice water camera that will go 200 feet under water. I kept telling her that she won it for me for my birthday but silly girl wouldn’t buy it.
Extreme Sports Scuba is also involved with Kayak’s so they brought their Kayak’s down for us all to try. Let me tell you how much fun this was!
I’m pretty sure that TB is planning on saving his money up to buy his own. Then we’ll all just steal it :)… but shhhhh don’t tell him… lol
Now Diver Girl has a Diveyak which is actually used by Diver’s to go out into the middle of the lake to dive. It’s also known to us as the “babysitter”. Here Earl and AL took it out.
JT wound up taking my underwater camera down to get pictures of what we’d be seeing if we were certified to scuba dive. In this particular cove there are four boats, some statues, 2-3 gardens that Diver Girl and AL have planted, a boat dock and many other things. When they find old things (don’t ask me how, I didn’t ask) they sink them so that they have things to check out while underwater. Oh and let’s not forget the fish. I guess you can take hotdogs down with you and actually feed the fish out of your hands…. how nuts is that?
There were a few animals that weren’t found during the 45 minutes of the Safari Hunt and when JT went down, he actually found one of the lions. They named the Lion Leo, just like the dog. I told them I was a Leo, as in my zodiac sign.
Poor Leo the dog, Dani took him out on the Kayak with her. Leo wasn’t really enjoying it much….
Especially when they’d dump him in the water and let him swim. I think they said he’s about 12 weeks old…. something like that. He really wanted to be with Momma but at times, JT was closer so he’d climb up on top of his shoulders.
At the end of a hard day, we had a few tired little ones. This cutie here actually fell asleep in her chair eating chips. Her mom told me that at one point she even had the chip still in her hand. I didn’t get to see that though, but I’ll bet it was sure darn cute!
Zebra Girl really wanted one of these animals (I forget which one) and her grandma bartered for it. Plus she has the one she won and the one her daddy found later. It’s her whole collection.
They also had a drawing. Hubby won a hat and I won a mask strap. My mask strap is pink which you absolutely can not tell in this photo.
And that, is only part of our Saturday….. Stay tuned for the rest of it!
Here we are, approaching the end of my time for my 101 in 1001 list. Wednesday this week in fact is the last day. Holy cow, it has been that long? Anyway, one of the things on my list was to go camping. The second was to spend the weekend at the lake. So, this last weekend I actually knocked both of those off my list.
Here is our home for the weekend.
About a week ago AL & JT asked Earl, Pokey, the kids, hubby and me to meet up with them at Beaver Lake. Earl and the kids were in for sure. Pokey wasn’t sure at the time if he’d have to work or not, and having a tough week prior, he wasn’t able to attend. Hubby and I weren’t really sure we could go until Thursday night/Friday morning (details are a little sketchy).
So we all loaded up and headed to Beaver Lake late Friday afternoon.
Once we got there and got our camper leveled, JT helped the 4 of us study for Scuba classes that began last night.
While we were studying, the kids were playing. Don’t worry, the truck is in park, I swear! And they were on our stomping ground. The truck couldn’t have moved anyway because JT’s car and our truck were in the way. Just want you to know the kids were ok playing here :).
Divergirl got down there about the same time we did. After she got her area set up, she came down to eat dinner with us.
We had the option of BBQ Chicken or BBQ Pork on Hawaiian Rolls with the Red skinned potato salad, Yellow Mustard Potato Salad, Beans, Jello Parfait and Watermelon.
Divergirl brought this watermelon and Zebragirl and I couldn’t stay out of it the whole time she was cutting it up. Yes, it was THAT good. In fact, I want more of this particular one STAT!
After dinner we were asked to level out D the man & C’s camper. Hubby and JT went up there and the rest of us ventured that way shortly after.
The blocks we needed were locked in the trailer, so AL, TB, Zebragirl and I went down to where Grady’s truck was to break in and try to find D the Man’s trailer keys. When we had no luck we went back and hubby & JT went to hunt for them again, this time with luck.
Once the trailer was leveled, then it was time to help AL & JT set up their tent in front of D the Man & C’s trailer.
Once their tent was up I caught a glimpse of the moon rising up over the water and away I went to snap some photos. This just so happened to be the longest day of the year since it was the first day of Summer. The moon was gorgeous!
It was such a beautiful night for a walk. Once we (hubby came down with me) got back, the kids were setting up one of the beds in the camper and relaxing together while the adults were helping AL finalize cheer uniforms for Zebragirl’s Cheer squad. I would say we got to bed that night around 11:30 or midnight.
Holy cow, this has been one heck of a weekend, but let’s start with the end of the weekend first so that I can flip through the millions (quite a bit of an exaggeration) of photos that I took throughout the weekend. I decided we’d start with a restaurant review to start off the weekend recap.
On the way home from the lake, one of the traditions, or so AL & JT told us, is to stop at The Short Stop for not only lunch but ice cream. And to quote AL, “There’s always room for ice cream. Dessert has a second stomach.”
There were tons of things on the menu to choose from, plus there is a daily special. The special was Chicken Fried Steak. They are known for their ice cream cones here, but more on that later.
Sometimes I think my mom has the coolest job in the world. Her job takes her all over the country and the world really and she gets to experience all these amazing restaurants. Last Friday {Good Friday} she was on an airplane home from China, yes the country. We picked her up at the airport and she was sooo ecstatic to eat American food that we decided to go try out Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que in Rogers.
I must admit, I’ve never eaten at a Famous Dave’s before. When I was looking up the address for the one we ate at, I actually found out that they have them all over the place, so you should definitely check it out!
So last weekend we went to Rogers, AR. My mom is getting ready for a trip to China (no she’s not excited) and she wanted to go shopping.
We went to the Promenade Blvd shopping plaza and it became lunchtime. We started searching around for places to eat when we decided upon Five Guys Burgers. Hubby and I neither one had ever had Five Guys Burgers and my mom always raves about them.
When you walk in, you place your order. Then you go get your drinks while they prepare your food. Then you pick it up and go eat.
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