Field Trip Friday: Homecoming

  Starting off on our trip this morning and the gas station attendant in town asked if we were going to the parade today.  "Parade?", I asked her.  "For homecoming", was the reply.  One of those things we homeschoolers are out of touch with.  I've been seeing all the fun pictures of my friends' kiddos dressed for spirit week, but hadn't given the homecoming parade a second thought.  We were off on our own "homecoming", just a different way. 
  My parents, Ducky and Gigi, own a piece of land that my great-grandparents farmed and lived on.  On its edge is a gravel bar on the Neosho River that they like to go and take their trailer to and stay at for a week or so periodically. They were there this week, so we went to hang out with them.  The gravel bar is just a magical place.  Several miles outside of a small town called LeRoy, down a small field road, surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans.  It is the ultimate place for the kids to explore nature.
  

off to look for shells

The kids love scouring the river banks for mussel shells.  Today they were using the shells to line "caves" that they were digging into the gravel bar.

One bonus that they found was a bison horn on the banks!  The kids have their Daddy's eyes:)  They were so excited.  I am always wary of taking home the gooey things that they find from the gravel bar, but they are always so thrilled at all their finds:)

Mookie & Shorty playing with the stomp rocket

One of the favorite things today was Ducky and Gigi's stomp rocket.  Even Shorty got in on this one - and he loved it (didn't do too bad with it either!)

It's always so hard tearing ourselves away.  Luckily we'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Ducky & Shorty

A Tale of Two Ladies

Every child has a family member or hero they strive to emulate when they're growing up.  Mine was always two of my great-grandmothers.

Mary Elizabeth Clem Gentry

Mabel "June" Tanner Mauzey

 Both were, to me, very beautiful.  Not that appearance has ever been very important to me, but it would thrill me when my Mom would say "your Grandma June would have loved your long brown hair", or someone would tell me that I had nice blue eyes like my Dad (who got his eyes in part from Grandma Mary, because both his parents had brown). 
  Both were exceptional at handiwork and creating beautiful things.  Grandma Mary quilted, embroidered and created cutwork as well as being a great baker.  She even baked cakes for a living after my great-grandpa died.  Grandma June excelled in those areas too and entered her creations constantly in county fairs.

Grandma June and pictures she made out of postage stamps

Some of my family produces beautiful embroidery, cross-stitch and quilting too.  While I would love to be able to do that, I have neither the patience or desire to except to try my hand at it occasionally.  I do think back on the time my Grandma Murray taught me how to embroider my first tea towel and said that my stitches were small and even like her mom's, and that was good enough for me:)
  Neither of them was just a girly girl either.  Grandma June enjoyed fishing with her father and brothers, something I'm sure she picked up as a result of losing her mother at a young age.  Grandma Mary was a great shot with a gun.  My dad said that she could pick a snake out of a tree with just one shot!
  Both were also kind, gentle, and proper Christian women.  All attributes to strive for. 
Now Grandma Mary died long before I was even thought of and Grandma June died when I was just two years old, but they have both had profound influences on my life just by the tales I was told about them.  I am so thankful for their examples and hope to pass on their good influences to my own children.  So whenever we drive through LeRoy, KS I point out the house where Grandma Mary lived to the kids, or when they ask me where I got my wedding ring, I proudly tell them, "that belonged to your Great-Great-Grandma June, and she would have loved you very much" :).