It poured all morning, we were afraid we were going to miss it. We drove up to Kearny to Laura's house.
But we found the sun!
Starting to go!
Christina and Maggie
Taken through the eclipse glasses
It was a little party with Eric, Weslee, Caroline, and a few others from church
Camera didn't take it well, but this was totality
Totality. It was SO COOL. I'm so glad I took the day off work and went all out. Totally worth it.
Capitalism!
And then sat in 2 hours of traffic to get home
Wall of storms on the way home
Poor Maggie was starving so I handed her a applesauce pouch against my better judgement. It was everywhere, all over her shirt, in her hair, all over the car seat....
Matt is one of those guys that just needs one good guy friend. I need a flock of friends in my circle, but not Matt. Eric is that guy. They may fish together here and there, but they mostly go months without seeing each other until deer woods/hunting season. The deer woods is this amazing piece of private land in the middle of Missouri where they are lucky enough to have permission from the owner to hunt on. Over the years we've camped there and other various activities. They try to go down and work on the land as payment for the privilege to access it pretty much any time they want. Eric's kids and B&E have grown up together, (they are technically cousins since Eric and Matt were married to sisters). But it's a rare treat when all the kids can get together on the same weekend. Eric and Matt put so much work into this weekend to get all the kids there at once. The planets aligned, and even though there were some hiccups, they were able to all go on the same weekend. Even little Charlie got to go. This is his first big boy trip the deer woods and he was SO excited to be included. He's heard about the deer woods his entire life. They had SUCH a good time. The weather was perfect, everyone got along, everyone helped with Charlie, it was great. I'm hoping they get to do this every year for years to come.
They got a late start on Friday - Ethan had a choir competition. So they didn't hit the road until about 8pm
They didn't get in until about 11:30 at night
B&C - Bridgette drove down from Columbia late Friday
Ready to play with the big kids
Clay Pigeon Shooting
Getting an early start on gun safety with a BB gun
Smacked in the lip playing catch
I guess Charlie was a trooper all weekend except for the late Saturday afternoon walk down to the river (that's him lagging WAY behind and mostly crying - in dire need of a nap)
They gave fishing a shot, didn't catch anything
Charlie and Kelsey
Bridgette napping on the rocks....only Bridgette
All the kids! Bridgette & Charlie, Kelsey (Eric's stepdaughter) Alex & Aaron (Eric's boys)
OUT
Everyone was sleeping, so early Sunday morning Matt & Charlie went for a walk. Matt took a ton of pictures of Charlie, mostly because he knows my obsession with trickling streams (proof that, as much as I deny it, Missouri is the place for me)
Three stinky boys on their way home, not as chipper as on the way there.
