Prayers to Malawi

Huntinghorse & Mt. Scott Boy Hike- Another Big One

2010-03-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hunting Horse Mountain is visible from the West side of the top of Mt. Scott and slightly seen from the highway that goes through the Wichita Mt. Wildlife Refuge. It is tucked behind Quetone Point Mt. It is a Mt. covered in lace like rock. Climbing it from all directions is a slight challenge.

Hunting Horse Mountain has a boulder field on the West side and a smaller one on the East side of it. On Saturday March 13 Jay and I hiked from the Mt. Scott camp grounds to the boulder field on the West side of Hunting Horse. We made the hike a 3 hour adventure heading up the boulder field and spending time in the valley leading up to the boulders.

In the middle of the boulder field we came across this little cedar tree growing in the middle of a giant rock that had a crack in it. It looked like a miniature bonzia tree.

Looking to the top of Hunting Horse rocks were stacked on top of each other and hanging on the edge as if they were about to fall. Let's hope they don't fall while we are exploring them.

The rocks were like skyscrapers shooting up into the sky. It is a beautiful site as you can see here.

This picture was taken below the boulder field that we went up on the Saturday.

On Monday, March 15 we went back to the area and climbed Hunting Horse Mountain. We were lucky we found a route up the South side of the Mt. that was easier than we expected. It started out easy but turned into a rock climbing dream come true as we scaled to the top of the Mt.

Once on top we looked across to Mt. Scott. The boulder field on the left was the one we climbed up the weekend before on our BIG HIKE! WOW impressive isn't it?

The Top of Hunting Horse Mt. was like ruins from an ancient city. Tossed, thrown or pushed over.
Notice the rocks stacked under the cedar tree. As is they were stacked there on purpose. The rocks fit together like a giant puzzle.

Once you get up close and personal you realize that the giant rocks were tossed but not by humans..Only God could have tossed these rocks around like this.

The up lifting of the earth and years of erosion have caused this majestic site.

Another view of the top of the Mountain.

Now see how large the rocks are. The erosion and break in the rocks made it possible for us to climb to the top of this.

Another interesting view of these giants.

On top of the WORLD!!! I am standing on the highest peak of the Hunting Horse Mt. This is on the North end.

The North end of Lake Lawtonka is behind me.

Mt. Scott is in the back ground.

Looking from our lunch spot the view was amazing. Even on top of this mountain you can see the damage from the ice storm. Below us was a field of thistle briar.

Looking back at Hunting Horse Mt.

Next we heading Southeast to climb Mt. Scott Boy. It was not an easy Mt. to get up. It was surrounded by briar and broken cedars and other bushes. We kept walking and found a small boulder field and headed straight up the Mountain side. It was surprising that all along the North ridge were fields of grass where the elk, deer and pigs had been. The Mt. itself was not hard to climb on. It was a bit challenging when we headed to the South end.

We had to climb under and through this cedar to get around this rocky area.

Once on top the view of Mt. Scott was awesome.

This was another view of Mt. Scott from the Tip Top of Mt. Scott Boy.

It was very windy and cold when we were on top of these Mountain Peaks.

Jay was enjoying the view of LETRA on Ft. Sill.

We headed down this side of the mountain which took us to the opposite end of the parking area were were at. We found a boulder field and then hit the briar and trees again.

\

We followed thie beautiful stream down from the Boulder Field. This falls area was absolutely gorgeous and the water falls along the way were numerous and peaceful.

The Monday trip ended up being a 4 hour 4 mile trip. We did a lot of traveling through, over and under rocks that made up the 4 miles.

Another great time in the Wichita Mountains.

THE BIG HIKE 3-6-2010

2010-03-07T22:48:00.000-08:00

This trip to the Big Hike on the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge was with great anticipation. We have wanted to do this trip for over a year. Here we go. This is a picture of the wall and Mt. Scott. We will start at the Parallel Forest on the West end of this picture. This is a four mile trip which will take us 4 hours going up, down, over and around the terrain on the Wildlife refuge.

Jay is looking back at the Parallel Forest. This is where we started our trip from. See the greenry below..the cedars in a row that is the Paralle Forest. You can get to it on the road to Meers. It is a fun place to walk through and on the far NE corner you will come across a Spanish Arrastra which was probably used to grind the rock from the three mine shafts across the creek from the arrastra. Great history trip.

Once on top we traveled along the wall which was about a mile and a half long.
We had a friend of Helen's traveling with us for part of our trip. Bobby is an avid hiker and has hiked the Appalachian Trail. That is a lot of hiking. He was leaving for Virginia to do some more major hiking the next week.

Taking a water break before we forge on.

Helen sees the next mountain peak we were to go to. It was on the far end of the Wall.

The peak in the distance was the last peak on the Wall before we head across the valley to another peak. We are standing on peak 3 looking to peak 4

Looking to the North we can see we are looking toward Meers and the housing addition below the Wall Mt. range. Look at the two rocks sticking up on the right. How in the world did that happen? We all know it was a result from God's works thousands of years ago.
We just love the rock formations on top of these mountains. So unique and amazing. It is a wonderful place to get away from the city and see the mostly untouched area on top of the mountains!

Looking South to Quetone Mt. Peak.

LUNCH TIME~ We decided to stop around 10:30 since we had so much ahead of us. Knew we would need the nourishment to keep going! PLUS we like to eat in a unique place and we found it.

Stopping for lunch we found this neat rock formation. We have had lunch in some of the most unusual places. This is another to put on our list.

Helen and Marki ready to head onward after a quick picture at their new found hiking place!!!

This is what we have to forge next. Down one valley and up another hill then down and up another and then up a boulder field on Mt. Scott. We couldn't wait!!! Here we go!

The Elk are very visible in this part of the Wildlife Refuge. This female didn't know were were watching her. When we finally got her attention she started running.

We were able to capture her stopping and looking to make sure we were still there before she headed out again.

We have almost made it to peak number 5. This is a mountain peak to the NW of Mt. Scott. No name but a very easy mountain to climb. It was a good restful hike to get up it.

Heading to the top of peak 5

We are almost there! The top of Peak 5 is getting closer.

While on top of peak 5 we look ahead and see the boulder field we will climb to get half way up Mt. Scott. Yea. Just one and half more hours!!!

Looking back at the Hunting Horse Mt. peak. We will climb that sometime soon. (DONE 3/15/10 YEA)

The boulder field is very close now. Mt. Scott is the last

peak we will climb. It is a major hike just to climb Mt. Scott.
We have one and half hours left to get to the top!!!

We hoped to do the entire trip in 4 hours!

Looking straight across to Huntinghorse Mt. Peak. Isn't is beautiful. It is like a piece of rock lace. Molded and formed into a beautiful picture.

Just love the cedar trees on the Wildlife Refuge. Some are so odd shaped due to the growing around the rocks.

Helen is looking back at peak 5 which is on the right side. The left peak is Hunting Horse Mt.

Jay in the middle of the boulder field. Look at the trees behind him. We eventually have to hike through the bushes and trees like that. They cover the boulder field on the top. What is sad is the broken limbs form the ice storm we had in January. It has made it 10 times harder to go through.

Still smiling and loving it. You can see peak 5 on the right and Hunting Horse on the left.

Every boulder pile is different. Each is challenging in its own way. This was like a small cave. Kind of hard to see it that way but it was pretty deep.

Looking back at peak 5. We have traveled through all kinds of trees and terrain to get to the boulder field.

Looking to the Southwest at the Quetone Point Mountain Peak.

Getting off the boulder field was a lot of work. We had to travel through 25 yards or more of trees and bushes.

Looking down at the boulder field and across to Huntinghorse Mt. peak from the first road. See all the trees and bushes we had to travel through. I actually had a tick attached to my under arm. It was a warm day but we didn't think the ticks were out yet. We still had to head up giant boulders around the top of Mt. Scott to get to the top.

This tree is almost to the top of Mt. Scott. It reminds us of the 100 year old trees all over the wildlife refuge. It is amazing to see odd shaped trees. Wonder what their story is? If they could only talk!

Here is another odd shaped specimen of an old cedar tree.

Well We did it!!!! We made it in 4 hours. It was exactly 4 miles of over, under and around the rocks and terrain. We are looking back to the West to see the terrain we crossed to make the BIG HIKE. Look very closely at the Peak in the center of the page in the distance. It is across the road from the Parallel Forest. In the middle of the picture is the boulder field on Mt. Scott.

Our friends Petra and Tiera Robinson picked us up on top of Mt. Scott. We we very happy that we didn't have to walk back to our car in the Parallel Forest. Hmmmm Maybe that is the next BIG HIKE!!! Up and Back...NOT!!!!!

Jay and I celebrated by going to Ann's Country Kitchen for an Indian Taco. It was the perfect ending to a amazing day hiking on the Wichita Mt. Wildlife Refuge.

This picture is from the back side (North) of the mountain range on our way home.

Gorgeous isn't it?

COME HIKE WITH US! We would love to show you around!

WINTER WONDERLAND ON THE WICHITA WILDLIFE REFUGE

2010-02-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

WINTER WONDERLAND AT IT'S BEST. THE WICHITA MOUNTAIN WILDLIFE REFUGE WAS BREATH TAKING TODAY!
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2010

TREASURE LAKE WAS TALKING TO US TODAY. ICE CRYSTALS WERE FALLING FROM THE TREES INTO THE WATER. THIS IS A PERFECT PICTURE OF THE BEAUTY IN THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS NO MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER.

THIS IS THE PEAK WE CLIMBED ON TOP OF

LOOK WHERE WE HAD LUNCH TODAY

ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN PEAK IN A WONDERLAND OF ICE AND ROCK.

WE TOOK A HIKE FROM TREASURE LAKE AS FAR AS WE COULD GO FOR 1 1/2 HOURS AND ENDED UP ACROSS FROM ELK MT. TOP OF THIS PEAK.

THE ICE, SNOW AND ROCK WAS AWESOME.

IT BECAME ANOTHER HIKE TO REMEMBER. ENJOY THE PICTURES THAT FOLLOW.

WE SAW LONGHORN, HOGS, BUFFALO, LOADS OF BIRDS FLYING OVERHEAD AND 3 ELK.

DURING THE HIKE ICE AND LIMBS WERE FALLING FROM THE TREES. IN LAWTON THE ICE WAS ALL GONE WHEN WE GOT BACK TO TOWN. IT MELTED ALMOST COMPLETELY AWAY AFTER 5 DAYS OF IT HANGING ON. BUT THE MOUNTAINS STILL HAVE THE ICE WONDERLAND.

ICE COVERED ROCKS LOOKED LIKE ICE CREAM.

THE ICE WAS ABOUT TWO INCHES OR MORE ON MANY TREES

WE CLIMBED UNDER THIS TREE TO GET TO THE PATH ON THE OTHER SIDE.

JAY IS AMAZED HOW THICK THE ICE IS ON THE LIMBS. HELEN IS AWED BY THE ICE FORMATIONS

ICE ART

WE LOVE IT HERE. WHAT A PERFECT PLACE TO COME WHEN YOU ARE TIRED OF BEING LOCKED UP INSIDE WITH NO ELECTRICITY, HEAT OR WATER. IT TAKES YOUR MIND AWAY FROM ALL YOUR WORRIES.

NO WORDS CAN TOTALLY EXPLAIN HOW WONDERFUL A HIKE IS IN THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS

NOTHING ELSE TO SAY EXCEPT

BEAUTY AT ITS BEST!

CHRISTMAS IN OKC 2009

2010-02-02T19:47:00.001-08:00

Christmas in OKC. Guess who came to visit?
JIM, CINDY, SOK, ANGIE, HANNAH AND MADISON.
It was so great having them here.
The girls have really grown since summer.

Jim and Cindy made it on Christmas night. Oklahoma had been hit by a 14 inch blizzard. Grandpa was glad to have them there to clean up the drive way. After the clean up it was piled 2 feet high on either side of the driveway.

Grandma Cindy and Hannah have so much fun together.

Blake and Hannah always have a fun time together.

Gift are the best part for the little ones. Everyone was very happy with their gifts.

Everyone had a great time.

THANKS FOR COMING TO OKLAHOMA PENNSYLVANIA GROUP.

Montgomery Christmas 2009

2010-02-02T17:50:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Montgomery Alabama.
Christmas 2009

We made the 12 hour trip by car using our new GPS which worked great.

Anthony and Wicket waited up for us.

On the second day we got to tour the back stage of the Shakesphere Festival Theater which was located around 100 yards from Anthony's apartment.

It is a beautiful theater and we enjoyed meeting many of his new working buddies. We also got to see the sets that Anthony had been working on and the newest one they had finished and it was being painted by the painters.
I can't believe I didn't get pictures of all this. Well I actually got some pictures of the outside of the theater but seemed to have lost them.

Anthony's tree is decorated in OSU orange. The gifts were about the same size as the tree. Cute!
His apartment was remarkable and set up very nice.
Good job Kelsey and Anthony!

We traveled to the downtown area the first night and ate at a great barbeque place called "Dreamland" Oh my goodness it had the best banana pudding!!!!
We traveled downtown another day and took some pictures of different sites and walked around the capital.

Very old building!!

Civil Rights Memorial. We toured this. It was one of the few buildings open. This is a water fall out in front. It was very cool.

Jefferson Davis was the President during the time when the capital was built.

The education department building. Interesting shaped and very old. Would of loved to have seen the inside. Next time!!

Dexter Ave. King Memorial Baptist Church and Parsonage. This is the church were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pastored from 1954-1960 and began his quest for civil rights. In this National Historical landmark a pulpet where the young minister first preached his message of hope and brotherhood is. Wish we could of gone in it too. Next time!!!

Another government building across the street from the Capital.

Civil War Memorial is located to the side of the Capital.

It was very interesting with writings and flags were displayed

around the 4 sides.

Liberty Bell for the state of Alabama. Made like the one in Philadelphia. Around the capital on the west side were state flags for all 50 states and on the ground in front of the flag pole was a rock from that state with their name in it. Oklahoma Granite. It was one of the most attractive.

Jefferson Davis again

This is the First White House of the Confederacy was moved to a spot across the street from the capital. Jefferson Davis lived here.

Jefferson Davis was the President of the confederacy.

The Capital's West side where the flags are.

This is the front side of the Capitol. Right between the two columns is where Jefferson Davis stood when he took the oath to be the President of the Confederacy.

WE HAD A GREAT TIME IN MONTGOMERY.

WE ATE AT SOME GREAT PLACES LIKE FIVE BROTHER'S HAMBURGER PLACE.

JAY AND MARKI TOOK A LONG HIKE AROUND THE SHAKESPHERE FESTIVAL PARK AREA.

WE PLAYED DISC GOLF ALL 18 HOLES. STARTED OUT PLAYING JUST A FEW AND ENDED UP HAVING SO MUCH FUN WE DID THEM ALL.

WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAD WITH ANTHONY. HIS NEW HOME IS IN A HISTORICAL TOWN AND NOT FAR FROM THE BEACH AND MANY OTHER SITES IN THE SOUTH.

Christmas 2009

2010-02-02T16:54:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas 2009

Jay and Marki celebrating 3

We celebrated early since we were heading to Montgomery Alabama.

It was a fun time to have Kristin's crew at our house.

Austin above opening a present seems happy..he got his braces off

this fall so that also makes him smile

Mark, Kristin, Austin and Blake

Always someone to bedlam battle.

The Perfect shirts for the big guns!

New clothes...just what Blake wanted..

Now that is more like it! A truck and jet ski!!!

BIG MAC ATTACK- THE BEAST

2009-10-19T20:17:00.001-07:00

Go BIG MAC! Running in is the start of the fun. MacArthur plays Duncan. Austin is number 45. He has 3 friends run in together every game together in the back! They are bringing up the rear and they are 3 sophomores that are playing for the team as starters.

The team warms up together.

Austin and the rest of the defense get the last minute instructions from the coach.

Austin is ready to play. He is playing defense as a starter. He also plays on kick offs.

Austin and the other two amigos are waiting for the Offense to turn the ball over to Duncan.

Another Kick off after they score.

Kristin, Mark and Blake are enjoying the game. The weather was beautiful. Just a windless, crisp Fall evening.

Hard to tell who is who..but Austin made plenty of tackles. He has the scratch and bruses to prove it.

Well here is one of those scratches. His knee has a giant scab on it. He is getting it covered.

My camera doesn't always work so well.

Blake loves that concession stand. We had Nachos too.

Austin played the hardest game yet. He is trying to get a little rest before he has to head into the game again.

Another Huttle! Mac Attack!!!!!

The game was a good effort. Austin actually had the best game ever. He was pretty tired after it. They lost 35 - 34. Sad MAC...but it didn't stop them from performing their school song for all of us in the stands. Way to go BOYS!!!

Good Sports anyway!!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF AUSTIN. HE MAKES US SMILE AND WE LOVE WATCHING HIM. HE IS VERY TALENTED. STILL LEARNING BUT REALLY LEARNING A LOT.

GO BIG MAC!!!!!

LAKE TENKILLER 2009

2009-10-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

LAKE TENKILLER 2009

ANOTHER GREAT TIME AT A GREAT LAKE!

IT DOES NOT GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS.
OUR FAMILY HAS GROWN FROM 10 PEOPLE

TO 10 PEOPLE AND 3 DOGS.

WELL ACTUALLY SUGAR WAS OUR NEWEST ADDITION.

WHAT A CUTIE!

WICKET, ANTHONY, KELSEY, KRISTIN, BLAKE, ZEEK, KEAH, BRYAN,

MARK, SUGAR, AUSTIN, MARKI AND JAY

BELOW AUSTIN IS CAUGHT SNAPPING NANA WHILE SHE WAS SNAPPING A SHOT OF HIM

JAY IN THE DRIVERS SEAT! HE LOVES

PULLING THE KIDS ON TUBES AND KNEE BOARDS AND SKIING WHOEVER WANTS TO GO

~~~~BLAKE JUST WANTS TO GO~~~~

JIM AND CINDY COME TO LAKE TENKILLER FOR A FEW DAYS.

WE WERE SO HAPPY TO HAVE THEM WITH US. THANKS FOR COMING!

LUNCH AT SIXSHOOTER..STILL NUMBER ONE ON THE LAKE

BLAKE AND CINDY HAVE FUN FEEDING THE GIANT FISH AT SIXSHOOTER

MORNING ENTERTAINMENT! THE POOP TANK BECAME A PROJECT THAT EVERY ONE HAD TO GET IN ON.

BUT WE FIGURED IT OUT FINALLY.

OFF TO DUMP THE POOP TANK. AGAIN A FAMILY AFFAIR!!!

ISLAND FUN!!

ANTHONY SPENT HOURS FISHING JUST LIKE WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE GUY! BUT NOW HE IS A BIG GUY STILL TRYING TO CATCH THE BIG ONE!

OH MY GOODNESS! THE SWING IS ANOTHER

FUN PLACE TO GO ON THE LAKE

GO AUSTIN, GO AUSTIN, GO AUSTIN!!!!!!!

WHAT A FLIP

BRYAN ENJOYING LAKE TENKILLER

GREAT TO HAVE HIM HOME FOR A NICE LONG WHILE

GO KEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

GIVE BLAKE A PIECE OF ANYTHING AND HE HAS A

BOAT READY FOR LAUNCHING.

KEAH AND BRYAN DECIDE TO CHILL UNDER THE TREES ON THE ISLANDS. ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SPOT ON EARTH TO DO JUST THIS!

BURNT CABIN LUNCH BREAK

KRISTIN AND MARK ARE HAVING A DATE! HUMMINGBIRDS ON THE BOAT DOCK WHILEEATING LUNCH.

GREAT ENTERTAINMENT!

WATER FIGHT 2009! I WONDER WHO STARTED THIS TRADITION? IT DOES SEEM LIKE THE LITTLE ONES ALWAYS GET IT GOING! BUT THE BIG ONES CATCH ON QUICKLY AND AWAY WE GO!!!!!!

WHAT IS COMING OUT OF ERIC'S NOSE!!!!!!

KEAH PLEADS WITH BRYAN NOT TO GET HER CAMERA WET!!!!!
DAY DREAMING AT LAKE TENKILLER

Summer at Lake 2009

2009-08-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Summer time and the living is easy! We had a wonderful time at Lake Tenkiller in July. Kristin, Mark, Austin, Blake, Anthony, Kelsey, Marki and Jay were at the lake and joined by Robbin, Bryan, Keah and Eric Young. We had a great time together doing what we do at the lake. LAKE TENKILLER 2009 was a blast. Here are the pictures to show it.

Christmas 2008- Very Eventful!

2009-03-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

SURPRISE!!! LOOK WHO CAME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Visitors from Malawi! Bryan and Keah came home and we were so surprised. They flew in without most of the family knowing. A few had to know to get us all together for the homecoming. It was so exciting. Dressed in the traditional clothing of Malawi.
Bryan and Keah traveled to three churches to thank them for the support they have given during the past 19 months. St. John's Lutheran, Lawton, Oklahoma City, and Stillwater Lutheran churches. They shared their story and gave thanks for all the assistance the churches have given to them and the people in Malawi.

Blake celebrated his 6th birthday on December 21 at the bowling alley on Ft. Sill. The Woods family had Kerry and his girls home for Christmas which made their Christmas special too.

Blake had a Pestol Pete Cake! Just what he wanted. Nana decorated it for him this year.

Jenny, Lauren and Kristin enjoy the time together.

Bryan and Grandpa Woods visit while they wait their turn to bowl.

Kerry and are enjoying some nachos while they wait for the birthday cake to be eaten. Kerry and his girls came for two weeks from Alabama

Christmas was celebrated at Kristin and Mark's home and at Mom and Dad's. This is our traditional celebration together. It is great to see the grandkids open their Christmas gifts and see what Santa brought!

Blake gets a scooter! Just what he wanted. He also got a helmet and protective gear.

Bryan show's Blake how to use a sling shot.

Kristin and Mark open the Lion's mask from Malawi

Anthony and his mask from Malawi. HUM...I see some resemblance!

Jay has some new salt and pepper shakers that are in the shape of a African Hut from Malawi

Mom received a beautiful Nativity wooden scene! She loves it so much and has it still up in the dining room.

Jim and Cindy Myers came to Oklahoma to visit the family! Always great having them here!

A trip to Eskimo Joes took place after we went to church in Stillwater.

Suzet, Bryan and Anthony enjoy some yummy Eskimo Joe's food.

Jay, Brent, Suzet and Anthony are preparing for the meal.

Bryan and Anthony were always cutting up at the dinner table. What is new!

The girls seems to be in a little more control!

A trip to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge and Medicine Park was an enjoyable afternoon trip for all of us.

Austin and Blake pose in an old cobblestone house.

Keah and Bryan want to show the Malwai people the size of a Buffalo. This was a small one.

Old Cobblestone House from a Distance

A Racoon in the Museum and the Visitors Center.

Blake gets a ride on Bryan's shoulder!

House on the top of the Mt. which overlooks Medicine Park. It is built on top of granite stone. They have to drill poles into the stone to stablelize it.

To the left is a church on top of the Mountain which overlooks LETRA Lake.

THANKS FOR COMING HOME BRYAN AND KEAH! WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME HAVING YOU HOME AND SPENDING TIME WITH YOU.

2008-11-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

FALL BREAK GIRLS TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS

Carma, Glenna, Holly and Marki took a day in the mountains trip during Fall Break. We did a little GEO CACHING before we went for a hike. One place we found 3 caches was on the top of Mt. Scott. Caches on the Wichita Wildlife Refuge are places and not things. Virtual caches. On the top of Mt. Scott we found three different medal markers. We also found a cache over the South side of the top. It was a fun place to take a look at the country side toward Lawton.

After the geocaching activity we headed up Elk Mountain. It was a great hike for us. Several of bodies and bones are beginning to show the wear and tear on our old bodies. Knees, feet and hips are worn out from the years of pounding them into the hard cement floors. Thank goodness for Aleve and other anti-inflammatories! BUT WE MADE IT TO THE TOP and sat and enjoyed the air force planes doing their maneuvers over the Mt's.

Marki figured out how to take a picture of the entire group. Way to go MOM! She did it. It only took about 3 tries.

Before we went to eat lunch we stopped at the outdoor Easter Pageant to show Holly where the longest running easter pageant is being done. We hope to come back when they have the play during the Easter Season.

When we arrived a caravan of OLD cars were there. Everyone headed out looking and talking to owners of the cars. It was a treat to see all the old cars.

MEERS was a new adventure for Holly...Actually she had never been to the wildlife refuge before either. So it was all first for her. Everyone ate and shared a cobbler and were stuffed.

Medicine Park was a great adventure for the group. Carma and Holly hadn't really spent much time there. Glenna had come to this area throughout her life. Marki comes regulary! We had a great spring break together. I hope we can do this again sometime! I bet we will!

OSU HOMECOMING 2008

2008-11-15T17:12:00.001-08:00

We headed to Stillwater on Oct. 17 to the 2008 OSU HOMECOMING. Kristin, Austin, Blake, Jay and I traveled up for the Walk Around. Robbin drove up and Kelsey's mom came from Tulsa too. This is the first time Kristin has been to Homecoming for over 20 years. She went to the parade when we lived in Perry.

Last year we took Blake to Homecoming...but this year he being a little older made it even more fun. He is a camera bug. He wanted pictures everywhere we went. I took several as you can see.

The Theme was about past, present and future. We saw some pretty cool house decorations. Here is one that we really liked.

Blake and a snow scene.

Theta Pond was lit up real nice. It is kind of hard to take pictures of it.

After the Walk Around we went to the field house and watched the girls basketball team scrimmage themself. We wanted to go see the guys but got there to late so we had to wait until people left before they would let more in. It was kind of silly...especially when we got in and their were 100's of seats empty. Pistol Pete was there and another guy from the new football team in OKC Thunder had there mascot there. He did some cool basketball stunts and and shots using a mini tramp. Last year at our semi pro basketball team game we had a bunch of mascots from around the state that did basketball shooting stunts It was really cool. Here are a few pictures. Anthony's house is real close to the stadium. He is one street over from Hall of Fame down by the creek next to main street. We walk to the game from his house. His room mate and him are making money having people park in their yard. They can get about 9 cars in his yard. We park across the street next to the creek so we don't take any of his places. They have had fun as the neighbor are doing this too. The OSU-OU game could be $20.00 parking. They have been charging only $10.00.

Their house is a two bedroom. It is a bit smaller than the one they had last year. The one they lived in last year is being moved. It is crazy how all those houses are being moved out. My old home is still there. They have the steel beams in the front yard ready to put underneath it to move it. Kind of sad..but things do have to go and the new Athletic Village will be a super plus for the University..I guess. I wonder who bought my old home. I wish I could of bought it and moved it somewhere for whoever is moving to Stillwater next.

GO COWBOYS!

WE LOVE PISTOL PETE!!!!

The float below had OLD bicycles on it. I wish we could of seen them better.
Austin got ot ride in the parade this year. He had a lot of fun. He rode a funny looking bike with an extra wheel. It was called a three wheeler Mt. Bike.
Anthony always rides a goofy bike. He rode a tall one this year.

Blake toke a picture with a parade cowboy.

Anthony and Austin got back before the parade was over. I think we like orange what do you think!!!! We better! We always sit outside of the bike shop to watch the parade.

After the parade the guys help ride the bikes to the storage garage. Last year Blake rode in a wagon on the back of a bike....this year he is big enough to ride along. He will be 6 on December 21st. He is a big Kindergarten student.

We finally made it to the game after all the fun activities. We had a tail gate at Anthony's house before the game. OSU won! YEA.... They beat Baylor!

On the right of the picture is the new seating area.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the new stadium end. This is on the NW corner. It is really nice. I took pictures on my cell phone but can not seem to get them off the phone. I need to learn how to blue tooth to my computer. When I figure that out I will put more pictures of the inside of the stadium.

Needless to say we had a great week end. GO POKES!!!!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

2008-09-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

ALBUQUERQUE TRIP SEPT. 24-26, 2008

POLAR Heart Rate Monitor/Tri-Fit Workshop.
Lawton Public Schools has received a grant for $100,000.00 for 10 Elementary Schools to have this High-tech equipment. It is a lot of work it get it going but we will get their. The program provides Heart Rate monitors which will be an asset for the children to view their heart rate levels during workout and to learn how to achieve a heart rate that will develop an healthy heart.
The Tri-Fit program is an assessment program. Many assessments can be taken with the equipment provided. It has a Blood Pressure cup, and Flexibility test using the sit and reach assessment, an impedance scale to weigh and measure body composition a strength assessment and you can put in a whole lot of information in to assess with the assessment.

While in Albuquerque I was able to see a lot of great architecture and some neat sites around the city. The first pictures are the OLD TOWN area. It is a big square and then streets around the square with buildingsl like these. It is has all kinds of shops to buy spanish style stuff. All the homes and buildings in Albequerque is in this stuco style. It is the code for the town. It is really cool. This area was built in the 1800's.

The picture of the balloon was when I was looking out of my hotel room. The next week end was going to be the 10 day balloonfest. They were planning on 600 balloons or so. They said they went up in the morning when the wind was down and the weather was cool. That day I saw about 8 balloons going up. I could of gotten a balloon ride and breakfast for $200.00. Maybe some day.

I got to go up the Sky Tram one afternoon. It is the longest one in the World. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the top. It was real overcast and rainy at times and so my pictures going up were not as good as I was hoping for. But I got some good pictures of the tram. The rocky mts. reminded me a lot of Mt. Scott. The difference is the rugged rocks and not the bolders like at Wichita Mts. You can hike up the Mt. Our trainer did it a few weeks earlier and he said it took 3 hours to get up and he rode the tram down. I hiked around up on top of the Mt. It was a neat place to visit. On the back side of the Mt. is a Ski slope. On the top of the Mt. is a place to eat. I had a fun time exploring a new place.

I thought the picture on the left looked like a scorpion. It is the shadow of the the tram.

LAKE PICTURES 2008

2008-09-20T23:56:00.001-07:00

Lake Lawtonka pictures of the Sunset. July 2008 - Kristin and Mark's campsite.

LAKE TENKILLER 2008

Kelsey learns to slalom

Wicket enjoys the boat but does not like the water. He just isn't a water dog.

Robbin and Kelsey enjoying the ride.

The island is always beautiful 1st thing in the morning. We got up and went skiing at 8:00 every morning to enjoy the calm water. By 11;30 the lake was like an ocean. So many people during the Labor Day Holiday.

The island was just right. The water level was at normal level. It was beautiful. We spent the afternoons on the islands with about 24 other boats.

We got one more year out of our camper. It is pretty warn out. Hopefully it will make it another year.

MOM"S NEW OFFICE

2008-09-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

Wanted you to see my new office. It is not very big but it is a perfect place for me to do my work. I actually like where it is. It is in the back of the Shoemaker Building. I am able to leave easily to travel to visit schools. Plus it is close to the stairs to the downstairs area. I like going up and down the stairs as much as possible to get a little extra exercise.
I am working on wall decorations. I am making a bullitan board for pictures. I will take a picture of the finished room when I get it finished.

Colorado Trip July 2008

2008-09-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

On June 28, 2008, Jay, Marki and Austin traveled to Colorado for a 8 day vacation. We had so much fun. Here is our story.

We first traveled to Colorado Springs to visit Marki's cousin, Layne and her husband Tony. They have lived in CS for several years now. They have a beautiful home that has a mountain park in their back yard. It is so cool that Layne and her sweet puppies can take hikes in the mountains whenever they want to. After dinner we headed into the mountains for a hike. Austin took off up several climbs and had a great time beating us to the top.

It was so cool. What an ideal place to live for an exercise enthusiast. You can actually mountain bike, climb and hike right out your back door.

The next day, Monday, Layne took us to the Garden of the God's to go hiking and exploring the rock formations.

Marki had the opportunity to travel here when she was about 12 years old. This is such an inspiring place to be. The rock formations remind you of Christian shapes and people and things..

We were excited to go around the next formation and find such beauty.

Your imagination could flow with suggestions of what different rocks looked like to you.
Austin kept saying they looked like rocks!

The picture on the left reminds us of Mary leaning over the manger and Joesph below on his knees praying and thanking God for giving him the chance to be Jesus earthly father

These praying hands are perfect place to sit and pray yourself.
Although if you look at the top it kind of looks like many people dressed in clothing from Jesus' time looking out over the garden.

Austin had fun climbing as far back into the rocks as he could go.

Twin Peaks was a fun place to walk and climb around. The rocks have been on postcards before.

When you look through the rocks as below you will have Pike's Peak

Castle Rock was balancing on jus a small amount of the
The rock above is a picture of the formation called Ship Wreck. It does look like a giant ship going down.

fBelow....U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs

I loved the art. They had a picture for each event.

Austin and Dad had fun getting their picture made with the roal keeper.

Colorado Springs Air Force Academy. They were having a walk by test. That was cool.
The falcon was seen heading toward the Cathedral.

Inside and outside the Cathedral at the Air Force Academy. .

After the Air Force Academy we headed for Winter Park. Anthony was staying there. The next day we headed for the National Forest which was about an hour from Anthony's hotel accommodations. We saw some beautiful scenery..but these flowers were gorgeous.

This meadow was surrounded by Mountains on the N and S. The snow capped mountains in the back ground was everywhere we went.

When we found the snow we had a great time. We went to the top and slid down. WOOPS!!! Kelsey cam down the way it shows in the pictures. She was on her buttock all the way down. It was so much fun playing in the snow.

The snow escapade was right on the continental Divide. It was chilly due to all the snow.Kelsey and Anthony got plenty of pictures of themselves. Have they changed?After we left the continental divide we headed even higher. We ended up at 12000 feet point. We had to hike up a mess of steps to the 12000 point.
The above shot is the 12,000 spot. We had lunch up there. It was really unique having lunch at 12,000 feet. That is a first!!

Kelsey found the bike she wanted. Of course it was PINK!

MORE TO COME. This is time consuming. Can you believe we still have more pictures? We haven't shown the soccer game and baseball game pictures yet.

We went to this OLD resort area that is now a tourist place in the Rocky Mountain National forest. Austin becomes the MOUNTAIN MAN!!!!!

Marki really did come on this trip. She was usually taking the pictures. We were hiking to the old resort area. The houses were log cabins.

We came upon a hiking are and it led us to a water fall area. It was not so talk but really moving.

It It was very exciting to listen to and see the waterfall. The picture on the left is water rushing down the mountain. The picture of Anthony and Austin is at the top where the water is forming.

The Moose were so much fun to see. Anthony loves seeing them. We were on our way out of the forest when we happened upon a traffic jam in the middle of the forest. The people were all stopped on the side of the road to see the Mother with two little ones. Everyone had their cameras clicking!

Austin got to ride the lift at Winter Park. Below you can see the alpine slide. The kids all did it and had fun. But it just wasnt' long enough.

I think I will make anothe blog with the rest of the pictures from Denver.

MOM GOES TO HOLLAND

2008-08-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

MOM PAYNE GOES TO HOLLAND

This was our group of Oklahoma Ambassadors. Marki and Stephanie (coach from OCU) escorted them to Holland. Two african-americans were from IKE. They play basketball. We also had a bowler from Elgin which is where we lived when we first moved to the Lawton area. We got to ride a double decker bus which was fun for all of us. Of course the kids went directly to the top of the bus. They were impressed and had a great time riding high through Holland.
When we made it to Holland we were wisked off to the Friendship Village. It was raining and it was late in the day. We got to eat finally (the kids were starving) then all the yuoung people met up with their specific sport group and went to their Hotel.
All sorts of games were set up during the day for everyone to play and hang out. We got to the Friendship village to late to get to play.
This was the soccer fields that were next to the Friendship Village. They played their games in this area.

The below pictures are the next day when my swim team and all the others went to an morning activity of learning how to play Korf Ball. What is so cool is that I had learned to play Korf Ball in Oklahoma at a Non-traditional Game workshop about 10 years ago. I had played it with my students one year. Now I can see how much fun it is and will teach others to play it

Each day we swam for 3 hours then we toured the country. The first day we played Korf. The second day we went to Downtown Amsterdam. It was so cool. It has canals all through the country. It is on the ocean side of the Netherlands.

My swimmers and another coaches swimmers wanted to eat Pizza. So we found an Italian Resturant. It was real good and the young people really enjoyed it.

These are some of my swimmers. I had 11 that I was resonsible for. They were very sweet girls. Only a couple were kind of challenging but it all worked out and we had a great time.

I stepped out of the resturant and took a picture of this beautiful church. It was across the street. After we ate we went over to the the church and in front of it was the below statue of Anne Frank. We went to her house and toured it. It was very interesting.

The great thing about touring the Anne Frank home was that most of the 7th and 8th graders had read or were getting ready to read the book. They all enjoyed it.
After we left the Anne Frank museum we walked to a outdoor mall area. The above picture was taken in front of some of the businesses on our way to the mall.
We also passed by this gorgous tram station. This country is a big commuter country. The people ride their bikes to the tram station and park their bikes in a bike parking garage. You will see that later.
Bikes were parked every where. The bikes were not fancy ones but they did have a ginga on most of them. And the people used them if you were walking on the bike path when they came by. We learned real fast to quickly get across the paths or you might get run over!

This is the mall area. Many of the same stores we have in our mall. Many that have different names than ours but were the same. No vehicles on the street.

When we were walking through the Mall area we looked down an alley and this beautiful building was there. It lead into another area with shops.

The bike path is so important in Amsterdam. This lady has her heels on heading for work!

Cheese is a big business in Holland. This store had all kinds of cheese plus a sandwich shop

I thought the sign was cute!!

This was at the pool. I had a differnt 11 girls I coached. This was a bit confusing. I would rather have the one group and work with them. I felt that I ddin't get to know the girls in either group like I would of like to. Maybe next year it will be different.
Stretching out after we warmed up in the pool. I had a great group of girls. They were very respectful and fun to be with. We got a long very good.

A draw bridge which was on the canal next to the bike rental shop. Many of these bridges were drawn up by hand still. But a lot had a machine crank.

Judy on the right was my room mate. She was a H.S. Swim coach from Florida. Dale was from Yorktown, VA. My daughter, Kristin lived there. He coaches an age group team and teaches.

The below picture was a beautiful representation of the homes we rode by on our bikes. Flowers were everywhere. With the amount of water available it was no wonder.

We rode our bikes for about 6 Kilometers. We traveled on the bike paths then down a country road. Riding by windmills and a large dike and very interesting houses. We ended up at the cheese factory and had a lesson on how cheese is made. Then off we drove in our big bus to the wooden shoe factory. Thought about buying everyone some shoes but I felt the floral decoration was a bit much.

The roof had a grass looking top on it. They said it helped with insulation. The canal was in front of the house.

The shape of these buildings were interesting. In the back ground you can see four poles sticking up. That is a hay house. The roof goes up and down depending how much hay is in the under it. That way the roof is close to the top of the hay. These houses were a long the road as we rode our bikes.

The cheese farm was a really fun place to visit.

Our bikes were left here and we toured the cheese factory and then road our bus to the Shoe Factory.

Traditional clothing was worn by the women on the Cheese farm.

This gentleman was sharing the cheese story. How it was made.

One of our girls decided she to buy a hat. She was a real character. Can you tell?

SHOES of all colors and sizes are hung from the ceiling to dry. The shoe maker had been at this factory for 40 years. He was real funny and kept us entertained as well as told us all about how they make wooden shoes.

Below he was showing us a LARGE shoe he made for the giant down the road.

After the cheese factory we headed to a real nice place to eat lunch. The lunch was served like a big dinner with bowls of food. Then we went shopping around the little town we were in called Harlem. I started looking at all the doors in Harlem. They were each so different and unique. I loved looking at the door knobs.

After lunch we headed to the pool for a 3 hour work out. This was our 3rd day of practice. We had one more before we had our 3 day meet. The workouts went fast. I would of like to have more days working with them. They were so eager to do good.

On Wednesday night I had a night off. Several of us headed for downtown Amsterdam. We headed to the Van Gogh museum but it was closed when we got there. I really wanted to see it but we saw some great art on the outside of the museum.

The Riche Museum was another art museum I would of loved to have seen. The outside was spectacular. Imagine what the inside looked like.