Cedar Bluff Swim

We decided to take advantage of the last days before school starts by taking a trip to Cedar Bluff Reservoir.  The lake is about 30 minutes from Hays.  We didn’t leave Hays until 4:00 pm so by the time we arrived we had the beach all to ourselves.  We had a great time swimming and even had a picnic.  Grandma Carol even came with.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit Cedar Bluff you are missing out!

Here are some pics from our afternoon!

Dana

Grandma Carol doing some bird watching!

Cedar Bluff Lake

Gabe

Jackson

Grace

Gabe

Gabe

Oklahoma Get-Away

Hi All,
We finally managed to get away for a vacation.  We decided to go down to Oklahoma for a few days.  As always, we took our niece Katie with us.  We also tried to talk Grandma Carol into going with us, but she wasn’t quite up to it.  After dropping her off in Waynoka with my sister Tracie for a little R&R (HA!), we headed to Oklahoma City.  The first day we spent the day at White Water Bay waterpark.  We absolutely love it there.  The kids and adults had a great time.  That evening we went to Joe’s Crab Shack and gorged on crab, shrimp and the fixins’.

The next day we headed about an hour south to the Arbuckle Mountains.  I have always wanted to go to the Arbuckle Wilderness Park.  It is a sort of zoo where the animals wander free and you drive through.  It was so much fun.  The animals came right up to the van and you could feed them.  Of course the animal feed made some of them a little overly-friendly.  Katie says she will never trust an emu again!   After that we visited Turner Falls and then Sulphur Springs.  It was absolutely beautiful in both places.  The water, the trees – it was perfect.

Our last day we took a water taxi on a tour of the Bricktown district of OKC.  By some sort of miracle we kept all three kids from falling in the water!  That evening we drove to my Dad’s hometown of Tecumseh, OK.  We got the chance to see my Uncle Sonny, Aunt Mary and cousins Murna, Joanie and Roselyn and all their kids!  My Uncle Sonny was my Dad’s older brother.  They were also very close friends.  Being around him reminds me of my Dad.  It was great seeing my Gokey relatives with Andy and the kids. It was also wonderful catching up with my cousins and getting to see their kids and even grandkids.

We had a great time on our vacation.  I totally recommend OKC and the surrounding areas for a get-away.  Find some pics below.

Dana

The family at White Water Bay - we had our own cabana!

Gabriel and Andy in the wave pool

Katie, Andy and Grace at Joe's Crab Shack

Jackson loves crab legs!

Andy feeding an Emu at Arbuckle Wilderness

Turner Falls

Playing in the creek that flows down from Turner Falls

Playing in the creek.

Katie at Sulphur Springs

Sulphur Springs

Jackson

Gokey Reunion!

BBQ at Aunt Leah’s House

Summer wouldn’t be complete without a BBQ at my sister-in-law Leah’s house.  She and Ken have such a lovely home and are such gracious hosts.  The whole Stanton clan (and my Mom) were there to enjoy the good food and good conversation.  Here are some pics!

Dana

Sunset at the Garman house

Andy and I with our nephew Jake

What handsome guys!

The Stanton Clan

Scary Times

Hi All,
Those who follow our blog might have noticed the long time in between posts.  This summer has been a doozy.  The biggest hurdle has been the health of my Mom (Carol) and Andy’s Dad (Darrell).  Darrell had a quadruple bypass followed by weeks of life-threatening complications.  He has been hospitalized several times for at least a month.  He has had to travel back and forth every other day for i.v. antibiotics for most of the summer.  I am happy to say that he is finally doing much better.  I know he is itching to take the kids fishing!!

My Mom, Carol had a stroke early this summer.  After about 5 days in the Buffalo OK hospital she was released.  After a few days of trying to take care of her at home it became clear to Tracie (my sister) and I that she wasn’t ready to be home.  After some finagling I got her admitted to the Hays Medical Center Stroke Rehabilitation unit.  She spent 10 days there and came out so much better.  Since that time she has spent most of her time with us here in Hays (with a visit to Tracie in Waynoka).  She has physical therapy three times a week and also has been tending to some long overdue health issues.  I am happy to report that she is doing much better.  She has progressed from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane and is now pretty much walking around the house by herself.  It is still a slow progress to rebuild her strength, balance and confidence.  In the meantime we have so enjoyed having Grandma Carol to ourselves.  Living 3 hours from Buffalo, my kids haven’t had as many opportunities to be with their Grandma – that has all changed now.  The funniest thing is that Gabe can’t say “Grandma” he calls her “Grandpa”.  Grandma says she doesn’t mind one bit!!

Dana

Grandma Carol in the hospital with Grace and Jackson

Gabriel and his "Grandpa"