We've Arrived in Alton!

When we arrived in Alton, we had no sooner stretched our legs from being in the car when the girls decided they wanted to see the animals right away. The donkeys greeted us at the fence. They must know that visitors mean tasty treats for everyone.


The horses came out of the barn once they knew we had carrots.


Admiring Dollar (the tall black horse on the far left), Playboy Bunny (in the middle), and Sabina (front right corner of photo).


Rebekah petting Snowball, the white donkey. Emma wanted to take Snowball home with us.



Now for some of Alyssa's most favorite pictures...
When we woke up our first morning in Missouri, Alyssa was all excited to ride the horses. We got dressed and headed outside. I thought this photo of Emma looking out to the barn was nice.


Waving to me as she rides Cinderella with Uncle Joe leading the horse. She was SO EXCITED to ride Cinderella most of all. When she first got on, I was sitting on the front porch. I knew that Cinderella is not as trained of a riding horse as Playboy Bunny, so right away I headed over with my camera because I wasn't sure how long she would last on her. As Alyssa saw me approaching her, she (with a huge amount of enthusiasm) pointed to the horse and mouthed the words: "I'm riding Cinderella!!" It made her day, probably her entire summer :) Several of the pics of the girls on the horses are really nice if you click on them.


Pretty picture of Playboy Bunny.


Alyssa seemed pretty confident riding Playboy Bunny. The horse was very calm and accommodating which I think helped her feel comfortable.


Emma's turn to ride "Bunny."


Reaching over the fence to pet Sabina. When Aunt Laura and Joe first moved to MO and got horses, my mom named this one.


Emma and Rebekah watching the horses from outside the fence.


Alyssa a little bit stuck in the center of the ring with Bunny not really wanting to go anywhere. She's gently kicking her sides a little bit, but I don't think she was stern enough to get Bunny to move.


Emma loved the horses too. She told me later that her favorite part was how big Bunny was, but that she was gentle even though she was big.


Content little smiles as Grandma leads the horse around the ring.


Alyssa still very excited that she got to ride Cinderella.


Alyssa on Cinderella, and a friend, Mae on Bunny.


Mae leading Cinderella.


The donkeys, Friday and Snowball. The two donkeys were almost always together, just hanging out.


Uncle Joe made a treasure hunt for the kids, which he does for all the kids who visit their ranch. The girls and I sat in the back of the mule, while he drove around giving us a tour of their land, and we found "clues" along the way that led to a bunch of candy that had been stolen by the Sponge Bob Gang. It was fun for the girls! Here, Emma is on the lookout, and you can see Alyssa's hand behind her holding a squirt gun ~ just in case!!


A beautiful view of their farm on our treasure hunt.


Another view with the horses in the field.


My boots with Alyssa and Emma's boots on either side.


We found the treasure, and saved the town's candy ~ Hooray! It was their favorite, Tootsie Rolls.


Alyssa and I by the covered wagon. Something about putting a cowboy hat on me made me look like a kid.


At first, I was posting in chronological order of our visit, but this is where I began to get a little disorganized. Aunt Laura lives near the Missouri/Arkansas border, and one morning we ate breakfast at a nice riverfront restaurant in Arkansas, then we walked around Mammoth Spring State Park for a little while...


The girls by the little red caboose in the old fashion train station at Mammoth Springs. Joe wanted to boost the girls into the caboose through the side windows, (because they wanted to go in, and all the doors were locked) and I was thinking to myself, "Oh great, we'll all get arrested in Arkansas for breaking into a caboose." :-)


Emma by the water.


Rebekah by the canon that they referred to as the "big gun."


Alyssa also by the canon, apparently exploring.


The girls and I at Mammoth Spring.


Emma playing in the huge tube.


Splashing in the pool after diving out of the tube.


A and E playing. I love the scenery behind them as they swim.


Mom and Aunt Laura playing cards on the deck while the girls play in the pool.


Rebekah wanted to play on the pool deck with the squirt gun more than she wanted to actually get into the pool. She got in with me, but it didn't last long, there were too many other interesting things to do. She also loved the hot tub.


And she loved squirting the big sisters everytime they came out of the pool.


The girls found what Alyssa called a "blood curdling grasshopper" on one of the railings of the deck. I was actually expecting to see a lot more bugs (and maybe unfamiliar ones that we don't see here) down there than we did. Needless to say, they needed to scream about this one for a while.


Purposely doing a belly flop into the pool. We had a contest to see who could do the wildest/fanciest/silliest jumps into the pool. I had the fun job of being the judge.


Alyssa's crazy jump.


The girls LOVED Aunt Laura's pool. Like most kids, they could swim all day, and here was especially fun for them. I even stayed in the pool for quite a while one of the nights, and if I last longer than 10-15 minutes, you know the water must be nice and warm.


The girls wearing their "Buckin' Horse Ranch" t-shirts out by the wagon in the front.