Hey Guys!! It’s been awhile!! The last time we chatted, we had just moved from the Houston area to the Kyle area. That was way back in April. In June, we moved up to Missouri for two months. I thought I could squish the four months we were in Texas and Missouri into one post…so here we go!

Let’s start with the BBQ…because y’all know we had some. We ended up eating at nineteen different BBQ places in the two months we were in Kyle. Yup, you read that right. Nineteen. And some of those places we ate at several times. Ha! It was hard to leave all of that amazing BBQ!! Jerl is still grumbling about having to leave all of those BBQ joints behind.

When we got to Kyle, the entire area was covered in carpets of bluebonnets. It was gorgeous! When I planned this part of our year, I’d hoped we would be able to see some bluebonnets. It’d been four years since we had been in Texas during the bloom and I was desperately wanting to get pics of the boys with the bluebonnets once again. During our two months in the area we saw the bluebonnets in all of their glory fade away to be replaced with the bright yellows and oranges and reds of the other wildflowers known in the area. It was beautiful.

We were fortunate enough to celebrate two Birthdays and a High School Graduation while we were in Kyle!

When we weren’t stuffing ourselves with BBQ or celebrating something, our days looked pretty…normal. Normal for us anyway. Work, school, and chores. The boys were all working on learning to drive. I left those lessons up to Jerl. I’m a reluctant and a bit nervous driver at the best of times. The last thing the boys need is a Nervous Nellie trying to teach them to drive.

We’d had grand plans of hiking every weekend, but the weather seemed to have other plans for us. It stormed so much that the hiking trails were either under water or a muddy mess. We weren’t able to hike at all, but we did take a day trip to Waco and visit Waco Mammoth National Monument to learn about when Colombian mammoths once roamed Texas.

Right next to one of our favorite BBQ places to frequent was a pie shop. Pie and BBQ…a match made in heaven. We actually found out about the Texas Pie Company while we were eating at a different BBQ place. These pies were sooo good! And there were tons of flavors! I think I ate my weight in BBQ and pie and then washed it all down with sweet tea. Gotta love the South!!

We headed for Missouri in June to spend some time with family and work on some projects on our home-on-wheels. Besides the many projects we had in mind…we also had some medical stuff to deal with. Eye surgeries were done (Jerl), wisdom teeth were extracted (Charles), and the many projects were…almost all done.

In between medical stuff and projects, we had some fun. The boys learned some new skills by helping their grandpa build a deck, we celebrated a birthday, and we took advantage of all of the space. Living in an RV gives us limited space and while we have a new “yard” every couple weeks or so…it’s different than having a real backyard where you can let loose and be free. The boys really enjoyed their summer.

We’ve been to forty-nine states and have favorite foodie spots in quite a few, but there are some foodie spots in the Joplin area that we always look forward to visiting!

Right at the end of our visit in Missouri we were able to squeeze in a trip to Branson. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of family vacations to Branson. When I was a kid, we would go every summer. We love sharing new places with the boys, but we also love to give our boys a chance to experience some of our favorite childhood places too. It was so fun watching the boys make some great memories with my parents this summer.

We were basically stationary for four months this year. It was both the longest and shortest four months ever! Ha! After four years of frequent moves, I start getting the itch to move along about three weeks into a stay. The first week of August we headed out on our next loop of adventures. We love our time with family and leaving Missouri is always hard, but (as the quote goes) “the mountains are calling…”

See y’all down the road!!

#nationalparktour