Missouri Summer Adventures!!

I can't believe another school year has started!! Time really truly does fly by!!  So, I don't want to forget any moment at all.  Before I post the first day of school pictures, I want to remember our Missouri summer adventures!!

We have been busy unpacking and getting organized so it was fun to take a break from working for a day and go see some beautiful gardens near our house called Powell Gardens.

These gardens were so gorgeous and unique because there were lego sculptures placed throughout.  The kids had fun spotting them!

 There were some beautiful water features here! This waterfall cascading down the steps was Jane and Beckham's favorite.  They liked sending things down it and seeing how far they went.

 This one kids could play in!!

 There were also fruit and veggie gardens there. There was a whole section of apple trees that was pretty neat!

 Another lego sculpture...

 This was skull island! It was so cute with this piratey looking tree house

 The gardens were huge and so pretty.

 My absolute favorite part was this stunning chapel that was just so unique architecturally and so happily situated amongst the forests and trees across the lake!!! WOW!!

 We just had to hike to it to take a look inside...so worth it! A family was there looking at the chapel because they were going to get married there!! What a gorgeous setting to get married in!

 Most of our Missouri adventures have involved our new home!! Since this is our first time buying a house, we have been so excited to do projects to the home and our property to really make it our own and increase the value!! One project that we were not expecting to have was putting in a French drain.  Once we saw how bad the drainage was in this portion of our yard, we could see that something had to be done.  By doing it ourselves, we were able to save ourselves 1500 dollars at least!!  It was SO much work- but we did it as a family and it was worth it once we saw how well it worked!!

First we had to dig the trench...that was very hard work since the soil here is like clay!!! But we managed to dig 120 feet of trench in one day!!! It rained that evening, so we were able to really see how much we truly needed a french drain.  Here it is all filled up after a 20 minute rain storm!!

 The kids put on work gloves and pitched in a few times as well!! We actually had fun doing it :)

 Here is the finished job!! How we are going to put in a play area with pea gravel in this section of the yard!! It will look great when finished.  Pictures soon to come of the finished product :)

 Though the kids and I pitched in a lot...poor Ryan ended up doing most of the work!! He was such a trooper and did an amazing job!! I love that he is such a hard worker! What an amazing man he is :)

 Here are the kiddos watching a movie together!!  I just love these cuties :)

 Here we are just enjoying our beautiful home!!  We spent one evening playing the piano and dancing around together!! It was such a fun and special moment :) Elsie loves dancing with her brother and sister!!

I cannot believe summer is over- boo hoo!! But we are looking forward to another great school year and Fall, which is my favorite! Life is going to be great here is Missouri :)