Wow, it's already been a year. JoLee and I went out of town last weekend. Her Aunt and Uncle graciously loaned us their condo in Lake of the Ozarks which is about three hours away. It's the resevoir where everyone goes to boat and ski. It's like a Bethel Island on steroids. We didn't do any skiing, because it was winter, but we had a great time. We saw some caves and the ruins of an old castle that was built in the early 20th century. We had excellent eating, and we went shopping in the outlets. We even saw the local bank go up in flames.
The lake is huge and beautiful. Of course it doesn't look like this in the winter. I had to steal this image off the internet.
Several areas carry American Indian names. This place is called Ha Ha Tonka. Don't ask me what it means. Someone bought the land 100 years ago and built a castle on top of the hill (in the background). It burned down, and all that's left is ruins. JoLee and I had a great time hiking the area. We took 200 steps that went down the hill to the lake, and walked along trails next to the natural springs.
This is JoLee near the castle. The sun was setting.
The ruins were really cool. They reminded me of the cathedral in Cartago, Costa Rica.
The whole general area is dotted with caves. Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri all have several. This one is called Bridal Cave, because there is an old Indian legend of wedding ceremonies being held here. It is still used for weddings, and they have hosted over 1000. I went to the caves not expecting much, but I was very surprised at how amazing they were.
The cave is in two sections, and about 8 years ago, workers blasted a tunnel so that tourists like us could go between them. This is the man made tunnel that connects the caves.
JoLee has a thing for state capitols. I like them, too, because of the architecture. The Missouri state capital is Jefferson City, named after Thomas Jefferson. The capitol is nice on the outside, but it was really the inside that we came to see. Thomas Hart Benton was a famous artist who painted a few murals inside the state capitol in the 30's.
This picture is also taken from the internet. We couldn't take our own pictures, because several politicians were using the room to host a conference against cloning. We sat in the back of the room and pretended to listen while we looked around the room.
I think I owe everyone a huge THANKS for being so great to us over the past year. We appreciated all the cards and attention we got for our anniversary (and my birthday). Everyone sent a message, and it meant a lot to me. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you again soon.
--Nate
JoLee and I ate Easter dinner at the Hermes' house this year. They hosted an Easter egg hunt in which JoLee gladly participated. Here she is with one of her finds.
I wish I knew how to post the picture but the best of news is that today we got the keys to the new house! Val suggested that I take a few things up (I think he had in mind some boxes or something significant). But I decided to just take a few special items. I took a picture of each of the family members and put them in the entryway nook. It already looks like home. It is warm and light. We really love it. 
JoLee and I have been enjoying the Sonic commercials. We don't care for the food, really, but we laugh at the commercials. In fact, we like the commercials so much that we wish we did like the food. Now that's targeted marketing. Last time we were out on the road in the middle of Missouri, we stopped by a Sonic restaurant. We both admitted to ourselves that the only reason we were there was because the commercials are hilarious. We approached the drive through and looked at the menu board. The lady kept pestering us to order, so we finally we gave in. We gave in to our disinterest, that is. We drove away. So, the Sonic commercials are really great, but I guess they still need to work on their food. By the way, we ate lunch at Appleby's that day. It turns out that their world headquarters is in Kansas City.
The Zephyr was "Ride Engineered". I'm sure this was a great selling point for the car. I mean, who wouldn't want a car that was "Ride Engineered"?
I really wish we had kept the hood ornament. It would be nice to have a souvenier of our first car. I always thought this hood ornament looked a little like the end of a double barrel shotgun.
Our car was light blue, not a crazy mix of colors on this one. However, our car did produce it's fair share of flames and smoke. I know Dad didn't think this was very funny at the time, but it seemed like an especially fitting behavior for the car. No harm was done, I think it just had to burn off some fluids. At least it never exploded like a Ford Pinto.
The Zephyr name lives on. You can buy this one right now for $30,000. Apperantly, the guys at Ford/Lincoln/Mercury think that it's a name that should live on. JoLee and I agree.
The lake is huge and beautiful. Of course it doesn't look like this in the winter. I had to steal this image off the internet.
Several areas carry American Indian names. This place is called Ha Ha Tonka. Don't ask me what it means. Someone bought the land 100 years ago and built a castle on top of the hill (in the background). It burned down, and all that's left is ruins. JoLee and I had a great time hiking the area. We took 200 steps that went down the hill to the lake, and walked along trails next to the natural springs.
This is JoLee near the castle. The sun was setting.
The ruins were really cool. They reminded me of the cathedral in Cartago, Costa Rica.
The whole general area is dotted with caves. Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri all have several. This one is called Bridal Cave, because there is an old Indian legend of wedding ceremonies being held here. It is still used for weddings, and they have hosted over 1000. I went to the caves not expecting much, but I was very surprised at how amazing they were.
The cave is in two sections, and about 8 years ago, workers blasted a tunnel so that tourists like us could go between them. This is the man made tunnel that connects the caves.
JoLee has a thing for state capitols. I like them, too, because of the architecture. The Missouri state capital is Jefferson City, named after Thomas Jefferson. The capitol is nice on the outside, but it was really the inside that we came to see. Thomas Hart Benton was a famous artist who painted a few murals inside the state capitol in the 30's.
This picture is also taken from the internet. We couldn't take our own pictures, because several politicians were using the room to host a conference against cloning. We sat in the back of the room and pretended to listen while we looked around the room.
We took Savannah to the mall the other day & she had her first ice cream cone.
