I wanna go hang out at the Rainbow Inn in Pierre Part, LA and maybe I'll run into the Landry boys....

a pallet swing bed....perfect for our cabin in the woods!

What you’ll need:

•pallets

•2 x 4 lumber (we used three 8-foot pieces)

•drill

•screws

•saw

•measuring tape

•rope**

•mattress or cushion (we used a standard twin mattress)

•2-3 vinyl zippered mattress covers*

How to do it:

•Measure the size of the mattress or cushion you’re putting on the pallet and figure out how many pallets you’ll need to use to fit your mattress on. We used 2 pallets and added additional pieces in the middle to get the right length for ours. (We added 12 inches to the middle. The total length of our pallet was 80 inches.) Take into account the space you’ll need for the rope at the ends.

•Slide the 2 x 4′s through the inside of the pallets, one on each inside edge of the pallet and one through the middle.

•Screw the 2 x 4′s to the sides and middle of the pallet.

•If needed, add additional boards from another pallet to your main piece, we added two boards from a broken down pallet to the middle of ours.

•Cut off 2 x 4′s that are hanging past the length of the pallets.

•Drill holes in the four corners of the pallet, both the top and bottom boards of the pallet. Make sure the hole is big enough for the rope to fit through.

•Thread the rope through the hole, making sure rope goes under the bottom of the pallet and around the 2×4 (see picture below). Tie securely.

•Tie rope securely to tree.

•Enclose mattress in vinyl covers. Place on top of swing.

*Not necessary, but will keep your mattress dry & protected

**We used a solid braid pro-grade rope. Look for a rope that won’t rot or break down easily and that has a high working load limit – 700 pounds or higher would be ideal. They have a big selection in home improvement stores, like Home Depot (where ours is from).

Strawberry Lemonade

Nothing says summer like Strawberry Lemonade. Add a little wine to make it even better!

1/2 cup of Sutter Home Riesling

1/4 cup strawberry lemonade

1/4 cup ice

1/4 club soda

Strawberries for garnish (maraschino cherries optional)

Stir strawberry lemonade and Sutter Home Riesling into a wine glass. Pour in club soda. Add ice and sliced strawberries, then stir. Simplify this recipe by using regular lemonade. Cheers!

genius!

homemade Febreeze

...because making homemade stuff makes me feel like a better person!

Showmen's Rest

"Showmen's Rest - Mount Olivet Cemetery In Hugo, OK (Circus City USA) there is a cemetery that has a special section for deceased circus performers. There are some very interesting headstones with elephants, clowns, and big top tents."

baby Ian is in the Scary Mommy Guide to the First Year....

http://www.scarymommy.com/four-month-old-baby/

4 months old

Wigwam Hotel in Arizona....

How classically Americana would it be to sleep in a reappropriated Native American icon on the most famous highway of all time? For the record, it’s actually a teepee that guests stay in, not wigwams, but that doesn’t stop the Wigwam Village Motel #6 in Holbrook, AZ, from being a totally recognizable roadside attraction. Built in 1942, the grounds of this motel feature vintage automobiles and the interiors of all the teepees are paneled with Native American art and eccentric furnishings and southwest-style bedding.

Route 66 Alburquerque

Built in 1927 in the remarkable Art Deco-Pueblo Revival architecture style, the KiMo Theatre is bound to be one of the most striking building on the route. Located in downtown Albuquerque, it opened with Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length talking movie. There are myths surrounding it, whispers of the ghost of six-year-old Bobby Darnall who died in 1951 in the lobby of the theater. However, visitors will most appreciate the colorful three-story stucco building plastered with indigenous art and unique architectural elements.

Milk Bottle Grocery on Route 66 Oklahoma

Don’t blink while you’re driving down the Oklahoma City stretch of Route 66 because you won’t want to miss this: the Milk Bottle Grocery is a tiny 350-square-foot triangular building of red brick right in the middle of a thoroughfare at an old streetcar stop. But it’s not the building itself that’s remarkable, it’s the oversized milk bottle built out of sheet metal in 1948 perches right on top of the building, advertising the local dairy industry. While visitors can no longer stop in and purchase a bottle of milk for the road, they can grab a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich from Saigon Baguette, which calls the Milk Bottle Grocery home.

Route 66: Abe Lincoln reading a book on a covered wagon!

Drivers getting their kicks in Illinois will be greeted by a peculiar sign greeting them at Lincoln, Illinois: not a regular metal sheet on a highway pole, but rather a 40-foot long covered wagon with Abraham Lincoln sitting at the helm, reading a book. Draped over the side of the wagon is a sign welcoming new arrivals. Weighing in at five tons and standing 24 feet tall, this is the largest covered wagon in the world.

on Route 66....get a plate of roast beef!

A classic Route 66 story: Pete Adam, a Greek immigrant, founded the Ariston Café in 1924 in Carlinville, Illinois, but after two moves, settled along Route 66 in 1935. Between 1924 and now, the café has been in the same family, and has found a home in the Route 66 Hall of Fame. Typically, the crowd inside is a mix of local families and bikers and drivers whipping along the old road – it’s one of the few roadside diners one can find a quality and heaping plate of Roast Beef, and their Sunday brunch is always a huge hit with the locals.

(and this is one gal who does love her roast beef!

another Route 66 must....the giant ketsup bottle in the sky!

Well, if there’s ever been any confusion as to whether it’s “Ketchup” or “Catsup,” then this 170-foot bottle planted by the side of the highway in Collinsville, Illinois, crushes it. The largest bottle of ketchup (or, more correctly, catsup) in the world is actually a water tower proudly looming over the Collinsville skyline. Built in 1949 by a bottling company for Brooks original catsup, the bottle is now in the National Register of Historic Places and hosts an annual World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival in the summer

home made chia pet...

strawberry margarita jello shots

STRAWBERRY MARGARITA JELLO SHOTS 1 Cup Water Box of Strawberries Packet of Strawberry Jello 3/4 Cup Tequila 1/4 Cup Triple Sec

knock things off the list, add things to the list.....have a facebook chat going about having a BIG family Lake of the Ozarks vacation next year....

sounds like Lisa, John & Brenda are in! will have to get Cody a captains hat and find a cd of The Love Boat Theme Song....and look for a HUGE multi-family vacation house.....

The Love Boat theme song lyrics

Love, exciting and new

Come aboard. We’re expecting you.

And love — life’s sweetest reward.

Let it flow, it floats back to you.

The Love Boat soon will be making another run.

The Love Boat promises something for everyone.

Set a course for adventure,

Your mind on a new romance.

And love won’t hurt anymore.

It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.

It’s love!

Welcome aboard — it’s love.

going to eat at Big Dicks Halfway Inn in Gravois Mills, home of the Minnow Shot, rent a boat for a day, go to HaHaTonka, The BARn a restraint/brewery I found ......

crossed a BUNCH of items off the bucket list!

Johnson's Shut Ins.....the Stonehenge at Rolla college....Elephant Rocks....Taum Sauk...Thee Abbey Bakery...Worlds Largest Rocking Chair...Blue Whale of Catoosa...Totem Pole Park....Golden Driller....drove some of Route 66....Worlds Former Largest McDonalds in Vinita, OK...