Birthday Weekend and Some Visitors!

Hello everyone,
This weekend I had some familiar faces come pay me a visit in Missouri for my birthday!
I was waiting at the school to go home and I kept trying to call mom, Kendra, Marisa, and Sally but no one would answer, I knew they were in town so I was very suspicious. I pulled up to our house with Alyssa and the front porch was all decorated and they were all inside!

Then I took them to see the school where I work and just showed them around town.

Next, we headed to the Majestic Oaks campground where we would be camping out for the next 2 nights. We dropped our stuff off, got settled, and found a restaurant for my birthday dinner! We ended up going to Pappos Pizzeria. It was excellent! My roommates met us there for dinner as well.

My birthday cookie

The visitors minus Sally

After dinner, we were in search of a grocery store to find some camping and fire supplies and some cupcakes and ice cream! We went through the whole store and checked out, then we realized that we forgot hotdogs and marshmallows! So we headed back in! Then we went back to the campground, sang happy birthday and hit the hay! We were all exhausted!

The next day was Marisa's birthday! We had reservations to parasail on the Lake of the Ozarks at 10, but it was dreary and rainy so we rescheduled to 12:30 then the weather was much better.
Parasailing was AWESOME! It was not scary at all, more relaxing with lots of laughs and great views!

After parasailing, we went to the beach. Unknowingly, we ended up at the same beach I went to last weekend! I knew it looked familiar! We swam while Sally enjoyed a nap on the beach.

Next, we hit up Golden Corral for Marisa's birthday dinner. We pretty much waddled out of the place. Then we went back to the campground and relaxed for a little bit. Then we checked out the campgrounds pool and I killed 6 giant horseflies! YUCK

We sang happy birthday to Riss and called it a night. 

We work up the next morning, packed up and headed back into Eldon. We stopped at Walmart to get Eldon t-shirts, then we went to Creemee to get some ice cream and everyone had to try the marshmallow Pepsi- only found in Eldon.

We went back to my apartment to drop off my camping stuff. This weekend was Eldon's Catholic church parish picnic. So we went there to check it out and grab some lunch. We waited forever, but the fried chicken was great! Then we went back into town to do some grocery shopping. 

By this point, it was 3 o'clock and time for my visitors to head out! The weekend went fast, but I'm glad they came down for a visit!

Aubrey :)

Lake of the Ozarks- Grande Glaize Beach

Today my roommates Alyssa, Martha and Colleen, another girl from our Americorps program went to check out Lake of the Ozarks! We ended up at Grand Glaize Beach which was less than a half hour from our apartment in Eldon! It was a beautiful sunny day. The water was soooo warm and wonderful- nothing like the lakes back in Michigan! I googled the water temperature and it said that it was about 80! It was a very nice little beach with plenty of room to lay out or to swim! The beaches here are mostly made of little rocks rather then sand which is weird!

Martha & I

On our way home we stopped at one of the drive-in restaurants in town. They have huge ice cream cones and they are delicious!

So far I am really liking Eldon. The people are very nice and it is very similar to Fowler. We start school on the 18th I can't wait to start working with the students!
Aubrey :)

Hiking Haha Tonka

Today, Alyssa and I decided to heard towards the lake and hike a part of haha tonka which has many trails. We did the train with the devils kitchen and the natural bridge. It was hot and buggy but very pretty!

Found a lizard

"The Devils Kitchen"

another lizard

Mansion ruins

Can't go inside :(

The natural bridge

Aubrey :)