Our Trip to Missouri to visit our good friends Rodger & Kim

We had a great time visiting our friends Rodger & Kim in Missouri from September 8 - 16th. They live on the Lake of the Ozarks and it is beautiful there. It was a long awaited vacation that we really needed and what a great time we had relaxing, playing cards and domino's, going out on their two boats and wave runners, shopping, playing billiards, bowling, and of course EATING and drinking... just to name a few things we did!!! Although I took over 300 pictures, here are a few pictures of us having so much fun and sharing wonderful memories.

We went wine tasting one day. Check out the height difference in this picture. No, I was NOT sitting down and neither was Hank. Rodger is 6' 4" and Kim is pretty tall also. The Almeida's are officially "short" people.

This is the back of their beautiful house, which leads down to their dock.

This is a carving in the front of their house. A really talented guy cut this from a tree that was dying in their front yard... it is spectacular!

They have two boats; a ski boat and a big 32 footer. The big boat is a sleeper with all the amenities to live on the boat. Here's what the inside looks like.It rained; I mean poured on our first full day in MO. But the rain did not start until we were out on the boat in the middle of the lake. It seems that every time we're together the weather is bad, so we call it "The Almeida Factor". Bad weather just seems to follow us! We joke about it all the time and we have fun despite the weather. Actually, it ended up raining only two days on the front and back end of our trip.


Here is a video of us just after putting on the "windows" in the middle of the rain storm so we wouldn't get drenched and look like drowned rats. LOL...

This was one of the highlights of our trip when we saved Daisy!! We were just idling along looking at all the big beautiful houses on the lake when Rodger thought he saw a log. IT WAS A DOG!!! The poor thing was exhausted and just paddling, but she wasn't going anywhere. She was very happy to see us and came swimming towards the boat. We pulled her into the boat and we could tell she was so grateful and relieved that we saved her. Thankfully she had a collar. Rodger called the number and asked if she had a dog named Daisy, and the woman said yes. Then the woman said "Rodger"? and he said "Jane"? They recognized each others voice and actually knew each other!!! What are the odds of that happening?!?!?!?!? Too funny. She came down to the water and we met her at her dock to give Daisy to her. Daisy actually knows how to climb up the ladder to the dock, but she just got too far away from home and didn't know how to get back.

Here's the video of us saving Daisy... such a happy reunion.

Here we are having a blast on the wave runners. They are a kick in the butt. Kim gave me a quick driving lesson and I got to drive the rest of the time.

We played chicken foot domino's a lot.

We ate lunch on the boat a few times while floating in coves.

Here are some pictures of just a few of the thousands of HUGE, beautiful homes on the lake. This particular spec home is 8,000 square feet and selling for $7 million. We attended an open house so we got to see the inside. It is incredible inside and out!!! The master walk in closet is the size of our family room!! It even has a room with a stage for a band or karaoke... just unbelievable.

Having some more fun on the boat

I saw this at a hole in the wall liquor store and just had to take a picture of it. Check out the name of the wine... LOL... just perfect for the girls.

It seems like all we did was eat while we were there!!

We had fun bowling one day and Kim kicked our butts!!!

The owner of the bowling alley told us about this boat accident, so we went home and took out our boat and got a very close look at it. Apparently the owner had this million dollar boat only 4 days. He was driving way too fast at 10:30 at night and drove into the sea wall and jumped it. It had a big gash on the left side with a lot of damage. The sea wall is about 3 feet of solid concrete and he damaged that also. I guess his insurance company isn't too happy with him!

Of course we love billiards, so the challenge was on. Kim has this really cool jukebox that she's had since she was a kid. It's in perfect condition and sounds really good... I just loved it.

Here's a video of us acting like kids.

One of things I enjoyed about Lake of the Ozarks are the fun names of the tiny towns and the crazy names of the establishments. Here are just a few for your enjoyment.

Big Dicks Halfway Inn was the funniest ever! We stopped there for lunch and they have all kinds of crazy stuff on the walls.

Check out the hamburgers. They flatten them so they're about 10" !!

Check out this sign. They're closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but they have happy hour on those days... LOL... I just had to take a picture of it. Do you think we're in the boonies or what ?!?!?!?

This was our last night together. We went out to a restaurant that had great food. We had a wonderful time with our friends.

Goodbye's are so hard on the girls. We cried like little kids while the guys were saying okay that's enough let's go.

We had rented a car for the 3 hour drive from the airport to their house. On the way back to the airport we had to stop for gas; remember we're in the country. These roosters greeted us at the pumps. They were scary and just wanted me to feed them... LOL. Here is a video of the scary birds.