Taking a Personal Day

Yesterday I showed an item I got when I went to Jacob's Cave with my mom, sister, and two nephews.  Then I mentioned Ha Ha Tonka State Park.  When I woke up this morning I checked my email, and I had a notification for 100 free prints from Shutterfly.  I like when they offer these because it gives me a chance to get my best photos onto actual prints.  So I gathered all my photos from my hard drive onto one folder, and had over 11,000 to go through.  Now the problem was that a lot were double, triples, and so forth.  So I started going through them so I could cut the 41 GB's of photos down (some of that was video also).  I knocked a couple thousand out quickly, but got tired of doing it.  So I think I'll skip this promotion for now and will likely forego the free 8x8 book I have to use by the 7th also.  I also have another one due by the end of the month, which I might try to get done.  The only thing I have to pay for is shipping, so thats a fair deal.

The reason I bring it up is because as I was going through the photos, I found some from the day I mentioned last night.  So today instead of a blog about cards or some unique item I have, I'm going to do something I rarely like doing on the internet, I'm going to show off family photos and such.  I don't like showing photos of my nieces and nephews, and rarely show any of my mom because she hates photos with her in it.  I admit I post photos of me often, and since my sister Andrea passed, I have posted more of her lately.  I also post photos of my oldest sister Anitra on occasion, but have cut down on it it recent months just because of privacy.

Anyways, not much talk, here are some photos I found.

It really is something worth checking out.  I also decided to show a few pictures with us in them.

Andrea had more energy than all of us that day despite being sick.  As you can tell I didn't dress up.  I wasn't going to go at first, but decided to go at the last minute.  I will say the sweat pants I'm wearing were ones Andrea got me for Christmas the year before, and they were the nicest pair I ever had.

Since I found some other photos, I thought I would include them as well.  I didn't have any from the cave, but I have other random ones to show.

These two photos were actually taken the same day close to Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camdenton.  My nephews were big fans of the Army, and when we saw this we knew we had to stop and take pictures.  They were getting hot and tired at this point, but it was still a good photo opportunity.

I thought it fit in nicely with Independence Day.

Here's a couple photos of me. The top one is from the Dickinson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO I believe in 2008, or maybe 2009.  I thought I'd have a little fun and stick my foot in the gator's mouth.  Luckily it wasn't a real one.

The bottom one is a photo opportunity I got with Barrel Bob.  Bob is the office "mascot" of the Missouri Highway Patrol, and he is usually placed in different parts of the state to raise awareness on safe driving, preferably wearing seat belts and reduced driving in work zones.  This was taken at the Missouri State Fair.  I went with my friend Jason and hung out for the day before enjoying a concert from Missouri girl Sheryl Crow.  It was a fun day.  It hasn't been a fun year for Barrel Bob though, as he's had two traumatic incidents in the last 12 months.  First someone set him on fire.  He was taken out of commission for a short while, then not long after he returned, a group of people kidnapped him.  He was found a few days later in a ditch, but again needed some repairs.  Let's hope his next year is better than the last.  If you are traveling anymore this holiday, be safe.

Speaking of my friend Jason, he took this amazing photo of the um... I think its called the "Mizzouka" during one of the Mizzou football games last fall.  I think the paint job is amazing.  I hope Jason gets the chance to get to take more photos from the field again this year.  If you want to see more of his photos, check out Talkin' Truman on Facebook.

Aside from the rain all weekend, this will be the closest I get to the water this holiday weekend.  The top photo is again from the Zoo in Springfield.  The bottom one is from the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield.  It is the World Headquarters, and if you are in Springfield, its worth checking out.  I'm not a big outdoorsman, but I had fun looking around.  It's been about 8 years since I've last been, but I hear they've made a lot of improvements, so I kind of want to see it again.

When I looked at the Royals Hall of Fame last year I saw this mini Statue Of Liberty painted Royal Blue.  I wanted a better shot (and one without an unknown kid), but I wanted to get through it all so I was rushed, maybe next time.

Another shot from the Zoo in Springfield.  While I enjoy the St. Louis Zoo much more (and its free unlike Springfield), I did have a good time. The only downside was it was really hot.  At least I got this great shot.

This next one isn't related to the holidays, but its a recent photo of me.  I took it before I cut all my hair off and shaved.  I grew my hair and facial hair out for my cousin's wedding, and the next day chopped it off.

I chose the Trading Card Database shirt because I wanted an updated photo for the site.  I might grow my hair out long again, but doubt I grow the beard out like that again.

So this last photo is to honor the Red, White, and Blue of the American Flag.  It also honors the state flag of Missouri as well.  I should have cropped the Missouri Tigers flag out for this occasion, but I didn't.  These flags are flown at Faurot Field during football games, however I think I reversed the photo.

That wraps it up for today, thank for taking time out of the holiday weekend to read, and I hope you have a great week.