Top Twelve Series of Books I Love to Read

I tried to come up with my Top Ten favorite series I like to read, but then I found I had at least 12. So without further ado, here is my Top Twelve Series of Books I Love to Read (in no particular order):

1. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series
2. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. James Herriot’s All Creatures series
4. Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
5. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park
6. The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy by William Boniface
7. Pippi Longstockings by Astrid Lindgren
8. Maisie Dobbs by Jaqueline Winspear
9. Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan
10. Agatha Christie’s Poirot Mysteries
11. Catherine Murdock’s Dairy Queen series
12. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

(clicking on the title should take you to more info on the books)

SV '08 - Jason's Blog

And what would a Shepherd Family Vacation be without the requisite Sports visit?

After the zoo visit we ate at Albert Pujols restaruant Pujols 5.  FYI- he's a St. Louis Cardinals player and his number is 5.  This was on Jason's list of must-do's on our vacation.

Jason and Luke went to a Cardinals game, but there were no pictures taken (don't know why not). Then they also attended a KC Royals game the night before we left.  Jason took photos of the stadium and his friend Harry who went with them (Brooke & I hung at the hotel across the road), but none of him or Luke.  Luke however did allow some strange girls sitting behind him to pay him $1 to take a photo of him.  I wasn't so happy to hear about that.  I also asked Jason why he didn't do the same thing so we had some photos too...

Alex Gordon is Luke & Jason's favorite player.

John Buck - another favorite player (and from Utah)

SV '08 - Pool Party

We got to swim at Aunt Carlene & Uncle Elroy's pool Thursday.  Jason's cousin Kristy met us over there and the kids got to swim with Kylee.

Jason & I were in the pool too, but the kids were fearless with the swimming rings so we didn't have to hold them the whole time. 

Luke went down the slide and jumped off the diving board over and over.  Whenever someone got to the house, he had to show them his new skills.  As we left, Luke informed us that we NEED a pool at our house. If we don't get one he's moving to a new family. Hmmm...

Brooke did some water ballet or something...

SV '08 - Burning Down the House

My brother-in-law Josh had a number of fireworks that he got after the 4th of July.  Tuesday night the rain stopped and he brought them over to their dad's house to set them off.  First he did snakes for the kids.

Then he set off the big ones.  He put one box down near the road and the other one off to the side.  Well, the sparks set the second box off and we had fireworks shooting everywhere!  They were flying into the trees and sky and falling on us in the driveway.  It sounded like machine gun fire!  Angela grabbed Ryan and Lindsey had Brooke and they all ran for the garage!  I got Luke to follow and we watched as the sky lit up.  It was amazing (and a little scary).  Good thing everything was wet and thankfully nobody called the cops on us!  I wish I had gotten some photos of the sight...

I took this one to prove that I was on the vacation too.

My House

Ok, ok, this isn't my house.  But that's what I've called it for seven years now.  This house is on the way to Nana & Pop Shepherd's and I love it!  I love they way it looks (I'm a sucker for a big front porch) and I love the spot it sits in.  You can't tell from this shot, but it sits back in the bend with all those wonderful trees surrounding it.  The closest neighbor is WAY across the road and so I imagine that you can't hear those parents yelling at their kids...

I often wonder what the inside looks like.  It's funny how I get excited whenever we come around the bend and I just watch it until it's out of sight.

SV '08 - Dinoroarus at the Zoo

Dinoroarus at the St. Louis Zoo.  All these dinos move and make noises.  Luke was in heaven!  Notice the arms on his hip(s) in every shot...I don't know what that was all about.

Here is a shot of Jason and the kids getting ready for the 3-D movie/ride Escape from Dino Island.  It scared the kids to death (mostly the movement of the chairs) and they were both screaming and crying.  With our wristbands, we could have ridden it over and over.  We threatend the kids with that to keep them behaving the rest of the visit.  I know, more awesome parenting skills...

SV '08 - Zoo

Here we are at the St. Louis Zoo.  Admission is free, but to do anything fun like ride the train or see the Sea Lion show you have to pay.  Parking was also $10.  We did the Dinoroarus Attraction.  It cost us $5/person for the Dinosaurs and 3-D movie/ride (all of 4 min.).  I'll post that next.

It was so hot that day.  All over the zoo they have these misters that you push the button and it sprays you.  Brooke kept herself soaking wet. 

Like Father, Like Son

Nope, it's not Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon - it's just Lewis & Jason Shepherd.

SV '08 - Family Pictures

We've never had a professional photo of the whole Shepherd clan before, so we got together on Sunday morning and had one taken.

It was early (9 a.m.) and we had 3 grumpy children, which lead to some grumpy adults. To get Luke into a better mood, I handed him our camera and let him take some photos while our photographer Jeannie snapped the pro shots.

Here's one I snapped of Angela.

Josh got these of us as we did our individual family shot. It was the only way our kids were going to co-operate for a picture.  They turned out pretty cute.  To see the originals, click here: Jeannie's Photography.

SV '08 - Swimming

I must admit that I thought of all the posts others have made with their families swimming together and been a little jealous. SO, here is my post with my family swimming together.



My sisters-in-law, Angela and Stephanie, and I took the 3 kids to the pool after family pictures. It was called the Splash Zone and the kids LOVED it!

Brooke, Luke & Ryan Shepherd

Brooke and Aunt Stephanie.  Steph was great to keep Brooke entertained all afternoon.  They floated the lazy river like this about a million times!  By the end of the day Brooke was her BFF!

Ryan and Angela Shepherd.  Ryan was all over the place!  He went down the slide and I was really impressed at how brave he is.  He is such a cutie!

Luke was a wild man too - he just took off everywhere!  I got him to hold still under the waterfall for this picture then I put the camera away and got into the water to follow him around and make sure he didn't drown!

Summer Vacation '08 - T-Rex Cafe

Yeah, this is gonna take a couple of posts so please bear with me. I'm gonna save some time and just post pictures to the posts I left via the Blackberry, so check out the old posts for new photos.

Our first day in Missouri we drove to Kansas City, KS to visit the T-Rex Cafe & Build-A-Dino Workshop. Luke had a blast. He kept saying "SWEET!!" We had an hour wait to get in and eat. The food was expensive and turned out to be Tyson DinoNuggets and Frozen Pizza. Grrr...but the kids thought it was neat. While we waited to be seated Luke built his dino friend. He chose a triceratops he named Lucas.