Mommy, Maggie, and I drove to PaPa's lake house, where six of us got in one car and drove to Western Hills Guest Ranch at Sequoyah State Park to attend the annual Bates reunion.   PaPa could not go because he had to fly to Nigeria on Sunday.    In a month when he gets back most of his belonging should be at the new house!  This will be a busy month for Grandma.

 I was great 98 percent of the 8 1/2 hour trip.  When we crossed over the Red River I turned my Hook'em Horn sign upside down like Okies do.  Everyone was happy I did that. 

We were just getting out of the car when I started climbing and letting the fun begin.  We were among the first families to arrive so we got our pick of rooms.  There are 10 rooms in the bunkhouse, a big meeting room, a kitchen, and a common bathroom.  GGF and GGM got the room with a king size bed and private bath maybe because GGF is the only remaining child of Reuben and Selina Bates' eight children.   I shared a room with Mommy and Barbara.  Grandma had a room to herself because Andy and Kristan did not get to come after all.

First thing we did after getting our gear into our rooms was go check out the new swimming pool.  It starts out at 0 feet, 0 inches and slowly gets deeper.  Half of the pool was not over my head and was perfect for little kids like me.  There was also a splash pad that I enjoyed.  It was a bit cold but I liked it anyway.   I was in the pool by myself.

The water temperature was pretty cool so Mommy said she would wait and join me on Saturday. 

 There were three of these fountains that were fun to play in....

I discovered that if I covered on of them up, the other two would shoot up higher.

 

 I played catch with Libby in the hallway.  Libby is not a relative, just a friend of someone there.

 I guessed how many Skittles were in a jar.  Hope I win them!

 Barbara and I went exploring and we found that at the other end of the lodge there were a couple hundred cowboys and many of them had guitars.

 We sat down and listened for over 30 minutes to a group of six men and women playing guitars, fiddles, and a banjo.  I sure wished I had on my cowboy boots.  One of the ladies came over to talk to us.  She let me touch her guitar.  I liked that and enjoyed the music. 

Mommy and Barbara joined us for awhile.  Mommy and I climbed the staircase so I could get a different view of the musicians. 

 I had my own pillow but I wanted to share so I could snuggle with Mommy and my cow.  Monk Monk is missing.  He will show up.