What we've been up to this week...

I'm trying to savor these last weeks of summer. My kids start back to school two weeks from today, and I'm hoping that the next two weeks can be a mix of fun and lazy days. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to this week...

Camping in the backyard. I love hearing the kids outside talking and laughing before they fall asleep. Some days it's all I can do to keep the peace around here, but when I hear them enjoying each other, it makes me so happy.
Baking. This week we've made Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies and Zucchini Bread using zucchini from a friend's garden. My mom gave me some fun jello molds when we were in Arkansas, so we baked some mini-loaves in them. Aren't they cute?

Swimming with friends. Joanne invited us to come up for a day at the pool. The girls and I had a great time with them. Our girls all get along SO well! Will opted out and spent the day with a friend. I overheard him saying something about "girl overload".



Reading. Watching TV (Brady Bunch on dvd!). Playing Wii. The library.

And laundry, always laundry. I didn't do any yesterday, and when I sorted it this morning, I had 4 loads. How does it pile up so quickly?

Hopefully, we're spending today at home. I have laundry a couple of projects I want to tackle, and I'd really love to finish The Shack. I can't believe that I'm still reading that book.

Hope your day is a good one!

Our Trip to Arkansas, Part Three

The last leg of our trip involved driving from my mom's house in Northeast Arkansas to my dad's house in Northwest Arkansas. It's a 5.5 hour trip, but honestly, that feels like nothing compared to the 17 hour drive from Colorado to Arkansas. We took the scenic route, which was really only a half-hour longer, and I'm so glad we did. Our drive took us through Hardy, AR, and it brought back memories of time on the Spring River (float trips, snakes, overturned canoes, and, many, many lost t-shirts) and antique shopping in that quaint little downtown. (Side note here: Jennifer B--I thought of you when we drove through Ash Flat and Sharp County!).

Our drive also took us past Lake Norfork, one of my favorite lakes in Arkansas, and one that I spent considerable time on in my youth. I have so many great memories of skiing, tubing, and boating on that lake...with friends and family. SO much fun.

The part of Arkansas that I grew up in is pretty flat, but as you move into Northwest Arkansas, it gets hilly and beautiful. If we ever decided to move back to Arkansas, I'd have to live in that part of the state. Of course, I also told John that if we ever did move back he'd have to buy me a house with a swimming pool, unless he'd rather live on the lake. Those are my conditions. I believe that if you live in the South, it's a MUST to live (very) near water...it's the only way to beat the summer heat.

Seriously though, how could one not love waking up to views like this? My dad lives on Beaver Lake, and it is so beautiful.

We also woke up to these cute little critters every morning. Aren't they adorable? There was a mama and her three little ones. I decided to call them Mer, Will, Sarah, and Abbey.

The first evening we were there we had another birthday celebration for Sarah (if you're counting, that's THREE!) and some some yummy burgers on the grill. Afterwards, we went for a little drive. Everytime we're in Northwest Arkansas, there's something new to see! I was highly impressed with the Pinnacle Market. It's actually a gas station with a very upscale market inside. It sorta reminded me of Whole Foods...with an amazing deli, meat market, pizzeria, and even gelato. While we were there, we ran into a young couple that went to our church in Arkadelphia when they were in college. I recognized them immediately and I walked over to John and said, "Hey...that's J&KF over there", so we talked to them for a little while. K remembered teaching Sarah at church, and Sarah was in one of her best friend's weddings. It was a fun little reunion. One thing I've learned about Arkansas is that it's a "small" state. It's rare to go anywhere and NOT run into someone you know.

We spent the next day playing on the Beaver Lake. I posted some pictures a couple of weeks ago, but here are some more because I only took a few hundred or so *wink*.

Can you see how high the water is in the picture above. They had so much rain and flooding this spring, and Beaver Lake is about 9 feet higher than normal. We could all touch the bottom of the bridge when we went under it, and if we'd been in a pontoon, we couldn't have passed. Scary.


We had so much fun...especially tubing. Sarah and Will had a blast. They especially loved it when we'd go fast and try to throw their dad off the tube. They didn't really love it when we tried to throw them off though!

I was thrilled when my dad took us to see the nest of a pair of bald eagles. VERY cool. It was huge, and the eagles actually have two little eaglets. We weren't able to see the eaglets that day, but we did see one of the larger eagles flying over the water. It was from a distance, but you could definitely see the white head and the large wingspan. It was stunning, and I was sad it wasn't closer.

We were exhausted and starving when we returned to the marina. We ate at the little marina restaurant, and seriously, that was the best hamburger I've had in YEARS. I don't know if it's because I was famished or what, but it was so good! I was tempted to get the fried catfish instead (you know, one last chance for the good stuff) but I'm glad I didn't. After eating, the girls fed the (greedy) geese and the huge carp in the water. And just in case there's any question in your mind, we all slept like babies that night. We were completely worn out!!!

Another fun thing we did was the Twilight Art Walk in downtown Rogers. One Friday night a month, all the shops and galleries stay open for Art Walk. I LOVED all the different and creative art on display. It was just so fun. The only thing I ended up buying was some handmade soap like some that I received for Christmas. It's lavendar patchouli and it smells amazing!

The evenings there were so pleasant, and I enjoyed sitting on the porch enjoying the cool breeze before bed. I was in awe one night when three HUGE bucks walked up to the spot where my dad puts feed out for them. I've never seen three of them together like that. I counted each of their racks, and they were 8, 10, and 12 points respectively. OH my word. They were beautiful, and I was mesmerized. I'm so used to seeing mule deer that are quite a bit larger, but I rarely see mule deer with racks like that!

This was definitely the shortest leg of our trip, but we all would have loved to have stayed a few more days.

I'm not sure why, but our trip home to Colorado always feels short than the trip to Arkansas. Is it that way for you too?

I have one more recap post coming...mainly just some observations and final thoughts about "home" and family. Stay tuned...

Question of the Week...

Do you name your vehicles?

I had some fun comments about Minnie-the-van over the weekend, so I thought this would be a good question of the week.

John and I have always named our vehicles, but we're not too terribly clever in the name department. When we were newlyweds, we had a Maxima that we nicknamed "The Max", and we called our Mazda was "The Maz". Clearly, we're very original. We did have a Plymouth Horizon once that we tried to call "The Hor" but that never seemed to stick, and thank goodness that car wasn't around for very long.

Years later, we had a Honda Civic that we dubbed "Little Lou", and honestly, I have no idea where that name came from, but it fit and we loved it!

These days, John drives a black car that we've had for a long time (we keep our cars forever), so it's name is "Ole Black", and when we bought our van six years ago, we collectively decided on "Minnie-the-van".

What about you? Do you have any special names for your vehicles?

Dull as dishwater...

I just realized that I haven't posted anything in almost three days. That's probably because there just isn't much going on around here.

The kids and I had a very lazy weekend. John had to go to New Orleans on business, so we totally vegged. We didn't leave the house except to go water our neighbors' plants and feed their frog and chickens. Do you know what frogs eat? They eat live baby crickets. Wanna know what I bought at Petsmart today? 20 live baby crickets. Ugh. Thank goodness I don't have to touch them. I just take Will over there with me when it's time to feed the frog. And the chickens? Yep, that's his job too. Ewwwww.

Since John was gone all weekend, he stayed home with us today. He worked most of the morning, but went with us to run some errands this afternoon, and helped me cook dinner this evening. I love it when he's home. We had the BEST day.

Abbey has been begging for another pet since she found that frog in Arkansas. She had her heart set on a turtle, but I read that they carry salmonella and was able to talk her out of a turtle and into a fish. She and Sarah each got a betta fish today, and named them Sunset and Stella. Sarah originally named hers Hope, which I thought sounded great with Stella, but while we were eating dinner, she decided to change his name to Sunset because the colors of her fish look like the colors in the sky when the sun is going down. Makes sense.

See, it's dull as dishwater around here.

Our Trip to Arkansas, Part Two

After lunch on Sunday, we left John's parent's house to head up to my mom's house in Northeast Arkansas. I would have loved to have stopped in Arkadelphia, the town we lived in before moving here, but sadly, we didn't have enough time. I did wave at all of you friends there as we passed through!

We were able to stop in Bryant to visit for a little while with some of our dearest friends, Justin and Becky. It was so great to catch up with them, and even though we've lived here almost five years, they're the kind of friends that you just pick up where you left off and it's never awkward. (We love you guys!)

As we were pulling back onto the interstate, I had a text message from my sister asking how close we were. She was also on the road traveling to my mom's house, but from an entirely different part of the state. We estimated that she would probably arrive about 15-20 minutes before we would. Well, an hour down the road, I gave her a call, and she was exactly ONE MILE behind us on the highway. Crazy! We took turns passing each other a few times because the kids thought that was hilarious, and we stopped a little further down the road and met up. John graciously let me escape from Minnie-the-van and ride the rest of the way to mom's house with my sister in her sporty little car! I don't think we could have timed that any better if we had tried!

When we arrived at my mom's house, we had Sarah's birthday celebration, round 2, complete with presents and chocolate cake. Will took most of these pictures.



My kids call my mom "Cissy" and they think her house is really fun. She has all kinds of stuff for them to play with, and she also has cable which is such a treat for them. They all shared a room at her house and their room had a television which they thought that was the greatest thing ever.

We didn't have a full agenda on this leg of our trip which was fine with me.

One day, we went to Crowley's Ridge Nature Center which was right up my alley. I loved it, but I didn't take a single picture. Will and Sarah loved the alligator and got to watch him eat some fish. They also had tons of snakes on display...ugh...snakes creep me out, and I'm completely terrified of them.

Another day, we took them out to Craighead Forest where they have a fun sprinkler park. The kids had a blast playing in the water. Abbey caught a baby frog which thrilled her to no end. She was sad/mad that we made her let it go, but if that little frog could have talked, I know he would have thanked me a million times over for releasing him from the torture.




One afternoon, several of my mom's friends came over to see us Will, Sarah, and Abbey. My mom has some really sweet friends, most of which I've known my entire life. It was nice to see them and hear stories about their own children and grandchildren.

This fall is my 20th high school reunion. I'm not planning to go. I keep up several of my high school friends, and I was able to see my two of my closest friends one evening while I was there. We spent the evening talking, remembering, and laughing until we cried. It was wonderful! That was WAY better than any reunion for me!

One afternoon, I took Abbey (the only one who could tear herself away from The Disney Channel) and drove around town. It was a trip down memory lane! The town I grew up in has grown and changed SO much in the 18 years since I've lived there. I drove past the houses I grew up in, and past my grandmother and great-grandmother's houses. This was my great-grandmother's house. We lived right next door to her until I was in sixth grade. My Nana's house is in the picture below (sorry it's so small). If I had the money, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! It is full of so many memories. You can't tell from these photos, but this house sits directly behind my great-grandmother's house. All of us lived on the same block, and I could walk next door to my great-grandmother's, or behind my house to my Nana's (on a path through our backyard) any time I wanted to. How many kids grow up living that close to their grandparents? It was wonderful! I could write an entire post about childhood memories.


I can't talk about this leg of our trip without mentioning the FOOD. My mom is a great cook, and she made some wonderful meals for us. My favorite was the night she fried okra (yum!), squash, and green tomatoes. We had that along with purple hull peas, ripe tomatoes and corn on the cob. It was seriously delicious. We also had roast one night (and leftover veggies), and one day for lunch we got fried catfish and hush puppies (yes, again). Oh my goodness...I ate WAY too much, but since it was vacation, I let go of the guilt!

One night my brother and his wife came over, and of course, my sister was there too. That was fun. We haven't all been together under the same roof in a couple of years! I wish I had thought to take a picture of all of us together.

I couldn't believe how nice the weather was for us. I was really dreading the heat and humidity, but I think we hit the weather jackpot because I was never really hot the entire time we were there. The mosquitoes were another story altogether. My kids were outside one afternoon with my sister and they came inside covered in bites. Ugh. That might be my least favorite thing about the south.

Thank you, mom, for everything. We all had a wonderful time.

We were sad to leave, but after several days, it was time to pack up again and head west to see my dad. Stay tuned for Part 3.

Sleep deprived, but thankful...

I'm one of those people that needs a good night's sleep every single night. I have the ability to fall asleep quickly and completely, and my husband will attest to the fact that it's rare for anything to wake me up. I sleep soundly for at least 8 hours every night. I love it, and I need it.

The last two nights, however, I have not slept well at all.

That would be because a certain six-year-old has crawled into our bed sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I don't remember her getting in bed with us, but I definitely remember being awakened by her elbow in my face, and her leg across my back.

As much as I'm tempted to keep complaining about the two rotten night's sleep I've had, I'm not. Because I love that little six-year-old girl so much. She's my baby, and there is nothing sweeter than waking up and seeing her curled up on her side with her little hands folded prayerlike, and tucked up under her frecked cheek. So sweet!

My "baby" is starting first grade soon and venturing into the realm of all day school, and my heart is heavy. I've been a mom for eleven years, and in those eleven years, I've always had at least one child at home with me. Life as I've known it will be changing soon, and it feels so bittersweet.

So, as long as a certain little someone ventures into our bed in those wee hours, I'll be letting her stay. And holding that sweet little one close...all thru the night, and all the days ahead.

Our trip to Arkansas, Part One

Most of you know that we traveled to Arkansas two weeks ago. Arkansas was "home" for us before we moved here, and all of our immediate family lives there. We usually see our family a couple of times a year, but we haven't made a trip to Arkansas in the summertime since 2004...and that seems like forever ago.

This is a recap of our trip. It will probably bore you to tears, but since I like to document family stuff on the blog, here goes.

After a long day of driving we arrived at John's parents house. Our kids love going to Mimi and Papa's house for many reasons, but one of the most fun things about spending time there is the presence of their cousins! John's brother and his wife were there with us, and their daughters are our kids' only cousins! Will, Sarah, and Abbey adore M & M, and the time they spent together was full of fun.

The first day we were there, we took them all swimming at our friend's pool. Thank you, Mrs. Becky!



After a full afternoon of swimming, we went to dinner at the local catfish restaurant. YUMM-O! I've been craving fried catfish and hushpuppies FOREVER, and we've yet to find a good place to eat it here in Colorado. John's parents took us to this same place when we were in Arkansas last November, but when we pulled in the parking lot, the place was closed. I almost cried. They remembered that I was still craving it (I'm sure I've reminded them few times) and took us out for a delicious meal. John got the all-you-can-eat plate, and he ate about 15 pieces of fish. No joke. Well, actually, he shared a few with Will and me, but he ate a LOT. And loved every single bite. See...




We spent quite a bit of time laughing at the guys trying to unearth a 20ft pole from the backyard. The previous owners had a martin house sitting on top of it, and they had buried it about 6 feet in the ground with concrete. John and his brother and dad worked like mad to get that pole torn down. I have some fun video of them working, but I don't think they'd appreciate me putting it on the world wide web!

Our sweet Sarah had a birthday while we were there, so naturally we had a celebration for her. After cake and presents, we all headed out to the movie theater to see Kit Kittredge, the American Girl movie. She loved it!

After the movie, Mimi and Papa took all the kids to the mall and sent the grown-ups to Shogun for a japanese steak dinner, which was delicious--thank you! We met them at the mall afterwards and all the kids had on new clothes and were filling up on Chick-Fil-A. Abbey and her cousin were prancing all over the mall in their brand new, matching Hannah Montana jackets. They were so stinkin' cute, and I learned later that my six-year-old was on her knees giving Mimi and Papa the sad puppy eyes and begging for that jacket. There may have even been a few tears involved. It wasn't my proudest parenting moment for sure, but aren't they CUTIES???


On Sunday, we all went to church together. John's dad is a pastor, and he preached a sermon just for Sarah (about Sarai/Sarah) because it was her actual birthday. It was the first time that all of the grandchilden had heard their Papa preach, and it was special for them that we were there.

After a delicious lunch, we had to pack up to head to my mom's house. My kids always spend the first 10 minutes after we leave their house crying...they love their Mimi and Papa so much! We had a wonderful time there, and we're trying to talk all of John's family into spending Christmas in Colorado!

Girl Day...

Will was invited to go to a Sky Sox game today with his friend, so the girls and I had ourselves a little girl day.

We started the day with some fun new hairstyles from this cute hair blog. Thank you Rae and Joanne for making me aware of this blog and helping us find a way out of our hair rut!

I don't know why I didn't take a picture of Sarah before she pulled her braids out, and Abbey's hair definitely looked better earlier in the day, but you get the idea! Cute, huh?

We celebrated Sarah's 10th birthday while we were in Arkansas and our gift to her was a room re-do. She got some money from her grandparents for new bedding, and we've been searching around for something she likes. So, today, after we dropped Will off at his friend's house, we went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Marshalls, but still didn't find anything she was crazy about.

We ended up doing a little bit of back-to-school shopping since Marshalls had tons of stuff on sale. Normally I don't like shopping, but you know, today it wasn't too bad. We'd already declared today to be "Girl Day" and I think that helped my attitude. I saw how much fun the girls were having and it made me happy!

A huge thunderstorm rolled in while we were in Marshalls and while we were standing in the checkout line, I could see the rain POURING down outside. We made a run for Minnie-the-van, but we still got soaked. The girls were still happy though, and they insisted on Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

I am always so impressed with how polite and friendly the employees at Chick-Fil-A are, yet I always get tickled when you ask them for something and they respond "my pleasure". Today, we opted to drive thru because it was still pouring buckets. While waiting in the long line of cars, I noticed an employee was standing outside with an umbrella walking people to the door underneath it. I saw him help a mom with her baby and two toddlers, a pregnant woman, and another mom with two kids. Wasn't that so nice?

The girls ate in the car on the way home (they were starving!) and our last stop was Blockbuster. We had our blockbuster.com mailers to turn in for free rentals and I told the girls they could pick a movie to watch this afternoon. I was looking for one to watch myself, and I found Penelope. I remembered seeing an interview with Reese Witherspoon (she produced and acted in it) not too long ago, and she was saying that she wanted to produce a movie that her young daughter could see and understand. So...I talked the girls into getting it, and we came home and popped it in.

I try to be careful with PG movies, especially for Abbey because she's only six, and this one wasn't too bad, but there were definitely some things that went over her head. There were also some things I had to explain to Sarah. Have any of you seen this movie? Did you like it?

Our girl day today was very impromptu, but very fun! It was nice to hear them laughing and enjoying some special time with me. I loved it.

I can't believe I'm about to do this...

I was a little afraid to check my feed reader when we returned from vacation. I didn't do any blog reading for 12 days, and I was behind before I left, but when I logged on and saw that I had 634 un-read posts, I wanted to cry.

I've spent some time the last two days trying to catch up on all that I missed, but honestly, I just can't keep up.

Every time I knock the number down a bit, I log back on and see it's gone back up again.

So...I'm going to do something that goes against everything in me. I'm going to "Mark All Read" and start at zero. My family always teases me about never wanting to miss anything, and it's SO true which is why it pains me to clear my reader and start over.

Forgive me. Please.

Drama in the checkout line...

I went to the grocery store this morning. We've been home for two days and have been eating stuff from the freezer and pantry and trying to put off a trip to the store for as long as possible, mainly because I don't like grocery shopping (with or without kids).

This morning, it coudn't be put off any longer, so the kids and I got up early, got dressed, and headed out. The store was pretty empty and we were making record time. Until...

We got to the checkout line with the ultra-friendly cashier who kept talking to me about Mama Mia (I really want to see that movie...and soon!). While he was talking to me about the greatness of Pierce Brosnan (scary, I know), I reached into my purse to pull out my wallet.

Only my wallet wasn't there.

What?!? I really haven't used it much the past week and half because we've been traveling and John has been the one paying for stuff.

I told the cashier, who was mid-way through my cart that he needed to stop because I didn't have my wallet.

In all my years of grocery shopping (and that's a lot of years) this has NEVER happened to me. At first, I was embarrassed, but there really wasn't anything I could do about it. Will offered to pay for our stuff with the money in his pocket...but $15 was just a fraction of what I needed!

I was trying not to panic, and trying to think where my wallet could be. I never take it out of my purse, and I couldn't remember the last time I saw it. It's been at least a week.

The checkout guy was great about it. I had chicken and ice cream and other perishables in my cart so he told me they'd put my cart in the walk-in freezer and I could come back later. The lady in line behind me told me it's happened to her many times. I guess she was trying to make me feel better.

I walked out to the van praying that my wallet was at home and not somewhere in Arkansas. We buckled up and were pulling out of the parking lot when Abbey said, "Hey mom, it's right there" and she was was pointing at my wallet on the floor of the van. JOY. And, THANK YOU, LORD!

So...we walked back inside, told the customer service guy that our cart was in the freezer, and ended up with the same chatty cashier ringing up our purchases. He was trying to be funny and kept holding items up and saying, "I've seen this before" and "Deja Vu".

I wish now that I had been able to laugh along with him.

Question of the Week...

Do you have any special collections?

I was so excited last week when my mom gave me my grandmother's collection of souvenir spoons. I usually see those in souvenir stores and think they're hokey, but my grandmother had some really cool sterling silver ones that weren't hokey at all. My favorites of hers were the Statue of Liberty and the Colorado spoon which had columbine on it.

I'd love to show you some pics, but an hour or two after leaving my mom's house, I realized I'd left my newly acquired treasures there. (Thankfully, she's going to mail them to me 'cause I don't have it in me to drive another 2000+miles anytime soon). *smile*

I've started different collections over the years, but I never really seem to stick with the same object for very long. I have 8 or so demitasse tea cups and saucers that I love, but I haven't bought one in years.

I do have a huge collection of Christmas ornaments, but that's really all I seem to consistently collect.

So...what about you guys. Do you have any special collections?

Summer Road Trip '08

We just returned from our super-sized road trip. Our 2, 476 mile road trip from Colorado to Arkansas and back again. It was very fun and we had a great time visiting all of our family, but 43 hours in the car is a long time. After laughing hysterically at some things we experienced on the driving parts of our trip, I started keeping a record of our time on the road. Of course, I kept this list with a blog post in mind, so here it is...the Best and Worst of our Summer Road Trip '08.

Gas Prices
Best: $3.59 in Oklahoma City
Worst: $4.19 in Raton, New Mexico

Gas Station
Best: White Oak Station and Market in Rogers, Arkansas
Worst: Pilot Travel Center in Amarillo, TX (the grossest restroom I've EVER been in)

Meals on the Road
Best: homemade pimento cheese sandwiches, Kettle Chips, and Sweet Leaf tea that we packed
Worst: Braum's in Oklahoma City

Parenting Moments
Best: Laughing with our kids at family jokes
Worst: Trying to coax a very reluctant 6-year-old to use a toilet with automatic flush (she refuses to use one, I think because she's afraid she'll get flushed), and yelling at my 11-year-old for throwing away his sister's untouched milkshake. There's more, but you get the picture...it was challenging.
Names of Convenience Stores
Best: I never found a good one
Worst: Pak a Sak, Kum and Go, and my personal favorite, Toot 'n Totum

Animal Sightings
Best: horses, cows, antelope, sheep, goats, deer
Worst: opossum, armadillo, and porcupine (all roadkill)

Stretch of Highway
Best: Flippin, AR to Eureka Springs, AR and Raton, NM to southern Colorado--both were breathtakingly beautiful
Worst: west Texas

Song
Best: the kids and I cranked it every time we heard Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
Worst: some song by Reba McEntire about "Fancy" and her one chance. Why do you always hear the songs you don't like over and over and over?

Car Snacks
Best: Doritos, Chex mix, Cheez-Its--you know, all those salty snacks that make you retain fluid. Oh, and sugar snap peas because we needed to balance the junk with some veggies. *smile*
Worst: Beef jerky (I hate it, but my kids love it and I buy it for them when we travel).

Friendliest State
Arkansas. Hands down, this was the friendliest place. Every gas station attendant said, Hi, when we walked in. Even the car hop at Sonic (Mountain Home, AR) was super friendly. I bet she talked to us for five minutes when she brought our order out.

Ways to Pass Time in the Car
Best: Reading (Sarah), Brady Bunch dvds (Abbey), Nintendo DS (Will), talking, laughing, finding license plates, eating
Worst: Counting churches and roadside flea markets in rural Arkansas. There are so many that you lose count quickly. If I had a dollar for every church we passed, I'd be one wealthy lady.
Interesting Scenery
Best: The huge windmills in Oklahoma, a hot air balloon, Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico, kudzu covering everything in Arkansas, mountains, and all the TREES everywhere.
Worst: It was all interesting to me.

States we traveled through
Colorado
New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Arkansas
(we missed Missouri by about 15 miles)

Oddest Names of Towns We Traveled Through
I should mention that all of these are towns in Arkansas:
Grubbs, Hoxie, Beebe, Bald Knob, Possum Grape, Oil Trough, Social Hill, and War Eagle

Anyway, we're very glad to be home again. I'll bore you post some more details of our trip soon!

Greetings from Arkansas!

We've been having fun all over Arkansas for the last week. I didn't intend to go this long without posting, but I've had (extremely) sparse internet access until today.

We spent most of today on Beaver Lake...boating, tubing, swimming, and soaking up the sun. SO much fun! Playing on the lake is something I grew up doing, and I love it. So do my kids...





We're heading back to Colorado soon, and I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog!