Here's me now! Aren't I precious! Oh yeah, that's my bubby and sissa, they're cute too! 

This is the lake we camped at for a few days. This is the view from our tent! We swam so much, my bitty toes were wrinkly! I got sunburned, but not too bad. 

This is the Little Missourri Falls. I had a lot of fun splashing in the warm water! I tried to eat the little rocks, but momma wouldn't let me. I got to sit in a baby backpack on dada's back! 

My big brother and sis at Blanchard Springs. The water came right out of the mountain! And it was sooooo cold! Momma stuck my bitty feet in it, and I jumped! 

Mommy's version of vacation!

Wow! What a couple of weeks!

Day 1: Left home. Had tent (13x10, huge) blankets, playpen, stroller, and two ice chests full of cokes and food! Headed south to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, AR. Got tent set up, cooked dinner over a fire, went to bed.

Day 2: Woke up so very sore! Sleeping on the ground is not as much fun as it was when I was a kid! No coffee either! Went digging for diamonds. Didn't find any, but found some beautiful quartz and other minerals. After we were all hot and tired, we went to the waterpark there. I had Katy a baby floatie that she could sit in. We all got in the pool, and one of the lifeguards came up and told me floaties are not allowed! She could have a lifejacket or arm floaties! I went to the office, and they let me borrow a lifejacket, but it was way to big. The only arm floaties they sell were 8", way bigger than her little bitty arms. So Katy and I settled for sitting in the edge of the water (sloped down, not like a typical pool, more like wave pool at a waterpark)

Day 3: Woke up and packed up camp. Headed for Daisy State Park on Lake Greeson. They told us the open sites, then let us go look and choose our own. We chose one that was literally steps from the lake! The campground is on the side of a mountain, and the mountain slopes down into the lake. It was absolutely beautiful! Had to hike up the mountain to get to the bathhouse tho. We spent a lot of time that day swimming.

Day 4: Swam some more!

Day 5: Packed up camp, headed for the Little Missourri Falls. We found out about the falls in a book,
Off The Beaten Path: Arkansas We asked at the Daisy visitor center, and they gave us good directions. The road leading to the falls is literally a dirt path up and down the mountain, barely wider than the van, so steep and curvy, and no guardrails whatsoever. The falls were absolutely gorgeous, and well worth the drive, but boy were we glad to see pavement again! We headed back home to sleep in real beds for a night! Also to recover from our mild sunburns from staying so long in the lake!

Day 6: Decided to sleep in our beds again, called a friend and borrowed a queen and a twin inflatable bed! Bought air pump (kind that plugs into the car) at Wal-Mart.

Day 7: Left home and headed northeast to Village Creek State Park. This was a pretty place, but there were far too many mosquitos for us. If we wanted heat and mosquitos, we could have stayed home. This was by far our least enjoyable stop. Never could find the public swim beach. Was definitely better sleeping on an inflatable mattress!!!

Day 8: Headed northwest to Mountain View. Wow what a beautiful place! Neat little town on the mountain! We went to Blanchard Springs Caverns. Jason, Jon, and Emmy took the Discovery Trail tour, while Katy and I explored the forest and selected a campsite. I set up the tent, then went to register our site, then Katy and I headed off to find the swimming hole. Wow! The swimming area is a small lake bordered by a cliff. The water is so clear, you can see the rocks at the bottom even where it was over my head. The lake is spring-fed, and the rainbow trout would swim right up to us! I knew if it was spring-fed, there had to be a spring somewhere, so off we went again. We found the spring. It was awesome! In the side of a mountain, there is a giant hole, and water pouring out of it! There were several people there, and Katy and I walked down into the water. It had to be just above freezing! Our feet turned blue in a matter of moments! At 5, we headed up to the caverns to pick up the gang, and took them to see all the things we had found.

Day 9: Met a really sweet couple and their 5 kids who were in the next campsite. Their kids are how I wish mine were. All 5 of them were very well-mannered, polite, did not argue at all, did not backtalk their parents, the whole family had so much fun together! We watched and listened to them a lot. They read stories together, looked at cool critters in the forest, sang songs. I complemented them on their family, and we got to talking. We discovered that we feel the same on so many things, like children being a gift from God and how we should not refuse to accept His gifts, that children need to be allowed to develop and learn at their own pace but be helped when needed, that families are the most important thing on earth, and loving each other is the most precious gift we can give our kids. We packed up soon after, and headed for the swimming hole. We swam 2 hours, and got sunburned on our sunburns! About 2, we headed notheast again. We went to Heber Springs. Being the holiday weekend, we didn't find and decent camp areas, so we headed to the northern section of Greers Ferry lake. Went to Choctaw first, a place the kids and I have camped before, but it was totally full. The park ranger called around and found space at Sugar Loaf. It was near dark by the time we set up camp. Jason built a fire in the fire pit and we grilled 3 racks of ribs. We had fun scaring Emily by tossing the rib bones into the bushes behind her when she wasn't looking! She was sure some critter was coming after her! We pretended we heard nothing! It was so dark, she finally caught on after a while though. This was the only night Katy didn't sleep through. She woke up about 3:30 and refused to go back to sleep! Jon and I took turns walking her in her stroller!

Day 10: July 4th! Headed northeast again. Went through Harrison, near Eureka Springs, then headed south to Fayetteville. I called the kids' Uncle Lynn,(their fathers uncle) who lives in Winslow, and he told us to go to Devils Den State Park and he would come see us and take us to breakfast the next morning.

Day 11: He showed up half an hour earlier than he said, lol, and caught me painting my toenalis. We had a very nice visit though. Unfortuantely, one of his dogs had taken sick, so he had to take her to the vet. He did give Jon 50 dollars (WOW) and told him to take the family to breakfast. He told me next time we were going to be in the area to let him know ahead of time and we could stay with him. He is a carpenter, and he built his house himself. It is 3 stories, built on the side of the mountain. He has a huge redwood deck that faces east, perfect for viewing the sunrise over the mountains. We decided that this fall, we will buy Razorbacks tickets, and get 2 extra for Lynn and his girlfriend Cheryl, and stay the weekend with Lynn and take him to the game. He said it sounded great to him! Also asked him where to find the kids' great-grandmother Travis as she is in a nursing home in Fayetteville. He drew us a map before he headed out. We wasted no time packing, and headed for Denny's in Fayetteville lol! The we went to see Mrs. Travis. She is 89, and has alzheimers. It took a while, but I think she realized who Jon and Emmy were. She even asked when she would get to see their dad. They told her they didn't know. She told me several times she enjoyed seeing the kids and me. Jason kinda held back a little, and rested on a sofa. She looked at him a few times, and I sort of wondered if she might have thought he was Wesley (Jon and Emmy's dad) but she never said anything to him. She did tell me several times that Katy "is getting so big since the last time I saw her" It was sad in a way, but she looked better than she did last time I saw her. We hadn't seen her since she moved to Fayetteville after Grandpa died 5 years ago. Mrs. Walton (founder of Wal-Mart) is supposedly in the same Assisted-Living Center as Grandma, but we never did get to meet her. Uncle Lynn says she's a hoot though :) After we left there, we headed for home. Everyone but me was ready to be back in real beds. I could live in a tent in the mountains if I had to. I loved it!

Well, that was our vacation! Pictures coming soon!

I'm back from my vacation!

We went camping! I didn't know what camping was before, but I do now! I like it, it's fun! Camping means you get to play with your parents and bubba and sisser a bunch, and swim a lot, and sleep in a fabric house! And you get to look at trees, and fishes, and pretty rocks! There were these big rocks, they were so huge, they almost reached up to the sky! Mommy says they're called mountains! It was cold at night in the big rocks! And these pretty colorful fishes were nipping at my toes in the cold water! I saw places where there were big rocks and water running down them. In another place, there was this huge rock, and water was coming from a HOLE in the ROCK! Mommy stuck my feet in the water, and it was sooooooo cold! She says it's a natural spring. I just know the people swimming it it were crazy!