NW Arkansas Ozarks

We are trying to make it a annual tradition to rent a cabin in the mountains for a few nights every year for a family vacation. This is the second year we have done this. Ideally we'd like to find the perfect place for our family and return to the same place every year. The cabin we rented last year in Mena, Arkansas was nice but there wasn't much to explore plus the cabin would not have worked for us this year with Micah and his pack-n-play.

So when we heard some friends from Gospel for Asia were going to visit this place in Winslow, Arkansas we decided to check it out. The price was right, the drive was at about 5 hours, and it included breakfast! It's located smack dab in between two state parks so we made reservations! Since we've returned, we have found out that 5 families that we know have been to Sky-Vue B & B! Above is the lodge where we had a home cooked breakfast every morning.

In the first picture you can see the windows all across the back that overlook the Ozark mountains which is one of the attributes that Arkansas is known for.

This lodge is off of a scenic freeway that winds it's way up and has many beautiful views along the way. The speed limit is about 25-30 mph depending on the curve.

This was our two room cabin with a full kitchen and 3/4 bath. The two doors on the front does not mean it's a duplex. We were told when checking in that this is the old Arkansas style.

This is our cute little kitchen fully furnished. We brought all our own food for lunches and dinners but made it really easy so no one was in the kitchen for long cooking. Rich doesn't normally drink coffee every day but when you are on vacation in the hills, it just sounds good!

Our family likes to hike so when we arrived, we unpacked, and then went to explore. There are a few ponds that you can fish at on the premises.

There was also this patch of bamboo. What a find! The boys took some back to the cabin to monkey around with for the next few days.

The four "monkeys" at the pond.

Tired and dirty after our hike.

Julia found these huge leaves bigger than her head!

Reece resting with Dad. What is vacation without naps?

Boys horsing around.

Rich is trying to look un-phased by the weight of two boys on his back.

The view from our back porch.

We spent lots of time on the porch looking at this scene.

I wish it had some color but it was still pretty in a wintery sort of way.

AJ's bamboo that he turned into a wind instrument. It's a little big to call it a flute but for a lack of a better description, that's what I'll call it.

He spent lots of time blowing on this flute trying to make a nice noise.

This is Reece my fruit eater. This boy lives off of fruit, any kind, and could literally eat fruit all day long! I cannot keep grapes in the house (his favorite)!

He is always making a goofy face. He is a clown and loves attention.

The carving duo. Rich and AJ have matching pocket knives so they relaxed by trying their best to carve something meaningful. AJ did pretty good with the flute but Rich. . . let's just say he needs to keep his day job!

Micah with his bamboo stick.

He wanted a flute too.

Rich got up early each morning to watch the sunrise. AJ and Reece joined him each day and these are some of the pictures they got. There is somewhat of a progression.

They are beautiful that's why I chose so many to put in here.

This was taken at Devil's Den State Park about 20 miles from Sky-Vue. There were lots of caves to explore and bats! In fact, this park is known for it's bats and I hate bats! I've never liked them because they creep me out. I tried but even looking at the pictures in the visitor center made me uneasy.

This is Rich and AJ right before they went into the cave in total darkness to see the bats.

Rich left Micah with me as he went in he could tell the spaces were tight and he would never make it with Micah on his back. They had to take good flashlights to be able to see. Reece and Julia went in but soon came back out with no courage to go the rest of the way.

I waited safely outside with the rest of the family.

After about 1/2 hour they emerged, very dirty but with a sense of victory!

They did it! And AJ told me that the bats were "cute"! I beg to differ.

This place was every boys dream with caves and big rocks to explore!

This is called a waterfall? I guess when you've been to Yosemite National Park, you've been spoiled when it comes to waterfalls. These make me laugh. There were crowds of people hiking to see this waterfall. We will take our kids to Yosemite some day to see a real waterfall!

Some scenic pictures by the lake at Devil's Den.

Micah was a real trooper while we hiked but he was glad to get out of that backpack and stretch his own little legs.

This quaint little place was across the street from our cabin. It was a very old building that used to be owned by a nun who had a dream to see the older women teach the younger to work with their hands making useful things. She has died but it is now a place where the Local people of the Ozarks can display their crafts.

There were quilts, pottery, dolls, rugs, and big looms to look at. Us girls had a grand time browsing!

This is a stick bug we found. We found one of these last year on our first visit to Arkansas.

Watching another sunrise that wasn't as eventful as the first.

On our last full day, we drove 6 miles to lake Ft. Smith. This was their visitor center. They had clothes you could dress up in and pretend you were pioneers.

We tried to get our kids to look serious for this picture like the pioneers used to do when in front of a camera.

AJ had a hard time not smiling but he pulled it off.

This is a mock example of a yoke and it showed how heavy it was to carry water on your shoulders up from the river. The buckets were full of something like water so you could get a feel for the weight.

Lake Ft. Smith

The one tree left with pretty leaves.

Another one of those things they call a waterfall. Olivia took some pretty pictures of it.

Julia was a trooper doing all this hiking. This was our third day of hiking and Reece was sick of it. After walking about 3/4 of a mile he starting whining that he couldn't make it. I was pretty tired myself so I headed back with him while the others went on to see that waterfall above.

Micah fell asleep by the time Rich returned from the hike. He was one tired little guy.

If you made it to the end of this, I commend you! This was a long post. Thanks for going on vacation with us through our photos!

I forgot to say that we also had a bon-fire and roasted marshmallows, played games, and watched movies in our cabin. It was a thoroughly relaxing vacation and I hope to repeat it again next year. We'll see.

Buried in Fall

Micah's siblings decided to take him outdoors and let him experience Fall. Our neighbors have a huge tree that drops lots of leaves all over their yard and our kids get the enjoyment of playing in them every year. This was Micah's first time to experience leaves.

There are so many "firsts" in a childs life!

It is really fun to think about them all.

Since he has older siblings, they get a little crazy with him. They buried him all the way up to his neck!

Good thing it wasn't sand and all he had to do was lift his arms up to get out!

I think he liked it!

Micah's Cute Antics

Micah is adorable these days and so I just have to write about it. I know I'll forget this stage of his life even though I would probably deny being able to! He is so much fun that I wouldn't dream of forgetting but I know myself too well. So I want to record some of what makes him so special to me and the cute antics I find him doing.

Micah is 14 1/2 months old right now and he is curious about everything. He wants to touch it all and then taste it too. I don't think he can touch something without tasting it also! Everything he puts his little hands on goes straight to his mouth. This is the stage where I have to be on my toes, knowing where he is every minute. He loves to get a hold of pencils and chew off the erasers!

He will quite often have both hands full and then have something hanging out of his mouth too. His mouth is like a third hand and he uses it to carry things from place to place!

Micah loves to snuggle and give kisses. He loves to pat me on the back when he lays his head on my shoulder. We can tell he likes to get cozy with us because once he has gotten us to pick him up, he will snuggle right in and lay his head on our shoulder and then kick his feet in pure pleasure of getting what he wanted. Some lovin'!

Did you put this dog on my head?

Hey, this is kind of fun!

My friend made this little rocking chair for Micah when he was born with his name on it.

He is now old enough to crawl into it and sit. Although most of the time he sits in it backwards like this and looks out the window.

Gotta love those overalls and two feeties!

This is the face he makes when he is being goofy. It looks like he is blinking and I missed the shot but really he is doing that on purpose. It's kind of the same as when your toddler doesn't smile naturally when you ask him to smile for the camera!

Micah is very smilie. He reminds me of AJ in this way. It doesn't take much to get him to smile at you (unless you have a camera in front of your face!).

Here he is again holding two things plus something in his mouth and he is making that goofy face again for the camera. What a clown!

I have to say that he loves to whisper. If I start to whisper he will whisper babble. It is so cute. It's like he is telling you a secret but doesn't know how to really talk English yet. This morning he was drinking his bottle. He would take a break and get right in front of my face and whisper to me a babble secret and then he would lean in and give me a kiss. Then he would take another drink of his bottle and repeat it all over again. I could have sat there forever enjoying him!

I think this is my favorite stage of babyhood and yet I've said that about them all so far!

I hope to post some video soon as proof of his wonderfulness!

Kristin

CDA, Idaho trip

Two weeks ago, I packed up and flew to Idaho to spend a week with my parents. Julia got to go with me this time and of course, Micah. Because it's so costly for a family to fly, each time I go, I take one of the older children with me. It works out to my benefit too since they are a great help when we travel. So this was Julia's first time to go see her Grandparents in their new home.

It was nice to go this time not just to vacation but to be of some use. My Mom had a hip replacement on one side and she had been home for a week when we showed up. She was up and around but still not able to do much on her feet at one time. I cooked the meals, did all their laundry and ironed as much as I could. I know what it feels like to be laying around not able to do all the things staring you in the face!

I have to say that it was fun to have a purpose for being there. When I came home and found myself doing those same chores for my family, I realized how much pleasure comes from serving those outside your immediate family. I figured it out, it's because my parents were so appreciative of every little thing I did! Not that my own family doesn't appreciate me but they aren't so verbal about it like my Mom was. I'm reminded again that my love language is encouraging words. And you know, if I need to hear kind words more often then maybe I should be dishing them out as well!

Since my Mom wasn't able to go out much and needed rest, we did a lot with my Dad. Dad took us grocery shopping, did all the dishes after I cooked, and stayed up late with us playing games, and worked on our traditional jigsaw puzzle.

Here we are going to an Italian festival at the local fair grounds. The flowers in Idaho were just gorgeous!

The dancing at this place was the attraction. We did also get to eat spaghetti and a meatball sandwich but these girls were something else. Although, it was a little odd to be watching Irish dancing at an Italian festival! I guess I'll chalk it up to small town living?

Micah liked the dancing too. He was happy to just sit in his backpack and eat my meatball sandwich.

This is the puzzle working I was telling you about. Puzzles are so addicting! This was 1,000 pieces and really hard! But we did it with time to spare. We actually completed this one and then started and completed another 250 piece, Peanuts puzzle that Julia picked.

Even though it was 250 pieces it took us a few days to finish it. I wish I had taken a picture of it too.

I just love the scene of this puzzle. There was so much going on.

This is a chocolate, carmel covered apple rolled in pecans! Yum! My Dad bought this for my Mom at the Italian festival. What's Italian about it? I don't know but we devoured it anyway!

Nothing better than playing Racko and eating that apple above! I remember playing this game as a young girl. My Mom doesn't get rid of anything. She even has some of my old childhood books and toys. Julia played with my old Lite Bright and Etch-a-sketch! Remember those?

Micah played with my old rattles, telephone and sqeeze toys!

Some things still come in handy!

All ready for church. I love this picture.

One of the things I like to do with my Dad is go walking. We stuck Micah in the backpack and walked his neighborhood a few times.

My parents are fortunate enough to have this lake within a mile of their house. It's truly a beautiful place in Coeur d'Alene with all the lakes around.

Funny how kids just gravitate to water and sand. Even though it was cold, Julia wanted to stick her feet in the water! Burrrr!

Dad didn't like this picture of him but I think he looks so handsome!

Micah peeking out from his hood.

I couldn't get him to look at me. Too much new stuff to explore!

My cute little Julia. She was such an amazing help to me on this trip. I couldn't have done it without her.

Well, one of these days maybe our whole family will be able to go visit Mom and Dad but for now. . . we'll take these fun little trips and enjoy what we can.

While I'm Away, the Children will Play!

Olivia has decided to become a photographer. I'm not sure what that might look like in her future but for now, it means she likes to fool around with our camera. I think she got some great pictures of these flowers at a local nursery she visited recently.

I will talk about my trip to visit my parents in Idaho later. For now I wanted to post these fun pictures of what the kids did with Rich while I was gone.

Looks to me like they had fun without me.

A new nursery/produce market had an open house event where there was face painting and pumpkin decorating.

Can you see the dolphin?

Reece must have chosen this soccer ball. Sports really represents his personality these days.

They got to take these home for free so I have three happy pumpkins with their own personalities sitting in my house just waiting to be baked!

I just love this one!

More pictures taken by Olivia.

It is so wonderful that God created such beautiful flowers for us to enjoy. They seem to have different traits of their own just like we do. What a GREAT God we serve! Who can fathom his ways? He created this for us to enjoy knowing what we would find enjoyable. There are no flaws in what He created although we might argue about what is perfect and what isn't. Are you enjoying His creation this fine Fall? Take time to notice the small things and let me know what you find enjoyable.