Weekend Fun

 The beginning of summer vacation Ron and I looked at the calender and realized that we had a limited number of free weekends for some family vacation time this summer-it is amazing how fast the school year creeps up on us.  With this weekend being father's day and being a Sunday that we did not need to teach Sunday School we were ready to do a little exploring.  Ron is great at finding fun things to do-funny because I never seem to find them and am first to suggest much bigger vacations.  We had two packed days of fun and the kids loved every minute...except James, but then what do I expect with a one year old!  After a nice morning bike ride we loaded up the car and headed out towards Arkansas.  Our first stop was called the Blue Hole....hmmmm, I was not too sure about this one-some place way out and Ron described it as some guy digging out the river with a back hoe.  I was pleasantly surprised, no alcohol, clear cool water and the kids had a blast.  Although next time I need to bring a little fishing net.  Somehow I managed to catch a salamander on my swim shorts (pointed out to me by Andrea), it was all I could do not to flick it off and yell.  Instead I yelled for Becca and Brayden who were pretty impressed with my catch.

These are all our pics from this weekend.
Weekend Vacation Pictures

After spending a good part of the afternoon swimming and playing we decided to head out.  Next on Ron's list of ideas was checking out Natural Falls State Park-a state park in OK that we have heard about but have never seen.   It was pretty hot but the kids didn't complain too much-by the falls was refreshing and beautiful.  We took a little hike but once we wondered away from the water things got pretty hot and sticky.  We headed back to the car for some yummy watermelon-always good when it is hot, and a HUGE favorite of James.

 Scenes from "Where the Red Fern Grows" were filmed here.

On we headed to Arkansas where we found a little mini-golf place and played a round.  Brayden loves to golf, Becca not so much and Andrea was all about helping with the flags until she got too hot.  The most fun they had was fishing the balls out of the little pond.  After a quick dinner we hit the hotel and more swimming.  Both Ron and I were pretty beat but the kids were full of it, jumping and playing in the water.  Brayden's goal was to teach Becca how to do a correct cannon ball.  After a not too bad night in the hotel we set out to discover War Eagle Cave.  We spent a little time at the Nature Center of Hobbs State Park and we able to make it in the first cave tour group at noon.  The cave and surrounding land was a lot of fun to explore.  The cave was interesting but the kids had most fun panning for crystals after the tour.

Thankfully it was a little cloudy but it was still pretty toasty out.  We set out to find a place to swim along Beaver Lake.  Our first stop was a park that we had been to before-no a swimming beach just cliffs and with the water level being pretty high they were not as impressive as before, but perfect for the kids...impossible with a baby.  We let the older two jump off for a while-Becca even brave enough, strong enough to jump without a life jacket.  Then off to a little park by the dam, which was beautiful except for the screaming baby we had with us-I am sure everyone loved us!  James had had enough and spent most of the time crying...too hot, too tired.  Anyway, it was a great place to cool off before heading home back for another summer week at home.

                     Thanks to a wonderful Daddy/husband for finding such fun things for us to do!