Mammoth Spring

And last but not least . . .

Our second excursion was to Mammoth Spring. It's a spring about 45 minutes northwest of Powhatan, about 2 miles from the Missouri border. We really enjoyed our time there, even though it was brief.


Here are the girls standing in front of the falls. Approximately 9,000,000 gallons of water pour over these falls every hour!


Here is the spring where the water is actually coming up from the ground. We're looking at it from an overlook. It was breathtaking.


Another beautiful view . . . the water making its way to the falls.

The beginnings of the Spring River.

Being a fresh spring, the water maintains a "refreshing" temperature of about 58 degrees farenheit. That's not an experience they'll soon forget! : ) Brrr . . .

Looking back on the falls.

Historic Powhatan

We enjoyed two different excursions during our weekend away. The first was to Historic Powhatan, which was an old steamboat town on the Black River. We really enjoy historical sights, so this was a treat!

They still have 5 different historic buildings on site, and we took a tour of them all. Our tour guide was excellent, particularly with the kids. He was very open to their questions, etc . . . He was very knowledgeable, and we learned lots of interesting new stuff.


The first of our buildings was this old commercial building. It has served several different purposes, including a telephone station (we saw an old switchboard there) an apothecary, a wagon shop, a post office . . . just to name a few.


Next was the Ficklin-Imboden House. The oldest buildings on the site. Once a residence with an attached cook house (and possibly slave quarters). It was furnished with period furniture that was cool to see.


Enjoying all of the furs that were typically trapped at the time.


The fireplace

The loft was used as sleeping quarters.

Inside the cookhouse.

Next was the Powhatan Male and Female Academy.

The girls really loved this one! They have an entire classroom set up with books and slates and everything. Each girl got their own slate and slate pencil (btw, we learned that slate pencils are actually made of slate also. I was always imagining something more chalk like. The squeaking sound that those pencils make is outrageous! I felt very sympathetic for those old country school ma'ams!)

Each girl drew a picture. I just thought Meg's was really cute! (Notice the 2+4 that she added!)

Next was the the old jail.

Hopefully this is this only time I'll ever see any of them behind bars! : )

Lastly was the old courthouse.

Inside the courthouse. We also learned that the railing that divides the public area from the front of the court room is called "the bar." Hence the term "Bar exam" etc . . . Just one of those interesting pieces of information . . . hope to use that one at a trivia night some time : )

Another interesting piece of information . . . Back in the day in Powhatan they only held criminal court every 6 months! Yep, if you were a suspected criminal, you got to wait, in jail for up to 6 months before you were even tried! Gotta love it!

Overall I loved the historic buildings, but I think I was most impressed with Ali and Emma! They were sincerely interested in everything they saw. The tour lasted 2 hours, and they were still fascinated, and asked several really good questions. Ali was funny. They showed us 2 old vault doors that they recently recovered. They been painted over with black paint, and one of them has had the paint removed and has been restored. Our tour guide showed us the restored door, and mentioned that they will be removing that paint on the other one here soon. Ali asked if we could come back next year so we could see the door once it's been cleaned up. I couldn't help but to laugh. Of all the things that a 9 year old would want to revisit . . . an old vault door!

The Beach

Lake Charles has a pretty nice swimming beach, and that was the highlight of out trip for the girls. Unfortunately, I was rather icked out by the water, but I managed.


Daddy was much more of a trooper with regard to the lake water! : ) He spent a long time throwing Ali and Emma in the water and other kinds of fun stuff.


I spent some time turning Meg into a turtle. She thought it was pretty fun at first, but got tired of lying there! I tried to get a top view pic, but she busted out too fast.

Then, of course, Julie wanted her turn, and Meg was happy to oblige.

Time to build a sandcastle.

The (almost) finished product!

After the lake we enjoyed a neat little nature center on site. All kinds of "interesting" critters to enjoy. We even saw a Timber Rattler. He reared up and rattled at us. Pretty cool when he's behind glass! : )

Arkansas!

This past weekend we enjoyed another camping trip. This time we decided to go to Arkansas. Random, I know. But, we've never been to Arkansas before, and it isn't too far away. After a little research on some state parks, we decided to go to Lake Charles State Park in Powhatan, AR.

We left at the crack of dawn, stopping at my sister's house to drop off the pooch (Thanks Brooke!) We had a really great time, and are (once again) thinking about where our next camping trip will be : )


Okay, so I'm a dork! Yes, we got out at the state line to pacify a camera-happy mommy!



They all walked into Arkansas and gave me some silly faces!


About a half mile inside of Arkansas there was a really nice visitor center, so we stopped, again. More pictures. Of course, they're all squinting into the sun . . . but I'll take it.



And here we are . . .

Our campsite.

My groggy family after a night of not enough sleep.

Really, is there anything nicer than a hot cup of coffee by the campfire on a cool morning? It was heavenly! Obviously, Julie didn't need the coffee, but she still enjoyed the fire.

Julie spent a lot of time hanging off of the camp chairs like this. Weird kid.

Julie was contagious.

Foil pocket dinners on the grill. Yum!

The lake was beautiful, especially at sunset.

The one BIG bummer of our weekend was the insane bugs!! I grew up in Alaska, where the mosquito is the state bird . . . and I have never experienced such horrible mosquitoes! They seemed completely oblivious to bug spray and citronella candles. Yikes!

Bikes!

Okay . . . so I'm a few weeks behind in the blogosphere. School has been keeping us busy, but I have a momentous occasion to record!

Ali is FINALLY riding her bike without training wheels!

It's a miracle!

I can imagine that a few of you are doing some mental math right now. "Isn't Ali your 9 year old? Isn't she in 4th grade?" The answer is yes. That is why we are so excited! : )

Ali has never had a desire to ride a bike. She did it if we made her . . . but she's much happier when she's curled up with a good book (hmmm . . . I wonder where she gets that?) On top of that, we now live on a gravel road. Not a great place to learn.

Well, a few weeks ago I decided that it was time to MAKE this happen. We loaded up the bikes and went out to Route 66 State Park. I've been trying to convince Ali that once she is riding without training wheels she'll enjoy riding much more. It didn't matter. She was afraid of falling over. I started out with her and quickly realized that this was going to have to be Daddy's job . . . if I wanted everyone to live through the experience. Thankfully, Daddy is much more patient, and within a few minutes she was up and going!

Look at her go!


She was so proud of herself! "You're right Mom! It is more fun without training wheels!" Sigh . . .

As you can see from the above pictures, this bike is very much on the small side for her. (It's the largest bike that you can put training wheels on!) Our trip to the park was immediately followed by a trip to Wal-Mart to get a new one!

The other kiddos thoroughly enjoyed their bike riding experience as well.

Julie on her Dora bike. She does lots of riding in the basement, so this was really old hat for her.



Emma has been riding without training wheels for (literally) years. No big shocker to anyone who knows her!



Meg is next on the list to lose the training wheels. I'd really like to get rid of them before winter, but she's a bit timid on her bike. Maybe spring is a more realistic goal.

I think this one is cute. The whole caravan.

Before we left the park, Julie wanted her turn on Meg's bike. She's rearin' to go!

Back to School

Well, we are officially done with summer as of this morning! So sad, yet so nice! : ) We, of course, started our morning with our traditional "back to school" pictures.


Ali is starting 4th Grade

Emma is starting 2nd Grade

This was Meg's first day of Kindergarten!! It's hard to believe it's time for that already! On Ali's first day of Kindergarten, she came home with her own version of the following drawing and poem. I've reprinted it and had Emma and Meg do it on their first days of Kindergarten as well. It makes me tear up every time. I'm turning into such a softy!

Julie, or course, isn't starting school yet . . . but the littles have always been a part of our back to school pics.

Here's the whole crew!

Our school day has gone really well, so far. I am much busier, as I have added another student, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Meg was in tears once over reading lessons (and quickly learned school rule #1: There's no crying in school.) We are still getting into the swing of things. There is a reason why we start on a Wednesday . . . it's nice to get your feet wet for a few days and then tweek as necessary and really jump into things on Monday morning.