Cousin's Week at Greers Ferry

The boys and I spent last week with my family in Arkansas. I am so grateful for opportunities to spend time with my family, and also to give my boys a taste of what summer was like when I was growing up.

Unfortunately Daniel and my brother-in-law, Robert, were unable to make this trip. We missed them but enjoyed getting together with my parents and siblings.

As our family has grown, it really isn't practical to spend much time at our parents house, so we decided to rent a house at Greers Ferry Lake instead.

My sister drove up from Tallahassee with her kids, then Jack, Isaac and I rode with them to Arkansas. Our brother drove separately from Nashville.

Before we arrived at the lake, we spent one night at our parents. The kids enjoyed picking blueberries and blackberries from the garden so that my mom could make us blackberry cobbler. Though I'm pretty sure they ate more than they picked!

And they also had fun driving the riding mower with my dad and being pulled around on a big, flat wagon by my brother. And we walked through the campus at Harding to show our kids where we all lived and studied many years ago!

The week we were in Arkansas, the weather proved to be unseasonably cool for summer in the south. This stroke of luck meant that we were able to enjoy campfires each evening, but it still got warm enough during the day to swim.

I'm pretty sure the kids would have been happy to hang out at the lake house with the water hose, but swimming and cliff jumping turned out to be a lot of fun too.

Our lake house had a beautiful view of Greers Ferry Lake, but since we weren't right on the water we didn't have to worry about the kids. It was perfect for spreading out, and we had a nice big kitchen for cooking meals.

We celebrated my mom's 62nd birthday and my parents' 41st wedding anniversary. We made them our family's traditional pistachio cake as well as baked salmon, shrimp with cocktail sauce, fried okra, and corn on the cob.

During the day we would swim at Devil's Fork, and were even able to take the kids cliff jumping at Dam Site Marina in Heber Springs. The water was so high that the causeway to the cliffs was underwater meaning you had to wade across!

After jumping on the island cliffs, we ended up going to the really high cliffs since everything was probably about 10feet under water.

My niece, Izzy, surprised us by being a little dare devil. At age 8 she was showing up plenty of teenagers who were too afraid to jump!

Jack and Levi stuck with the medium and lower cliffs, and Isaac was content to splash from the side or float around with me.

We all have so many fond memories from going to Heber Springs and Greers Ferry when we were kids and teenagers (and as college students!). I'm thankful for the chances to make new memories with my kids.

Before leaving the area we visited the Greers Ferry National Fish Hatchery. They raise rainbow trout here and release them into the Little Red River. The kids were all impressed by the fish.

Jack and Levi (both age 5) loved spending the week together, and Izzy (8) and Isaac (2) are forming a special bond.

Family games in the evenings, and sunsets outside with s'mores around a campfire are the things that childhood is made of. Coffee on the deck, in the cool of the morning, is how every day should start. This summer I am choosing slow as often as I can.

We had such a fun getaway! We are looking forward to spending more time with my parents in Canada next month and the kids are already planning our cousin's camping trip for the fall!

Isaac splashing while the bigger kids get ready to jump. 

Levi jumping off the cliffs.

Jack jumping off the cliffs.

Izzy jumping off the really high cliffs. 

Isaac swimming with Uncle Mark.

Jack demonstrates swimming with no floaties!

Thursday Things: Lake House Edition

This week we had the opportunity to stay at a lake house. We were under the impression that the house was in Sale Creek, TN (30 minutes from Daniel's work, 30 minutes from downtown Chatt). We found out after booking it that it was actually located in Harrison, TN. Harrison is directly across the lake from Sale Creek, but it is NOT Sale Creek. This meant a 50 minute commute around the lake for Daniel and I was still 20-30 minutes from anything. It was nice being on the lake but it was a little too far from everything.

A few things from this week:

1) Don't lock yourself out of your rental house immediately after you get there. Thankfully I had my cell phone and was able to call the owner and find a solution for getting back in the house.

2) Also, I am thankful that Jack was with me and not locked in the house!

3) Jack is fascinated by front-loading washing machines. Our washer and dryer are well over 30 years old. They still work, so we haven't felt the need to replace them. We bought them used 10 years ago because we are that cheap!

4) The lake house reminded me of something out of Grownups or Dan in Real Life. If I owned a lake house, I would want it to be like this. 

Large enough to have wall-to-wall beds in the guest bedrooms. A wrap-around screened-in porch with beds and seating galore and lots of fans for hot summer days. 

Wood paneling throughout (I don't care for wood paneling, but in this type of house, it just felt nostalgic). A huge dining table for lingering over a home-cooked meal or sipping sweet tea while playing games. 

The house was across the street from the lake. A trail went down to the dock, which would be perfect for fishing or canoeing or swimming.

5) Tuesday night we went to a lecture series at the Clear Creek Church of Christ in Hixson. There was a meal served before the speaker. This is our third week to attend. After the meal, the kids all play until it is time for "class." Jack was busy playing when I went to tear him away. I expected a meltdown. Instead this happened: 

"Jack do you want to go to class?" He looked at me, put down his ball and said, "Class?" and proceed to run all the way to his classroom –which was across the building– with no guidance. We trailed behind to make sure he went to the right place, and he did.

6) The speaker's topic was small groups and how they should be like a second family. He started asking if you had friends in your life who could just come over and make themselves a sandwich without asking permission to open your fridge. The point is that people in your life group should have that level of intimacy with you. 

We are still in the visiting stage at Clear Creek, but it is nice to know that we already have that level of intimacy with the family that invited us. It is such a blessing to have friends that we have known for the last 8 years and can pick up where we left off without worrying about having to "make" new friends.

7) This blog post by Hannah at Sundry Mumsy is a wonderful explanation about choosing to be connected to the internet world. Yes, there are plenty of things to be afraid about when it comes to the internet, but there is something sweet about sharing your life via the images and words you put out there. It's part of the reason I choose to blog. I want to be inspired by what I come across on the internet and I hope I am occasionally inspiring someone else. Besides, sharing my life online is a vital way for me to stay connected to my family who live far away!

I hope you have a blessed week! Today is Daniel's 33rd Birthday and we have some fun things in store for the days to come!