Mother's Day

Stumbled across some old photos that somehow got lost in the shuffle. Poor mom! But we all think that she is the #1 MOM.

Mom wanted to pick strawberrys on her big day so that's what we did.

More picking less eating.

And much to the delight (not really) of all the moms, Phoebe had her big year-end violin recital later that day.  Frank loves violin recitals:

Post recital punch and cake!

Oh - and it just also happened to be a birthday weekend too!

Last American High Dive

Another weekend with the river washed out and un-swimable, so we took matters into our own hands and finagled our way into the Lake Omaha rec center in Cherokee Village, which is like a country club/retirement community stuck in 1976. We'd heard stories that there was a high dive at this place and needed to see for ourselves.  We did, and it was amazing!

It was a nice 12 foot board with good spring to it.  It's a shame that almost all of these are gone.  It's good to know that Arkansas puts fun - not safety - first.  Glad the kids got to do it because it might be the last one they ever see.

We though Frank might be a little scared but he jumped right off without any hesitation.

If Frank jumped off 100 times, Phoebe was easily three times that.  Non-stop climbing and jumping for about about three hours.

Phoebe really wanted to dive, but just couldn't bring herself to do it.  She was really hard on herself later that night for not doing it.  Poor kid.

Dad trying to show Phoebe how to do it.

Cut-Offs are a real concern in Arkansas.

Another Rainy Weekend

With very few exceptions, every weekend this spring that we've been in Arkansas has rained. It'll be nice all week, and sometime Friday or Saturday the heavy rains will come and muddy up the river so it isn't much good for swimming or fishing.  This has given us some chances to explore, like this trip across the state line to West Plains, Missouri, home of Porter Wagoner.

The Loose Meat sandwich found only in Iowa and Missouri.

Thumbs up.

Crazy gum ball machine.  The gum tasted like it was from 1985 because it probably was.

Back in Hardy after a flash flood, the river was high, muddy and full of debris.  This log was easily 40 feet and moving fast.

The beloved floating dock was under a serious logjam, but the river was too wild for anyone to safely go out and try to remove the logs.  We've seen the little dock withstand bad storms and some logjams worse than this, but a few minutes after this picture was taken a large tree came straight down the river and took the dock with it.  The rocky falls downstream that would usually stop the runaway dock were so underwater that it just kept on going.  Bummer.

Memorial Day Weekend

Now that it's getting warmer, all the summer stuff is starting. Cleaning out the canoe:

Getting the kayak back in the water.

Putting out the floating dock.

Ahhh..... summer (more on the saga of the floating dock later).

Reading.

Exploring.

Buddy's first canoe trip.

A girl and her dog.

Strolling.