Fun times in Mountain View, Arkansas

These are just some of the fun things that the children did in Mountain View, AK.  Benjamin seemed to be especially fond of the blacksmiths.  He wanted to see them no matter where we went that week.  Who knew?!

 This was the first thing we stopped to do.  Geocaching!!  The fact that it was in a VW made it even sweeter.  The fact that it was 109 degrees (seriously!!!!) almost melted the baby into a blue puddle!

 The children loved the swimming every night.  We let them stay up late in order to swim.  Our uber white family sunburns so easily that we just decided to swim at night.  We had the pool to ourselves every time.  Benjamin's great accomplishment was jumping into the 8 foot water (with a life vest) and swimming.  Fun!

 Handsome, sweet boy!

 I love pictures of Livi walking with her Daddy.  Awww.

 This was very interesting to us.  First, it has a tree growing out of the center of a huge rock.  COOL!  Second, Kevin said it reminds him of Aslan's Table.

 Now, usually I don't find spiders, spider webs, spider monkeys, or spider veins to be interesting.  But, a funnel-shaped web is something else.  One of the ladies at the Folk Center told us what kind of spider it was.  It was something simple like Funnel Spider, but I don't remember now.  Sadly, some hooligan sweet, forest-dwelling animal destroyed it the next day, so we didn't get to enjoy it any more.  Bah!

 Benjamin made a corn husk doll in this room.  I cannot even imagine working in the awful heat in the dresses that these women wear!  Makes me thankful for today's more casual attire.

The final result.  Even though it was a super cool doll, he was only impressed by the turkey feather!

 Marching past the flowers. 

 Now, THIS is my kind of pet.  Clean, low maintenance, quiet, dumb as a block of wood.  Ah, it must be because he's made of a block of wood.  I don't know who is more amused...me or Olivia.

Old school clothes washing.  

Olivia's not sure if she likes this idea very much.  Smart baby!

Benjamin LOVED this.  "We should get one of these for our house.  It would be so much fun to wash clothes like this," said the boy with the clothes that magically appear, cleaned and folded, in his dresser.

Yeah.  Again, smart baby!!

I think that Olivia's favorite part of this trip was the animals.  She got to see quite a few.  I thought that she'd be afraid, but she wasn't.  Benjamin was our child who would not enjoy this. 

Looking for the perfect spot on the Picnic Swing.

This was pretty cool.  I think that they would have ridden forever if the donkey would have kept going.  The donkey was expressing his opinion about independence on this day.

Benjamin was quite fond of the printing press.  He loved how the gears and things worked.  He is his father's son. He even offered to organize all of the letters that the lady had!!  

The GIANT letters!

MmmmHmmmm!

This was the leather shop.  I think that Benjamin was more interested in the lady's machine than he was in her leather working.  She really did pretty stuff.  Oh, am I the only one that thinks that leather smells gross?  Seems as though I'm the odd one in this too.

I really liked her hair doohicky things.  I had to try it out.  Very pretty, but not comfortable.

This is the craft area.  Benjamin made a rock necklace.  It was a very intricate design that consisted of 3 rocks from the ground outside and some finger paint.  Benjamin was amazed!  Go figure!

He also got to do a few rows on a beaded belt.  He is good with detail stuff.

Music!!!  Yay!!  This group is actually led by that little 12 year old girl on the right.  She plays the fiddle amazingly well!

There's my little Livi dancing her heart out.  I love that she loves to dance.  Benjamin says, "Mommy, music is for listening to!"

Ummm....I don't know what this is, but Kevin walked around it and looked at it for a while.  He also took this picture.  Feel free to guess at what it is.

This is in the Photo Shop.  This man was so patient!!  He explained how cameras work, how to make various types of cameras, showed Benjamin how to make his own, showed him pictures that he took, etc.   He did everything shy of making dinner for us.  Sheesh!

This was a camera that he had made out of a cereal box!!

I don't remember what kind of box this was, but Benjamin was amazed!!

I think that our sweet babies had a great time!!

Olivia Wears Many Hats!!

This summer we went to Mountain View, AK for our vacation.  It is a nice little town that houses the Ozark Folk Center.  The Folk Center has weavers, blacksmiths, knife makers (yeah, I'm sure it has a fancier name), picnic swings, soap makers, etc.  Benjamin LOVED this place.  One morning while Benjamin was with a group making corn husk dolls, we took Olivia into the gift shop.  She found these hats and that was all she wrote.  Who needs to pay admission into a place when we can just go to random hat stores?!  It was fun!!

Laura Ingalls hat!  She'll be randomly running away from things in fields in no time.

 Dancing in a Dick Van Dyke movie hat!  Old Bamboo, Old Bamboo....

Hm.  I got nothin'

 Super Duper Sunburn Prevention hat!  Well, if one wants a plaid-type sunburn.

 Hepburn Hat!

Suggestions?

 Kentucky Derby hat!  This one makes me laugh!!  I suppose it could be a backup to Sunburn Prevention Hat!

 Help-Please-I'm-Being-Attacked-by-a-Squirrel hat!

 No pictures!  No pictures!  Princess Livi coming through.

 Peek a boo hat, take 1!

Peek a boo hat, take 2!

Hugs from Brother

I love how much Benjamin loves his sister. It makes my heart happy.

Love

It seems as though my sweet boy does his deepest thinking in the car. We were in the car on September 11, 2007 when he blurted out, "Mommy, do you know what I did last night? I telled Jesus to GET IN MY HEART!! And He did." And that was that. He just kept on looking out the window. It was so easy and sensible to him. I hope he always feels that way. It still makes me teary-eyed to think about it now.

We were also in the car the other day when he announced, "Mommy, I know what the last thing I'm going to do in my whole life is. I'm going to die and go to Heaven." I said, "Yes, son, that's right." Then he said, "Mommy, I feel worried about sister because she doesn't have Jesus in her heart. What would happen if she got dead?" I did the best I could to explain to him that God knows when we are old enough to understand that we need to choose Him. I explained that God doesn't want any one of us to be separated from Him and that He takes care of the babies and brings them home to Him if something happens to them before they have Jesus in their heart. Then he simply stated that he loved "sister."

I don't know if it was too big of a concept or not. I'm sure that I will know soon. He is just like his wonderful father when it comes to needing time to process things. I look forward to seeing what his thoughts are on this.

I love seeing this part of my son. I love that, even though his sister annoys him, he still cares very deeply about her in a way that is deeper than a simple "I love you." I love that God blessed me with the husband and children that He did, and that I have a chance to help direct them to a different path than I had growing up. I hope that my sweet babies always choose God and always feel a deep concern for those who haven't chosen Him yet.

Pickles Gap Hyperbole

As I typed this in Pickles Gap, Arkansas, the temperature outside was 108 degrees!! I think that I can agree with Benjamin when he says that "this is the hottest place I've ever been in the whole world!!!

We just stopped off at Pickles Gap Village. It was advertised as:

"Within the village, visitors can visit Kiddie Land, which offers rides for the kids. We have goats, chickens, ducks and guineas on site that the kids can feed and pet."

Yeah, to say that that was a stretch would be generous. The petting zoo consisted of 1 goose, 4 goats, a few chickens, 3 rabbits fighting off heat stroke, 1 rabbit trying to escape under the broken down shed, and a white dog with muddy paws. With the exception of the dog, all of the animals were behind high chicken wire. I guess it was a good thing that the goose was behind it. I think that Sir Goose also thought it was "the hottest place he's ever seen in the whole world," and he was not trying to hide his displeasure. Despite my negativity, Olivia really enjoyed it. Benjamin, well, not so much! Olivia kept talking about "dat ducks." Any bird is a duck in Olivia's book.

Kiddie Land was equally as impressive. It had 3 WILD AND CRAZY rides. By "wild and crazy" I mean, it had 3 of those little horse rides that are outside of grocery stores. One played music. One didn't. Benjamin, trying to be optimistic, declared that "these are the most funnest rides EVER!" Kevin, trying to be realistic, muttered, "Yeah, that was tooooootally worth fifty cents." One of the horse rides was the single rider kind that played the theme song from Bonanza. It jolted the children around pretty good. Benjamin said, "I think that this ride only costs a quarter because it is so rough on you. I think it's so rough because it's made of metal and real horses aren't made of metal." He might be on to something!

Never fear, the children escaped without rabies, tetanus, or whiplash! I consider that a successful outing!

On a brighter note, we enjoyed ice cream cones together inside of their cozy ice cream/fudge "shoppe." Olivia was very excited about getting pink ice cream. While we were eating it, she kept looking back at the clown statue that was at the entrance of "Kiddie Land" and saying, "I see dat silly." It was cute.

In the end, it was nice to have a little stop to break up the long car ride. But, if you ever plan to stop at Pickles Gap Village, just know that it is more Evil Spell than Magic Kingdom!

Banana Oat Muffins

We love these!! I actually buy clearanced bananas to make them because our other bananas never last long enough because the children are always wanting smoothies.

Banana Crumb muffins

3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. cinnamon
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1/3 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. mashed bananas

Mix dry stuff in a big bowl. Make a well in center. Add wet stuff. Mix until combined, but don't over mix. I poured mine into a 9" round stone, but you can use muffin cups or loaf pans.

(We usually eliminate this step) In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 c. brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 1/4 t. cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over top.

Bake at 400 until tester comes out clean. Yum!

Sweet babies....sigh...

Today I had the worst headache in the history of headachekind. It was one of the kinds that feels like you're being jabbed in the eyes with toothbrushes while being repeatedly whacked on the back of the head with a tire iron. It was fantastic.

So, where do the "sweet babies" come in? Right....

I'm in bed, all curled up, and Benjamin hops in the bed with me. He says, "Mommy, I came in here to pray for you. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, please make Mommy's headache go away and not hurt any more RIGHT THIS SECOND. Amen. Ok, bye." Then he hops down and goes back in the front room with Kevin. See! Sweet, huh?

Then Olivia had a change of personality this evening. Kevin had taken Benjamin and Amara to Lab-X at church and I stayed home with Olivia. We had all the blinds closed (lest the sunlight make my brains explode through my eyes), the lights off, and were cuddled up in my recliner. Now, the odd this about this is that Olivia is NOT, in any way, the cuddly type of baby. She's one of the "Oh oh, wait, I think you're touching me! NO NO NO!" types. Well, we sat in that recliner, cuddled up, watching Cherub Wings for 35 minutes. She even nuzzled down into my chest and stayed that way.

I'd love to say the headache was worth all of that...because it sure was special...but, did I mention the toothbrushes and tire iron?

.....Nah, it was worth it!!

Little things

Today I was cooking a new dish. It had corn and cream cheese and stuff in it. Olivia comes in the kitchen, as she is prone to do, looks at me, and says, "Bite!!" So, I put one little piece of corn in her mouth. She chews it up slowly, looks at me, and says, "Ummy!" It was cute!

Benjamin and I were playing a "No blinking" game this morning. At the end of one round, which I lost, he says, "I won Mommy. You blunk first and then I blunk. We both blunk!!" Funny!

Last night I was holding him and pretending to give him a little spanking. He said, "Oh no, that will hurt." I told him that it wouldn't because his hiney has extra cushioning on it. He says, "I wish my head had extra cushioning too for when I fall off of the swings." Ha!

Those babies sure are cute!