Family Trip!

The past few days our family has been traveling on a very fun trip around Arkansas.
Mr. Robert and David (some good friends from Germany) invited our family to go canoeing with them. So Monday afternoon took off in a full suburban headed toward Hardy Arkansas, a town in north Arkansas. We arrived late Monday night.

Tuesday morning we got to go canoeing which was totally a new and exciting experience! Daddy and Benjamin were in one canoe together; Johnmark and David (age 13 and best buddies with Johnmark); Mr. Robert and Heather; Annalisa, Rebekah, and I. Mom stayed with Bethany and James because they were to young to go canoeing. We canoed 4 to 5 miles down a river. It was very exciting to learn how to control a canoe and it's good team work experience. Only Dad's and Benjamin's canoe tipped over when they where going down one of the water falls. Benjamin got stuck under the canoe but above the water. He was absolutely scared to death. Dad couldn't lift the canoe up to get him out so he had to drag him under the water and the canoe to get him. That was kinda scary but the rest of the canoeing was fun. We got to get out and swim around a couple of times too. It took us about four hours and by the end we were all exhausted and really wet.

That evening we went to the state park with a really cool water fall! We played our annual soccer game David, Johnmark, and Rebekah vs. Dad, Mr. Robert, Annalisa, Heather, and James. A very exciting game. Johnmark, David, and Rebekah won! There was also a civil war memorial. On our way back to the hotel we crossed the Missouri state line for about two minutes just so we could say we'd been there!

Wednesday morning we started our trek back down south to Dermott- with several fun detours! Our first stop was in Mountain View to see Uncle Carl. We ate brunch with him and played at the park. We also got to stop by an Amish Store with a deli. We always enjoy looking around other Amish stores and getting good ideas. The people there were very friendly and helpful.

Happy travelers

Traveling to Mountain View, Arkansas we had a great mountain view!

From Mountain View we headed to McCrory- where Mom lived when she was a little girl and where Dad and Mom got married. We got to see the house where Mom used to live and go into the Church where they got married. That was really neat!

Home where Mom used to live

Church of Christ in McCrory where Grandad used to preach

And twenty-three years later...

By that time it was getting late in the afternoon so we continued on south. We got to stop at Dixie Cafe in Searcy for supper. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Miss. Caroline and Mr. Dwight Smith were there! Some of Dad and Mom's old teachers and friends from Harding were also there and we got to visit with them for a while!

We arrived home late Wednesday night- tired but with lots of wonderful family memories.

"Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD"
Psalm 98:8