Lake Catherine...fun!

Seriously, I am trying to get caught up! For those who subscribe and get the emails, I apologize that you are getting several in your inbox today. I hope to get back on track and not have so many at once.

The first week of June we headed to Arkansas, right outside of Hot Springs, to Lake Catherine State Park for a vaca with Chris's Mom, Sister Robyn, and her husband Brad. We stayed in cabins in the woods and enjoyed a fabulous few days away from commercialism!

We took turns cooking meals for dinner, played cards (darn that Craxton rummy!), went fishing, hiking, and really enjoyed time together and time resting. I could write tons here but am desperately trying to catch up so here are my top 10 points of interest...in no particular order.

1. Fishing - or as Brad called it "feeding the fish." We rented a Pontoon boat and spent the bulk of the day baiting our hooks, feeling a tug, and later pulling in our reel to see the fish had eaten the worm without getting hooked. Chris was the only one to catch a fish and it was a smaller fish...so we ate our back up dinner - frozen pizza. I'm thankful for yummy pizza and not having to clean smelly fish!

2. Nature classes- one of the finer moments of the trip was Chris, Sally, and I deciding to go to one of the nature courses on tracking animals. We went early to explore the nature center which had several snakes which I am still having nightmares about. They also had adorable turtles and lots of information about animals in the area. We headed outside for the course and were early to get front row seats. A few minutes later Naturalist Julie pops out with a big smile and child-like energy. We looked around to notice the other "students" were children. Apparently they have a Jr. Naturalist program that these girls were working towards and this course was one of their credits. Ha! We sat through the class anyway and not surprisingly learned stuff!

3. Baby deer - I loved that we could look right outside of our cabin and see Bambi. Seriously - these babies were still wobbly on their legs they were so young. ADORABLE!

4. Vistas - I love new words! Robyn educated me on "Vista" which is a view.

5. Bum Vista- Later Robyn clarified that a true Vista is a spectacular view that you can see for miles...like 50 (can you see 50 miles?) into the distance. So, some views are bum vistas because they just aren't that spectacular.

6. Hike #1 - Chris, Robyn, Sally, and I did a 2.5 mile hike. It went over the "Indiana Jones bridge" and by a sweet little waterfall. It wasn't too hot and fun to work our way through the woods. We saw a few bum vistas.

7. Hike #2 - Chris and I did the unthinkable. We woke up at 5:00am. On the last day we wanted to attempt the more treacherous 4 mile hike to the top of the dam. It was BEAUTIFUL and so worth getting up for. We saw an adorable box turtle early on our trail. We enjoyed the vista at the top...it was not a bum vista!

8. Sally's Smorgashborg - The last night we were there we had lots of random food left overs so Sally organized it all into a meal. We had scrambled eggs, grilled veggies, biscuits, salad, lemon squares, cupcakes, and possibly some other stuff I am forgetting! It was such a smorgashborg but soooo fun and yummy! I love that Sally can make a fun event out of anything!

9. Birthday presents - Ok...so I know I'm really spreading this birthday thing out but this couldn't go without mentioning. Robyn and Brad brought us birthday presents to the trip! They seem to know me all to well as I got a burlap lined fabric bag that has old fashioned cars printed on it. Can I say LOVE?!!! It is so adorable and I've been so into using these bags for groceries, etc. that I was just over the moon. Loved it!

10. Poison Ivy - We both brought up proof of our treacherous hike! For Chris it was a slight rash that itched and healed in a matter of days. For me...it was oozing boils that got disgusting looks from all who happened to catch a glimpse of my ankles gone cankles in the last 2...READ IT...2 weeks. Seriously, why am I only able to out-do Chris when it comes to ailments?

It was a super fun week and I would recommend Lake Catherine. I hope we'll go back some day...