Fall fun
Doesn't Beth's face say it all? Little girls about to embark on a big adventure... Beth and her preschool class went to the local pumpkin patch for an exciting trip. They got to play on all sorts of things, took a hay ride, and picked out their own pumpkins:
We were happy to see the nice weather for this day, because the trip had been postponed a week earlier due to rain. We also enjoyed beautiful weather this last weekend, which really helped make our camping much more enjoyable. We left Friday afternoon for Petit Jean State Park (http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com/) in central Arkansas. We've done a blog posting on this park before--we visited it in August. The reason we were here was so that I could attend an archeology workshop (learning how to work in an indoor lab during a beautiful fall weekend). Fortunately, we did get to enjoy some of the outdoors, as you see with Kenny at this overlook:
However, the kids were too noisy (other people were also there with the same idea) and they got a bit rowdy, which made their mother nervous, given the topography of the site:
(Yes, that little blue dot on the left side of the picture above is Beth in the rock shelter). We came back to our campsite before the sun set, which probably worked out for the best, since we needed to get settled in better. We almost didn't get a spot since the park had been booked solid--they'll reserve 100% of their camping spaces, and this weekend they were full. Fortunately for us (we didn't reserve a spot), just as we were trying to figure out our next move at the campground office, someone was calling in to cancel their reservations. We snapped up the site. Though narrow, sloping, and not exactly quite, the site was adequate, and once we figured out how to get our air mattress to hold air, it was tolerable for sleeping. Friday night was our coldest night, probably dropping into the 40s, but Saturday and Sunday warmed nicely, and Saturday night was noticeably warmer.
During the day, when I was in my workshop, Hope and the kids checked out some of the region's parks. On Saturday, they went to DeGray Lake State Park (about two hours from Petit Jean) and watched some Civil War reenactors. Here, Kenny is holding a small cannonball:
There weren't a lot of reenactors, but they really got into their parts:
They fired some muskets and cannon (without shot, of course), and drilled and did some mock charges. The kids, though they didn't like the noise of the big guns, had fun. On Sunday, Hope and the kids walked the trails of Petit Jean State Park. They went to a neat rock formation called "Turtle Rocks" (for obvious reasons):
and also walked down into a bluff shelter (Rock House Cave), which was decorated with some ancient Indian pictographs (here is one example):
We returned by Sunday evening, tired but satisfied after another busy weekend.
On Monday evening, Kenny got into his Cub Scout uniform, and prepared for his pack meeting:
He received several awards for his efforts so far--Hope is his den mother, so his den puts in quite a bit of effort. Here he is receiving some beads:
They also had a pre-Halloween carnival of sorts, with a number of home-made games rewarded with candy. Here is Hope standing next to her eminently successful plastic egg toss:
Last night (Monday) we had our first frost of the year, and tonight will be just about as cold, so I'm think of lighting a fire in our fireplace. We're waiting on Hope's parents, who are making their second visit to us in less than a month. They'll stay with us through the weekend at least, and the kids are looking forward to trick-or-treats on Friday.
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