A-MA-ZING!

I can think of no better word to describe this past weekend - it was simply amazing! Robert arranged for the kids to stay with his mom and stepdad in East Texas and rented a cabin for us for three nights at Lake Catherine State Park in Arkansas. This getaway weekend was just what we needed - God is so good! We had such a great time and took a LOT of pictures, so if you're planning to stick with me until the end of this post, settle in ... it's going to be a long one!

Here's a picture of us in front of our cabin:


We actually stayed in two different cabins because they didn't have one cabin that was available for all three nights. As we were gathering up our stuff Sunday morning, I told Robert that I'd rather be packing up to move cabins than packing up to go home. That extra day was wonderful!


We arrived after dark Friday night, so we didn't get to see much of the landscape around our cabin. We woke up Saturday morning just as the sun was coming up. I looked out our bedroom window and watched a beautiful sunrise over the lake. Our cabin was in the perfect spot for viewing this picture that God painted - I believe just for me (even if some other people might have enjoyed it, too!)

After breakfast we went on a hike. We share a love of nature and enjoying God's creations together is always a lot of fun for us.

Robert got to practice his photography on a variety of subjects (caterpillars, mushrooms, and much more - believe me we when I say we took a lot of pictures!)

The midpoint of the hike was at this waterfall:

Saturday night we dressed up a little and went into Hot Springs (about 20 minutes away) for a fabulous dinner at the Hamilton House:

On Sunday we rented a little flat bottom boat and had a great time riding around the lake, taking more pictures.

I thought this turtle was so cute. When I looked at the picture later, it seemed to me that he was enjoying the fall foliage:

I have to include this duck picture, even though it's out of focus. It will probably prove to be the most expensive picture we've ever taken. I had spotted this line of ducks and Robert moved in a little closer so I could get a good picture. We were still a ways away from the shoreline (his camera has a really long zoom lens), but the lake got really shallow really quick and we were suddenly startled by the horrible noise of our propeller hitting rocks. The motor didn't work quite right after that and we limped back to the marina. The guy at the marina had no idea what was wrong, but said they'd have to take it to "the shop" and they'd send us a bill - can't wait to get that! Anyway, I got a couple of other pictures before this one that were in focus, but this was the one I was taking when we hit the rocks...hmm...maybe that's why it's not in focus.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at our cabin, enjoying the animals.

We had been feeding this squirrel some almonds, and after finishing one he looked right at me as if to say, "Is there more?"

Sunday night we enjoyed a candlelight dinner on our screened porch, looking out on the lake.

On our way home Monday morning, we stopped by Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs.

They've recently built a chapel at the gardens and it was beautiful:

While we were enjoying our romantic weekend, the kids were having a ball with relatives. They stayed and played at MeMe and CeCe's, went to Michaels for craft time, ate at McDonald's three times, got to be there for their cousin Lexie's baptism, visited with Granny, saw their great uncle Steve and his miniature horses, and went to visit Granddaddy Joe. Kenna got to spend one night with Lexie and Aunt Tonya took them to get their nails done. They kept pretty busy! Tonya shared some of her pictures with me:

Apparently Granny pointed out this nursing horse and our kids were immediately enthralled:


I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband who arranged this amazing weekend and fabulous in laws who took such good care of our kids. Thank you all!