Mommy's Treasures

One of our favorite days of the weekend was Saturday. We slept in really late, then made several stops to purchase bug spray (those flies were vicious!!),explore ideas for a rolling kayak cart and to look for one more kayak we could purchase for Tyler to use. We didn't have any luck with finding a used boat, so we're keeping our eyes open around here. Late in the afternoon, we went up to Broken Bow Lake to fish for a while

before putting our kayaks into the lake, renting one for Tyler to use.

We finally ended up going back to the river late in the evening

With the area all to ourselves, we fished there until dark.

Ron and Tyler caught several trout, while I enjoyed the beautiful sunset and watching the two of them out in the water.

It was so dark when we left, we had to use the flashlight on my phone to show us the trail. Fireflies were flitting everywhere, making the whole night feel extra-special. The sky was clear and at Tyler's suggestion, we decided to go back to Beaver's Bend to watch the stars from atop the dam. It was awesome!!! Completely black except for a star-filled sky!!! I don't remember ever seeing so many stars. After craning our necks for a while, we ended up laying beach towels down in the parking lot at the top of the dam and all laying down to watch the stars. It was wonderful!!

Sunday, we decided we should put our Arkansas licenses to use, so we drove to Lake DeQueen for a while. I spotted a little fawn on the way there.

The lake was really quiet and we stayed there as long as we could before heading home.

I talked Ron into driving back down the Sunflower Trail again so that I could cut a few from the fields.

We all ended up enjoying it, actually and a lady stopped and offered to take our picture while we were there.

We had such a good time on this trip. While a spur of the moment decision, the fishing ended up being so fun,

and eventually, all of us reeled in a big one---they were drum fish, known around here as "Gou" or "Gasper Gou".

But, I caught the biggest one!!

You may remember that one of my wishes back in 2012 was to have a fire pit and a pretty area to sit and enjoy it. Well, for Christmas, Ron gave me a nice fire pit---I really like it. But, alas, it sat on the deck unused for a month or so. Until, we started our backyard makeover, that it. It began in February, with Ron and I digging out grass, leveling the ground a bit and extending the brick pathway beyond the storage building. When Chad, Carmelle came with the kids for Mardi Gras, we enlisted the help of Chad to begin laying the gravel---it helps to have a young, strong guy to lift those heavy bags, for sure!!

While we worked, Carmelle studied for school and the kids searched for creepy, crawly things. And of course, Michael found one.

Notice anything unusual about Michael's head????

Look again . . . .

Wookie supervised the gravel operation (while Emmi was jealous because she couldn't jump up there with him).

By the end of the day, it looked like this.

Shortly after that, we were visiting Valine (prior to the New Orleans Marathon) and saw that their neighbor had cut down a tree and was getting rid of the logs. Thinking they would be perfect for stools around the "stump table", Kirk and Ron rolled them out of the way.

Kirk and Valine brought them to us in April when they came for the wedding. We didn't really get to work on it again until after the wedding. In May, the two of us set to work again.