Roger and Terry Krikke Visit HSV / Oct 24-26

On Monday, 24-OCT, Roger and Terry Krikke - friends from our stay in Japan - arrived in HSV for a short visit before heading to Jackson, TN, to visit their daughter, Sarah, a junior at Union College.  They are currently living in Peoria, IL, where Roger works for Caterpillar.

On Tuesday, Rosie and Terry had lunch at the Marlsgate Plantation (near Scott, AR) with 44 of the HSV Isabella ladies.  Here are two pictures of the plantation:

Rosie and Terry enjoyed the plantation gardens.

While the women had a fancy lunch, Roger and I toured HSV and had lunch at The Home Plate - a great place for "down home" cooking.


On Wednesday Roger, Terry and Rosie went to Hot Springs to do a lot of the tourist events (e.g. drink hot spring water, walk down bath house row, etc.).  Of course, they also had to go "shopping" at the local potter's and the quilt shop.  Here are Roger and Terry in the Fordyce Bath House.

I met the guys for lunch at The Shack (where else!).  After lunch Rosie took Terry to the HSV overlook.  The view from the overlook was excellent.  The red colors really standout against the green pine trees.

It was great to see Roger and Terry and reminisce about our time in Japan.  Thanks for taking time to travel to HSV, AR!

Fishing and Throwing Rocks

On Tuesday morning we all went to Lake Coronado in HSV to fish from the dock.  Logan is holding up a fish he helped Gram catch. Notice that he already knows to hold the fish toward the camera so it looks bigger than it really is.  Good fisherman!

Kayleigh is OK to hold the line with a fish on it.  Just don't ask her to touch the fish.

I love this picture.  Kayleigh's actions show she wants nothing to do with the fish Logan is holding.  "Get that thing away from me!"

After we came home, we went over to Lake Sophia to let the kids throw rocks into the water.  Kayleigh has great form and focus.

On the way home we stopped by our neighbors' house, Gene and Bev, to see the wishing well they have in their yard.  It has a pump in the bottom that recirculates water - looks neat!  Logan was very interested in learning how it worked.

This was our last full day with Logan and Kayleigh.  We had a great visit with them.  Thanks to Shane and Karen for letting the kids come for a visit.

Arkansas Railroad Museum / 03-OCT

On Monday we drove to Pine Bluff, AR, to visit the Arkansas Railroad Museum.  The museum had multiple trains that we could climb on and look inside.  Here's the entrance to the museum.

 

Logan enjoyed ringing the bell at the entrance.

Logan is ready to turn the brake on the car.

Kayleigh is ready to drive the train.

Here are the guys on a restored caboose.

Here we are in front of the wheel of the last steam engine (#819) produced at Pine Bluff.

This is the last steam engine made in Arkansas.

 

Here they are at the railroad crossing.  There's no stopping these two!

 

The museum also had a small train that Logan and Kayleigh had fun riding.

 

The museum also had an old fire truck.  Logan enjoyed driving it.

After we finished at the museum, we went to a local park for a picnic lunch.  Logan and Kayleigh liked the swings.

After we finished at the swings, we headed over to the slides.

Even Gram got into the sliding act.

We had a fun day and great weather for our visit to the Arkansas Railroad Museum.  We can recommend it as a place to visit. 

Sunday Afternoon Picnic

Sunday we went to church at Barcelona Baptist Church.  Logan had so much fun that he didn't want to leave!  After church, we had a picnic at the DeSoto recreational area that is close to the church.  Logan enjoyed climbing on the rope structure.

After some climbing and swinging, we ate our picnic.  We're digging in.

Kayleigh enjoyed her veggies and dip.

Logan is eating his mac and cheese.

After lunch we headed over to the big slide.  Logan is ready to slide.

Kayleigh is heading down the slide.

We're all finished.  Kayleigh and Logan are shaking off the table cloth and getting it ready to pack.

What a great day at the playground!

Saturday Afternoon / Dinner at the Shack

After a busy morning and a brief rest, it was popsicle time.  Here we are on the deck with our popsicles.

Logan is enjoying his popsicle.

Kayleigh had two popsicles that afternoon.  She especially wanted purple ones.

On the way to dinner, we stopped to get a picture of the kids in the yellow flowers that grow along the road.  Both the kids and flowers are beautiful.

We had dinner at - where else - the Shack.  Logan ate a whole kiddie burger and lots of fries.  Kayleigh ate about half of her burger, many fries and managed to poke a hole in the bottom of her Sprite cup with her straw.  Do you know how quickly Sprite can flow out of a hole in the bottom of a cup?  Very Fast!  But we got a new cup and dry pants and the dinner continued.

The Family Farm Pumpkin Patch / 01-OCT

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we drove to Glen Rose, AR, to visit the pumpkin patch at the Family Farm - a Christian retreat center.  The first thing Logan and Kayleigh headed to was the green train.  They had a great time riding around the farm.

We then went over to the big slide in the haystack.  The guys had fun going down the slide and landing in the hay.  Small pumpkins were hidden in the hay, and they found a bunch.  Kayleigh has one of the pumpkins she found.

 Logan enjoyed climbing up the bales of hay to get to the top of the slide.  He's quite a "mountain goat."

Our next stop (maybe stop is not the right word - cause we really kept moving) was the hayride.  We rode around the farm and up through some of the woods.  We then disembarked (instead of stopped) at the carousel.  All of us had fun riding the carousel.

After the carousel, we went next door to the zip line and swing.  Logan had a great time coming down the zip line.

Kayleigh and Gram are all smiles after their ride down the zip line.

Kayleigh enjoyed playing on the swing.

There were regular horses and some Shetland ponies on the farm.  Logan enjoyed petting this Shetland - who's not a whole lot bigger than Bug their dog.

Gram got to lead Kayleigh around on Cricket the horse.

We then went to the petting zoo.  Logan tried to catch the little pot-bellied pig - but no luck.  However, there were puppies who loved being petted.  Logan and Kayleigh were more than happy to oblige.

After the petting zoo, we ate our picnic lunch at a table under the trees.  It was delicious!  Thanks Gram for packing us such a good lunch.

We then walked around to see some of the other items on the farm.  The guys enjoyed the picture cutouts.  Here's cowboy Logan:

And cowgirl Kayleigh:

We did stop long enough to get a picture of the four of us.

Next visit was to the pumpkin patch where we all got to pick out a pumpkin.  Here are Logan and Kayleigh with our pumpkins.

We then took our pumpkins to the car and headed back to HSV.  Thanks Family Farm (and Stan and Donna May) for a great morning.