Happy Halloween

Creativity flowed in the Carpenter household in preparation for Halloween.  Reid is painting his bat.

Kay is checking out Flave's progress on the Razorlantern pattern she created!

 The porch was eventually ready to welcome any trick or treaters that might arrive.

Friends soon arrived and Flave and Allie posed. She was an amazing princess and Flave?

 Young Flave and Reid welcomed the trick or treaters. I am not sure how welcomed the older ones were as a monster and scarecrow jumped out from behind the bushes!

 A hippy, a scarecrow, a monster and a princess - what a combination!

 My favorite was the knight in shining armor that appeared at the door!

The Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 49-14 while the kids toured the neighborhood.

 Flave, Reid and Lola, the morning after!

Talk about a treat - meet the soon-to-be Carpenter family, Lola, Kay, Flave, Reid and Flave. This was one of the best weekends I have spent in a very long time.

Balloon Rally

This year we were finally home for the balloon rally. 

There was a lot of hot air at the airport where a sizeable crowd gathered for the event.

 This is the first year that Hot Springs has had a balloon.

 At sunset they started the balloon glow. Twelve balloons from around the country were here.

After the balloon-glow we were treated to a concert by Clint Black. And all this for free!! Nice!

Cannonball Run

Thursday the participants in the motorcycle cannonball run stopped over in Hot Springs for rest and repairs.

These antique motorcycles are traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific on the backroads of the U.S.A. 

We couldn't resist stopping to see them leave while we were downtown for the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.

They left in three stages forty-five minutes apart.  This was the final group leaving. I am not a motorcycle enthusiast but it was pretty neat.

I worried this guy wasn't going to get his started!

We're home!!

The five weeks we spent on the road looping around Lake Michigan was an amazing and most enjoyable trip. It is at least ten degrees cooler here each day now. It still has a long way to go to equal the temperatures we were enjoying "up north." But we are settled in at the dead end for a while to accomplish some projects.

Enough is enough!!

Arkansas is headed for the hottest summer on record; therefore, we are headed north! We will be in the right lane!

Christmas in July

It seemed like Christmas in July! I am blessed to have my children living here but their cousins are scattered around the country. They used to all gather at Christmas but this year it happened in July. We convened at La Hacienda to celebrate Will's birthday. 

Everyone seemed interested in what Kay was having. Hayden stopped by to see if  he could try her sangria.

Well he couldn't so Kelly brought Patrick for a try.

Mary had everyone over for a nice meal. Patrick invited Lola to help clean his tray.

Kelly and Sean got to spend some quality time with their older nephew!

There was no room in the inn for Will, so we were pleased that he slept at the dead end.  That gave him an opportunity for evening pool parties at Jeff's and morning exercise!

Patrick practiced his walking so perhaps next year he can try the Wii.

Leon enjoyed visiting with the boys as always!

They watched the tadpoles and looked for frogs in the pond.

While Leon and Patrick played by the pond, Brian and Hayden rode the 4 wheeler through the woods.

It was a good visit. If there is anything better than friends it is family. Next year I will take better pictures and try to get at least one of everyone. Who knew I would want to blog the happening??! ;-)

Cains come to town

We enjoy having company and were delighted to learn the Cains would stop for a couple of nights on their trip from Amarillo, Texas to Tennessee. I hadn't seen them in about five years.

The pond was a favorite gathering spot.

Emily, Beka, and Caleb try to figure out how Caleb might catch a frog.

The Wii was a big hit..my great nephew Hayden stopped by and got in on the action too.

Even dad got in a snowball fight..snowballs looked good this hot day. Temps were 98 and 99 while they visited.

Caleb was quite the entertainment along with his sisters.

Hayden tried his luck also. What a great group of children!

The Cains strolled the promenade checking the hot water and the tufa rock.

Caleb, Emily, Danelle, Tracy, and Beka at the only open spring - they sampled the 146 degree water that made Hot Springs famous.

Caleb and Emily had fun climbing on the DeSoto rock in Arlington Park.

Who needs a climbing wall?

At the Fordyce Bathhouse, now visitors' center, they saw examples of what the bathing industry was like in its heyday.

In the men's bathing hall Emily and Caleb pointed out the DeSoto and Indian maiden sculpture.

Emily posed in one of the old oversized tubs that once filled the bathhouses.

A drive to the overlook on North Mountain provided a view of Hot Springs, Beka and Caleb check it out.

After an afternoon swim in the neighbor's pool and some more frog catching time it was cool enough to go blueberry picking.

Danelle, Beka, and Caleb work on one side while Emily and Tracy take care of the opposite side. With this much help it did not take long to get enough juicy ripe berries. On the way home we stopped at a geocache and then raided the crystal pile in the yard by flashlight!

Beka, Caleb, and Emily will agree that ice cream is the way to end the day.

Bountiful harvest

Having a decent garden just isn't an option for me with all the trees in my yard. An early visit to the farmer's market took care of that! Then it was off to Jones Mill with Mary to her newfound abandoned blueberry farm. What a successful morning.

Antique Walk

Friday evening began with Leon, Chris, Mary, Patti and Darla gathering on the veranda of the Arlington Hotel to sip a few after work (for Patti that is). The rest of us are retired!

We moved inside to the lobby for supper before we strolled the streets for Antique Walk, a first for us. It was a fun evening.

Bear Mountain Rifle Range

The day began with a healthy breakfast. Blade fixed this one himself.

Ta-dah!! A vegan omelet with sausage, onion, peppers, and cheese.

Then it was off to sister Mary's for a variety of pistols and guns to shoot along with the 22's. Blade sure wanted to take the little pearl handle 32 revolver.

That was his first choice to shoot.

Who knew it did not work! Oh well. On to the next one.

Why yes, why not the 20 guage shotgun.  At least it worked!

Then Blade switched to the 22 with a scope. Mary decided to try my little 22. Bear Mountain is in the Ouachita National Forest a few miles west of town near the town of Bear on Target Trail just off  Brady Mountain Road.

Leon liked the 22 with the scope also. I found it to be a little heavy for my liking.

Then it was time to shoot the 410 guage shotgun pistol.

This was obviously a big hit!

Leon and I forgot to take earplugs so we had to improvise. 410 shells seemed to work very well.

Now you can shoot, Mary!

The 410 turned out to be Blade's favorite!

Once back home, he and Leon cleaned the guns and got them ready for the next grandson visit.

Lola, our granddog, will visit for a while and Blade will now head home to Las Vegas.