vacation pics

We originally went to Arkansas last week to celebrate with my family at my cousin's wedding.  It was such a sweet occasion.  They were married outside at her parent's house, right on the lake.  The girls were barefoot, and the guys entered by boat.  The bride and groom are both professional musicians, so instead of a first dance they sang us a first song.  We ate fried fish and took sunset cruises around the lake.  It was really perfect.

While we were in Arkansas we decided to extend our stay a bit and stayed at a cabin on Lake Catherine, at the state park.

This was a great spot for kids.  The hikes were varied and full of wonder!  On one 2 mile hike we saw creeks, waterfalls, crawdads, tadpoles, fallen trees, turquoise dragonflies, and huge boulders.  Buddy kept saying that it was his favorite hike "ever"!  It really was great!

We also rented a boat for the morning and let the kids do some fishing.  We didn't catch anything, but they both enjoyed getting a chance to steer the boat.  A first for both of them!

This is what we saw every night right off of our back porch.

And first thing every morning...

The kids have decided that we should live on a lake.  

I'm game!