The swings are quiet – the campers have all left. After two busy-busy weeks, we are enjoying several days of solitude before a new batch of campers arrive. And since they are a rental group (just using the facility), there is not nearly as much to do to get ready. Even the director and his wife have taken their four young children for a little R&R up in Branson, MO. Gary is still working on his project, but I’m kicking back and getting caught up with chores, sewing, and computer work!

We had a good weekend. Did you? After helping with breakfast on Saturday, I spent the rest of the day sewing. Gary spent most of the day on the sofa! Between five long days of working in the heat, he also was having some sinus “difficulty”. Bottom line, he was exhausted! Sunday we headed west to Berryville for church again, and then did a couple of geocaches in the area.
Isn’t this a cute little Welcome Center? Although it was closed, we were told that it is actually a spring house and that the spring feeds the lovely brook that is close by.

And here is that “close by” stream…

There seemed to be a dragon fly party going on – here is one in its neon blue glory.

And then as I moved down the stream a little, I noticed many more “hanging around” in the trees.

(Trust me, there were “many more” than what you can see in that picture!)

The rest of Sunday was consumed with naps, reflection, sewing, and a little dose of Jane Austin. Yes, a very good weekend indeed!

We love checking out new areas! And even though we were here in this general area three years ago, there is still much to see and do. We have found that one of the best ways to find those little out of the way spots is to crank up the hand-held GPS and go geocaching! We concentrated on Harrison, the closest “city” to us. Harrison (population 13,000+/-) has some interesting industry – besides being a major Tyson chicken processing/raising area, it is also the East general office of FedEx. It also is home to the largest manufacturer of whiteboards, chalkboards and bulletin boards and home to one of two major parking meter manufacturers in the US. Who knew? See what stuff you can find out at a Visitors’ Center?
But here is where our travels (and treasure hunts) took us -
There is actually a lovely little lake (Lake Harrison, get it?) that borders the town. And there are two geocaches hidden there! Here is Gary traipsing through the poison ivy to retrieve one -

(glad I had the photo detail!)
Along that trail there was a path up to a cave – it seemed kinda spooky, so I just snapped a picture and didn’t climb the steps!

It wasn’t all leafy trails though –

We did head into the original town square – and spotted this eye-catching building -

Good use of interesting brickwork, don’t you think?

Outside of town we found a cache near this building -Anyone know what it is?

(and it’s NOT a Mexican restaurant waiting for a paint job!). It’s the Harrison V.O.R. Ok, so you’re still puzzled? It’s short for
VHF Omni-directional Radio Range – and if that is just a little more confusion, check out the explainatin here! It seemed like a pretty curious building, but our little geocache directions said -
“Do not approach the VOR facility under any circumstances.” Gulp. We stayed outside the fence!
And finally we drove to the top of Gaither Mountain, and were blessed with this view -

…and we found the cache that was hidden nearby!

So it was a good weekend getting aquainted with the area. There are several quilt shops in the area that might need some further investigation.

Extreme Camp has begun, but from the kitchen it looks pretty much the same. Just some bigger bodies going through the line! Today was a baking day – chocolate chip cookies for lunch and then I was the roll baker for dinner.
Blob of dough -

Turned into these yummy rolls – all 14 dozen!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll share what Gary’s been doing!

So, we’ve finished up our first week at Woodlands Bible Camp. 60+ pre-teen camper have vacated the premises and the grounds will be quiet until Monday when EXTREME Camp starts. Gulp.
Now this camp is not your high-end, deluxe camp. It doesn’t have computer labs or multiple swimming pools. It doesn’t have a riding stable or a lake to go boating on. What it DOES have is a staff that loves the Lord and children, and works very hard to make coming to camp at Woodland Acres Bible Camp a fun – and hopefully life changing – experience!
Here it what else it has –

A Gymnasium (especially handy on rainy days!)

A Rifle Range (of sorts)

An Archery Range

A Pool

A Kitchen (where I spent most of my time (when I wasn’t being the Mystery Cabin Inspector))

A Dining Hall (where the kitchen is located!)

A Zip Line (what would camp be with a Zip Line these days!)

A Craft room, crafts (haven’t a clue what they are) and a Happy Crafter -

Cabins with evidence of swimming

And generally happy campers (or at least the backs of them).

It has a lovely setting (and artistic seating!)-

And the all important Camp Bell –

OK, OK, enough with the pictures already, you’re thinking! Well, just in case you would like to see the camp woodpecker plus a couple more random camp shots, you can check out the whole set here. And I haven’t even begun to tell you about the project that Gary is working on. That will come later. But just so you know – the Camp director told him to do it however he wants to. Yes, now there is one happy (and tired) camper!

Did I post pictures of the Deck Extravaganza that happened at Toby and Tammy’s house the last week in June? When we arrived on Wednesday afternoon the back yard looked something like this -

By Monday afternoon, it looked like this -

and this -

Pretty sweet, eh? And they even had help!

On other project notes -
I did complete little Maddie’s crib quilt -

Since I started this after she was born I was able to actually make it a little “girly” (i.e. it has pink in it!).

Here it is in her room -

Remember the Pottery Barn-type quilts I made for Ellie and Hayley? I thought you might like to see them in action -

And one last little wallhanging that I finally finished (I started it when I was last in Arkansas, April 2005!). It’s only about 13″ square but it works nicely with my small spaces!

That’s it for now. I’m hoping to start my Christmas presents this week, but don’t tell anyone, OK?

Yep, the Grand Mississippi – (that force field that we have only broken twice before during our 4 years on the road!)

Through the woods Arkansas fields,

(Did you know that rice was a huge crop in Arkansas? Not that these were rice fields, but we did see lots!)
Approaching the mountains,

Going over the mountains -

(I’m not sure you can really get the feel for this “hill”. It was one of those declines that has a “check your brakes” pull off for trucks at the top and one of those fun (gulp) runaway ramps half way down.)
Over another river (the Buffalo River this time)

(Apparently it had rained steadily the night before, but the muddy river didn’t seem to deter the boaters!)
Past another field or two (but definately of a different variety)

To our July home we go (went?)

Woodland Acres Bible Camp, just outside of Green Forest, Arkansas (up there in the Ozark Mountains).

We’re all nestled in (yes, in the woods it seems) and are anxious to start work tomorrow!