It's about a 4.5-5 hour drive, but since we were pulling a boat and made semi-frequent stops, it kinda took all day. This kid wasn't falling asleep at his normal nap time, but then finally while we were blasting AWOLNATION, he crashed.
Finally made it and met up with Craig and his girlfriend Karen. Sutton chilled on the boat cover.
When we first got there, we went to check out the cabin. Craig's uncle lives within about a quarter mile of the cabin Craig bought, and both houses are right on the lake. Here was one of the views from that area.
Turned out Craig's cabin wasn't livable. So he'll probably demo it and build a new cabin there at some point. We hadn't been sure of where we'd stay, but since the cabin was a no-go, we found a really great campsite at a campground (with SHOWERS! and real toilets!) nearby. We headed back to Rogers, AR that night to get all our camping food. This was the sunset on the way back to our campsite.
Sutton and his cousin Corbin playing with Corbin's headlight while we were setting up.
The next morning we went and had breakfast at Craig's uncle's house. On our way, we saw this vulture on the side of the road. Don't think I've ever been that close to one of those creepy birds.
That day, which was Monday, was the best day for being out on the lake. It was sunny and warm. It was so beautiful there. These are all iPhone photos and they definitely don't do it justice.
This was the dock by our campsite that we used most.
Adam, Steve, Sutton, and I went out on the boat for a drive that morning. Sutton fell asleep like this and slept for probably 45 minutes or so.
We picked up Ed and Corbin, and then it was time for some water fun. Adam wake-boarded.
I took pictures of nothing... :)
The water was a bit cold for my liking, but not too bad. Adam and Steve swam around a bit.
I decided to be brave and go tubing. But I made them go slow.
I took Corbin and Sutton to the pool that was at our campground so that the big boys could go out and play. Here's Craig driving the boat.
We found this frog at the pool, chilling on the ladder handlebars.
This was our tent set up... that canopy was a life-saver and made the inside of the tent not so hot.
That day was our actual anniversary, so we had to take an anniversary picture.
Then the family was great and took Sutton so Adam and I could go on a boat date. They had to go into town to pick up a few items, including hairspray for me because I forgot to pack it. I sent Steve this photo so he would know exactly what to get, haha.
We did a bit of swimming (I'm wearing a suit, promise...it was just strapless).
I love this fun photo.
We went swimming and had the lake basically to ourselves since it was a Monday night. So pretty.
Adam made some campfire chili that night that was wonderful. The next morning, I had to take a photo of Sutton sleeping in our tent. I'm telling you, the sleeping pictures are my favorite!
And Adam made eggs over the campfire that Sutton scarfed down.
These two and their fake smiles...
They were buddies during this trip. They played together and Sutton always had to know where Corbin was and what he was doing.
Driving around there was so pretty.
Tuesday morning was overcast and a bit rainy, so we drove to War Eagle to the little museum/gift shop/coffee shop there. It's right next to this river and cool bridge.
That big wheel was spinning tons of water for energy.
Steve and I went to get coffee, and Ed ate some cobbler. The boys waded in the river.
Then we went back and went out to the dock where our boat was.
We found a raft and had to take it out for a bit.
We found a recipe for Dutch Oven Mountain Dew Chicken, so that's what was for dinner that night. It was good. But you couldn't taste the Mountain Dew.
And we had Reese's s'mores. AMAZING. I had two. SO GOOD.
That night, Sutton did circles in his sleep. I woke up with feet in my face. We've never let him sleep in our bed at home, so I didn't know how much he moves around in his sleep!
It was really pouring most of the morning, so we met up with Craig where he was fishing on his dock. And his daughter Madeline had drove up late the night before, so we got to see her too.
It just kept raining and raining, so we decided to pull the boat out of the lake and head home. Sutton fell asleep pretty early in the trip.
We stopped for lunch at Arby's and then drove on awhile longer until we hit the turn-off for Big Brutus. We knew Sutton would appreciate seeing it. Do you see us by the tracks??
Standing in the scoop:
I took a photo of the Kansas landscape as we were pulling out of the Big Brutus parking lot.
And Papa bought Sutton a sucker that he thoroughly enjoyed on the way home. Thoroughly. :)
