Summer Solstice

Well, there are no sandy beaches or cousins in Arkansas, but we do have an abundance of natural springs and good friends, here.  We took a picnic lunch to Blowing Springs Park and met up with the Gulbransens and Zebleys on Wednesday.

This place is incredible and conveniently located 5 miles from our house and within walking distance from the girls' elementary school.  There are campsites and picnic areas, dozens of trails, caves, a pavillion and park area, but the main attraction is the natural spring that flows from the cave.  It is clear and shallow and full of creepy treasures for the kids to discover.

 
 In no time at all, the kids had a nice collection of crawdads and salamanders.  No, we weren't Arkie enough to take the crawdads home and eat them via crawfish boil, but I've heard they're actually pretty good.  Eh...pass. For now.  Give me a few more years in the south.

 Quincy caught in a pick.

Reese with one of her best friends, Madi.

We'll probably end up calling this picture, "How Corbin got Giardia".  Hey, Ozarka bottled water comes from around here, doesn't it?   So that's basically the same thing, right?  Right?  At least the water he was drinking was clear...

 Or maybe I'm the one with giardia. ;) I got nauseated and threw up all over the bushes right before lunch.  Corbin and Cole followed me up the trail and just stood there, staring at me.  Seriously, they couldn't look away. Cole was like, "You're puking?  That's your throw up? You feel sick?"  Luckily, there is an awesome cold breeze that flows from the cave and we sat in the shade and managed to stay nice and cool and I felt better pretty quickly, but still...third trimester and still tossing cookies in public?  Classy.  This pregnancy has definitely been my most difficult and reminds me a lot of when I was pregnant with Reese.  But hey, she turned out pretty perfect so at least I know I'm cookin' up a good one.

 Corbin and Cole: always together and always up to something.

 Mission accomplished. They caught a rock.

We continued our Summer Solstice celebration on the way home when we all stopped for half price milk shakes at Sonic.

I made a yummy pesto veggie pizza for dinner with a bunch of the goodies from our garden.
I'll post the recipe soon.  Happy Summer!