April in Arkansas.

Dad's not wrong. the sunsets really do look like this on top of the mountain

and the ol' (new) homestead has a great big porch for enjoying them. And plenty of cold beer in the fridge, if you're willing to ignore the fact that much of it is Natty Light. And Mom's homemade pizza.

The trip there is usually fraught with disaster, though, and this one was no different. It included an overnight at an EconoLodge in Charlotte for Seth and the kids, who left a couple days early for turkey hunting and Ana & Ata time; followed by a flight change to Springfield, rental car SNAFUs, and a midwestern road trip. Then nine hours in the Dallas airport, multiple arrival airport changes, and no luggage for me, thanks to dreadful weekend weather. (Seth correctly points out that at least I had a Centurion Lounge, a far cry from the accommodations the kids and he shared.)

F+F were none the worse for the wear, happy to sport borrowed raingear

and catch snowflakes (!!) on their tongues one day;

swim with decoy turkeys in buckets in the driveway the next.

Classic Arkansas.
The nightmare travel was all worth it for 48 hours with Missy,

Mom's cinnamon rolls,

the bedtime stories of my childhood,

and getting to see these guys turkey hunt with Dad.

The Walters Fam has a knack for squeezing an impossible amount of fun into a small amount of time, and this trip was no exception. We walked miles of Mom & Dad's land and chased down the neighbor's cows,

birdwatched like it was our job (I love this picture of Ata & Ford looking for towhees),

drove the John Deere,

 "sneaked" on turkeys

and made our traditional pilgrimage to the always-charming Terra Studios, home of the bluebird of happiness.

When the weather took a turn for the beautiful, Missy and I discovered that Mom & Dad had been holding out on us with the stunning and uncrowded Horsehead Lake, where we paddled, fished,

acted weird,

roasted hot dogs and marshmallows,

and caught F+F playing with champagne bottles

and had them hold our beer. (And by "our," I mean "mine.") (And in my defense, I just needed to push us off from the shore.) (And to be honest, he spilled it.)

Also, Missy and I followed Mom's advice and nearly went over the dam, and Finley went swimming in all of her clothes. Twice.

While Seth & Missy did what they do best. Managed to catch fish riggghhhht when it was time to clean up.

Missy the travel trooper's weekend fly-in was really a turn-and-burn, and we loved every precious second. The Niemans had an extra day in the Natural State with Ana & Ata, and we spent it, Arkansas-style, in the creek.

April in Arkansas is a great time, and we loved every second of the much-needed family downtime in a place that may be hard to get to but is easy to relax in. Hard to pick a favorite picture, but this silly one of warm weather driveway fun is a fave,

and so is Finley on the tire swing, dressed like a minature Cabela's model.

The real classic, though, includes truck cider on the way to the lake (which exploded everywhere) while Ford sings his favorite song "Drink in My Hand." No kidding.

Yee-haw. Until next April, Arkansas. That's the new jam.

Reset.

Every Friday, I see memes that say "heading into the weekend like" on hilarious photos like this one.

That is never, and I repeat never, the case in my family. This weekend, we actually kind of half-crawled, half-limped across the Friday finish line.

So we spent the weekend on a reset. We didn't go anywhere. We hung out with friends who didn't care what anybody was wearing

or whether it's technically legal to corral kids in dog cages. (To be fair, they went in on their own, it was apparently Ford's idea, and it wasn't actually locked. Still...)

We cleaned out the garage,

pressure washed the house (thank you, NC pollen, for the yellow film on everything),

saw old friends for a quick drive-by while still in our PJs,

and caught up our reading.

F+F "helped" make lunch

found the damn boxing gloves we thought we had hidden,

and went for an adorable bike ride (which ended in lots of skinned knees) / nature walk (an adorable if not efficient mode of travel.)

It was a much-needed, much-appreciated weekend incarnation of CTRL-ALT-DELETE after months of travel and laundry and life and just plain exhaustion had threatened to overwhelm; and reminded us to appreciate each other, and our downtime. This picture is my favorite reminder of the importance of that:

Lakes, horse races, and the complete absence of pants.

Sometimes, weekends are just idyllic. Even if they kick off with a Wednesday night in the emergency room. Not that Dad let Finley suffer much. (Ear infection be damned-- we're eating Reese's!)

We made it through the week, and Friday night found us up to our knees in muddy lake water, deep in South Carolina, having survived a frantic half day, nutty kids-sleeping grocery stop, and search for decent beer in the real, live Bible belt.

No matter, we made it to the lake in time for Friday night friends, fishing, paddling, s'mores, and completely reasonable pants-lessness. What else are lakes for, after all?

Saturday morning brought sleeping in, nudity, and bacon (is there really anything more to life?)

followed by a long, hot, dusty, hilarious, mint julep- flavored, tailgate food-fueled day at the races.

For which Finley and I wore matching hats,

Finley got covered in dirt anyway,

Seth and Ford actually watched (and bet on) the races,

the kids loved the "horse parade" before the race the best,

one of us drank allthechampagne, and

Ford discovered the beauty of melted gelato on a hot day.

 

In true South Carolina fashion, the afterparty included watersports in our finery,

reenactors (and cannons!)

and tired, tired kids. #winning

There were way too many great photos of lake life and horse race fun and kids running around like hooligans to pick just one this weekend, but I'm partial to this one (of Ford getting caught in the bathroom covered in Nutella on a Sunday morning)

this incredible shot of a central South Carolina mimosa,

and a happy kid (pantsless, naturally) upon our arrival home, after a long drive but a lovely and much-needed R&R weekend.