Pictures, Pitcher (as in a small Creamer) and a Picture

Wow, what a mouthful huh?

Well last week Thursday we headed to hot humid Arkansas – why you ask did we head South in the midst of this Summer Heat Wave?
Well my husband and his cousins had their annual COUSIN’S REUNION…mainly it’s for the adult cousins but this time the daughter of the one hosting it was home from California and the other cousin’s daughter and family came along too because they rarely get to see each other so it was the perfect time to have them join in.

Martinsen cousins
In order of age…oldest to youngest - Doug, Jim (our host), Alan, RuthAnn, LeAnn, Phyllis
(missing: Kenlyn, Karen, Jeanne)
 
Me and LeeAnn helping in the kitchen

This sun room Jim built on recently (by himself) – he actually finished it on Monday and had the tile floor put in the day before the reunion weekend (on Thursday)…he was sweating (and not from the heat) in fear it wouldn’t get finished in time and it looks off into the woods.
 
He lives in Bella Vista, Arkansas which leads directly into Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart headquarters among other companies.
Jim’s community is just gorgeous.
Bella Vista offers lots of wooded common ground, 7 Golf courses, 7 man made lakes, 4 club houses, RV park, a marina, 3 swimming Pools, 2 Putt Putt golf courses, 3 playgrounds, Tennis courts, 2 workout facilities, miles of walking trails, a dog park, and a ball park...ALL FOR THE USE OF POA (Property Owner Association – which are all of $24 per month!) for those living in Bella Vista. We were very impressed. Jims house is at the end of a cul-de-sac and completely surrounded by woods – well the entire community is woods.

After lunch on Saturday we took a site seeing tour with Jim (3 vehicles in all) and our first stop was the Cooper Chapel (we couldn’t stay long because there was a wedding to be held there)
 

 
 

The entire group

After that Jim took us to the Crystal Bridge Trail
Now this was supposed to be a block and a half walk along the trail (Now for any of you have been in a Tropical Rain Forrest at the peak of heat, you will know how warm and humid it can get…that’s what it felt there).

Three of us were feeling the heat something awful and it was on the way into the walk. Well what was to be a block and a half turned out to be a MILE AND A HALF - ONE WAY…..in 100 degree heat – in the woods!!!!  And no one thought to bring water along because it was to be JUST A BLOCK AND A HALF….I don’t think Jim is ever going to be able to live this one down – his sister said she’s going to use it against for a long time to come. Jokingly that is….she’s a journalist for a newspaper and write a column like Erma Bombeck did.

But I will say the walk was beautiful – even though every part of me was wet and dripping from my hair as well. But on the way back there was a rest room and Doug brought out some paper towels and part way back there is a spring fed stream and he wet them for the three of us to wipe our faces and arms with and it actually helped…by this time my heart was pounding in my ears and I started to hear humming so I knew I reached my limit so I was thankful for that good cold stream.
At the beginning of the trail there are gardens to enjoy.

The wonderfully COLD spring fed stream!

And the goal was to see the Crystal Bridge Art Center – the photo here is from their website and not the real thing – not sure how they got this to look real because it’s still under construction.
 

This is what WE saw
 

Then we went to the Ernest Lawrence Plaza so the little ones could play in the dancing waters (along with their grandma LeeAnn)

They also dragged grammie LeeAnn in with them – don’t think they needed to pull very hard though…100 degree temps basically drew one in.

Then we stopped in the Original Walmart store
 

I know this post is picture heavy so I’ll just show a couple more.
Doug and I arrived on Friday early and that evening those that were there early went out to dinner at the Shrimpman’s Yacht Club – I tried to get a good Sunset picture but I guess I waited too long.
This was the view from our table.

 

On our drive home I saw this sweet Ice Cream stand somewhere in IL

And in Phillipsburg, MO we stopped at Historic Route 66 Antique Mall.
I have not seen an Antique mall filled with sooo many Primitives – not ever like this.
I will post on them later this week and also I want to post about Country Freckles – I still need to do that so I have lots to post about.
http://www.picturetrail.com/rt66antiquemall

I found this wonderful black and white print of George Washington there. It’s 22 x 26 so it’s a generous size and the frame is also very old.  My hope is to put it over the fireplace one day WHEN we get the wood replaced up there.
And I found this great creamer with attached lid!  Not sure why the color is different on the lower part of the creamer but that didn’t bother me.  It’s 6 inches tall and the maker is Brewster Pewter.

And to end this looong post, we received two pictures from Dan our son – over the 4th they were in IL to some friends house and he likes to shoot – in a good way.
Dan and Jamie were able to shoot a few and here they are shooting a Barret 50cal., and I guess there’s quite a kick to it from the look on Jamie’s face.

Our other son Darren/MaryAnn have hand guns and go to the shooting range and Dan and Jamie are hoping to buy some as well and join them on weekends.

So that’s it for me for this post. I know it’s long but I had a few photos to share.

Take care and blessings,
Karen