The weekend of May 15th and 16th we headed down to Mount Magazine. The weather was supposed to be a bit iffy, but we were all so excited to go that we thought it would be worth the risk. We left the house around 1:00 and the kids quickly fell asleep. The drive down was beautiful. Arkansas is definitely a beautiful sight in the spring. Everything is full and very bright green. As soon as camp was set up we decided to get some time in on the four wheelers. Greg was able to borrow a four wheeler from a friend so the whole family was able to get out on the trail at the same time. And let me tell you we had a blast!
This is on our way over to the trail head.... can you see the excitement? Although Kade is only 19 months old it is very apparent he knows what is going on and he knows he is supposed to be excited for it!
This is on our way over to the trail head.... can you see the excitement? Although Kade is only 19 months old it is very apparent he knows what is going on and he knows he is supposed to be excited for it!
Do you think I could get all 3 kids to pose for a picture? No way! Kade was way too interested in what Dad was doing.
About half way into the ride we ran into some water that ran through the road. Needless to say we spent quite a while here. By the time we were finished I was soaking wet! Good thing it was a nice warm day!
Kade loved every minute of it.
Tan is behind me and Bryn is in front. The whole time Tanner was screaming because he was having so much fun and Bryn was begging me to go slower.
Some of the beautiful scenery we came across. The tree in the middle of the river is blocking a pretty cool waterfall.
This is us, and this trip will be remembered as some of the most fun we've had since we've moved to Arkansas!
This is what the trail looked like. The trees and undergrowth are so thick. There were reports of black bear around our camp ground. Half of me was hoping that we would see some on our ride, but the smarter half was grateful we didn't encounter any on the trail.
There was one point on the ride when Greg and I both had reality hit us. We were deep into the trail and out of no where there is an old house on the side of the trail with an old woman and her dogs sitting on the porch. Just as we are passing the house we pass another four wheeler. The driver of the four wheeler was an old hairy man wearing white overalls without a shirt on. After we passed him Greg turned around, looked at me, and I knew what he was thinking... what do we do if we run into some 'crazys' out here?! The setting was pretty perfect for my imagination to start running. It didn't take too long before I convinced Greg we should turn back and start heading a little closer to the area of the trail head.
These pics are just random things of what the kids loved to do. Tanner was amazed by the fire and was watching everything Greg did to get it going. In fact, before we even had the tent set up Tanner had kindling gathered and a 'tee pee' built to start the fire.
Bryn was so content just to sit in her chair and enjoy herself.
Kade would have nothing to do with sitting still. He was constantly on the go and loved every minute of it. 
I just had to take a couple pics of the kids completely zonked out! They played so hard all day long that they slept so well. We had a pretty incredible storm come through during the night. Pretty intense thunder and lightening. There were times it seemed like someone had a spotlight on the tent. Greg kept waking me up asking me if I was nervous. Nope, I was SLEEPING! At least I was until he asked if I was nervous about sleeping underneath such a huge tree with the strong winds that were going on outside. Then all I could imagine was a huge branch breaking off and piercing through the tent into one of us! Then, I was nervous. But the kids slept right though it all!
The next day the rain teased us most of the morning. But at least it was warm. To pass some time, the kids hunted for rocks, cleaned them up, then painted them to make their new favorite pet.
Bryn painted a butterfly.
Tanner painted a spider.
This was our campsite.
When the rain let up for a bit we went for a short hike to "Signal Hill" the "Highest Point in Arkansas"
Big rock. The kids had to have their picture taken here.
So... 2,753 feet, huh? Saratoga Springs, where we moved from is 4,500 feet. The funny thing about this is Tanner keeps telling everyone that he hiked to the highest point in Arkansas, and he makes sure to add that he 'walked the entire way!' I just let him tell the story and try not to remind him that the hike was about half a mile. :) I love that kid.
The Bench Family on the highest point in Arkansas! By the time we were ready to head back down the trail the clouds had started to settle back in. The kids always talk about what it would be like to jump in the clouds. This was their chance, so we spent the hike back down jumping in the clouds. Who knew that childhood dream would come true!
Last of all, I'll leave you with a video of Kade. This pretty much sums up what he did the entire time we were at the campsite. There was no slowing him down!
