Arkansas Ozarks Adventure

Last Friday we loaded up the van and the tent on wheels and headed west to Yellville, Arkansas for the Swayne family reunion. We camped at the Buffalo Point National Park http://www.nps.gov/buff. The campground is in a gorgeous spot in the Ozarks and well maintained. We were walking distance to the pavilion for the family reunion and the Buffalo River.

It turns out it was a good thing we were so close to the pavilion since the kids all needed naps throughout the day. They were wiped out from the 10 hour+ car ride on Friday and Zack wasn't feeling 100% on Saturday. He got sick in the camper on Friday night so Joe and George went into town on Saturday morning to wash the sheets and PJs. George's stuffed animal dog, known as "Puppy", had to be washed and apparently he had everyone in the laundromat watching Puppy in the dryer. He even had a teenage girl taking pictures of Puppy in the dryer. Leave it to George.

They had a good turnout for the family reunion and Joe really enjoyed catching up with everyone and showing off his boys. Joe's dad was number 4 of 10 kids. There are 7 brothers and sisters still living and 4 of them were at the reunion. Joe is pictured here with the first cousins who made it. There are 32 first cousins total. We had dinner and breakfast with Uncle Dean and his family so it was nice to be with them. Joe's dad and Uncle Dean were always close.

Other highlights from the trip were throwing rocks in the river, relaxing and reading a whole book while the kids napped (my favorite!) and Zack floating down the river. He would run upriver about 50 - 75 ft., lay on his back and float his way down to where Joe or I was standing. Joe said Zack must have floated at least a mile that day, 50 feet at a time. We will definitely have to take a real float trip down the river once the boys are a little bigger. Float trips and canoeing are big business on the Buffalo.

The boys loved everything about the tent on wheels and camping. They even slept through a nasty thunderstorm on Saturday night. Joe and I really enjoyed the camper too, it is nice and the air conditioning was put to good use. It rocks!! We drove back on Monday so we have properly broken in the camper and are looking forward to the next trip.

Favorite recent kid quote: the first time Joe opened the access door on the pop-up camper, he didn't have the camper popped up yet. He was looking in there while it was still closed up. Zack peeked in and said, "Andrew is the only one who will be able to stand up in there!"