War Eagle Mill Craft Fair

 I have wanted to check out the craft fair at War Eagle Mill since we have lived here. 

Since the kids were on October break, we decided to drive out there and visit!

The drive there was so pretty with all of the beautiful fall colors on the trees!

When we got there, I was shocked at the number of cars there. SO many people come and there were license plates from various states, some far away!

 There were booths with crafts of all kinds. There were also lots of yummy food booths.

 Yummy chicken on a stick and fried rice.

 It was such a beautiful day!

I'd love to go back next year and spend more time there!

A busy couple of days

I finally got around to updating my "about" page. You can check that out at the top where it says, "about."

It has been a very busy couple of days!

I've also had a yucky cold sore that is finally starting to go away.

I hate those things, but always end up getting them twice a year. 

On Thursday, I went on a cooking spree. I made apple strudel muffins, lemon icebox pie and I made our dinner for the night since Thursday is our busy evening.

Thursday is busy because C Girl started piano lessons in the afternoon and B Boy has soccer practice in the evening!

B Boy has been loving soccer practice!!! 

He was supposed to have his first game today, but we were rained out.

This boy LOVES to read.

 Last night, I went to my friend, Jenn's "all done" party! She completed her last cancer treatment yesterday and she has kicked cancer's booty!

It was an awesome party! They had great food and they also hired a DJ! 

We had a lot of fun watching people dance!

 She also had a photo booth! We had so much fun in there! I love these friends!

I know that I'm super blessed to have such wonderful friends at church.

We visited War Eagle Mill four years ago, the first fall that we lived here. It was really neat.

It is on my to-do list for this fall. 

I'm also going to go to the War Eagle craft fair for the first time!

The mill has a restaurant and a store and I remember how great they were and can't wait to go back! It's just so beautiful there too!

We are watching the Razorbacks kill Nicholls State. 

I sure hope they can play like this the rest of the season!

a week of bullet points & pictures

This verse was the verse that Joyce Rogers shared as being her favorite verse in the Bible.  I fell in love with it.

I've been taking some time to step away and simplify a lot of things in my life.  I hate having to let things go, but it is necessary sometimes.  I may not be blogging or being on Twitter as much. I may not be able to make it to every social event.  

I hate that I haven't always had enough time to make those who I love feel loved.  I don't mean my close family or close friends, but extended family that I love or friends that I'm just not able to keep up with as much.  I'm making more of an effort to invest in people/relationships.  I love blogging simply because it preserves memories.  So many times I've looked back on a post and it brings memories back to mind that I had forgot about.  

To most people, this blog is probably pretty boring.  I just talk about my life. I hope it helps keep family and friends involved in our lives when they can't be here with us.

So, here is our past week in bullet points and pictures:

• Mon Sept 30- C Girl went on a field trip to see a play written by the mom of one of her friends, Bear State of Mind!
• Tues Oct 1- I had a great visit with Amber, my best friend from high school. The government shutdown. I found out that my brother, Kevin is furloughed.
• Wed Oct 2- I decided to start eating gluten free for at least a couple of weeks to see if it helps me feel better.
• I had great talks with Kelly this week and I am thankful for 14 years of friendship and encouragement in good times and bad.
• I've been a crafting fool this week- I finished the gallery wall in B's room, made a Hog wreath for the front door, redid a canvas in C's room, hung a shelf and hung clothespin art underneath in the playroom, organized all my many craft supplies, worked on C's Halloween costume.
• C girl's Parent-teacher conference was so, so good! We are SO proud of that girlie! She is growing in every level, reading at end of 2nd grade level, and is excelling in math!  Her teacher said that she wished every student was as great as C and she could tell that we were raising her in faith.  That compliment meant the world to me!
• Thurs Oct 3- I've been working at the library to stay in focus. I get so distracted at home!  In the afternoon, Tim stopped by and finally got to see C at gymnastics.
• Fri oct 4- We went to a birthday party for one of B's friends. It was so hard not to eat the pizza there! Great to see friends though! Afterwards, we walked around the square at first Friday.  The theme this month was Oktoberfest.
• Sat Oct 5- We had rain and cold front! Saturday morning we had Mugs and muffins at church: Lauren Greenhaw and her husband led worship and we heard a wonderful word from our speaker, Joyce Rogers, wife of the late great pastor, Adrian Rogers. I enjoyed it so much! And they even had GF muffins! We had other plans for Sat. afternoon but it rained most of the day! We went and watched the first half of the Razorback game at Chili's.  The kids were getting tired by that point, so we headed home to listen to the rest of the game on the radio.  Another sad ending for the Hogs.
• Sun Oct 6- We made gluten free waffles for breakfast and they were so good!  We had a lovely service at church. Joyce Rogers shared her testimony and sang for us.  I pray that I am as spry and passionate as she is when I am in my 80's.  We went to a little pumpkin patch that is downtown in the afternoon.  I took a few pictures of the kiddos while we were there choosing pumpkins.  I'm so thankful that they will sit and pose for pictures.  The last few years have been great as far as that goes!  After that, we hopped over to the small airport in town where they were having an airport open house and Aerobatics show.  We got to see a ton of planes!  The kids even were invited in to see the inside of a plane! The planes were resting when we got there, but right before we left, a plane went up and put on a show!
• Mon Oct 7- B Boy's class led Rise and Shine!  He had a long speaking part (a quote of Martin Luther King Jr.) and he did AWESOME! We are so proud of that boy!  I visited the gentlemen that I visit for our women's ministry. He turned 97! He still works at the jewelry store that he founded and goes to church every Sunday! He's a blessing to me.  I also had a mammogram and thankfully, it turned out fine.  We thought I had a cyst, but it is just a deep band of tissue that gets sore.  I'm glad that I wasn't prepared for what to expect with a mammogram.  They are intense!
• So far, eating gluten free has seemed to help me feel better.  I probably have eaten 95% GF.  I'm sure some gluten has snuck in since I'm new at this.  This is only day 6, so time will tell better if this is what is going to work for me.

The brand spankin' NEW Rogers Aquatics Center

Yesterday, I wrote about Northwest Arkansas, but specifically Bentonville.

Today I'm going to fill you in on another very awesome thing in Northwest Arkansas, the new Rogers Aquatics Center.

My family was invited to come this past Saturday to have a sneak peek of the water park before it officially opens to the public this Saturday, May 25th.

When we first arrived, I was instantly impressed by the size and layout of the park.

The kids could not wait to get in and play at Otter Holler.  

It has slides, water cannons that you can shoot water from, and a giant bucket on top that dumps water every little bit!

My kids are 6 & 7 and this was perfect for pre-schoolers and up!

One thing I really loved was that there were lifeguards stationed all throughout the park.

We played in this area for quite a long time!

By this time, it was lunch and we hopped over to Wet Willy's kitchen.  

They have general concession-type foods.

We had hot dogs, chips and drinks.

My only complaint was that all four of our hot dog buns were broken apart so they were difficult to eat.

They also have pizza, cheeseburgers, candy, ice cream, etc. all at affordable prices.

It would be nice if they allowed you to bring a cooler of food or drinks in, but they do allow you to leave the park and return as long as your hand gets stamped for re-entry.

The park has four private pavilions that can be reserved for parties.  

The fee of $250 includes the pavilion, 12 park passes, and 12 beverage tickets and is good for a 2 1/2 hour time period.

This would be great for a birthday party!

Some of the rides for "big" kids include 

the Tree Top Drop, steep side by side slides for racing, 

Super Flush, a big ole spiral bowl that dumps you into an 8' pool of water, 

and Hawk's Nest Falls, two winding flume slides with one being open and sunny and the other enclosed and dark!
After going down the "toilet bowl," you can swim over to the climbing wall!

I also cannot leave out White River Run.  

It is a smooth, flowing "river" that you float through on inner tubes!

This is so fun!

I went around "the lazy river" twice!

They didn't leave out a place for the little ones to play!

Tadpole Hole is a fun area with a toddler pool with zero depth entry (like a beach!), sprinklers in the pool, a little slide, and a splash pad!

Bonus- it's a shaded area!

This here is the Cement Pond.

This is a competition pool for fitness and lap swimming.

This is a great time to mention that you can grab a $35/month membership for this pool.

The park also is now taking registrations for their Learn-to-Swim program 

and the "Ballistic Bullfrogs" summer swim team!

Handicap accessibility was an amazing feature that is available throughout the park.

There are also lockers and shower facilities on site.

We really had a fantastic time visiting.  

This is just another great thing to add to the list of things to do in NWA!

The park opens this Saturday, May 25th.  Hours are Mon-Sat 11am-8pm and Sunday 12pm-6pm.

Admission prices, concession prices, special admission offers, facility rules and group reservation forms are available at the Rogers Aquatics Center website.

A 10-Pass-Punch Card is available and may be used multiple times by one person or for multiple family members and friends.

Punch cards are available for 50% off until the Rogers Aquatics Center opens on 5/25!

There is also no limit on how many 50% off Punch cards that you can purchase!

You can get these at the Rogers Parks Department, 113 N. 4th St.

I know that I will be purchasing some for my family to visit the water park this summer!

Follow the Rogers Aquatics Center on Facebook to keep up with additional discounts and special admission days that will be announced throughout the 2013 season!

The staff at the Rogers Aquatics Center will be identifying trends and attendance patterns to help choose the best deals and offers to issue in the future.

I'm looking forward to some season passes hopefully being offered in the future!

Thank you City of Rogers and Arkansas Women Bloggers for the opportunity to check out this cool place before the masses invade.