Arkansas Family Trip

Since last summer was a total bust with my cancer diagnosis we were all excited to get away together!  We had planned Arkansas for last summer but sadly had to cancel.  So we planned it again for this summer.  We stayed on Holiday Island which is the Arkansas side of Table Rock Lake.  We were almost to Missouri....so very far north in Arkansas.  We drove the first morning to Beaver Lake and put in at Starkey Marina.  The lake was SO clear and SO deep!!!  It might be our new favorite.  It was just gorgeous.

Our first cruise was a bit chilly!!!  The sun wasn't all the way out and I was cold!

This kid was LOVING slaloming this year.  He did it every chance he got.  He's improved a ton and cuts through the wake now.  He's fun to watch!

Always stretching and bending :)

And this guy still has it!!!  Amazing how good he skis!!

When my phone gets picked up by Caleb....

My little surfer girl....She's doing great!

And this one entertains the entire boat.  He surfs and dances.....we were cracking up!

I hadn't slalomed since I was diagnosed....so not at all last summer.  I was a bit nervous to give it a go but I did and got right up.  It felt so good.  My back is definitely weak and the first things to hurt but still felt good to do it!

We found this awesome spot for lunch...it was an overhang where they could jump off the cliffs but also some shade for our picnic spot.  We loved it!!

Surfing.....look at the color of the water!!!  It was incredible!

This water!!!  It's just incredible!

We found a spot that you could go up and see a cave.  It was a tour and sadly we were too late in the day to go see it.  We checked out the gift shop and then headed back to the boat. 

One of the marinas at Beaver lake got hit by a tornado on Memorial Day weekend so we drove by and saw all the damage.  It was crazy!  Boats had sunk and there was tons of damage.

Caleb flew his drone and got some amazing pictures of the lake!!

We came back to the house and grilled yummy steaks for dinner!  It was so yummy!  We played dominoes most nights all together.

The next morning we got up and headed to Branson to Silver Dollar City.  It was about an hour drive.  The kids went right to all the roller coasters.  They loved them and thankfully there wasn't much of a line so they got to ride them several times.

I was the photographer :)

We found some pizza and salad for lunch!

Lucy and I went and found the candle dipping store.  This lady was all about it.  I remember doing this when I came here as a kid.

And of course we had to buy some salt water taffy.

It was getting super hot so we headed to the water park for a few hours.  It felt so good to get wet and be in the water!!  Thankfully there were some "lame" rides that I could do with the kids.  Snowcones and dipping dots were the favorite treat!

After we left we headed to Branson Landing and tried out Guy Fieri's restaurant.  It was so yummy!  Most devoured their burgers and I had some salmon that was so good!

Then we did a little shopping afterwards.  Lucy wanted these but sadly they weren't in her size :)

The next morning we got up and went to Table Rock lake.  It was great!

Two brothers and Logan got in the water to try to teach Lucy to slalom.  She tried for a long time but just couldn't quite get it yet.  It's hard to hang on and it's a big ski....we don't have a kid slalom ski.

More skiing and more surfing :)

We found another cliff jumping spot on Table Rock.  They climbed up and jumped!!  They are much braver than me!!

My wakeboarder is doing awesome.....getting high jumps and grabbing the board now.

That night we went back to Branson for Reza (an illusionist/magician).  It was very entertaining.  We all loved it.

Back to the lake the next day....we decided to go back to Beaver Lake.  Lucy did some awesome surfing!!

This ding-a-ling lost 2 teeth while we was gone.  

Picnic lunch!

Wiffle ball on the boat :)

We drove into Eureka Springs for dinner that night.  It was definitely one of the most interesting towns I've been in awhile.  All kinds :). We ate some yummy Mexican food and then kids got some yummy ice cream.

Holiday Island rock!

The last full day we had a slower morning playing games and then went back to Branson and rode the Alpine coaster.  It was ok....kinda a short ride but still fun.

Then we went and rode go-karts.  It was an experience :)

For buying tickets to the show we each got a $5 game card to an arcade so we went and blew that money quickly!  The boys got so much candy :( with their dumb tickets.

Then we went to an escape room.  It was a blast and done so well.  We did the guest house room and escaped in about 40 minutes!!!  We were all working and did awesome at it!  We got some lunch/dinner and then headed back to the cabin. 

Ice Cream!

We decided to all load up and go for a sunset cruise.  It was so beautiful....the sunset was unreal.  We did our family devotional on the boat and something about that with the sky around us was just the best.

We were almost out of gas so this is his worried "just a bit" face.....I was worried a lot more.  I didn't really want to swim the boat in!

This was our house for the week!

This was a wooden bridge that we had to drive over several times.  It was one lane with a 11.5' clearance.  It was VERY tight with the boat!!

Amazing trip!!!  We had the best time just being together and being away.  I'm so thankful for all the time!!