Mount Mystic Cabin

We had our first real getaway without the kids. Our excuse to go away was to celebrate Barrett's birthday (the big 4-0).  It was amazing! We went to Broken Bow, Oklahoma - about a 3 hour drive from home and stayed in a BEAUTIFUL cabin at the top of a small mountain.  Everything about it was perfect! We were gone 3 nights.  The weather was outstanding!

We stopped in Paris for lunch on the way to Oklahoma (Paris, TX that is...)

We ordered the sack of burgers at Braums.  We may or may not have finished them all off. Delicious!

Who can go to Braums without getting some ice cream? Not me!  One scoop of Cappuccino Chunky Chocolate in a waffle cone, please.

We made it up the mountain to the cabin! We actually got to ride in the jeep.  That is a rare                                 occurrence since car seats don't fit too well in it.

Notice the big pile of firewood in front of the cabin and the campfire area down the hill behind the house.

Our view

View from the bedroom.

My pictures don't do it justice.  It was perfect!

Dining area

Living area and kitchen

The bedroom

Back patio

Hot tub and campfire

First night - grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and asparagus

  Dinner on the back patio

We went hiking a couple of the days

Taking a break on the U shaped tree.  We had never seen a tree quite like this before.

A view of the canoes

Each night Barrett built a campfire for us.  So much fun for him to build and so relaxing for me to just sit and enjoy.

Each night we also enjoyed smores!

My mouth is watering just looking at this picture.

One morning we went on a 5 mile kayak ride.  We parked our car at the end of the 5 miles, rode a van to the start of the 5 miles, then kayaked back to our car.

It was so peaceful and quiet on the water.  We took our time and enjoyed the beauty.  It took about 3 hours going at a slow pace.

I thought it was so interesting to see how different trees had such different root systems.

All of God's creation is so interesting!

Partway through our journey we pulled over onto a rocky beach to stretch our legs.

One evening at the campfire we tried out the BB gun.

We had lots of time to just sit and read.

Breakfast

More reading, apple cider, and a view.

 More hiking

 Lots of steep hiking our last day.

We considered fishing but found that trout fishing is way different from the cat fishing we are used to.  With trout fishing, all the fishermen were out IN the water and it looked more like fly fishing.  

 Our last dinner out was at the Blue Rooster

 Fried Catfish, hush puppies, fries & fried jalapenos (which ended up being my favorite!)

 It was fabulous having several days away to just enjoy each other.  We definitely couldn't have done it without the help of Mom-mom & Pepa watching Jack and Amelia.  They are such a blessing!

Until next time Mount Mystic....

For anyone interested in more information about this cabin or others in the area, here is a link:

http://www.hiddenhillscabinsok.com/cabins/mountmystic.html#.U3-u88tOVes

Their pictures of the actual cabin are so much better that the ones I took here on my phone.

It's the Small Things in Life...

No major events pictured in this post, just pictures of some of the small things that go on in our day to day life that just make me smile :-)

Amelia has found a new kind of chair to sit on to read her books...balls. I love that she is the perfect size to just sit on a ball and that she came up with the idea all on her own. 

 This is not the most clear and perfect picture of Amelia, but its the memory of Jack taking this picture that I love.  Amelia was all dressed up in her church dress on Palm Sunday.  When Jack saw his sister, he said, "Amelia's beautiful.  Let's take her picture!" So I gave him the camera and he took a picture of her. I love how much he loves his little sister.

 One evening last week we took a trip to the free zoo otherwise known as the pet store. When we told Jack we were going to see animals he said, "I want to see a lion."  Sorry buddy, wrong kind of zoo.  They had a blast and were so excited to see all the pet store animals.

 For school last week we studied the letter L. Jack and Grace made lions after reading the story of Daniel in the lions den (along with many other activites.)  They are wearing masks that they also made to go along with our bible verse "Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7. 

 Barrett surprised me with the suggestion that we go out for ice cream one evening.  Doesn't take much convincing for me!  I thought I would just share my mint chocolate chip milkshake with Amelia.  I mean how much of a milkshake would you think a 16 month old girl could actually drink?  More than I knew! Before I even realized it she had eaten at least 1/2 of my medium sized milkshake!  That girl likes her icecream!

 The boys shared a brownie hot fudge sundae.

 Then Amelia thought she could sneak a little more ice cream from Daddy. 

 Heads work as chairs for Amelia too :-)

 Now that it has warmed up a bit we were invited over to play in Lorelei's backyard pool.  Jack has been asking for several months when we could go swimming so this was a big treat for him! 

 And of course the snack table by the pool was a big hit!

We got a new piece of furniture for our balcony - a table and 6 chairs.  We had been wanting a table for our balcony so we could go out there for meals or to play games. We have already spent a couple evenings just sitting out there talking, snacking, eating dessert, reading... just enjoying being together and outside.

 The kids love sitting at their picnic table on the balcony too.

Amelia has become quite the multi-tasker.  She can go for a walk while pushing her push toy while talking on her play phone which is being squeezed together between her ear and shoulder.  Oh my! Love this girl! She makes me giggle.