Father’s Day "Camping" Trip

For Father's Day Mark wanted to get away, unplug as much as possible, have some much needed family time and just relax. He found a few cabins on line but most were already booked. And months in advance too! He found an older cabin for rent that was just big enough for us, out in the middle of nowhere and for a decent price too.

A gravel road lead us to the cabin. To be fair, it was pretty much all dirt and gravel roads leading up to the cabin. That was fine by us! Kicking up a little dirt and gravel never bothers us!

Our quaint cabin for the weekend was about 30-40 minutes from our home in Rogers to Garfield, AR. The cabin was pretty secluded in the woods, with one neighbor a little way from us. We had electricity, a/c, water, toilets, showers, direct TV....so we were hardly roughing it.

But we were still tucked in the woods with all the critter and bugs too. Even though we had all of the comforts of home, we did spend most of our time outside. I don't mind this way of "camping" one bit!

Inside the house there was a kitchen with table, family room, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a washer and dryer and a wrap around fenced in deck.

Another side of the room, a sleepy Will is all cozy by the fireplace. The fireplace wasn't on! It was too hot outside. 

Above the living room, was the view from the loft (one of the bedrooms). The kids loved the loft because they could look down and spy on us. As most kids would love to do. I'm surprised they weren't throwing this from up there. I know my sisters and I would have been playing some sort of dropping game. 

To get to the loft, the kids had to climb this ladder from the kitchen and squeeze in. It made me a little nervous because the ladder wasn't attached. Plus, you had to be pencil slim to get up though that hole. Needless to say, Mark and I didn't go up. Well, our heads fit through the hole! Ha! Mary Kate lovingly referred to it as the Laura Ingalls bedroom. How cute and smart is she to notice that? Remember how Laura and Mary had to climb a ladder on the show to get to bed? 

The cabin was not just fully furnished with all of the typical spoiled luxuries, but it also had cookware, plates, glasses and silverware, towels, a coffee maker, toilet paper, laundry soap, and even firewood to burn. And best part was, we were able to bring the dogs with us! Duchess hated it there. Duchess has major anxiety and doesn't deal well with change, so she wasn't happy during our stay. Even on anxiety medication, she was still a hot mess. But Stella loved it of course. 

Stella mostly loved going on the boat dock with the family to fish. She probably wanted to snatch the fish to eat herself, that's why she liked it! Ha! Mary Kate would take the dogs everywhere with us if she could. She loves having her pups with her all the time.

The deck was peaceful to spend time on. I read, sipped Natural State Beer from our up and coming brewery & taproom, watched our children explore and thanked God for this time with my family.

We always take our favorite beer with us! I can't wait till we are able to share this with everybody this November when we open in Rogers!

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From the deck, it led us down the boat dock. We don't own a boat and really didn't feel like renting one, so we just fished off of it. But don't let this picture fool you. It wasn't a far or steep walk down to the boat dock. It was super close!

Here's the view from the bottom of where the boat dock is located. See, it's not far at all.

The boat dock was large with a table and chairs. The kids spent a lot of time here! Probably the most time. They really enjoyed fishing and just being on the water.

However, walking the plank to get up to the boat dock was a bit of a balancing act. They could have done better than this. But we rolled with and made it work for us. Nobody fell in and the board didn't break.

The kids did fish, as I mentioned already. But they just did this...Mark put the worm on the hooks, took the fish off the hook and all that jazz. The kids just wanted to reel them in...and I get that, cause that's my preference with fishing too! A Daddy's job is never done!

Here's Mary Kate needing Dad's help reeling in a BIG one! We couldn't wait to see what she caught!

And here she is with the catch of the day!! A branch! It sure did put up a fight too! She was laughing so much at this. We all were laughing!

Then Will caught this guy shortly after. It's no branch and he was glad it wasn't. We asked if he wanted to cook any of the fish and he wasn't interested in doing that. He just liked catching and releasing.

Then Mary Kate was redeemed and caught an actual fish! Look at that face!!! Oh be still my heart, her little face expression is the best!

Pure happiness. She was game for all the fishing but much like her little brother, she didn't want to eat them. Catch and release all day. That's fine, cleaning fish is chore.

Our evenings were spent around the fire pit making s'mores, talking life, telling stories and making up stories. I referred to Will as our little man of the woods because he was all over the place. I'm surprised he wasn't covered head to toe in ticks with all of the exploring he did. 

On our last night, Matt, came up to see us and celebrate Father's Day with his Dad. He even spent the night too! Mark is such an amazing Dad with a big heart. Matt is a lot like Mark and it makes me proud that he makes time for his Dad. Between very long hours at his job and a girlfriend, Matt does what he can to be there for his family. Him being there for these moments is the best gift he could ever give to any of us. Especially to his Dad.

This Dad's kids are growing up so fast and these small moments are so important. One day our kids will marry and have families of their own. The few moments we get as just US, are few and far between now. As for Ryan, we don't see or hear much from him. He doesn't call or come over to see his only living bio-parent, me or any of his siblings and it's very sad. We get a text for our birthdays and holidays.  And that's all we get. But in the end, he's the one missing out. Matt makes up for a lot of what Ryan fails to do. And again, it means a lot to all of us that Matt gives us his time. I only wish Ryan would do the same.  Especially for his Dad at least. Maybe one day. Maybe. 

I love being married to Mark. He's my world. He's handsome, smart, funny, talented, sweet, kind, giving and more than I deserve. It was important that this Father's Day was special to him. We all did our best to spoil him, love him and let him know how blessed we are to have him. I'm so amazed that God choose me to do life with this man. So blessed to have been able to have babies with him and build a life with him. He's the Dad I always hoped my kids would have.

Mark has done an amazing job being a Dad. Children never realize just how much their Dad's do and sacrifice for their families. I know I didn't as a kid either. But as we grow up and have families of our own, then we are able to see what our Dad's have done for us and just how much they love us. 

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day and let their Dad's know they are loved. I hope nobody takes this time with their Dad's for granted. Time is not promised. Love your husband's, love your Dad's and teach your children to do the same. Dad's matter more than they are given credit for.