Scheduling Adventure: Blue Mountain Lake

For Marla’s birthday in July, we went camped at Waveland Park on Blue Mountain Lake. The park website says the campground is near Havanna, Arkansas, but it really feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere! It’s a beautiful place to escape. You can swim in the lake and look up at Mount Magazine, the highest point in the state of Arkansas. If you’re looking to fish, not only is the lake a good place, but the dam spillway is just down the road, and we saw fish jumping as the water flowed there.

We did have quite the experience getting checked in at the campground. The check in station for Waveland Park was closed, so we had to check in at the gatehouse for the Outlet Area campground, which was right before our campground. There was nowhere to turn around at the gatehouse, so they told us to go down to the dump station area to try. When we got there, there was nowhere to turn around. We (ignorantly) thought we could keep driving into the river campground and loop back out. All campgrounds loop or have roads that loop, right? Nope. This was one road that dead ended. It was July 4, and the campground was full and packed with cars, campers, and people fishing. The road was tight, and we could barely drive through. Panic set in. We kept our cool as best as we could. We looked like amateurs, because, well, we were amateurs at this pulling-a-camper thing. Some nice people helped us maneuver and admitted this was an impossible park to turn around in. We finally got out and laughed about it…and kept laughing the rest of the trip when we remembered the pickle we had gotten ourselves into. To be fair, the gatehouse workers and the park ranger gave us ill advice that helped push us into the pickle.

Waveland Park has some beautiful camping spots and amazing scenery. Now that we are better prepared, we would go back!

The video of our trip is now on Youtube. Click the link in our profile to watch. You can see the other issues that popped up and how our amateur-ness (that’s a word, right) kept the trip exciting.

Have you ever been to Blue Mountain Lake?

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for photos and more details about our trips: Scheduling Adventure

Leading Ladies

I drew these leading ladies last February for Galentine's/Valentine's Day. I don't remember if I posted them here, so now I present to you: Lucy, Dorothy (Judy), and Shirley. You can buy products with my drawings on them here.

Dolly

I drew Dolly Parton for my seven-year-old daughter, Harlow. She is Dolly’s self-proclaimed biggest fan. She first came to love Dolly because she was the lady who mailed her books every month through Dolly’s Imagination Library program.

Then one day we told her that Dolly could sing. That solidified her love for Dolly “Partner”, as she called her in her then toddler voice. Harlow tells all her friends about Dolly and often says that her greatest wish is to meet Dolly and tell her thank you for her books. If a Dolly song comes on the radio in the car, she makes us all stop talking and turn up the radio. When she was around four-years-old, she would beg me to play “Jolene” and would sing along at the top of her lungs. I realized we needed to increase her knowledge of Dolly songs so she could find a more age-appropriate favorite. She loves watching videos of Dolly on YouTube and learning all she can about her best friend. 

We haven’t told her that Dolly has restaurants and a theme park, because then we’ll never hear the end of asking to make the trek. If we’re ever able to go, we’ll tell her on the day we go. But then I think she’ll be looking for Dolly around every corner.

So, here’s a little sketch for my girl and her favorite star.

Shop my Dolly drawing at RedBubble

Scheduling Adventure: Our First Camping Trip

 

We have a new Youtube channel and Instagram account to keep up with our family adventures. We'll only be posting about once a month, but you'll get to hear from Colin (and not just me) and hopefully get some inspiration to make some adventures of your own! Go subscribe to our channel to know when we post new videos!

Our first ever trip in our camper was to JFK Campground in Heber Springs, Arkansas.

Check out our Instagram page for photos and details:

Our Story

JFK Campground

Collins Creek

Greers Ferry Fish Hatchery

I Knit a Hat!

I knit a hat!

Listen, if I can make this, you can too!

I’ve knit since college and even sold scarves at my boutique and at other stores, but I never really attempted anything more than scarves.

I’ve been itching to get back into knitting. I’m pushing myself to knit things I’ve never knit before, so I thought this was a good project to try since my baby needed a new winter hat.

The pattern is free and has a step-by-step video to walk you through it all. Go to LoveCrafts YouTube to make the Anya hat. I adjusted the pattern to make it fit my one-year-old by casting on fewer stitches.

Needles and Pom Maker: Clover brand from Michaels Stores

Yarn: Lion Brand Yarn Shop from my stash

Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/cUPAgnxpQZs