1st day of school pictures (a little late)

Oh, and here are 1st day of school pictures.  Three weeks late.  Humph.

 Claire, 7 years old, 2nd grade

Cade, 11 years old, 6th grade

Jack, 9 years old, 4th grade

That Week that had Labor Day {week 3}

Sorry.  No by-the-day account this week.  This week has already been a blur. And not in a good way.  And it's only Wednesday.

I have noticed a disturbing thing (couldn't think of a better word) about myself.  When the homeschool day gets started off on the wrong foot... when kids start crying... when the day goes south... I tend to be done.  Done with the kids.  Done with homeschooling.  At least for that day. 

I find it difficult to get back on track and resume the homeschool day. We are off-schedule, which I think adds to the difficulty.  So not only am I exhausted from dealing with crying kids (crying from either frustration with a sibling, frustration with their work, or because they are now grounded because they woke up late), but now we're off schedule.  And I'm a schedule/routine person.  Which really isn't great, because once we get off the schedule, then I feel like the whole day is not redeemable.  I let the schedule rule me.

Instead, I need to take a break (and allow myself a chance to collect myself after calming kids) and then start back at schooling.  Anywhere.  Any subject.  Even if it's not where we are supposed to be according to the schedule.  At least that would be redeeming the rest of the day.

Ahhh homeschooling.  The ongoing process of self improvement and making-me-more-like-Jesus.

That Week that was Better {week 2}

Monday
We had another good day at CC. 

I'm making an effort to reach out to some of the new CC moms so that they feel connected to the community (unlike how I felt much of last year).  I'm also contemplating tutoring next year -- possibly the Essentials class.  Not only would tutoring be fun, but it would greatly help with the expense of CC (Cade starts Challenge A next year which means more cost). But I'm just a nervous nelly. I lack the confidence needed to step up and say I'll tutor.  So more prayer needed in this area.

Oh, and we may or may not have had a dance party when we got home from CC.

Tuesday
Tuesday was also a good day.  Not too many meltdowns (including me) and we got quite a bit of work done.  We had our first piano lesson with a new teacher on Tuesday, and she was a joy. 

Unfortunately, what was supposed to be an hour afternoon lesson (30 minutes for each boy) turned into a two hour affair, complete with oohing and aahing at the expansive model train setup the teacher's husband is in the 8-year process of building.

We still had school left to do when we finally got home from piano.  But we got just about everything done.

Wednesday
With the exception of repeat meltdowns by a particular kid, Wednesday was a pretty good day
Cade, who has a difficult time waking up on time, was not ready to go at 8 AM Wednesday morning (nor was he ready Tuesday at 8AM).  So for the 2nd day in a row, he was grounded from electronics.  Which is a big deal considering Jack purchased a used xbox 360 this past Friday and it's still very new to the kids. Cade came to me with a deal: if he could finish all of his work before 1:30 (which is a feat considering how long it takes this kid to finish math and how hard it is for him to focus), he could then play electronics (but still no TV).  I agreed to this deal, mainly to encourage him and show him that he can focus when his mind is made set.

So he worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And he did it.  He finished by 12:30.

I told Cade I won't be so lenient in the future about our school's start time. Nor will I make any more deals with him.

We didn't quite get everything done Wednesday.  And that was my fault.  I kind of ran out of gas after lunch.  And since there was a day Ranger game... well, it seemed that it was a good enough excuse to call it a day.

Thursday
Look who woke up on time!

Thursday was a very good day.  No one cried (!).  No one!  Not even me!  It was joyous.  Kids were focused, and we got all of our work done.

Friday
Friday.  My favorite day of the week.  This one, however, started out kinda sucky.

Jack had requested a cake to accompany his sleepover later that night, and I had forgotten to get the cake stuff earlier in the week.  So at 7:00 AM, I lugged myself to the grocery store (with sopping wet hair) to get ingredients. I made it back by 7:45 and started baking the cake.  The kids, who wanted to have "early release" that day, had already started working on some of their work before I got back from the store.  Only some were confused about what lessons to do and some were confused by their lessons.  So while I was trying to measure ingredients, mix said ingredients, clean up the kitchen from my messes, and get the cake in the oven, kids were getting frustrated upstairs. 

By the time I got upstairs to start school (not much after 8:00, thank you very much), things were going haywire.  Jack prayed for our day and for me to not get too frustrated.  I stopped everyone from working on their current subject/lesson and we started with our Bible study (a good place to start).  Only, one kid refused -- REFUSED -- to do their Bible work.  It was the weirdest thing.  The assignment was to draw a picture from the story and verses we talked and read about this week (Hannah, Samuel, and Eli).  That was it.  Just draw a stinkin' stick figure type picture. And this kid moaned that they didn't know what to draw and that they didn't want to draw.  So I said to pick any aspect of the story and draw that.  It doesn't have to be their favorite part of the story.  Just any part of the story.  And still:  absolute refusal.  So I sent this kid to their room to think about obedience, their attitude and their willingness to be a student at our school. 

GEESH. I was about to pull my hair out. And it was only 8:15. The drawing itself that i had asked for wasn't a big deal.  But this kid (and I) made it a big deal with our standoff.

Finally, this kid was brought back into the fold after 15 or so minutes.  They apologized to me for being difficult and did the drawing I had initially asked for.  Finally.  It was finished.

General Thoughts
The repeat meltdowns, mainly by the one kid (see Wednesday above), need to stop. Not only are they disruptive to our day, but the meltdowns are exhausting to deal with. The meltdowns are happening because of frustration with a sibling; but the frustrations are unreasonable.  This kid shouldn't be letting these particular things bother them, and they shouldn't let these things bother them so much that they resort to tears (and the rending of garments if I let it go too far).

I've tried to teach this particular kid that they need to pay attention to when they are getting frustrated and use their words nicely to let us know that they are becoming frustrated.  Or go take a break.  Walk away.  Go get a drink of water.  Practice deep breathing.  Something -- anything -- to stop the cycle of frustration & meltdown. But they must not be mature enough to notice and take action yet.  And I'm not always able to help them notice the start of the cycle (if I'm, say, working with another kid one-on-one).  Or if I am able to point out the beginnings of frustration, I'm unable to keep the cycle from happening regardless. 

So I'm at a loss on how to deal with this mess. Any thoughts or ideas from my four faithful readers?

Otherwise, we had a decent. week.  I will hold the memory of Thursday (no meltdowns and no tears) in my heart for a long time as a reminder that those kind of days can happen.

That Week that was Rocky {week 1}

Boy howdy.  You sure do get rusty over the summer.  We started back to school this past week and, whoa.  WHOA.  We were very out of (school) shape.

Monday
Classical Conversations (CC) started this past Monday.  And it was a great day!  It was nice to see old familiar faces again.   Cade ended up staying home from CC because he wasn't feeling too well.  But Jack & Claire & I went and had a good time.  What really had me in knots was how Jack was going to feel about the Essentials class (the afternoon grammar & writing class that Cade & I did last year). It's a grueling yet exciting class, and I could see where Jack would be overwhelmed. 

But he LOVED it!

Tuesday
I decided to take Tuesday off to get a lot of things done around the house.  We got home from a last minute vacation to Red River, NM, late Sunday night, and a mountain of laundry waited as did grocery shopping and getting 57,342 bugs cleaned off the front of my car.  I was really glad we took Tuesday off.  It was a productive day, and I would have been overly stressed trying to get all that done AND doing school.

Wednesday
The rubber met the road on Wednesday.  We officially started homeschooling on this day.  And yikes.  Chaotic begins to describe how the day went.  Kids were crying, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and I was seriously contemplating putting the kids back in public school.

Thursday
Thursday was a little better than Wednesday.  We still had kids crying, I still felt like my head was chopped off, and things were still chaotic.  I decided that we needed to have a schedule to help my manage my time (when I would be working one-on-one with kids throughout the day) and worked on that.  Thursday was a terrible day for me personally.  Terrible.

Friday
Friday was much, much better.  We loosely followed the schedule (I made sure that the kids knew how to read the schedule; there isn't much point to giving them a schedule if they don't know how to read and use it) and peace and order were restored.  Kind of.  At least there were no tears.  Well, there were some tears, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as Wednesday & Thursday.  I was able to keep calm during the kid eye leaking process and thought to myself that maybe I didn't need to register the kids for public school.  So, success!

Thoughts
One kid, perhaps the oldest one (but I'm not naming any names), had trouble waking up on time this week.   This isn't a new phenomena.  And he started to mention that I could just wake him up when it was time to start school... and I laughed.  I told him that it isn't my job to wake him up anymore.  He has an alarm clock in his room.  He has a watch with an alarm built into it.  He has the tools to wake up on his own, and he needs to use them. 

You see, the kids lose game/TV privileges if they are not at their desks by 8:00 AM Tuesday through Friday.  A little harsh?  Maybe.  But I have found that if my family doesn't get started at a particular time, then it's easy to procrastinate starting school, and before you know it, it's 10AM and we haven't even finished breakfast. 

You're in the Right Place

I was getting tired of the old Frantlings look, so I'm playing around with some different looks.  Don't be surprised if it looks different every time you come for a little while.   :)

A Peak Into My Binder

I keep a homeschool binder.  Inside, I've got our book reading lists, writings prompt ideas, field trip ideas, and memory work ideas and games.  I also have one special section at the back of the binder.  It's labeled "Emergency."

And for good reason.

 

I hope to not need this section of the binder.  But it's there.  Just in case.

It's About That Time

It's about that time. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

School is about to start.

Shhhhhhh.  Don't say it too loud!  I've still got my head in the proverbial sand.  And I like it that way. Sure, I've done some prep work, made plans, organized papers.  But mentally?  I'm not even *close* to being ready.

Maybe the completely last minute, completely unexpected, complete blessing of a vacation to the mountains will help get my perspective right.

One can always hope, right?

Questions, Questions, Questions

So the question has come up:  what now?  What now that we've finished our school year?  Am I still going to write?  Are there any conclusions to the dribble you've been reading for the past 9 months?

I'll answer a few of those questions now.  And in reverse order because I'm weird like that.

Here's your conclusion, Becky.  We're gonna let the great experiment called homeschooling continue.  We determined that, since nobody killed each other over the past year, and the kids actually learned a few things, we would like to continue.  We still have kinks to work out (namely the recurring bad attitude of one of my students), but a little light has been shed on that particular issue.  We may be working towards a resolution.  It's too early to tell yet, but I think we may have hit upon the problem (frustration and overwhelm at the amount of work to do in certain subjects).

Am I still going to write?  Hmmm.  Now that is a good question.  I'd like to continue writing.  But the question that I have then is... what do I write about?  Continue to write about the shenanigans of my family?  The crazy antics of my kids?  Homeschooling?  How thick the callouses on my feet are?  (Note to self:  it's time for a pedi) 

So I'd love your input, Becky, since you may be the only one reading this.

That Week That Was Our Last {week 30}

That week that was our last?  Did I really type that as my title?!?

"Last" is kind of a misnomer, though.  It's slightly misleading.  Most of our school work is going to conclude this week.  But some things, like Jack's grammar and Cade's math, will continue until we finish those books.

I had started Cade in the wrong book at the beginning of the school year; it was probably November when I switched him to a higher level in math.  And so he's "behind" a little.  Which means that he'll just have to go into the summer to finish his math.  No biggie.  Plus, that will help him retain what he's learned instead of letting it all fall out of his ears over the summer break, right?  Let's hope so.

Monday  Monday started out OK.  But for whatever reason, I was struggling.  The kids were normal; it was me.  Everything, even little things, felt like they took inordinate amounts of energy to accomplish.  So by noon, I was, for all intents and purposes, in tears.  And done.  I gave myself a time-out (read:  I locked myself in my room) and took a nap.  I felt oodles better when I woke up.  Not sure what that was about.  But glad it passed.

Tuesday  This day was much better than the previous day.  Thank goodness.  Jack & Claire were done by 10:30.  Cade drug his feet on his math and made it last until the afternoon.  Not because the math was hard.  But because he didn't want to do it.

Wednesday  Wednesday was a good day. We were all finished by 10:30.  Which was great since I have two projects I'm now working on.  One is this:

I'm going to try my hand at reupholstering these two babies.  I got 'em for $40 total off of Craigslist (a real steal if you ask me).  I found some fabric, and on Wednesday, after studying YouTube and some blog posts, started taking fabric off of one of the chairs.  It's a pretty tedious process taking out each staple one at a time.  But I'm excited to try this (and very nervous!).

Thursday  Thursday started out nice.  We started on time.  Although I had to pull Jack away from reading his new Bible that Scott got the boys.  It's a graphic novel adaptation of the Bible and the boys just love it.  It's difficult to say, "Stop reading the Bible, Jack!"

Friday  We didn't do school on Friday because I went to the homeschool book fair.  I didn't really need to go this year, but it's always fun to go and get your hands on books and talk to book reps.  Plus the people watching is fabulous.  ;)

That Week We Went to the Museum (AGAIN) {week 29}

Monday  By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was seriously hacking and coughing.  So Scott made me go to the doctor's office.  And respiratory infection it is!  Which I guess is better than bronchitis or pneumonia.  But I spent most of the morning going to the doctor and running a few errands.  Thankfully, Scott had threatened the kids into doing some of their work while I was gone.  And they actually did it!  So there was just a little bit of work to do after lunch.


Tuesday  We decided to take Tuesday off and go the Dallas Museum of Art with my mom..  Since the museum doesn't open until 11am, we decided to trek over to the Perot Museum and play outside there for a little bit.

There are large xylophones you can play (which the kids would play on for hours if I let them) outside the Perot.

We also had fun looking around the gift shop at the Perot Museum.  There are lots of cool toys, books, and other nicknacks in the shop.

By the time we left the Perot and headed back to the DMA, it was already lunch time.  So we grabbed some food from the food trucks that line up at Klyde Warren Park.  We topped lunch off with some delicious ice cream, also from a food truck.  Claire, if you can't tell from the picture below, had a very chocolately ice cream.  Which she proceeded to get all over her face.

And by golly, I try and get a normal picture with my kids.  And this is what I end up with.

After stuffing ourselves silly at the park, we finally headed to the DMA around 1PM.  I didn't take any pictures inside (I kind of forgot to).  But we looked at African art (including Egyptian art, which was Jack's request).  We also looked at some contemporary art and a little bit of European impressionism.  By 3PM, the kids (specifically Jack) were very ready to go.  So we left, not having seen half (or more) of the art.  But that's OK.  Admission to the museum is free (you just have to pay out the whazoo for parking) so we can go back another day.

We all agreed that having a field trip like that was TONS better than doing school.

Wednesday  We had an OK day on Wednesday.  There was some crying, fussing, and whining (none of which was done by me) but we got that straightened out and carried on with our day.  Cade didn't finish until really late in the afternoon.  But he finally finished. 


Thursday  I headed upstairs Thursday morning a little before 8 to get set up.  When I got upstairs, I saw that the kids had already started working on their assignments.  They had all finished at least one assignment each and Cade had already completed several assignments.  The word "shocked" does not begin to describe how I felt.  The kids killed it on Thursday.  Cade was done by 8:45, and we were all done by snack time.  AMAZING!

I wish every day could be like Thursday.

Friday  This was a good day.  Claire finished the last lesson in her math book.  And most of the kids got done by lunch time.


General Thoughts We are in the home stretch of the school year. Almost done with our first homeschooling year! 

That Week We Got Some Stuff Done {week 28}

Monday  Monday was a great day.  We didn't have a lot of school to do.  Mainly math (for everyone) and grammar with Jack.  And then we were done!  Easy peasy.  Wish all days could be that easy.


Tuesday  Tuesday was fraught with bad attitudes from two kids.  One kid was able to pull it together and finish out school well.  The other, not so much.  And it is with this particular kid that I've had repeated run-ins with regarding attitude.  Grrrr. 

Jack has found that he likes to work while listening to music. I think it helps him focus as well as drown out the rest of us as we talk about assignments.

Wednesday Wednesday got started off OK.  Attitudes were better and kids got to work.  Cade decided to put on his "thinking cap" on, which is a cut-off green hood I had sewn to make a Lloyd (the green ninja from Ninjago) Halloween costume years ago.  It's never dull around here.

Thursday & Friday  These two days were OK.  Dealt with bad attitudes and whining (some of which Scott got to hear/witness first-hand.  He was not pleased) 


General Thoughts   So we're going to homeschool again next year.  I think.  The goal of this whole school year was to want to do this again.  And I think I want to do it again.

Yes, it's a sacrifice of my time and energy.  No, I don't get enough "me time."   But I get to be there when my kids learn stuff. I get to see the light bulb turn on.  I get to know and see how far they've come.

Cade will be going into the 6th grade next year; I can't imagine sending him to the local middle school.  Not because it's a bad school -- it's not!  But because IT'S A MIDDLE SCHOOL.  Cade is easily a head shorter than kids his age; I'm afraid he'd get eaten alive by the older kids.

That week we finished CC {week 27}

I apologize, Becky.  Last week was kind of a blur to me.  By midweek, I had come down with a super cold, and my head didn't quite feel attached to the rest of my body.  Which would have made for a zoned-out, crazy, incoherent blog post.  So I decided to just forgo my weekly post.  Forgive me?  I'm feeling much more like myself this week; hence this here blog entry.

Monday  Our LAST CC meeting for the 2013-2014 school year was Monday.  Can you believe it?  I certainly cannot.  We made it!  Without killing anyone!  Yea for us!  At the same time, I will miss some of the relationships the kids and I have made recently.  I am terrible about calling people and planning play dates. It's something about introverted-ness or something.  Regardless, I need to make a concerted effort to reach out to my new friends, for my sake and for my kids' sakes.  We must foster these relationships over the summer!

We actually didn't GO to our last day of CC on Monday.  I was still recovering from my cold which I had so graciously shared with Cade.  So Monday was nice and relaxing.


Tuesday  Tuesday was an ok day.  Everyone got to work and finished by lunchtime.  Since Cade doesn't have Essentials anymore for the rest of the year, he'll probably be able to finish before lunch each day.  IF he concentrates and focuses.


Wednesday  Wednesday was terrible.  Horrible attitude problems with one particular kiddo.  Which made things difficult for everyone.  And which in turn put me in a really ugly mood.  I try and not let my kids have influence and control over my emotions.  But some times it's really hard to stay detached from the situation.  By late lunchtime, we were all done with school.  And I was done for the day by 1pm.

Wednesdays are usually a long day for all of us; Scott has meetings in the late afternoon and a Bible study that he leads Wednesday night which usually means he doesn't come home at 5pm but instead gets home from the day around 9pm.  Mercifully, he was able to sneak home late Wednesday afternoon.  I crashed in bed around 5 and took a 1.5 hour nap; I felt much better (aka nicer) when I got up.  Scott had instructed the kids before he left to not wake me up for dinner but to just make themselves sandwiches on their own.

I don't deserve such a caring and thoughtful husband.

Thursday  We took off Thursday so that we could go to a Rangers baseball game as a family.  It was Homeschool day at the Park, which meant that the Dallas Zoo brought animals out onto the field several hours before the game and did a wildlife presentation for homeschoolers.  We skipped the presentation and just went for the game; we didn't want the kids to be bored and tired before the baseball game even started.  Trying to stack the odds in our favor, you know?

Ah.  The Temple.  Ranger's Ballpark. My happy place.

It was supposed to get up to 70 degrees on Thursday.  But for the majority of the game, we were hovering around 59.  Plus it was misting. So fairly cold and wet.  And the rest of my family was miserable.  But Scott warned the kids to not ruin the game for me :) so there was no complaining.

And the boys don't know how to take a normal picture.

 

I may have bribed the kids into "liking" the ballpark experience with cotton candy.

Claire.  Who knows how to have a good time wherever she may be.

Scott was probably the most miserable of all.  He snuggled Claire in an attempt to stay dry and warm.

 I caught a sweet picture of Scott and Claire walking together after the game.

Friday  Friday was OK.  Claire cried several times, lamenting that she was cranky.  Cade had to keep blowing his nose (I had given him my cold), and it was annoying Claire to no end.  Thus the endless amount of tears.  So I banished Claire to her room to finish her math so that she wouldn't be as annoyed with Cade.  Sigh.


General Thoughts 

That week I didn't post anything {week 26}

...

That week that was pretty good {week 25}

Monday  While we had off from CC on Monday, we did meet with the other students from Cade's Essentials class at a local park to listen to their oral reports on famous people from the middle ages (and later).  Cade was extremely nervous about giving his presentation on Claude Monet; he apparently didn't get the public speaking gene from his parents.  But he did fantastic!  And it was nice to sit in the park for an hour (there was a nearby thunderstorm and we could hear rumbles of thunder).

Tuesday  We got started a little late on Tuesday because a dogpile was happening on the couch.  The family that procrastinates together, studies together, right?  I'm not sure that's how the saying goes.

Wednesday & Thursday  Wednesday and Thursday went by pretty quickly.  For the most part, kids got to it and were done by or right after lunch.

Friday  Friday was kind of a half day.  Since it was my birthday, Scott took me to lunch.  Then Cade had an appointment with our children's pastor at church regarding him getting baptized on May 4.  Then I had an eye appointment.  So we needed to get all of our work done in the morning. And for the most part, we did.  Cade only had Essentials to work on by the time lunch rolled around.

After my eye appointment, I came home to work on Essentials with Cade.  Unfortunately I ended up making him cry because I inadvertently made him feel stupid.  Mother of the Year.  Right here. 

This homeschooling gig is really a cover for lots of pruning by my Father.  And boy do I need pruning.

That week we went camping {week 24}

Monday  Monday was a good day at CC.  Long of course.  But it was a good day


Tuesday  Not sure what we ate for breakfast, but man, we just KILLED school on Tuesday.  Everyone was done by 11:30!  AND we got started late because of an early doctor appointment that I had.  Everyone was on task (especially my normally pokey Cade) and we flew through assignments.

Of course, when your daughter wants to brush your hair, you stop what you're doing (school) and let her.  Because it feels soooooo good.

And here's Jack practicing piano.  My Daddy would be so pleased.  And yes, the piano is currently in the middle of our living room (it hasnt' been moved back to it's place in the dining room since the wood floors were redone).  We're still trying to decide if there needs to be a rug under the piano or not.  So until that decision is made, the piano stays in the living room. Right in front of the TV.  Ugh.

Wednesday  We made up for all that Tuesday efficiency on Wednesday.  It was kind of torturous.  By late afternoon, I called a halt to the day; it was clear that we weren't going to be getting any more work done.  Plus it was really nice outside, and it won't be too long before it's too hot to go outside and play. 

Thursday  We were easily distract-able Thursday.  But we pushed and pushed to get our work done.  We wouldn't do school on Friday as we would be leaving early to go camping for the weekend.  So if work was going to get done, it needed to get done by Thursday.  Bad attitudes abounded.  It was ugly.

General Thoughts  Cade has an oral presentation for Essentials on Monday.  He is extremely nervous about it.  1, it's in the park and there may be bugs (he's scared of bugs).  2, it's public speaking, and most people are afraid of public speaking.  I pray that he is prepared.  There's nothing like having to do a speech and not being prepared for it.

That week that was back to normal {week 23}

Monday  CC was on Monday.  It was nice to get back to it after being gone for 2 weeks.  While it was a long day and I was pooped by the end, it was nice to be back.  I'm somewhat contemplating being a tutor for CC next year (tutor is what they call the teachers at CC).  Not sure if this is a ludicrous idea or not.  I need to do more research (ie: picking the brains of current tutors).  Becoming a tutor would help defray almost all of the cost of CC, which would be a pretty big deal to our budget.

Tuesday  We got started on time Tuesday morning and got quite a bit done.  Workers came to finish putting furniture and carpet back after refinishing our floors last week.  There is dust EVERYWHERE from our floors getting refinished.  But the wood sure does looks great.  Now if we can just get rid of the dust...

 

Cade, daydreaming when he should have been doing math...

Wednesday  For some reason, we had a hard time working and concentrating on Wednesday.  None of us were focused.  By mid morning, we were getting on each other's nerves.  I had a doctor appointment at 11:20, so that was a wonderful excuse to put a stop to the madness and finish school.

Thursday  We managed to struggle through Thursday with somewhat wild behavior.  By noon, two kids were done, so I was pretty much done too.  :)  

Friday  Friday was good until one kid got grounded from that night's sleepover plus two weeks of no video games.  Then it all kind of went downhill.  But we managed to get almost all of our work done.

General Thoughts  I have no general thoughts for this week.  So there.

:: Spring Break ::

Last week, Scott and I were able to drop the kids off at the in-laws in Missouri and head to Eureka Springs, AR for a little rest and relaxation.  Here are a few pics from our adventure:

This is a view of Main Street in Eureka Springs.  The picture in NO WAY communicates the cuteness and compactness of Eureka Springs.  The main town is nestled in the valley between "mountain" peaks (read: BIG HILLS) and is full of shops and restaurants.

When we arrived in Eureka Springs, our treehouse wasn't quite ready for us.  So we hung out outside the office of the treehouse cottages and read for a bit.

 

There are apparently two sections to the cottages.  The original section, which is where the office is located along with 3 treehouses, is right off the main highway that leads to and from Eureka Springs.  I'm glad we didn't stay in the original section; I would think it would be loud.

Instead, our treehouse cottage was located on 33 acres of wooded hillside on the outskirts of town with 4 other cottages.

Here is a panoramic picture of the inside of our treehouse:

The weather was fairly mild.  Mild enough to sit out on the deck and enjoy an ice cold Mountain Dew.

And of course there were pretty magnificent sunsets.

There was a 1.5 mile walking trail across elevation that led down to a natural spring and cave.

It was a very relaxing week.  Full of sleeping, reading, and eating.  Alas, we had to come back to reality and pick up the kids.  Here the boys are playing basketball on the driveway.

All in all, we probably won't be going back to Eureka Springs.  It was a very tiny town, and there wasn't much to choose from restaurant-wise.  While being in the treehouse cottage was definitely neat, the extra cost to stay in it wasn't worth it.  Once you're inside, it feels like any other cabin in the woods. 

But I'm glad we went.  We feel very refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the semester!