Vacation - Part One.

Saturday Morning we left for Illinois to meet up with the rest of the family. Rachel had a tournament game that afternoon in Oakwood. They got fourth place. She was catcher at the start, and then played short-stop. She made two amazing plays in a row while at short stop.




Rachel trying to show a scared Devon that it is only her under all that scary stuff.

Austin and Devon take turns stomping on Dustin's feet. This is when steal-toes come in handy.

Devon rockin' the COLTS hat. He looks like a stud-muffin, parents, hide your baby girls.

Later that night we headed off for our drive to Arkansas. We stopped at a filthy motel on the way. Perhaps next year we should plan the stop-and-sleep spot before we leave. The girls' bed didn't have sheets on it! Gross, they had to go ask for some.

Nut once we got to Murfreesboro, Brother and his kids were there waiting for us. We went and checked out the campsite they were at since we couldn't check into our hotel rooms till three.

Everyone was chatting it up. We even started Diamond Hunting right there.

There is Robbie and Jenny. I think this may be the only photo we managed to get out of Jenny. She hid her face well, but I got one.

Rachel chills out for a breather. She found some really pretty glass :)

We ate lunch at the park cafe called the Kimberlite. Austin is putting up his marker for Warren. All those pins are places where people have come from to the visit the park.

Chris and Devon share a huge bowl of orange ice cream.

After going back to check in at the hotel, we came back to the park to get us warmed up for the next day. Tickets after 6pm are good for the next day- so that is what we did. Here is Devon hard at work looking for his diamond.

Ashley dressed up awfully cute for a day in the dirt.

Austin was the only one to find a Diamond, here he shows us how to git 'er done.

Chris studies a questionable stone that he found.

Chris and Kris dig near each other, while dad goes way out by himself to hunt for his treasure.

I'm using a plastic shovel to move the dirt around in my surface search... hey how come all the little kids get the real tools?

Austin and brother hunt together for most of the first night. Perhaps it was a great team effort to find the diamond.

Mom has a feeling she has a good spot. She found lots of crystal here, and they say, "when you got lots of crystal- keep diggin."

Chris is all tired out and dirty. It's not as hot at the wet sifting' bins, but it is still a lot of arm work to get all the mud away from the diamonds. We're told they are shiny clean and will never have any dirt on them.

Sonic must be a big thing in the south... there was one EVERYWHERE we went on this trip.

I think Casi is thinking about giving me bunny ears for this photo, but just didn't make it in time... or maybe she did and it's just too dark to see.

Indiana Austin at your service. You need to find a diamond, he's your man.

We swam a lot of this trip. Basically if we were at the hotel, we were in the pool. And the water was just how I like it- warm. There is Robbie and Ashley.

The next day at the diamond mine was when the diamond was found. Here is our little rendezvous place, and our shade! We loved the shade when we needed a break.

Of course Rachel and Austin searched right in the shade.

We ate lunch at the Kimberlite again. Devon was starting to get sleepy. Uncle Chris rocked him almost to sleep just like this. Then Devon saw the ice cream and he was good to go.

Another dip in the pool. Ashley is on the kick board, Kristina is next to her, mom is across from me, and Casi is with Devon sitting on the edge.

That sun was BRRRRRRIGHT. I had to keep my shades on while I swam.

Chris is setting up the tripod for a quick (or not so quick) family photo.

Here we are. The whole family minus Shane ... Dustin too maybe family someday... and Jenny.She kept hiding from the camera, apparently she does not like to have her photo taken.

Here are all of us Kids! The original sibling group.

The morning we left for the other hotel in Arkadelphia we made a planned stop at the Indian Reserve. There was a walk through tour of Indian things and villages in display cases.

And then you went outside to the field to search for Arrow heads and other pieces of pottery. Ashley found some cool pottery pieces and all the kids found something cool out there.

Of course, Devon thought the chunks of mus were pretty neat in themselves.

Aunt Lala with her girl Ray-Ray.

After we searched for arrowheads, we bought buckets of rocks so we could search for gems. Everyone had fun doing this because you were always finding something that was way cool.

First you had to get out all the mud and clumps.


Then you dumped and found cool rocks. All the kids found MANY shark teeth in the buckets as well as pretty rocks and even a few Arkansas Diamonds, but no more real ones.