The Lundy 5

It's our big day here, Halloween, Allen's birthday, and Josh, Lizzy, & Matt's adoption days!  I don't even know what to say.   Allen chose a dumb cheese danish instead of a cake!  But I have to admit, it was really good.   The Duck Dynasty app is quite popular right now and I thought I'd take a picture of Allen for it, but then I realized he IS Duck Dynasty already.  :)  Random fall pics, because we can't go a day without enjoying this season.  Even Jack likes the view better on the other side of the mountain.  

I really miss the days when the kids were "yittle" and dressed in coordinating costumes.  :)  This one is my all time favorite!  It was fun to look back over the years.  And I have to admit, it's pretty nice when the kids are older and agree with our new deal:  Skip trick or treating and we'll go buy a whole bag of candy during the half-price sale the next day.  :)  Only Josh. When we hit the road, we started finding new places to celebrate.  2010 was Iowa with friends.  My friend Nicole Young helped us find a fun place on the road and our kids got along great.   2011 was California with our friends the McCloskeys at Wilderness Lakes . 2012 was Indiana with our friends, the Nims , another RVing family.  Notice the theme?  :)  2013 is Arkansas, with no one for miles.  But lots of candy tomorrow! 

I finally explored the rest of Lundy Mountain today.  Allen showed me where he and the boys have been hunting and exploring.  The section of woods down the hill is even prettier than the top, especially with the Fall colors! I turned around and found Allen like this  Some poor squirrel decided to move.  This is "the crooked tree" which is a planned fort in the future.   *We've received several messages about this being an Indian marker tree, a very cool thing to study. See the comments for more info (thanks!).  It could definitely point to our lake access, or a trail through the mountains, or even a still, any would be possible here!  Can you see Josh's fort?  It blends in pretty well.  I just love looking out our windows. Ahhh...

We drove down to the lake.  It's only a mile, but we'd have to walk back up.  :)  It's so pretty as the leaves are finally changing here in Arkansas. Here's the bend in the road where I'm taking photos every day. Our "road" isn't that great.  You need 4-wheel-drive, but it's worth it.   We found Josh taking a little break by the lake.  He was squirrel hunting, so we saved him the climb back up the mountain.    Jack sure had fun, as always.   Our view is getting more colorful every day!

We discovered that the only family with kids for miles around are just through the woods, down a ravine, and over a hill.  Even Lizzy was happy.  And she's a 13 year old girl.  And apparently 13 year old girls are never happy!  They've been fulltime RVers before and have some adopted children as well, so lots in common already.  Our kids are enjoying getting to know theirs and I'm sure there will be a lot of fun! 

Josh and I fashioned a door and windows to finish up our tiny log cabin.  Josh is getting really good at using power tools and becoming very handy!  It's hard to watch him grow up, but he sure is helpful.  We even hung the horseshoe we found here above the door.  Now we just need to landscape it and build some tiny furniture.  The best suggestion we've heard so far?  Gnomes!  They sure would fit perfectly.  :)  This was intended to just cover up/insulate our well pump and now we've made half of it into a brooder house for new chicks! :) (Hello to those visiting from ourtinylogcabin! Yep, we're a fulltime RVing family of 5 , giving RVsteading a try here and there. We're glad you're here!)

And now for the main reason we're in Arkansas right now, hunting.  Allen's missed very few things about house dwelling, but putting meat on the table was one.  So we figured out a way to do that and still travel.  Best of both worlds!  But we may now need another freezer.   These guys... Plus these guys (and gals)... Equals this... Food for weeks!  That's quite nice on the ol' food budget!

Another RVing family posted that they were heading toward Mansfield, Missouri and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and we wanted to see both badly, so we decided (in a matter of minutes) to take a road trip!  We've missed Kimber, Neva, and Laney, so it was GREAT to catch up with them.  We also love everything about Little House on the Prairie, and have visited all of the sites except for this one, so it was great to finally see it too.  We loved Walnut Grove MN and De Smet SD . This museum had Pa's fiddle.  PA'S FIDDLE PEOPLE!  And Laura's treasured china and so many of the items we've read so much about.  This is the farm she and Almanzo lived on and where she wrote most of her books.  This was luxury compared to the homes she wrote about as she was growing up. No pictures were allowed inside the house or museum, so you'll have to plan a trip to Mansfield!  What a great view she had.    And best of all, we got to share ...

Have you ever taken a road trip and watched the highway disappear into a lake?  Yep, that happened to us on our way to Mansfield, Missouri!  But apparently they operate a free ferry seven days a week as part of the Arkansas highway system.  Unfortunately, they only work until 6pm, so our drive home was a lot longer going around the lake! Would a highway ferry operator wear all camo?  Is this Arkansas?  :)  Very glad we didn't have the RV! There's the rest of the highway.  It was a beautiful day for a refreshing and educational "stop"!