Maumelle, Arkansas (State #16)- Maumelle Public Use Area

We have been to Arkansas a few times in the past and it is still one of our favorites. Typically, we would choose to stay in one of the state parks due to the great experiences we have had there but internet accessibility would be an issue. So, we chose to stay at Maumelle Public Use Area, which is a Core of Engineers Park. I am so glad that we did. It's a very nice park located on Lake Maumelle. The sites were pretty, full of trees and spacious. And best of all..... the showers were AWESOME! I don't think I have had an endlessly hot shower since June! Needless to say, I did not rush through them.

There was also plenty of room for Jacob to practice with his new bow and arrow and to hang our hammocks.


Our stay here seemed pretty short and we didn't get out to do a whole lot, but it was enjoyable.

We had the most fun going to visit Uncle Kirk (my stepbrother) and Aunt Dianne. They live in the country about 45 minutes away from the park. The kids got to see their chickens, check out their property, play with toys and shoot slingshots. And after we ate pancakes and eggs, we got to try wild persimmons and raccoon! The kids did not want to leave.

Back at the campgound, we carved pumpkins for the first time, EVER! I don't even remember carving one as a child (although, I remember watching my brother do one).

It was a little messy but not as bad as I expected. Jacob did pretty well on his own but Jordan needed quite a bit of help. They both turned out pretty cute.


And then Halloween came. Jordan chose to be a bride:

And Jacob wanted to be a military person:

We had checked out our options for trick or treating and the kids decided on the Trunk-Or-Treat at a nearby church. It was really cute. They had each trunk set up with a theme like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Charlie Brown and each had an associated game. This one was an Angry Birds game where you tossed a roll of toilet paper into a toilet. They had a lot of fun playing the games and collecting the candy prizes at the end.

And Jacob won a huge bag of cookies at the cake walk. He is nice enough to share them but he watches them like a hawk! Ha ha.

So this was our final state in our journey for 2014. We are heading back to Texas. We have had an amazing journey but also look forward to spending time with our family and friends.


To be continued... January 2015

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