Schooling from Home

The longest spring break ever finally ended, and the kids could go back to school! Well, kind of. The pandemic is not showing much sign of slowing down around here, and we had to tell our school district whether we wanted to go in person or online for school several weeks ago. We decided that for safety and continuity, it made sense to start off school online. We can always change after the first 9 weeks grading period, if things are looking up. Plus, we have to remember that in-person school is not really the school we're remembering. It's masks all day, spacing six feet apart wherever possible, and limitations on lunch, recess, and socializing. But we are hopeful to return in person at some point this year, especially with teachers talking about figuring out how to do labs and other hands-on activities at home.

As a result, the traditional first day picture doesn't have backpacks or cute, new outfits, or even shoes. After this, it's up the stairs to your device to login! Owen, by the way, put his quarantine diet to good use and grew an inch this summer.

Since we're staying home for school, I thought it would be nice to give each kid their own "classroom" outside of their bedrooms to minimize distractions and to separate school from home somewhat. Luckily, we have enough space and surfaces to do that! The kids helped me set up their own desks with their school supplies.

Here are actual first day pictures. (Do you like H's death stare? She wasn't approving of the pic while she was in class, but she looks like a little executive, doesn't she?) So far, online school has been more of an exercise in telling time and being able to navigate apps than any sort of traditional school subject. The kids have blocks of time scheduled for each subject where they log in to Zoom for a brief intro from the teacher and then log off for independent work time for that subject. But so far, they've both had hours of down time throughout the day because the assignments are very simple. Of course, the first week of school is mostly about getting settled anyway, so we're hoping that next week will be a better indication of the next 8 weeks' work flow.

And this guy has been working from home since February! We were just starting to make plans to close in the formal living room to give him a proper office when the pandemic hit. So, he's still on a temporary table and open to the rest of the house. Thank goodness for sound-proof earphones! He often has a cat companion, too. I don't think she's appeared on any Zoom calls yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. We are both so thankful that we have jobs where we can work from home and be present when needed!

Arkansas, Horseback

On the second morning, I had arranged for us to drive to a nearby ranch for a horseback ride. Hadley is pretty into horses, and was really looking forward to getting to ride a real horse (other than in a circle on a field trip). We found the place, but we got there a little early and had to wait for a slow group to return, so we sat on the porch and surveyed the place. The kids enjoyed listing all of the animals they saw: cows, horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, dogs, and cats. The dogs included a couple of super-relaxed, ancient-looking sheep dogs and a pretty chill puppy.

Finally, it was our turn to get on the horses! This was the highlight of H's trip, can you tell? O wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but his horse, Sundance, was the calmest and slowest horse in the bunch, often bringing up the slow rear. H was on Corny, who was kind of a grump, according to our guide, so she was mostly on a lead just behind the guide.

J was on Scout, a handsome pinto, and I got Scrappy, who did not like to be stuck behind slowpoke Sundance. As we got started, Scrappy overtook Sundance and butted back into the line in front of him. Scrappy also enjoyed eating a lot of grass just off the trail. One time Scrappy tried to butt in front of Corny, but Corny actually kicked back at Scrappy, hence the grumpy reputation.

Overall, we had a great ride. They have 700 acres, so there was a lot of variety to see. We crossed a dry creek bed twice, and it was entertaining to see and hear the horses picking their way across the rocks. On the whole, the horses seemed to know the route pretty well and didn't require much guidance, making for a calm and memorable hour at the reins.

After our horse excursion, we took the long way back to the cabin and stopped for lunch in Harrison at Neighbor's Mill, recommended by the ranch owner. Since it was a fine day, we opted to eat lunch outside. The food was tasty (they make their own bread), and we realized that this was our first "eat in" restaurant experience since the pandemic started!

That afternoon called for some more R&R time in the hammock and/or porch. The next morning we planned another hike, to be followed by an afternoon at the river. The hike was to Whitaker Point, also known as Hawksbill Crag. The gravel road to the trailhead went straight up the mountain, and was the steepest drive in recent memory. After some confusion about which side of the parking lot was the trail we were looking for (thanks to poor signage and vague wording in our guidebook), we started our hike with our fingers crossed.

The hike went down for a while to cross another dry creek bed and then climbed back up to follow a ridge line to a prominent chunk of rock overlooking the surrounding valley. Along the way, we saw more picturesque combinations of trees and boulders with panoramic views. We were reassured by some hikers that we were on the right trail, but none of these were the crag we were looking for.

One of our favorite tree/rock combos was this balance beam set up, which made our gymnast's eyes gleam. We all tried it, but only the true gymnast made it across, although I think she was on all fours for a bit. In our defense, trees are round and this beam moved slightly up and down about six feet off the ground...

At long last, we found the Hawksbill Crag! Does it look like a Hawksbill?

After a brief celebration, we rewound the hike back to the car (thankful we got an early start as the hike back was getting way more populated) and headed back to the cabin for lunch and a change to our swimsuits. The river was nearly empty, so the adults set up some camp chairs in a primo spot in the shade of the bridge with our feet in the river, while the kids played.

We brought our net and bucket to catch tadpoles and minnows. Rocks were skipped, "islands" were explored, and bodies were submerged. That last part sounds weird, but I just mean that we walked in the water until our shoulders were under to cool off. All the pictures show shallows, but there were some deeper parts. I didn't take my phone to the river, so all of these pics are courtesy of J.

The last day was rainy in the morning, which suited us just fine. We did laundry to pack up clean clothes, and had a relaxing day at the cabin. We also relocated the hammock to be under the porch, which was pretty awesome to lay in while listening to the soft pitter patter of rain.

While it wasn't quite a vacation from the kitchen, we did make oven s'mores. I think this might even be better than fireside s'mores, especially with dark chocolate. Mmmm...

Our trip was a much needed recharge of our COVID-quarantine batteries. It was very relaxing, socially distanced, and yet we enjoyed getting out and seeing beautiful scenery and not sweating buckets. The kids even said they'd like to live there! I think we might come back some time in the spring or early summer when there would be more waterfalls and the river would be higher for canoeing. We've only just scratched the surface of the Buffalo National River!

Arkansas, Lost Valley

We finally took a little break from our house! We all needed to see something different for a while and maybe escape the heat for a bit. NW Arkansas fit the bill in that it was about as far as we could go in one day's drive, gave us some hilly scenery, and looked to be about 10 degrees cooler! The last hour of the drive was through some twisty mountain roads, and O needed to roll down the windows for some fresh air to keep the queasiness away.

We got to our cabin just in time for dinner. The cabin had just about everything we needed, except a dishwasher. Good thing we brought a couple with us!

The cabin had two bedrooms, but the kids were pretty excited to sleep in the loft bed. I think they thought they'd be able to spy on Mom and Dad after bed time that way, but we all ended up going to bed pretty early. At least the cabin was roomy, and you can see the copious woodwork everywhere.

We really lucked out with the weather for our stay. Highs were forecast for the upper 70s and low 80s, which I think is unusual, but it was perfect for us! We were staying on the west end of the Buffalo National River, so we wanted to do some hiking since it wasn't too hot. We ventured just 15 minutes down the road in the morning to Lost Valley trailhead. This was a short, easy hike, but it was supposed to be beautiful with caves and waterfalls, following a creek. We even packed jackets and flashlights because there was supposed to be a waterfall in a cave!

The trail was cool and shady. It followed a creek, but because we were near the end of summer, the creek bed was dry. It was also very rocky, so it was more fun for some to follow the trail from the creek.

It was a charming mix of rocks and trees, building to some big rock features like caves and bluffs. The scenery reminded us of Ohio's Hocking Hills.

We thought this was one of the caves, but it was actually called Natural Bridge. See the water trickling down and the daylight showing through just above the water? 

That daylight is coming through this opening in the rocks, which we found when we walked around to the back side. The hole and water go all the way through the rock!

Further up the creek was Cob Cave, which is a huge opening at the bottom of the bluff. It's so named because apparently Native Americans left behind old corn cobs here. It is 200-ft long, so there was lots of room to explore.

Just next to Cob Cave was Eden Falls. They were nearly dry, but were still dripping a little. The highlight of this trail is probably the end where the creek continues into another cave with a 25-ft waterfall inside. Unfortunately, that cave was closed due to COVID concerns, so we carried our jackets and flashlights for nothing. It was especially disappointing, since we nearly had the trail to ourselves. It seems like we could have handled social distancing in the cave. 

After a picnic lunch near the trailhead, we decided to find the Buffalo River and see what the big deal was. Luckily, it was just another five minutes down the road. We brought our water shoes and waded around a bit. The water was very cold, clear, and refreshing. The scenic bluffs are further down the river, but you can see some of them on the far right under the bridge.

This little area was dubbed the "Secret Cove" and was tucked away from the rest of the river. It was a little awkward walking around on the slippery rocks, so we decided to come back later with our swim suits, especially after H fell and got soaked for the ride back to the cabin. 

Once we got back to the cabin, we all relaxed. Books were read, hammocks were hung, and porch rockers were occupied. (Btw, kids are on their third time through reading the Harry Potter series this summer!) The three-sided porch was a fantastic place to unwind with a drink and snacks in the cool breeze. I brought a brand new hammock with us for the trip and was a little nervous that we might not have a place to hang it, but the trees out front were perfect. And this was just Day 1!