Damon's tooth

Before our trip, I noticed that there was a worrying pustule forming on the gum line above Damon's front left tooth. Amber took him in as soon as we got back (which was also the first day of school, she had a busy day) and the dentist determined that it was infected.

It was not surprising that this could have happened, since it had essentially been broken in half a year ago (and subsequently cosmetically filled), but there was no saving it and Amber had to make the decision to have it pulled now (rather than later). Here he is at the dentist, his last photo with all his teeth.

Amber said he was very good throughout the whole process -- almost too good. She felt bad that he didn't seem to really know what was going on. When they told him the gas mask made him look like a pig, he would occasionally say, "oink oink".

He seems to have handled the procedure and recovery remarkably well. He hasn't really complained, but it did take him a while to realize that his tooth really was gone. It's sad to see his broken smile, but it's better than having the infection get worse, and x-rays confirmed he does have adult teeth coming, so he'll be gap-toothed just a few years longer than normal.

First day of school

The heat may still be here, but summer is officially over. The girls went back to school today. Olivia is in 3rd grade and Carmen is in 1st.

They seem happy to be back in school, and I think Amber's happy to have fewer kids around the house for a while.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 3

After a hot night's sleep in the tent, we were ready to find diamonds!

The diamond field is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds and to make it worse, it was hot and the soil was extremely dry. We spent the morning digging and dry sifting using our dollar-store sieves.

We found lots of interesting rocks, but no diamonds. We had lunch at a diner in town, then came back for more. The second spot we picked had such hard-packed soil that we could barely dig, so we tried some wet sifting in the water troughs, but didn't find any diamonds.

By this time the kids were worn out, so we got some slushies, then went to Dino Dig, basically a kid version of what we had just done.

In an air-conditioned, dinosaur-themed room, the kids got to dig in the sand to find polished gemstones. I think this was the highlight of the trip for them. They stayed in there for a couple hours, which worked out well since Miles had fallen asleep anyway.

We camped at the park again that night, but we weren't roughing it too much. Here are the boys getting ready for bed after a shower.

We had planned a flex day into the schedule and decided the soil conditions weren't worth staying another day. So the next morning, we went on one more hike through some very interesting forest (once we got off the paved trail), then headed home.

The drive home ended up taking a lot longer than it should have after we got stuck behind a truck carrying something so large that it took up both lanes AND had to stop at every telephone and power wire to have someone lift them higher (without letting anyone pass). Once we realized what was going on, our GPS made up for its earlier failure by finding us a good detour home.

Since we went home early, I had a free day to recuperate. I took Olivia and Carmen to see Inside Out, then we wandered the mall for a while. I ended up buying a Superman/Batman book for Damon (who is easily reading "Level 2" now), which has only fueled his obsession with superheroes.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 2

After our night in jail, we headed out on Sunday morning to attend church at the local branch in Glenwood. Our GPS had other plans, however, and had us take a shortcut on a one-lane, windy gravel road through the woods. Even that might have been ok, except that about 3/4 of the way along the shortcut, the "road" was covered with enough standing water to make me nervous. We backtracked and opted for paved roads from that point on and got there safely, but ended up being a few minutes late.

It was unfortunate that we were late, because none of the pianists in the branch had shown up, so they were singing the sacrament hymn a capella when we arrived. Amber volunteered to play the organ for the rest hymn and closing hymn, and I played the piano for primary. The people there were very nice and friendly and we had a wonderful time. They were hoping we were moving into the area, and assured us they could find us a place to live should we change our minds.

After church we drove to Lake Ouachita State Park, where we had a picnic lunch overlooking the lake.

We found a short hiking trail nearby and hiked a forested loop that went up a hill and back down.

I was very impressed with the natural beauty of Arkansas. All of our drives and hikes were beautiful; it was like a mix of the hills and deciduous forests of Virginia and the pine-heavy forests of southeast Texas.

On our way out of the park we stopped by the Three Sisters Springs, one of many natural springs in the area.

That night we drove back to Crater of Diamonds to set up camp. We couldn't make a fire because of a burn ban, but the kids were still excited to sleep in the tent.

There were also a few other creatures excited to sleep in our tent. We found a couple of these stick bugs around.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 1

Ever since I heard about Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, where you can dig for diamonds, I've been looking for an excuse to go. This year we needed a short vacation, so we planned a trip to southwest Arkansas to see the park and whatever else was in the area.

We drove there on Friday and arrived in the early evening for the first of two nights in these really cool Old West-themed cabins. There were several themed buildings (the bank, saloon, etc). We stayed in the Sheriff's office the first night, and then moved downstairs into the jail Saturday night.

The kids were very excited about getting to sleep in the jail.

They also had a bunch of fun activities for the kids, like a playground, corn pit, horseshoes, foam machine, and pedal car race track.

A foam party was just what the kids needed after a long car ride.

On Saturday we explored the sleepy little town of Murfreesboro. The shops all seemed to contain some combination of antiques and rocks/minerals. Here are the troops by a tree in the town square.

After lunch we headed to Lake Greeson just north of the city to go swimming.

The kids had never swum in a lake before and had fun finding differently shaped rocks. On the way out, we also saw one of the biggest spiders I've ever seen in the wild (Amber for scale).