Life On The Lake

Over the weekend we took a short trip to Bella Vista, Arkansas.  My Aunt Judy and Uncle Ernie live there on the lake.  We had a great time!  Here are some of the pictures that I took during the weekend.

On Ernie and Judy's boat dock... Sarah talking to Popee about fishing.

Sarah had so much fun fishing... If I couldn't find her, I knew to check the boat dock... More than likely, that was where she was.  Fishing with Popee and Daddy.

When they caught a fish they would put it into the white bucket and watch it swim around for awhile before Sarah and Phoebe would catch them in Ernie's little green net and throw them back.  Both girls liked looking at the fish and Sarah liked picking them up.  She held them in her hand and by their lip. 

Time for a boat ride!  Sarah helped Ernie pull the boat around the dock so that we could all get on for a ride.

Sarah sat in Judy's favorite seat.  Judy and Phoebe decided to sit on Sarah!

On the boat ride... looking for seashells, fish, and ducks.

Sarah got to help Ernie drive the boat back to the boat dock. 

Ernie and Judy just got back a week ago from a trip to Peru.  They brought the girls each a ceramic bird whistle from there and new wool hats.

    

Sarah wanted to go swimming very badly.  The air temperature was in the 70's and the water temperature was ??? very chilly.  Daddy was selected to go swimming with Sarah.  They got in the COLD water and looked for some shells then decided to float on a raft.  They paddled and floated all the way across Ernie and Judy's cove.   (Award for Daddy of the Year, once again, goes to... Eric Hendrickson, for getting in the water with Sarah when no one else would.)

Then there was some more fishing... And, Sarah caught a "big one".  So did Popee.

    

Of course there was story time.  Aunt Judy is one of the all-time best story readers.  She gave the girls each a stuffed Penguin named Osbert and the book about Osbert.  Sarah wanted to name her Penguin Ariel instead of Osbert.  Phoebe did not care what her Penguin's name was, she just wanted to make it peck people.

That evening we went over to a place called Crystal Cave.  It is fenced off and no one can go down in it anymore, but each night at about dusk, thousands of bats can be seen coming out of the cave.  This was so cool!  Read the sign below about the cave.  This cave is right in the middle of a community in Bella Vista, just a hole in the ground with a double fence around it.  As it started to get dark thousands of bats started swirling around in the hole and ascending out into the night sky.  Wow!

 The hole, looking down into the cave...

 Bats coming out of the hole...

 Look closely!  Bats are circling around...

We had lunches and dinners on the huge wrap around deck overlooking the lake.

Thank you Uncle Ernie and Aunt Judy for a great weekend in Bella Vista at your home on the lake!  We all had a fabulous time.