Springfield Bass Pro Shop

After visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, we all headed to the largest Bass Pro Shop in the country for lunch and more exploration. Our family loves Bass Pro Shop and we have visited quite a few of them across the country. The Springfield store has an alligator that Ali and Bella always run to first – to see if he has changed positions since our last trip (we have seen him blink, but have never seen him move around, and he seems to always be in the same location within the enclosure). The store is also home to many other live (and stuffed) animals, including alligator gar and snapping turtles. The restaurant, Hemingway’s, features a full menu and a very nice buffet.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

We visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum, in Mansfield, MO with our wonderful friends the Cobb family and the Wade family.

The tour begins with a walk through the museum, which houses many artifacts from the Ingalls and Wilder families.  Next we watched a short film; then went on guided tours of the two homes on Rocky Ridge Farm. 

 

Battle of Pea Ridge Sesquicentennial Commemoration

The 150^th anniversary of the battle of Pea Ridge was held March 9 – 11, 2012. 

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the Federal Army had great leadership and won the battle.  Pea Ridge National Military Park is the most intact Civil War battlefield in the United States, and covers 4,300 acres. The park offers hiking trails, horse trails, a guided tour road, a museum, an orientation film, and a book/gift shop.

  

Valentine's

Once a month, the American Legion Auxiliary meets for craft night to make tray favors for hospitalized veterans.  Ali, Bella, and I are members of Post 100, in Rogers. The members of the Legion and the Auxiliary keep very busy helping veterans and sending items to deployed soldiers.

The Auxiliary will be hosting our annual USO Follies at the Rogers Little Theater on Friday, May 4, 2012.  Seating is limited, so please send an email to me for ticket info.

Our church, Cross Brand Cowboy Church, hosted a Sweetheart Dinner. We served an Italian themed dinner, played “The Newlywed Game,” and watched the movie Courageous. 

Cross Brand is a great place for everyone (cowboy or not).  We meet at 6pm every Sunday, and have children and youth groups every Wednesday at 6:30pm. Once a month we have a potluck dinner.  We hold fundraisers, concerts, horsemanship shows, and our Buckle Series Play Days will be starting back up in May.

        

Crafts

The second Wednesday of each month, the Bentonville Public Library offers an origami class.  Ali and Bella really enjoyed learning the art of paper folding. Even though we live closer to the Rogers Library, the Bentonville Library is where we always go. There are many reasons we prefer it: the staff seems friendlier, they offer a wide variety of classes, they play a family friendly movie every week, they host plays, they have a cute little café, and they have homeschool classes every Monday. 

Every other Saturday, Lowe’s holds Build & Grow Clinics, which the girls LOVE.  Lowe’s provides a craft kit, mini hammer, apron, and goggles (notice how we forgot to bring the apron and goggles on caboose day).  A few of the projects we have created are: spaceship, music box, race car, dinosaur, and caboose.

Visiting Uncle Bruce

We visited our Uncle Bruce Tuesday January 3, 2012. He lives on Fort Gibson Lake, in Wagoner, OK. Uncle Bruce took us out for lunch and ice cream; then we went back to his house. Ali and Bella had great fun playing on the gazebo and running around the yard; Bruce, Matt and I had a wonderful time catching up.

Hobbs State Park

 
Hobbs State Park is located east of Rogers, AR, and about 30 minutes from our home. The Van Winkle Trail is a favorite of mine, as it combines hiking and a history lesson. Peter Van Winkle was very instrumental in developing Northwest Arkansas. To learn more about him, visit this link Peter Van Winkle; and to learn more about the trail, visit here Historic Van Winkle Trail. The Sinking Stream trailhead is located in the same parking lot as the Van Winkle trail, so we also hike it regularly.  The trip we made Dec 30, 2011 was especially special, my little brother was visiting. Matthew is in the Air Force, and we hadn’t seen him in almost a year.

Below is a link to the entire photo album:

Hobbs State Park 12/30/11

Welcome

Welcome, and thank you for spending time with us.  We are a family that loves God, and strives to listen (and respond) to His calling; part of that calling has been to homeschool our children.  Our family consists of four people, three cats, and two dogs. We have been blessed that Hank has a wonderful job that allows him to work from home several days a week, as well as offer travel opportunities for all of us. I (Megan) stay at home with the girls, though it seems we’re hardly ever home! We have two wonderfully curious, beautiful, loving daughters; Ali is nine and Bella is six. We are very involved in our church, the American Legion Auxiliary, and spending time with friends and family.

The name of our homeschool is Classical Foundations Academy.  A classical education includes grammar, logic, rhetoric, sciences, arithmetic, music, and foreign language. Ali’s current favorite subject is early American history. Bella’s current favorite subject is Latin. I (Megan) love all the subjects, but my favorite is nature study.

We live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas, and will be posting about the wide range of activities that this area offers, and about our travels elsewhere.