Four Wheeling in Mena, AR

Buddy and Serena were going four wheeling in Mena, Arkansas and invited us to go along.  We took our camper and they stayed in a hotel in town.  The nice part about camping was that we were at the base of the mountain and we could ride in and out on our four wheelers without having to drive anywhere first.  We left Friday morning and it was a long drive.  The girls did not do so well and were bored pretty quickly.  We stopped for gas, food, and it took 5 1/2 hours instead of the 4 1/2.  We finally got there at 1 and got the camper set up as quickly as we could so Paige could nap.  The girls were just happy to be out of the car so they played at the playground while we set up.  We had charged the camper so the fridge was cold and we had everything set up.  But when we got there, the camper was so hot inside and took about an hour to get cool enough that Paige would sleep.  So we finally put her down at 2 and after crying for an hour, she slept for about 30 minutes.  Not a successful nap.  While she slept, Cody and Harper rode four wheelers with Buddy and Serena for a few hours.  After they got back, we all headed to the hotel so they could check in and we could swim.  The girls love swimming and it was nice to cool off after a hot day.  We went back to the camper for dinner and then relaxed for a bit.  We all headed to bed at 8pm and Cody and I got to watch a movie for a bit before bed.  I slept with Harper this trip so we wouldn't have to move the bed/table every day.  It turned out to be better because the fan blew the coldest air on the tall bed where Cody was sleeping and it kept us all pretty comfortable.

The next morning, Harper woke up at the beautiful early hour of 5am.  I made her lay there and stay still until 6 when Paige woke up and we all laid in bed until about 6:30 laughing and relaxing together.  We had microwave pancakes and picked up and got ready for the day.  The girls played outside in the rocks, because this place was more rock than anything.  No trees for shade or grass to play in.  But they didn't care at all.  They loaded rocks in buckets and poured dirt everywhere.  We went four wheeling with Buddy and Serena at 9 and rode some easy roads for awhile to get to the mountains.  It was fun to go fast!  Then we hit a few trails that were hard to climb and twisty through the mountains.  We stopped a few times to chat and then ate lunch at a small waterfall area.  We walked through the waters for a bit and cooled off.  After that, it was Paige's nap time so I held her while she slept.  Eventually Harper fell asleep too and I was holding both girls as still as possible in a bouncy four wheeler (we rode with Buddy in the side by side).  It was so hard!  Thankfully Harper only slept for about 30 minutes which helped, but Paige slept a good hour and a half, which is awesome.  We headed back to the camper at 3 to go swim at the hotel again.  Harper loved swimming and since it wasn't too crowded she got to take off her life vest.  The front was only 3 feet and she could touch, so she played around and practiced swimming.  Paige likes to swim and also kind of doesn't.  I had to hold her most of it but she is definitely getting better at floating in her puddle jumper.  She also had Serena to give her bites of pound cake every few minutes she was content.  We went back to the campground for dinner again and then all headed to bed early again.

Sunday morning the girls slept till 7 so it was a much better morning.  Quick breakfast and we were back on the mountain at 8:30.  We rode for a few hours and this time I rode on our four wheeler and Cody rode on Serena's while they took the girls in the side by side.  It was fun and we got lost and learned some new trails.  We saw a few deer and it was a beautiful, cool day out.  We went back and had lunch at the camper while Buddy and Serena packed up and headed back home.  We all rested in the camper, watching a movie while Paige napped.  Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and swam for a bit, cooling off and washing the dirt off.  We ate dinner out and then drove up the mountain to Queen Wilhelmena Peak.  It was a beautiful drive and such an amazing thing to look out over hundreds of miles of forest and mountains and lush greenery.  We went back and went to bed early again, because this is one exhausting, awesome trip.

The next morning, we got up at 6 and packed the camper up as quickly as we could.  We knew if we wanted to get home before naptime we had to hurry.  We let the girls watch a new movie in the car and that seemed to help hold their attention better this time.  We also made it in about 4 hours so it was good time coming home.  We got here, ate lunch, put Paige down for a nap and then cleaned the camper really well.  There was a mouse in it from before so we had to clean the entire inside and then all the dust from the mountain trails made the camper seriously dirty.  So we cleaned and then relaxed because it was a looong weekend.