Gem Hunt

On the way home from Little Rock, we took a detour and stopped at an Arkansas state park, Crater of Diamonds State Park. This is the only place in the world where the public can search for diamonds.

The search area is a big field of dirt. You can bring your own equipment, like the professional diamond diggers we saw getting out of their trucks, or you can rent some there. Having no clue what we were doing, we rented the basic set, and bought a little spade and rake.

When we decided to do make this stop, I think we were all envisioning finding lots of lovely gems quickly and easily in some nice dirt. Silly us. While people do find diamonds (according to the board, 2 were found the day prior to our visit), its relatively rare and take a lot of work and patience (and maybe a splash of luck.)

We picked a spot and started scooping up some dirt. Brad used the boxes to sort through it, then threw the searched dirt into a bucket, to avoid searching it again.

In the end, we left with a little bag full of nice looking rocks and chips of something or other. I think it will be a while before we go back, but at least we can say we've been there!

Duck March

This year we spent Spring Break in Arkansas. We thought about going to one of those popular places, like Florida or Cancun. But we like to be different, so we got in the car and drove to Little Rock. It was just as well since Brad had work to do there anyway.

Little Rock is actually a nice little city with plenty to keep kids busy for a few days. We visited a science museum and a kids play center. We thought about going to the zoo, but Susanna got hurt at the play center (not sure how, exactly, but she hit her mouth and there was a bit of blood...) So we'll do the zoo next time. It was also fun to eat in some of the restaurants Brad frequents during his many trips there, and of course I had to find the local cupcake bakery.

We stayed at the Peabody. There are three Peabody Hotels - the original in Memphis, one in Orlando, and this one. This in itself was a big highlight as they have ducks swimming in the lobby fountain.

The Duck March is a big daily event. At 11 a.m., the ducks are brought down the elevator, and then they march through the lobby a bit and hop into the fountain.

Then at five, they do it all in reverse. We decided to hang out and follow the ducks all the way back to their little house, which is located on a 2nd floor patio. I'm not sure if people are supposed to be invited to do this as it was just us and another family with slightly older kids. But they let my kids help push the wagon.

They pushed (while the older kids pulled) the duck trolley all the way outside, and then stood by the duck house for a photo op. Then the cage was opened and the ducks scurried right into their house.
We learned that only one of the ducks has a name, and its John Philip Duck. Not sure if that is a particular duck, though. There is a book by this title, but we are still waiting to get it from the school library. Then we can read all about the history of this fun tradition.

7

Here are a few photos from Susanna's birthday, only a few weeks late!

Brad's family was in town for the occasion, which was nice for Susanna. They were here for her birthday party with friends and also on her actual birthday, when we celebrated with dinner at home and an ice cream cake.

Her party was at a gym, where the kids did trampolining, floor games, and the pit. Good, active fun for everyone!

New glasses and minus 2

Back to sports

Spring has arrived, and it is time to get back into sports mode. Actually, Susanna hasn't had much break since she did basketball all winter. But that didn't go so well, and now its over and maybe we can just forget about that.

Susanna and Ben are both back with their teams from last autumn. Susanna was happy to get back to soccer after the long break. Though her team struggled last season, they did improve a bit by the end, and hopes were high for a good start this year. Let's just say there is still plenty of room for improvement. But its a nice team, nice girls and nice parents, so that's a plus. One game down, seven to go. Hopefully things will get better.

Ben's teeball team has 8 returning players and 6 who are new. I think all or most of the new families requested placement on Brad's team - he is getting quite the reputation as teeball coach in this town! Fourteen boys make a rather large baseball team, and Brad wasn't quite sure where to put them all, but it worked out in the end and they had a great game today. (They still don't keep score, but most certainly would have won if they did.)

Its all good fun, if not slightly frustrating, and the kids are having a great time, which is the important thing. And I might as well enjoy it while it lasts - soon enough, the long, un-structured days of summer will be here and maybe I will actually miss the sports.