Avoid Confrontation with the Bears

Just after Aaron broke his foot, Robbie and I began thinking about what kind of long weekend get-away we could do as a family before school starts. We thought about driving down to Galveston for a few days, but making Aaron use his crutches in the sand just seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. This also ruled out any type of activity that requires a lot of walking, such as amusement parks and zoos. So no beach, no six flags (I was totally cool with that one), and no zoo (this one too)...what is a family to do that will provide enough activity that will keep the boys happy but keeps you off your feet?

I am not a big fan of watching TV. I prefer it to be off unless Duck Dynasty is on, and even when I do watch it I fast forward through commercials because I almost never watch something when it's actually on (thank you TIVO). I can probably count the number of advertisements I've seen this summer on one hand. But one night a few weeks ago Rob and I were eating dinner at Amigo Juan and I couldn't seem to make myself look away from their TV that was just one local advertisement after another. It was bad, y'all. At one point, Rob smiled and said "you just can't look away from it, can you?" I'm not really sure why, but I NEEDED to know what business was going to be advertised next. Then, this advertisement came on that would show a picture of a resort, then it would flash MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT (with their phone number), then another picture, then MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT (with their phone number), for what seemed like 10 minutes (I'm sure I was a JOY to sit across the table from that night). Then I decided I needed to put their phone number in my phone in case I ever needed to call MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT for anything. THIS is why I don't need to watch advertisements, people. I had to stop watching advertisements years ago after watching an infomercial for the Little Green Clean Machine. I never did buy one, but the phone was in my hand and the number was already dialed before I realized that this was not a product that I needed to own, nor did I want to agree to 5 easy payments of $29.99. Anyway, Rob and I started talking about the Mena Mountain Resort and he mentioned that Mena is a really good place to ride four-wheelers (which just happens to be one of the few activities that Aaron can do). Thus, our long get-away weekend was planned.

We left last Thursday with four-wheelers, kids, and luggage loaded up and headed to Mena for our long weekend. Our room was just perfect. This place only has 14 rooms, and Thursday night we were the only people there, so we had the pool and game room to ourselves. We were up late swimming, making up our own rules to shuffleboard, and listening to music in the game room. Our room was really cute and comfortable, and at one point in the weekend Rob stated that we could live in this room and be happy (and I had to agree because the kitchen only consisted of a mini-fridge and a microwave, so no cooking required). The rooms made the shape of a rectangle, with the game room on one end, the breakfast room on the other end, and a pool in the middle. There were rocking chairs out on the porches, beach towels rolled up beside the pool, and every morning Mrs. Denny (the owner) cooked us breakfast. It was such a cute little place.

Friday and Saturday we spent our days riding the four-wheeler trails at Wolf Pen Gap, which was about 20 minutes from where we stayed. This place is ranked in the top 10 places to ride ATV's in the US. The scenery was beautiful and the trails were all marked like ski slopes (green-easy, blue-more difficult, or black-you could possibly die), so we rode every green offered that we could find. Robbie and Austin led the way, followed by Aaron, and I brought up the rear because I liked to stop and take pictures every once in a while and they were riding like they had somewhere to be. Rob told me that every once in a while, Austin would say, "Dad, wait on your wife", and Aaron was constantly looking back and checking on me. I have to say...it was just glorious. There are so many different trails that we didn't see many other people and could just go at our own pace. It was perfection until I saw this

sign. I pretty sure this is the first time I've ever worried about my family being chased or eaten by bears, and I can tell you will all certainty that I would avoid confrontation with them. I would drive by some trees and think 'was that a bear?' several times an hour after seeing this sign. Good times.

He hates this boot.

Ponytail, no makeup, no filter.

He choose his own outfit. Whatever, man.

A fruit by the foot break!

I'm digging Austin's hair.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided we needed a four-wheeler break and went geocaching for a while. Ok y'all, I've posted on it before and talked about it several times, but I'm about to just break it down for you step by step because I still have so many people asking how it works.

First step, get the geocaching app on your smart phone. I just have the free one and it works well. Next, you choose 'find a geocache'. This will take you to several geocaches that are close by, and tell you how far you are from them.

Choose one that you want to find and it will show you a map of how to get there from where you are.

Once you get close, it will tell you how many feet you are from it and which direction you need to go to get to it.

Every cache has a name and most of them have hints as to where exactly you need to look to find it. After you find it and open it up, there is a paper inside where you can write your name and the date. On the micro's, it is very small and you have to bring you own pen (BYOP).

This was a medium size cache found in a cemetery.

This is a micro found in a light pole base.

The larger ones have pens inside the container and also other items. If you want to add your own item, feel free. And if you add something, you can take something out. There is some learning curve to the words used, such as muggles (which means there will probably be people around) and LP (which means it's hidden in a light pole), etc. Most of them can be found without knowing what all of the words mean. Throughout our geocaching in Mena, we visited cemeteries, parks, and businesses. It allows you to see parts of town you wouldn't have gone to otherwise. Just be careful, because before you know it, all of you will be out there with your phone in your hand walking in the direction it tells you to go not even aware of where you are or what you may be getting into. It really is such a fun family thing to do wherever you go.

I have spent much of this week working on my classroom and getting everything ready for school. I'll try to post some pics of my classroom soon.

Y'all take care...and avoid confrontation with any bears you may come across.