On Friday, September 10, we left El Dorado around eight in the morning in two cars. Tom and DanMan were in Tanya's Honda; Hannah and I were in my car. We drove to the Fussells' house in Little Rock and left my car in their garage in Jill's spot. Her little Nissan would live at the Little Rock airport for the next few days. Then the four of us drove to Springdale - with a yummy stop at What-ta-burger in Russellville. I had high hopes of making it to a knitting shop in Fayetteville that carries a brand of yarn that I want to meet. We didn't get to Northwest Arkansas with that kind of time to spare though.

I had been disappointed, when we were in the area for a wedding about 18 months ago, that we did not get to take kids on a true tour of Springdale, a town we lived in for a year and a half when Jimmy was 6/7, Julie was 4/5, and Jill was 2/3. We were living on the G.I. Bill and savings at that time so our entertainment was of the free variety. The local library had a wonderful story hour and, during our first visit, I met a lady who had just moved to town with her husband and their three children. Enter the Alversons into our lives! They have a son, Floyd, who is six months Jimmy's junior, a girl, Christy, who is six days younger than Julie, and a second daughter, Kathy, who is about nine months older than Jill. I have always said it was as if God plunked the Alversons down in Springdale to keep me sane; they moved there the same month we did - and moved away the same month we departed for Baton Rouge! Much of our time during this period was spent playing at the park adjacent to the public library. After showing the kids the house we lived in, we drove directly to that park. I took LOTS of duck pictures especially for Julie, who has multiple bird stories where she gets wet, is pecked, has her buttons bitten off, etc. I was also thinking MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS because Jill and Stephen were in Boston. (Stephen even brought me a postcard from the Boston Public Garden showing the statues of Mother Duck and her eight ducklings! Made me cry 'cause my mom had sent me the same card many years ago and I did not keep up with it. Thank you, Stephen.)



Well, dang! Somehow, I just deleted a picture of a sweet family of ducks! Here is DanMan by the pond...

...and here is Hannah!

Couldn't resist a shot of this baby. He was very careful not to let any of us get too close.

I had better get busy now. I will be going to DanMan's Parent/Teacher Conferences in a little while and I need to get ready for the Fussells to spend the night with us before I leave. I plan to hide a little Christmas shopping, clear the yarn from Jenny's bed, and make some brownies.