Okay, I admit to one of my secret “mommy” vices: bringing home free magazines related to anything kids, especially activities, etc . . . I pore over their pages, going to websites as advertised on their colorful ads, making lists and lists that I will do this and that for my daughters . . .
only to end up not doing them at all.
Not this time! I am looking over the April issue of Kid’s Directory for NW Arkansas. I was planning to pick up “Peekaboo” magazine, but Bella Jack’s boutique (which, incidentally, I ended up buying gorgeous necklaces for the girls) did not have it. Did I imagine the title? I will check out another kids’ boutique shop (either on Emma or over there in Rogers at the Pinnacle Hills) to see if I actually did not imagine that title.
I grew up here in NW Arkansas and I used to call it the shitsville, wanting to run away and join the circus or be enrolled in the performing arts school in NYC, but no, my parents had to have me “stuck in the middle of nowhere.” When I was 3, my mother convinced my dad to move us out to Fayetteville because of preschool program for me at Bates Elementary (where I attended from tender age of 2 so yeah, my mom drove me back and forth over the mountains between Fort Smith and Fayetteville).
Now, I am not knocking NW Arkansas because where else can you find waters that run so clear down to its bottom and can see all the rocks, fish, etc? We who hail from the Ozarks have our own secret swimming holes and guard them ferociously near to our heart. My dad has all of his favorite fishing spots scattered all over the Ozarks. We are serious fishermen around here. Tons of hiking and backpacking gear to find for our roaming through the woods and forests, going down the creeks and rivers, and camping out underneath the brilliant stars. I remember how Tim exclaimed to me, “This is the first time I have ever seen stars like this, so near as if I’m about to touch them!!!” This is the guy who have camped out in the Yellowstone park and drove through the storms in the Dakotas, and fished in the sea, so to have him actually say that made my heart sing, even though I still felt as if I’m still stuck out in middle of nowhere.
Anyway . . . the whole point of this post is what should I have Izabelia and Lucrezia do in the middle of nowhere as I thought.
I was wrong. There’s tons of things to do. The last time I have lived longer than a week or so was way back in 2002 after I came home from Savannah College of Art and Design to stay with my grandmother after Grandpa FL passed away.
Thank god for such magazines. I’m making lists and lists for my girls to do, and this time I’m committed to carrying them out. There are so many choices for me to list, but top of my list are those that will have my kids dance and make art, then down the list are the little outings to different places of exploration and magic.
I try to include at least one photo, so here’s Lucrezia from that day she played in the field of light and shadow, relaxing in her Gramma’s lawn chair:
