Escape to Turkey Day

It's been a long time

since we ventured to our cabin sanctuary.

What better place

to spend a strange COVID Thanksgiving!

Out of bed!

We've got things to do!

There is a plethora of oak trees

at the lake.

Which makes a plethora of leaves.

Did you know we actually love raking leaves?

Like, really.  Love it.

Well, most of us.

Mostly because we love to play in them.

And this was a heck of a pile to play in!

We did some Ranger-riding

and 4-wheeling

Mom and Dad got in a run

which always makes them happy!

And as the sun set

we headed inside for some coloring

and Take Pappo's Money

(with lottery tickets!)

There was Thanksgiving dinner too of course!

But the event of the day

was the bonfire at night

where we could all gather

as a big Woods family

with Mark and Peggy

and Aaron and Jasmin

and spend a little BIG family time

this holiday

Bonfires.

Definite cabin perk.

The Ups and Downs of (virtual) School

Sigh.

It's been a crazy week.

On Tuesday, our school board voted

4th through 12th will be all virtual again

(after Weston was on day TWO of full in-person).

Then, Wednesday night

we got a call from the school district

that "your child must quarantine due to 

a COVID exposure on bus 202."

So then we were ALL home Thursday

while they did some contact tracing.

After Weston's lovely lego model of our bus seating,

we were released from quarantine

and given the go-ahead to come back to school on Friday.

THEN, Thursday night,

the school board met AGAIN

and this time voted to have everyone go virtual.

Well,

we can't say we didn't see this coming.

COVID is EVERYWHERE.

So here we are.

Friday, November 20th.

Our last day of in-person school until...???

Want to know what 

Reed Virtual School looks like

on a bright Monday morning?

Kinda weird.

But it's not so bad.

I jumped right in.

Tucker felt like big stuff

signing in to all his meetings

To add some fun,

I declared Tuesdays

as Baking Tuesday.

So what did we bake?

Hot Chocolate.

(Ok, I know.  Not baking.  But you get it.)

Mmm! Homemade hot chocolate!

Other virtual school fun?

We've lost power a few times.

That makes school tough.

But lunch is a lot of fun by flashlight.

Some days call for ugly sweaters and coffee

Some call for pillows and blankets

We were excited when a library day

was opened back up!

Man.

We really missed this.

We'll make it.

There's learning happening.

Probably more life lessons than school lessons

but that's important too.

The newest amigo...or amiga!

Look who's here!

Meet our new cousin Thea Lynn!

She was born November 6th

and we wanted to bring the Klus fam

some dinner to celebrate.

So we loaded up in hanitizer and masks,

Mom threw together some chicken and noodles,

and we got just close enough for a picture.

Isn't she awesome?

We can't wait to spend some real quality time with her!

Keeping up our skills

We all had so much fun this fall soccer season,

we all begged to play winter soccer.

My team switched leagues

and are playing with Legends

so my season started off fast.

That's how these games go too--

FAST.

No out of bounds, smaller field

makes for a lot of action.

I played goalie to start my first game.

A few got past me.

It was FAST.

But in the action is where I prefer to be anyway.

I even ripped off a few skills 

and got my coach cheering.

It was a lot of fun!

My brothers all start in mid-December.

Let's see if it lasts,

because, well,

COVID.

We'll enjoy it while we can.

One last stop

We just couldn't get enough of the trails.

Before we packed up the camper

and said goodbye to Bentonville,

Weston, Dad and I took on a few more

adrenaline filled rides.

We discovered that some trails

are rated differently depending on 

which direction you are headed.

Our last one was blue on the way "up"

and...BLACK on the way "down"

No broken arms!

We lived to tell the tale!

And we looked like "bad butts" getting it done.

As sad as we were to leave Bentonville,

look at our last stop...

an evening of BBQ, fire pit, and chilling

with Mama and Pappo at the Cabin!

Not a bad finale.

Fall break, you were a worthy COVID silver-lining.

Love skiing? Love biking!

Goooood morning, sunshine!

Up and at 'em!

We had planned to bike today,

but weren't completely sure what that would look like.

Mom went for a run this morning

and found this:

We are at the top of the map

and downtown Bentonville and a maze of trails

is midway down.

The Razorback Greenway runs all the way from us to there.

It's around 6 miles,

so 12 roundtrip.

It would set a new record for a Reed Family Bike Ride,

but we were up for the challenge!

And what a challenge it was!

It started off great for the first 2 miles

but then, we found MAJOR construction

at Wishing Springs.

As in, the trail was missing

and there were huge construction vehicles in our path.

We thought we were going to have to abandon the plan

and drive into town

until Dad stopped in a bike shop along the trail

and asked if there was a detour.

Sure enough, there was!

It was a little "shady" as she called it--

we had to push our bikes up a hill

and then ride about 1/4 mile on the shoulder of a highway.

Although, I should explain the "shoulder"

was over 1 car lane wide.

It was actually a pretty great path.

Cross at 1 street light, 

go back down a hill,

and we were back on the Greenway!

It was an adventure, right?

The rest of the ride into town

was lovely.

The path was paved

and easy to follow.

It was pretty flat

until we got into town.

We ran into another family from Lee's Summit yesterday--

they actually go to Highland Park!--

who were experienced bikers.

They said we need to try out some mountain biking trails

and recommended All American.

So to All American we went

(and we passed and chatted with them 

a few more times on the way!)

The further we got into town,

the more bike paths we saw.

We learned mountain biking trails

are like ski runs--

green is easiest, blue is medium, black is hard.

All American crossed our path several times--

it is apparently green.

Whew!

We decided we'd try the trails on our way back to camp.

We checked out the other sites

on our way to the top.

We passed the Crystal Bridges art museum.

They had a bunch of cool exhibits outside too.

There were funky pieces of "art" everywhere--

like this car coated in coins!

We finally made it all the way

to the Bentonville town square.

It was a lovely place to eat lunch

and relax.

We took in the world's first Walmart

(from the outside)

and got some retro-priced Walmart ice cream

(50 cents a scoop!)

Did you know Space Force is actually a thing?

Bentonville added the flag to all the other service branches

outside city hall!

We thought it needed a picture.

All right!

Who's ready to hit the trails??

On last selfie before,

well,

we really do this...

So you can't really take pictures

while you fly down bike trails.

But let me tell you

(and this is Beckett talking)

if you are brave enough,

you will LOVE IT!!!

Jack and Wes couldn't be stopped.

Dad and Tuck were only slowed by the limits of the fishtail.

I got faster and braver as we went.

And Mom?

She hung in there!

Maybe a bit slower than the rest,

but she didn't fall off,

didn't topple over,

and got all the adrenaline she needed.

We primarily stuck to greens.

We may have wandered only a blue briefly.

But some of the trails weren't marked very well.

Most of us bailed as we looked up ahead

and saw some huge jumps and really tight, banked curves.

Jack and Wes took them on!

Mom and Dad were glad no one broke anything.

Speaking of adrenaline,

after a 13 mile bike ride 

full of crazy trails,

do you know what we need?

Another evening on the pumptrack!

Waiting for our turns...

and hitting the tricks!

And Mom?

SHE DID IT!

Only a couple of times,

but she did it!

What could top off this day?

Another evening around the fire

and even more s'mores...

This may be our most favorite day yet.

To Bentonville!

Today was moving day.

And parent-teacher conference day.

After a morning of meetings

(yay, hotspot!)

we packed up the camper

and made the drive from Harrison to Bentonville.

Mom and Dad had really hemmed and hawed over 

where to stay here

and after much discussion,

we landed at Blowing Springs in Bella Vista

just north of Bentonville.

They liked that there was a creek

that ran through our RV park,

that there were some hiking trails around our park

and there were bike trails too.

Yep,

since Bentonville is known for it's biking

(thanks for the tip, Keim family!),

we thought we'd try it out.

But first,

a hike.

It wasn't the most exciting hike we've been on,

but a good 3 miles through the peaceful woods

that surrounded our camper

wasn't a bad way to spend the afternoon.

There were several places where one part of the trail

was just across from the other part.

We took to racing across the ravine

rather than walking around the trail.

Mom and Dad got in there steps

while we got in our tromping

It was a rather complicated trail

with lots of intersecting trails.

We got creative with our

"which way do we go?" dances

at the crossroads.

We hurried Mom and Dad as fast as we could

along the hike

because what we REALLY wanted to do

was try out this bike park

that was just outside of our RV park.

We learned it's called a pumptrack--

this one is Cooper's pumptrack

which, obviously named for our cousin,

made it extra cool.

A pumptrack is an oval track

with all sorts of bumps, humps and jumps

to take with your bike

(or at least that's what this one is!)

There was a slight hesitation

but it didn't take long for us all to jump on.

I was definitely the first daredevil

with Weston right behind

Beck screwed up his courage and looked

like a natural

after a few laps

Even Dad and Tuck did a few laps!

Mom?

Not so much.

She hit the fitness circuit that surrounded it.

"Maybe tomorrow" she said.

We'll hold her to that.

The other big event of the day

was supposed to be

a meal out--

like on a patio, 

something COVID-safe.

But the day got away from us,

it got a bit cool,

and the restaurant we finally settled on

was definitely NOT COVID-safe.

So we settled for takeout.

And it. was. delicious.