Here in the frozen tundra, we’ve officially ended our balmy mid-January heat wave. Temperatures were in the mid 30s last week, but now we are back to single-digit highs. Our family is eagerly awaiting an escape to Florida next month. To warm us up in the meantime, though, let’s journey back a few months, back to…

…the last time I remember not wearing heavy winter coats, mittens, and scarves.

…the last time I remember seeing open water rather than water as a solid, frozen substance.

…the last time I remember feeling warm. Ahh.

Please join me — photographically speaking — back in November on a family trip to Arkansas!

Okay, maybe I was wearing a scarf. But that most certainly is not a heavy winter coat!

The big highlight of our trip to Arkansas was visiting Papa Larry’s new getaway home in the northern part of the state. We spent the weekend with him, mostly exploring the area. Very nearby was the White River, where we played with leaves in the water.

Laurel even found some tiny yellow flowers growing in the lush green grass.

If I tell you nothing else about Papa Larry, I should tell you that he excels in flyfishing. So when he invited us to a favorite fishing spot just for kids, we just had to go!

Here’s the whole crew. Pretty fishy, eh?

Laurel’s stick in the water didn’t catch a thing.

Unfortunately, even after upgrading to a real fly rod and getting lots of help from her daddy, she still didn’t catch a thing.

Meanwhile, Papa Larry and Linnea were catching fish left and right.

Being right in the middle of all this action vs. inaction, I decided Laurel and Linnea needed to switch fishing buddies. So Laurel sought help from Papa Larry.

And before too long, they caught one!

Meanwhile, Linnea gave Michael a few helpful pointers on his flyfishing technique.

I don’t know what she told him, but it worked!

This is the point when Michael learned that even though the people in Arkansas sometimes don’t have teeth, the fish do! Ouch! It wasn’t quite the bite he was hoping for!

But hey, that’s the stuff fond memories and good fish stories are made of!