Month: March 2019

Diary Entry: My Trip to Lake Ouachita

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

(-Washitah-)

On Sunday morning eight of us departed to the Ouachita Mountains in Midwest Arkansas. Its a little to the left of Hot Springs.

The first day was basically a day to become cozy with one another. Get to know the strangers we would be spending the next three nights with. I knew a couple of them pretty well, along with the professors taking us. Another I had gone to high school with, but we didn’t really know each other. The others were complete strangers to me.

I mostly planned to read my book to escape from awkward contact I might have, but I found myself enjoying their company pretty quickly. I felt immediate comfort around everyone.

By the time we made it to the cabins, I felt like I was with a group of people I could live a long time with. Its sad to say, but I was waiting for someone to be difficult. We spent that evening getting comfortable and claiming beds. I ended up in a cozy room. I picked it over the loft area only because it reminded me of a cozy room in my grandmother’s house that I loved as a child. Plus the bathroom downstairs looked awesome.

We went hiking on one of the smaller trails that afternoon, then ate lasagna and salads for dinner. We all departed afterwards to do our own thing. I went to bed.

The next day we headed out to the diamond mining place. This was a fun experience, but none of us found a diamond. The sun found our skins instead. We decided walking around and exploring was more worth our time than looking for a diamond. I would love to find one, but I’m not even sure what I would do with it. I feel like I wouldn’t want to let it go! It was fun pretending to be a miner, although, I would have preferred an actual mine over the sun in a big open field.

Next we headed to the Ron Coleman Mine to find crystals of sorts. I wanted amethyst, but I quickly realized that in order to find such a beauty, you would need to sledge hammer a rock open. Same with a geode. All I found was quartz crystals, but I’m happy with that just as well.

We grilled that night then told ghost stories around the fire. I realized that I have had too many ghouly experiences compared to most people. I’ll save those for Halloween blogging.

imma spook

I was so tired after all the digging and exerting energy that I passed out pretty quickly after the campfire. I also got pretty cold and tired because of the sunburn. I don’t know why sunburns make me much more cold and tired than most people…everyone else was fine, and a couple were more burnt than me.

The next day we went to Hot Springs downtown area. We climbed to Lookout Tower. That was a beautiful view. Actually…Hot Springs is beautiful all around.

Afterwards we went to the Mid America Science Museum. It has cool science stuff that I enjoyed like a small child. I like to do childish things to keep my youth alive.

Finally we took a lake tour of Lake Ouachita. Our ranger guide guy was wonderful and funny. I saw so much geological things that made my stomach fill with butterflies. I don’t know why geology does that to me. I love seeing how the earth formed, knowing that the earth has been moving and contorting itself….it amazes me.

We ate out that night at some hip pizza pub. It was wonderful. Super wonderful. It’s the Grateful Head if you’re looking for a place in Hot Springs to eat. Go there.

We got back to the cabins around 10ish pm and were told to be ready to leave by 9am. We could be up to have breakfast, but by now, I was very uninterested in breakfast and way more interested in sleep. So I slept in.

At 9am Wednesday we were headed back home. We were told we were one of the best SciQuest groups they have head in awhile. And no one became difficult! It was a very pleasant stay. 🙂

Cons: WIFI existed at the cabins only if you had signal. We never had signal.

Update on Comfort Weight 3/29

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

Guys, I haven’t gotten anywhere. I’m at 129 and I’m eating like a monster. I think going to Arkansas messed up my rhythm. First, birthday goodies, then vacation goods. 😋

I’ll be getting back into my rhythm this weekend! Also! I am going to be posting all about my trip later today and catching up on everything!

I’m excited to be back! Though, I do wish I could be back while still at Lake Ouachita…

Update: Ar-Kansas

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

Hey! I haven’t gone away, just to a place with little signal. I’m with a school group in Arkansas. We’re currently tracing to go dig up some stuff – cause science.

While I’m in the vehicle, I might as well blog. I can’t promise this blog will be without typos, because 1. I’m not going to checking my work. 2. Even when I check my work I still look over typos. So please bare with me.

Hopefully I won’t have much school work to do this week. Which means a can blog as I normally do. Sporadically, but at least three times a week.

We were told we would have WiFi, but because we have no signal, we can’t connect to anything unless we’re outside. Maybe I’ll have a couple of free hours to get on my Chromebook and get a more serious post up here and read most of your posts!

Update: Comfort Weight 3/22

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

The cake hasn’t gotten to me, guys! I ate a lot of cake and food! I had lost a pound but I ended up gaining it back! I’m still at 129! But birthday cake…

I’ll get my act together this week! I’m going on a school trip to Arkansas. So I won’t be too in charge of my foods, but I will be very active!

With reading and doing school work this week I haven’t been able to move much. I cannot wait to be away from home for a little while.

Diary Entry: Holiday Birthday Struggle

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

The hard thing about having a Holiday birthday is that normally people can’t hang out…at least from what I’ve heard.

I was born the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Growing up, this never affected anything when it came to celebrating my birthday with friends. Then I grew up. Who would guess the national Irish-American drinking day would really mess with my ability to have a nice party to celebrate the day of my birth with friends.

In the beginning, after Nathan left, going out to the town’s most popular Irish pub for my birthday was amazing. I pretended everyone was there to celebrate me. To make it even better, I’m an auburn, green eyed, pale skin, Irish girl. It’s my birthday, and we’re celebrating my heritage? Ok!

Then I settled down with Daniel. The idea of drinking endless amounts of free shots and a Guinness or two all night did not seem as appealing to me anymore. I do still love going to the Irish pub and getting myself a Guinness every now and again, but on my birthday, now, I would rather be at home or somewhere other than a bar. That was a birthday social sacrifice I didn’t realize I was making. I now see the truth. I now feel the holiday birthday struggle.

No one wants to come hang out with me on my birthday, they want me to come hang out with them. At the bar. Getting drunk. With no idea what the real importance of St. Patrick’s Day means to the Catholics, especially the Irish Catholics. I’m guilty of the celebration, but really it was for myself.

I would rather go on a hiking trip, or stay at home and drink a few brewskies with some close friends and hang out. If friends were willing to not go out on my birthday maybe I could.

I refuse to celebrate my birthday on another day, though.

Thank Goodness I have Daniel. He doesn’t like to go out much either. He took me out to eat got me a present I really wanted (instead of a shot), and spent the day letting me have my way.

Oh, and my roommate made me this awesome cake that I love so much!

Diary Entry: Soccer Mom

~ Mikayla Hart ~ Leave a comment

I never realized how proud I would feel seeing my daughter kicking a soccer ball with other kids. I feel proud of myself for giving her this opportunity to have fun and see her feel proud of herself.

She’s grown so much! It’s such a weird feeling to see her old enough to be part of a (kinda) team!

She’s on the younger team, and technically they aren’t a team team. They’re learning the ways of soccer. It’s funny seeing so many kids with a small understanding of what is really going on but enjoying it so much.

I’m hoping being in soccer helps calm Isla down some. She’s very strong minded and demanding. Hopefully, this teaches her some discipline that I can’t seem to get through to her.

I know she’s just a four year old girl, and four year old girls are supposed to be sassy and mean…but I swear my girl is going to be a mean girl if I don’t do something.

She’s got attitude! For example, she cried the first day of practice because she didn’t want to wear a jersey and put her hair in a ponytail. She only likes wearing dresses because she thinks a shirt and jeans with a pony tail makes her look like a boy…I don’t know wear she got this idea from…we tell her we think she looks beautiful with her hair up, and that jeans are normal and all girls wear them.

Nope. She thinks the other kids will judge her.

But she seemed to have gotten over the jersey and pony tail now. She’s accepted it. And that is one big step for us!

Her feet have grown since we bought the cleats, and now she can’t wear them with the shin guards. We bought new cleats yesterday. She’s growing so fast!! She’s taller than the other kids in her group! It’s crazy!!