Diamond Mine and Camping Adventure

He talked me into it. Kevin finally talked me into taking the entire family camping. In the past, I have been adamant about the fact that we would not go camping as a family until all of our children were walking. Chasing around a crawling baby covered in dirt and marsh mellows was not my idea of nature bliss. I conceded! Why? I'm still not sure. Ava, although she was 15 months old at the time, was still crawling. Kevin heard about a diamond mine in Arkansas where you could mine for diamonds and keep what you find. He thought this would be the the perfect next adventure for the Parker Family.

We arrived later than planned (think frequent potty stops and scary backwoods gas stations) and started to set up camp around 10 p.m. We were finally finished around 11 p.m. Our only problem was that no one was ready for bed except mom and dad at that point. Our kids are not use to sleeping together in one large mass and thought it was a party! Our tent does have three rooms and we put Ava in her pack n' play in one section, but the flimsy nylon separator did little to muffle the noise coming from our other two monkeys. Somewhere around midnight, our biggest monkey finally settled down and my eyes closed for the first time in over 24 hours. It was a restless and short lived slumber though, because our Kaden woke up two more times between midnight and 5 a.m. to use the potty. This meant that not only was Kaden awake, but the entire tent was awake for each episode.

At 5 a.m. we began to hear thunder followed by the flash of lightning. A few short mins. later the rain came. So there we were- awake and ready to go at 5 a.m. only it was dark and pouring outside. We were not to be deterred though! We came to Arkansas to find diamonds and find diamonds we shall; or get wet, muddy, and completely miserable in the process..

This is the Diamond Mine! Yes, a big muddy field. It was quickly decided that I would stay with Ava under the the covered equipment rental area. Although this area had a roof, it was still open aired and without walls. At this point, poor Ava was so tired, that I was willing to drive her around in circles if needed to help her get a nap. However, Kevin didn't think that Lauren would last long out in the rain and cold and and I stayed back to wait for her.

My first clue should have been the fact that the older two were mining with Kevin and he can make a root canal sound fun (no pun intended here to my handsome and talented dentist hubby). Long story short, the three of them lasted over 3 hours out in the muck and mud while I tried to entertain an extremely fussy and tired baby on a cold concrete slab.

The mighty diamond hunters returning after hours of searching for diamonds. Notice they are still smiling!

Lauren had a hard time keeping her shoes on in the greasy mud. Amazingly, they came perfectly clean. Thank goodness for plastic shoes!



Kaden completely lost his shoe at one point. He took several barefoot steps in the swishy muck before realizing his shoe was no longer on his foot. This is the bucket, shovel, and screen that Kevin and the kids used to harvest their findings.

Upon returning to our camp, we decided that one more night in the rain might be a little much and our sweet daddy packed up camp in the rain, while the rest of us ate fruit snacks and watched Scooby Doo in the van. Although no diamonds were found, memories were made, and many lessons learned. What an adventure!