To Do: Dig for Diamonds

Finally!  We finally did it!

One of the things on my bucket list to do while in Arkansas was to go dig for diamonds.  Leave it to our last weekend...but hey, now I can say I've done it.  I've tried to beg many to go with me, with no such luck.  I guess digging in dirt isn't for anyone.

But our neighbors, Jeremy and Lindsay, promised us at Christmas time that we were all going to make sure to get this crossed off our to-do list.

We ended up with quite an excavation team.  Another neighbor, Simon, and his girlfriend joined us, as well as Jeremy's brother and his family.

So the Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only place in the whole wide world where you can go onto a diamond field and keep what you find!  There are 37 acres that are open to the public, with plowed rows. I was just determined that we would find something.  My hopes were especially high considering we had 8 adults and a handful of kids.  Simon educated us on the way down about the diamonds that have been found there--nearly 1 a day!  Saturday was for sure going to be our lucky day!!

And because it was St. Patrick's Day, we sported our green, hoping that might help our luck!

Wanna know something funny?  All of the other 6 adults that joined Matt and I are native Arkansans.  But not a single one of them had been there!

Poor Simon was under so much pressure.  He has been dating his girlfriend, Megan, for awhile.  Our gang all adores her!  (Parker especially!).

And while I won't reveal Simon's age, let's just say he better get a crackin'!  He was more determined than anyone to find a diamond.  He searched and searched and searched.  But...guess he'll have to visit Zale's instead!

The best part of the day by far was watching the kids.  I mean isn't digging in the dirt a dream come true for them?  It didn't take long for them to venture to the giant puddle nearby.  They started off with just some dirty shoes...

and came home looking like this:

Oh they had fun!

And I will say that their parents were good sports.  I'm sure glad that Parker wasn't old enough to get that dirty...yet!  But Lindsay and I had just as much fun snapping away on our cameras.

And we finally got to meet Mr. Owen.  (My family thought for sure Parker's name was Owen, based on a story about this little guy).  He was born just 3 weeks after Parker.  He looks like he is 3 weeks older than Parker!

At the end of the day, we took our big "finds" to be evaluated.  Matt had found a clear, yellow one and we all got our hopes up that maybe he really had found one.

But, you guessed it, we were wrong!  In fact, I sort of felt like we had "suckers" written across our head.  Was there a hidden camera somewhere?  Maybe its all a big joke.  Oh well, it was such a fun day and another great Arkansas memory!! I think one day Parker wants to go back.