Saturday we left Nashville and continued further west. Our goal for the day was to reach Ft Smith, AR (on the border of AR and OK) and to visit Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, AR. Mission Accomplished
We were in the car from about 9:45am to 11:30pm… with the exception of 3 hours in Hot Springs. No one seemed to mind though. They had video games, movies, books, coloring pages, and crafts to pass the time.
We started on our grand adventure yesterday morning. We set off a little later than we had hoped due to some storm preparations we had to make in case the forecasted impending storms took out our power while we were gone.
Our plan for day one was to drive from Annapolis, MD to Nashville, TN. Our route took us through DC which was a fun start.
We left our house around 10:15 in the morning and pulled into Scott’s cousins in TN around 10:30pm.
I know I’ve posted some of them before, but as we prepare to add 11 new pictures to our collection, I thought I’d post the pictures we currently have in our flip book.
2002
2003
2005
2006
2007
2009
2010
2011
I had so much fun looking back over these pictures and recalling the stories behind them.
You know how sometimes a movie or book will portray how one decision or one event changed the momentum and current of the character’s entire life?
Well for Scott and I, that momentum shifting/life altering event was our vacation in 2002. Somehow or other we got to talking about cross country trips. And somehow an idea blossomed for a large out west vacation. We had a huge map of the US in our laundry room and we began plotting our course.
After a week of fun, friends, field trips, house work, sleeping in, and even a camp fire, we’re topping off our Spring Break with a long weekend at Grandma and Papa’s.
I have found that packing up the circus crew of 6 for even a weekend away, can at times be a bit overwhelming. And while the kids love to help pack, sometimes they are anything but helpful. So, I found a system that works pretty well for us.
Our 6 year old had her first gymnastics meet this past weekend. I can’t really put into words the feelings of pride I had in watching her. When we first enrolled her in gymnastics 3 years ago, we did so because she was tiny, tough and flexible. It seemed gymnastics might be worth a try for our then 3 year old.
Somewhere in the last 3 years, a light when on inside her.
Scott and I got away last week, just the 2 of us, for 3 nights in the Windy City. It was a belated 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves.
And it was WON-DER-FUL!!
The city of Chicago is beautiful. The buildings are unique and interesting… truly works of art in and of themselves. We had so much fun walking around the city and taking in its beauty. The weather was overcast and it rained off and on while we were there.
Of the 32 years I’ve been a Steelers fan, I only had the joy of being a hometown fan for only 8 of those years (5 of which I was 5 and under so it doesn’t really count in my book). My sophomore year of college, I moved to PA for 3 years. I was thrilled to get to watch the Steelers on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, this was during the Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox era, which wasn’t exactly the Steelers golden era of football.
Time and time again our fourth child has blown us away with his easy going, flexible, happy-go-lucky approach to life. It has made the transition to a family of 6, for this family on-the-go, SO MUCH easier—a fact I am truly, truly grateful for.
This weekend, he really went above and beyond our expectations though.
Not only did he fall asleep in the tent both nights, while the rest of us were out at the camp fire, but he even napped in the tent Saturday morning.
Most people think that perfect beach weather is a bright sunny day, but we discovered unexpected joy in a trip to the Florida beach on an overcast evening following an afternoon rain storm.
Shuttle launch in the morning, nap in the afternoon, beach in the evening, and free Chick-Fil-A right before bed… it was a perfect day in Florida… totally worth the 32 hours of driving it took to get there and back.