Trip to Little Rock

We had a perfect little trip to Little Rock Arkansas back in September. I know Arkansas??? What is there to do there...well it was only a 2 1/2 hour drive and we found out there was a mountain there so we thought we would go and just stay one night. The town was nice and we had fun walking around along the river park. We walked across the bridge and the kids loved the submarine which happened to be the longest submarine ever built (we didn't go inside). We toured the Old State Capitol and took a trolley around the city. We went swimming in the hotel and the kids jumped on the beds and Glen and I watched House Hunters after the kids finally fell asleep. We also went out to eat which is something we rarely do so that was fun. The next day we went to the State Park and had so much fun hiking up the mountain. Matthew was so funny he got so into it. He called him and Taylor mountain climbers and was chanting things like "if we fall down....we don't care; mountain climbers are tough. They were both really tough and we made it almost to the very top. We stopped for a rest and Glen went up to the top which we were very close to. It was very steep and just huge boulders and we decided we didn't want to carry Taylor up and down. Matthew could have made it for sure but we pretended we were at the top for him. We were at a great lookout point so it felt like the top. What a fun short little trip!!

The "Little Rock"
Old State Capital

Along the river front they had fun things for the kids to do

Matthew took a picture of us; I was trying to hide my big cold sore.

Being in a hotel with these two is just so fun. They think it is the greatest thing and I love watching them have so much fun. There was two beds in our room but they insisted on sleeping on the fold out bed. They think it is the greatest to sleep together!

Playground at the state park. I think we might come here again. They had lots of different trails you could go on too.

You can see the trail turns very steep and rocky.

View from the topMatthew and I at "the top" watching the birds and I listened as Matthew was amazed how tiny everything was. "Mom, I could hold that house in my hand." Love this boy!

FINALLY

I think it might be safe to say that we are done with the 90 and above degree weather although it has been 85-90 degrees still lately. It does seem to be cooling off better in the evening and the mornings and Matthew and Taylor have been playing outside for hours and hours a day. They love it and I love it too. I would beg them all summer long to go play on our playground but they would not and I don't blame them. Fall time is here or coming and it is great!! The kids were out in the pool and sprinkler just on Friday and I won't complain because it sounded like it was freezing out west. I hope Fall lasts a long time!

Matthew and Taylor were laughing so hard in this picture. I am so grateful for them and thankful they love each other so much. Glen had to work all day today (Sunday) so it was so nice to be outside in the back yard a lot of the day. These picture are not from today; they were wearing shorts today and got a lot of mosquito bites and so did I the few minutes I was out there. Those darn mosquitos....I thought we were done with them but I guess it has been warm enough for them again.

Birthday Celebrations and first day of preschool

We started a co-op preschool on Monday for Taylor and she was so excited. She couldn't wait to show Matthew the things she made after we picked him up from preschool. Taylor turned 3 on the 26th and we had a really fun day! I had fun decorating the night before and even did something from pinterest. The crate paper to run through on birthday morning was an idea from pinterest. I have actually done a few other things from that site as well.....love it!!Getting ready to brake through; Taylor was so happy that it was her birthdayWe had a little party for Taylor in the morning with 4 other little girls around her age. We played games, did nots of dancing, and played outside. They are all so cute!Taylor and Matthew played the afternoon away and that evening we had our friends over and their kids for cake and ice cream. Both Matthew and Taylor love Danny and they had a fun time playing outside. Danny is Matthew's age but all three of them play so well together.

I tried a new recipee (from pinterest) that was supposed to be the best chocolate cake ever. It was a two layered cake and as you can see it is a little short for a two layered cake. It turned out just like brownies which I didn't mind since I love brownies more than cake. Taylor loved it regardless!! It was a beautiful night!!Taylor got some fun presents and was just a happy little girl all day. We love her so much and I still can't believe she is 3!!

Some old and new pictures

The Pink Palace is a fun museum that gives free memberships for the summer which is actually a really great time of year to do it so we have a place to go to get out of the heat. It has a little bit of everthing including a replica of the first Piggly Wiggly grocery store and a fun hand painted circus that moved and plays music. We didn't go very much but I hope to go more next summer.

This nature center is also free in the summer and the kids loved it. The front desk gave us a whole pack that had compasses, binoculars, bug nets and many other fun things for the kids to use as we explored the trails.

The kids feeding the ducks and fishPizza movie night!! The kids and I were so hungry this particular night that we manged to eat the whole pizza without Glen's help.

Now that we are having some nicer days and it is beginning to feel like fall a little bit we have been getting outside a lot more. We pulled out the sidewalk chalk which we hadn't done forever. The kids made round circles up our driveway and on both sides of the sidewalk. I asked Matthew why they were using so much chalk on one circle and not drawing pictures. He told me that they were making bug catchers. He said, "the bugs will walk into the chalk and it will cover their eyes so they can't see so they can't find their way into our house." If that really worked I think I would be making a lot of chalk circles. I killed a huge coukrouch on our kitchen counter the other morning. Luckily it has been around 4 months since I have seen one of those in the house.

Country fun

A few weeks ago the kids and I went to Glen's urology party without Glen. There was going to be a hay ride and pony rides so I figured I should go even though it is a little awkward that I don't know these people very well. The kids loved it and it was beautiful there at one of the attending doctor's houses. They had their own pond and a lot of land.......and a beautiful massive house. They live about 30 minutes from our house. The food was good and the kids had a lot of fun!They were in the process of finishing their new barn and hence the dumpster which ended up in most of these pictures :(Taylor was so excited to ride the pony and looked pretty happy while doing it but this ended up being the only time she did it. Matthew on the other hand rode about 10 times. They spent most of their time playing in the hay. They had a country group singing and playing in front of the barn.