Hot Springs Vacation…Part 2…

 

We had a busy day on the Tuesday of our vacation.  First we visited the Mountain Valley Spring Water bottling facility.  It was interesting to hear about the company and how they have been getting their water from a single spring source since the 1800’s. 

We got to wear these lovely hair nets while we toured the factory!  This picture of Myla is so funny to me.  It looks like a girl’s senior portrait from the 50’s or 60’s.  They always had that distant look a slight smile (minus the hair net, which by the way were called bouffant caps).  Ha!

Selah wasn’t interested in the bouffant cap hair net or the tour for that matter!  It was hot in the factory, so she was a bit grumpy, but we survived with paci and Elmo in tow!

We were thankful to get a cold bottle of water after the tour was over!

All three kiddos with their water!

Thank goodness the top was on Selah’s bottle!

After we left there, we had lunch at the Purple Cow!  It was a really fun fifties type diner.

After that we headed to the Mid America Science Museum!  The kids had a blast! If you are ever in this area with children, this is definitely something you want to do!  Selah was getting ready to enter the Nano Technology Lab.

“Mom, these glasses are a little bigger than I’m used to!”

My little scientist.  She did EVERYTHING the big kids did!

Henry loved being a scientist too!

Of course, Myla was geared up too!

Everything in the museum in hands on, so it keeps the kids entertained!

Selah loved running around this sloped circle.  It is to teach about gravity…how you always falls towards the center.

There was a big room where you could make shadows.  The kids loved it!  The museum was not crowded at all, so we were able to do things for as long as we wanted to without interrupting others or feel rushed.

This was another hands on activity that they were doing this particular day.  You drew a cartoon on the paper they provided, then they put it in this contraption, and you could watch your cartoon come to life.  Myla and Henry thought it was great!

Bodie thought it was great too, so he decided to do his own.  He drew a stick figure shooting basketball (go figure…sports are never far from his mind!) and it turned out great!

Master scientist!

Mom and Myla inside a hurricane stimulator!  The wind got up to 67 mph to mimic at stage one hurricane.

Then both girls got in with Bodie!

The museum has a special section right now all about pirates, which was great. Selah liked the pirate’s hat!

After several hours, Selah finally got sleepy!!  We sat outside on this covered bridge while she napped in the stroller.  This is relaxation at its best, huh?

While Selah napped, Bodie and the big kids fed the huge fish and turtles.

The turtles would all get right under the bridge and just look up at us waiting for their food!

The fish were beautiful!

More feeding!

I think Myla was starting to get delirious.  She pulled out the hair net from our bottling tour and started acting crazy!

Last picture before leaving the museum!!

Hot Springs Vacation…Part 1…

Finally, I’m getting around to putting our vacation on here!  We had SO much fun in Hot Springs!  It is definitely a place I would recommend for a vacation with kids.  It was only a 4 hour trip for us, so that was a bonus too!!  There was plenty for us to do!

Saturday morning before we left.  Myla and Henry were so excited to see each other!  They get along really, really well, but after about day 5, they were starting to act more like brother and sister, not cousins who rarely see each other.  There was a little more squabbling than normal, but they still had a blast together!

Selah decided to try a lemon on the way. She loved it! Ha!

Our condo was GREAT!  We had plenty of room, and it was right on a lake.  We had a nice back patio that we ate breakfast on almost every day!

The boat ramp for the lake was right across from our condo.  The kids loved going down to it and watching boats go in the water.  I loved this picture of Bodie and Selah walking down there!  Unfortunately, Frank did not feel well at all on Sunday, so we stayed around the condo and didn’t do much!

On Monday, he was feeling better so we ventured off to find something to do.  We decided to do a “Duck Tour” of Hot Springs. (I found out AFTER we had done it that one sank in Hot Springs several years ago.)  Bodie got the kids these duck calls that make quite the racket.  Thank goodness several others on the tour had them too, so they didn’t seem to be much of a bother to anyone.

Myla and her duck call!

Selah said, “Forget the duck call…I’ll take the cheesy cheese popcorn from the popcorn shop!”

Henry and Bodie ready to start the tour!

Selah was my riding partner…seeing the people behind me reminds me of something.  On our tour, there were people from California, New York, Vermont and VIENNA, AUSTRIA.  Seriously…I love Arkansas, but wow!

Selah loved it when we went in the water!  As soon as the boat hit the water, she squealed, “We in the water!!!!!”

Happy girl!

This is Captain Rick.  He started doing these tours in 1981 in Branson, but now services Hot Springs.  It was a fun way to learn some of the history, and the kids thought it was great!

Back at the condo, the kids loved the GINGANTIC bathtub!!

And don’t forget the nightly ice cream before bed.  Only on vacation, right.  And, only AFTER baths.  Ha!

Even the big kids (and Bodie) enjoyed their ice cream too!

Part 2 coming up…

It’s Time For An Update, Don’t You Think??

So have you wondered why I haven’t updated my blog in ages?  Let me give you a quick run-down of our past 10 days…

1.  Two Sundays ago while I was at the church decorating for VBS Michael called me in a panic because he noticed thousands of “ants” on the roof while he was cleaning out the gutters.  He was convinced we had termites or carpenter ants.  On the way home I stopped and bought a ladder at Walmart so we could examine it further.  I hated to spend $150 on a  ladder, but I just thought, “Hey, sometimes an extra expense pops up…it’s just part of life, right?”  Well, little did I know it was just a foreshadowing of what was to come!  The pest control people came out on Monday and told us that they were just ants, and it was nothing to worry about, but they did recommend having the lower branches cut off of the tree where the ants were travelling from onto the roof.  So, we contacted a tree surgeon and had that taken care of…another “extra” expense.

2.  Then on Monday on the way to VBS in a torrential rain, the passenger side windshield wiper went haywire flopping around every which way.  It was an easy fix, but again, combined with all the other things coming up, it just became comical.

3.  When I got home from VBS, I noticed that the power had been knocked out in the storm because all of our clocks were blinking.  Before long, I went to get on the computer, and it was dead.  Wouldn’t turn on.  I had my friend, Cameron, come out and look at it.  Power surge…lightning strike.  Okay, so now we had to buy a new computer….do you see a pattern of “extra expenses” popping up??

4.  I also noticed that both garage doors were not working…you guessed it.  Lighting fried both control boards so we had to have those repaired.

5.  Saturday morning, while cleaning I noticed the wall temperature control panel for our hot water heater was not on.  What do you know…lightning strike got it’s control board as well.  The plumber came and fixed it.

6.  I’m continuing to clean on Saturday, and when I turned on my vacuum cleaner, it sounds like it is about to BLOW up!  Needless to say, it didn’t work.  Can’t blame that on the lightning…just a stroke of bad luck.

7.  This past Monday night we headed to church (we have church on Monday nights during the summer) in a crazy thunderstorm with heavy winds.  When I got home, Michael was standing in the side yard in front of a section of our fence that had blown over.  Literally, the support poles snapped at the ground level and it just fell over.  Really???  Surely this was the end of all of the craziness happening to us.  Well….

8.  Late Tuesday afternoon, I noticed it was getting a little warm in the house since the girls had the back door open going in and out to play.  I cut the thermostat down on the air conditioner, and NOTHING happened.  I thought to myself, “Surely not!”  Well, it was true…the air would not come on.  When Michael got home, I broke the news to him.  He went out to inspect the unit, and Oskie was going crazy trying to scratch and get under it, and in turn had shredded a large cord.  Michael told me he thought there was an animal under it.  Upon further inspection, Michael saw the culprit.  A huge RAT.  I am not making this up.  In an attempt to get to the rat, Oskie had caused the damage.  Michael ran the rat out with the broom handle, and Oskie took care of him.  Thankfully, the air people came the next morning and replaced a fuse that had blown, and the air was fixed.

Whew…I still cannot believe all that has taken place in the last week and a half.  Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying.  So, in a nutshell, that is why I have not updated my blog recently, but here goes.  I am going to do separate post from our vacation, but these are the other things that have been going on!

Last week we had VBS!  Myla and Selah loved it!!  I directed crafts for 1st through 6th grade, and we had so much fun!!!  Here is Myla in the plane in her room!

She loved showing us her room on family night, and she pointed out the “fish” she had drawn on their wall mural.

VBS is such a wonderful ministry to children!  There were 9 children who gave their life to Christ during the week.  That is WORTH every bit of hard work and planning that went into putting this week on!

My mom and Frank got Myla a swing set for and early birthday present.  Michael set it up last Saturday while they were at his parents’ house, and they enjoyed playing on it after church on Sunday!

Both of them were saying, “Swing us higher, Mommy!!”

Selah’s favorite thing is this double swing!

Myla’s favorite thing is the swing she is on in the above picture.  She’s figured out how to get herself going on her own, and she loves it!

This past Tuesday, it was a rainy day, so we decided to take advantage of the $2 movie summer series.  I didn’t know how Selah would do, but she did great!  We say Kung Fu Panda.

Sometimes I think this child is going to make me lose my religion, but oh my goodness, I love her SO much!

Another advantage to the summer movie series, is that kids get a box of popcorn, a drink, and candy for $2 at the concession stand.  Now, that’s a deal!

Another picture before we left.  Thankfully it has stopped raining by the time we left.  We had to run through a downpour when we got there!

Yesterday, we finally had some sunshine, and we were so excited because we were going to Tupelo to see our cousin, George, who was here visiting from Colorado.  The girls wanted to swim so badly at my aunt’s house, so they were excited the sun was out!

Three peas in a pod! 

Of course, swimming makes everyone hungry, so they had to have a snack when they came in!

Sweet cousins…they hated to say goodbye to each other!

YAY!!  I’m glad that post in behind me.  I was a little overwhelmed about updating the blog because I have so much to post.  Vacation posts coming up soon!!!

MIA...

Well, I'm not dead...just MIA!  We were on vacation all last week, then Monday morning, lightning struck our computer and it DIED!!  We bought a new one tonight, so hopefully I will be able to update the blog soon!  Sorry!!!!  I have LOTS of pictures to share from vacation and now VBS from this week!

Ten on Tuesday…

***My computer/internet has been giving us FITS this week, and I have not been able to post.  I had my post done on Tuesday, but I couldn’t post it!***

1.  Michael will probably be mad at me for putting this on the blog, but I am SO proud of him!  Last Friday, he was awarded the Overall Outstanding Staff Member for the University.  There were seven awards given out over different areas of the campus, then Michael got the overall award.  He received several gifts which was so nice.  Michael is so good at what he does and has a tremendous gift with people, so he was fully deserving of this award.  But, at the same time he is so humble and was probably more embarrassed than anything! Either way, I was super proud of him!!!!

2.  Speaking of Michael, thankfully he is feeling better and was able to go to work yesterday.  I’m so glad he is better.  He doesn’t get sick often, and when he does, he just usually pushes through.  I knew he didn’t feel well when he stayed in the bed pretty much all day on Saturday!

3.  The girls and I have been at church all morning working on VBS craft stuff!  We are so ready for VBS week after next!

4.  I am getting a new windshield in the van this afternoon.  Sis Sis will be very happy to read this considering EVERY.SINGLE.TIME she gets in my van she tells me I need to get it fixed.  It has been probably a year and a half.  Why do I put things like that off?

5.  Last Wednesday, Myla had her AWANA award night!  She got her last award for Cubbies.  Next year she will be a Sparky!  I cannot believe how fast she is growing.  Next year Selah will get to participate in AWANA as a Puggle!  It makes me so happy that our church has this program.  This year a total of 6,999 verses were memorized by clubbers 3 years old up to 6th grade!

6.  We planted a small garden last week.  Needless to say, we are not completely sure what we are doing.  We’re just hoping something lives!

7.  Last week we had Selah’s 2 year check up.  She looks great!!!  84% for weight and 75% for height.  Dr. Molly said she is growing very well and is hitting all of her milestones.  She asked me if she was talking much.  I told her that was an understatement.  She NEVER stops talking unless she is asleep!

The girls always love coloring while we wait.

Then Selah got curious about some other people in the other part of the waiting room and she stared them down.

8.  Speaking of staring down, do your kids stare?  Myla will STARE at people and it’s so embarrassing.  At the zoo, she couldn’t even walk straight because she would be staring at people and she would keep staring even after they passed.  In restaurants, she will just stare at people at other tables. 

9.  It seems like everybody I know is at the beach.  I’m trying not to be jealous!

10.  I will not have a Ten on Tuesday next week because we will be on vacation with my parents.  I’m sure I will have LOTS of pictures to post when we get home!

Happy Tuesday!!!