More Arkansas.

Even with full week in Arkansas we still were not able to do everything we wanted to. It didn't help that I was sick the entire trip. Even though I was sick I did still take almost 300 pictures. Here are a few from the trip.

My kids get so excited when we go to Arkansas because of Chucky Cheese. We see the commercial on tv but we don't have one locally. The only time we go is in Ft Smith.

The trolley ride is really cheap and was pretty fun. Braden got to ring the bell as we crossed streets. We didn't know that it was a tour though. We thought it was just a little ride on the trolley. So after we got off of the trolley to look at different trains and the trolleys they are restoring we were all starving. We missed lunch.

I haven't been to the Ft Smith museum since was a kid. Our school went on a field trip one year. The kids of course didn't really care to read and look at the exhibits but they had little dress up areas in a few parts of the museum that the kids loved!

A trip to the museum wouldn't be complete without a root beer float from the soda fountain. Braden and Mike both got root beer floats. Ashlyn doesn't like root beer so she went with a coke float. They were really good.

Mom and Greg took us to the Alma Aquatic Park one day. We had been there before but it was like 5 years ago. They had added another water slide called the toilet bowl which Braden was to be flushed down!

We made a quick stop at the Huckabee center. We didn't have long because it was closing. Next trip we will have to give ourselves more time to check things out.

Fish Tales

One night someone got the great idea to go fishing. Neither of my kids have been fishing even though they each have a really cute Shrek fishing pole. So we loaded up and off we went to Modean's (gotta love Arkie names) pond.

Ashlyn was the fish master. As soon as Dad handed her the pole she caught a pretty good size bass. Not bad for a city girl. Of course she would not hold it up for a picture but she was happy to pet it.

A couple of days later we were visiting my grandparents and Papa asked her if she caught a fish.
"Just a wittle one. Two wittle one." she said.
"No, no, no. That's not how you tell a fish story, Ashlyn. I explained. "When someone ask how big your fish was you hold your arms out really wide and say It was this BIG!."
So now when someone ask her how big her fish was holds her hands out wide and says "THIS BIG!". She's learned the all important lesson of how to tell a fish tale.

I don't remember if Dad or Mike who showed Braden how to cast but it only took a few tries and he did it. And it only took a minute for him to have a fish. Mike helped him get it in and Dad took it off the hook. Then he tried to hand it to Braden so I could take the ever important "first fish" picture. Braden gave Dad the best "are you smokin' crack?" face I've ever seen. (he made me proud. ha)

There was no way on God's green Earth that Braden was going to touch that fish and he certainly wasn't going to put his finger in it's mouth. So Dad put the hook back in it's mouth so I could take a picture of him with it.

Then it was time to throw it back in. Braden started screaming "NO NO NO. It has a hole in its mouth it's going to die. It needs medicine." Of course Dad threw it back in the water and Braden stood on the bank waiting for it float to the top. After a few minutes he was satisfied that the hole in it's mouth must be better since the fish wasn't dead and he was ready to try for a second one.

The problem then was that since he had caught a fish on his first try, he was sure that he was an expert. He was slinging that hook all over the place. He looked like Goofy doing the perfect cast.

No one was hooked and they both caught a fish so it was great evening.

that picture is Dad showing him how to hold the fish and Braden giving the "are you smokin' crack" face.

Farmer Papa

My Papa JD lives in a little house in front of my Dad's. The first day at my Dad's, Braden disappeared. He wasn't in the camp trailer, in the hot tub, on the four wheeler, in the garden, on the porch swing, or in the pasture. He was at Farmer Papa's, that's what Braden calls him.

This trip Papa JD talked Braden into eating a blackberry and what do you know Braden liked it. Wooo Hoo! To bad he didn't have any spaghetti or mac-n-cheese growing in that garden. Dinner time would be a lot smoother.

Day 1-- Atlanta, GA

We were up and around Thursday morning EARLY! It was 5:30 when we left our house. We got to Atlanta around 3,only 2 hours after the baseball game started. Mike was more than a little frustrated and wanted to scrap the game plans BUT I insisted (and we had already paid for the tickets).

Our seats were of course way up in the nose bleed section but we had a great view and the kids had a blast. Braden liked the hot dogs the best and Ashlyn liked the cheers and chants.

It started to sprinkle towards the end of the game but we figured we would just watch the last batter. We had just spent the whole day in the car so none of us in a hurry to jump back in. That was a big mistake. As soon as we cleared the awning above us the sprinkle turned into a full blown thunderstorm. Since we were on the top deck, the only way down was to walk down stairs or a ramp out in the middle of the rain and lightning. We spent 45 minutes plastered to the side of the stadium,along with all the other crazy people who waited till the last minute to leave, ankle high in water and praying that the lightning wouldn't strike anything close.

It finally did stop raining and we were able to take a few pictures around the stadium before they started locking up. Turner Field was a really neat place. I'm not sure how it compares to other stadiums because I'm not a baseball fan and haven't visited very many. It was fun though and it definitely beat another 10 hours in the car.