Memorial Day Weekend

A quick breakdown of our Memorial Day weekend:

I took Friday off from work to have a four day weekend. We left Thursday after I got home from work and headed south on 71 to Belle Vista, Arkansas. We were visiting my Grandparents, but they were more interested in being Great-Grandparents with their two Great-Grandsons.

Thursday – Arrive in Belle Vista a little after 10 pm. Goose runs into their house screaming “happy birthday Great-Grandma.” Both Great-Grandparents gush over the boys and are surprised how big they have gotten in six months. They get a kick out of Goose vocabulary and curiosity and Turkey’s near crawling ability.

Friday – After breakfast, jump in the car and take the windy road to Silver Dollar City. (Steel your dollar city.) It is about a two hour drive – past Pea Ridge Civil War Battlefield, through Roaring River State Park, and then over Table Rock Lake. We did Silver Dollar mainly for Goose, meaning no adult rides for us. It was still fun; he got to ride the train and curse at the bank robber, play with the balls, and the many playground set-ups. We left after the two year old had as much as he could take without a nap and without driving us too crazy. We didn’t even pull out of the park and he was asleep - a moment of peace for us.

Saturday – A slow moving morning for us. We put Turkey down for a nap and left him with the Great-Grandparents. The rest of us went to hike/walk a favorite trail of ours nearby. We followed the path up to the waterfalls. We took our shoes off at the top of the falls and waded in the water barefoot. Goose didn’t care too much for the mossy covered rocks under his feet. It was slimy! He did however, enjoy throwing rocks into the creek. We walked down the falls and off the beaten path along the creek and at one point had to cross over to catch up with the trail. Some stepping stones kept our shoes dry. We took a few more stops along the creek for goose to throw more rocks and for me to practice my rock skipping skills. The finally is at the end of the trail crossing over the creek on a suspension bridge, which is always fun to jump on in the middle.

After lunch, we realized that Goose wasn’t going to take a nap so we jumped in the car. Our goal was to head to a Bruams for some ice cream. Again, Goose and Turkey fell asleep in the car. Vernal got out the state map and we decided to head to Beaver Lake and let them sleep. By the time he woke up, we found a nice little rocky beach. Other people were out enjoying the weather and were riding their sea doo's. This time Goose had on his sport sandals, so he and Vernal waded along the beach. We got our Bruams on the way back.

Sunday – Wake-up, breakfast, go to church, lunch, pack-up, go home, relax!