First of all, let me say that traveling 1200 miles with a 5 month old didn't come highly recommended.. He. Did. AMAZINGLY! After a few hours of driving in his seat, we would stop for gas, let him stretch out, change him and we'd be on our way without so much as a peep from the kid. We left around 2pm AZ time, so he slept a bit through the night. If you're going to be traveling with an infant, I HIGHLY suggest driving at night. If they've got a routine, they'll stick with it and be out cold most of the ride. We got there on Saturday morning around 10am (there is a 2hour time difference) and all hit the hay. I tried to sleep as much as I could on the way there so once we got there I could stay up with Rex and let Skyler sleep.
Saturday night we went to a place called Across the Creek. Skyler has been dreaming about this place since Natalie had mentioned it a few weeks earlier. Let me clue you in on why. Never ending crab legs, crawfish & catfish. That's why. They stick a big bucket on the table where you put the shells and they just come around and load you back up every twenty minutes or so. I am not a fan of anything that has been swimming so I got the chicken. I was not a fan of that either but Sky, Nat + Kevin had a great time so the little one and I just waited for them to be done. Sunday was a nice, lazy day. We decided not to go to church so Skyler and I could catch up on our sleep (they have 8am church and tee building is far from their house) and boy are we glad we did. We went on a nice walk around the neighborhood, took some photos and watched a couple of movies. like I said, lazy day! We had to prepare for the rest of the week!!
Monday. We got to go on a tour if te Walmart home office where Kevin works and We got to wear some pretty bad-a name tags. Even Rex had to wear one! He showed us the conference rooms, cafeteria and giant meeting room, which was basically an auditorium. He took us up to his desk with his co-workers and Natalie got to try a sucker that hasn't hit the stores yet. Score! It was a day I had also long awaited. I got my hair done. I haven't gotten it done since November (for my maternity photos) and I was well overdue. I went blonde, as I usually do. After Nat had done my full weave in a color, we waited an hour for the color to take. It didn't. Are you kidding me? Had she just stood up all that time, gone through every little strand d hair on my head for no reason? Did my butt hurt like hell? Yes. Yes to both of those questions. We did it again, this time with bleach and it worked. Hallelujah! I was ready to show off the new me. That night is the night both of Rex's bottom front teeth cut! It's about time. That poor poor boy was so sad and fussybones...
Kevin had taken off the rest of the week so this is when the fun began. On Tuesday we decided we were going to go to Branson. Skyler had never been and we wanted him to get the 'Full Experience.' We basically just ended up shopping. Poor Skyler. Every time that card would swipe I could see him die a little bit inside.. (And once we got home and looked at the Amex bill, I could see why.) We had a great time and ate some delicious hamburgers at the mall. We wanted to try and find a super cool old wooden bridge for Sky to see on the way home but we didn't end up brig able to find it. How does one describe "cold old wooden bridge" to their GPS? You just can't. Once we got home Kevin ha to leave for scouts and Nat and I did our best to make some home made vanilla ice cream. The machine didn't work too well so it ended up not turning out which was unfortunate. Natalie I think was the most upset. she had wanted that ice cream for days!
Kevin had taken off the rest of the week so this is when the fun began. On Tuesday we decided we were going to go to Branson. Skyler had never been and we wanted him to get the 'Full Experience.' We basically just ended up shopping. Poor Skyler. Every time that card would swipe I could see him die a little bit inside.. (And once we got home and looked at the Amex bill, I could see why.) We had a great time and ate some delicious hamburgers at the mall. We wanted to try and find a super cool old wooden bridge for Sky to see on the way home but we didn't end up brig able to find it. How does one describe "cold old wooden bridge" to their GPS? You just can't. Once we got home Kevin ha to leave for scouts and Nat and I did our best to make some home made vanilla ice cream. The machine didn't work too well so it ended up not turning out which was unfortunate. Natalie I think was the most upset. she had wanted that ice cream for days!
Wednesday morning Skyler and Kevin went fishing for a few hours while Natalie cut some of her friends hair. It was the day before the 4th and we didn't have too much to do. We were saving most of our energy for the next day, the 4th. Once the boys got home, we went and it some amazingly delicious crêpes at a little food cart in Bentonville square. So delicious. We went to the mustache store and just kin of walked around. The weather was so nice! We went home and I, of course, decided to take some more photos of the little one, I may oral not e obsessed with my kid. Sorry. Wait, not sorry. That night we went to Monte Ne Inn's famous all-you-can-eat fried chicken. This place is in the backwoods as is deeeeelicious! All the chicken, mashed potatoes, bread, bacon green beans, and bean soup you want. I'm wishing I could go back just thinking about it. Gahhh. Moving on before I start salivating. On our way back we stopped at a firework tent and bought some of the goods. We lit them off at the house once it got dark and it was a great time. Rex wasn't too fond of them in the beginning (especially when Natalie tried to kill the kid haha) but eventually warmed up to the noise. We were getting him ready for the big show the next night.
The 4th of July started out nicely. We got Rex dressed in his stars and stripes shirt with some old fashioned blue jeans in honor of the occasion. He. Looked. Adorable. I did take some photos so look for those things down in the slew of photos I'll post at the end of my rant. We started out the day pretty slowly. Kevin and Sky were going to go fishing again but decided not to when we made plans to go swim in the lake at N & K's bishops house. We decided to throw our suits on, hit up a BBQ joint for lunch, and head out. We ended up going to Dicky's BBQ and it was delicious. We saw a group of missionaries there eating and decided to ask where everyone was from. There was an elder whose mom lives in QC with his step-dad. Smaller world, his step-dad was my Sunday school teacher growing up at church. craziness. I took a picture with him so I could post it to FB and let them see him with a familiar face and they loved it. After lunch we went to the bishops house to swim in the lake. They had the craziest freaking driveway I have ever seen. it was a straight shot down which wasn't all the bad going down, coming back UP on the other hand.. kill me. it took us about 10 minutes to get back up and the next day my calves were paying for it. After we went swimming in the lake, we went home and got ready for the nights festivities. A co-worker of Kevin's is a bishop for a ward south of Bentonville and was nice enough to invite us to his ward party. This party was ridiculous. In the best way possible. It was held on a private landing strip, at a retired pilots hangar. This place was nuts. It was a BBQ and before the festivities started, they walked around serving samples of filet mingnon & scallops. Skyler was in heaven.
After the BBQ was over, The retired pilot got his plane, flew it over his runway and dropped candy to the kids in the ward. I'm telling you, this party was so over the top. I snapped a few photos of the plane that I'll post below. Once that was all said and done, the firework show started. Now this was an all-star ward. They had an electronic engineer and pyrotechnician in their ward who collaborated together to make this fabulous almost 30 minute show possible and Rex looooved it. On the bigger fireworks we muffled his ears a little bit but all of the different colors mesmerized his little brain. I can only imagine the thoughts running through his head.
Friday. The day I dreaded. I didn't want to go home. I could spend more time in Arkansas for sure and it is nice to see Natalie and Kevin for so long. We spent the morning packing up the truck and being lazy.. we like lazy.. hit up my favorite place in AR, Whole Hog BBQ. mmmm ribs. after lunch we stopped and got donuts for the drive home, gave our last hugs, and left KK straight for home. Skyler got pulled over in Oklahoma.. TWICE. No tickets, thank heavens, but we made great time. We got home in about 16 hrs (Google says it takes 19. In your face, Google.) Rex was a gem, as always.
We are still recovering from our trip but we had a great time and can't wait for Natalie and Kevin to come visit us for Christmas.
iPhone photo time.
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