Arkansas

I know we've been back almost a week now and I'm just getting around to blogging about our wonderful family vacation, so sorry. We had an absolutely great time. If it wasn't for the humongous state of Texas, the trip would have been a breeze. It seems like you get going and are making progress in your driving until you hit Texas and then it's like you are running in place, going nowhere. Nevertheless, we had a good time hanging out, eating, canoeing, quad riding, Graceland, BBQ, airplane rides, peabody ducks, fireworks...

So here are the high and low lights from the trip. Don't worry, the hightlights way out do the lowlights.

• Getting to tour Carlsbad Caverns on our way out.
• Not getting to see the bat flight at Carlsbad because of an apparent "lightning storm" though there was no lightning to be seen ANYWHERE!
• Driving across Texas - see above
• Hanging out with the cousins
• Lots of 4 wheeler rides around the ranch, including Jeremy's first solo venture of the trip when he got the quad stuck in a rut and had to try to dig it out of the mud and then ultimately walk the long 3 miles back to the house to get help. For him that was definitely a bummer, good thing he had been running regularly and was in pretty good shape.
• Seeing fire flies lighting up at night - so cool.
• The other bugs, bugs, bugs! Cole threw a centipede on me when he was trying to get it out of his kayak - I freaked! Not to mention the bug that crawled down my shirt, I freaked again and poor Justin had to see too much when I pulled my shirt down to get it out.
• Canoeing with my best canoeing pal Eli. (my kids jumped ship on me when I kept bouncing off every bank and running into every tree and rock, but Eli jumped in my canoe and stayed with me, even when I drove him continually into every tree along the river bank (he learned how to duck really well).
• Dinner every night as a group ending in fun games and get-to-know-you activities.
• Going to Graceland in Memphis to see Elvis' home. It was a good experience, but didn't make me more of an Elvis lover, maybe less so.
• Eating BBQ with Whitney, Josh and Millie. They were so fun and so kind to let us all crash their home. Thanks.
• Going to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis to see the ducks walk the red carpet. Short show, but the girls laughed. Jake thought it was a waste of time.
• Swimming at Cori and HJ's - such a fun pool with fun water guns
• Fun airplane rides around Texarkana (thanks HJ for the adventure)
• Shooting guns at the ranch. Jeremy brought his new shotgun and had fun getting to test it out shooting skeet. I, on the otherhand, am a gun sissy and choose not to shoot if I can, much to Jeremy's dismay.
• Trying to talk Lawson to go home with me. The kid is so stinkin cute with the biggest bluest eyes I have ever seen. He kept telling me I was just teasing and he couldn't go with me. Oh well, I tried.
• An awesome fireworks show compliments of Brad, way better than fighting traffic and even more exciting.
• Going on a hayride with the whole crew. Lots of songs and laughter and we all had matching Rolling Hills Ranch - Big Green Tractor Tour t-shirts. Thanks Brad.
• Staying with Brad, Suzanne, Victoria and Cole. Thank you guys so much for your generosity and great hospitality. You guys sacrificed so much for us and we really appreciate it.
  

We had a super great time on our trip. We had talked about going for years, I'm so glad we finally did it! I can't wait to see all the AR cousins next summer in St Johns. It makes me sad that we only get to see these great people so seldom. But in the meantime, we'll just enjoy them when we can and remember the fun times in Arkansas.