Family Vacation 2013

I was MIA from the blog this week for a very good reason. We took our first-ever family vacation.  Jason was commissioned by a family in Tennessee to do five paintings of their lake house and the surrounding land. They wanted the paintings done on location and from life so Jason has spent the last two weeks in Tennessee, finishing the commission. The owners of the lake house no longer live there, so they told Jason to have me and the girls come up and join him and have a little vacation.

The view from the back porch.

This place was such a great set up for our family. It was about 20 minutes from the nearby town and totally private.

Watching the sun set

There was a nice long driveway that led up the the house and they had beautiful landscaping the whole way.

Back porch sunset

Hi, Lake house!

I had looked ahead at the forecast and knew there was bound to be some rainy days so I had stocked up on a few craft projects. Thursday, we pulled out the canvases and paint and the washable (thank goodness) markers.

"Mama, Nora, Rachel, Mama, Rachel."

"What? I'm not supposed to cover myself with this paint?"

Creating masterpieces

Painting like Daddy

Making memories

Jason's parents live about fourty-five minutes from where we were staying, so on Friday, per Bebe's suggestion, we dropped the girls off for a little Bebe and Bubba time and Jason and I left to go paint the town.

First up, haircut for Jason and a pedicure for me. I typically get two pedicures a year. This is number one for 2013.

Hi there, soft feet. I've missed you.

After that, we went to the theater and watched The Great Gatsby. It was interesting but strange.

Shh! The movie's about to start.

We were pretty hungry by the time the movie let out, so we went to a hibachi grill restaurant we had seen on our way to the theater. We were seated at a table with a couple a little older than us that had four children, one of whom was just two months old. (His name was Jason.) I spent the rest of the meal trying to convince my Jason to reverse his vasectomy because "we really need to have just one more," which I'm pretty sure is what I said before Eily and before Nora. Don't get your hopes up Grandmas, I didn't get anywhere.

I was too embarrassed to let out table neighbors see me take a photo of us so I snapped one under the table ledge.

On Saturday, Jason had to go meet with the owners to wrap things up (get paid) so the girls and I took a walk around the property to see what we could discover and so that I could take pictures. Before we started, I had them pose for a picture by the playhouse. I love this playhouse. Imagine your dream playhouse and multiply it by ten.

The coolest playhouse ever! See the post Claire is holding? There used to be a railing between that post the the one on the far right.  I'll give you one guess as to what happened. (The answer is, Nora happened.)

It's a bad picture, but if you look closely you can tell there's a ladder behind Elaina that leads up to a little loft.

Claire organized and straightened the playhouse all day to prepare for her tea party.

To the left of the playhouse door, there was a charming lamp post and water fountain.

On our walk, we discovered a side road with a sign that read CABIN.

Side road :)

Walking a little ways down the road, we found this very cool tree house. I didn't let the girls go inside because it looked like it hadn't been used in several years and I wasn't sure what we would find, but I know the owners are planning on cleaning it up, so it will be something to look forward to if we ever get to come back.

We also found a grapevine. There's really not much to say about that, I just thought it looked neat so I snapped a photo.

We spent the rest of the day swimming (I now resemble a lobster), eating (I now resemble a cow) and napping (I now resemble a sane mother.) Then Jason and Nora ran to his parents' house to get some frames he had stored there and I took the older three girls out to supper and a movie. I think that's the first time I've gotten to do something like that with just the older three and it was really, really fun. 

Then this morning, we took our time getting ready and packing up and then we ate lunch at Cracker Barrel with Jason.  We then said our goodbyes and he headed off for Maryland, us for Arkansas. It was so nice to spend some slow, stress free time with him. And guess what! He's only going to be in Maryland for a week and then he'll be home for two weeks. TWO WEEKS!

And this well-rested, stress free Mama thinks that sounds mighty nice.

Hot Springs Vacation

In January, Jason had some art things to take care of in Hot Springs so we decided to make a little family vacation out of the trip. We took care of the art stuff first, and then headed downtown for a little fun. We ate at Rolando's (one of Mama's favorite restaurants) and then walked down the street a little ways to a cupcake shop called Fat Bottomed Girls.

Then we headed off for the Children's Science Museum. It was so much fun. The girls had a blast. Even Nora got into some of the displays. This was a set up where your children could pretend they were discovering Arkansas.

We posed as Astronauts.

There were so many fun things to do. Just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back right now!

We stayed the night with some good church friends, and Sunday morning, we attended services at Old Union Primitive Baptist Church in Hot Springs. Nora thinks they have yummy food. :)

Silver Dollar City, Our First Family Vacation

Yesterday, our van was in the shop getting her lower intake gasket replaced ($$$$!) so the girls and I decided to walk to town since we were really hungry and there was no food in the house. It started to drizzle right as we reached Steffy's Pizza and we darted inside.
















After a yummy meal of half sausage, half pep. pizza and cheese sticks the girls and I gathered ourselves together and set out to walk home...in the pouring rain.
















We decided since a run in the rain was really the last thing that we, and by that I mean I, wanted to do, we would just lope across the grass to BNT Auto to check on the status of the van.
















It was ready! Hallelujah!















The picture above of all the girls with their hands raised is a picture of the absolute most boring ride at the park. The ladybugs go around in a circle. That's it. No jumping or bouncing or buttons that you can push to go up, up, up and then down, down, down. I had the girls screaming their lungs out and holding their hands up the entire time. It was really, really funny.

We drove home and I ironed for the next 5 years of my life.

After all that ironing I decided a date was in order so I called Leah, who had previously volunteered to babysit and Jason and I made our date details.

I arrived at the Malco Theater and guess what!!!???

All that money that we had just paid to get the van fixed was in vain. I couldn't get her to stay cool. So we had to park her at Wendy's and this morning I made the mechanic man go get her first thing. I am not going to pay towing charges. I can be very firm with people.

But only over the phone.

So here we are, carless again which I really don't mind. I just want it all to be fixed and have one less thing to think about.

Plus, we have grandkid pictures in the morning and I really don't want to walk to the studio.

Look how sweet this one is.