Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Adventures In Arkansas

We went on a little weekend jaunt and it's now what.... Wednesday morning? I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

I have to say this might be the first time we've taken a trip and I have intentionally jam packed it with stuff to do. Most of the time we are kind of a play it by ear...wing it when we have too family. As is the usual it was just me and the kids. We absolutely love it when Dad can join us but we don't expect it very often. Such is the life of the self-employed.

We didn't venture too far from home. Up to the Northwest Arkansas area. I'm very familiar with it after living there for nearly 7 years. We managed to fit in a trip to Cabelas (outdoorsman's dream store) for some shopping, a tour of the Daisy Airgun Museum (more shopping, guns for everyone!), a rainy but amazingly fun time at the Fayetteville Farmers Market (hella pumpkins y'all!), watched a movie, visited a farm/pumpkin patch/pig races/nighttime corn maze, went swimming, and toured the absolutely stunning Crystal Bridges American Art Museum in Bentonville.

It sounds like a lot and oh man it was a lot!


Our adventure begins.



Cabelas' giant fish tank, perfect for gazing.


The Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers was a very interesting stop. I took this picture
specifically for my grandma.


You'll shoot your eye out!
Next stop was a great little family farm in Springdale. We waited until evening and it was
just the right amount of chilly and drizzly to make it fun but not unbearable.
There were ponies to ride...


Llamas and a whole yardfull of other animals to interact with. We just
happened to like this particular llama.



While not expected on a farm, the camel was a nice treat. And friendly too!
Haybale jumping.
The biggest box of corn I've ever seen.
And a cornmaze to run through. We hit up the maze after dark and it was
so much fun and a bit scary to be navigating it with just flashlights.
The next morning the kids went for an early morning swim. Nothing makes them
happier than a hotel with an indoor pool.
Our last stop was Crystal Bridges in Bentonville.
Eli and I really liked this piece.
I enjoyed watching them observe almost as much as I enjoyed the pieces themselves.
The architecture is stunning and perfect for wandering aimlessly.
We came to this installation and a nearby guard instructed the kids to stand in
front of it and yell into the horn.
It began to play Beethoven and those smarty pants homeschool kids recognized
it. Very proud moment for me. We have been studying Beethoven specifically
in the last month for our music lessons.
 
 
We hit up the children's room and there was so much too do!
Cash did not leave this light table the whole time.
After that it was on to an absolutely amazing lunch at their restaurant, Eleven. I would recommend
just going there for lunch even if you don't have time to tour the place. Locally sourced, slow
food type menu. Wine and coffee bar and all natural offerings for the kids. Lunch was
so good that we went on a walk on one of their many many trails to work it off.
This was the last installation we saw on our trip and it sums it up pretty nicely.



 What I mean by that last statement is that its almost never easy for me to take these vacations by myself with three kids. But I do it. I do it with the least amount of stress I can. I try not to take things too seriously and I try not to hold us to rigid plans. I might have almost had a panic attack on our last day as we were leaving the museum but in my defense, one of the kids was being very difficult and was testing and pushing me to my limit.
 
But as I said its all done in love. And so I will keep on doing it.

2 comments:

  1. I personally like the painting Cash was looking at. ;) The kids are growing up! Sorry, meant to comment sooner, but the g'ma thing put a lump in my throat and I had to gather myself before coming back here.

    ReplyDelete

Now play nice and for every comment you leave, I'll buy you a pony.