Hot Springs, Arkansas

Thursday and Friday of Spring Break, we took a quick trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas!  We love visiting National Parks, and we are trying to get to all the close ones while our kids are little before venturing further east and west!

We got in late Wednesday night and stayed in this cute "horseshoe cabin."  It was in the 30's at night, so a little too cold to tent camp.  We found this little cabin - it was just big enough for some platform beds and a picnic table and a heater.  Perfect!  We still got to cook outside and have a campfire! And, it was only $35 a night - perfect for a quick trip where we spent very little time in a hotel/campsite!

Thursday morning we were pumped to see all that Hot Springs had to show us!  See the steam rising from the fountain?

A fun display in one of the historic bath houses now a gift shop!

Outside the Fordyce Bath House - this is where you can tour the building and learn about the traditional baths.  Amazing!

This is where the spring comes directly into the basement of the building and was then pumped throughout the building.

Yum - one of the "filling stations."  We saw many people filling several large jars here.  The water was really good - hot, but good!  After it cooled, it tasted great!!!  Madeline really liked it - especially warm!  She said it tasted like hot tea!

At the bottom of a cascade.

Back at the campsite Thursday night for dinner and a campfire!

Friday morning taking Wren for a little walk.

Cooking sausages - the kids love sausages camping more than they ever do at home!

They earned Junior Ranger Badges.  This program is so fun - Aunt Fran first told us about it before we went to Mammoth Cave a few years ago.  Since then, the kids have earned 3 badges.  Here, they are being "sworn in" to protect the parks!

So proud of their accomplishment!

Walking the trail up the mountain to the lookout tower.

Favorite spots on the trail.

Almost there….

A good look out spot!

Before we headed out Friday evening, Madeline and I took a traditional bath at the Arlington Hotel.  This was the only one that would take any age… we tried two others, but the younger they serve is 10 or 14.  I had never done this - we both had a really good time in a warm bath. (We had to cool it down A LOT! - Whew, that water comes out HOT!!! - 146 degrees out of the ground and about 106 out of the tap.  Needless to say, we added a lot of cold water!) 

 Very cool to see how it was done so many years ago.  

We all had a fun time, and were all amazed at how hot the water was pouring out of the ground!  Eli, especially, was amazed at how the water traveled down inside the earth and back out again!  Awesome!

Spring Break

We are so ready for spring break!!!

The first day of spring break, the girls and I went to the Children's Museum while Eli had a playmate at his friend, Inhoo's house!  Then, Miss Yuhnee invited us to her house to have a delicious Korean lunch together!!!!

Tuesday, we went to see the butterfly movie at the Imax theater at the Pink Palace!  Those movies are so good!!!!  I forgot to get a picture!

Wednesday was a HUGE treat!  Not only did we get to see Aunt Fran, Luke, Leo and Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, we got to go to the Charms Blow Pop factory!!!  Fran's family knows someone who works there and set up a tour!  It was amazing!!!  Trains with sugar and corn syrup come directly behind the building!  The machines that knead the candy, then form it, put the sticks in, put wrappers on - it was all so amazing.  The engineering required, and how fast the machines move, the quantity of candy in one minute - unbelievable!  Very cool experience!  We all loved it!!!!!

We learned so much.  There are many, many candies other than blow pops manufactured here.  The distribution center is right across the street!  We were so happy to share this morning with wonderful friends at an incredible place!

Eli's first lost tooth!

I can't believe it, but Eli lost his first tooth - already!  How can this be?  I know, I used to teach kindergarten!!! Most kids lose their first two teeth (and sometimes more) in kindergarten…. but it is just such a HUGE sign of growing up - I just can't believe it!  

We were on the bikes on the way to pick up Madeline from school, and Eli stopped a few houses down from ours to say - "I think my tooth is gone!"  It has been wiggly for several weeks, but I thought it would be a few more days!  He had just eaten an apple before we left the house…. we determined he swallowed his tooth in a bite of apple!!!

On the sidewalk when we realized it was gone!!!!

So very excited!

It is gone for sure!

Can you tell he is pretty excited!

He wrote a note for the Tooth Fairy explaining that he cannot find his lost tooth, and that he thinks he swallowed it!  Lots of excitement and needing to make sure she knew he really lost his tooth!  

Another milestone!

We just want to be OUTSIDE!

We have had an unusually cold winter in Memphis - cold and long!  It seems like it has been that way all over the country this year….

So, we have been itching to get outside!  This weekend, the weather was awesome, and we headed to Shelby Farms!  There is a really wonderful playground there - sand, tons of great slides and swings, and an awesome webbing of rope to climb.  But, we went to an older playground that wasn't very crowded and near a lake.  

After some time on the playground, we headed over by the lake.

Eli did a little wading!

We finally got a kite up in the air for a little while -- took us about 100 tries!

Madeline loved this big rock by the lake!

Then, we headed over to another lake and took a paddleboat out.

It's after a day like this that we say, "Why don't we do this more often?"

Somehow the days and weeks fill up; it is really nice when we just forget all that yard work, house work, work work, homework, etc, and just do something fun!

We really do need to do that more often!

Violin Graduation

The beginning of March marks the graduation time from one point of the Madeline and Eli's violin program to the next.  It's a great opportunity to see all the kids in our violin group and how much they have grown.  They start with the most advanced group playing their graduation piece.  Then, they move through each level.  Since graduation is only once a year, some kids graduate from more than one level if they've completed more than one in a year's time!

Madeline graduated from Book 1 and Eli graduated from the first half of Book 1.  

We were so proud of them, and they were pretty proud of themselves, too.  

Definitely a lot of practicing and hard work.

They were so excited to get their medals!

This is Miss Ann our teacher, and Ms. Erin, our group teacher!

Lindsey graduated, too!  So fun to work so hard and celebrate together!

Heart Reunion

Every year, the Le Bonheur Heart Institute has a Heart Reunion.  Hundreds of kids come back to visit doctors, nurses and other families who had heart surgery, too.  As a family, we love seeing our doctors, nurses and other heart friends.  As a mentor to other heart parents, it is so nice to see these kiddos up running around after seeing them and their families enduring such vulnerable circumstances.  The staff does such a great job planning activities, yummy food and a fun day all around!

Miss Jessica - our awesome cardiac nurse!  We just love her to pieces.  She is so great at what she does, and she totally gets all the kids' symptoms because she is a heart patient herself!

Dr. Joshi - he takes such good care of our girl!

Three of our favorite nurses who are no longer at Le Bonheur :(  Julie and Laura moved away, and Miss Linda retired.  So happy they came back for the reunion!

Dr. Wetzel, our rhythm doctor - we love him, but are thankful we don't see him anymore.  Madeline's WPW has not returned since Dr. Wetzel ablated it 2 1/2 years ago.

MIss Alicia - oh, we go way back!  She was Dr. Joel's nurse, then moved into surgery coordinating and Cardiac Kids Camp director!  We LOVE her!!!!

Miss Ann, Miss Jessica and Miss Renee -- Ann and Renee were Madeline's nurses when Dr. Becker was her doctor - between Dr. Joel and Dr. Joshi.

Sweet Jessica Joshi -- she is Dr. Joshi's daughter.  Jessica comes to camp every year and has been such a blessing to us!  She has taken Madeline under her wing and watched over her so well!

Le Bonheur is a special place full of so many special people!

Basketball

One thing I have noticed about parenting as the kids get older is that there are a million activities for them to get involved in.  Soccer, gymnastics, t-ball, ballet, art, chess, basketball, swimming, etc., etc., etc.  It can get a little overwhelming and kids can get too over programmed.  It has the potential to take over the day running kids around town.  They can't always do everything they want to do, and, it can be hard to find that thing that each child really loves to do.  For Eli, it has been swimming (lessons to start this spring) and basketball.  He really has no interest in soccer or t-ball, but he loves basketball!!!  

He loves to play defense!

He actually got pretty good at knocking the ball out of the opponents hands without fouling!

He likes to dribble and shoot - but we do need to work on that a bit -- we may need to invest in a big kid adjustable basketball goal for our back yard!

So happy getting his medal and his team picture!  He has been on this team with several of the same boys for 3 years, and he's got a couple of really dedicated coaches!