Can we make time for vacation?

(Before we get started...the photos are random and a little all over the place.  Hope you enjoy)


My lap while driving, yo-yo stuff and camera

 

That is the very question Stephen and I should have been asking ourselves long before now, that's for sure.  Because the answer was...YES!!!  We have to make time before we all go completely crazy in this house.  With so much of our time spent at work (or school in the case of our girls)  As a family it seemed that we were always moody and super fussy.  So a couple of weeks before the girls spring break, I asked Stephen to plan to take off on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of that week so that the four of us could leave town and spend some much needed time having fun and relaxing.  I was thinking a short drive around out home state seeing a few things we haven't ever seen, but well nothing ever goes as planned.  we ended up in 3 states in 3 days.  We started out at home here in OK @ 9am left and went north to Kansas City KS, down to Springfield MO and then off to Eureka Springs AR and back to OK by 7pm Friday night.  I can honestly say this has been the most relaxing and most busy trip I have ever taken (maybe)  It was nice to just talk and visit with Stephen and the girls about whatever happened to pop up...things like  "why do the call it the Brown Mansion if it is white"  and lots of other silly questions. 



The Brown Mansion



We drove through several small towns and instead of just staying on the highway and bypassing them all we drove around some of them just to see what was there.  Some of the buildings in Coffeyville KS are just awesome.  I don't know that I had ever really seen any of them.  I got to sew while in the car, worked on my yo-yo project.  It is going to take a long time to finish, but its alright.  Took lots of pictures, but not near as many as I have been known to take in the past.

We made lots of stops, Cabela's in Kansas City.  They had some of the biggest prettiest animals on display there.  We stopped at the Precious Moments Chapel in MO along with The Bass Pro Shop (better animal display thank Cabelas...just sayin)  Stephen even stopped several times for Britt and I to look for some caches (don't tell him but I am glad he was with us in the woods in MO, I thought I was lost for a few minutes)
<~~~this is at Bass Pro Shop (Dale was Stephens favorite driver, had to take a photo of this)

This is a couple of pictures of us in the area of some of the caches we found.  The photo above was just after I though I was lost.  Stephen quickly reassured me that we really were just a little ways from the car, but I felt all turned around out there and was sure it was a few miles away instead of the few hundred feet that it really was.  I left home without my awesome GPS and had to rely on my phone for mapping and compass, and the mountains and cell phones don't play well together I have learned.

Val wanted to stop off at some antique shops while we were out, this is  the neatest one I have ever been in.  They had so many things I wanted to buy (but don't need)  So we just looked around at all the history and got back on the road. ~~~>

Turtles at Bass Pro Shop...I love turtles, and could have stood there all afternoon just watching them swim around and crawl all over each other.
<~~~~~

Took some silly pictures of my girls while we were out~~~>
This is inside the Russell Stovers Store in KS.  There was a geocache right outside this store, who in their right mind could get the cache and not stop off for some ice cream and chocolate??  Ok well not us.

In Carthage MO we stopped in to take the girls to the Precious Moments Chapel.  Stephens grandma Sue brought Stephen and I to see it back in '94 before we were married with kiddos.  I was sure the girls would love it.  And they did. 
<~~~a cave on the property they put this little angel with it and a sign that says "He is not here for he is risen as He said"   It is so peaceful there.

                                                                            ~~~~~~>
I would love to have this little truck.  No I don't need it and no I probably wouldn't drive it much, but it is so darn cute I just want it.
It is the Russell Stovers truck.  I bet they do parades with it and such.

My photos are not in any order and it is kinda bugging me, but I am not going to stress over it. (I hope you're ok with it)
<~~~ This is also on the property at Precious Moments.  The creator Sam Butcher made it for him and his grandchildren to play on.  It is called "grandpa's island"  Love love love the kindness this man has in his heart.

Really I cant remember which store this photo was taken in ~~~>
All I do remember is thinking "I have seen tons of catfish in my day, but I have never ever seen a white one"  it was so crazy looking.  even it's eyes were whitish, pink.  Super cool.

<~~~This was a favorite of mine while at the Chapel.  Sam created this sweet thing in honor of the children that died in the OKC Bombing.  I'll be honest, I was teary eyed almost the whole time we were at this place.

If your tired of my rambling I am so sorry, there was just so much that caught my eye while we were away.   Like this faucet...~~~>
I know, I know  who takes photos of a bathroom faucet?  well I do.  It was in the restroom at Cabela's and I loved it.  It is so cute and country...I want one.

Valorie is my artist...I love that she likes to paint and this little display made me think of her so I asked if she would stand near it so I could take a picture.
It was funny because this is an animated display and the little person painting looks back and forth I was sure I couldn't get the shot while it was looking my way, but when I told Vallie to look at me I snapped the shot and looked at it and sure enough it was facing my way as well.

Again...at Cabela's  They had a huge room full of trophy deer~~~>
Stephen liked the way these deer had been set up to look like the were all jumping a fence at nearly the same time. 

In Eureka Springs we stopped to use the facilities and this is what we found.  It cracked me up, I don't have any other reason for taking a photo of a toilet, except that I had never seen something like this before and it was funny.

Oh the spring...My girls loved this spot in Eureka.  ~~~~~>
We were looking for a cache near by and Val asked if she could taste the spring water.  I told her sure.  (i mean how bad could it be she was just going to take a little sip and probably spit it out)  Wrong!  She took a drink and shouted back at me that it was the best water she had ever tasted. and sent her sister back to the car to get any empty bottle she could find.  "I want to take this back to mema and papa to taste"
God love them girls they bottled up a couple of bottles that night and wanted to go back again the next day to get more.  They even asked if we could go buy a gallon of water, pour the store bought water out so they could fill the empty jug up too.  No I didn't go for that, but by the time we made it back to the spring the next day they had several empty drink bottles to fill and take home with them.  I have to say, that the water they got from the spring was clearer than the water at the hotel and the water at home.

When we arrived in Eureka, Stephen wanted to kick back and relax a bit and the girls wanted to drive around.  So I took them around town a bit.  We came upon this
<~~~  12 deer.  right out in the middle of a busy area of town.  I know, it is all woodsy out there and stuff, but really in town and they were not at all worried about us.  It was pretty neat and the girls were a little sad that daddy missed seeing it.

Valorie was looking for some boots, and we found these~~~>

I loved them, Britt loved them, Val loved them...they were on sale for $95 and guess what...EVERYONE ELSE LOVED THEM TOO

I know this because there were only 2 pair in the whole store and they were size 11 and 9.5 (which stinks for us because we are 7, 7.5 and 8.5)  Grrr!  Oh well we didn't need any boots this week anyway.

Well that was just a touch of all the craziness we had fun with on our 3 day/3 state mini vacation.  I know that now that I know what we can do in 3 days, I will be planning lots and lots more 3 day vacations.

Craziest thing about this week is that any other week my days off seem to fly by.  But this week was the longest 3 days I've had in a long time and I loved every minute of it (ok except when the girls kept asking "are we there yet") 

I hope I didn't put you all to sleep.  And if you have any ideas for what kinds of things we can do on a future vacation, please send a note our way.  I would love to hear them.

 

Stephen and I a couple hours before heading home...We look so happy and relaxed  :)
PS...we decided to call this our little 17th anniversary trip as our anniversary is a week away.  Crazy how time flies.  ;-)