Hot Springs Vacation, Post 3, FINALLY!!

If you have looked at my blog any in the last couple days then you realize I have been playing with the design a good bit. Blogger has recently added a template design option and I must say it is very good, I like it! Also I think it makes the blog open more easily than with the designs from some of the websites that offer them.

Anyway, back to vacation...

When I last posted it was Tuesday morning of our vacation. We did go to the pool at the hotel that morning and had a wonderful time. We had it all to ourselves. JC even floated around in his baby float without fussing to have one of his physically touching him at all times. It seems that he has finally decided that the water can be fun and relaxing. After our swim that morning we went to find some stuff to do! We first went and had lunch and then set off to find a place that was supposed to be an indoor play place for the kids. Well the one we though we were going to ended up being just a daycare where you could drop your kids off and go do other stuff, and we thought about that but decided against it, just kidding! We did find another place that was the same sort of thing, indoor play place similar to what is at McDonalds or Chick-fil-A. We stayed there for several hours. There was even an area for JC to get down and play and swings to put him in. It was actually very nice. It was crowded though because this place also had kids there for "summer day camp" or basically just daycare for school age kids for the summer. So there were a lot of kids there. We left there and attempted to go souvenir shopping at the only place we saw that advertised that sort of stuff but it really had nothing that appealed to any of us. So we went across the street from there to the mall and again had no real luck. I think we probably would have had better luck if we had parked and walked the downtown area but with the temps being in the upper 90's and 5 kiddos that was not really an option. So we really did not get any souvenirs, although I did buy a new purse in the mall!! I know you are not surprised that I went to a mall and managed to find me a purse! But it was marked 50% off so it was only $15, who can pass up a purse for that price! And it is pink, so how much more perfect could it be I ask you! After the mall we all headed back to the hotel to rest before going out for dinner that night at Chick-fil-A. We chose that for dinner because the kids could play and they have the best fast food and always nice, clean restaurants. This one did not disappoint! The kids had a great time and even JC had fun playing at the table with the milk bottle! See the video below:

He played with it for a really long time! We probably stayed there for an hour and a half. Then we took the men and kiddos back to the hotel and Steph and I went and did laundry. This completed confounded Jim that I would seriously go do this while on my vacation, but the thing is, I had very little laundry to do when I got home instead of having 8 loads piled up and spending an entire day getting it done. Not to mention, that had we not cleaned the clothes and been able to put them back into the suitcase I am not really sure how we would have gotten it all in the trunk of the car to come home. So it was kinda like clean the clothes versus leaving one of the kids behind in order to pack the dirty clothes bag in the backseat, so the kids won out on this one!

Wednesday morning we woke up for our final day of vacation. We went to the pool again and had it all to ourselves again up until about the last 10 minutes that we were down there. We headed on to the room to clean up and head out. We left the hotel about 10:45 and headed to lunch and then on to the Mid America Science Museum. We had heard really good things about it and were looking forward to it. It was really so much fun! I would go again for sure. The kids loved it and it was all indoors and cool, so that part was great! Most of the pics that are on the slide show are from there. The exhibits were all interactive, similar to the Children's Museum of Memphis, but better I think. There were dinosaur simulators and a dinosaur exhibit that had robotic dinos in it. There was also a simulator ride that we did last thing before getting ready to leave. We then headed over to the gift shop, you know the kinds that are strategically placed in places like that, right at the exit! So we got Drew a snake and JC got a stuffed dino that makes sounds. Of course, just as we were entering Memphis on the way home Drew told us that he really did not want the snake, TOO LATE! He did not like that response, but he got over it.

We got back to OB about 6:30 that evening and got dinner on the way home with a gift card that Jim had gotten from a band kid, very nice not to have to buy that meal. Then we came home and unloaded and I got to just put away all that clean laundry!! So nice for the mama! We then spent Thursday doing absolutely nothing! We did finally get dressed and take the kids to library but that was seriously it. When we got home from the library I though of what a waste it had been to put on make up just for the 30 minutes we were out of the house that day! We got some movies at the library and Jim and I watched one that night. It was Cinderella Man which stared Russell Crowe and Renee Zelleweger. It was sooooo good! If you have not seen it you should get it. It is based on the true story of a boxer and his family during the Great Depression. Probably the best movie we have seen since Fireproof. Friday I spent a good chunk of the day with Stephanie celebrating her birthday, which was on Wednesday while we were gone. We went to lunch, did some shopping, and ended up at the Clinique counter at Dillards getting an eye makeover. It was so much fun!

Well lets see, we are up to Saturday now. That morning we had to go to the church for Praise Band practice. After that we decided to take a little adventure to Collierville to see the St. Jude Dream home and to go by the Puppy Corral and look at puppies. Both of those were a lot of fun. We are not planning to get a puppy now but do plan to get one about this time next year. So we were just checking things out and getting prices and all. Later that evening we went over to some friends house to swim and had a great time there. Again JC did so good in the pool!

So that will bring you up to Saturday night when we had some real not so fun excitement around the Mayo house. And I will leave ya hangin on that! I have to go home now because I have already stayed 30 minutes over at work to write this much! I will do my best to post again tomorrow!

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I have been meaning to post...

But I have just not gotten around to it yet! Actually now that I do not have internet access at home I cannot do all my blogging there, so I am sneaking a few minutes at work to do this now. I came with the camera today, prepared to upload the remaining vacation pics and post all about the final days of our vacation, but I left the camera cord at home! So no posting pics today. But I thought I would share a funny story about Drew for today.

I recently bought several movies at a yard sale. One of these is the Disney Dinosaur movie. It is not new or anything but it is a movie that Drew really likes because he loves dinosaurs! So in the movie this dino ends up being raised by a family of monkeys, I know that is crazy, but hey it is Disney! So the dino ends up going back to the other dinosaurs and the monkeys go along. The dino ends up finding a female dino that he likes and his monkey "brother" tells him that he needs some lessons from the "love monkey". So now for the Drew funny. Last night he was getting ready to watch that movie. Jim was getting him all settled down in the living room and Drew told him "Daddy, if you love mommy you need to tell her this..." then he leaned over to Jim and whispered in his ear "tell her love monkey!" It was so funny!!! Jim came and told me. You see Drew does not like for Jim and I to be lovey on each other at all!! He gets all mad and tries to attack his daddy, because he says that I am his girlfriend and that he is going to marry me. Jim loves to argue with him about how he has already married me and Drew will have to fine his own girl!!

I am sure when he is about 15 he will no longer want me to be his girlfriend and I will think back on things like his and be sad that he is not my little boy anymore. So that is the Drew funny for today, I will get that last vacation post up soon!

Hot Springs Vacation, Day 2

Well I gotta keep this pretty quick this morning because we are getting ready to head to the pool.

Yesterday we spent the day at Magic Springs/Crystal Falls. It is a combination waterpark and amusement park. It was awesome and well worth the money! JC did ok at it. We had some issues early on with sunblock getting in his eyes. We had to flush them out a couple of times with saline and all was good after that. He did enjoy the waterpark area once he got used to the water but he pretty much just clung to me all day. It is a tough age for him in a place like that. Drew of course LOVED it! The park opened at 11 but we did not get there until about noon. We spent the beginning of our day in the waterpark. I did not take but a couple of pics in there and not of them in the water just because of not wanting to damage the camera. We headed over to the amusement park about 4:30. The adults were all so tired by then from the heat but the kids were still going strong!! We did really enjoy the amusement park time too. We really could have spent a day in each area. We contemplated getting the season pass and going back but JC is so young and it was hard on him. So we will probably do that in a year or two. So we are kinda re cooping today and planning to hang here this morning and swim at the pool and maybe go out and do some things later. So I will let the pics speak for themselves from here!

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Hot Springs Vacation, Day 1

Well we had a great day of traveling yesterday. We arrived in the Hot Springs area around 10:45. We drove to Lake Catherine to have a picnic lunch and to swim in the lake and play at the beach lake. The sand was not quite what we had imagined it would be. We were expecting nice, white sand. Well this was more like gravel. But the kids all loved it and we spent about 2 1/2 hours there.

We then drove on in to Hot Springs but were still just a bit early for our hotel check in so we drove through the main part of town and checked out all the sites. It was nice to kinda get a feel for things. We even managed to find a Starbucks and I got a MUCH needed Caramel Macchiato!! We went on to the hotel and got all cleaned up and ready for dinner.

After dinner we took the kids to play putt putt golf. Jim and Drew played and I pushed JC around, or actually lifted and lowered his stroller up and down all the steps! It was not really a stroller friendly course but hey, I guess I got my work out for the day!!

After dinner we went to Scoops which had homemade ice cream. It was very good, but kinda expensive. I think the next time we have a sweet craving we will hit up one of the many Sonics for the buy one, get one free deal on shakes!

Day 1 was great! No major issues and we never really got lost. We all survived the car ride. JC went all day on only about 45 minutes of a nap! He slept all night, 9:30pm-6am, but from midnight on he was in our bed, so Jim and I neither one slept really good. I think I was achy from all the driving so I am hoping that I will sleep better tonight and maybe not with a 1 year old foot in my back! Hey, I could send Jim to sleep with Drew and just have JC in the bed, that is a thought!

Today we are heading to Magic Springs. They do not open until 11am so that is why we are still just hanging out in the hotel right now. I think it will be a fun day! It is very hot here though so we are going to have to be super careful about staying hydrated. So I will go now so I can slick my entire family up with some sunscreen and make ready for our fun, hot day!!

Here is a slide show of all our adventures so far...

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Vacation in 4 more days!!!

Well we were schedule to go to the beautiful, sandy beaches of Gulf Shores Alabama but have had to cancel due to the oil. It was sad and rather disappointing since we have been planning this for almost an entire year but the risk of being in the oil was not worth it. Far greater than our disruption of our vacation plans is the impact that it is having on people on the coast and their economy. Also the families of those who lost their lives in the explosion will be forever changed now. So I say all that to emphasize that while we are saddened that we will not be on the beach we know that there are much more important things going on than our vacation! We have rescheduled our trip now to Hot Springs, AR! We will now only be in the car for 3 1/2 hours. Definitely looking forward to the shorter time of driving since we will be undoubtably be listening to Drew ask 10,000 questions the entire way there! We are seriously thinking about giving him Benadryl or Dramamine to knock him out! In Hot Springs we will be able to go to a lake close by that has a beach and a playground for somewhat of a beach experience! We will also be spending a day at Magic Springs/Crystal Falls which is a water park and amusement park in one, Drew is VERY excited about that! So I think we will be having much fun even though we will not be doing what we had originally planned. There will be many pictures and maybe even some videos to share afterward!

Well now I must get back to work and preparing to be out next week! Until next time!