The next few days in Arkansas were spent stuck inside the condo. An ice storm hit and we didn’t feel like braving the ice on the very windy mountain roads for anything. We brought lots of movies with us and we took the Roku (genius idea, if I do say so myself), so we kept fairly busy. The big kids prefer to play on the iPads or DS’s most of the time. Sawyer is really into Toy Story right now and could watch the same movie over and over all day long if we let him. He’ll sit watch it though so sometimes we turn it on just to get him to sit still for a little while!! He is a busy one, that kid. We mostly hung out in front of the TV together. Grace loves to sit on the couch and cuddle with her new BFF, big sister. (Sorry, lots of iPhone pics in this post.)
Especially if said big sister has a snack she’s willing to share.
The day before Thanksgiving the road were finally passable so we headed into Hot Springs to check it out. We ended up driving around for quite a while and then stopping at Olive Garden for some lunch. Daddy dropped Maddie and I off at the movies (Catching Fire, woohoo!) while he took the boys and the little girls to the mall. They had lots of fun together (haha) and Maddie and I really had lots of fun. After the movie we walked around downtown Hot Springs for a little bit.
We visited bathhouse row. One of the old bathhouses is converted into a museum now so we walked around that one. It was super cold and we were glad to have a place inside to walk around for a little while.
Hot Springs got its name for a reason. There are lots of actual Hot Springs. They have a few fountains around the downtown area that were steaming up like crazy because it was so cold out. Plus the water is pretty hot.
Guess who was afraid of the fountains?
But a few minutes later she would be totally cool with it. Only to freak out again without warning.
I have never wished for an instruction manual for a child as much as I do with this one!
There is a natural opening to one of the springs here. It’s gated off now but you can see inside and feel the warmth coming out.
Trying to push two strollers and keep up with the ever-running 3-year-old is a task for more than two parents! I constantly wish I had a double.
There is another fountain fed by a waterfall from one of the springs.
I took the kids not in strollers up the side of the mountain. The view was pretty cool. I wish we’d come about two weeks earlier. The foliage would have been amazing!
This is the source of the waterfall at the bottom. It runs under the pathway and then down the mountain.
There is a big pathway that runs above downtown up there. We didn’t walk down it but it would be fun to do sometime. We were losing daylight and needed to get back down to Daddy and the girls.
Back down at the bottom the kids found a huge rock that they had to climb.
Cash really wanted to but was a little hesitant. Daddy climbed right behind him and that made him feel a little more confident.
But then Daddy was committed to climbing too!
We walked back to the van after this and grabbed some dinner from Chick-fil-a and headed back home.
The next day was Thanksgiving. We went totally untraditional this year because I’m a big chicken and have never cooked a turkey myself. Plus, I’m really not the hugest fan of turkey anyway. We had a roast with gravy, mashed potatoes, veggies in a cheese sauce and rolls. I did buy a couple of pies at the store so we had that too. The kids all said it was the best dinner ever so I don’t think they minded that it wasn’t traditional.
Daddy took the big kids and Sawyer on a little hike around the condo before our dinner. If it had been warmer there would have been many more hikes, I’m sure. I think he took all the kids to the playground for a little bit too.
It was the first Thanksgiving we’ve had as just our family. It was good but I think we all missed seeing all our parents/grandparents and brothers and sisters and cousins. We’re just used to having lots of family around at the holidays! It was a good Thanksgiving though. We have much to be thankful for this year!
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