Little Rock 2014 - Day Two

We started our day at the William Clinton Presidential Library. I had never been to a Presidential Library before and wasn't sure what to expect.

There was a replica of Clinton's Oval Office and the cabinet room. 

There were tons of artifacts and memorabilia, a short movie about his upbringing, and a large wing dedicated with digital displays, graphs and photos for each year he held office.

There was also a special exhibit for the glass artist, Chihuly, which was gorgeous. And a restaurant called 42, but we didn't eat there.

We spent about two hours looking at everything and then walked along another fantastic restored bridge.

Between our hotel and the Clinton Library was the Central Arkansas Nature Center. It had a beautiful boardwalk system we walked around and a small fish and wildlife museum.

From here, we headed to NAPA to pick up Daddy and caravan home. We took the van and he drove a NAPA car back to the Dallas distribution center. Short, but action-packed trip! Glad we went!

Little Rock 2014 - Day One

This summer, Mark has been working in Little Rock closing down a facility. He is usually gone four days of the week. This week, Jacob happened to be out of town too - at Boy Scout Camp in Tennessee. So I packed up the other kids and we took a road trip to Little Rock just for fun!

We stopped in Texarkana to straddle the state line.

Once in Little Rock, our first stop was the Children's Discovery Museum. A super fun place with experiments and hands-on activities that the kids played with for hours!

 A bed of nails!

 They created a news program.

They also got to pet a hedgehog and a chinchilla!

After lunch, we crossed over the Arkansas River on one of the many railroad bridges in town that have been converted to pedestrian bridges. 

We headed over to tour the USS Razorback, a submarine used in WWII. Funny that the Razorback name was from a type of shark, NOT the famed Arkansas razorback hog.

It was crazy-tight quarters in there, but thankfully, it was now an air-conditioned museum. We  climbed down a ladder, crawled through portholes, checked out the weaponry, and the crew quarters.

Here's the kitchen. You got 10 minutes to eat, and only a one-minute shower every 15 days.
Ewww!

It was a great tour!

Happy 4th of July!

No, we didn't get arrested as a family. A nice police officer took our picture in front of his patrol car just outside the Double Oak parade route!

Jimi Jet and his TV set

The Tomorrow Show with anchor Lucas Nault?

Aviation Camp

Jacob's interest in aviation hasn't waned, so for his birthday we gave him a day of Aviation Camp though Greatest Generation Aircraft out of Fort Worth. He toured some military aircraft, two flight museums, the air traffic control tower, and was supposed to take a flight in a restored WWII C-47 aircraft. He got to do all but fly that day because the cross winds were too strong. Stay tuned for the make-up date sometime this fall. 

Cub Scout Day Camp 2014

Jacob and I volunteered at the Cub Scouts of the Round Table Day Camp again this summer. Nothing like 95+ degree heat, dusty and dirty fields, and grasshoppers jumping with every step. Lucas and Ethan were campers again and loved every minute of it.

They made shields, swords, leather books and pouches, tunics, and felt hats during the week.

One of the best activities was the dad-powered jousting! As the dads jogged around a course, the boys rode on a tarp wrapped around two sturdy poles and tried to get their jousting stick through the loops hanging from the trees.

Of course, they both loved BB guns and archery. This year was much easier - if you remember - Lucas has his arm in a cast for day camp last year!

Summer Fun

We were able to catch a show by Dinosaur George at the Lewisville Public Library. I met Dinosaur George at a PTA convention years ago and we had him come to our school in SA. He's based there, so it was especially fun to see his show in our new locale AND have him recognize me! Super fun guy and great show for all ages. 

We did a little shopping. Lucas picked out a few things.

These two kids, Alex and Jake, used to live on our block in San Antonio. They moved to Rockwall, Texas, on the east side of Dallas a year before we moved here. Unfortunately those plans to get together never materialized. Got a text from Traci one morning that said they were in Flower Mound at a swim race for Alex so we headed over for a very short but wonderful visit at the new natatorium.

Last Day of School

Ethan with his teachers - Mrs. Gustafson ...

and Mrs. Kraft.

 Sarah with her teachers: Mrs. Mun and Mrs. Hall.

Missed a pic with Lucas' teachers but caught him at the party carrying cotton balls with chopsticks!

It was another great year at this school. So happy that my kids had an easy transition from San Antonio to Flower Mound.