Our Last Full Day and we went to The Wonder Place and a Japanese restaurant

Well, Dad and I set out to entertain that beautiful boy, Grant. We took him to The Wonder Place. We set out to go to this really cool place that we had heard about because it was an indoor play center (and it was raining). So, we drove about 40 minutes to get there because there were a few accidents. We were happy once we finally got there. We went in and the first thing Grant saw was a train set...well, needless to say it took us at least one hour before we could even walk around to see what else the place had in its facility. Well, we shortly discovered that it was really neat. It had an arean where kids could put on waterproof smocks and play in water. It had a sand table (separate from the water area...for obvious reasons). It had a rockclimbing/slide type thing with musical instruments at the top. It had a vet place, grocery store, pretend restaurant, reading room and a craft room.

Grant tried a little bit of everything...once we got him to leave the train for a little bit. We had done everything at least once. Dad even went at the top of the slide/rockclimbing contraption and played musical instruments with Grant. It was cute, but not such a beautiful sound . LOL Anyway, after about three hours, I asked my dad if we could grab a bite to eat and come back. He agreed that he was starving too. Luckily, there was a McDonald's next to the place. We had to do some negotiating with Grant (because he DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE), but we promised to come back very quickly to optimize his playtime. He agreed. When we were at McDonald's he was all business...he ate and said, "no thanks" on the offering of dessert/ice cream...that is a first. I guess he was serious about returning quickly...of course, just to play with the trains.

We closed down the place and went back home. We had dinner plans with Barb, Brittney and Marv. So, we went to dinner to a Japenese restaurant and say the cook chop up veggies and cook in front of us. This was a first for Grant, too. He was a little intimidated by the flames, but interested nonetheless. He did not eat anything, but his goldfish. We all enjoyed our dinner. Thanks, Barb and Marv! On the way home, we dropped off Brittney and visited with her mom, Trish and brother, Christian. We had fun and went home pretty late...little man was tired.

Which Burger King? Boy, those babies look alike! Hello, Betty!

Continuing on my slow discription of Arkansas...well, we did a lot the next day too. We were to meet my longtime, close friend Leslie for lunch. She was bringing her daughter and her niece to Burger King playland in a neighboring city. Well, I say city, but everyone that knows Arkansas is laughing because there are mostly towns! Okay, so we go to the Burger King playland...where is she? She had already called me and told me that she was there. Was that Leslie? That lady over there? NO! I hadn't seen Leslie in a few years but really...how much could a person change and we do exchange pictures via mail and email. So, it wasn't like I didn't know her. Okay, I have to call her. Oh, there are two Burger King playlands in this town...there are none in NLR, but this town of 19,000 has two! Okay, whatever! She brings her daughter and niece over to our BK and the kids play, we "catch up" and my Dad has fun being the parent of a girl-child that is giggling like old times with her friend.

Then, we are off to visit my neighbor Betty and her mother, Peggy. Betty has lived next door to me since before I was born. She now lives with her mother. I had to take Brittney with me because I was definitely afraid of Betty's house. Betty's house has so many nicknacks that I thought Grant would damage some things by entering. I prepared by buying G a new coloring book and some new crayons. I also filled up a new sippie and we went in. It was okay, but a little close a couple of times.

Thankfully, our stay at Betty's was cut short to go to see Auntie Barbara's new twin nephew and niece. They are too cute (as you can see). We all went over to hold the babies. Grant found himself a new girlfriend (as you can see). We had a great time just hanging out with old and new friends.

Museum of Discovery, Ice Cream and Barb & Marv

We could not stay still while in Jacksonville. My dad probably didn't know what to think, but we decided to go to the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock on Wednesday! It is a really cool museum by the riverwalk. So, we headed for the museum. When we first got there we realized that Grant was definitely excited to be there as he continued to play with their train display for A LONG TIME!! Dad and I were well ready to move on, but enjoyed the rest and sat and watched him play with the Thomas train sets (yes, there were about four in one room...Heaven!).

We finally moved on and went throughout the museum. They had all kinds of displays. Most of the displays were regarding some aspect of Arkansas. They had a display on the Native Americans from that part of the country. The sources of energy around there. They were opening a new display the next day on insects...yea!! We were able to see trantulas and
Amazon roaches.

After the museum, we decided to go on a trolley ride of downtown Little Rock. Dad and I misread the map and well...an hour later we finally got off. LOL We were still laughing about it at dinner. We decided they lost money on us and our ride because we stayed on for the full tour. We crossed the Arkansas River twice. Grant was so bored by the end that I had to bust out the coloring book and crayons!

Then, we went out to dinner with my brother and his wife!! We had some fabulous nachos and white cheese dip. Yummy! Then, of course we had to get some ice cream. We went to a place called Shakey's (it is not the same as the Shakey's in Cali)...it is a frozen custard place ( I believe from the East coast!). It is absolutely fabulous!

After all that, we went "home" to Barb and Marv's house. They were anxiously awaiting our return. As you can see, Aunt Barbara and Grant did some finger painting. Aunt Barbara had to get use to the new way of fingerpainting (without a mess) with ColorWonder products. Uncle Marv was caught giving the little guy a hug...how cute.

Another big day!!

A Big Day...A Really Big Day!!

Yes, I am a bit behind...so I am still describing our Spring Break in Arkansas...we are on Tuesday of our Spring Break. Grant, Dad and I started off around 9:30 to head to Russelville, Arkansas to meet Aunt Phyllis, Eugena and Doug!! We were excited (except the fact it was raining)! We got stuck in a little bit of traffic, but luckily we had Grant with us to commentate the entire time. It went something like this, "look Mom, we stuck in traffic." (now repeat that last phrase about 100 times...you get the idea?)

We met Aunt Phyllis, Eugena and Doug at a restaurant for lunch. Luckily, it was inside of a Holiday Inn, so when we were finished eating (thanks Doug for picking up the tab...it was wonderful!!), we headed for the lobby. We were able to visit for about an hour out in the lobby. Grant was only interested in running around a table they had there and running his cars around it. Aunt Phyllis and Eugena read some books to him...which he loved. Doug would try to catch him going around the table and all were delighted that we were able to visit.

We parted our ways right as it was starting to rain again...I guess even the Heavens were sad we were leaving each other. We headed home. The ride was about 1 1/2 hours and by the time we got home, we were able to visit with my "second" family. I love the "R" ( I don't use lst names) family and I definitely consider them family. They have lived across the street from us (in Jacksonville) forever (well, about 30 years). Anyway, Brittney, Christine, Robert (aka Rogers) and Grant took a great picture together. I thought it was great that Grant loved their front yard and decided to run around their flowers for quite awhile. As Rogers said, "I don't remember you kids being that active."

Well, we have to eat dinner...says my dad. So, we meet my brother and sister-in-law for dinner at the Olive Garden. Grant loves spaghetti and he didn't eat much for lunch. So, my dad was bound and determined to get him to eat something. We definitely went to the right restaurant, he ate all of his spaghetti and then had chocolate gelato for dessert!!! YUMMY!

Last stop was the mall. My dad needed to exchange some pants he had purchased at Sears. Well, Grant had an accident...oh, not that kind...he lost a flash card of a yellow square. Well, let me back track for a minute. Grant LOVES the Wiggles. So, he loves anything that is a "Wiggles" color (this means that the four guys wear certain colors and if you are one of the four colors then you are okay...the four colors are yellow, blue, purple and red). So, he has his flashcards and pulls out only the four important colors...he lost yellow!!! What are we going to do? He lost the purple car earlier and Grandpa Bill and I were able to replace it with a quick trip to Wal-Mart. I said, "No more trips to Wal-Mart for this craziness." Aunt Jenn rescued us. SHE IS BRILLIANT. We walk by the paint area to go to our car and she sees lots of paint sample cards...yes, yellow, blue, purple and red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are saved and it didn't cost us a penny! Thanks!

Aardvarks, Yellow Swords and Poll Position

Okay, the day after Easter we decided to "rest" a bit. That meant that Grant, my dad and I hung out and took it easy. Well as "easy" as one can take it with a VERY ACTIVE two-year old (but then again aren't they all...very active?). We ran a couple of errands, you know the type of things you do when you are retired...we went to the post office to mail a letter, went to Wal-Mart to pick up some food (Arkansas is Wal-Mart country for those of you who are not aware, it started with Sam Walton who is from Arkansas) and we visited some of my childhood neighbors (my dad still lives in my childhood home in Jacksonville). Then, we headed off to JCPenney's for our family photo.

I remember the "good old days" when Grant liked taking professional pictures. Well, let's just say the lady took about six shots of us and two turned out good. So, I will look at it on the positive side and not emphasize how my son wouldn't take a picture until all four of his cars were watching us on top of the ladies camera stand...it's a long story, but we had to line up his cars, so they could "see" us taking the pictures. If we remotely looked like we were not going to do this, then there would have been tears and then no picture. Remember, we are only there for a week, so we had to make the most of it and get the picture while we were there. Anywho, the positive side is that since only two turned out good, then the ordering was easy! I'll take this one and that one! If anyone is reading this and you know me, then you know this is a major positive, I have a problem with making decisions when it comes to pictures of my son. :)

Next, we were off to dinner. My brother suggested a great steak place called Texas Steakhouse (I think that was the name, I had not been there before). Anyway, as you can see in the above picture, Grant took a picture with the aardvark and Aunt Jennifer. The funniest thing happened after dinner. Grant had just finished his bowl of mac n cheese and ice cream with gummy bears, when a gentleman came by that makes characters out of balloons. Grant (of course) was amazed by this man. The guy asked what Grant would like him to make, Grant just gazed at him, so I said an "orange, tabby cat." The man made him one, but the first step to making any animal, flower, or whatever is the long balloon being blown up. The man called it a sword. So, after Grant had a cat made for him, he told the man, "No, I like sword." Hmmm, this is kind of cute, but a little rude. The man thought Grant was cute (thank goodness) and made him a sword. He started with yellow and Grant grabbed for the balloon stating, "I like yellow sword." The man said for him to wait and it would be "better." So, he continued to blow up more balloons and twirl them together for a SUPER SWORD. Of course what does Grant say, "No, I like yellow sword." The man gave away the fancy sword and cat and gave Grant a simple yellow balloon (aka "sword") and that was that. He said he had never had such an easy request...LOL.

It only got better for Gman because by the time we got "home" which is Barb & Marv's place, he was faced with another great time. He sang Happy Birthday to Uncle Marv! It was fun, but then he spotted the most cherished item he saw while in Arkansas...the vintage Poll Position video game. You know like you would see in an arcade...it was an actual Poll Position game with steering wheel and everything!! Grant LOVED this so much. He would stand by it and play with it for long periods of time. He and his Aunt Barb have Poll Position in common. They both love it! We went to bed pretty late that night, but I bet we can all guess what Grant dreamed of, "aadvarks, yellow swords and poll position."