We have done so much traveling in the last few months. It's insane!
In January, we had some freaky nice weather and we took full advantage of it. We went "hiking" (really it was walking) around The Emerald Cliffs in North Little Rock. They are these amazingly gorgeous cliffs that are right in the middle of the city. We enjoyed not only seeing the cliffs, but the view of the State Capitol from them.
We also decided to spend Martin Luther King weekend by touring some historic sites in Little Rock. We visited the State Capitol and Central High School (School of the Little Rock Nine). The High School was amazing to see. It's huge! Photos really don't do it justice. Across the street from the museum they had a visitors center that was really well done. They had lots of information about the events of the Little Rock Nine and about other events that led to better equality between races. One of the things that was cool to learn was that the governor at the time used The Guard to keep the nine students out of the school and then a few weeks later The President deployed around 1,100 people in The Guard to protect the nine students as they went into the school.
Central High
The State Capitol
The next weekend, we decided to take a day trip to Hot Springs, AR. We had a great time going to the top of the observatory deck, checking out the hot springs, touring the bath houses, and seeing the interesting shops they had in the downtown area.
Sammy loves getting pushed around in the stroller.
Jimmy and Sam posing in front of a hot spring.
Jimmy attempting to jump over the hot spring. He actually did jump over it, I just didn't take the picture at the right time. But isn't this picture hilarious?! I love it.
Inside the men's locker room of one of the bath houses. They had so many beautiful stained glass windows.
They also had a statue in the men's locker room. The women's locker room wasn't as fancy. Bummer to be a chick back then, huh?
We had to pose Sam in the Park Ranger cut out, of course!
Last week, I went to Oklahoma to help throw a baby shower for my sister. It was great getting to see everyone and getting to meet my new nephew, Hollis. He's a cutie! Good job, Tatyanna and Logan!
I told you he was cute....check out that pouty lip!
This past weekend we decided to go up to St. Louis for a family trip. It was SO fun. I can't recommend St. Louis as a travel destination enough. Almost everything we did was free...and we did a lot. On our first day we visited the Cathedral basilica of St. Louis. It was so incredibly beautiful. Words cannot describe. The entire ceiling is mosaic. And so are all the walls. It's amazing. There was such a peaceful spirit there. It was really wonderful.
Isn't this breathtaking?!
We also visited the St. Louis Art Museum on our first day. It was really cool. There's a statue of Saint Louis in front of the museum and it used to be the highlight of the city before the arch came to be. Pretty cool stuff.
Here's a cool fact: When "Saint" is spelled out it refers to the person. When it's "St." it's the city. Now you know something new. Maybe.
We also went to the St. Louis Zoo. It was really cold out so not all of the animals were actually out for us to see, but the ones that were out were really fun to see.
The sea lions were very interactive. This one was having fun "chasing" a mitten.
Sam wasn't as entertained by the sea lions as we were.
They had a really cool ant farm in their bug exhibit. It was neat to see all these ants carrying leaves and each other.
We were super classy for Valentines Day and ordered Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner with juice in wine glasses and watched the NBA All-Star fashion show. It was totally us, so we loved it.
I know you're jealous. BWW is where it's at.
One of the only attractions we paid for was riding in a pod to the top of The Arch. It was really an awesome thing to see. If you haven't, you should go to The Arch and ride to the top.
Jimmy and I riding to the top. It was so tiny in there. It was hard to not feel claustrophobic.
A view of downtown St. Louis from the top.
Sam loved looking through the little window. I think it's safe to say that this was Sam's favorite part of the trip.
My husband takes awesome pictures. Don't you think so, too?
Here's the story....Four years ago, Jimmy and I visited The Arch. He posed me in this position and took a photo. He's kept that photo this entire time. So, of course, he had to get an updated one of me posing again. Funny guy.
Sam also loved getting to touch the arch.
Yet another view of The Arch.
On our last day in St. Louis, we decided to visit the Ulysses S. Grant Homestead. It was so cool. We got to tour the home he lived in while he lived in St. Louis (it was actually his in-laws home) and then toured a museum that had lots of facts about Ulysses and Julia Grant. While the museum gave facts about his military career and presidency, it really seemed to focus on him as a man. And he seems to be a really good man. you could tell from the letters he wrote his wife that they really loved each other and that family came first. I'm really glad that we got to visit this.
Of course we had to get a picture of Sam in front of the Grant house. (His middle name is Grant)
The museum had some fun little dress up stuff, so naturally we had fun putting hats on Sam.
Whew. Did you actually make it through all that? I'm impressed. Hopefully I'll be better about posting more frequently. (I feel like I say that every time. Maybe I should learn from that.)
Until next time,
Kyrstie
