HOT SPRINGS TRIP #1

After having the Clauses at our house, we all drove to Hot Springs.  Our trip to Hot Springs managed to be well balanced between activity and rest aka "slightly less activity" when you have seven children with you.  Our first stop in Hot Springs was to hit up the Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo, which we had never visited before.  Due to the recent tragedy - I'm going to skip all the gator pictures and just show the fun we had at the petting zoo.  Since being home we asked the girls what their favorite part of the entire trip was and they said visiting this place - so it was a hit with us.

(Violet was not at all interested in being set down with the goats.)

We did get to hold a baby alligator and see a bunch of them, which was pretty fascinating.  We hit up downtown for a treat before heading back to our condo for dinner and swimming.  Pushing the daddies in the water was a favorite activity the whole trip, and we spent a lot of time near water.

A lot of rain was predicted, so we tried to keep our activities flexible.  We ended up heading to the Mid-America Science Museum - another first for us.  It was amazing and so fun for everyone!

This water attraction was a major draw for our entire party.

We adults enjoyed the heat imaging.



The outdoor nature walk and rope bridge area kept us entertained for quite some time.

(The kids were less than thrilled about this photo op.)

The entire place was fantastic - we can't wait to go back!

We rounded out our night with dinner at Taco Mama's (so tasty!) and popsicles on the porch, and we were certainly ready to put our sweet, but tired, children into bed.




We got a few scattered showers, but mostly, the rain held off.  We were hot, but not sweltering.  Seeing my children play with the children of long time BFFs is such a treasured experience for me.  I had several moments throughout this trip when I wondered if it was all too good to be true - the joy, the sweetness, the innocence.  I'm so thankful for dear friends and cherished time and also bedtime, when we get to put those treasures down to sleep and have adult conversation. 😉