Spring Break!

I should try to post these in reverse order--writing the end of the vacation first. Oooh, could I do it? I'm not sure. I can try :) Having a million pictures helps.

One bit of vacation wisdom we've learned--always build in an extra day or two at the end. The house we rented was fantastic, and I think we'll consistently try to pick a central location and only have to move our stuff around once for all vacations henceforth. But, we also realized on the drive down, that Buck's otherwise healed up back, does not like sitting in one spot for 11 hours straight. So, we booked a hotel on the way home, a day or two before it was actually time to head back. How did we choose? Well, Buck and I like watching HGTV (or at least I do and he likes hanging out with me). There's a cute couple on a show called Fixer to Fabulous who live in and renovate homes around the Bentonville, Arkansas area. So on the off chance we might bump into our new TV best friends, we booked a hotel room there! Ha :)

It turns out it is also home to the very first Sam Walton store, and the WalMart HQ is still located in that area. We expected some cute shopping on the square, which was very nice, but other than a quick step into the Walton Museum gift shop (we didn't take the free tour :), we admired some nice murals on the buildings, and then headed to a super cool art museum called Crystal Bridges (named after the natural spring and the bridges they built over it :)

The museum grounds looked like a spaceship landing sight, but all the glass and concrete also made for unique views of the many water features. They grouped the art family-photo style instead of gallery-style, which was interesting. And it was all American art, so they had a gigantic Rosie the Riveter painting from Norman Rockwell!

The string art (above) shifted colors as you walked down the stairwell--it was very pretty! Like a cloud of colored mist. There are more pics of it below, as I stole some from the kids' cameras, too :) The Breadline statues below are part of a series, I think, because I have a picture of the kids with very similar statues at another museum.

The museum grounds were expansive and beautiful! We only saw a fraction of them during our visit. I'm sure when it is all green and springy or summery or even fally it is even prettier! Another unique American history/art display was the Frank Lloyd Wright house. I have visited a couple of other examples of his design in the past, and find it fairly cold, but also fairly practical. It was interesting touring this structure, which was moved from a flood plain in New Jersey (I think) to its current nook in Arkansas. We like giving the kids a chance to explore new things, and when it is all free, and we get those handy-dandy personal listening devices with all the information pre-recorded . . . well, it practically counts as a school day!

When our family goes out to eat, our food budget goes out the window! So we tried to only do one meal out on travel days. We grabbed some burgers at a new-to-us chain, and that was it for the day. However, we hadn't done any ice cream treats, so decided to check out a shop in Bentonville called "Trash Creamery." The ingredients and recipes were 80's themed, Ghostbusters was playing on the TV, and (I'm assuming before Covid put the kibosh on shared touch surfaces) their website advertised nostalgic toys you could play with while you eat your ice cream. Both my ice cream and Buck's contained cereal, but we managed to avoid the Fruity Pebbles option. It was a fun little stop (note the color-changing spoons, Buck kept his :)!

That night at the hotel, we realized that "full-sized" pull-out couch mattresses don't very well accommodate two "approaching six-foot" boys :) Brennen said his alternative little cushion corner was, "Mostly not terrible." He's a good sport. He spent the week sleeping on a couch, as did Gabby, both waking up to the brilliant, bright light of a sunroom with no window coverings and bonus light reflected off of the water. At least the couches were huge and comfortable, and their own beds just one sleep away!

The hotel breakfast was better than the previous one, but still meh, so we finally stopped (first time, whole trip!) at Starbucks to spend our gift cards from Grandma J! Yay, gift cards!

Back at the house, our neighbors came through to put eggs on our counter (they collected enough during our time away for their personal eating needs), clearing out the bug bombs we'd set off (probably in excess, but I could not stand another month after a year of those annoying coop moths hatching and appearing at random) as they went. They shut the doors, knowing my brother was picking our two furry beasts up from the vet clinic/boarding to drop them off at the house to welcome us home--also saving us a hundred bucks in already exorbitant vet fees, because we wouldn't have been able to pick them up until the following Monday afternoon!

As usual, we jumped into our continuously busy week--dropping off eggs, cleaning up yards, getting Gabby packed for her big adventure (which she did primarily on her own :) and getting school set up for Monday. However, we were super thankful for a restful vacation with lots of downtime, very little schedule, plenty of read-a-book and do-a-puzzle time. Naps were taken, Perry Mason was watched, and we all got to spend a little time together . .  . a rare gift, which, at our kids' ages will likely become rarer. As it should, but still whaaa 💕