We are F.A.S.T.

Yesterday was a day of races. We had a swim meet in Cabot first thing in the morning. We finally convinced Hayden that he could kickboard across the pool in a meet. He did great, bringing up the rear! All he cared about was the ribbon he "won". Caite did fantastic also...coming in 2nd over all in kickboard and 4th in freestyle (for her age category). Isaac also had a great meet, except for a DQ in backstroke, due to a flip turn mistake. We have some pretty great swimmers in our family. I am proud of the progress they have made this year.

Last night was also the "Big Dam Bridge" 5K race. It has become tradition that Aaron and Isaac run this with some of the other residents and docs from Children's Hospital. While they run, the rest of us enjoy the live band, bead booths, and lots of yummy food and drinks. We walked over to the finish line at about 20 minutes in and a few minutes later Aaron came running through followed by Isaac a few seconds later.

We hung out at the park, ate pizza, danced, and waited for the awards to be given out. Isaac got a silver medal...coming in 2nd for boys 14 and under.

I guess the flash whited out the medal on the ribbon, but was there.

Garvan Gardens

There's a beautiful garden in Hot Springs that is about an hour from our house. I have heard wonderful things about it, but we have never gone. Aaron was off on Monday, so we took that opportunity to head out for the day. The garden was amazing! It was huge. We spent about 4 hours walking around looking at everything. The kids had fun playing in the many waterfalls. We found a Koi pond and fed the "great big gold fish" (according to Hayden). There was a kids section full of boulders to climb on, creeks to wade in, waterfalls to play under, and tunnels to crawl through. Once again, I just enjoyed the time together.

Here are tons of pictures...and I'm only posting a fraction of them...we took a ton.

I didn't know Aaron took this pic. Like mother, like daughter.

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July! The parades, fireworks, bbq's, watermelon, and friends. The nice part about the 4th of July in Maumelle, Arkansas, is that you can get it all and not the crowds.

We got to the parade about 3 minutes before it started. parked. pulled the chairs out. waved to our friends in the parade. collected TONS of candy, t-shirts, balls, cookies etc. loaded up the chairs. walked to the car. A TOTAL of less than 30 minutes. It was great! Nothing fancy, just the necessities. The kids only care about the candy anyway.

Then we headed home to have a bbq with our new neighbors, the Gardiners. They are just starting an ophthalmology residency. SO glad we aren't just starting! Food was good, company was fun.

Then off to the fireworks at the lake. Once again, it's nice to live in a small town. pull up and park, watch the 20 minutes fire works and home for bed. The kids got to do everything you do on Independence Day and we didn't have to loose them in the crowds.

Peabody Park at the River Market

Most days our lives revolve around Swim practice in the morning, swimming for fun in the afternoons, and Swim Meets on Saturdays. So this week I convinced the kids that we could do something other than go to the pool. We headed out, with our friends the Marshalls, to Peabody Park in Little Rock for the afternoon. It's a fun place with things to do for all ages. The Splash Pad is Hayden's and Halle's favorite.

Then they have a section with climbing rocks, tunnels, and caves. Caite really likes this part.

Isaac found a cool waterfall place. The kids had fun playing on the waterfall. It reminded them of Swiss Family Robinson's...but we didn't let them slide down to the river.

We also walked over to the bridge, took the elevator up, and let the kids run back and forth over the river.

Then we walked down to the river and let the kids throw rocks and climb around.

We had a fun day. The air was dry and not so hot. It reminded me of Utah. Days like this I would rather go on adventures. The Natural State is a great place for adventures.

Baseball

Every summer the Residents at Arkansas Children's Hospital have a night out with the Travelers. We have a catered BBQ and get to watch the game. The kids love it, because we get a whole section to ourselves and they can wonder up and down and eat as much food...mostly popcorn and pop...as they want.

These three do more people watching and doctor hob-nobbing than game watching.

It's always fun when we can get out and do things as a family. And with Aaron's schedule lighter these days we can do more of it.