Howdy folks!

We just got back from our first official "family vacation". This past Monday we decided to find a place not too far away and spend a few days together. It was a toss up between the Hill country and somewhere out of state. of course, out of state, not too far away = oklahoma, arkansas or louisiana. we stumbled on De Gray Lake Resort National Park in Bismarck, Arkansas. A 4.5 hour drive - not too bad, i hope. I must admit that i was antsy about going on a decent drive with two younguns. But this is one of the areas that i've got to learn to "just breathe" and so, i said, okay, let's go for it.

So, at dinner Monday night, I ask, "are we going or not?" Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Shawn's confident response: "i guess so". uh, okay. hey, bud, there are just a few things to be done before leaving for a couple of days.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning. we're loaded and ready to head out at 8 am. after a stop at the donut shop (for Avery) and starbucks (for guess who), we hit the road, headed east on 380. No traffic and smooth sailing. This is our first long drive in the new van - so far so good. we stop for lunch in Texarkana at Cracker Barrel - (love that place) and proceed to stiff the waiter...by accident. we do stop back by on the way home and leave him his due. i guess it is a regular occurence b/c the lady at the register knew exactly what happened. poor cracker barrel servers.

anyway, the time away was great. we spent one night at De Gray - not much to do but it was pretty and Avery had lots of daddy time in the pool and on a bike ride that about killed shawn...

The next day we drove to Hot Springs and i really liked that. Had lunch, walked around in the historic downtown and took one of those Duck tours. You know, the bus/boat combo meal. Avery got a kick out of that one. More swimming, TV!! (we don't have cable so getting to see Disney channel, HGTV, etc was woohoo!). Today, before heading back home, we hit the Mid America Science museum. it is connected to the smithsonian somehow. It's a hands on place and was a hit. i love that avery is at the age that she is really getting into stuff.

The whole time i just kept thinking how surreal it was that this was a vacation with my family. i remember all of the trips we took when i was younger and how much fun it was. Now, it's our turn to make memories with our kids. Hopefully this was the first in a long line of sweet times with my family.

oh yeah, and the van was rockin'. lots of room - very comfy. time really went by fast.