Magic Springs

We recently took a day trip to Magic Springs in Hot Springs. We had not been in a while, and were pleasantly surprised with how much fun we all had! We even talked about getting season tickets next year!

There were so many fun rides for the kids to enjoy. We made a stop at the train for Carson. Christian jumped in with him too! See Christian's arm waving from the side of the picture? :)

Caylie and Christian rode the swings. Carson and I rode later in the day, but didn't get any pics. I know I must be getting old, because the swings made me feel a little sick!

We did get a picture of us riding in the plane! I was a little bit surprised that they let adults ride this ride because there was NO leg room at all! My legs were so folded up under me that I thought I would break!

I can't remember what this ride was called, but Caylie and Christian loved it! They are both very brave when it comes to rides. They never come across a ride that they don't want to jump on! Often more than once!

While Corey and the big kids were doing some wilder rides, I took Carson on the Merry-Go-Round...about 5 times in a row! He never got tired of it!

Carson went on his first log ride. We were not sure how he would react, but as soon as he got to the bottom of the big hill, and got soaked with water, he started laughing! He loved it!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Clinton Museum Space Exhibit

Today Christian and I headed out to see the temporary space exhibit at the Clinton Museum.

Part of our curriculum this semester, is the Apologia study on space, so we thought that this would be an interesting field trip.

The first stop that we made was the simulator shown below. The concept was that the "chair" Christian was strapped into hovered slightly above the floor, and after directing it over to the wall (with some help from the assistant), he was to perform a set of tasks...similar to some that an astronaut might do. Christian said that this activity was just "okay".

Next, we went into the exhibit room to see the display of various items that have actually been used by astronauts on space missions. This area was pretty interesting.

There were many fascinating displays that we read about and learned new things from.

Our last stop before leaving, was the MAT (Multi-Axis Trainer) simulator. It was a wild ride, for sure! It spun in every direction, with totally random timing. I tried to load a video, but my computer didn't cooperate, so you will just have to use your imagination!

I couldn't believe that Christian had the stomach to do it two times!

He LOVED it!

It was both a fun AND educational day! I am so happy that we are homeschooling! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Carson's 3rd Birthday Party

Carson is 3!

Earlier in the week, we celebrated Carson's 3rd birthday with his 3 little buddies. Addie, Rachel and Will. They have been fun little playmates that he has really enjoyed spending time with, and their families are all friends of ours.

Mom came over and helped me quickly pull things together for his little buddies and their families to come hang out in the front yard, and have a very casual (but fun!) Sesame Street birthday party. It was a very laid back party. The adults sat around and visited, and the kids ran around and played in the yard. The main attraction was the Slip and Slide that Corey and Christian had set up!

Carson liked his fun Sesame Street birthday cake from Mickey's cake shop! Mickey's has done our family birthday cakes for years and years. There have been a very few exceptions here and there, when I have tried my hand at cake decorating, but I must say, Mickey's has me beat!

Here he is just checking it out!

Ready to dig in!

Here is the birthday boy sporting some cool shades and his whistle necklace hanging down over that cute little poochy belly. Talk about handsome! That's my little stud muffin!

While the Slip and Slide was lots of fun, the pinata was a pretty big hit too!
It was quite a battle for the kids to get it to break apart, but after many, many hits...

Christian swung the final blow, and the candy came pouring out!

Caylie did some of her photo editing on this picture of Christian breaking open the pinata!

Daddy wouldn't let a perfectly good pinata hat go to waste now, would he?

As we were winding things up, the kids played "Pin The Nose On Elmo"...some were much more accurate than others!

Our wet little birthday boy enjoyed opening up the nice cards and gifts that he was given before his friends headed home.

It was a fun evening, and when it was over, Carson was worn out from running around and playing so much!

We are so glad that you had a happy birthday sweet little Carson! You have added so much joy to our family for the last 3 years! We can't begin to imagine our family without you. You have brought many smiles, many laughs, and lots and lots of sweet cuddles and kisses! We all hate seeing the time fly by, and often talk about wanting to freeze or rewind the clock so that we can keep enjoying "Baby Carson", but at the same time, we sure love the fun little guy that you are becoming! We enjoy you so much! The next year will bring so many changes! You will be so different by the time we celebrate your 4th birthday. So here we go...it's going be a fun ride!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

That's A Wrap...We're Heading Home!

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Chicago.

We walked across the street for breakfast, and then packed up, waved down a taxi, and headed back to Union Station around lunch time.

After getting our bags checked in, we walked down the street to get some lunch. We ate sandwiches at a table outside, and enjoyed our last sights of the great city.

Shortly before getting back on the train, we realized that we could let Carson watch some kid shows on the laptop to help him pass the time while we traveled. (Don't know why we didn't think of that on they way TO Chicago!) The only problem we had, was that we had no kid shows! We had a little bit of time to spare, so Corey and Christian raced down the street to a Walgreen's and found a couple of shows for Carson to watch...and made it back in time!

After boarding, we let Carson break in one of his shows while we all relaxed for a while.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing games, hanging out in the observation room, and having dinner.

When bedtime arrived, Carson was not feeling much like sleeping, so Christian got him fixed up with a movie, to help him wind down a little bit.

While I was very thankful for a bed to sleep in, we didn't get much sleep that night. Carson was restless, and our train was scheduled to arrive back at home at around 4am. The train was running very late, so we just kept worrying that we were going to sleep through our stop.

It was around 6am when we arrived back at our train station.

We looked like a band of sleepy circus clowns trying to get all of our stuff into a normal sized taxi back to our house! (We realized the next morning that we had forgotten one of our biggest suitcases as we were getting loaded! There was NO WAY that we could have gotten it into the taxi anyway! We got it back later!)

We were thrilled to arrive back at the house, and were even more thrilled that Carson went back to bed, and let US go back to bed for a little while to recover from the trip!

Our trip to Chicago was great! We all had so much fun, and enjoyed getting to experience so many new things, and see so many new sights! Maybe someday we will have the opportunity to go again...

But as they say...there's no place like home! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi