August 14-16, 2015: Arkansas!

Our family vacation this year was a long weekend to Hot Springs!  Although, I'm sure they won't believe me when they're older, but this was actually the kids choice.  They wanted to see a new state :)  I wanted to camp but don't know if we are quite ready for the tent and all...so we went yurting!  We had the best of camping with a grill, campfire, and the woods...along with a small a/c unit, beds, and a mini fridge!

Our little yurt...

The inside included a queen bed, 2 full size bunk beds, and futon...

Right away the boys went to play outside, Nora started in on her puzzle (obsession! She does this same puzzle 10 times a day for the past few weeks), I started dinner prep...and Bryn started cleaning?!

We all played outside while Nick grilled our chicken/apple sausage, peppers, onions, zucchini, and corn on the cob...

The puzzle came outside too...

Dinner time!

After smores that night we caught someone eating our leftovers when we were coming back from our flashlight walk to the bathrooms...

The kids named him Bandit and loved it!  I was not amused however when he continued to pop out around our yurt at night the rest of the weekend...

Sleeping all in the same room, plus a sky light in our yurt, meant we were all awake around 6!  In an attempt to keep it authentic we made eggs on the grill for breakfast and despite their charcoal aftertaste they were good :)

We also attempted to make muffins in orange peels which would have been great if we had given them a little more time to cook.  A few turned out so we did get to share a couple...

More playing outside and exploring the woods around the yurt...

Lunch was pretty early that day since playing outside makes for hungry little people!

PB&Js, orange slices, and bananas for lunch...

Some time that day we picked up a 4th child.  Sweet little Andrew was 5 years old and after spending 1/2 a day with us without seeing a parent or family member with him, we were happy to include him. (He was staying in a RV in the lot nearby and even though I made him check in every so often with his parents, he just kept coming back to play)  We went down to explore the lake and found a few fire trucks the kids wanted to watch...

We learned they had come down to hook up their hoses to the lake and create a "spray park" for all the kids from the yurts and RVs.

We ran back to throw on swim suits and spent a couple hours playing on wet concrete :)  Our 4 kids loved it!

No problem with nap time that day, they were beat...

We did a family hike in about 95 degrees...but the shade from the trees helped a lot!  One baby wearing and one preschool piggy back :)

They had a pool which we took advantage of for a nightly swim...

We headed into Hot Springs one night and found an amazing pizza place.  The kids love the chalkboard walls and I loved the authentic NYC pizza!

After dinner we went to the lookout tower at the highest point of Hot Springs National Park...the first and smallest national park in the US.  I was not thrilled with the glass elevator ride up but didn't want to scare the kids...my "happy/excited" face...

But the view was worth it!

Urgh, of course the ride down wasn't much better...

Late night snuggles...

A morning in Hot Springs...we loved the main strip of this cute little town, so many shops, restaurants, and bath houses which were very cool.

Found another hidden gem diner for breakfast...

Even though the water was about 120 degrees, the kids loved filling their bottle directly from the springs underground...

Saying goodbye to our yurt...it was a great weekend and the kids are already asking to go back!

Of course, Nora was still doing that same puzzle on the way home.  After her 300th time, I think she can do it blindfolded :)