Eureka Springs

Britney and I took Samir and Bryleigh to explore Eureka Springs this past weekend. What a cute little town! It has been forever since I've been there, so it was all pretty new to me too. We started with lunch at a sandwich and ice cream shop.

We ate outside because the weather was so beautiful. It also gave the kiddos a chance to run around and stretch their legs. Here they are chasing after butterflies.

Next we took a trolley ride around historic Eureka Springs. We saw a lot of cute older buildings all fixed up.

After the trolley ride, we took the opportunity to further explore some things we saw.

Then we headed off to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. There they have all kinds of wild animals, but mostly tigers. You can get pretty close to them, so that was really fun. It was also neat to hear the stories on some of them. They are all rescued animals and I was really surprised by how many were from homes were people had them as pets!

Deep in thought :)

 

Airplanes!

Samir has a recent obsession with airplanes and helicopters. I mean, he is NUTS about them! I had to one up the paper airplane gig and bought a couple of the rubber band powered ones. Then we packed a picnic and met a friend at the park for an evening of flying fun!

Getting excited about putting the planes together!

Putting one together

Here we go!

Watching it fly

Throwing it

All in all, a fantastic evening that we will revisit again :)

Tiffany's Birthday

I celebrated my 26th birthday September 25. I was extremely lucky to have a whole little weekend of celebrations with those I love! It all began Friday night when went to Friday's for what I thought was a family dinner, but turned out to be a surprise birthday party put together by my sweet husband!

 The gang

 

Marlene and I

 

 

Me, Britney and Kendra

 

Peter and Marlene

The next day was my actual birthday and the Razorbacks were playing Alabama. I would have loved to see them beat 'Bama, but I think we gave them a good run for their money! We are a Hogs family :) Samir has even learned to say "razorbacks"! 

 

On Sunday, Patty and Anna treated me and mom to our first hibachi grill and sushi experience. Loved, loved, LOVED it! Then we went for pedicures. This girls' day was the perfect, relaxing end to my birthday. Thanks everyone!

 

Mom and I

Pretty toes!

Patty and I

Feeding the Ducks

My friend Britney recently told me about a place she visited to feed the ducks and geese. Samir loves animals, so I thought it might be fun to take him. Well, that and I had a loaf of bread that was going to go bad! Needless to say, he had fun and didn't want to leave. Next time I think we'll be better prepared and take more bread!

Quite the friendly bunch....and a little aggressive!

 

"Talking" to the baby ducks

Shrine Circus

Mom and I took Samir to Springdale to the Shrine Circus. He had a blast and I was pleasantly impressed also! It wasn't a large circus, but had a lot of acts and was very entertaining.

This clown made Samir's dog balloon animal

Ready for the circus to start!

Tigers!

When this act began, Samir said "Uh-oh! Get down!" I assured him Momma would never do anything like that :)

My favorite act by far

Elephant paws

Samir's favorite....the motorcycles!

Alligators!

A traveling reptile exhibit recently came to the area. Of course I had to take Samir because he is an alligator NUT! I only had my camera, so not the best of pictures. You'll just have to believe me....those were some huge alligators, 950 lbs. and 1,000 lbs. respectively! There were also snakes, which Samir was ok to look at. He really loved the alligators and a rhinoceros lizard (see below).