The Nature State

We have made two trips to Arkansas this year.  It's relatively close and the closest "real" mountains around.  

 On our first trip we traveled to Eureka Springs.  It is such a fun little mountain/ boating town.  We had gone about 3 years before and decided it was time again.

We took our 2nd trip 6 weeks later.  We couldn't seem to stay away.  This time we decided to head to Hot Springs.  We met up with our dear friends the Spanns (who lived above us in Utah and now live in Nashville).  Lucky for us, Hot Springs was half way between our houses.  

Austin and Mason are only a few weeks apart and became fast friends.  This first picture was taken while they were being introduced.  They were little buddies the whole trip.

We're already planning on making this a tradition!

 We had a wonderful time exploring Hot Springs.  True to it's name it has a whole row of bath houses that have hot pools inside.  They claim to be America's 1st resort town.  It was neat to check out some of the bathhouses that dated back to the early 1900s.  Next time we go we'll have to go inside.

 There was also an incredible toy store that we visited downtown.  There was a sweet old man there, probably in his mid 80's, who knew about every toy in his store.  He let our 4 crazy kids play with his wooden train track for what seemed like almost an hour.  He also told us that the wooden train has been the single most popular toy for the last 50 years.  (don't quote me on the facts here- my memory isn't as good as his)

 Same time, Same place, Same crowd,  Next year!