The Peabody Park

We went to the Peabody Park (Sponsored by The Peabody of Downtown Little Rock) this weekend and the kids had an amazing time. The park just recently opened (so recently that when we tried a week or two ago it as still being built) and Amie and I were excited to check it out and see what the kids thought. The park is amazing! Instead of the traditional playground it has underground tunnels with ladders and ropes to climb up. It has a huge tunnel slide and a space net climber. It has a lot of imaginative play areas and the kids had so much fun playing there... and it also has a splash pad!!! I have wanted to have one of these for the kids to play at in our town for so long and we finally get one when we are leaving the area. I think it is probably one of the coolest parks I have seen in a long time. We spent the good part of the day there with the kids playing in the park area first, then a bike ride down the path by the river's edge and then back to the splash pad. You can see in the pictures that Rachel recieved her little hand-me-down bike from David this week when he got his big boy bike. She loves it! She actually rides this little bike better than she rides her tricycle. It's cute to watch how excited she gets to ride it.

Packing Progress

It's been a busy couple of weeks with the packing. I have been doing it all along with no sense of urgency and that is a good thing. I would hate to run out of time and be chucking things in boxes as the movers were packing up the truck. The garage is piled high with 80+ boxes full of the stuff that makes our house a home. Doug has been doing all the lifting and moving while I've been doing the actual packing. It's a pretty good tradeoff... I like to know where everything is. The kids have been very curious about what is going in the boxes, why it's going in the boxes and when they'll see the stuff that is getting hidden in the boxes once again. Noah is really excited about the move because he knows his new room in upstairs in the new house. He has always loved stairs and has always asked for a room upstairs. So he is pretty tolerant of his things being packed in boxes with the intent of seeing them in about a week in his new room. I felt pretty bad the other night when Rachel was asking where her doll clothes trunk was (she hadn't played with it in a while and I had packed it just that day) and she got great big crocodile tears when I told her it was packed up for our move to Georgia. The kids aren't the only ones missing things though - It will be good to get unpacked and settled in the new place.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Last weekend Amie and I took the kids to Build-A-Bear to make a stuffed animal of their choice. It's a neat thing for the kids because they get to pick out the animal they want and actually stuff it, put in a small satin heart (that has been kissed and wished upon), wash it, brush it, dress it and name it. It was cute to watch them try to decide what kind of animal to get. Rachel had decided before we even got to the store that if they had a 'peent' (pink) bear, that was the one she was picking and true to form, she picked a bright pink bear with white hearts on it. She was also interested in the light pink and white bear and also the white bear with red and blue stars. Noah, true to his own likings looked at every dog in the store, deciding he wanted the huskey dog. However since that dog couldn't wear a football uniform (it was standing on all fours), he picked out the brown sugar dog instead. Olivia also picked the pink and white heart bear and Dave picked out a really cute fuzzy dog. They then got to step on the 'stuffer', wish on and kiss the animals heart, drop it in and watch it get sewn up. Afterwards they take them to the bath station where they wash and brush them. It was cute to watch them pick out an outfit too. Noah wanted a football uniform and quickly picked one out (letting me know that when we came back he wanted to get the army man outfit) and Rachel went here and there trying to decide what she wanted. She finally picked out a pair of pink panties and a pink tutu set for her bear. We then named the animals - Rachel's bear was dubbed 'Pinky' and Noah's new dog 'Scruffy-Duffy'. You can see in the pictures of them later that night that they were all cuddled up to their new friends.

The Wonder Place

Amie and I have been trying to spend as much time as possible together since our time here in Little Rock is drawing to an end. We have been keeping the kids busy with fun things to do here and a couple of weekends ago we found The Wonder Place http://www.thewonderplace.com/ .

This is a neat little place made just for kids 8 and under to go and play with all kinds of things in all kinds of cool situations. There is a room full of just blocks, ramps and balls; there is a huge dramatic play stage and puppet area; there is a water table and sand table; a huge car and train table; an art station; a huge tree house and play house; a mock up River Market and Cafe filled to the brim with all kinds of play fruits, veggies, breads and other foods; there is a cool vet clinic filled with stuffed animals and vet gadgets including a real x-ray machine. The kids loved it - Rachel and Dave really liked the water table. Olivia and Noah liked the dress up/ theater area - Noah had an absolute ball in this cow outfit - cracked us up, it was made for a toddler. Dave liked cooking in the River Market Cafe and made lots os "Scooby Sandwiches" and my little Rachel is always at home in any kitchen. It was so cute to watch them all have such a good time. They played for hours and Amie and I had a long hard laugh as Noah tried to take our picture. I'm sure you can tell how crazy we are and how much fun we have when we're together. I'm going to miss her so much.