228 pictures

fphew! 228 pictures! i got back from visiting my parents in arkansas a week and a half ago, and that's how many pictures i keep staring at trying to figure out how to make a post out of them.

we had a great time. arkansas in april/may is really beautiful. the green-ness is lush. i love the trees. they are huge and heavy with massive tumbles of bright green leaves, which are balanced out by the thickness and brightness of grass and other growth on the ground. i'm not trying to be poetic, i just can't think of how to describe the color of it. i love it. i remember when i first visited seattle, and subsequently decided to stay, seeing that same encompassing, embracing green-ness and having that comforting, being home feeling.

needless to say, i didn't visit arkansas for the trees... ,or to visit the "famous" toad suck daze, or for the half price cherry lime-aids at sonic between 2 and 4 every day. though i enjoyed all of these things, the best part of the trip was spending time with my family. i love laying on the sofa with my head in my mother's lap talking until 3 am while she picks through my hair. and i love sharing my children with the places and people i love, and sharing these places and people with them.
lucy and jett have no idea, however, that this trip wasn't just for them. they ran around all over the yard, played at parks, went to the zoo, and were cuddled and coddled by everyone within reach. (well... besides the time at the zoo, when jett was being hailed as an "abandoned child" by a worried teenager who found him unattended in his stroller in front of an exhibit... she may have overreacted a bit, we were only feet away)-

speaking of the zoo, it was in memphis, where we drove for a quick trip to see my brother craig and his family. cheri, his wife, is having their fourth kidlet in 2 days! go cheri! they are such an awesome family, and the little time i get to spend with them here and there is always so much fun. lucy and jett were thrilled to be able to play with their older cousins bryce and jared. then there's alana, she and lucy ran around like two peas in a pod... lucy can get up to some pretty good mischief and alana was only too willing to go along.

and, back to the zoo...

the memphis zoo has a wonderful carousel, all the animals are different endangered species- and they are beautifully carved and colored. jared showed off with some great trick riding! grandmother's sweet ride was an equal hit though.

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john joined us about halfway through our trip- it was great to have him there. lucy especially had missed her daddy, and i know john was glad to have a little vacation, even if arkansas has a bit too much humidity and a few too many bugs for his taste. we celebrated john's 34th birthday and jetty's 1st that week! i so much love both my boys. and, just slightly less, i love the all-american chocolate cake from costco. yummmm.

sandy and family also joined us from texas. lucy was so excited about them coming. all week before they got there she'd ask, "can we go to texas now to play with ava and penelope?". actually she's still saying that. i only wish we could. i love my sister and i don't get to see her nearly often enough. we always watch closely to see if lucy and ava will have an innate bond because of the closeness that sandy and i share... we'll see.., but they do have a great time together.

(so much for a picture of the four of us!)

jetty and penelope had fun too... they bonded over their interests of watching their older sisters, eating, and chewing on various things.

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and then there was toad suck daze.

i'm not even going to try to explain, but if you're curious, go here. the weather was warm, the people fascinating, and the food wonderfully fried and delicious. john believes in making the most of fair food, so we like to try a little of as much as we can stomach. we had fried cheesecake, a corn dog, fried chicken on a stick, fried pickles (my favorite, and worth a trip to arkansas on their own), a fried twinkie (surprisingly tasty), and a rootbeer float. we passed up on quite a few other delectable fares and for a full run down of the fried goodness check out sandy's blog.


lucy and john even tried their hand at toad racing- their toad may not have been the champ they hoped, because certainly their skill couldn't have been lacking.

waiting for the race to start. "three! two! one! TOAD!"

i love this picture of john diving after "two-pac", the name lucy chose, he had his own agenda.
(john would have to repeat this move after the race when two-pac dives for cover under the toad master's golf cart- heehee!)

back on the track, the race is over...
only 2 feet from the starting line, two-pac is now refusing to move...

well, it was good times anyway!

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of course, eventually we had to come home. so we packed up our sunburns and the fancy new sandles my mom bought me (thanks again mom!) and headed to the airport. it's always hard for me to say good bye to my parents. seattle is just too far away, and as my family gets bigger it's getting harder to travel to see them. thank goodness for free in-network calls on our cell phones. seriously, i often include gratitude for this in my prayers.

lucy decked out in her travel outfit, she insisted on the hat.