Thursday, March 17, 2011

A time to heal...

On Tuesday morning, 3 days after Hadley's memorial service, we packed our bags and headed to Hot Springs, AR!!  We had debated over the weekend of where to go and finally I told Daniel to just pick a place and Briley and I would be in the car ready to go :)  He found Hot Springs while online and off we went...

We made it to Arkansas...after many snacks on the road :)

We made it into Hot Springs in the afternoon and unfortunately it was kind of gloomy weather so we decided to check into our hotel and find some dinner and call it an early night.  Our hotel was SO awesome!!  We stayed at the Arlington in downtown Hot Springs and it dates back to 1875.  Lots of presidents have stayed there and we were actually on the same floor as the Ronald Reagan suite!!  Here is a picture of the hotel...
Wednesday morning we slept in a little from our drive and took our time getting ready.  It was so nice to be on our own schedule and do what we pleased.  Wednesday was kind of another cloudy day so we decided to take advantage of the indoor activities.  We headed to the Children's Science Museum first.  We realized very early on that Hot Springs is definitely a tourist town during the summer and we did come at the wrong time.  However, what made it so great for us was that wherever we went there was no one there and we could let Briley run around and not bother others.  Here are some fun pictures from the science museum...I think Daniel had more fun than Briley!!
After the science museum, we stopped for some lunch at good old Mickey D's and then drove around Hot Springs while Briley took a nap in the car.  Daniel and I were able to drive up into the beautiful parks and see the view!!
After little miss woke up from her nap, we headed to the aquarium that was right next to our hotel.  It was no Dallas Aquarium, but Briley still had a blast looking at the "fishies"!!
That night we decided to eat at Chili's and ended the day with some yummy homemade ice cream!!
On Thursday the weather was much nicer so we decided to get up and head straight for the beautiful park and up to the Mountain Tower to see the view.  I was a little freaked out because I have a slight fear of heights but we managed to go to the outside part and take a few pictures :)
After getting some great pictures at Mountain Tower, we decided to head to the Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo!!  Because we came in the winter season all of the Alligators were inside but Briley still had a blast looking at all the animals and even petting a baby alligator!!  So proud of my fearless little girl!!
After visiting the Alligator Farm we headed out for some lunch.  We wanted to eat at a place that the locals eat at so we headed to a place called McClard's Bar-B-Q.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of our DELICIOUS meal but it was SO good.  It was jam packed and had a fun atmosphere.  It was President Clinton's favorite place to eat...his picture was everywhere!!  Haha!!  After lunch we headed downtown to walk the shops and of course we found a toy shop and Briley left with 2 new babies!!  We thought since she had been so good on our trip she deserved it.  After walking the streets downtown we headed back up to the parks to try and get some good pictures of our cutie...and I have to say we succeeded.  Her Daddy can take some great pictures!!
Right in front of our hotel was the real "Hot" Springs so we decided to test it out and see how hot it actually was.  We couldn't keep our finger in there for long because it was VERY hot!!  Briley had so much fun running around this beautiful area and throwing pennies in the springs.
We ended our night with eating at a Mexican restaurant that was "authentic" Mexican food and Daniel and I realized we are definitely used to our "tex-mex"!!  It wasn't our favorite but we are still glad we tried another local restaurant.  After that it was bedtime but not before some tickles with Daddy!!
We slept in on Friday morning and took our time getting ready to leave.  Once we made it back to the Texas border we had to stop for some pictures!!
I like to call this trip, "A time to heal", because it really was just that.  Did I heal completely? No.  Will I ever heal completely?  Yes, when I am in heaven with Hadley and our sweet Jesus.  I am so thankful that I was able to take this trip with my precious family.  Daniel and I had a lot of time to talk just us and we so enjoyed our time with Briley.  God is so good to our family in giving us this time together.  I am so thankful to him for that.

I started this blog last night and wasn't able to finish it so I have to end the blog with a very important message....


Happy Birthday and Happy St. Patrick's Day to my wonderful husband and Briley's amazing Daddy!!
We are very "lucky" to have you!!
Have a wonderful day and don't forget your green!!

In Christ's Love,

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