My Surprise Birthday Trip

Here is how the trip started. I wake up at 4am to feed Ainslee. When I go out to the living room I see Marcus he hands me a birthday card and tells me to open it. I was hesitant, because my birthday was a week away. And when you get this old you aren't exactly excited about getting another year older, like you were when you were a kid. I open the sweet card he pick out for me and it says "it ain't Boston and it ain't New York but it ain't home either - So get up and pack a bag. Hope you enjoy 30! ~Love Marcus" I know people- I'm old
*for those of you that don't know, that might sound a little strange so I'll explain. For Marcus' 30th birthday I surprised him with a trip to Boston to visit his sister and tickets to see U2 (his favoritest band EVER) at Madison Square Garden. I managed to keep this little secret up until boarding the airplane. So I guess he figured now that I am turning 30 he must take me on a surprise trip, but times have definitely changed. With 2 kids it was much harder for him to pull off a huge surprise.

So off I go packing our bags as the girls slept. He kept asking me "do you want to know where we are going?" I said "NO! But will we have a washer?" A mom needs to know that sort of thing, cause it drastically impacts the way she packs for 2 kids.

We decided to wake Kaylee up early so we could hit the road. After dropping Tahoe off at my moms we were off. I realized really quickly that we were heading WEST so I figured either Little Rock or Hot Springs. I was right!

When Kaylee asked where we were going, we told her on a trip. I didn't know exactly where we were going and Marcus didn't want to ruin the surprise so we were really vague. On the way there Kaylee kept screaming "I wanna go on a trip." Apparently the concept of a trip, was too much for her to grasp. When she wasn't screaming about going on a trip she was contently sitting in the 3rd row reading her books and singing. When she was bored she would try and get my attention by saying, "I kiss boys. Kaylee kiss boys. NO! Only abba, uncle John, uncle Joe, uncle Harry." About 45 minutes down the road Marcus and I were looking at ourselves and asking "is she ever going to fall asleep?" But as you know my kids aren't very fond of their car seats so NO she wasn't going to sleep. As soon as Ainslee woke up from her very short nap Marcus and I quickly realized that Kaylee's constant chatter just wasn't that bad compared to the screaming coming from Ainslee.

As lunch time approached the words "Eat eat, I EAT!!" echoed throughout the car. Kaylee was obviously starving to death in the back seat. And she was being tortured by the cashews that were in the box right next to her seat. But we couldn't get to them. So she sat there staring at a delicious snack that she couldn't get her hands on. I'm such a mean mommy!

We decided to stop for lunch in Little Rock we picked Jason's Deli. Yummy yummy. And a tiny pit stop at Best Buy to use a gift card that was expiring that day. Then headed on to Hot Springs.

When we arrived at the house we were staying at we unpacked, and then loaded back into the car to go downtown Hot Springs. We walked around for about an hour, we didn't have too much time before it was time to put the girls to bed. So we went back to the house put the girls down and enjoyed a fabulous meal and wine together. It was so GREAT! And Marcus was so sweet throughout the whole day: giving me random kisses, asking me if I needed anything, I had such a wonderful day!

On Sunday Marcus convinced me to go to a local bathhouse for a bath. I'll post separately about that later. After my bath we brought the girls home for nap and then went to the Mid-America Science Museum. Kaylee had a blast! She ran from exhibit to exhibit exploring everything. Then home for bedtime. After the girls were in bed Marcus and I enjoyed another delicious dinner together: salads, crab, steaks, baked potatoes, and wine. The best part was all I had to do was bake the potatoes, Marcus did everything else! We would have eaten outside, but there were just too many bugs for me to handle.

Oh I almost forgot to mention that Marcus bought 2 new DVDs for us to watch, he knew our nightly activities would be limited to the house because the girls would be sleeping. He even thought to buy me a bag full of a variety of my favorite candy. I have to have a little chocolate after I eat.

Monday when we woke up we went to the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. It was fun, sorta dirty and a little on the sketchy side at some points, but I think Kaylee enjoyed it, so that is all that counts. She got to fed deer, a donkey, rheas, and goats. One of the goats even chewed on her shirt. She had so much fun in the pen with the animals. I was excited to get back to the house and give her a bath. Marcus and I packed up as the girls took their nap, and then we hit the road when they woke up.

We have been trying to get back on schedule for the past couple of days. It is amazing how much even the shortest of trips can throw a child off their schedule. Not to mention a totally sleep deprived mom. We stayed up both nights until after midnight, I just enjoyed the trip so much that i didn't want each day to end!

For those of you that havent been to Hot Springs, it is DEFINITELY someplace you should visit!