Trolley Museum, Baby Bodhi & Peach Festival Fun!

This week for Fun Friday I took the kids to Ft. Smith to check out the Trolley Museum. I am not sure we exactly ever found the museum - that part was confusing and it was too hot to look around too much. But, we did find the Trolley Stop and were able to ride the trolley and the kids even got to drive it! We had a great trolley driver and he took us to old downtown Ft. Smith and told us a very interesting story about the first African-American Marshalls.

After that we went to get Noah a new backpack, lunch box and school supplies. This year he went with a Minecraft backpack and John Cena lunchbox - that pretty much sums up Noah :)  After that we headed back to go meet our newest family member! My brother and his wife had a new baby - Bodhi Robert Gunn! It was both of the kids first time to really hold a new baby and they were both loving it! Ryan held him about 5 times and did not want to give him up! Luckily, he will be at her daycare soon and she will get to see him a lot!

After that we got lucky and happened to meet up with a friend and her kids for dinner and bowling!

Saturday was a long, hot busy day! It started with a 4 mile race at 7:00 a.m. with my friends. I have been training for a 5k for awhile, but am not quite ready so I knew I wouldn't make a 4 miler yet so we all signed up to walk it together. We had the best time - as always. We even made a pit stop for donuts - I mean the donut shop drive-thru was on the route so we had to!

After that I had to meet Noah over at the greased pig chase. Noah finally decided he wanted to participate in this year. There were a bunch of kids in his age group this year - I would estimate at least 30! He had the biggest smile on his face while he chased the pig, but was pretty disappointed afterwards - that is just how Noah is. We had time to kill while we waited on our next event so we walked the square with my family and got the kids souvenirs, rode the train and got their cartoons drawn (we have done this since 2013 by the same sweet lady and I have them all stacked in the same frame at home - love this sweet tradition).

Next up was the terrapin derby. It was really getting hot at this point so I was not exactly sad when our turtles didn't win so we were able to leave ;)

After lunch and a little air conditioning we headed back to watch Ryan perform at the court square. There were some technical difficulties with the stage so we had to watch the performance in the studio, which was a little close quarters, but the air conditioning was nice. However, this was the first time we were that close to Ryan while she performed and she did not like it at all. In fact, she refused to dance and just stood there and cried instead. But, after some italian ice she was happy again :)

How Noah felt about watching ballet ;)

We were finally done with the court square but we had one more Peach Festival celebration and one last Little Mister Johnson County duty - the parade! Noah looked so cute on the float and Ryan got to sit in the truck pulling the float with her friend Klaire and they had so much fun giggling and waving flags! After all that activity that day, my step count that day was pretty impressive!

One of my best friends and I are trying arrange a marriage between our kids - don't they make a cute couple?!

Sunday the kids and I went to church and the store and then home to pack for our upcoming trip and play outside. We had cloudy weather and a nice cool rain so the kids and I played outside in it. We danced, threw a party, flayed frisbee and boomerang. It was nice to be outside and not be sweating!

Now for a week of tying up my work ends, cleaning, and packing before a week of relaxation with my kids! We have never been to the beach and I am excited to see what all the hype is about!

Peach Pageants, Amazeum & 6 Birthdays!

Last week was the beginning of Peach Festival season in Johnson County! This year was extra busy for us because Noah was Little Mister and had some things to participate in for the end of his reign and Ryan asked to be in the Tiny Peach pageant. Monday night was Noah's Farewell Dinner. He could only bring 2 guests so Ryan got some special time with Meme while Nathan and I accompanied Noah at the dinner. Each member of the reigning royalty got to go on stage and give a speech. Noah marched up on stage, gave a great speech and then it happened...he did a mic drop! I was so shocked I literally laughed until I cried and so did Nathan. It was the perfect ending to his reign and the crowd loved it!

Tuesday night was pageant rehearsal night for both kids. Ryan was the only one in her age group to do it alone - she made it clear she did not want my help! I was actually very surprised with how well she did in practice! Noah had to show the boys running for Little Mister Johnson County this year how to walk on stage - he loved that job!

Finally, on Thursday it was pageant time! Noah got to sit in on the Little Mister interviews and did a great job! Ryan picked out a perfect pageant hair style and it turned out so beautiful! She enjoyed being fed a happy meal while getting her hair done :) I  must say, getting Noah pageant ready the last 2 years was a lot easier than getting Ryan ready! Just some hair gel and making sure his pants weren't on backwards was all we had to do with him! Ryan was still the only girl in her age group to go on stage alone. She smiled and waved and did so good! She did look back at me on the sides at each stop to make sure she wasn't going to fast, but she did amazing for her first pageant! She ended up winning crowd favorite and got a trophy and a crown - which thrilled her! She says she wants to do more pageants, but I am afraid if she didn't win something she would meltdown, so we will see before we move on to doing that.

Interviewing the Little Mister contestants :)

Noah did his farewell and passed out the trophy and sash to the new Little Mister Johnson County. He was sad but once we told him he could keep his sash and trophy he was ok with it :) Since the pageants last year were after the Peach Festival Noah and the other 2016 royalty did not get to ride in the parade, so they get to do that this year. So, he gets to put the sash on one more time and throw candy - which was his favorite part of all his duties anyway!

For Fun Friday this week we went and checked out the Amazeum with Meme and Paxton. I would best describe the Amazeum as a restaurant play place on steroids! It has so many different stations and things to do and the kids had the best time! We were able to get it all done in a few hours, but the kids really weren't ready to leave and begged to be able to go back again. That night for dinner, we celebrated 2 of the 6 people's birthdays we had to celebrate over the weekend. Nathan's cousins Zach and Justin had a family dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

Saturday we had another birthday party, this time for 2 kids that used to go to daycare with Noah and Ryan. They are both in school now, but we love getting to see them still for birthday parties. Olivia and Kamden had a sports themed party at our local multi-purpose building and the kids loved running around and playing.

Sunday we all went to church and finally took Noah back to Sumo, he had been begging for months now :) Then a little shopping, then we had to head home to get ready for another double birthday party. My friend Alicia's kids Kadence and Davey had such a fun waterslide party! It was hot, but nice in the shade with a breeze and the kids were fine playing in the water.

Now this week is full of swimming and staying as cool as possible and Peach Festival activities - 4 mile race, turtle race, greased pig chase, Ryan's dance routine on the square, and the parade!