Roadtrip: AR spring 2016 (part 1)

We returned from our most recent trip to Arkansas earlier this week, and it was a really difficult, strange trip, in that Mimi passed away while we were home (and though her health hadn't been awesome recently, it still felt sudden and surprising and a little devastating).  But it was also a lovely, comforting week with lots of dear family members that we rarely get to see (much less spend a lot of time with).  But there are SO many photos from the trip, so I'll break it up into a few posts...

The trip started with a happy surprise that Stuart did not have to work on the Friday before his vacation, so we packed up and left a day early and made the quick drive to Asheville for a night in a hotel (James' favorite part of vacations, if you ask him).

True to toddler roadtrip fashion, we stopped for a play break one hour into the drive :)



Western NC holds a dear place in my heart, and I always feel a longing in my heart when I start seeing the hills rise up during the drive.  We came into the mountains just as the sun was setting, and I feel like that was a sweet little gift from the Lord just for me.





We did not stay at a very fancy hotel (a Days Inn, in fact), but the boys had a BLAST.  Ask James about it, and he will tell you there was a MICROWAVE in the BEDROOM, and that is just the coolest.



On Saturday we started our drive early and stopped for lunch somewhere in eastern TN at a random ball field with a playground.  Picnic lunch for the (frugal! fun! memory-making!) win.









Back in the car... on the highway somewhere in TN, James yells "STOP THE CAR!"  So proud that he told us he had to go instead of having an accident.  However, I will forever find this photo hilarious:





Saturday afternoon we arrived in Nashville, TN, at the home of our dear, life friends - Chris & Jill Merrick (who is currently with child and due in ONE WEEK).  It was so fun to spend the afternoon and evening with them.  They are always such a dear encouragement to our hearts.





Sunday we left the Merricks' after a leisurely breakfast and headed west... We stopped for another lunch picnic at an old Civil War site.





This lunch stop got me thinking about how fun and flexible it could be to homeschool - instead of reading about the Civil War (for example) in a textbook, why not take a ROADTRIP and visit all the battlefields, learning about it along the way?  Living in the southeast definitely has the perk of having a lot of our country's history (even all the way back to the first settlers from Europe) at our fingertips.







After many hours (over three days), we arrived in Little Rock and promptly had a glass of wine ;)  Nana had just finished hosting a bridal shower for Stuart's cousin, Heather (whose wedding is coming up in just a few weeks - yay and congratulations, Heather!), so we got to see a LOT of the Younger side of our family.  Love them.  Another post to come with more photos from the rest of the week - again, a hard week with losing Mimi, but we got to see a lot of faces that we miss and don't get to see otherwise!