"F"

Finley - At the beginning of July Finley came to stay with us! We had a very eventful weekend!!!! Despite her being homesick, I think she really enjoyed herself. Her packed her days with a trip to Tulsa, the aquarium, swimming, 4th of July activities, shopping, playing, Mickey Mouse, and lots of Aunt Beth and Uncle Kenny time! There were some challenges, but we just love having her stay with us!!!! Family - Our friends had their sweet baby! We've been waiting 9 months to know what they were having and their beautiful boy, Reagan made his debut! Super cute and tiny!!! :) Fort Worth - We took a very spur-of-the-moment trip to Texas for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing!!! We were hoping to catch up with some friends, but at the last minute they couldn't make it. That just gave us an extra day to explore and enjoy one of our favorite places!!! :) We stayed at our favorite spot downtown, The Omni! And, had some great food! Of course we stopped at The Reata just b/c its our favorite, but we hit a few new spots this time too. We arrived on a Thursday and stayed through Sunday. Thursday we pretty much hung around the hotel. Friday, we hit the new West 7th District. Its really neat and a lot of things still being built and moving in. We had lunch there, but my favorite was getting to have dessert at Tillman's (we didn't eat lunch there, but would have if we could do it over again). They have homemade S'mores!!!!!! They make everything from scratch...the graham crackers, the chocolate and the marshmallows. There were three different flavors of marshmallows: orange, maple and coffee. All were sooooo yummy! They bring all the stuff to you on a platter, including a little fire so you can roast your own. Definitely recommend it and will go back there!!! We spent the rest of the day exploring new parts of Ft. Worth and did some shopping too. For dinner, we went to one of my favorites that I haven't been to in forever and had kind of forgotten about....its one of the reasons I love Texas so much: Pappadeaux's! (They also have Pappasito's which is really great too!). Saturday, we decided to go to the Rahr brewery. It was very different that we expected, but still really neat. From there, we headed into town and did some more shopping (sadly, it was so hot we were trying to find anything we could to stay inside). For dinner, we went to another one of my "old" favorites. Its been about 8 years since I have been here....and couldn't wait to go back. And, it did not disappoint!!! The Keg! Super fantastic food and the service is amazing! Sunday, we did our typical brunch and took our time getting back home. It was a really great and relaxing trip! :)

Summer Vacation 2011: Day 3

Sunday was the last day of our mini-vacation. We got up and cleaned the house and packed. We checked out by 11am and decided to go to a few places that we hadn't been yet. I initially thought we'd go to The Local Flavor for lunch because it was so good when Michelle and I were here. As I was looking through the travler's guide in the house, I saw the Rockin' Pig Saloon. From the pictures, it looked like it was a biker bar, but the pictures of their food looked amazing, so we thought we'd try it. When we pulled up, we could tell immediately that is was, in fact, a biker's place....complete with LOTS of biker parking places. It was pretty dead, which didn't suprise us since it was Sunday. The service was great....and the food was AMAZING!!!!! The brisket I had was probably the best I've EVER had!!!! Definitely a place we'll go back to.Next stop: my favorite shopping spot. :) I love Sleepy's!!! One day, I will get a bear from here!!! I'm not a huge fan of yard ornaments, but I think these bears are super cute!!! Because we took the boat out all day Saturday, we decided to skip seeing The Passion. Its an outdoor production of the life of Christ. We'd really like to see it next time though. We drove up to the top of the mountain just to look around and to see the Christ of the Ozarks. Its really incredible. I do wish we had at least gone through their museum b/c they have a replica of the original Tabernacle. Next, we drove down the mountain and decided to take on Downtown Eureka. It was much less crowded and easy to get around today. It was actually enjoyable. We grabbed a few gifts for my parents and I needed some new candles. I love their little candle shop. :) The other thing we searched for was an "espresso sundae". We discovered these little treats in Minnesota the summer before we got married. They are INCREDIBLE! There are so many ice cream and coffee places in Eureka, we figured we would find one. After two stops, we were out of luck. At the last coffee place (Eureka Daily Roast), we decided to give up and just grab some coffee there. As Ken was waiting for them to brew a new pot of coffee, they brought us this yummy frozen drink! It was just a sample, but it sold me!!! I went up to order one and right in front of my face was a little sign that was advertising Espresso Sundaes!!!!! We couldn't believe they had them!!!! They don't have ice cream out displayed with their other treats, so we figured they didn't have any at all. They make sundaes with homemade vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, then they pour fresh pressed (that they press themselves) espresso on top. Ken was in HEAVEN! :)













Final shot before heading out of town.
Just west of Eureka is Thorncrown Chapel. We just stopped by for about 30 minutes to take a few pictures and see the chapel. As we were heading out, we decided to take a little detour and drive around Beaver Lake. Ken had been there before to fish, but I'd never seen it. Its beautiful! So thankful that we had a little vacation this summer. It might be the only time that we get away during the summer months.

Summer Vacation 2011: Day 2

Saturday morning, I was the first one up. I had a cup of coffee and sat on our patio reading for a little bit. It was really pretty at first and then it got hot! We had decided to rent a boat for the afternoon, so we stuck around the house all morning. The property has a great walking trail that was right behind our house. We walked about 2 miles and it was a great way to start the morning!

After our walk, we headed into Holiday Island's town and had lunch at Geraldi's. Their pizza was wonderful!!! We split a pizza and a salad. It was perfect! We did get some good advice on pizza for the next time. We heard that Chelsea's is AWESOME (just a reminder for me when we go back)! After lunch, we went to the store and grabbed some fruit and water for lake. I made a few sandwiches, we changed clothes, and headed to the marina. Renting the boat was fabulous!!!! We loved every second of the 4 hours! It was hot and sunny and just perfect! We have decided that we are "boat-people"...and one day will be buying one. :) As we were heading back to the marina, we decided to kill the motor and just float for awhile...getting out to swim and just hang out for the last 45 minutes. However, when we tried to start the boat, it wouldn't start. Ugh! Thankfully, we were right by the marina and they came to save us. And, thankfully, it wasn't a big deal...the starter had just gone out. Easy fix and we headed back. It was a little embarrassing that we needed help, but a little humility is always a good thing...plus, they assured us that the starter does this sometimes and it was nothing that we did. But, still...

We went back to the house and got ready for dinner out. Ken loves catfish and I heard of this all-you-can-eat catfish place called Catfish Cabin. It was pretty good. Not his favorite, but still good. I had their grilled fish tacos and I LOVED them!!! It was a cute little place and everyone was really friendly. We were so tired from the day when we got home that we skipped the hot tub and watched a little TV before bed. I'm sad we didn't use the hot tub, but we'll definitely be back again. :)

Summer Vacation 2011: Day 1

For vacation this year, I was really wanting to take Ken back to Eureka Springs since Michelle and I had such a good time. I knew he would enjoy staying on the lake and the town is just so quaint. We weren't planning on taking our week-long trip until the fall, so we were definitely in need of a little get-away. This, to me, was a perfect place for us to go. (I have to throw in that this was really the first time I used tripadvisor for everything! It was such a handy tool...I encourage anyone who is traveling to check it out!!!).

We stopped in Tulsa to drop our "kids" off with my parents (Ruger and Lexis) and were on our way. Its really a pretty drive once you get into the mountains of Arkansas. Our first stop was lunch! We ate a late breakfast, but were ready for lunch by the time we got there. I had read some really great reviews of Caribe (they don't have a website, but you can see here for reveiws). They did not disappoint! We actually split two appetizers, the Jalapeno Pie and this salsa platter that comes with 7 salsas, homemade corn chips, and homemade flour tortilla strips. It was really good! I also had a margarita, which was probably the best I had the whole weekend. Definitely a place to return to. After lunch, we stopped at one of my favorite places, The Mud Street Cafe. Best coffee and desserts!!!!!!I wanted to show Ken around town like Michelle and I usually do. As we drove through downtown, he wasn't that impressed. Its small and overly crowded. He wasn't much for being out in the heat with all the people. Michelle and I went at the BEST time b/c school wasn't out and the lake crowd hadn't started coming yet. (My advice to anyone wanting to go is to plan your trip in May before school lets out or in September-November). I was a little disappointed by this b/c I love this little town. I tried to get us out of the crowds and took him up to The Cresent Hotel. We walked around a little bit to see everything and then ended up on the 4th floor at their balcony bar for a drink.

These pictures were taken at the chapel that sits right below the hotel. I love walking around this place b/c they have statues that play out the entire crucifixion of Christ.And, here is our view from the 4th floor balcony of the hotel. You can see the Christ of the Ozarks perfectly! After getting a feel for everything in town, we headed to Holiday Island where we would be staying. I never realized that it was its own little town...I just thought it was a neighborhood/golf community that was part of Eureka Springs. This was my 4th time to stay out here (for rental information click here and then click "accommodations" on the top right), but Ken's first. We rented a house that sat about 100 yards from Table Rock Lake. It was great! I think being out here was our favorite part of the trip!

This little guy was at the door to greet us when we got to the house. :) He was actually there every single time we came back to the house. Him and a little bunny. I named them George (the lizard) and Mertyl (the bunny). Once we got settled into the house, we walked around the property and then drove to the marina. We really wanted to rent a boat and talked to them about what they had to offer. We were excited to book one of their rental boats for Saturday afternoon!

One of our favorite things to do when we go somewhere is to drive around and get a feel for the place. We like to look at houses and the community. We spent quite a bit of the late afternoon wandering around Holiday Island.

For dinner, we went to another one of my favorites in Eureka Springs, The Garden Bistro (Again, no website, but here is the review page). This place has such great food...and I love that most of their ingredients are raised/grown right in Eureka Springs.After dinner, we were ready for some down-time. We headed back to the house, exhausted and ready for some TV and sleep!