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For the first part of this week, till Friday, you can get all caught up by reading my blog over at isarablog. We started thinking on Wednesday that perhaps this was a good weekend for a mini-vacation.

Hubby had recently been at a conference where he learned that at a Presbyterian campground, pastors could take their families for a couple of nights for free. We figured that this weekend was a good one since he didn’t have to work on Sunday. So we called and made reservations. A vacation where all you have to pay for is food and entertainment is alright with me! Especially this close to Christmas!

So for a newly bald man, hubby’s pretty smart.

While he was at work on Friday, I spent the day packing, running errands, arranging for our neighbor to feed our cat and getting the house cleaned.

The first thing on our agenda for our vacation was to drop off a gift for my dad that I had accidentally left at home the day we celebrated. It was late in the afternoon so I thought we should eat before driving and I had wanted to take the kids to a fast food joint with an indoors play yard.

Did you know that Chick-fil-a only sells chicken? This was okay with three out of four of us. Our daughter is a pretty picky eater and her nuggets were too spicy.

Oy vey! Given that she doesn’t like pizza, and our son doesn’t like Chinese, and neither child will eat Mexican, our restaurant options are sometimes very limited.

So the place we stayed at wasn’t too far away, and we were all unloaded and ready to relax by 7 p.m. The place we stayed is called Ferncliff. It’s usually a summer camp sort of place, or retreat place, not a casual hotel kind of place.

As a result, the place is practically abandoned. We get our key from an envelop because there isn’t even any staff there for the weekend. None of the rooms have t.v. or telephones. There is wifi and we brought our laptops, so we are still comfortable with our Netflix and dvd options.

Without neighbors, the kids enjoy a bout of jumping on the bed and screaming until we put a damper on it. The first evening went well as did our donut breakfast.

The weather was chilly and drizzly so I had naturally prepared outdoor activities. Really. Since we were at a summer camp retreat, we opted to go exploring. The green buildings without the porch is where we stayed. Right beside the picnic tables is a lake, but the ducks were all hiding. We walked around the lake and found the chapel and labyrinth. So with mittens, scarfs, and hats, we took turns exploring and walking the labyrinth.

It was tricky seeing the path unless you kept your eyes down and on the rocks. I had never walked a labyrinth before and can see how it would be really meditative if I didn’t have two kids running around and if my nose was warm.

After exploring Ferncliff, we headed to our next outdoor destination, Pinnacle Mountain. We packed ponchos in case of rain since I was determined to hike. We visited the Visitors Center, after all they were having a holiday sale and after looking at the alligator and knick knacks, we left with a little bag of goodies and a hiking plan.

Yes, we did. We bought a little Eastern bluebird that sings for Suzanne, a polished walking stick for Ethan, a few flavored honey sticks because we can never resist them, some peanut butter ritz and then ultimate snack - Crick-ettes! Josh picked out sour cream & chive flavor. I, myself, would have picked out the cheesy ones, but each to his own.

We opened the box in the car and dug in. Suzanne and Ethan even tried them! And yes, I did too. They weren’t bad. Mostly just crunchy with a hint of sour cream flavor. I think the cheesey ones would have tasted more chip like. So if you get a chance to eat crickets…heed my advice.

The next thing we did was to take a *cough* hike. It doesn’t really count as a hike if it’s .6 miles and it’s a paved handicap accessible trail. But hey! Give me points for being outdoors in 47 degree weather, mkay?? It was the Arkansas Arboretum Trail.

Bonus points if you know what Arboretum refers to without using Google or Isara search.

After a leisurely walk, with an exhausted Suzanne on Josh’s back for the last 1/4, we decided it was time for lunch.

When you are opting for a cheap weekend, and you have two little kids, you probably can guess what that means. Another fast food joint. This time it was Wendy’s with no play area. After all, the kids exercised by running ahead of us on the path and running back to us over and over.

About this time, I was getting pretty exhausted. Suffice it to say, I didn’t sleep well with a night light on. I prefer pitch black. So we went back to our personal private retreat area and I took a nap. I don’t really know what the rest of them did, I was too pooped to care. Josh had spent part of the time checking out movie times.

Ferncliff was outside Little Rock so we had the Rave at our disposal. The Rave is one of those theaters that has huge stadium reclining seating, touchscreen movie ticket purchases, and always has a movie in Real D 3D. So we went and saw Bolt, the new Disney movie with John Travolta doing the voice over. It was really impressive in 3D! It is really layered! The new technique of 3D is so much better than the red and blue lenses of the 20th Century. Try to find a movie you’d like in 3D and get yourself to a theater!

One special treat deserves another, so I just couldn’t head over to the next fast food joint. We opted for the next best thing. Fast food with servers. Also known as a chain restaurant. In this case, Arg matey’s! Red Lobster was calling our name! Suzanne actually wanted to try a new food! Crab legs! If only Aunt Monique had been there to get the meat out for her. Josh got ‘er done, but it wasn’t pretty. *shudder*

She also enjoyed a sample of her grilled chicken (the food that was actually ordered for her), a few of my garlic shrimp scampi, and some of Ethan’s popcorn shrimp. She surprisingly stayed away from all the food on Josh’s plate. Stuffed flounder and coconut shrimp! And after all this enormously tasty food, what does any red blooded American gluttonous family do? We headed to Sonic for ice cream treats!! Chocolate milkshakes, and Caramel Java Chiller! Sometimes, we are some eating fools! Hiking and eating! That about sums up our vacation!

After sleeping much better Saturday night, we relaxed Sunday with more donuts, and a movie called “Space Chimps” on the computers dvd player. It was 37 degrees outside and more of a pitter patter drizzle so who can blame us for hibernating instead of heading out right away?? Still, because we are such early risers, we still left, all packed up by 10 a.m. We ventured over to North Little Rock and did a little shopping, then had a quick lunch and was home by 1:30 p.m.

This afternoon, I’ve enjoyed updated two of my blogs and posting pictures to ginafish and my facebook account. I hope our vacations can show that you can balance kids activities with grown up fun. After all, the kids didn’t really care what an Arboretum is, they just enjoyed the outdoors.

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All this food talk, and my wonderful hubby has made dinner. Since it’s ready and I haven’t spell checked, I’m leaving the blog as is. If you notice any weird typos or hard to read parts, let me know, won’t you? Thanks!