What a Fun Day!

mI am thoroughly exhausted, but I sure had fun getting that way! (All of you with the sick minds, keep reading....)


Today, Ali and I took a trip to the Historic Arkansas Museum, formerly The Territorial Restoration. A friend told me last night that there was supposed to be a little festival or something going on today, so we decided to load up the kids and make an afternoon of it. (In case you are wondering, this is my Water Aerobics buddy that I had cheese dip with a few weeks ago.) Edward had mentioned yesterday that he was to attend a meeting at the Main Library Downtown, so we loaded up and headed to the Rivermarket.

With my friend's 2 year-old little boy, her 5 year-old girl, and my baby girl in tow, we met up in the lobby of the museum. To our dismay, there was no festival going on today. Sadly, it was as dead as you would expect a history museum to be. Fortunately for us, there is a small "Children's Gallery" upstairs in the main museum.

There, they have such exciting things to do....for instance: A matching game where you find which picture is just like to original. Oh oh....don't forget the clock puzzles. There was an interesting rendition of twister called "Arkansas Twister" where the mat was on a huge map of Arkansas. That provided about 15 minuted of super fun. Then we proceeded to the dress up area, and then to my personal favorite, the do-it-yourself puppet theater. Our little 5 year-old player was a super diversion for Ali. She would just sit and watch her perform with great attention.

After we squeezed all of the free fun out of that playroom, we headed over to the Rivermarket to get a snack. I found this lovely vendor named "Double D's" where I had a fabulous glass of Sweet Tea and quite possibly the longest Corn Dog that I have ever had! Yummy.

Afterwards, it was time to go pick up Ed from the Library and head to the house with my thoroughly exhausted daughter. She went to sleep almost immediately.

As much fun as it was playing with the kids, I have to admit, my favorite part of the whole experience was the adult conversation with my new friend. She is smart, witty, a good mommy, and very open-minded. There was a time in my life when I probably would not have even been friends with her, which makes me very sad. Since I have gotten older and become more open-minded (or less prudish, as my hubby would say), I am thankful that I have not missed the opportunity to make friends that are so accepting. I feel that I can be the real me around her, and I have felt this way from the get go. I have no preconceived notions about her, and I feel that she has none about me. The best part is, I actually say things that come to mind, instead of holding them in for fear of starting an argument, or worse, being judged. This is the type of person that I really think that I could "intelligently" fight with--meaning, state my opinion, disagree, and then go on about our business without a grudge. I can't tell you how this feels. It is very freeing. I am looking forward to many more conversations with her.

Ok. Enough rattling. I will retire now. I am very sleepy!