My Grandma Smith is 89 years old. Still feisty, still stubborn, and still exactly how I remember her from my childhood. She is a farm girl, tom boy who married her sweetheart after WWII and raised her family (my dad) in Wilmington, Delaware. In the 1980's, my grandparents retired to Arkansas on 40 acres of land in the Ozark mountains. The last few years, my grandmother's health has been failing, although she'd never want to admit it. Once strong and doing daily exercises, she now uses a walker to help her with balance. Her memory is faltering and she can't remember as well as she used to. I hadn't seen Grandma Smith since Brooke was a baby when my brother was married in New Jersey; I had not been to her house since Blake and I were there for Thanksgiving 12 years earler. My dad and Carol also now have a home on the property and I had not seen them since Porter was a baby. Blake and I talked and decided I was overdue for a visit. We worked it out so my sister and her kids and my brother and his family would also be there at the same time. Blake stayed home to watch Brooke and Porter and Grant and I were off on our adventure to (great) grandma's house!
Day One:
Grant and I headed to the airport and flew to Dallas where we were supposed to have a short and painless layover. As we approached Dallas the captain told us that due to bad weather, we had to circle the area until we were cleared for landing. We flew around for about 20 minutes. Upon landing, the entire airport was in chaos. Tropical Storm Bill was causing severe thunderstorms all over Texas and flights were delayed and cancelled. I get anxiety and worry whenever I travel, so news like this did not help me. My flight from Dallas to Arkansas was delayed, gates were changed several times which had me running all over the airport trying to make sure I was in the right spot since none of the information on any of the boards was correct, frantically digging through my carry on bag for my boarding pass because I was sure I had lost it (I hadn't, thank goodness). Then, just when things couldn't get any worse I was informed that we'd be flying into Arkansas on a smaller aircraft so 12 people were going to be bumped from the flight. I sat in the airport a worried mess waiting to hear if I was one of them. Thankfully I got on the flight and after an all day ordeal of sitting in Dallas we were off!
Grant was an angel during the entire layover. He didn't cry and just sat patiently and happily in his stroller.
So happy to finally be on the plane!
As soon as we landed and my dad and Nicole picked us up, Grant fell into a deep sleep in his carseat.
Day Two:
Thanks to the tropical storm, today was rainy. We spent the day hanging out at my dad and Carol's house watching all 3 Jurassic Park movies. I spotted this racoon on my dad's deck.
Cute little hummingbird, I don't think I've ever seen one so still before.
Day Three:
Today was exciting because the rain let up! We made plans to go to a wildlife safari in the afternoon. In the morning, Grant and his cousin Aiden (who is about 8 months older than him) got to know each other.
hanging out in Grandma's kitchen
We went to sonic almost everyday of our trip. There are no sonic's in Alaska and my sister wanted to indulge as much as possible and who am I to say no to a delicious drink or tasty shake?
The wildlife safari is one of my favorite attractions in Arkansas. You can pet kangaroos, feed giraffes, and if there are baby animals they'll let you hold them. I've been here several times and once the park had baby lion and tiger cubs we were able to hold. I loved seeing the animals, but the entire time I wished that Brooke and Porter were able to be here with me--this was something they would have loved.
12 week old wolf pups
This dog in the lion's cage...companion or food?
My niece Olivia getting up close and personal with the giraffe's
Nephew Aiden feeding a giraffe
My wildlife park buddy!
water buffalo:
Emu's coming over for a snack
view of the park from our my car window
Grant and I with Katie and Carter
Day Four:
We explored the town of Eureka Springs today. This is a fun touristy town that has lots of shops and good places to eat. We walked around, grabbed some lunch, explored a really old hotel (that is supposedly haunted), and sweated buckets. It was so insanely hot and humid that I relished every second spend inside an air conditioned shop. We finished off our day with ice cream cones.
First stop- Thorncrown church. This little church tucked away in the hills is an architectural wonder. All those pieces are wood and between the wood are panes of glass. Makes a really cool effect.
Olivia was so cute with Grant. She wanted to push the stroller the whole day to practice for when she had kids of her own. She said, "Well, I better learn it now!" She also told Grant "good boy" and then said, "I don't want to say good boy to him because that's what you say to a dog. If you talk to him like that, he'll think he's a dog."
After lunch and window shopping we went to the Crescent Hotel est. 1886
I am a huge Downton Abbey fan and even though this is Arkansas, not England, I loved all the old architecture. This is the ladies morning room. I guess a place to be separate from the men, to take tea or write your correspondence or play bridge
On our walk back to the car, we spotted this:
View from Grandma's screened in porch--beautiful sunset to end a great day
Day Five:
Saying Goodbye to Grandma's house: I have the best memories of visiting my grandparents. I especially loved that each room in her house has a color theme...even the bathrooms!
Pink bathroom (even has pink toilet paper!)
Blue Room
Green Room
Going into my grandma's house is like entering a time warp. Everything is perfectly preserved from when my grandparents built this house in the 1980s. Not one for nick-knacks and decorations, there isn't even a new wall hanging or magnet on the fridge. My grandfather built my grandmother her dream home and since it was already perfect in her eyes, why change anything? The light over the kitchen table is even from their first home in Delaware.
Outside the house, this middle island area was my favorite as a kid. In the spring, thousands of flowers would bloom. My grandmother would plant hundreds every year and some just came back year after year. there were paths between the flowers so my grandmother could weed and plant and tend to her flowers. to me, it was an enchanted garden for me to wander through.
Grandma's famously steep driveway. In the winter Arkansas is prone to ice storms which would make it impossible to get up the driveway until it melted.
Part of the W that is Grant's middle name is for my Grandpa Earl Woodrow Smith.
Here's a picture of my family celebrating Christmas at my grandparents house when I was a baby. It's so fun to see the next generation of kids sitting on the same floor!
Before we left, we had to take lots of pictures:
Dad (grandpa smith) with his Grandchildren. Aiden is in the "stranger danger" phase and would not sit with the rest of the kids.
Four Generation photo
I love that grandma was able to see her great-grandson!
I flew home that afternoon and again, it was crazy and stressful. At the airport in Arkansas they switched gates on me without announcing anything. So I'm sitting at, what I think is, the gate and all of a sudden I notice that it's past the boarding time and no one is around. I grab my stuff and frantically rush around the airport until I find my correct gate. Then, there is an announcement that all flights in/out of Dallas are grounded because of the weather. They are going to wait 10 minutes and tell us if our flight is cancelled. Thankfully it wasn't cancelled. Upon landing in Dallas, I only have a 30 minute window to board my next flight home. I rush across the airport and have to ride the tram to get to my gate. I kid you not, the tram breaks down! I'm trapped on this non-moving tram watching the clock tick by until thankfully it starts moving again. I'm so panicked that I sprint for my gate and make it while they are still in the boarding process. Prayers are real. I cannot believe how crazy and stressful both of my flights to and from Arkansas were. I said so many prayers and it all worked out!
Little mister on the flight home. He was such a good baby to travel with. He made friends with all the people sitting around us and I had several compliments on how well he was doing on the airplane.
I was so excited when I saw mountains again!
Home sweet home!
I had a wonderful trip! I don't know when/if I will ever go back to Arkansas again, so I cherished every minute of it.
