Trip to Arkansas 11/23/10-11/29/10

Several months ago we found out that Marc's grandmother Stoufer wasn't doing too well health wise so we decided it was time to plan a trip down to Arkansas to say our good-byes. :-( We headed down over Thanksgiving break. By doing it then Marc only missed 2 days of school, which were easy to make up.

We decided that Samantha was big enough to have her own carry-on bag now. When I saw a cute purple one on clearance for $8, I couldn't resist. She loved it and felt like such a big girl!!We flew from Grand Rapids, MI to Kansas City, MO (instead of Fort Smith, AR) on our 14th wedding anniversary. Marc surprised me by having a chocolate mousse cake delivered to our hotel room that night! Yum! (and it was free!!!)
We flew into Kansas City because it saved us $400 a ticket for a total of $1600 in savings!!! Since we were there, we surprised Marc with breakfast at our old neighbor's new house. The Thatcher family lived across the street from us for 7 years. They moved to Kansas City this past summer and we have missed them terribly! We enjoyed a great breakfast, the kids had some play time, us adults got some catching up time, and Miss Johna (who used to be the children's librarian) gave Samantha her own, personal story time. :-)
The night before we left we found out that Marc's grandmother was admitted to the hospital again. Our plans were to go see her on Monday on our way back to the airport. While we were having breakfast we found out that his grandmother was going to be transported via ambulance on Sunday to get her ready for open heart surgery. That meant she wasn't going to be around on Monday any more so we had to adjust our plans. We left KC and went to Branson's hospital to see her.
After driving for what seemed like forever, through rain, fog, and tornado watches/warnings we finally made it into Fort Smith late on Wednesday night. The next morning was Thanksgiving. We headed over to Marc's Nannie & Papaw's house for lunch and family time.

Marc and Samantha looking at a book with Papaw.

Samantha with Aunt Jennifer

One of my favorites!!!

After lunch we headed back to the hotel so the kids could take a nap and rest up. After nap time we headed over to Marc's Dad's house for dinner and time with other family members. Talk about being stuffed by the end of the night! ;-)

Samantha with Uncle Paul

After dinner we did a photo shoot of all of the various families that were there.
Then we got a picture of Bumpa and most of his grand kids.
On Black Friday, we stopped at a couple of stores (not early!) about 10:00 and found lots of good clothes deals for the kids. After stopping at the stores we headed over to OK to spend the day with Marc's sister and her family. The kids ha fun playing with their cousins and I enjoyed "shopping" with my niece's old clothes that don't fit anymore. Best Black Friday shopping trip ever!! We ended up with 3 trash bags full of "new" clothes for Samantha and Marc. :-)

On Saturday we headed to Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party for Marc. He was excited to be able to celebrate his birthday with that part of the family since he has never been able to before. We had a coupon for free "birthday" tokens for Marc. He was very cute counting his loot.
We put all the kids at a table together to eat lunch......
an then the kids went wild spending lots and lots of tokens on fun games. :-)
Marc got lots of fun gifts! A big thanks to all!
Do you think a day at Chuck E Cheese wore my kiddos out?
On Sunday we went to church with Marc's dad. It is a Southern Baptist church. I learned that I am not made to be Southern Baptist. ;-) I thought the message that the Pastor delivered was great, but he didn't have to yell at me! ;-) After church the boys went and did laundry while Samantha and I went back to the hotel so she could take a nap. After nap time we headed to dinner with Marc's other sister, Trinity, and his Mom. At the restaurant there was a razorback that the kids rode (in case you don't know, they are the Arkansas Razorbacks). The kids thought it was SO cool!

The kids with Aunt Trin

Marc with his kids, his sister, and his Mom.

On Monday, we headed back to KC after lunch so we would be closer to the airport for our flight out on Tuesday morning. We had a very uneventful trip home and were glad to be home. It was a great trip. It was nice to see all the family. We went down to say our good-byes to Marc's grandmother and we find out that she is going to have surgery that will make her tons better. Great trip!