All the way from Arkansas!

We made it to Arkansas on Thursday. Zach starts his internship with Walmart Realty on Monday. We left Orem on Tuesday morning- pulled out of the driveway at 5:21am. Leaving bright and early put us at our first stop- Vail, CO a little before lunch. 

We stopped and played (and changed 3 dirty diapers!) at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens before heading to Subway for lunch. It was our first real rest stop and we were only an hour and a half away from our first hotel in Denver. The drive went better and much faster than I thought it would. While exploring the hotel the first night we went out to the pool. The water felt pretty good for being an outdoor pool so I slipped my shoes off and thought I would step in on the first step. As soon as I stepped in, my foot slipped from underneath me and before I knew it I was in the pool fully clothed. The boys thought it was HILARIOUS and wouldn't let me forget it.

 I had never spent any time in Colorado before and Vail was beautiful.

 The gardens had these great trails all through them with beautiful flowers and landscape all around.

 This is Ryan's "king of the mountain" face:

 Zach carried his motorcycle on the back of the truck and Ryan's big boy bike hitched a ride too.

Day two we got off at about 6:30am. Brady was happy to eat a doughnut in the car in his pajamas. We went all the way to Wichita, Kansas the second day. We stopped about an hour west of Wichita at a little park to play and ate lunch at the Pizza Hut buffet. The boys loved it- all 3 of them.

 Our apartment here in Arkansas is nicer than we thought it would be. It's a two bedroom, furnished apartment on the second floor, which means we get vaulted ceilings! I love it. It will be a comfortable stay for the next 12 weeks. The only hiccup we ran into was the first night we were here the AC didn't work. It was 87 degrees in the house at bed time. We put both boys down in their underwear/diaper and kept the windows open all night. The next day we called maintenance and they had it fixed by the afternoon. We've had fun making trips to Walmart and are staying busy exploring Rogers and Bentonville. Ryan and Zach have been fishing everyday since we left Utah. They are loving it.

Today we took a hike at Lake Atalanta in Rogers, Arkansas. They have a great trail that goes the entire perimeter of the lake (2.5 miles) and Ryan walked the whole thing! I was way impressed. You can't go to a lake and not do a little fishing along the way so the boys brought their fishing poles.

 Even Brady.

 Brady was a champ and rode in the hiking backpack the whole way (minus two "fishing" stops where he and I threw rocks in the water. You can imagine how successful those fishing stops were with me and Brady scaring all the fish away).

 Zach and Ryan did catch their first bass of the season though. It was pretty exciting.

 Brady was a trooper and thoroughly enjoyed throwing rocks into any water he could find. I think he would have been happy to spend the whole afternoon at these puddles.

 Zach is really enjoying teaching Ryan to fish and Ryan is really enjoying learning how to fish. He asks to go everyday and so far Zach has been happy to oblige.

It is beautiful here in Arkansas. We are really enjoying our time here so far. We'll see what we have to say after Zach starts his internship- but based on our experience so far, this could prove to be our best summer yet!

Stay tuned.