Arkansas, Arkansas!

Our family theme song for the past few days has been one of the songs off the Big River soundtrack that goes "Arkansas, Arkansas. I just love old Arkansas." We belted it out several times over the all day car trip to Perryville, AR yesterday, which actually wasn't a disaster. We broke up the trip into three segments. At the end of the first leg, we stopped to have lunch with Jamie, Anna and Andrew Ridgell. Jamie helped Ryan carb load before his big run with a big plate of pasta. The kids had a great time playing and getting out some energy. We quickly caught up with Jamie and then headed out for the next leg, which was probably the roughest. We played alphabet and color games, sang our favorite songs, including some classics from Great Songs of the Church, but we just couldn't dodge the age-old question, "Are we there, yet?" Since I can't type in whine, I'll add, though it probably goes without saying, that there was some definite whining going on. G even pointed to the pine trees on the side of the road, a rare sight for a kid living in central Texas, and asked, "Is Arkansas between those trees over there?" He was getting desperate, as were the parents, so we stopped at one of G's favorites, Cracker Barrel. After loading up on some delicious home cooking, and commenting on how the farther north we drive, the deeper into the south we get, we set out for the last leg. Scout promptly fell asleep, but G didn't let the sandman catch up with him until approximately ten minutes before we arrived at the house. Great. However, he sat in the back quietly while Ryan navigated me through the backwoods of Arkansas on some tiny, winding roads. At one point, the fog started to drift across the road, and I thought we were done. I was sure the car was going to break down at any moment, and we'd be alone in the dark with our two small children and whatever creepy things the woods offered us. Obviously, we made it through and arrived to a great little lake house and two excited grandparents. I just love old Arkansas!