It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes (and Grandma, Uncle, and Auntie)

We love living in Arkansas but we don't love living so far away from our family. We were thrilled when my family decided to come and visit us. (And by us, of course I mean they were coming to visit the twins!) Sometimes I think my family wonders why we live half-way across the country, so we decided to branch out from our usual tour of the ol' Walton Five and Dime store/museum and show them there is more to our life than Wal-Mart.

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Shane, and Aunt Emily flew into Branson so we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in a condo for a couple nights. We found a great deal and ended up having more space than we would have at our house with all the girls' crap baby equipment strewn about the house. We enjoyed the amenities and took the girls for their first swim. Eden was a bit leery, but Lydia took to the water like a fish.

From a distance, Nate thought this was a basketball hoop but upon further inspection, realized it was an old person assist chair. After his initial disappointment, he was eager to give it a try with Eden. 

Lydia was a big fan of splashing

We also were able to check out Silver Dollar City (theme park) and had a blast. They had some pretty sweet roller coasters, including a brand new wooden coaster that is the world's steepest wood coaster (drop of 162 feet at 81 degrees) and the world's second fastest wood coaster at 68 mph. Yeah, it was pretty darn cool! (I had to ride it twice because I was terrified the first time and closed my eyes at the best part!)

Grandpa, Shane, Nate and I about to embark on the Outlaw Run. Nate was obviously excited!

Other than rides, they had some fun music/comedy live shows as well as demonstrations like glass blowing and old fashioned candy making that you could watch. One of the neatest things we did was tour the giant underground cave that the park is built on top of. The cave was stunning and a bit scary at some points. (I was afraid I would trip and drop my baby down a bottomless pit!) All in all, we were quite impressed with Silver Dollar City.

Touring Marvel Cave

After a great weekend in Branson, we headed back to Bentonville for some more fun and adventures. Some of the highlights included a Devil's Den hike, the food trucks and splash pad just off the town square, and a Jason Aldean concert. And of course, a lot of time just spent hanging around and loving on the babies! It was way too short a visit and we miss them already, but luckily we are headed to Utah next month so we'll be together again soon!

Family picture at the dam at Devil's Den

Grandma, Grandpa, Shane, Em and Ollie enjoying the beauty of the Ozarks

Lydia rehydrating on the hike

Eden was pretty sure she didn't want to get her feet wet and refused to put them down! She did like touching the water with her hands while Mommy held her though.