Baseball

Jaxon played baseball again this summer. To say he LOVES baseball would be a huge understatement. It is in his blood. He had a fun team and he improved his hitting and throwing a lot from last year. He has decided to play fall ball as well, so first practice is tomorrow, then games every Saturday until October.

On first, wanting to get a lead off.

Cheering on his teammates while waiting for his turn to bat.

The most beautiful fan at the game.

First Day of Kindergarten

It is nearly impossible to believe that this little guy:

Is already off to Kindergarten! 

He woke up this morning, more than ready to start his school career. I don't think I've ever seen a kid more excited for the start of school. It's nearly all he has talked about since ending preschool last May. He is most excited to learn computers this year and very curious about this thing called P.E. that his daddy says is one the greatest things about school.

Getting ready to walk through our backyard to his elementary school!

Waiting in line with his class, holding his R2D2 lunch box.

Sissy wasted no time taking advantage of having Mommy and Daddy
(and the swingset and every toy we own) all to herself.

Dear Jaxon,
We pray that you will go into school a shinning light for Jesus. Be a friend to the friendless, encourage the hopeless, and smile to the forgotten. Listen when others speak and learn something from every child and adult you are surrounded by. You are a breath of fresh air to everyone you come into contact with, keep smiling and laughing. Daddy and I are so proud of the young man you are becoming and we cannot wait to watch these next years unfold. Enjoy every single second. We love you!
Love, Daddy and Mommy

Our Golfer

As I mentioned earlier this summer, I knew this was going to be an unusually long(er) summer with Jason away, so swim lessons, dance lessons and baseball helped buy some time. Jaxon has also expressed interest in golfing, so I signed him up for a two-week class with a local golf pro. He had such a great time and has begged to go again and again and again. His daddy was able to take him to play nine holes yesterday and they both came home grinning from ear to ear.


Here are some highlights from his lessons:

Headed to his first lesson.

Waiting his turn on the putting green.

FOOD!!!

While the kids love the trolley, zoo and sprinkler park, what I love most about Little Rock is the FOOD!





Here are the kids at Damgoode Pies, eating some of the best pizza I've ever had.

Newk's has been a favorite of ours since we discovered it in Tupelo, MS.

And we made several stops at Scoop Dog, for custard. It is a drive-thru or walk-up place, owned by a local couple.

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning, is visit a local farmer's market. Little Rock has one of the biggest and best I have ever seen.

Here's Dakota sampling some tomatoes.

After reading an article in Food Network Magazine about the best places to get ice cream in each state, I knew we needed to try Arkansas' winner; LePops. It is one of the many delicious vendors in the River Market area, and we loved everything we ordered from them. They have fruity, homemade popcicles, as well as some savory flavors. My personal favorite was the salted caramel. Jaxon loved the Chocolate Marvel and Jason and Dakota agree that the Strawberry tastes exactly like a fresh strawberry.

This picture was actually taken on our way home,it brought back
many memories of college. One of my roommates and I would drive through
Sonic, ordering cheeseburgers and grilled cheese, then drive across the street
and order fries from (America's best place to eat fries) McDonald's.
The kids could not agree on a place for dinner,  so I drove Dakota through
McDonald's (ordering myself their yummy fries) and took Jaxon to Sonic
(ordering myself the world's best grilled cheese sandwich and a limeade).

Trolley Ride

One of our favorite things in downtown Little Rock is the trolley. It is a form of city transportation, but for us tourist-types, it is a great way to see the city and learn more about it. The trolley does an entire loop around downtown Little Rock and then crosses the river to North Little Rock, where it does a small loop in its downtown area. The kids love riding the "train" and the drivers are usually upbeat people who love to talk about the city they love.

Waiting at the trolley stop.

While we were stopped in front of the
William Clinton Library, our driver let the kids
come up and ring the bell.

Fourth of July in Little Rock

Still trying to finish the pictures from our time in Little Rock...

We headed to downtown Little Rock on the fourth. They had a kids festival in the River Market area and lots of food vendors. The kids enjoyed jumping and playing in the inflatables, then we all picked out a food truck to order dinner from. I went the easy route and headed straight for Cick-fil-A. 
 

And what is Fourth of July without cotton candy? Yum!

After we ate, we walked back over the river to North Little Rock. We thought about watching fireworks down on the river, but decided it would be nice (read: they have toilets that flush) to enjoy the fireworks from inside the minor league baseball stadium. There was an orchestra playing live music and a place for the kids to hit whiffle balls on the field. Jaxon thought he was pretty cool being on a "real baseball field".

The orchestra played the anthem for each branch of the military and asked veterans and those currently serving to stand when their song was being played. Proud of our Air Force captain.

Jax chose to stand and salute during the military anthems. He has been practicing his salute for several years.

Sprinkler Park

After a long, hot day at the zoo, we stopped in downtown Little Rock to cool off at the sprinkler park.

We experienced a very scary moment while the kids were playing in the sprinklers. You know the look parents get on their face when they can't find something? Are you familiar with that look when it is their child they cannot find? We were enjoying watching the kids play, but we were a little anxious the whole time, as the area is fairly large and we didn't want the kids out of our sight for even a second. We had given them strict parameters to play in, yet we still found ourselves on edge in such an uncontrollable environment. This is not necessarily an area known for crime or problems, but there are several homeless people that spend their days down there and we just wanted to be on "our game". As I was doing my 162,402nd check on the kids (they were literally 5 feet from where we were sitting, but I was playing the part of over-protective mother that day) I looked up and saw a woman with that look. You know the one, like you have lost something. Only, it was obvious that she wasn't searching for her cell phone or car keys. I just knew instantly that a child was missing and something in my gut started doing backflips. I watched her a few minutes more (just to be sure I wasn't be delusional) and then pointed her out to Jason. He agreed and we decided she was trying very hard not to make a scene or draw attention to herself. She made her way over to the side of the park we were on and I told Jason to keep a VERY close eye on the kids while I see what's going on. She was on her cell phone at this point and it was obvious she was talking to the authorities. An older gentleman (who was at the park with his granddaughters that day) and I stood next to her listening to the description of the missing child. 6 years old (yikes! I could only think of my 5 year old Jaxon). Girl. Blond hair. Wearing a black Gymboree swimsuit with colorful flowers on it. Pink flip flops. From out of town and unfamiliar with this area. Autistic. And my stomach officially fell to my knees. At last count, I have five friends who have a child diagnosed on the Autism spectrum. One friend, a sorority sister from college, talks about her fearless child with Autism whom she fears will walk right out of the house one night while they are sleeping. I know it is not uncommon for some kids on the spectrum to wander without fear and I knew this little girl could be anywhere at this point. The mother continued to talk with the authorities on the phone and the grandpa and I wasted no time. I told him I would stick around that area and start climbing in the tunnels, climbing the rocks/cliffs and move west. He said he would head west and eventually make his way toward me. When I started searching, I had an adrenaline in my body that took over, giving me the confidence that we would find this little girl. As the number of tunnels and slides grew less, my fears started taking over. I felt like everyone was watching me and I didn't want it to look obvious what I was doing, in case one of the onlookers couldn't be trusted. I started praying before I rounded every corner. Jason made eye contact with me from his position at the sprinkler park and he gave me the "how's it going" look. I finished my area and then ran to Jason in a near panic. He put me on sprinkler park duty and he headed east.


Within a few minutes, I noticed several families starting to pack up and leave and I turned around to see 8, maybe 10 police officers at the top of the hill. They quickly found the mother and started to discuss their game plan. As they huddled together I looked behind them and saw the grandpa, who had been searching with me earlier, walking hand in hand with a blond girl wearing a black swim suit with flowers and pink flip flops. I started yelling to get the mother's attention, "Ma'am! Ma'am!", but no sound was coming out. I finally started waving my arms like a crazy person and pointing, she looked over the officers' shoulders to see this good Samaritan safely returning her precious girl to her. I have never experienced something quite that scary. My husband might argue that with me, because I have been in some very scary moments, but none of them involved small children. I really put myself in this mother's shoes and felt so many anxious moments that I hope I never experience again. So grateful that this story had a happy ending, because I know that is not always the case.