Vacation in the Ozarks

Charlie's first vacation was a lot of fun, but a very good learning experience for me and Clint. We had a rare three-day weekend free and in choosing a place to go to celebrate the end of Clint's third year of medical school, his completion of step 2 of the boards, our anniversary, and my birthday, we were trying to find something inexpensive, not too far away, cool (it's 105 degrees today in Dallas!) and low-key, where we could just relax with Charlie. We had heard good things about the Ozarks, and as they are close enough to drive to and very inexpensive, we decided to check it out. While the scenery was beautiful, the vacation was pretty hilarious. Our romantic, rustic little cabin in the woods was great, until it hit us that there were no restaurants in the area, so we had to cook almost all our meals in. Not terrible in and of itself, but the closest grocery store was a Super Walmart in a town an hour and a half away. And cleaning up wasn't a breeze--there was no dishwasher in the cabin, so we were back to hand washing all of our dishes. As we stumbled into bed on our first night, at the end of a long drive, a harrowing trip to Super Walmart, and a hastily cooked dinner, Clint made an astute observation: "I feel like we just paid money to do all the things we do at home, but much more inconveniently." :) All in all, it was a pretty, fun place, but not an ideal trip with a newborn, as the best activities in the area are not things he could do (canoeing, fishing, biking, zip line tours, etc.), and because it's so remote, there was a LOT of driving, which Charlie was not thrilled with. Next time we'll do a little more research before we go--but at least we learned our child-travel lesson the cheap way!

Silly Charlie--you have to ride in your carseat!

Our little cabin in the woods.

Cute name, very bright morning sun in the cabin...

Our front porch--we loved the rocker and the swing.

View from our porch...this was pretty awesome.

The best thing about the trip was the quality time we both got with Charlie. He is an incredibly social little baby and just loves talking to us and playing games with us. He was thrilled with all the attention!

We took some nice evening walks around our cabin. Charlie loves his walks in the evening and since it's almost always too hot in Dallas for evening walks right now, it was nice to get some in on vacation.

On my birthday, I woke up to breakfast in bed and a handmade gift from Charlie... :)

The scenery was beautiful.

Charlie's first hike--he was sleeping at the beginning, but woke up as we went along...

Charlie's first time facing front in the Bjorn--he was pretty excited!

The town we stayed in was small--the next two pictures pretty much capture everything. :)

We found a beautiful swimming hole...

But Charlie liked cuddling in the shade a bit more than the ice cold water.

This is NOT fun you guys!

Seriously guys, have you felt the temperature of this water???

I found this little calf funny.

Fancy birthday dinner destination in Jasper, AR, only 30 minutes away from our cabin (I told you it was remote).

Charming locals.

The big store in Jasper was Emma's Museum of Junk.

Interesting choices.

Oh no!

Charlie did some more walks in his Bjorn, thrilled with his new front-facing position.

We also took another long drive up to Eureka Springs, AR, a cute little Victorian-style town.

This picture was taken right after I clamped Charlie's chest with his paci clip. He was NOT happy with me. His poor little chest still bears a small red mark from this tragic incident!

Charlie was very jealous of these sweet rides. :)

We had a lot of laughs on the trip and had so much fun just getting away and relaxing as a family. Despite all of our little excursions, our favorite activity was just relaxing around the cabin. Charlie loved swinging on the front porch and enjoying the scenery. And we feel so lucky to have gotten so much fun time with him!