Summer Time

Whew. It has been a busy summer around the Bradley's neck of the woods.
I am attending both summer semesters at Henderson State University. Six is the maximum number of hours the college will allow a student to take in each summer session, and there are two sessions. So I will be twelve hours closer to finishing my BSE degree in August :) 
Summer I ended June 27 and I was so pleased to see that I earned As in both of my classes. Hooray!

Jason had the weekend home recently and surprised me with an impromptu trip out of town. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, just to pack an overnight bag and leave the fur kids extra food. We left on Saturday morning and drove the back highways from Benton to Harrison. The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  We made some fun stops along the way.

We stopped by Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. Since this wasn't our original destination and a last minute decision to stop, we didn't do the tour. We did watch a video about the mission of Heifer International and selected a few items from the gift shop. If you are interested, you can find out more about the organization by going to http://www.heifer.org/ 

We stopped at several little stores and tourist sites along the way. We I wanted to go see an Opera in the Ozarks performance in Eureka Springs but we didn't want to hurry so we decided to wait and go another time. We found a Hampton Inn in Harrison, Arkansas and checked in for the night. After going out to dinner we returned to the room and were in bed before ten. We were both pretty tired.

The next morning we decided to meander back home. We stopped at a couple of places along the Buffalo River to scout out some possible camp sites for an upcoming camping trip we want to take soon.  We had swim suits but had forgotten to bring towels and really didn't want to get wet and then have a long car ride home. I elected to wade in the river in my board shorts and flip flops. There were tiny fish and they tickled as they nibbled at my feet!

 

 

 

Jason is a fan of smoked meats and cheeses. We found two places within a mile of each other on Highway 64 in St. Joe, Arkansas. We stopped at both :)    Coursey's Smoked Meats makes really awesome sliced meat sandwiches so we picked up two along with chips and canned sodas and had a picnic on the Buffalo National River at Tyler Bend. I joked with Jason that the forest ranger was going to kick me out of the park for feeding a bear. My pet name for him is Honey Bear.

We had a really good time and it was just the break I needed between summer sessions. We got home Sunday afternoon and classes started back on Monday morning.

Hopefully we will get to take that camping trip next month and I can share more of our adventures.

Our Travels: North West Arkansas

On May 6, 2012 Jason and I visited the Pea Ridge National Military Park as part of our weekend away in North West Arkansas. It was an awesome place to visit.  The park's website is here: http://www.nps.gov/peri/index.htm
The battle of Pea Ridge is the battle that saved Missouri for the Union. The park includes a 12 mile drive with interest point stops along the way. There is a phone number you can call in and enter your stop number and listen to a presentation about each spot. It was almost a spiritual experience when you stopped to think about how many lives were lost and what motivated both sides to fight in the war.
My favorite stop was at the Elk Horn Tavern. This inn was used as a makeshift hopsital during the battle. The house itself is beautiful. We really enjoyed walking the grounds. Gracie was able to run about in the grass and stretch her legs a bit. If I were ever to build a dream house, it would be similar to this one. The area is beautiful.

Front left view of Elk Horn Tavern

Back left view of Elk Horn Tavern



A much needed weekend getaway

The last few weeks have been CRAZY busy. I will hit the highlights.

First off, Momma had surgery. Apparently her last surgery left her tummy weakened and she had to have some repairs done. She is starting to finally recover well. Since she was starting to get better, Jason and I went to Texas on a long weekend getaway. Ahhhh...

We left on a Thursday right after I got off work. We drove to Sulphur Springs, Texas where we stayed at the quaint Trail Dust Inn and Suites. I loved this place. I have a special place in my heart for hotel waffles. You know the kind where they have the little cups of batter and you pout it into the waffle iron and wait for the beep? I LOVE those things. And this one was probably the best I ever had.

We spent all day Friday and Saturday at the Canton First Monday Trade days. If you haven't ever been then you are missing out. Imagine a whole city full of flea markets. And not the Hwy 270 Pine Bluff version either. It is awesome! We found all sorts of treasures. I will post later with pictures of my favorites!
At the end of Friday, Jason took me to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Terrell, Texas. He bought me some new clothes that I really needed but hadn't wanted to spend the money on. He was is so sweet and complimented me on my choices. I picked out a beautiful Easter dress and I love how his eyes lit up when I walked out of the dressing room. I will never forget his smile.  :)
Speaking of his smile, I have to share a few pictures of us:

On Saturday night we came back to the hotel from Canton, took a nap, got cleaned up, and went out to...wait for it...DANCE!  I am 31 years old and have only been out dancing once before. I was thought it was so romantic. We got to the little club that was located adjacent to our hotel and were one of only 3 people there. The DJ was playing some current music. Knowing my limited ability to dance, Jason asked the DJ to play some old country, Hank Williams, George Straight, etc... We slow danced on the old wooden dance floor and, even thought I thought it weren't possible, I fell even more in love with him. He snapped a few pictures that night. This was his favorite:

And since it was only a few hours until April Fools Day, we pulled the ultimate prank: We changed our Facebook statues to MARRIED. We only planned on leaving it that way until our Mommas saw it and we could then all have a good laugh. Well it turns out that everyone and their cousin saw it first. We had people ready to kill us by the time we came clean around noon on Sunday. Once Jason's mom called, it turns out she was more upset with the fact that we HADN'T eloped. Maybe one day...

Gracie seemed to enjoy the trip. She was able to go along with us and stay at the hotel during the day. Harley got to stay at PawPaw's K9 Resort. He played well with the other dogs and seemed to enjoy himself. He was very glad when Mommy came and got him though. He was ready to be home.
We all had a good time and look forward to going back again someday.