I got this shot of Chloe pulling Biscuit and foster dog Trixie
the night before we went to OKC for a quick 4th of July trip

Trixie is a pretty good dog!

Chloe took this on our way to OKC Tuesday

Chloe and cousin Audrey...those two crazies made like
5 different videos in 2 days....cracks me up.  If mom hadn't
gotten Chloe this red t-shirt she wouldn't have been
festive at all.  I really am the worst packer.

Mother and Gary had a really nice 4th of July
cookout...they had the tent up, the food out
and all organized.  Gary made the most
delicious hamburgers and mom had the spread
to go with it.

The girls somehow had Gary driving them around with Bob
in the golf cart....he was on that thing a long time!

On Mother's Day Sunday, the night before the Moore
tornado, there was one on Gary and mom's street in Edmond.
This is a shot of the house caddy corner across the street

Mom had the place decorated to a "t"

This is the other side of her next door neighbors house...
yep, very close

This is more across the street from their house

A view of their street

I let Chloe and and Audrey drive around the neighborhood.
Audrey was a much better backer-uper than Chloe....just sayin!

Sunday July 7, 2013

Chloe and I made a quick trip to OKC for the 4th of July.  We had a great time at mom and Gary's doing White Water on Wednesday, a cookout on Thursday and back to Birdeye early Friday.  Chloe's got some hilarious stories from the water park.  I'll get her to put them on her blog if she's speaking to me after this week at camp.  I didn't realize how close the tornado was to mom and Gary's that hit the night before the massive Moore tornado.  We had to pick up my niece Corie at Gary and mom's business near Moore, so we drove by it and it was moving, I'll put some photos up of it later on.  My advice is to have your plan if there is weather near you.  Our plan is to get in Chloe's bathtub and put the full size futon mattress over us.  Just make sure you have a plan to get in your fraidy hole if the need arises. :)

Chloe's 2nd Camp....

Chloe and BFF Bailey, she's not squinting to
sneeze, to keep her tears from rolling

It's blurry but a good shot of the cabin, Bailey
up above....

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Well, we just dropped Chloe off at Pinecrest Camp just outside of Memphis for the week.  She did great yesterday, in between saying she was being sent to prison camp and saying she didn't want to go.  But she helped pack her suitcase, I don't think we left anything out.  We sneaked some snacks in but not her cell phone that she really wanted to take.  The tears started when we got out of the car, when she saw Bailey, when I made her bed up in her air conditioned cabin with 6 other girls and camp counselor Lauren and when we left.  They were real.  I told the staff to just encourage her and give her a little slack.  Lauren made sure she didn't have her cell phone to contact me.  She said she'd call me if she needed to.  We'll see.  I feel worse this year about camp than last year when I dropped her off in Hot Springs, made her bed inside a cabin with 16 other girls and no air conditioning and an outside temperature in the shade of 102.  She cried last year but not like this year.  Hmmm....it may be a longer week for me than her.  I know camp is a good thing, confidence builder, etc but I'm not sure I made the right decision this year.  Keep her in your prayers.
:(  If you want to write her, email me keelimsmith@yahoo.com.

Here's the list she made a couple days ago:

1.      Go through one day without being homesick

2.     Dive to the bottom of a pond

3.     Ride a horse to a trot

4.     By a logo t-shirt

5.     Buy 5 pieces of candy

6.     Buy 10 pieces of candy

7.     Put my hair in a side braid

8.     Memorize a song

9.     Learn a new song

10.    Swim in a lake

11.     Shot a bulls eye in archery

12.    Find a really cool rock

13.    Make something cool in arts and crafts

14.    Meet a new friend

15.    Get a bed on the bottom bunk

16.   Get a matching t-shirt

17.    Sleep through a night fully

18.    Ride a horse 7 times

19.    Learn something new

20.   Swing on a tire swing

21.    Write a letter home without getting emotional

22.   Receive a letter without getting emotional

23.   Get a new camp story

24.   Try not to cry when I receive a letter from home

25.    

26.   

Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville

After riding 6 miles on the Bentonville trails, we arrived at
the museum 

On the grounds of the North End Trail Entrance
was under construction where we got Chloe in
front of a huge open frame...we ended up having
to bike back to the main entrance

This here HOG was at the north end trail entrance when
Chloe had her near fall out...she was okay, just trying her thing

A view of the museum when you arrive

A blurry photo but a good one of the kinds of people that go

We had lunch at the museum, via Joy's recommendation and it
was outstanding and a must do when at the museum

Another view of the restaurant

Chloe had the chocolate cupcake, it was really good as was the tea

The wildflowers at the museum were wonderful

There was a large George Washington exhibit

Chloe's self portrait in front of a statue

This was amazing, it had real hair.  Artist is Duane Hanson, WOW!

A view of one of the exhibit halls.  It is such a
well done museum and to think, it's right up the
road in Bentonville not in New York.  Amazing!

The museum sits around the Crystal Spring that feeds the
museums ponds

Here's Chloe trying to slide down the handrail
at the museum's entrance

On Saturday when we were there, this exhibit opened and we
loved seeing Meza's name on the wall.  It was a wonderful
exhibit from the civil war to now of girls and how artists
have portrayed them over the years.

I loved this horse but didn't get a photo of the artist's name

I don't believe this photo made it on the other post of riding
bikes in Bentonville but this is Chloe doing a somewhat
technical mountain bike trail that she said nearly killed her :)

And yet another painting I didn't get a photo of the artist name

CoCo ready to head back to the hotel...:)

Sunday, June 30, 2013

If you haven't been to Crystal Bridges Museum, you must.  It is so wonderful in its architecture on the in and outside but the collection of American Art is outstanding.  It's such a gift from the Walton family to the state and region.  And Wal-Mart made a donation for free admission, that's enormous and amazing.  You'll see our photos of our tour of the museum, we had a wonderful time!  Get the Bentonville bike trails, Saturday Farmer's Market on the square and Crystal Bridges on your list of places to go!

Here's a link to the museum: http://crystalbridges.org/About/FAQ

Table Mesa, Bentonville

Table Mesa was outstanding!  As were the
streets of Downtown Bentonville on a summer
Friday night.  You should try Table Mesa!

Friday, June 28, 2013

I was pumped and fired up for a short weekend trip to Northwest Arkansas in late June.  We tried to remember the last time we were up here and I think it was Kara's sister's second wedding in August of 2011.  I haven't been to Bentonville since I worked for Meza Harris while Jackie was in law school at Fayetteville, I'd say around 1995.

We stumbled upon Table Mesa via Yelp on my smartphone.  I like listings of restaurants on the websites like Urbanspoon and Yelp.  They've sent us to multiple good restaurants throughout our trips.

I didn't take any photos inside the eclectic restaurant on Bentonville's historic square.  I loved the restaurant's "priority seating" tab on their website.  It allowed me to put in our arrival time and number of people and said it's first come first serve and to plan to wait 10-20 minutes if the place is busy.  Well, it was packed but we were immediately seated at 7:30 when I said we'd arrive.  We were seated in the bar area and it was busy but not annoyingly loud, thankfully.  Warren was our waiter and got our pineapple, mohito and wine ordered up.

Chloe is our picky eater in the family that I attribute to Jackie since I've never not eaten just about anything ever.  I mean ever.  They had white cheese dip on the menu and Warren said their rice was good, so Chloe ordered it up and was pleased.  The chile con queso was white cheese with poblano peppers and something sweet in there that Jackie and I couldn't quite figure out.  It was served with homemade, hot flour tortillas and homemade corn chips that had a "pita chip" style to them.  Very good.

For dinner, I ordered Warren's recommendation of the chicken enchiladas with black beans and Latin rice and it was great and the perfect size.  Just about a half a cup of beans and half a cup of rice was perfect for me and the two small enchiladas were outstanding.  Jackie was fired up, literally, with his pork enchiladas that had a spicy green sauce on it.  It really was my kind of enchilada sauce and you know this if you read my blog posts.  Anyway, we had great food, great service and even though the place was packed it wasn't loud and all.  For the record, I did check out the ladies room and it was in perfect shape.  It's been a while since I've reported on the powder room.  It had the trashcan by the door which you know, I totally appreciated that.  Our meal and beverages was $58.21 plus tip.

I met up with Meza and Aricka on Saturday night and we had a fabulous reunion!  And come to find out, she was at Table Mesa Friday night too.  What a small world we live in!  Her real estate reputation is booming (just like it was when I was her first assistant, I think, in 1995) and she's doing great.  I loved, loved catching up with her last night after the Tomboys and Angels exhibit opening that SHE sponsored at Crystal Bridges.  I miss that job and being in Northwest Arkansas.  It was good to be at my second of three homes.  I would never trade Birdeye for Oklahoma City or Fayetteville but when I visit them, I love them.  That's that.

Here we are Saturday night, me, Meza and Aricka. We had
such a good time at the 21c catching up.  Meza is still the
top real estate person in Arkansas.  Amazing.  And she
doesn't look 69 at all!  Those two have such good
genes that they don't have to die their hair.  The water
must be good up there! :)

Check out Table Mesa's great website: http://www.tablemesabistro.com/enter.html

A shot of the grassroots bands that were gathered around
the Bentonville square Friday night, this one was right across
the street from Table Mesa

Table Mesa, 110 E. Central, Bentonville, 479-715-6706

This was Saturday night when Aricka joined us for dinner
at the Flying Fish.  It's always good to catch up with a
Kappa roommate!  We always catch up where we left off!
I miss Aricka and NWA!