Labor Day Weekend - 2009.

Berryville, Arkansas - umm....where?? That is where Elena and I ended up venturing to this Labor Day! I really had no big plans for this weekend and it just so happened that Robert called up and asked what I thought about coming to see him for the long weekend. He also needed some supplies from our house to finish the field they were working on - but we will just pretend that he couldn't stand being away from us - which is also true!! So Elena and I packed up and headed out early Saturday morning. I was a little nervous about a 5 hour drive with her all by myself - but she did extremely well!! She read her books a lot while we were in the car.

Let me tell you the last 45 minutes of my drive was NOT fun!! If you have never driven around Table Rock or Beaver Lake area it was quite scary! I had never seen a sign that said: "Steep and Crooked Road for next 6 miles - Drive With Caution"!!! And they weren't lying either it was super steep, with no shoulder and very winding! Then there were tons more signs that looked like this:

I was holding the steering wheel so tight and was so tense that my back was killing me when I finally got to Berryville (which is right past Eureka Springs in case you were wondering). Robert was working away on this indoor practice facility when we arrived.

Elena thought it was pretty cool to see what Daddy does when he is away at work. Here she is helping out.

She loved the turf, I think that she thought it was grass! :) You have to throw the football around when you are on turf - right?

Meanwhile...more work for Dad.

Time for a bath after all that hard work and playing too!

Berryville just happens to be about an hour away from where my Aunt Marge and Uncle Jim live in Ozark, Missouri. We decided to go see them on Sunday (yes Robert did get a day off!). They were thrilled to see Elena!

...and of course us too!

I remember playing in this cool chair when I was little~it was really neat to see Elena enjoying it like I used too (hmmm....may have to be one of my flashbacks)!

We had a nice relaxing day of dominos and brownies! Ghiradelli triple chocolate brownies to be exact! They were so good and I don't even like chocolate that much - but I couldn't stop eating them!

Elena even got in on the action!

Uncle Jim and Elena had a rough time at their last meeting. (It involved lots of pouty lips and crying!) I told Jim it was a fluke and that she was super tired but he thought she didn't like him. Elena didn't let me down in proving him wrong - she was absolutely in love with him this time! She was so sweet with him!

Check out this view! I probably should have gone outside a few minutes earlier to catch more of the sunset but you get the idea~just gorgeous. I asked if I could inherit their house instead of their two sons :) but I'm pretty sure my cousins won't be letting that happen! As long as we still get to visit I guess I'm ok with that!

We finished up with a yummy dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant, La Fiesta, in downtown Ozark.

Then Monday rolled around and Robert had to put some finishing touches on the field. Yes, laboring on labor day!! How amazing does it look though? I wish I had a before picture but they were already pretty far along when I got there. They finished it in 3 days-with only 3 guys working on it! Pretty impressive!

Here is Henry showing Elena how to drive the Bobcat - and spread rubber on the field too, the last step!

Then we had to say goodbye to Daddy and hit the road! What a nice treat to get to go see him, and it makes being on the road not so hard for him either. Once again Elena did a lot of this on the way back. Too funny - she looked so grown up!

I wasn't quite so tense on the steep and crooked road this time (even though there was some major fog) and I even managed to snap this quick picture through the window. The views were pretty amazing.

Elena played some peek-a-boo, her new favorite game, on the way home.

and then she finally crashed!

It was a great weekend and I am so glad we went on this spur of the moment trip!