From July 9th….
Our morning started early. Very early. Like at 2:45 am early. We were sound asleep when an incredibly loud buzzing started. I was so out of it I thought it was an alarm clock set and going off and I was pretty much trying to rip it out of the wall, while the girls were SCREAMING and crying and Brent was trying to get us all to settle down and realize it was the fire alarm! We’ve never, ever had the fire alarm go off in a hotel and we really learned we need to be better organized – no one could find shoes, we had chairs and stuff up against the door (since we always get a sleeper sofa for the girls) and were just a hot mess looking for clothes to throw on, shoes, purses, keys, etc. If it was a real fire we might have faired poorly. And right as we got to the hall, still shoeless, people were turning back around that it was a false alarm. Of course both girls were still crying and the hall was full of people in their underwear.
Abbi was still scared to death and ended up in bed with us – which means a poor night of sleep with that little monkey on our back. The next morning over a very sleepy breakfast we learned a couple of girls on the softball team staying there for some playoff had pulled the fire alarm as a prank. Not cool sports girls, not cool. There’s a reason we don’t like sports…..
First stop was driving by the house I grew up in. It looks so small now (and prob did then, too!) It was fun to see the old neighborhood and my old window on the front right side! The kids couldn’t have cared less (as expected).
Our activity for Memphis was hitting up the zoo. And being Memphis in July – it was HOT, MUGGY, and HUMID! Much of the day was spent looking for misters….
The Memphis zoo is so much nicer than ours in Nashville. It’s huge and I don’t think we ever made it to everything because we were all so tired and cranky from our bad night of sleep and the heat!
Getting a lift.
Lilli was really excited about the Chinese part of the zoo since she takes Chinese (and is getting pretty good at speaking it!)
Abbi made a friend, and luckily one that can’t run away!
In the Grand Teton area right before a big storm came through and poured down rain for a while. At this point we were all getting tired and cranky and decided to move on to our next stop for the day.
Over the mighty Mississippi we went…..
and into Arkansas!
Our first stop as we headed towards Little Rock was the site of the Louisiana Purchase. I couldn’t be that close and not stop at this historic marker! It’s not something we’re interested in, but how many people can say they visited this important swamp in American History??
And it was free, and completely in the middle of nowhere. I feel like thousands of snakes were just waiting to attack us.
The stone marking the boundaries of the purchase.
And a little family photo opp before we headed to Little Rock to check into our hotel for the night!
Adventures of Two Monkeys 