Fall Bucket List: Family Day Trip

Russ took the day off work on Friday. The girls and I had co-op in the morning but the whole family was plan free the rest of the day. Such an awesome rare occasion. Nowhere to go and nothing we had to do. It gave us the perfect opportunity to get out of town. 

Yup, that's us. We are a classy bunch if I may say so myself. I don't think it takes long to tell who takes after who by looking at this picture. If the hubby wants to "sabotage" my picture with his goofy expressions I'll just post it anyways :). 

We quickly decided to head down to Arkansas. A few months ago we visited an art gallery down there and we decided a second trip would be nice.

After a busy morning and a card drive we decided to stop at a park and let the girls play for a bit. Wise choice on our part if I may say so. 

Next stop, Crystal Bridges. I don't think this place could ever get old. It is so beautiful there.

We didn't spend as much time in the main gallery this time. We quickly walked through and found the kids area.

Interactive art

Marissa worked on a scratch art project while Emily played with blocks. 

Then we headed outside. I love that there is so much to do AND explore there. 

It was perfect weather for a walk on the trails. We had wanted to do that last time but it was SO hot in July!

The fall air smelled amazing, crunching leaves underfoot and raining down on us.

It was great.

We made our way back to check out the new pop art exhibit.

Yarn art.

This pieces was HUGE and done out of fabric.

Art in motion.

This telescope was constructed of all of the little pieces punched out of the wall. 

Interactive art exhibit. Using bells to hit a balloon with,

Another great trip to what is becoming one of my favorite places.

Plus a couple more things crossed off of our list. Who knows we might just get our list completed after all.

How was your weekend?

Crystal Bridges, Our First Trip.

One of my favorite parts of living in Southwest Missouri is how quickly we can make a trip to another state. Kansas in barely a 10 minute drive, Oklahoma 20/30 and Arkansas about an hour.

On Saturday we loaded up and headed to Arkansas. Our first stop was taking Russ to an AWESOME bike trail park. Instead of sitting around waiting while he rode around, the girls and I made a donut trip to Krispy Kreme. This was their first trip to Krispy Kreme (Joplin does not have one) so it was pretty exciting to watch the donut machine and even more exciting to eat donuts!

After driving around *ahem, getting lost* we found our way back to dad, thank you GPS.
Next we headed to Crystal Bridges, an amazing art museum. Let me start by saying it was more beautiful than I had imagined it would be. I could have spent an entire day there. Any picture I post will in no way do the beauty justice.
Marissa called this the Frozen tree.

Ready to go in. Did I mention there is no admission fee to visit this place?!

"Look George Washington". 

She really liked this painting and insisted on a picture in front of it.

It was a lot of fun to talk to Marissa through the gallery. I would ask her about what caught her eye, what paintings she liked best, what her favorite part about them was.

I hope our girls learn to love and appreciate the beauty of all kinds of art. 

After some art viewing we found a play area for a much needed break.

Then we headed outside to explore.

If he looked any happier he would just burst, HA! When asked about his smile he replied "I was smirking." Sure babe.

Being tickled in the park.

This was an AWESOME family outing. I absolutely can not wait to go back for another visit soon. I think a trip in the fall and again in the spring might just be needed. Sure, visiting an art gallery with a couple of young kids definitely required us bringing our A game parenting wise. But I had nothing to be afraid of, they did great.

We packed up and headed home but not before we made a pit stop.

Yes Dunkin, we are happy together. You should come to Joplin so we can spend LOTS of time doing that.

Where have you went lately?