Our Little Rock Visit

When Pops and Mimi offered to fly us to Little Rock for a visit, we said OK!!  Pearce was so excited to fly on a plane again!  I picked him up from school on Tuesday and off we went to the airport.  He was such a good boy and wheeled his own suitcase and carried his backpack.  We got all our bags checked and then went through security.  When I saw the security guys with their blue gloves on, I just knew Pearce was going to ask if he could have some....he loves any type of disposable gloves...don't ask me why!  Sure enough, he asked me if he could have some and I told him if he wanted the gloves, he had to be a big boy and ask the security guy nicely....he totally went up and said "May I have some glubs please?"  The security guy laughed, gave  him a pair, and Pearce was a happy camper.  He wore them almost the entire time we were waiting on our plane.  I started thinking people probably thought I was a nut job making my child wear gloves at the airport!  We got on the plane, took off (which Pearce thought was so fun), and then about 5 minutes later, Pearce was sound asleep :)  Once we landed in Dallas, I totally thought we had an hour layover, so we took our time getting off the plane, went potty, got a bottled water, and then I just happened to look at my ticket and saw that our next flight was supposed to board at 4:45 and it was almost 5:15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I grabbed Pearce and just started running to the gate.  As we were running, I heard our names announced saying the plane was boarding!  I ran to the gate and shoved my ticket in the flight attendant's face and she told me to "Hold on ma'am, we're not even taking tickets yet."  So we got in line and then after a few minutes, I just happened to look at someone's ticket and saw they were going to Baltimore...we were at the wrong FREAKING gate!  About that time I hear "Last call for Carrie Parnell and Pearce Parnell.  Your flight has boarded and will be leaving soon."  I grab Pearce again and run to the next gate over.  We were the last ones to get on the flight!  Man, I can be such an idiot sometimes!  Pearce was great on the flight and kept asking if he could say hi to the pilots when we get off.  When we landed, Pearce walked right up to the cockpit to say hi.  Before I could even ask if it was ok, the pilot had gotten him and put him in his seat to "fly" the plane!  Pearce was so excited!!!  We have been working on self control and using his words instead of having crying fits, so after he got to "fly" the plane, it was the perfect opportunity to tell him that only big boys who are nice get to fly the plane : )

 

When we got to Little Rock, Pops was right there to pick us up and Pearce couldn't run to him fast enough!  After giving Mimi a big hug and kiss, we headed to their house.  Pearce knew Pops and Mimi got him a surprise, so he couldn't wait to see it...a new soccer goal and soccer ball!  Pops and Pearce started kicking the ball right away.  I was pretty surprised at how well Pearce could kick the ball....excited for him to start his soccer camp in July, thanks to GG!

On Wednesday, we headed to Pinnacle Mountain.  I was so excited to do this with Pearce because I remember so many trips to Pinnacle Mountain when I was little.  We would always take a picnic and then climb the mountain and just run around and play.  I remember going all the way to the top several times!  Of course, we didn't go to the top with Pearce, but we went high enough that Pearce thought he was really high and climbing a big ole mountain!  We brought his walking stick and he was just the cutest hiking with it.  After we came back down, Pearce played on the playground for a bit, and then we had our picnic lunch which Pearce ate every bit of!  Such fun memories were made that afternoon!  We went back home to rest and then Pops and Mimi sent me on a little shopping trip....never too tired to do a little shopping!

On Thursday we ate lunch at The Main Cheese which was a cute restaurant that specializes in all kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches.  My sandwich and soup was so yummy.  Then off to Altitude which is a cool trampoline play area for kids.  Pearce and I (yes I jumped too) had so much fun there!  We came back home and rested up for Chuck E. Cheese for dinner with my friend, Chrissie and her little girl, Sydney.  Pops and Mimi had so many fun things planned for Pearce!  Pearce and Sydney had the best time at Chuck E. Cheese and the adults had fun just sitting watching the kids run around like wild kids :)  Pops got a ton of tokens for Pearce and Sydney.  We would give them a handful and then send them off to play games and told them to come back when they needed more tokens and for us to keep their tickets.  Well, they came back needing more tokens, but just had a few tickets.  We think they were totally forgetting to get their tickets!  So Chrissie and I went and played a bunch of games with them and they finally racked up a bunch of tickets.  We joked that Pops spent over $50.00 at Chuck E. Cheese and Pearce and Sydney each left with a slinky and plastic bracelet :)

Pearce loves Mimi's new car because he has his own set of headphones and gets to watch Curious George on the DVD player....Mimi said her only request for her new car was a DVD player for Pearce...good Mimi!

On Friday, we went to Bass Pro to look at all the neat stuff there.  Pearce loved "driving" the boats, looking at the animals and fish, and he got to pick out a few things.  He chose a pair of "noculars" otherwise known as binoculars, a Spiderman fishing set, and a torpedo for the pool.  After Bass Pro, we went to eat lunch at Sonic.  This Sonic was fun because they had a big playscape for kids.  He made friends with another little girl there and they played and played and Pearce ate his entire lunch:  cheeseburger, apple slices, and an M&M blast!  We came back home and the yard guy was there working on Pops and Mimi's yard.  His wife and kids were there helping him too, so Pearce had fun playing with the kids in the backyard.  Next, we went to eat dinner with GG at the Purple Cow.  I hadn't been there in forever, and it was so good!  Pearce was so excited to see GG!  She brought him a few surprises:  new Crocs and a beach towel for the pool!  After dinner, we went across the street to Barnes and Noble and GG let Pearce pick out several new books.  He chose a Curious George book, two dinosaur books, and a monkey book.  Thank you GG!

While we were in Little Rock, Pearce also learned how to play checkers...well...he's getting the hang of it :)  He loved playing so much in Little Rock, that I got him a checkers set when we got back to Austin.  He also loved going to Pops' office to "work."  He even took his own little computer up there for his work :)  Pops also has lots of little animals and figurines that Pearce likes to rearrange for Pops.  One other thing is that Mimi took the baby monitor with her each night and so each morning, he would call for Mimi to come get him.  One morning, though, he got out of bed and came to my room at 7:45...WAY too early for me :)  I tried to get him to get in bed with me, but then he said he wanted Mimi, so I told him to go knock on her door...he did and I went back to sleep!  The next morning, he just bypassed my door and went straight to Pops and Mimi's room....thankfully that was around 9:00!

Saturday, we went to eat lunch at US Pizza which I just LOVE!!!  Pearce loved it, too!  Then Pops and Mimi took us to the airport.  We gave our hugs and kisses and then went to wait on our plane.  Pearce slept the whole way from Little Rock to Dallas and then was Mr. Talkative for the second flight.  At one point, we were waiting in the tunnel thing to get on the plane and the lady behind us asked where Pearce was going and he said "home."  The lady said, "Oh, where's your home?"  Pearce said in the most serious voice, "Ummm, it's close to Dunkin Donuts."  We all just died laughing!  He's never said that before!  When we landed in Austin, Pearce again, wanted to say hi to the pilots and once again, they put him right in the seat and let him "fly" the plane.  Pearce thought he was a big shot!

Pops and Mimi, thank you so much for flying us to Little Rock and having so many fun things planned!  We had a blast!  See you soon!