Adventures with Aunt Kendall

 Two weekends ago, Carson spent Friday night with us.  We haven't had him over since we got Mamie because he is pretty scared of dogs.  His little brother, Hudson, has never met a dog he hasn't hugged all over.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess, but not loving dogs is something I cannot understand.  

He was skittish of Mamie for a while but warmed up to her.  Mamie, on the other hand, was all up in his business the second he walked in the door.  She, sensing Carson was not crazy about her, decided she was going to teach him a lesson for not loving all over her within the first five minutes of his arrival.  While lying on the floor she slicked her ears back, noting to me that she was about to do something bad, barked twice (I was already jumping up to throw by body in front of Carson when the ears went down) and charged the kid.  Because she can run like a cheetah when she feels like it, she beat me to Carson, jumped on him, licked his face and ran like the wind to get away from any repercussions coming her way for her poor judgement.

 After his initial terror subsided, he tolerated her.  She, knowing she was on thin ice, kept her distance but watched him like a hawk waiting for the moment he would warm up to her.

 By bath time, they were tight.

Earlier, Beau, Carson and I went to dinner and then to Target for a toy.  As we were walking up the parking lot to the store we saw several people running out screaming.  We both froze not sure what was happening.  All of a sudden, a giant rat came running out of the exit, terrified a young family by darting in between them and headed for the hills (or some bushes).  Beau and I just looked at eachother with crazy looks and were all, "Did that just happen?"  Within a few minutes we had taught Carson a phrase that did not subside all night, "I smell a RAT!!!"

The next morning Beau had to go to work but fear not, Aunt Kendall had big plans - Mid America Museum, a very hands on museum in Hot Springs/the field trip of choice for any teacher I had in elementary school. 

As I was getting ready in my bathroom I heard a huge crash quickly followed by, "I DIDN'T MEAN TO!  I DID NOT MEAN TO!!!!!!!!!"

I ran to the living room to find Carson with a pile of dirt on his head.  I then turned my head to find this:

Apparently one of his toys had rolled under the planter and when he went to get it, he bumped the planter with his head.  The plant dumped on him but luckily, did not land on him-just on the floor.

He was so upset and kept telling me he would buy another plant, "If (Sob) that's (Sob) alright, Aunt Kendall (SOB!!!!)"  Of course I felt horrible for him and could not be the least bit mad.

Upon our arrival to the museum, Carson was surprised to see Mamps and Me-Mel (what he calls my parents) waiting for him.  Mom, Dad and I had planned on them being there but didn't tell Carson.

Of course we had a great time but Carson had a blast!

 

 The above picture is one of the museum's exhibits; a cave simulation.  You go (mostly crawl) through a series of tunnels, slides and rope or wooden bridges.  Because it is almost pitch black in some of the areas, Carson was pretty scared and decided he wanted to turn around.  Aunt Kendall would not hear of it and informed him he was going all the way through (partially because I didn't want him to regret not going all the way through when we left and partially because I was curious to see what was ahead.)  So he forged on.  Dad (leading the way in the above picture) took an early departure in one of the exits scattered throughout deciding his bad knee may not make it.

 The wooden bridge.

 As soon as we finished he jumped up and said, "AGAIN!!"  And so we caved, again.  All in all, we went through six times.  After that, I decided I could not survive another trek and that Carson had been through enough to go alone so he went a few more times.  Throughout the exhibit we would run into kids who were crying or scared and Carson would cheer them on.  "You don't have to be scared," he would say.  "It is sooo much fun!"  It was very sweet.

 They also house an exhibit where kids dig to find dinosaur bones.  That was a big hit too.

 We took this picture as we were leaving.  I like to call it "Me-Mel and Company"

You know it was a good time when you see a kid passed out in the backseat.