Memorial Weekend & The River Fest

Time to play catch-up again - sorry, it has been insanely busy around here!

Over Memorial Weekend, we went to check out the River Fest here in Little Rock. There was so much going on and so much to do - we had no idea! Neon Trees came out to perform Friday night, but we were a little slow on the ticket thing so we were unable to see them (sorry Jenn). We ended up only going for one day, but thoroughly enjoyed the free area of the festivities!We started out at the dog jumping competition. The goal is for the dog to jump as far into the pool as possible. The free jump was entertaining - and mostly funny (the weiner dog was my favorite - bottom right picture), and the actual competition was amazing (those dogs were jumping close to 29 feet!).Hanging out with the puppies definitely is fun :)

After a bit of watching, we continued our wandering in the area. Even the little things they had set up for the children were super cute! We also found the Heifer International (a nonprofit) headquarters - they were giving tours of their facilities and showing animals as well.Oh, and they had a great line-up on the performances! These people are VERY talented. So fun to watch (if you can find a seat).Couldn't miss the Weiner Dog races! I am pretty sure we scheduled the afternoon around this because we didn't want to miss it. Quite a funny extravaganza! I think only two dogs out of all 4 (?) heats ended up crossing the finish line. The Pomeranian (top right) was the best though, that thing ran to the finish line like nobody's business! All the rest ended up socializing (bottom right).These two dogs came all the way from Florida to put on a good show! Mrs. Z and . . . sorry, I can't remember the younger pup's name :( Anywho, they are quite the soccer stars - easily getting the ball around all the goalies (3 in each net). After all this excitement, we had to feed our poor tummies (and baby), so we wandered more into the downtown area looking for a place to eat. On the way we found this fun fellow jammin' up Jamaican style. Since I love the steel drums so much, I made Matt stop and listen for a few moments; we only left because of all the second-hand smoke in the area, otherwise I could have stayed for hours.I apologize for the tilt on this one - I can't figure out how to flip it on my Mac :) At least you can get the sound right?

We found a lovely food court type of place and sat down there to enjoy a Peach smoothie and Gyros (like those we found here). It was nice to cool off and rest my swollen feet for a bit (they were very grateful - my feet, that is).On our way back to the car, we passed through the free zone again and saw this wonderful show! Safari Acrobats! These people definitely have talent! There's no way I could do that!Apologies again for the flip here - still having issues. :(

And, of course, we had to see the championships for dog jumping again! This time they were going for height instead of distance. The goal was to get the toy off the hanging pole. Overall, we had a blast! We had no idea what we would find when we headed down to the River Market area. Glad we did though because we had a wonderful date night :) My poor back got a bit burned though :( We forgot sunscreen and were out in the sun all day. Though only 335 ft. above sea level (compared with Provo's 4,549 ft.), but still the first sun of the summer on that part = sunburn. We had a nice goose chase trying to find some good Alo Vera too!

I also had another first this weekend - we had the missionaries over for dinner on Monday night (Memorial Day). In honor of the celebrations, I made this lovely treat (colored Rice Crispy Treats).