Precious Moments Park

Ok, I admit I am not a big fan of Precious Moments but my trip there blew me away not because of how cute the whole thing was with all the cute figurines, but how touching it was when there were real stories of how this chapel touched many people who lost their children in car accidents, just as the artist of the chapel went through, losing his son.

During our drive there, I spotted an interesting cloud formation in the sky. I thought maybe it is because of the tornado in Indiana that just happened the day before.

It was only about couple of hours drive to the chapel from Arkansas. Here are a sneek preview of what the precious moments chapel is like..

Entrance to Precious Moments...

Very colourful and lots of lights at entrance..

One of the many touching stories...To read it (enlarge), click on the picture!

Cannot help being cute..

Entering the chapel..WOW-that is all I can say...

All handpainted painstakingly. Every picture has a meaning and that is why I mentioned that amidst the cuteness of it all, it is very touching. The side walls talk about the bible and the 7 pictures below talk about the first 7 days of creation:1st day, God created light (artist drew the angels using torch lights), 2nd day, God created water( angels using hoses to fill earth with water) etc.. So, the artist were very creative in his painting.

There are lots and lots more pictures in the chapel but because I like to keep my blog as concise as possible, I have to stop showing you more pictures. But feel free to view anytime in my US trip photos website once I am done editing..def within this week..promise!

The chapel also has lots of stained glass. Very nice..

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

A write up about the artist..

Memory of his son...and a touching poem that someone wrote for the artist..

Nice scenery outside chapel...

This is really red!

Pastor Goh preaching outside the chapel...

After touring the place and walking around, we went to the gift shop. Then, drove to a wedding island where couples can hold their wedding there. It is an island by itself with a chapel and pretty trees and surroundings..

Check out the hearts on the path in this wedding island. Very cute.

This is the entrance of the wedding island to the churches

Bentonville, Arkansas

Bentonville is known as the heart of Walmart where it started and I constantly see Walmart trucks travelling. We had pizza on the first night where we ordered and ate in our hotel rooms..

Esther was def excited to be back in Bentonville, after 9 years and she said so much has changed. At about 9pm, CT and I played in the pool...

Will be off to Missouri tomorrow..just a day drive there just to visit the "Precious Moments Chapel".

Road trip to Arkansas

Drove from Mobile (Alabama) to Arkansas and spent 5 days there in a new Chevrolet Malibu car. It is a very economy car which gives us information on how many more miles before the tank becomes empty and how many miles we have travelled from the screen.

Drove about 6 hours to Hot Springs, Arkansas and along the highways, there were many dead animals along the side of the road- armidillos, raccoon... Lots of cotton field with cotton all along the side as well. It was a beautiful drive as we see the wonderful colours of the trees along the highway as it is now autumn when the leaves turn red, orange..

The nice red tree is taken in the Hot Springs National Park downtown

We reached Hot Springs just before the sunset. So, it was perfect timing. Checked in to an inn to stay a night before we make our trip to Bentonville Arkansas where Esther used to stay. Hot Springs is actually a national park and when everytime I hear about national park, my impression would be lots of trees and greenery and on mountains etc.. But this national park is actually a town area with roads, shops etc...but the interesting thing is that this town has lots of bathhouses and natural hot springs underground.

So, you can see steam from the roads and people bring gallons and gallons of water to fill up from the taps in the downtown area as the residents proudly mentioned that the water from the springs do not have any chemicals.

These are some pictures taken in Hot Springs National Park where we drove up the hill to see the lookout point on the whole area and also visited "Garvan Woodland Gardens" - A Botanical Garden just before we made our way to Bentonville, Arkansas.

It was another 5 plus hours drive to Bentonville,Arkansas. As usual, a very nice, scenic drive with lots of trees.

Stayed in Days Inn with a heated indoor swimming pool which was awesome because of the cool weather. So, swam everyday with CT and had fun playing in the pool.

Esther last day in Mobile

This morning, went to the engraving shop to collect the pewter ware which Esther sent for engraving few days ago. However, the lady forgot all about doing it. She was so busy with her other work that she completely forgot. Esther said they are like that. When you are in the South, you cannot expect efficiency. Everything is slow-paced and everyone here seems so patient. I dont think I have heard any sounding of hornsfrom car drivers ever since I came here.

Anyway, the lady promised us that she will get it done now and we can come collect it later in the evening. Before we left the shop, she actually asked Esther how was her date with Bruce. She even asked Esther if she was still interested to give him the pewter ware. Haha. She said she was just checking...Very humorous people here in US..

Esther and I planned to catch a movie show in the afternoon but did not do so cos on Fridays, the show starts later in evening. So, we did not watch in the end.

I did not bring her out much today cos we needed to pack our bags for our trip to Arkansas over the next few days. So, decided to rest and pack. Since we were free in the afternoon, we played tennis. The weather was perfect...cooling and sunny..probably low 20s. Esther again played allpowerful corner shots that made it difficult for me to play, but it really kept me alert and on my toes. She made me practise a lot on my backhand which was good cos that was my weak point.

At night, we went back to airport to return our rented car and waited for CT there as he also returning his rented car. His company rented another car for him to drive long distance to Arkansas. So,he needed to return the present car. We reached airport at about 620pm and waited for CT till 650pm. Avis did not allow CT to return his car cos his contract was not up yet and he should return at another location. It was ridiculous but the gal at the counter insisted that he should not return at the airport. So, we ended up with 2 cars.

In the end, I had to drive one car to the dinner place while CT drove the other. Esther came with me. We went to "Golden Corral" for dinner. It is a western Southern buffet place with great steaks and fried chicken. We arranged dinner with CT's colleagues so that they have a chance to meet Esther.

I must say that Esther really fitted in well as she is very sociable. In the end, CT's colleague drove one of our cars back to our apartment with Esther in it. I went back with CT. haha..Tthe rented car which we would be driving to Arkansas is a new Chevrolet Malibu car. Quite nice.

Will be setting off tomorrow at about 9am plus to Arkansas.From Moblie to Arkansas is 11 hours drive. But we would be stopping by at one place for a night before carrying on our journey. So, it would be 6 hours drive first, then 5 hours drive. Not too bad. Just poor CT cos he would be the only one driving since it is his company's car.

Drove to Pensacola

This morning, we left at 750am to drive to Pensacola. It is about 1hr 20 mins journey, driving about 70-80 miles/h which is about 112-128 km/h in highways. Seems fast in Singapore but it is considered usual speed here in US. I enjoyed the drive as it was smooth and I seem to be more confident driving from the last time I drove when my bro was here.

We went to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola as Esther loves to look at war planes and ships. I told her to decide between going New Orleans or Pensacola as we did not have time to go both. Pensacola is in Florida, which is at the border of Alabama and Florida. So, it is quite near from my place.

This is my second time to the museum and it was still interesting as I saw more things than the last time. Spotted a butterfly on the grass as we walked out of our car to the museum.



In the museum, we met this volunteer, Jim and he gave us a guided tour in one area of the whole museum. He used to live through the old days and he was explaining the things that we saw in this old convenience stall...

I love to look at all the antique stuff in the museum as life seems to simple and happy just by looking at it. It is like marble games in the past...or catching spiders... But now, kids grow up playing Playstation 2, XBox etc... So different.

Lastly, we drove at the back of the carpark to take this shot of the helicopter just outside the museum...

After that, we drove around the aviation compound and drove to the beach nearby. We had our lunch there. I cooked too much fried rice last night when I had dinner with CT that I da bao into lunch boxes to eat in the beach this afternoon.

It was a lovely beach with clear water and white sand. The weather was so hot that I was not in appropriate attire. I was wearing jeans and 3/4 sleeve blouse..haha.. But I rolled all up, took out my shoes and walked along the beach.

We also spotted a woman walking 2 dogs along the beach. We made friends with the dogs and tried to get them into the water. It was freezing and they did not really like it..The dogs were really cute.

What I like about this beach is that every few minutes, there would be different planes flying above our heads.

After lunch, we walked back to the car. Here is more of the beach..

After the beach, we made our way to the lighthouse nearby to take a closer look and took a nature trail for 5 mins only cos we saw only trees and more trees..

When we reached home, I asked Esther to take a picture of me and the rented car which I have been driving.

Blind date

Today, Esther wanted to get an engraving done on her Royal Selangor peuterware which she bought from Changi Airport to give to her friend , Bruce tonight. So, we checked the stalls on the internet that does engraving here in Mobile and spotted one shop. So, we took down the address and went. However, we couldnt find it.

So, Esther said it was ok. We went to nearby shops to shop. Had lunch at "Olive Garden". It is a Italian Restaurant. All restaurants have lunch specials and I love it cos they are in smaller portions and cheaper. I ordered an "unlimited refill" of breadsticks, soup and salads for only US$6. It is considered cheap. I could order any soup I like that the restaurant serves. So, it was quite good. Esther had italian sausage with spaghetti and ordered a stuffed mushroom appetiser, which was good!

After lunch, we went to Colonial Bel Air Mall to check out another engraving stall. However, they could not do for us as we had to buy products from them and if not, they would take 24 hours to engrave. So, it was too late. We asked the shop owner to recommend a place that does engraving and they mentioned the shop which we tried to go this morning. So, they gave us directions and we realised we went the wrong direcion this morning.

So, we left and went to find the engraving stall. We found it and went in. Cathy, the shop owner had to take 24 hours to do it as well cos she has other customers. We needed the engraving to be done by tonight cos Esther would be meeting her friend whom she bought it for. But since all the engraving must take more than 24 hours, we thought Esther can pass to him another time in Arkansas cos we would be going up there this Saturday.

You see, Esther's friend, Bruce flew down specially to Mobile to meet up with Esther. HE would be flying to ATlanta the next day already. But we would be driving up to Arkansas on Saturday and Esther can then pass to her friends (in Arkansas)to pass to Bruce. Esther used to work in Walmart(Arkansas) for a number of years, so she knows people there.

Anyway, the highlight for today was how Esther made friends with Cathy, the stall owner so easily.. They exchanged many good laughs and Cathy shared about her internet dating etc..We also took all her quarters (25 cents) from her cashier counter as CT collects quarters. She allowed us to see as she tended to her other customers. So, we grew to the point that we were so close to the shopowner that she trusted us. Haha..So, we took what we needed and exchanged it for money.

Before we left, Cathy told us that on Friday when we come back to collect, tell her all about the date with Bruce. So funny. I guess this is what I would miss when I go back Singapore...how friendly people and approachable people are here.

We went home after that as I prepared dinner for me and CT. I recommended Esther to go to "Zea Rottesierre and Grill" Restaurant for dinner with Bruce as the ambience and food is good. Bruce came to pick her up at 630pm, but before that, I was quite excited for her and kept looking out my window to see if he was here yet. Bruce is a highflyer in Walmart and oversees all meat, produce, dairy, frozen, floral, bakery and commercial bread operations for Wal-Mart Stores, its domestic Supercenters and the new Neighborhood Markets.

So, when he came, both me and CT went out to greet him and send Esther off! haha.. Esther said we acted like her parents.

The funny thing is that at 8 plus pm, Esther came home!! So early.When she came home, I was even in the midst of vacuuming the floor. I expected her to be back only about 9 plus pm. She said Bruce had to fly off tomorrow morning, so he had to end off the dinner early. She came back and told us all about her date.

Shopping

This morning, we left the house at about 8am plus to go Tanger Outlet which is about an hour drive away. We wanted to be there when they first open so that we can be back early before the sunsets..

There are few hundred shops in Tanger Outlets and many of them are branded but very good price. I bought a Timberland shirt for CT for only US$7. The branded shoes can be as cheap as $US15. Esther bought a lot of things. It was raining as we drove. The rain was good as it cooled down the area. It has been very sunny and dry lately.

As we were shopping, the rain stopped and the sun came up. So, weather was nice. We had lunch at the outlet itself. It was a very small foodcourt area. Esther and I had hotdogs with fries. There was also a Chinese stall and many Americans seem to be eating that. So, we commented that Americans go for Chinese food while Chines go for American food. Ha..I guess this reasoning goes back to the same reasoning- "The grass is always greener on the other side."

After shopping till 3pm, we drove back and relaxed back home, waiting for CT to come home. We were going to have dinner outside, so, I did not have to cook and be busy in the kitchen as usual.

Went to "Chinatown" Restaurant for dinner. It is a Chinese buffet about US$10 per person. Much cheaper than in Singapore. There is a Mongolian grill secion where you select what food you want and get the chef to cook with 3 options for sauce 1) white wine with garlic 2) kung pao sauce 3)szechuan. I chose 2)..yup, I always sit on the fence-not too mild, not too spicy.

Dinner was filling as usual cos it is buffet. I feel so Singaporean when we eat as we try to make our money's worth and keep stuffing ourselves. But I have learnt that little is more...in the sense that I have learnt to not eat everything but eat selectively and just choose what I really want to eat. I choose more veggies and fruits now.