Shopping & Skating

This past weekend went by very fast.  We didn't have any big plans, but we stayed busy!

Friday night Jule watched movies with her friend from school, Andrea.  Andrea is from Mexico.  Jule has met so many people from different places since she's been here.  I love this.  Learning from people is one of the best educations you can get, in my opinion.

Saturday we decided to head into Little Rock with our friends, the Alexanders.  The father (Shawn) and I have known each other for 30 years.  His wife, Wimee, has become one of my best friends.  And their kids (Marissa - 10 years, Dylan - 14 years and Jordan - 15 years) are like part of my family.  They have accepted Jule as one of their own, too.  Especially Marissa. She hangs on Jule.  Since she's the same age as Benedict, she's very good with Marissa!

So we went to Park Plaza Mall to do some shopping.  Jule was looking for a new pair of jeans and she found a good deal... buy one, get one free.  :)  We love good sales.

Shepherd's Pie

Next we ate at Cheddar's Restaurant.  This is one of the thousands of chains in America.  She ordered a very popular American meal -- Shepherd's Pie.  Click here for recipe!

Shepherd's pie actually originated in England around the late 1700s, but it has become associated with America since the settlers brought the recipe here.  It's essentially meat and potatoes and a few other vegetables made into a thick stew and then covered with mashed potatoes and onions.

Inside Cheddar's Restaurant

After Cheddar's, we headed toward the Arkansas Skatium for ice skating!

Jule, Wimee, Marissa, Jordan and Dylan.
Jule appears to be happy about the "risk" involved in ice skating!  :)

The kids getting ready to hit the ice.

For some reason, none of us thought about the fact that it would be COLD in the ice skating rink.  We froze... especially Wimee and I since we were just sitting and watching.  Next time, we will take jackets!