A Peek at NYC

Dusty and I were able to spend the past week in New York City exploring and celebrating our ten year anniversary (a little early). We are thankful for our parents who were willing to keep the kids so we could adventure to the Big Apple. Here are some random pictures from the trip... it was such a blast and great experience! I hope we can go back in the near future! 

Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3

Bow Bridge at Central Park

The ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center

Grand Central Station

The George Washington statue at Federal Hall - and lots of snow coming down!

Belvedere Castle at Central Park

Gorgeous snow

A part of our 7 hour walking tour

Dusty's hot dog from a cart

Times Square

The top of the Empire State Building

The top of the Empire State Building

Lady Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry

The best pizza ever - Grimaldi's in Brooklyn

Yummy-ness from the Magnolia Bakery

Hot Spots Along our Journey Part 1

I thought a post on our trip was a little over-due... and I thought it'd be fun to share some of our stops along the way. I have posted links so you can check them out... especially if you are planning your own trip to the area!

Memphis

We had dinner at the famous BB Kings.... little did we know that it wasn't necessary a family friendly dining atmosphere. Very blues club in that it was very, very dark.... as in, there very well could have been a bug in my food and I would have never seen it! The band playing was awesome but it was quite loud for the little ears. We did enjoy a delicious dinner of barbecue ribs (they were so awesome!) and southern sweet tea. I even had a coupon for a free appetizer which doubled as the kids' meal. 

Atlanta

The kids with Aunt Phyllis

We visited the Georgia Aquarium - wow! Pretty awesome place! We got to view the whale sharks feeding which was quite cool. The whale sharks are in a massive aquarium with a tunnel and a huge viewing area that is floor to ceiling. The other big attraction is the dolphin show which is in a huge indoor stadium. Taryn is still talking about the dolphin show... she was fascinated.

We ate lunch at the Original Varsity after the aquarium. My great-aunt was excited to show us the hang out place from when she was in high school! It was so cool... very nostalgic along with the yummy chili dogs and Varsity Orange drink.

We explored Stone Mountain near Atlanta. It is a huge area around this amazing mountain with the sculpture that is home to all kinds of fun and adventure! We road the Swiss cable car to the top of the mountain to explore and rode it back down. We drove around and stopped at the mill and the old stone quarry along with a few other sites. It's a beautiful landmark with all kinds of activities! We visited on a Monday so many of the attractions weren't open but we still managed to find plenty to do.

Marietta, Georgia has a lovely square and downtown area. The kids loved the play-on train - we visited twice! I enjoyed the shopping! :) We ate at the Marietta Pizza Company (delish!) and bought cupcakes at Miss Mamie's Cupcakes (winner of Cupcake Wars! Yeah!)

World Of Coca Cola was a fun afternoon stop! I enjoyed hearing the history of the company and the process of becoming a huge empire. The kids loved, loved, loved the taste area where they could drink themselves silly with different Coca Cola drinks. They really hadn't had soda pop before this and they went to town! Ha ha. They thought it was awesome.

We attended an Atlanta Braves baseball game after visiting the World of Coca Cola. It is a really nice stadium! We enjoyed the fun atmosphere and mostly, getting to see Chipper Jones play is final season of baseball!

Back to reality...

We are a week and a half post-vacation and I am still working on getting settled. Life is hectic... I participated in a craft fair last weekend along with the laundry, bills, cooking up our piles of apples, homeschooling, dentist appointments, soccer and such.

I thought I'd share a few things we learned along our 2400+ mile road trip!



1. Taryn CAN use a public restroom. This has been a frustrating area for us as she has flat out refused to use public toilets. Ugh, ugh. Over the course of our trip, she overcame this obstacle and has gleefully been using public restrooms. I am elated! It makes outings so much simpler! (We have this portable potty for our car for dire emergencies)

2. I discovered a new found love of apple butter. I've never tried until our trip to the apple orchards and now I am in love! Tomorrow, I will attempt to make my own batch with our remaining apples from Georgia.

3. Our kids nap terribly in the car. Seriously, ugh. Cayson did not nap at all and Taryn took a mini-nap each day in the car lasting a lovely 15-30 minutes. Let's just say she was less than pleasant at times.


4. Georgia has absolutely no straight roads whatsoever! We are used to Oklahoma's straight roads that run north-south or east-west. Dusty was ready to get home to our straight roads where you can see for miles.

5. God has made such a beautiful country! We loved seeing the beautiful trees, mountains, streams and animals along our journey. Cayson become quite talented at spotting deer... he would make a good hunting partner!

Georgia Travels

We are in the midst of vacation fun! Site-seeing galore! Memory making adventures! Here are a few pictures from our trip thus far.

Visiting the original Varsity in downtown Atlanta

Church on Sunday

On top of Stone Mountain in Atlanta

Stone Mountain Mill

Stone Mountain

Horse riding in Ellijay

Apple Picking!

HUGE pumpkin patch with thousands of pumpkins as far as we could see!

Amicalola Falls, Georgia

We feel blessed to be able to experience God's beauty in the nature of Georgia! We head to Tennessee next! Onward.

Texas Bound

Last week, we took a quick trip down to Dallas for a Texas Rangers baseball game. Taryn stayed behind with my parents (thanks Dad & Mom!) so Cayson got to enjoy being the "only child" for a bit. I love these short little trips to Dallas.... it's fun to getaway and enjoy what Texas has to offer (like Taco Casa, Shipley's Do-Nuts, IKEA).

Cayson enjoyed swimming in the hot tub at the hotel. Mom fail- I didn't even think to pack swimsuits so he swam in his shorts for day 2. He had to swim in the hot tub since I couldn't get in the pool with him. He loved it though and was happy as could be!

Cayson enjoyed his blue cotton candy and ate pretty much the entire massive bag!

 He shared a little with Mom. Let's just say Cayson was quite blue by the time he finished his cotton candy.

This boy was one exhausted kid by the time we made it back to the hotel. He was sound asleep as Dusty carried him in.

The next day, we made stops at Shipley's, IKEA (for bunk beds!) and Taco Casa before heading home.

I love making memories with our family! I realize these are the days to treasure and the days we will remember.

Tuesday 10

I had technical difficulties that made posting this a disaster on Tuesday.... so here my post a little delayed.

1.  Girl's Day in the Country is THIS weekend!!!! Friday afternoon/evening and all day Saturday! Make plans to attend - there will be all kinds of unique local booths! It's going to be a blast!!! I am very excited to be a part of this event!

2. Speaking of, I have some fun new products to introduce at the Girl's Day in the Country! Dusty & I have been busy working on some fun new chalkboards and photo display frames that I think will rock. I'll also have lots of handmade products - burp cloths, appliqued onesies & shirts, magnets, rosette pins & clips, tissue pockets plus a lot of fun finds! Our home has pretty much been a non-stop production line while trying to keep up with the household chores and keep the family fed.

3. I just returned from a fun-filled weekend trip to Birmingham, Alabama. My 1st visit to Alabama and it was a beautiful autumn! My sister & I went for a cousin's wedding - it was so wonderful to visit with our family from the south that we rarely get to see! We love our distant cousins (3rd cousins to be exact!) and always have such a blast with them. Rebecca and I laughed and laughed while hanging out with our great-aunts & great-uncles. They are a hoot and always full of great stories.

4. One of my favorite things about Birmingham, was the abundance of sweet tea. The first restaurant we dined at, I asked the waitress if they had sweet tea and she replied "YES, MA'AM!" It was in a tone insinuating I was crazy for even asking. I never asked after that - I just ordered it! I did miss my Dr. Pepper as it was not an easy beverage to find!

5. Being the awful mother of the year, I only ordered the kids' winter coats two weeks ago... when a major cold front was on the horizon. Their coats finally came in (after the cold front) and Taryn is quite the fan of hers. She's not very happy with us for taking it off when she rides in her car seat.... safety, first!

6. Cayson spent a day home with me last week and I snapped this picture while we were eating lunch. He looks so grown up here. :( He's growing like a maniac and eating every morsel of food in sight! I seriously cannot keep the kid's tummy full. I can only imagine what the teenage years will be like.

7. Taryn has become quite the polite little thing lately. If I ask her if she wants something, her reply is, "Yes, please." in the sweetest voice. She always includes the word "please" when she asks for anything. It is the sweetest thing! I love when my kids learn manners and USE them. I know they are not the best behaved but I hope they learn respect and good manners.

8. Dusty has recently cleared his plate of some of his responsibilities which made more time for FAMILY! Yay! He resigned as a volunteer firefighter and is no longer teaching a class at a juvenile detention center which has freed up quite a bit of time. We are loving it. He is staying busy cleaning chimneys for my parents as it is the very busy season and he's currently the only one cleaning chimneys. BUT, that is somewhat flexible and it's been wonderful to see him more!

9. I'm already stressing a bit about Christmas presents for the kids. They need absolutely nothing and don't really want much. Cayson's requests so far are a skateboard & pogo stick. Eek! Pogo sticks are recommended for 7 and up so he won't be getting one of those! I'm still a little unsure about the skateboard.... safety wise. He's not the most coordinated child - much like his mother!

10.

Source

11. (Because I can!) Dusty did such a fabulous job of keeping the house and kids while I was gone. I'm so lucky to have him because it wasn't an easy time. He took the kids to a birthday party at a local farm, a SWOSU football game, to Sunday School and church, and got them off to CDO on Monday plus he kept up with housework, laundry, feeding and bathing the kids. It sounds like they had a blast!

Taryn & Gracie wore the same shirt to the birthday party. Surprise!

Bundled up at the football game

Ready for church!