Kid Cam

  My parents treated us all this past weekend by offereing to carry my little guys to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Obviously, this was a treat for the boys....but it was also a treat for me and Bradley.  Having a kid free weekend is a super rare treat. Not that we sit around and wish to not have our own children...because we LOVE spending time with them....but it's a treat to get to do something as a married couple.  A married couple who is still madly in love, but has a hard time finding moments to squeeze in for ourselves. If you're a parent...you know what I'm getting at.

So anyway......as I gave the boys a kiss and wished them farewell on their adventure, I suggested that the boys use their IPOD cameras to snap a few photos of fun memories along the way.

I expected one of two things to happen....

1.  They would never once use the IPODs up to take a photo with.....or....

2.  They would take a million blurry pictures that didn't really even make sense.

I was completely proved wrong.

When the boys arrived home and told us all about the trip, Sawyer held out his IPOD to me.  He said,

"Oh, Mom.  I almost forgot.  I made you a slideshow of our trip. It has 17 pictures on it."

Really?

"Yes, Mam.  I figured 17 would be too many for you to use for your blog, but you can pick the ones you want.  Are you gonna use them for your blog?"

Wow!  My little 8 year old really knows his Mom!  And since he suggested it....I couldn't pass up the offer to include his photography in my blog.

Despite the fact that his IPOD takes poor quality photos, I thought he did a great job on the composition!  Here are a few pictures taken with Sawyer as the photographer.....

Sawyer couldn't take this one of himself standing in two states at the same time, so he handed the IPOD off and asked his Nana to take it for him.

Carter wasn't quite as successful in his photography skills, although I am happy with the 3 whole pictures he took.  I will share his entire album with you....I know you will be impressed.

I expected that if they used the IPODS to take photos, that I would see a load of ridiculous pictures.  Instead, I got a surprisingly nice collection of memories from their weekend.

Well done, lads.

Hobnobbing With The Rich Folk

I totally felt like a poser this weekend.  I am not good at pretending to be something that I am not.  And let's just clear this up right now.  I am not rich.  I am a kindergarten teacher and my husband is an electrician.  We aren't rich.  But this weekend....we went hobnobbing with them.

 The boys were gone on a little trip this weekend...Tucker was with our church youth group and my parents took the little two on a trip to the mountains.  Having the boys all away from home at the same time.....for even a night.....is a very, very rare occurance.  So...we seized the opportunity and planned a little trip for ourselves.  Our own little "couple's retreat".

  One of the benefits of teaching in Alabama is that we are allowed to stay at the Robert Trent Golf Course Resorts at a very discounted price.  The resorts are a part of our teacher retirement system, so staying for a discount is one of our perks.  (Alert to my Bama teacher friends.....if you aren't using this discount...you are missing a treat!)

 So anyway....we decided to head toward the bay area of Alabama to The Grand Marriot Resort in Point Clear.  This resort is listed in the top 100 resorts in the Nation...and that ranking doesn't surprise me one bit.

Oh.

My.

Word.

It was gorgeous! 

We would never be able to afford to stay in this luxury resort if it weren't for our discount.  The rest of the folks staying there seemed right at home in such luxury and probably didn't even think twice about the price tag attached to the resort.  Our first clue that we may be out of our league was when we pulled our dirty, black 2005 Ford Freestyle into the parking lot.  There was a Mercedes BMW on one side and a Lexus on the other.

While I was there, I learned some things about these rich folks. 

I learned that their food isn't spiced with McCormick seasonings.  They use fresh herbs from the Chef's herb garden.  The price of the food on the menu indicates that freshly grown herbs are pricey.

I learned that a meal is served with lots of silverware, lots of glasses, and cloth tablecloths and napkins.  And that all the ladies sitting around me looked way more high falootin than me.  I tried to determine what it was about them that made them look richer than me. The jewelry?  The fancier clothes?  The doodied up hair?  Their overall aire? I never quite pinpointed it...but there was an obvious separation. 

I learned that resorts don't really have 'yards' and regular grass.  They have 'gardens' and pathways and pools.

And for a pool to be acceptable...it should have waterfalls and landscaping and fountains.

I also realized that no one else carried a camera around.  I never saw another camera during the whole weekend.  Bradley and I walked around amazed at how lovely everything was....taking pictures of everything, but it was nothing out of the ordinary for the rich folks.  They walked by these lush grounds and hardly gave them any notice, because it wasn't unusal for them.

I took pictures of every stinkin' corner of the property because I was so dumbfounded by the beauty of it.  That made me stick out like a sore thumb, I am sure.

Rich people don't take pictures of forks, and plates and glasses.

They don't gawk at the gardens.

They don't stand at stare at the amazing pools.

They don't balk at the prices on the menus.

But.......

Rich people also don't chase seagulls on the beach like this.......

Or pretend that they have been arrested and are locked up in the little jail cell in the museum........

Rich ladies certainly do not swim in their sundress in the hot tub because they forgot their swimsuit but couldn't bear the thought of passing up a hot tub with a waterfall.  They are too 'uppity' to do this......

Rich folks would never take a photo of themselves kissing on the beach at sunset because they never want to forget the moment.......

Rich people wouldn't do those things.  It wouldn't be proper.

But I'm not rich.....or proper.

I'm just plain ole me.

I spent the weekend rubbing elbows with the rich folks.  I slept in the same place they slept.  I ate in the same restaurant they ate in.  I walked in the gardens they walked in. 

But I guarantee you.....

I am the one that had the most fun.

I'm Dreaming Again....Travel Plans Are Sure To Follow

  Last night, after the boys were tucked snug in their beds, Bradley and I started discussing our next BIG vacation.  We had a lot to discuss.  Our last really big vacation was a year and a half ago.  We drove 2500+ miles to see Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons, The Badlands, and Wind Cave National Park.  It was the adventure of a lifetime.

I remembered how we were giddy with anticipation for our Yellowstone adventure for months and months prior to the trip. And how we relished in every single moment of the trip. I thought about how we were able to experience things with the boys on that trip that we will never replicate. And how for almost two years after the trip, we still talk about it or refer to it in some way at least once a week. It has been our greatest splurge of money ever!

 

Which reminds me... I need to blog about that trip.  We took that trip before I started blogging, but I want to remember it.

I'll add that to my "to do" list.

Where were we?  Oh yeah. 

Dreaming.

Bradley and I were discussing our next big road trip.  We talked about lots and lots of different possibilites.

Should we go out west again, but this time hit Grand Canyon and the National Parks in that area?

Do we go toward Arches National Park? The Great Sand Dunes? Rocky Mountain? Mesa Verde?

Do we plan a trip to Washington DC?  Should we go east and try to reach Acadia National Park in Maine and pick up Boston, New York, and maybe Shenandoah National Park. Then there is Congaree and Cuyahoga Valley National Parks.

There are just so many options and so little time and money!

We fell asleep dreaming of loading the boys up in the truck, with the camper attached, to head out for our next adventure.

I have thought about it on and off all day today.

I am hungry for another adventure.

Actually....

I am officially obsessed with the idea of traveling again.

We could go West and see this......

Or we could go East and see this.....

I'm pretty sure there is no wrong choice here.

Is it bedtime yet?  I'm ready to dream again.

Top 10 Family Vacations

Our family loves to travel together more than anything else in the world. We spend a great deal of our conversations talking about trips we have already taken, trips we would like to take, or trips we are currently planning. I am writing this less than a week after our family returned from our first cruise and only a couple of months after we traveled to Yellowstone. I sat wondering, why is it that our family travels so often, where others do not? Then, I realized that we make traveling one of our top priorities. We don't have tons of money, but what we DO have, we basically spend on travel. We have never felt it really important to give our kids lots of "things", but instead choose to give our children our time and new experiences. Although we would love to have it, we do not have new cars, four wheelers, boats, or other luxury items. Almost every item of clothing we own comes from the thrift store and we rarely ever go out to eat. We typically travel in a camper and eat our own groceries, although a couple of our favorite trips, did not involve a camper. We use our tax money, gift money, overtime money, and any change we can dig out of the couch to put toward our next trip. Our love for travel is top on our list for how we spend our money. I have never regretted any of the money we spent of a vacation.

The idea of this "Top 10 Vacations" came about while traveling, of course. That is when our family has our best and most meaningful conversations. We were coming home from our cruise and we were discussing with the boys which trips they liked the best out of all the trips we had taken. We were interested to hear that we all were picking basically the same trips as our favorites and least favorites. We decided to make a list of all of the trips we had taken as a family and each rank them from 1-10. We then compiled our list and made our overall family list. The following is a list of our current "Top 10 Family Vacations". It will be interesting to see in the future, which vacations nudge out those that are already on the list.

#10 - Atlanta (Coca-Cola Factory and Aquarium)

#9 Dauphin Island, AL

#8 - Jekyll Island, GA

#7 - Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

#5 - Panama City Beach, FL

#4 - Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico

#3 - San Antonio, Texas

#2 - Disney Fort Wilderness Resort Campground
#1 - Yellowstone National Park

(Grand Tetons, Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave)

#6 - Disney World Resort - Port Orleans