Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Road Trip!
Dave and I love going on road trips and while it can sometimes be difficult traveling with a toddler we still look forward to packing up the car and heading out on the road. We are so excited to be headed back to Iowa later this week for Kyle and Amie's wedding! The time has flown by since they got engaged on our cruise last year and now the wedding week is finally here. Dave, Dylan and I are all fortunate enough to be in the wedding ( I seriously CANNOT wait to see Dylan in his wee tux, I just might die of cuteness) hopefully I don't forget my bridesmaid dress (JK Amie!).
Back to the road trip. When Dave and I were in college we made our first big road trip together for Spring Break 2002 (what, almost 10 years ago, WOW those gray hairs I saw in Dave's side burns are real). We drove from Ames to Paduka (overnight at the Motel 6) to Panama City (where Dave interviewed for a job at Shark's Tooth Golf Club) to Islemarada (a night of Rum Runners at the Holiday Isle) to West Palm Beach (for approximately 30 minutes, just enough time to book a cheap hotel on the beach, Dave to accept and offer for a job at Shark's Tooth, checkout of the hotel and decide to drive to my dad's for a few days) to St. Augustine (boat rides and gator sightings at my dads) and back to Ames in 7 days. We were hardcore road trippers then. We had such a great time on that trip though. Dave printed out a map of the USA and we played the license plate game to pass the time. We had no reservations and really no itinerary, just a few spots we had to stop and the rest was up to us. Now I'm afraid to say that we are not so carefree and a trip like that right now would give me sky high anxiety. Where are we going? What are we going to do there? Even when we went to London in 2008 we didn't really have a schedule of what we were going to do on what day or even know exactly what we wanted to see. Of course there were a few of the major tourist attractions we wanted to visit, but luckily we stayed with Dana and Paul so we could just talk with them every evening and then plan our next day the night before. I am pretty sure we didn't miss anything we wanted to see and we saw a few great places that we would have missed if we wouldn't of had insider information!
Of course now that we travel with a 3 year old we can't be quite as carefree, but we can still have a great time and make the car ride fun for everyone. Dylan likes riding in the car at watching DVD's but just like us he gets tired of being in the car all day too so we've got to stop more often that we would like. However we do try and remember the line from Cars "People used to drive this road to have a great time, not to make great time" and while we do travel the interstate we try to find fun places to stop, even if it is a rest area with a big grassy area to run around in!
Back to the road trip. When Dave and I were in college we made our first big road trip together for Spring Break 2002 (what, almost 10 years ago, WOW those gray hairs I saw in Dave's side burns are real). We drove from Ames to Paduka (overnight at the Motel 6) to Panama City (where Dave interviewed for a job at Shark's Tooth Golf Club) to Islemarada (a night of Rum Runners at the Holiday Isle) to West Palm Beach (for approximately 30 minutes, just enough time to book a cheap hotel on the beach, Dave to accept and offer for a job at Shark's Tooth, checkout of the hotel and decide to drive to my dad's for a few days) to St. Augustine (boat rides and gator sightings at my dads) and back to Ames in 7 days. We were hardcore road trippers then. We had such a great time on that trip though. Dave printed out a map of the USA and we played the license plate game to pass the time. We had no reservations and really no itinerary, just a few spots we had to stop and the rest was up to us. Now I'm afraid to say that we are not so carefree and a trip like that right now would give me sky high anxiety. Where are we going? What are we going to do there? Even when we went to London in 2008 we didn't really have a schedule of what we were going to do on what day or even know exactly what we wanted to see. Of course there were a few of the major tourist attractions we wanted to visit, but luckily we stayed with Dana and Paul so we could just talk with them every evening and then plan our next day the night before. I am pretty sure we didn't miss anything we wanted to see and we saw a few great places that we would have missed if we wouldn't of had insider information!
Of course now that we travel with a 3 year old we can't be quite as carefree, but we can still have a great time and make the car ride fun for everyone. Dylan likes riding in the car at watching DVD's but just like us he gets tired of being in the car all day too so we've got to stop more often that we would like. However we do try and remember the line from Cars "People used to drive this road to have a great time, not to make great time" and while we do travel the interstate we try to find fun places to stop, even if it is a rest area with a big grassy area to run around in!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! We hope you had a great Halloween and trick or treated your way to lots of candy!
Fall in East Tennessee
Dylan and I went to the park on Sunday morning and I was able to spend some time taking photos while he played in the sand box. With gorgeous blue skies and the sun lower in the sky I was able to get some great photos!
Dave uses a knife and doesn't stab himself with it!
You heard me right, Dave was using a knife and didn't stab himself with it or slice his fingers! In case you haven't heard my husband is not very good with knives, he's stabbed himself in the leg trying to cut a branch off a Christmas tree with a pocket knife (two stitches) and cut himself other times trying to slice fruit. Usually it's because he is using a dull paring knife and sawing away instead of using a sharp knife. Guess what, it's true, you cut yourself easier with a dull knife than with a sharp one!
Anyway, the reason Dave was using a knife? Pumpkin carving! As you can see from the pictures Dylan was grossed out by the pumpkin seeds and inside, but pretty interested in the actual pumpkin carving.
Happy Halloween!!
Anyway, the reason Dave was using a knife? Pumpkin carving! As you can see from the pictures Dylan was grossed out by the pumpkin seeds and inside, but pretty interested in the actual pumpkin carving.
Happy Halloween!!
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| Dylan's face cracks me up in these first two pictures. |
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| EWWW! |
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| Where to make the first cut? |
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| Still wary of the interior of the pumpkin... |
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| It's more fun flinging pumpkin off the deck than carving it! |
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| The eye is done! |
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| Also more fun? Jumping off the bench! |
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| Final pumpkin, and not a very good picture. I didn't get one of the pumpkin lit up last night. I will try and remember to take one of Cyclops when he it lit up tonight. |
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Pumpkin Farm
Last Saturday we made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Farm. We went back to Oakes Farm after visiting a different farm last year. Oakes has lots to do, they have a "back 40" area with bounce houses, slides, a petting zoo, sand box, and more. It's $10 per person to get in to that area (includes the hay rack ride to get your pumpkin) and another $5 per pumpkin. I can see charging the kids to get into the back 40 area, but in my opinion it's a little much to be charging the adults when they aren't using the activities back there. Or maybe they could charge less for adults. It was $36 for my mom, Dylan and I for the back 40 area and 1 pumpkin, admission for family of four plus pumpkins for the kids would be over $50, that seems pretty expensive to me.
That being said, we did have a great time and the food prices are very reasonable. You can also bring your own food in which is nice. They had a huge selection of pumpkins, Dylan had fun trying to pick pumpkins up and choosing just the right one.
That being said, we did have a great time and the food prices are very reasonable. You can also bring your own food in which is nice. They had a huge selection of pumpkins, Dylan had fun trying to pick pumpkins up and choosing just the right one.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
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