• Travel

    Gatlinburg 2017

    February 10, 2017 - By 

    We enjoyed another annual ski trip with the Scouts again this year. Last year I stayed back to deal with moving and organizing stuff after having the carpet installed. This year, I went so that Caitlyn wouldn’t have to pay for a room by herself. As usual we caravanned up there Friday night arriving around 1 am. The next morning the scouts got up and gallivanted through Downtown Gatlinburg, while Caitlyn and I decided to explore Gatlinburg on our own. We walked around and shopped and then ate an early lunch at Bennett’s Pit BBQ, which is my favorite place…

  • Sugar Bowl Weekend 2017
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    Sugar Bowl Weekend 2017

    January 27, 2017 - By 

    When we found out that Auburn was going to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, we decided we would go. We were able to get 2 tickets since we have 2 regular season tickets. Drew would be going with the Auburn University Marching Band (AUMB). They left Friday, Dec. 30th first thing in the morning. We left that morning too, but not as early because Rob hadn’t been feeling great. We stayed in Baton Rouge with Rob’s cousin and her family from Friday till Tuesday. We watched lots of football, played games, and just enjoyed visiting. Saturday, Rob and I…

  • Carnival Paradise {5 Day Western} Christmas Cruise
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    Carnival Paradise {5 Day Western} Christmas Cruise

    January 14, 2017 - By 

    Embarkation Day We spent the weekend before Christmas in Spring Hill, FL visiting with Rob’s Gramma, Grampa, Mom, and others. We celebrated Gramma McMahon’s birthday that Sunday. Then, on Monday we loaded up and headed down to the Tampa Cruise port. We always arrive at the port around 11am. Even though the cruise documents say you start checking in at 1pm that’s not true. Here’s everyone walking from the long-term garage to the cruise port and then Drew and Caitlyn after we checked in and were waiting for our group to be called so we could board the Carnival Paradise.…

  • Day in San Francisco
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    West Coast Trip:Day 4

    November 16, 2016 - By 

    The 4th day on our exciting and jam-packed West Coast trip started off with a ride on cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a fairly early ticket reservation for the ferry over to Alcatraz, so we got up early enough to catch a cable car and get some breakfast and walk around down at the wharf. We ended up just grabbing McDonald’s. Although, the bread at Boudin’s looked and smelled amazing. They weren’t open yet. Mural down at the Wharf when we got off the cable car. Love the sunflare from the morning sun.

  • West Coast Trip - Day 3 - Travel along as we leave Yosemite to Cupertino (Apple HQ), Stanford U, Painted Ladies, and more.
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 3

    October 22, 2016 - By 

    If you missed my 1st couple of posts about our West Coast Trip, you should check those out first. – Day 1 – Day 2 – So on Day 3 of our West Coast Trip we woke up in our tent in Yosemite’s Half Dome Village. I woke up a little chili and actually quite sore from the hike the day before, but the brisk fresh air was welcoming. We got dressed and jumped in the car. We wanted to stop and check out Yosemite Falls on our way out of the park. We took a short hike to the…

  • West Coast Trip - Day 2 - Yosemite Day
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    West Coast Trip:Yosemite Day

    October 5, 2016 - By 

    If you missed my post from Day 1 of our West Coast Trip you can find it here. Here’s our jam packed day #2! I woke up totally discombobulated from very little sleep, but we still managed to be out of the hotel by 6:30 am. We were eager to get to Yosemite and begin our Yosemite Day before the crowds since we were there during the summer; peak season. The week before we were there President Obama and his family were at Yosemite. We had read that he had donuts from Donuts a Go Go down the street from…

  • Visit 5 Rivers #StayAlBeaches
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    Visit 5 Rivers #StayAlBeaches

    October 4, 2016 - By 

    I love sharing my travels with you even though I am so far behind. Today I’m looking back at when my family was in Daphne for my younger son’s soccer tournament. The Saturday we were there we didn’t have a game until that afternoon, so we had a decent block of time that we could do something fun. Rob had hard about 5 Rivers Delta Safari so we decided to check it out. While we were there we… strolled along the paths while enjoying the peacefulness and watching birds and learning about the trees that grow in that area. We…

  • Travel

    Take the Mobile Bay Ferry #StayAlBeaches

    September 20, 2016 - By 

    Earlier this year my family and I were in the Gulf Shores area for Alex’s soccer tournament. When they lost the semifinals game that left us with much of Sunday to find something to do. We ate lunch at Rafter’s, stopped at beach for a quick dip, and then headed over to the Mobile Bay Ferry. Mobile Bay Ferry FAQ’s (please check the Mobile Bay Ferry website to make sure this info hasn’t changed) Where do you get on? Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan Dauphin Island address 111 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Island, AL 36528 Fort Morgan address 110 State Highway…

  • Travel

    Visit Alabama Beaches even if it’s Raining #StayAlBeaches

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    I’ve already given you lots of reasons why you should vacation on the Alabama Coast: 5 Reasons to Travel Alabama Beaches Girl’s Getaway to Alabama Beaches Alabama Coast Top Casual Seafood Restaurants Alabama Coast Activities for Guys 44th Annual National Shrimp Festival! However, sometimes when you go the beach and up comes a dark cloud. The sky falls out and it starts raining cats and dogs, and you find yourself back at the hotel watching TV waiting for the sun to shine again. When you vacation in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, you don’t have to worry about being bored when it’s…

  • Travel

    Rochester, NY | Trip Report Day 1

    September 4, 2016 - By 

    Back in August, Rob flew out to Rochester, NY on Sunday for some training. However, I didn’t have enough vacation days so I couldn’t fly out until Tuesday night. I left work a little early to head to the airport. I arrived in Rochester just before midnight. The next day I drove Rob to his training, so I could use the rental car. I had my day roughly planned out. First stop was the Charlotte–Genesee Lighthouse located on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Genesee River, which is about 7.5 miles North of Rochester. I wanted to see this…

  • Travel

    Girl’s Getaway to Alabama Beaches #StayALBeaches

    August 22, 2016 - By 

    Fall is often a great time for the women of the house to escape for the weekend. I don’t know about you but Saturday mornings hit and the TV goes to ESPN and the only channels it gets flipped to are other channels showing football! I love that I live in a state that has such gorgeous beaches, so when I’m ready to escape football or just escape life in general, I can hop in the car and be at white sand beaches and crystal blue waters in a matter of hours. Here’s some reasons why you should go to…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 1

    August 6, 2016 - By 

    The day we left for Cali we got up, did a few things around the house, and headed to Atlanta to pick up Rob’s brother who would then drive us to the airport. We made a stop for lunch at Fire Dragon. Once we got to the airport everything went smoothly. Curbside check in was closed, so we went inside to find a line, but it went fairly quickly. The line for security seemed crowded, but it also went pretty fast. The kids really enjoyed riding the moving sidewalks. Since we had lots of time to kill we went to…

  • Travel

    Disembarking in Baltimore

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    Our cruise earlier this year was a journey cruise, which is a new type of cruise that Carnival started last year. I highly recommend them if you’re looking to do a longer cruise. You start the cruise in one place and end in another. So after 3 days at sea, we disembarked in Baltimore. Yeah, it was kind of crazy going from nice tropical temps to Baltimore, Maryland in February with temps in the 40°s. The day was cold and dreary, but that didn’t stop us. After finally being able to leave the ship around 11 or 12, we took…

  • Travel

    Cruising Days at Sea

    July 10, 2016 - By 

    To wrap up the last 3 days of our Journey cruise, we were looking forward to 3 relaxing days at sea as we departed the Caribbean after leaving St. Maarten and headed to Maryland. The first day at sea Rob experienced his first ever bought of sea sickness. He stayed in bed most of the day and found some relief with the medication I got from him at the customer service desk on board. This picture doesn’t do the waves justice. The waves continued to hit our window throughout the day. The first day at sea was Throwback day with…

  • Travel

    Last Port of Call – St. Maarten

    June 18, 2016 - By 

    We woke up before the alarm went off went and enjoyed watching the Celebrity Silhouette as we ate breakfast at the mermaid grill. When Rob went to the bar to get us some cokes, he noticed the invasion of towel animals that took place on Lido deck. I’ve never seen so many towel animals. So cool! Here’s a few pics I snapped right after getting off the ship. We raced over to the rental car place and ended up using a local company, not your typical Avis or Enterprise. We got in a car with the rental car employee and…

  • Travel

    Driving around St. Kitts

    June 10, 2016 - By 

    Here’s another epic post from our Cruise. Be ready for picture overload! Today we got up before the alarm went off. We were coming in simultaneously with a P&O cruise ship. We got dressed and went down to Mermaid Grill for breakfast buffet, then went down to our cabin and packed for the day. We were ready to go before they made the all clear announcement. We went down to get off the ship but since the Jewel of the Seas cruise ship was just then docking we had to wait for it to dock. Once we were cleared we…

  • Memorial Day Weekend 2016 in Pics
    Travel

    Memorial Day Weekend 2016 in Pics

    June 1, 2016 - By 

    This Memorial Day at the lake was a little different than our normal. Since Drew & Rob were on the west coast and weren’t flying in until Saturday, Alex, Caitlyn, and I went out to Lake Martin to meet up with our friends. It was so nice that they already had our tent and everything set up when we got there. Fun time with these two These girls crack me up. Rest and relaxation is never a bad thing at the lake. Glad Rob got back so he could cook for us 😉 Photo bomb! Man we’re gonna miss that…

  • Travel

    Pensacola, FL Trip

    April 29, 2016 - By 

    Back in April the boys I headed down to Pensacola for Alex’s soccer tourney. I didn’t take any pics of the games, because I was just a nervous wreck, honestly. Here’s pics of everything else. Pensacola Blue Wahoos Somebody had a ferret with them on the beach… Racing to the water Saturday night dinner at Hemingway’s Island Grill

  • Travel

    St. Lucia

    April 29, 2016 - By 

    We woke up before the alarm again. We didn’t have to be on the pier as early for our excursion as the last couple of days. We watched from our cabin as another cruise ship came in which ended up being Celebrity Eclipse. There was another Thompson ship at port already. We got breakfast in the Mermaid Grill, gathered our stuff, and headed off the ship to the post office. We had to wait in a long line to get stamps. Then, we walked around the capital city of Castries. We stopped at a grocery store and looked around. That…

  • Spring Break 2016
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    Spring Break 2016

    April 16, 2016 - By 

    Over Spring Break, we headed down to Rob’s grandmother’s house in Spring Hill, Florida for a few days. It was a 2 fold trip; partly to visit family and partly to see some spring training games sing Rob’s grandparents live in close proximity to many of the spring training venues. After the game in Clearwater, we stopped at the beach for a little while. The boys brought along the soccer ball and played because the water was pretty cold. It was a beautiful sunset though. Rob’s uncle Mike, recently joined the country band Soul Circus Cowboys as their bass player.…