• Travel

    DeSoto State Park Hike

    August 19, 2015 - By 

    During our time in North Georgia, we actually ventured back over to our home state of Alabama. We had spent the morning not to far from the Georgia-Alabama border at Cloudland Canyon State Park. We had planned to be out all day, so we had packed a picnic lunch. We ended up at DeSoto State Park, which is on Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne. It covers 3,000 acres of forests, rivers, waterfalls, and mountainous terrain. The picnic area overlooks the A.A. Miller Dam. We stuffed our faces with fresh cut cold cut sandwiches, chips, cookies, and Gatorades. Our lunch entertainment…

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    Alabama Must-Sees for Families

    August 12, 2015 - By 

    This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alabama Tourism. The opinions and text are all mine. When I moved to Alabama 19 years ago, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be moving to a state with such rich history, beautiful terrain, and diverse culture. Whether you’re a mountain man or a beach bum, this state has the best of both worlds. There is also something for the science geeks, the History nerds, and even those who have been bitten by the adventure bug. Today I’m sharing with you a little bit of all of…

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    Rome, Georgia

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    On our way up to LaFayette, Georgia for our 4th of July trip we stopped in Rome, Georgia for lunch. Downtown Rome is really a quaint little place with lots of cute stores and restaurants. A friend of Rob’s recommended a couple places to eat. We ended up at Schroeder’s Deli. We had Calzones and pizza and fried okra. We noticed a park when were walking to the restaurant from down the street where we had parked. After lunch, we got Daisy out of the car and brought over to Heritage Park to let her run around and use the…

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    Bahia Honda State Park

    July 24, 2015 - By 

    One of the things on our to-do-list while in the keys was to go to Bahia Honda State Park. The afternoon after spending our morning at sea, we had a few hours to spare. We decided to go check out this highly regarded state park. After entering the park we turned and headed to the Eastern side of the park, which is where you’ll find a mile long beach called Sandspur Beach. It’s a very narrow beach covered with seaweed the day we were there. There’s restrooms and pavilions there. However, we decided to check out the Calusa Beach that’s…

  • Morning at Sea near Marathon Key
    Travel

    Morning at Sea off Marathon Key

    July 15, 2015 - By 

    On New Year’s Day, we woke up early and stopped in at McDonald’s for a quick breakfast before hopping on a charter boat for a half day on the open seas. Yes, that loose end of spreading Dad’s ashes had finally come and I’ll have to say I was a mess while eating breakfast. We arrived at the marina a little before 8 am and Captain Dave was busy rinsing off the deck of the boat. When he was done, we discussed plans for the morning. I made sure he was aware that the main purpose of the trip was…

  • Morning in Key West
    Travel

    Morning in Key West

    July 8, 2015 - By 

    Key West is such an interesting place with so much character, history, and uniqueness to experience. When we were in the Keys, we spent New Year’s Eve morning in Key West. This post is just to highlight the 4-5 hours we spent exploring this alluring city. I plan to come back and write a few more posts about some of the cool places we came across. We got up at the crack of dawn, before the sun had even begun to rise. We wanted to beat the crowds and didn’t want to have to wait in a long line at…

  • Travel

    Noccalula Falls {Gadsden, Alabama}

    June 30, 2015 - By 

    A few weeks ago, we were near Gadsden, Al looking for something to do, so I went old fashion and pulled out the atlas. I found a place called Noccalula Falls and wondered what that was, so we pulled out our phones and Googled it, where we found this link: Noccalula Falls Park We decided to head that way and check it out. If you view the falls from the top, it’s free. However, I highly recommend paying the park fee to go inside the park. When you enter the park, you’ll see the Pioneer Homestead which is comprised of…

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    Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge

    June 28, 2015 - By 

    Another must see and do while in the Florida Keys is to visit the The National Key Deer Refuge, which is located on Big Pine Key and No Name Key. We made a stop on Big Pine Key on our way back up to Marathon from Key West. click on map to enlarge click on map to enlarge The National Key Deer Refuge is a 9,200-acre National Wildlife Refuge that is inhabited by about 800 animals. This refuge was established in 1957 as a haven for Key deer as well as other wildlife in the Florida Keys. Many of the…

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    Everglades National Park

    June 16, 2015 - By 

    After an exhilarating airboat tour in Everglades City, we headed towards Shark Valley, which has an observation tower that provides amazing panoramic views of the heart of the Everglades. click on map to enlarge Right before arriving at Shark Valley (Stop #1), we stopped at Miccosukee Restaurant for lunch. This is a restaurant on the Miccosukee Reservation. The restaurant menu provided lots of variety, which included some traditional Native American dishes, like Frybread, alligator nuggets, and Indian tacos. I’m still kicking myself for not trying their tacos, but I was a bit concerned about having that sit on my stomach…

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    Everglades Airboat Tour and Gator Show

    June 2, 2015 - By 

    We arrived at Captain Jack’s to get tickets for our airboat tour. Before going there we stopped at the convenient store for some breakfast. I saw Zinger’s and was quickly taken back to the times my Dad and I would stop at a 7-11 and I would get Zingers. Anyway, we got over to the loading place for the airboats and soon our names were called and we were off for an adventure of a life time. You can take a look at this product which is suitable to repair any works while riding in the boat. The tour started…

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    Everglades City

    May 26, 2015 - By 

    We left Naples and arrived in Everglades City a little after 2 p.m. and checked into the Everglades City Motel. When we were looking for places to stay in Everglades City there was only 3 or 4 motels, none of which seemed super nice. We booked this one, because it had really good reviews and the price was right. Our room was recently renovated. The furniture was nice and water pressure was good. I loved that they have bikes you can use and the staff was really helpful. We also got a discount on our airboat tour because we stayed…

  • Cub Scout Trip 2014::McWane Center {Birmingham}
    Travel

    Cub Scout Trip 2014::McWane Center {Birmingham}

    January 14, 2014 - By 

    This past weekend we went to Birmingham for our Cub Scout Winter Trip to McWane Center. We did this back in 2012 and had such a good time. It is such a fun trip and is so easy for the leaders. As the Cubmaster’s Wife, I am so happy when there’s less work for him! Laying on a bed of nails. Watching how the shape changes as it begins to spin Drew got the High Cycle stuck! Alex waiting for the IMAX movie to start About to work on a Belt Loop We got placed on the 3rd floor this…

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    Dallas, Texas

    September 3, 2013 - By 

    Monday we said our goodbyes to Maria and fam. Then it was back on the road headed to my favorite state, Texas!!! We were surprised to see some “mountains” in Southern Oklahoma. We went to a scenic lot and saw that Oklahoma is the hope of the Reflection seismograph . Not long after that we saw this just that made my heart sing. **cue the sounds of angels singing**

  • Travel

    Oklahoma City Highlights

    August 23, 2013 - By 

    Sunday was another fun packed day. We started our day off with breakfast and church. Then it was on to Bricktown for afternoon. We walked around and took a bunch of pics of the kids.

  • Travel

    Oklahoma City Family Visit

    August 21, 2013 - By 

    We left Friday after Rob got off work. Our first destination was Moore, Oklahoma, where Rob’s sister lives. We knew we couldn’t make it the entire 13 hours, so he made plans to stop in Maumelle, AR. We arrived around 1 am and quickly got to bed as we knew we needed to hit the road early the next morning. I didn’t take any pics on Day 1. Saturday (Day 2) we popped out of bed, grabbed a snack from the continental breakfast, and were on our way! We started to get hungry about an hour and half away from…

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    Forth July 4th Trip 2013::Gatlinburg, TN {Day 5}

    August 7, 2013 - By 

    Chalet ~ Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 3 ~ Day 4 Sunday we had to rise early and get packed and clean up the chalet before the 11am check out time. We were just in the nick of time and headed out on our last day of adventures. One of the things we had wanted to do on our trip was go to Cherokee, NC, but we decided to wait until on our way home to cut down on driving time since it’s in the direction of home. Cherokee is about an hour away from Gatlinburg, but it’s…

  • Travel

    Forth July 4th Trip 2013::Gatlinburg, TN {Day 4}

    August 2, 2013 - By 

    Chalet ~ Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 3 ~ Day 5 Saturday, we got up, ate breakfast, and went to Ober Gatlinburg. It had been raining, so when we got there, the Alpine slide wasn’t open yet. We decided to go ahead and get the activity bracelet, and took the ski lift all the way up to the top of Mount Harrison.

  • Forth July 4th Trip 2013::Gatlinburg, TN {Day 3}
    Travel

    Forth July 4th Trip 2013::Gatlinburg, TN {Day 3}

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    Chalet ~ Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 4 ~ Day 5 The next day of trip we rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn. Wolfed down some waffles and quiche and hit the road towards Cades Cove. Cades Cove is a very popular attraction, which is about 35 miles from Gatlinburg. This isolated valley was the settling place for 100s of settlers in the 1800’s. It’s preserved homesteads, beautiful mountain views, and abundant wildlife are reasons why 2 million visitors come every year. John Oliver’s Cabin