• Travel

    Carnival Dream::Day 1 {Embarkation}

    September 25, 2012 - By 

    Here’s my first of probably at least 7 posts about our cruise earlier this month that will include lots of cruising tips. They may be a little spread out, but I’m just super busy now and am working on writing these up and going through photos as I have time. Friday we left to head up to Valley, AL to watch Drew march during halftime. We had made arrangements before hand to snatch him up as soon as they came off the field and head south. That’s exactly what we did. I think it was almost 9 pm when we…

  • Travel

    Bon Voyage, Y’all

    August 30, 2012 - By 

    This month has been crazy!! I have been swamped with soccer league and soccer tourney pics the last month. I’ve barely had time to be excited about sailing on Saturday…OK, I admit, I’ve made time to be excited about our cruise. This past weekend me and a friend who I hired to help me shoot a soccer tourney took over 9,000 total pictures. So this week, we had to weed through them and thank goodness for Rob has gotten them put on the online galleries. So most hours that I was not working, this week I’ve spent them dealing with…

  • Life

    Announcement

    March 28, 2012 - By 

    I can’t believe it’s taken me a week to tell you what I’m SO EXCITED about! It’s been 4 years since our last cruise and we have finally booked a cruise and this time we’re taking the kids. Here’s the details… Who? The Fab Four (Rob’s and My 7th cruise. Drew’s 3rd cruise. Alex’s 1st cruise.) What? A 7 day Cruise to the Western Caribbean When? September 2012 Where? Leaving out of Port Canaveral, Florida going to: Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan, Costa Maya Why? Well, isn’t that obvious? To have fun, relax, enjoy a big family vacation, site-see How? On…

  • Cub Scout Trip 2012::McWane Center {Birmingham}
    Travel

    Cub Scout Trip 2012::McWane Center {Birmingham}

    February 23, 2012 - By 

    This past weekend we went with the cub scouts on a family trip to the McWane Center in Birmingham, Al. Such a fun place! Nearly all hands-on, very informational, just loved the place! If you ever travel to Birmingham, I recommend it. Anyway, so our family decided to get their early, so we’d have plenty of time to see all 4 floors. We were able to get through all the floors in about 5 hours and that was really allowing the boys time to stay at some of the exhibits for awhile, not just skimming over everything. We met as…

  • Travel

    Second July 4th Trip 2011:: Blue Ridge, GA {Day 2}

    July 19, 2011 - By 

    If you missed Day 1 of our trip read here. Day 2 of our trip to the North Georgia Mountains was filled with seeing the train leave, a “Farmer’s Market,” walking around Downtown Blue Ridge, a parade, visiting Mercier’s Orchards, lots of good food, and hanging out around the cabin. Blue Ridge Scenic Railway The gang walking to the downtown area from our free parking spots. 🙂 Abby doesn’t like that she has to look into the sun to take pics. Farmer’s Market Waiting for the parade to start Rexall Drugs Old Timey Parade My sweet nephew wasn’t annoyed by…

  • Travel

    Camping

    April 18, 2011 - By 

    Here’s a couple pics from Saturday and Sunday when we went camping. Our weekend started with Alex’s baseball game in Auburn at 9:30 am. We booked it out of there, back home to finish packing for our camping/soccer trip up in Birmingham. We had to have Drew on the field at 1:00. We made it with no issues and even had time to run through a drive-thru. After Drew’s victorious soccer game, we followed the Farrows to Oak Mountain State Park. Praying that they had a place for us tent camp, we were shocked to find out there was only…

  • Travel

    Ton’s Mongolian Grill {DFW area, TX}

    March 28, 2011 - By 

    Every time we go to Texas we make a trip over to Grand Prairie, TX where we eat one of our “new” fav Fort Worth eateries; Ton’s Mongolian Grill. Rob introduced me to a restaurant of this sort when we went to Oregon. He used to eat at Chang’s at least once a week when he lived there. A few years ago Rob decided to look for a place like Chang’s in the DFW area and he was so excited to find Ton’s. Ton’s is strictly a Mongolian Grill, where you get your raw meat and veggies. Fill up 1…

  • Fun Morning at the Stockyards
    Travel

    At the Stockyards

    March 21, 2011 - By 

    Today we woke up and Rob suggested that we take the morning to get out and do something. He threw a couple options out there and I opted for the Stockyards. It doesn’t matter how many times we go to there, I adore it more every time and it’s one of the most fun places to take pictures! I honestly couldn’t decide which picture to use, but I chose this one, since it features the fam with Dad. You can see more pics of our day here.

  • Travel

    Perdido Key

    March 19, 2011 - By 

    I took a bunch of pics today while we were at the beach. Even if it was just a quick drop by in between soccer games, it was just enough time. Tons more to come.

  • Travel

    Roadtrip {Greenville, SC}

    December 1, 2010 - By 

    The weekend before Thanksgiving, we headed up to Greenville, SC for the final soccer tourney of this half of the season for Drew. We didn’t get out of town until after 6 because I had to work, which was fine. We had opted not to leave earlier, because we were trying to avoid Atlanta traffic. Our ride there was good, and happily arrived around 11 pm to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Place. Saturday we woke up bright and early to get out to the fields for an 8 a.m. game. The game ended in a tie. We…

  • Travel

    Cruise Talk {4 Day Western Caribbean} Carnival Inspiration

    October 15, 2010 - By 

    We drove down the night before and spent the night at the Comfort Inn in Weeki Wachee. Got up the next morning and dropped Drew off with Rob’s Gramma and headed to the Pier. It’s always so exciting. Never gets old seeing those towering ships! Here’s Drew with his Uncle Nick at dinner the first night. It also never gets old enjoying all the food…”free” food! Remembering fine details of this trip have been a bit of a challenge, but I’ll do my best to recount this as accurately as I can. So we docked in Cozumel and had decided…

  • Travel

    Sailing on Sovereign of the Seas

    August 3, 2010 - By 

    This cruise was planned a little while after we found out we were expecting our 2nd child. We wanted to go ahead and bring Drew on a cruise, because we knew it would probably be quite awhile before we got to take him on one. Rob’s Mom and Step Dad joined us, which was nice. This trip was taken in October over a long weekend with a Columbus Day Holiday. We opted for a 3 day Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas and the private island, Coco Cay. We left Thursday night and drove down to Orlando. We spent the…

  • Travel

    Trip to Murphy, NC

    July 9, 2010 - By 

    Tuesday night the week before 4th of July, Rob was talking with his brother about finding something “fun” to do over the weekend. The last few years we have mainly hung out at home and enjoyed time with our neighbors. Before that we headed to Texas to visit my family there. Anyway, after some thought and research we decided it would be fun to head up to the North Georgia Mountains. Since it was so close to the date, there were only a few options. We ended up staying here in Murphy, NC. We went with Rob’s Mom, Step-Dad, adopted…

  • Cruising Lingo
    Travel

    Cruising Lingo

    June 1, 2010 - By 

    While writing the FAQ page, I realized that before I started cruising a lot of the cruise lingo were words I didn’t know. You may find this helpful when reading my entries about cruising. bow: front section of the ship bridge: section of the ship where the captain & crew navigate and steer the ship cabin: passenger room onboard the ship: also called a stateroom cabin steward: person who cleans the cabin cruise director: head of the ship’s entertainment staff debark: to leave the ship and go ashore deck: each level (floor) of the ship embark: to go on the…

  • Travel

    Celebrity Century {7 Day Eastern Caribbean} Part 2

    May 3, 2010 - By 

    Read Part 1 June 5, 2003: Thursday Thursday was a day of relaxation and recuperation from our several days off ship. We slept in, ate lunch in the dining room, relaxed poolside, and enjoyed some onboard activities. That evening was the Dinner Menu 2nd formal night followed by the show, Las Vegas-Then and Now. June 6, 2003: Friday Friday was a quick day in Nassau, Bahamas, arriving about 2:30. It was still plenty of time to get in an excursion and some site-seeing. We did the Nassau & Paradise Island Tour. The show that evening was Steve Moris and Dale…

  • Travel

    Celebrity Century {7 Day Eastern Caribbean} Part 1

    April 22, 2010 - By 

    This travel talk will be in 2 parts. This first post will include Friday through Wednesday. This was our first Eastern Caribbean Cruise and our first 7 day cruise. We absolutely love the Eastern Caribbean. Mountains and Oceans…Amazing! May 30, 2003: FridayWe flew to Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening. Here’s Rob at FLL watching for our hotel shuttle, which by the way never showed up. We ended up taking a taxi, which Sheraton reimbursed us for along with a $25 hotel credit. We stayed at the Sheraton near the airport and cruise terminal. May 31, 2003: SaturdayWe got up and…

  • Life

    Military Funeral 2010::Biloxi, MS

    April 6, 2010 - By 

    I mentioned in an earlier post that we attended a military funeral in Biloxi at the Biloxi National Cemetery a few weeks ago. It was for Rob’s Step Dad’s Father, so Rob’s Step-Grandfather, Cliff. They buried Cliff and his wife’s ashes together. My mother-in-law and my niece before the ceremony Keeping watch before the ceremony The folding and unfolding of the flag was something so intricate, yet touching. Gun salute. After the gun salute, there was a recording played of Taps. It would have been much more real if it were played live. I remember when going to Arlington National…

  • Cruise Talk {4 Day Western Caribbean} Carnival Sensation
    Travel

    Carnival Sensation {4 Day Western Caribbean}

    March 31, 2010 - By 

    Writing my last post about cruising definitely got me anxious to write about our 2nd cruise. Although, there wasn’t a whole lot of writing to do, since Rob had written most of that up after we got back. As for this post, I’ll be writing all this from memory using the assistance of the Carnival Capers [I saved], my pictures, and the internet to help me remember some of the details. Anyway, we went on our 2nd cruise in November 2002 with Rob’s Mom and Step Dad, Alice and David. It was their first cruise. We enjoyed showing them the…

  • Travel

    Fun on the Carnival Jubilee

    March 26, 2010 - By 

    In 2001, Rob and I wanted to do something for spring break and we had thought about cruising. Although, we didn’t know much about it. We had some information we’d heard from various sources. In January, we decided to go visit a travel agency and see what kind of info we could get. We ended up at Adventure Travel with an agent named Sue, who could not have been a better source. She is a cruisin’ queen, with lots of personal experience. She knew all the ins and outs of cruising. After talking with her for over an hour, we…

  • Travel

    Soccer Tourney 2009::Gulfport, MS

    October 3, 2009 - By 

    Last weekend we went to Gulfport, MS for a soccer tourney. We chose to stay at some condos across from the beach called Sienna on the Coast with some friends who have a son on the Drew’s team. We had a good time. Nice, clean, new condos with all the essentials. The beach is not really even worth calling a beach, but I did get some cool bird pics, which I’ll share later. We enjoyed cooking breakfast and eating lunch at the condo, not having to spend money of food. We did enjoy dinner with the team at Blow Fly…