Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Where's Obama?



Picking up where I left off after the last post...
My sister and I have this "tradition" that we started several years ago. When one of our nieces or nephew (only 1 of those) graduates from high school, we take them on a trip. We decide where we go based on the personality of the person. Thus far, we've taken Jordan to Chicago, Alexa to Philadelphia, Amanda to New York, and this time, we took Adam to Washington DC. According to him, we couldn't have picked a better place! We left on Wednesday, March 18 (of course, we were delayed in Birmingham and did not make our scheduled flight in Atlanta). But, we finally made it-- just a couple of hours later than we had planned. It was the first time that he flew on a commercial airplane and the first time he rode the subway! Both were a big hit!




The first day in DC, we went to the Capitol, then to the Pentagon, then the Arlington National Cemetary, and finally ended up walking the monuments at night. Needless to say, I about passed out from exhaustion when we got back to the hotel.



The next day, Friday, we went to the Bureau fo Engraving and Printing, the White House, the Postal Museum, Union Station, and the Library of Congress. From all of the times I've visited DC, I had never toured the Library...but I must say, it may be my absolute favorite place there! We had a late tour and had to leave when they closed, but if I go back, I will definitely visit again and recommend it to everyone that goes.




On Saturday, we let Adam decide which of the museums we were going to tour. He decided on the Air and Space Museum. We were there for 5 hours. Then we breezed through the Natural History Museum and flew through the American History Museum enough to see the Trade Towers beam.


And no, we did not see Obama. We did, however, see Marine 1 helicopters in route to the White House. We know he was there...but we just didn't see him. All in all, it was a great trip. Adam is a good kid and we are blessed to have him in our lives. I wish him good luck after graduation and into college!

Monday, April 13, 2009

March Madness

March was a little more hectic than February. It seems like we had something to do every weekend.

First, I had to take an inspection trip for work to the Gulf Coast (I know, I know, but somebody HAD to do it!). Stephen was able to get a couple of days off from work, so he went with me. So on a Sunday afternoon, we headed to Gulf Shores. And, of course, our first stop was the Original Oyster House for some shrimp. Is it just me, or does shrimp taste better during the cold season? Anywho, then Monday, I did my inspection and we headed east toward Destin. What a beautiful drive! Although it was a bit longer than we expected.
Destin was the first official vacation spot that we went to after we got married. My how things have changed in the last 14 years! Destin is not the same as it was back then. Stephen has more memories of Destin than I do-- that's where his family vacationed when he was young. We spent the remainder of the day at the marina and at the beach. It was a glorious afternoon and we enjoyed the few moments we had in the sun.
We love the beach!

Our Little Cabin in the Woods

I know it has been a while since I have blogged about anything. But, I thought it was time to get everyone caught up. My last post was in February, so that seems like a great place to start.



For Valentine's weekend, I wanted to do something special for Stephen-- it has been a while since we went anywhere together. I looked on VRBO and found a quaint little cabin on the lake. My main criteria for finding a place was that it had to be within 2.5 hours of home (otherwise, we would have just gone to the beach!). So, the place I found was at Lake Wedowee. It was super cute-- and the man we rented from was really nice. Look at http://www.papabearscabin.com/-- we stayed in Cabin #1. Although it was too cold to get out on the lake, just the view from the porch was enough to make us feel relaxed. I tried a new recipe for baked ziti (it was wonderful--I'll share it with you if you ask).



Here are a few pictures from the cabin in the woods-- literally, in the woods, out in the middle of nowhere.

cute and quaint
View of the lake
View of the lake from the screened porch.



February-- THE END.