Our Florida Meals

1. For breakfast every morning, the kids had some variation on cereal, milk, yogurt, and fruit. I had a Kashi GoLean instant oatmeal and a banana every morning.
2. The first night, we stopped at Senor Tequilas on the way from the airport. It was not good. I had bean nachos.
3. On the second night, we ordered Papa John's pizza so that we could just be at the house and let the kids swim. There were also strawberries.
4. Tuesday night, we were driving back from visiting my husband's grandmother, so the kids had a "supper" of peanut butter crackers, apple slices, and animal crackers. I had a late night egg sandwich when we got back to the house.
5. For lunch every day, we packed it and took it to the beach/club pool. It was usually some combination of PBJs, cheese sticks, grapes, egg sandwiches, pretzels, juice boxes, or carrots and peanut butter.
6. Wednesday, we cooked. There was grilled tilapia, baked sweet potatoes, salad, chips and salsa, and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches.
7. Thursday, we went to Doc's Beach House for overpriced, mediocre dive-bar food. I had an egg salad sandwich and chips. The kids loved picking out an ice cream bar from the cooler for dessert.
8. The last two nights we went to TGIFridays (dorky families alert!) because it is so easy and cheap to eat there. I had a spicy black bean burger both nights. They were delicious. On the second trip there, I got crazy with a Blackberry Long Island Iced Tea.
9. On the last morning, we stopped at Bread Co. for breakfast (Panera for the non-St. Louisians out there). I had an iced chai tea latte and we all shared some cinnamon crunch bagels, which is one of the more coveted treats at our home.
10. Lauren and I had Bella Sera Pinot Grigio each night and there may have been handfuls of pretzel and peanut butter M&Ms involved.

What's In My Fun Bag For The Airplane

1. Magazines- US Weekly, People, and InStyle
2. My iPhone
3. Chapstick
4. Headphones
5. Christmas cross-stitching
6. Kind bar
7.Sour Cherries
8. Sunglasses
9. Wallet
10. Stickers and blank books for the kids

The Kids "Fun Bags" For The Plane Ride

1. Ring pops
2. Coloring books and crayons
3. Calculators
4. W has a math workbook, and R has an activity book
5. Activity pack
6. Memory cards
7. A deck of cards

Our Car Snacks

1. Popcorn
2. A little bag of Skinny Cow turtles my small group leader gave me the other night
3. Bananas
4. Coconut water
5. Juice boxes
6. Carrot sticks
7. Peanut M&Ms

What's In The Passenger Seat On The Way To Branson

1. My iPhone
2. W's addition workbook
3. The kids DVD case
4. An envelope with our Silver Dollar City city passes inside
5. A flourishing green bean plant
6. Lunch bag
7. A pop can
8. My cell phone charger
9. A pair of earbuds

What We Did In Willow Springs

1. My husband and Uncle Chuck went turkey hunting Friday and Saturday mornings
2. Friday morning, the kids and I ran errands with Aunt Patsy: library, egg deliveries, a stop by the hair salon, grocery shopping, and a visit with Sweet Bonnie at the nursing home
3. Back to Patsy's for lunch- mushroom and onion pizza. My kids even ate it, which was surprising. Maybe they've been holding out for local, organic mushrooms this whole time?
4. Friday afternoon we went and saw a man's house- maybe the most unbelievable experience of my life. I can't even describe it...he has so many antique collectibles (from canned goods to old ice skates) that he has built a general store, blacksmith shop, gun shop...he owns a Gatling gun, for instance. It was amazing! My eyes were like silver dollars the whole time we were there.
5. Friday night supper at their house- burgers and veggie burgers and potato salad and green salad- so good! Patsy makes this unusually delicious potato salad.
6. Late night trip to the West Plains ER with R because he was having some breathing problems
7. The nurses gave him a Beanie Baby Buffalo, so we watched many episodes of Guy on a Buffalo. R's in love.
8. Saturday morning drive over to Simpson's Strawberries in Mountain Grove for strawberry picking. I was just going to get a quart or so, but walked away with 13 pounds.
9. The kids probably ate 50 strawberries while we were picking them and were covered head to toe in red juice. The people who worked their were all pretty old and loved it.
10. W loved playing with their cat, Roxy Belle, and now wants a cat instead of a dog. Poor Puddy!
11. Egg salad sandwiches, crackers, and strawberries for lunch
12. We had to engage in a thorough tick-check after I found one on both of the kiddos.
13. Our traditional trip to Smiley's Ice Cream Shoppe on the way out of town. I had Black Forest Cake, and I think it was the best ice cream I've ever had. Maybe ties with the Peach at Kilwin's in North Carolina.

If I Could Leave On Vacation Right Now, I'd Love To Go To

1. Asheville. Always Asheville. If only my parents had picked me up on their way there this week!
2. Napa Valley with Missy. Or Italy.
3. Seattle/Portland/Vancouver with my husband
4. DisneyWorld with the kids
5. A cruise with my gal pals
6. New York or Chicago with my sisters

What I Need For A Good Road Trip

1. DVD player for the kids
2. Travel-perfect snacks (nuts, squeezies, cheese sticks, cereal bars, fruit, carrot sticks)
3. A clean and organized car
4. Fun bags for the kids (coloring books, tablets, stickers, markers, LeapFrogs, Hot Wheels, books, flash cards, etc)
5. Good music, podcasts, sermons, and earbuds for me
6. Spaced-out pit stops
7. Sunglasses
8. Pack of wipes and tissues
9. Sonic cherry-vanilla-Dr. Pepper
10. Cozy clothes
11. A loose schedule (i.e.- naps, movie, snacks, fun bags, movie, lunch) If you don't have one, you cram everything at the beginning and have a long time of nothing to look forward to

The APA's "Great Places in America: Streets"

1. Santa Monica Boulevard- West Hollywood, CA

2. U Street N.W.- Washington, DC

3. Front Street- Lahaina, HI

4. Main Street- Galena, IL

5. Main Street- Nantucket, MA

6. Washington Avenue- St. Louis, MO (no big deal, just the street I live on)

7. Market Street and Market Square- Portsmouth, NH

8. Davis Street- Culpepper, VA

9. King Street- Alexandria, VA

10. Downtown Woodstock Streetscape- Woodstock, VT

*the source of this list can be found here

12 Hour Road Trip Snacks

1. Kashi TLC Original 7-grain crackers

2. Organic Just Strawberries

3. True North Almond Pecan Blueberry Clusters

4. Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey granola bars

5. Planters Heart Healthy Mix nuts

6. Nutter Butters

7. Flavor Blasted Goldfish

8. Chex Mix

9. Revolution Foods Organic Mashups (Berry and Blueberry Blitz)

10. Ella's Kitchen organic baby food squeezes (carrot/apple/parsnip, broccoli/pears/peas, sweet potatoes/pumpkin/apple/blueberry, and spinach/apples/rutabaga)

11. Revolution Foods Organic Jammy Sammies

Kansas City

1. Checked in to our hotel

2. Walked around and shopped at the Plaza

3. Had dinner at CPK- my favorite Pear and Gorgonzola pizza and a raspberry lemonade

4. Walked back to our hotel to change our clothes and gussy up

5. David Gray concert! As always, amazing.

6. Took a cab from the concert to Cheesecake Factory for late night dessert- I had a slice of key lime cheesecake

7. Slept in until 9:30

8. Brunch at in-gre-di-ent in the Plaza. I had steel cut oatmeal with sliced bananas, cinnamon, brown sugar, and carmalized almonds

9. Toured the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum

10. Drove home and picked up our babies

My Kids Road Trip Bag

1. An endless supply of stickers

2. Notepad for each for said stickers and sketching

3. Pencil bag for each with markers and crayons

4. Color Wonder color books with the required markers

5. 8 sets of flash cards, now on rings

6. Thin, cheap paperback books

7. Highlight's High Five magazines

8. A bag of stamps and stamp ink pads

9. Binoculars

10. Sunglasses

11. An Etch-A-Sketch

12. Two Leap Frog laptops

13. Several small $2 character activity/sticker/coloring books from Hobby Lobby

My Glorious 2.5 Hour Drive Today

1. Drove down the gloriously scenic HWY 65 between Branson and Conway
2. The kids both slept in the car, even though it was only 10 am
3. I had a bevy of new music to listen to
4. I had a pile of Organic Valley pomegranate pucker candies
5. The weather was perfect, only a light drizzle around Clinton
6. I did not get behind any tractors, slow big rigs, or silver-hairs manned RVs to slow me down

What Saved Our Ride Home

1. My comfy cropped sweat pants and an almost too-soft David Gray concert tee

2. A raspberry green tea frappucino from Starbucks

3. Some animal flash cards from the Target dollar bins that kept R occupied for about 2.5 hours

4. A Handy Manny (?) and a Disney Princess Color Wonder books with Color Wonder markers

5. Our ever-popular "Find an American Flag" game. R is freakishly good at spotting them.

6. Air Supply Greatest Hits (I always save it for like the 4th hour (out of 5.5) of the road trip- it gives me a boost to make it home the rest of the way)

7. "The Quad Squad," as I lovingly called them, which consisted of my car, a white VW Cabrio convertible a la Cindy Mancini in Can't Buy Me Love, a black Silverado pick-up, and a red Malibu that drove as a speeding pack from Poplar Bluff to Farmington. I loved those guys.

8. Barbara's Snackimals

9. My Burts Bees chapstick that was passed back and forth between the two kids

Chicago Plans For Next Weekend

1. Leave for Chicago on Sunday morning
2. Check in at the Hotel Monaco
3. Stop in and view the Vivian Mayer exhibit at The Chicago Cultural Center
4. Visit Chagall's "American Windows" at the Art Institute that have been kept from me for too long (they were removed for several years for repairs and study)
5. Dinner at Rosebud on Rush, one of our favorite places to eat in the city
6. David Gray show at the historic Chicago Theater--can't wait! This Lost+Found tour is supposed to be quiet and intimate...I'm dreaming of a VH1 Storytellers vibe.
7. Sleep in at the hotel on Monday morning
8. Fabulous brunch somewhere?
9. Come home and pick up the babies

What The Kids Have To Play With On Our Car Ride

1. Tote bag full of paperback book order books
2. Etch-A-Sketch
3. LeapFrog laptop
4. Matchbox cars
5. A calculator W's pretending is a phone
6. Snacks
7. Puddy's ears
8. Their blankies
9. A new package of Silly Bands for each of them

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vacations I've Taken

1. When I was little, we did a lot of camping...I don't remember where

2. We used to visit my aunt and uncle, who lived outside of Houston and go to Galveston Beach and Astroworld. I loved it there when I was little.

3. For a long stretch growing up, we would go stay in a condo at Perdido Key, Florida every year

4. We used to make trips to St. Louis for Cardinals games with our extended family

5. I've been skiing like 15 times to various mountains in Colorado

6. High school senior trip to Cancun, but I don't like to speak of that week

7. I vacationed all over the SEC in college, visiting kamp friends, long-distant boyfriends, and high school friends on weekend trips

8. Mission trip to Mexico in college

9. Went on a northwestern European cruise with my husband's family while we were engaged

10. A few trips to Cape Cod with the in-laws

11. Honeymoon to the Florida Keys

12. I went on a New Orleans trip/Caribbean cruise with 2 friends 5 years ago

13. Andy and I used to visit Chicago a couple times a year before we had kids

14. Notre Dame/Duke football game in South Bend

15. I went to Chicago for my birthday with my 2 sisters and mom when I was pregnant with R

16. My big sister and I went to Chicago last year for my birthday

17. Wrightsville Beach when W was a baby

18. Wrightsville Beach with my whole family when R was a teeny tiny 7 week old

19. California with just my husband last summer

What I'm Thankful For On This Traveling Holiday

1. Babies sleeping in the car
2. Family
3. My Mom's broccoli rice casserole
4. Pumpkin pie
5. A husband to drive when it's raining
6. How you can isolate the heater in your car to just feet
7. Healthy children
8. That my kids have cousins their age
9. That Branson's not that far away
10. Our electric blanket on the bed
11. W's fruit juice organic gummy bears
12. Jesus
13. A generous husband
14. My car. I really like my car.
15. My brother and sister-in-law who host Thanksgiving each year
15. My trusty Jessica Simpson faux rattlesnake ballet flats. We've been everywhere together.
16. That God's "mercies are new every morning"
17. An iPhone

Why I Love Hwy 65 Between Branson and Conway

1. Breathtaking scenic views
2. Windy, hilly roads that are so fun to drive
3. One stop shop for things like walnut bowls and black apples
4. Sonic drive-ins galore!
5. Memories at every turn: that's the gas station a bird pooped on my head, that's where Katy had to puke out the window, that's where I got a speeding ticket, that's the pay phone where I got dumped by my boyfriend-over the phone...
6. Memories of adventures: that's where we went canoeing, that's the turn off to where I used to go climbing, that's where our favorite swimmin' hole is, that's where my friend's cabin is...
7. Awesome church signs
8. The scan function on my radio only picks up the most awesome of country stations
9. Rocky cliffs cut out alongside the road is beautiful...especially when the water makes little waterfalls
10. Road kill is like a game of Wildlife Guess Who featuring deer, armadillo, possums, coons, dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, and coyotes
11. Fun antique stores to stop in at
12. Driving down it means I'm going home
13. Road side stands with items that are marvelous in their strangeness...like today, one featuring a lion blanket, dixie flags, camo coveralls all for sale
14. I like to make a game trying to pass people in the tiny stretches of 2 lane highway
15. When you get behind a big (slow up the hills) truck, it's like a mini little break
16. It reminds me of speeding back to kamp by 6:00 pm when I crammed a trip home during a Kanakuk 2-4

What's In My Roadtrip Bag

1. 2 magazines
2. A king size package of Starburst
3. Crossword puzzle book
4. 2 diapers
5. A pack of wipes
6. Burts Bees lip balm
7. Pack of tissues
8. 6 bars- assortment of Larabars, Kashi bars, and Luna bars
9. A small wallet
10. Ear buds for my phone