Christmas time in NYC!!!

About a week and a half ago, I got up early in the morning and went to New York City with some good friends.

We had a great time.

Here are some of the pics!!

The sunrise on the ride up to NYC.

Here we are...we've finally arrived!!

A cool Christmas sculpture.

Flags in Rockerfeller Center.

The famous ice rink & tree.

The tree up close.

Check out that tree topper!!!  It's Swarosky!

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Some of New York City's finest.

The Empire State Building.

Inside Grand Central Station.

The stores were all decorated beautifully...this is the outside of Lord and Taylor's.

This is the inside of L & T.  Check out that garland!!!

Then we went to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes!!

This wooden soldier number was my favorite!

As part of the show, they had an incredible live nativity.

The finale.

Here we are in front of Macy's!

This is where everyone stops and performs during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It was so neat to be there in person!

This is the crystal ball that is dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve.  It is on display, inside of Macy's.  I was surprised at how small it is.  (I'd say, only 4 or 5 ft in diameter!)  The cool thing about it is that it changed colors every 30 seconds or so.

Lastly, we made our way to Time's Square!!!!

Do you see this sign???? Lost...coming January 21st!!  I can't wait!!!

It was a great day!!! I can't wait to go back with the kids.

Adventures in Camping

So, while I'm backtracking....I thought I'd show you some pictures from our camping trip two weeks ago.   

Jennifer P. and Amy B. both posted about camping last week, so I had to post these pictures.

Amy's post especially spurred me on because it was titled "10 Things I Love About Camping." Now, just to give you some background, I grew up with a camping family.  We had a pop-up camper and camped across the country for several vacations.  (That is how I visited over 40 states in the US!)

As a kid I loved it.   

As a teen I remember asking my Mom & Dad why couldn't we just get a condo at the beach for a week like a normal family??  

As an adult I've dreaded it, even hated it....but I continue to go once a year, because my kids love it.  

We didn't camp for the first time until our Little Buddy was two years old and Brian was soooo excited about it.  In fact he was so thrilled about it I thought maybe he'd bought a camper and was going to surprise me with it.  

No such luck.

We camped the first two years in a tent.

After that we "moved on up" and now we camp in a cabin.   Well, they call it a cabin.  I call it a shed with beds.  But, at least we don't have to set it up....and if it rains we stay dry.  

In the spirit of Amy's post I give you:

10 Things I Hate About Camping

10.  The bugs & spiders!

9.  Fear of being attacked by a snake.

8.  Yucky campground showers.  Yikes!

7.  No sleep.....too many strange noises.

6.  The sound of snoring, coming from another campsite!

5.  Packing up half of the house just to go for a weekend....then coming home washing everything and putting it all away.

4.  The smell of the "Camping Man"...men and boys who do not see the need to shower or change their clothes the entire weekend!

3.  Sleeping on a Double bed with my hubby....do you see how big he is???

2.  Did I mention the bugs and spiders??? (Steph, you & I are 2 of a kind!)

1.  No Air Conditioning!

and.....just to be fair......

10 Things I Love About Camping

10.  No video games, computer, or TV!!!

9.  Tons of fun time spent with my hubby and kids.

8.  S'Mores!!!!  Yummy! 

7.  All meals cooked by the men!  Woo Hoo!

6.  No mess from the crabs....it all goes in the campground dumpster.

5.  Spending time laughing and relaxing with good friends.  

4.  Loving wine from a box and Jiffy Pop Popcorn.

3.  Lots of time for playing cornhole.

2. Sitting around the campfire chilling.

1.  Making great memories that you just can't get in a hotel.

So, for one weekend a year, the 'loves' outweigh the 'hates.'  We'll be back again next Summer!!!   

Sitting around the campfire.  (Do you like our fancy lights on our cabin???)  

The crabfeast......mmmmm!

Loving this.....my man cooking!!!

Good friends!

PS.  You'll know you're at the same campground as me, when you hear the blow dryer going at 7AM.

Sorry, I'm a high maintenance girl, what can I say???

Day in Charleston

So, one of the days, while we were in MB, my Sis & Bro-in-Law watched our kids....and Bri & I drove into Charleston, SC for the day. I hesitated putting this post up...just because it sounds so BORING, but it really was a fun day.

It is NOT somewhere that my kids would've liked, but it was nice for a grown up day.

We got there and went on a horse drawn carriage tour of the city. It looked kind of like this one, but ours had 2 horses pulling it....(actually they were mules...not that it matters, but just thought I'd state the facts.)

Here is the view from our carriage.

It took us around the city, and we looked at a lot of beautiful houses.

Many of the houses in Charleston have porches (or piazzas, as they call them). A lot of them have a front door that opens onto the porch....isn't that cool?

After our carriage ride, we walked around and looked at more houses. See, I told you it was going to sound boring.

I LOVED the windows on the houses. They all had real shutters....the kind that actually close.

It was so charming.

O Romeo, O Romeo, where for art thou??

We learned that the more panes on a window...the older it was. Fascinating, I know, isn't it?

(I think Brian should get some bonus points for this trip...don't you?? This was not really his thing...if you know what I mean.)

The other thing that was neat to see was all of the wrought iron scroll work on the houses.

We saw this funny sign.....not sure why it's so blurry, I guess the photographer messed up. :)

We also saw this pretty rooster, I know....the excitement just won't stop!!!

We walked around Battery Park. The history there goes back a long time. It was interesting.  These people fought the Indians, the Spaniards, PIRATES (that's right I said Pirates....like Capt Jack Sparrow), and then the Northerners in the Civil War.  Whew!

Then, we drove around and saw....you guessed it...more houses..... and some other things like this church...

...and this building that was used to store gunpowder....also the oldest surviving building in Charleston.

View of the water.....Charleston is actually a peninsula that is surrounded by 2 rivers...the Ashley River and the Cooper River.

This is a view of Fort Sumpter in the distance. It is where the Civil War started. We didn't have time to go out to it, but if we go to MB again, we may take the kids there. They are actually very interested in the Civil War.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant, and I am not kidding, this is what Brian ate:

Fried green tomatoes, stuffed with crab cakes, covered with cream of crab soup, served on a bed of grits.

Doesn't that sound gross? It actually wasn't that bad.

I had baked fish. :)



We'd had enough "southern food" for the day, so we had dinner here. Fun!

That's it for your history lesson. Have a good day!