To Texas and Back

Hi Friends!

It's been awhile since I've posted, because we've been on a road trip to Texas!  It took us two overnight stays in hotels each way, but we managed to make the roughly 1400 mile trip without too much complaining or whining...at least from the kids, LOL!  The mini van's DVD really helped keep them occupied, I have no idea how my parents managed to drive me and my brother out west to Yellowstone before the days of iPods, Nitendo DS, etc.

One way we break up the driving is by planning fun stops along the way.  One of the things on my daughter's bucket list is to see a real live giant panda in person.  It's her favorite animal.  She's been talking about it for awhile, and I've been trying to explain to her that it would be hard to do since they aren't in very many zoos.  The only time I've seen one before was at the San Diego Zoo.

As I was doing research on what on what to do, I learned that the Memphis Zoo is one of only four US zoos to have one!  Memphis just happened to be on our route,so stopping was a definite must do!

We had an unexpected pit stop when we started spying the In-N-Out Burger signs around Dallas.  That's one of our favorite places, and I hadn't been to one since we moved out of the San Francisco Bay area...over ten years ago!  I think we were both excited to introduce this place to the kids.  My little guy won't eat burgers but he devoured a strawberry shake and the fries!  Our daughter loved the burger - no cheese or onions and was eager to stop for another round on the way back home.

We were lucky enough to stay with friends in Austin, but made some day trips to nearby things.  I felt like we were so close to the The Alamo that we just had to go see it.  I'm glad we did, I just think it's one of those historical places it's nice to say you've been too. It was surprisingly small, so plan to do more things while in San Antonio as it will only take a couple hours at most.  There are a surprisingly high number of touristy things around it, like wax museums, mirror mazes, etc.that I wasn't expecting.

We also went to the San Antonio River Walk, which is just lovely!  It's full of cute little stores and lots of great looking restaurants.  It really is much cooler down there too.  We thought it looked like a really neat place to come for date night.

However, we had seven kids in our groups so we didn't do much shopping, but we did take all the kids to The Rainforest Cafe.  Our friend's children had never been to one before and it was a big hit, air conditioned, with a build in show and lots of things to look at.  Plus no one cares if the kids get a little boisterous.

My husband is a physical chemist so he really enjoys science museums and the Hill County Science Mill is a real gem.  We were there on a quiet weekday and it wasn't very crowded.  The kids could all really enjoy all the hands exhibits and use them to their hearts content.  There were lots of interactive displays too.  The Lady Bird Lane Cafe is attached and this small farm to table restaurant delivers some surprisingly sophisticated eats, not your normal kids museum fare at all.

Speaking of food, my husband really wanted to try BBQ while in TX.  Our hosts were kind enough to watch the kids so we could escape for dinner at The Salt Lick.  I'm so glad we went, it was really cool to try Texas BBQ as I'm more used to pulled pork and Georgia style BBQ.  The sausage was soooo good and I really loved the sides, which are more vinegar based that cream.

I also went for a yummy Mexican lunch with my friend on our last afternoon there.  Brad stayed with all seven of the kids back at their house while we got away for four hours!

Another cool day trip we took that was a hit with all the kids was going to the Austin Zoo.  This one is a little different from your typical zoo because it's has a lot of rescue animals, including a surprising number of exotic ones.  We saw tigers, lions, and bears.  All of which, made we wonder about just who would ever think these would make good pets!  This deer was a lot tamer, but it represents a big moment for my daughter as she normally is too timid to feed animals from the hand.  Her normal thing is to throw the feed in their general direction.  This time she was brave enough to feed this sweet one and I loved seeing the interaction.

All too soon our week in Austin flew by and we were back on the road home.  But not without a stop in Dallas for...The American Girl Store!  My daughter really wants a Samantha doll for her birthday so we agreed to get her one if she'd forgo a big friend birthday party.  She's still going to have a couple friends sleepover, so she's not too deprived.

Our big stop on the way home was to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home in Missouri.  There's a bit of a running joke about this place.  We've driven near it a few times, since my husband used to have Grandparents in MO, and I asked to stop.  He kind of zoomed by the exit playfully.  A few miles down the road I was like, "I was serious!"  He thought I was joking, since he didn't really even know who Laura Ingalls Wilder was! I know, can you imagine not knowing about the author of the Little House books?!

This time he very nicely planned a detour so we could head over and tour the houses.  We had good timing to as we arrived shortly before a tour.  My daughter enjoyed as much as I did because she enjoys historical places.  The three year old, liked it about as much as any three year old would.

We've been back for a little over a week and have been enjoying days of laying around with nothing to do.  We like to start off the summer with a week of doing very little, so heading off to TX the very day school ended was a big departure from the norm for us.

That's our summer so far, is yours off to a good start?

Project Life: Using Pocket Scrapbooking to Document our Chicago Vacation

I decided to to an in depth review of our two night trip to Chicago over the summer.  As usual, I took way too many photos and there isn't an easier and quicker way for me to use as many of them as possible than Project Life.  To cut down on design choices and to give different portions of our trip continuity I decided to mainly use one collection for each activity.  I also tried to incorporate reoccurring elements to tie things together.

I began with a "title" page because I wanted to separate this part of my album from the normal weekly documentation I usually do in Project Life.  This gives an overview of what we did.  I had a lot of fun creating the title card with a Becky Higgins Road Trip theme kit.  I like how I can create a mini collage of embellishments, and feel creative, while still enjoying the ease of slipping my other photos into pockets.

On the right side of this section opener I decided to also discuss our hotel.  The 6X12 opening in this WRMK page protector allowed me to use a large insert and leaves me with plenty of room to include the written details.  I also added some dimension and interest with stickers, wood veneer, enamel dots, and a paper clip with twine.  I noticed that the Wanderlust Amy Tangerine sticker actually has Chicago on it, so I made sure I included that.

To tie the two halves of this spread together I used Simple Stories supplies from their last two travel themed lines, arrow wood veneers and enamel dots on both sides.  I repeat the use of  things like wood veneer shapes like arrows & hearts, heart motifs, cameras, twine, mini bingo cards, throughout the first portion of our trip, the ones covering our visit to the Field Museum.

Our photos from the Field Museum worked best with a generic travel themed line like Urban Traveler, I have almost the entire collection, and their more recent Travel Sn@p Set: 4X6, 2X3, Stickers, and Insta-Squares & Pieces.  The reason I selected these supplies for the Field Museum is because going there is like being able to travel across the world and through time due to the scope of their exhibits.

The Sn@p set is listed as retired on their site, but they've only recently begun to show up at my Hobby Lobby and Micheal's so you might look there if you are interested in these specific supplies.  These next few pages were the perfect way for me to use up bits and pieces from these lines, leftover from a bigger project that I've yet to share.

The back of the WRMK with the 6X12 pocket was the perfect place for me to add the map from the museum.  It's attached with just a camera paperclip so it can still be removed and look at in the future.  I never got a good front view of the museum because of where we parked so a postcard was a good solution to this missing picture.  It's also much better than any image I would've been able to capture.

This first spread is photo heavy but the map pocket gives the eye a break and I left the top right side open and use this space for patterned paper topped with a overlay and sticker collage.  The two photos matted on the left side also provided added visual interest and highlight photos of my family with two of the iconic sights from the Field Museum.

The second spread about the Field Museum holds one of my favorite memories from the day.  The reason why we'd selected this stop was because of our son's interest in dinosaurs.  After wandering a bit through the Ancient Americas exhibit it occurred to us that we really ought to high tail it up there to make sure we had time for it.  You can never predict when a preschooler will have a melt down and we didn't want to miss the Dinosaur Hall since it was the whole point of the stop!

On the left are photos from the Evolving Planet exhibit, of which the Dinosaur Hall is part of.  On the right I've recorded what an awesome experience it was to have the entire hall to ourselves!  It was incredible being alone with these giants from long, long ago & a definite highlight from the whole trip.

To give this a cohesive look I repeated wood veneer, cameras, enamel dots, mini bingo cards and the basic color scheme.  I also a cluster of elements that is very similar to the one I used on the previous spread.  Around the cluster I let elements from that filler card spill over to the cards on either end.

The last spread covering our day once again uses Simple Stories supplies and I've included an Amy Tangerine kraft tag from the same roll of stickers as the one used on the previous spread.  There is also a cluster similar to the ones on the previous two spreads.

Overall, I think these pages in my album work well together and help emphasize that they are all part of the same story being told.

For our second day in Chicago, when we went shopping in Downtown, I went a more feminine route with my supply choice, but still stuck with Simple Stories.  This time I used their retired Fabulous collection.

The first spread is about going to the American Girl Store and the Lego Store right next door.  That was very clever planning on those stores, something for everyone right there and both the girls and boys are kept happy!

My daughter had been saving up her First Communion money and we also let her choose a birthday present from there too.  I let her pick the photos to include on this spread and since she wanted to use so many of the ones for the individual historical doll displays there wasn't room for any journaling. I do think that title card was absolutely perfect!  To give this half a little more interest I used two preprinted overlays and then just lightly embellished a third photo.

The right side is about the Lego Store and using this page protector by WRMK left me plenty of space to write about these stops and the one to the Disney Store.  We hit that one up while walking to lunch.

Turn the page and that big space is still perfect for writing all about my daughter's early birthday lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  She had already asked us to take her there toward the end of July for her birthday, but the location in MI is a bit of a hike from our house.  This was much more convenient and it was fun to see how another location is set up.  We let the host know that our son is a little leery of the big animals and we were glad to get a seat right by the fish tank.  He like that a lot and we managed to eat without anyone crying!  Sine my husband and son are also born in July we let this be our special July birthday meal.

I needed an insert for a few pictures from our dinner that night, this time at my pick, Sweet Tomatoes.  I also wanted to mention our afternoon spent relaxing at the hotel, even though I placed the pictures out of order and a next to the summary page at the start of our trip pages.  I wrote the details on the top card on the front of the Design H insert.

I don't know why I am so obsessed with Sweet Tomatoes, but I am & have since first eating there in CA and then in NM.  I'm so sad to be far away from any in MI.  I purposely looked up the location for this place and made Brad drive us into the "burbs" to eat there.  It was worth it.  No waiting, everyone one got exactly what they wanted, the price is reasonable, and did I mention the dessert bar?  Is it fancy food, no but it's such a good place for families!

The back of the Design H insert is where I placed the journaling about dinner.  I also made a little vellum faux envelope.  Basically, it's just folded up to create the pocket.  The sides of the page protector will hold everything in place.  I wanted to include a couple things I cut from one of the handouts they gave us, but they were too bright and clashed with the muted colors of the papers.  Placing them behind the vellum toned down the colors.

The last portion of our trip was our day at the Shed Aquarium, but I've yet to finish those pages so this is where I'll leave off with this month's Project Life share.  Linking up to The Mom Creative.

Project Life 2013: July 22, Visiting COSI

These pages are part of several about our overnight trip to Columbus, Ohio for my daughter's seventh birthday back in July.  I haven't shared part 1 of that trip but thought this portion would be fun to share because it uses the new thematic card set that Becky Higgins recently released.  This is the print version Road Trip with some Mini Snippets - Carte Postale by Basic Grey thrown in.

These pages all cover our visit to COSI, beginning with the intro page above.  I made a little vellum envelope to slip the hot pink ticket we had to wear while at COSI.  It didn't really match anything and was kind of bright so I hope the vellum mutes the color a bit.  The city map card it's attached to was perfect, since we were in downtown Columbus. I added some Jillibean Soup letters to the "On the Road" card.

This spread is about visiting the Ocean and Gadget exhibits.

My daughter said the Ocean's area was her favorite of the visit.  Both she, LB, and my husband Brad all liked using the remote operated vehicle and seeing it's camera feed on the screen, especially when they could just make out themselves in the window.  I assume real ROV in the deep ocean have much clearer screens and better cameras because it was a little hard to make out anything.  There was also a little display built to look like a submarine research area that the kids liked exploring.  The "Dad" card is from the Rad Dad digital collection that I had previously printed out and didn't end up using.  It fit here so I used it.

My husband builds and designs laser systems for university research teams and he was very interested in the laser table.  This was a fun section with little seats you use pulleys to pull yourself up on.  Some are easier to use than others and it's tougher than you'd think.  LB enjoyed the ball launch the most, laughing deep belly laughs whenever it shot from out toward the target. 

We got a couple copies of the map and I cut up portions to show where we were for both sides of this spread.  Some of the filler cards in the Road Trip themed card set are basic so it was a nice way to add a bit more interest to them.

This spread is about the Progress exhibit.  It's a neat concept.  You get to see the same street in this fictional town and see how it might have appeared in both 1898 and 1962.

Photos from the 1898 version are on the left side.  Some of the building are open so you can actually walk in and even sit in the buggy.

The other side has all the pictures from the 1962 view of the city. It's a neat way to see how the technologies have changed.  A good next step would be to talk about what types of changes would have been made in a today's version of Progress.  I thought this side had more to do, with a diner you can play in and also a TV studio you can pretend to audition for an anchor position.

After we went through Progress we ate lunch, and for museum/attraction food I am sorry to say, the food at COSI was particularly bad.  I recommend bringing your own food if possible!  After eating ER had a workshop back up by the Gadget exhibit.  She and Brad got to take apart a computer so she could see what the inside looked like.

There is a really great area in COSI called the Little Kidspace and this is where I took LB while ER was up at the Gadget Lab.  I would love to have something like this near us!  It's the perfect way to entertain the under 5 crowd while older siblings visit other parts of COSI, see shows, etc.  It's so much fun that if you had a membership it's worth coming with the littles whenever you need to get out for a bit.  The next spread on our visit is mainly about Little Kidspace.

There is a lot to do there and it takes up almost the length of a whole floor.  A large climbing play area is in the center with slides, a little bridge to bounce across, stairs to run up and down, things to turn and spin, and little areas you can look down at and view scenes.  To one side of that is a pretend area with a helicopter, ambulance, doctor's office, etc to play in.  On far opposite far end from the pretend play areas is a water table area.  LB spend a long time happily playing, splashing, pouring, and making the boats go.  There is more to do there too, like a trains, ride on toys scattered throughout, and a little construction area.  Like I said a lot to do there and a lot of fun!  LB didn't want to go.

On the right side of this spread is half about Kidspace, with the right side of the right half of the spread about the last few things we did at COSI.  We didn't do much in the Space exhibit but even though the day started with a downpour by the end of the afternoon it had stopped raining and I'm so glad it did.  There is a nice outdoor exhibit where you can help lift a car, walk a bit, and few other things. 

Our visit spans across three and a half spreads in our Project Life album and we didn't even do any of the extra things like movies or the special Myth Buster's exhibit or the Adventure! activity.  The last two things cost extra money to go to and with so much to do at COSI, we just ran out of time.  I bet they were both awesome extras and well worth the added cost based on how well the rest of COSI is planned out.  

My husband is a science guy, with a PhD in Chemistry so I initially picked this stop as something for him to enjoy with the kids but I really had a great time too.  It's something we'd be members of for sure if we lived in Columbus.  It's a wonderful resource for the area and we hope to go back again.

I had a couple pictures from the very end of the overnight trip that I put on this half spread; it also serves as a summary page.  We went to the Olive Garden for dinner, it was a nice relaxing way to end a busy day on our feet.  It's E's favorite restaurant and was her request.  I didn't have enough pictures to fill the page, to be honest I'd taken so much over the past day I was kind of burnt out on picture taking.  But I did have a few from the road of LB going crazy waving his new puppy around so I put those in, did a highlights card from a MAMBI travel card set and  I am going to list the places we went on our quick trip to Columbus on the blank Clementine journaling card and then this will be done.

I've shared this post at The Mom Creative.

A Surprise 7th Birthday Trip to the American Girl Store!

I mentioned this trip in this week's Very Hungry Caterpillar Party post, so I thought I should go ahead and finish it and share it.  Overall the blog has been quieter than usual, as I take time to enjoy spending time with my daughter while off of school.  This last year was first grade and the first time she's ever been away all day.  It was a tough adjustment for everyone.  Between school and activities afterward, we don't get nearly enough quality time together to do fun stuff! 

Another reason was because I've been planning and organizing her birthday party at Jo-Ann's and a surprise trip we took our daughter on for her 7th birthday!  We surprised her by waking her up and whisking her away for an overnight trip to the new American Girl store that opened in Columbus, OH!!!

She had no idea where we were going until we turned the corner and she saw the sign, talk about excitement!  She just love going to a store for the very first time and had an absolute blast.  She told me on the way home, that the trip was so awesome that even if we'd only been able to come and had not been able to buy anything, it would still be the best birthday ever.

Not that we left empty handed, on no, we sure didn't.  Grandma Norma, Grammy & Papa, and some birthday money she received as a gift helped take the ouch out of the purchases but it was we managed to drop quite a bit and we didn't even eat there or go to the doll saloon.

I had hoped she'd pick out a matching girl and doll outfit but she really wanted a couple other things and spent a long time considering her options.  It was very fun for me to see her weighing her choices versus how much she had to spend and see how she she prioritized.

She already had Saige, the girl of the year, and we brought home both her horse Picasso and her dog Rembrandt.  I couldn't resist the new picnic set with it's southwestern food and added that to the birthday gifts from us.  Saige is from New Mexico which is where our daughter was born.  Both also love art so this limited time only doll has been a very nice match for her.  Since she's only around this year, I'm afraid we've fallen hook line and sinker to the marketing ploy of hurry up and buy all her outfits and accessories while you can.

We have another July birthday at the end of the month, when LB turns two and we didn't want him to be left out of the birthday treats.  Across the American Girl store is a Build A Bear Workshop and LB had yet to go and build his own stuffed animal so that seemed like a perfect activity to make it special for him too.  He is really into puppies lately, it's one of the few words he tries to say a lot.  Not that he likes really puppies, he's actually quite scared by them, but he liked to see pictures of them or watch them from afar. 

After all that shopping, it was time for some cheesecake, errrr....um, I'm a healthy lunch.  We haven't been to a Cheesecake Factory since we lived in Santa Fe and went to one while visiting my Godbrother and his wife in Denver.  We love this place and have since our first time going, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay area.  We even went for Valentine's Day one year, sitting outside and seeing the San Francisco skyline is really a treat.

I was good and ordered a Chinese Chicken salad for lunch, even though a bunch of fried yumminess was calling my name, because I wanted to save my indulgence for cheesecake.  I ordered the lunch portion, it was huge and really tasty.  I wanted something light and still got some crunch in with the noodles.  Birthday girl and I split a slice of lemon raspberry cheesecake, divine, and worth every.last.calorie.

The American Girl store is located in this huge high end outdoor shopping area.  I've already decided we have to go back once the Paper Source comes this fall.  It has nearly everything you could ever want in the area, including an Archiver's.   Even though I'd been to one the previous week, they recently filed for bankruptcy for restructuring so as a good little scrapbooker I had to do my part to support them and at least take a look around this location, right?

They were even having a $1.99 Make and Take project and ER made herself the colorful bottle cap necklace above.  I thought that was a great deal since it included everything from the chain to the paper, charm, and cap.  We ended up going back the next day too, because they had a 40% off sale on all their stickers, washi tape, and embellishments.  I'm mean it would be such a waste to be so close and not take advantage of that.

Even though the Make & Take period was officially over the second day, they still had supplies leftover.  ER made another one, so she was very happy about that.  I let her pick out some stickers and washi tape on sale for the Summer Fun book we are working together.  I have to say it's so much fun to shop for scrappy stuff with my daughter.  I got mainly little letter stickers because I can never have enough of those.

Dinner our first night was kind of a disappointment.  I was so excited to find out a Mimi's Cafe in the area.  I used to love going there, when we lived in CA, and I even blogged about the last time we were at a Mimi's.  My favorites were the Spinach Dip, the Chicken Tender's Appetizer with Buffalo Sauce, and their Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I also love the carrot raisin muffins.

But when we went they had completely changed their menu.  I was so let down, I could already "taste" that dip and to be looking forward to something and not getting it...totally put me in a bad mood.  They also used to serve a lot of their dishes with lovely big chunks of fruit and it was all bright and airy inside.  This location was very dark and it was just not the experience I had hoped to have.

The next day I woke up with a better frame of mind.  We went to COSI, a stop I'd picked with Brad in mind, and it was fantastic.  It had a lot of hands-on activities, really interesting exhibits, and a Little Kidspace that LB just loved.  He spent an hour there while ER went to a workshop, where she got to take apart a computer, and we had to drag him out.  ER really like the Progress exhibit, where you walk through a city street in 1898 and 1962 and see how things might have changed over time.  She also thought the Big Science Park, where you get to lift a car, was neat.  I'm glad it stopped raining long enough for us to see it!  There was so much to see, it's a really well done center and Columbus is lucky to have such a great resource for families.  We'd totally join it as members if we lived closer.

The last thing we did before heading home after a long day at COSI was head to the Olive Garden for ER's belated birthday dinner.  It's her favorite restaurant and she got her favorite meal, shells with Alfredo sauce, yum!

It was a lovely overnight trip and a birthday I'm sure ER will never forget!  With that kind of kick off for year seven, I know E's year is going to be wonderful.  We're so lucky to have such a sweetheart.

A Quick Trip Up North: Great Wolf Lodge & Mackinaw City

Hi Friends!

It's been a little quiet here on the blog and I thought I'd pop into to let you know why.  We've been on a mini vacay!  I could go into a lot more detail about each stop but I'll just give the highlights for now.  It was just two nights away but it felt really busy and jammed packed.  Then on Sunday Brad left for Columbia where he's doing a laser install so I'm pulling solo duty this week. ER's first summer camp started and LB's starts summer speech group this week, busy, busy, busy!

Back to our mini getaway, the first night we spent at the Great Wolf Lodge.  This was our second time staying at one, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge - Poconos Mountains previously. The location in Traverse City is smaller.  It didn't have the wave pool and the really little kiddie pool area wasn't as nice as I remember at the other one.  I think that most of the same things were there but they were laid out differently.  Nevertheless, we still had a ton of fun.  It was a good size for our family.

We splurged and booked a Wolf Den room that came with a cool sleeping area for ER.  She LOVED it.  You can't see it from this angle but there's a TV in there and she thought that was really cool, especially when her name popped up on the screen from playing MagiQuest.  She enjoys that game a lot, it's a nice way to keep her busy and active. 

We left the Great Wolf Lodge in the late afternoon, check out was at 11 but there are changing rooms with showers, and even a hair dryer so you can enjoy the water park for as long as you want even after checking out.

We were about two hours away from our next stop Mackinaw City but made a couple stops along the way.  We had to dip our feet into West Grand Traverse Bay, where the water was refreshing (translation: cold). 

We also had to stop at Benjamin Twigg's for some cherry goodies, cherries are what that area is known for.  Then we went next door for some sandwiches and my favorite chips - jalapeno!!!  We also made a quick pit stop at Charlevoix.

The second night we spent in Mackinaw City, checking out Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and Fog Signal Station.  They were closed but we saw a wedding getting set up.  Imagine getting married with this beautiful backdrop!

We had the obligatory pasties and then, because it was still light out we took the kids across the Mackinac Bridge and to Michigan's upper peninsula for the first time.  ER asked if we were in a different country.  We laughed because while that might sound crazy most places, in Michigan you can also get to Canada and indeed be in another country via a bridge, but told her that no not this time.  St. Ignace is right over the bridge and we had a nice stop there, walking the boardwalk and giving the kids a chance to burn off more energy before the turning in at the hotel.

We were up in Mackinaw City and took the ferry to the Island last June.  While there ER enjoyed Fort Mackinac so much she wanted to see Colonial Michilimackinac.  So while we were so "close," albeit two hours away in Traverse City for the Great Wolf Lodge, we decided to add a quick trip back to take her.  Hence our needs for two nights away from home.

It's a nice stop, very scenic with views of the Bridge, rustic historic building, costumed cast members, and nicely done exhibits that are informational, interactive, and interesting to young children and adults.  Our visit was cut a little short when a downpour started but it was a good stop for a couple hours and is well worth the stop.

Mackinaw City and "Up North" in general are two of Michigan's touristy attractions.  We managed to fit in one more popular stop by having dinner at Zehnders in Frankenmuth, our own Little Bavaria.  A fried chicken dinner was the perfect way to end our adventure.