Another Day of Fun

Shane's conference started today, so the kids and I spent the day entertaining ourselves.

Today, I am remembering:

1. exploring with the kids.
2. enjoying a hot tea with milk
3. sitting inside our hotel beside a waterfall playing go fish and crazy 8's with the kids
4. spending time with Shane while he had a break from his conference schedule
5. taking the kids to the pool
6. watching Justin, Chloe, and Liam play and laugh together for hours
7. lounging by the pool reading a book while they played
8. watching Chloe do so well with her swimming
9. going to TGI Friday for dinner
10. finding a JoAnn 's Craft Store by the TGI Friday
11. also finding a Hobby Lobby across the street from the TGI Friday
12. remembering to be thankful that we have this great opportunity to experience all of this together



I hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful time, wherever they are, whatever they are doing.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great night.

Deb

Hello from Nashville!

Hi Y'all. Sorry I couldn't help myself, it is so exciting to be here! We left yesterday and made the whole trip in one day. We spent 15 hours travelling yesterday (by car) and I have to tell you that my kids were GREAT!!!! Shane and I were so pleasantly surprised that not one of them complained at all. They sat in the car quietly without fighting or even getting too restless. Of course we got a few "are we there yets" but even that was minimal. We loaded them up with activities to keep them busy. We had colouring, movies, Nintendo ds, a tablet, a notebook, and some books. I have to say that going to the mall near us can be more painful than this drive was!

Since we didn't break the drive up into two days, we didn't stop anywhere along the way to look around. We have made note of a few places we would like to stop and see on the way home next weekend. We will see, hopefully we will take our time and stop along the way but by then we may just want to get home.

We arrived a day early, so naturally we had today to get out and look around a bit. We went to Ihop for brunch (the kids were so tired they didn't even stir this morning until I cracked the curtains open a little and let the sun into the room). We inadvertently found a mall when we found Ihop so we went to check it out. Chloe got a few new things from Macy's to wear back to school. We may go back later in the week so I can pick up a few things that I saw (we will see, it depends on how much I spend before then! LOL).

When we got back to the hotel, we went to register Shane for his conference. We toured the hotel a bit (the conference is at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel) and found a shop that sells Haagen-Dazs ice cream by the cone! We can't get that anywhere at home. Sorry that the pictures below aren't great. I took them with my iPhone and I only had one hand free so the phone was a little shaky. Both pictures were taken inside the hotel.



The kids enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool before going to get something to eat. We decided to try out a place in the hotel called Stax where you build your own burgers. The burgers were huge (each had 2 patties-and they offer more if you want!!!!!) I could barely get it out of the box without it falling apart, let alone get my mouth around it!

It is now 9:45pm and the kids are chilling in bed watching tv. Tomorrow Shane's conference starts so he will be gone from 8AM until 5PM. Could be a long day with the kids but I imagine we will occupy ourselves by the pool for a couple of hours and maybe do some more exploring.

This hotel is amazing and there are some awesome areas in here. So many places that would be great for taking pictures of the kids. I am planning on finding some time to do that too this week. I will keep in touch and let you know how things are going here.

Have a great night.

Deb

New Canvas Preview

Hello there. I have finally finished the canvas that I started at least a month ago. Several months ago we finally started giving our main floor an overhaul by painting the walls. Unfortunately we haven't finished yet since we have cathedral ceilings in our living room and neither myself, nor Shane, are too keen on going up there to paint! We still haven't put anything back up on the walls that are finished, partly because I wanted to make sure that the walls were REALLY dry. Paint tends to not really dry well in this house (the couch in the basement still sticks to the wall if it gets pushed up against it and that room was painted years ago).

The other reason for not putting anything up is that I got it in my head that maybe I should just paint something to go up there. It would have to be large enough to look decent on the wall so I picked out a nice big 24"X30" canvas and then I let it sit there...afraid to start. Then I got up the nerve and created the background and I really liked it so again it sat there for a while untouched...afraid to mess up what I had already done. And so the process continued until yesterday when I put the final coat of varnish on it. It isn't a masterpiece and is maybe a little more whimsical than I had originally wanted it to be but, I like it and Shane likes it (and is willing to have it displayed in our home) so I guess that is all that matters.

Here is a peak at part of it. I will post a full picture of it once it is up on the wall. Hopefully it won't take as long to get it hung up as it took me to paint it! LOL.

The photo is pretty dark in places but I took it with the hipstamatic app on my iphone. I love this app. 

I am also working on putting together a mini book (Ali Edward's Scrapbook on the Road) to take with us on our trip to Nashville soon. I will post pics of that when I get it all together.

Until then, I hope everyone is having a great day. The clouds are moving in here and the sky is getting gray which makes it a perfect guilt free day to be creative. Enjoy!

Deb

Vacation Pictures

Hi Everyone. I thought that I would pop in today and share a few pictures from our vacation that just ended. It was more of a stay-cation than anything but we did make a few small trips.

At the end of our first week, we went up to Ottawa and stayed for a couple of days. It was really nice to get away for a while. If you ask my kids what their favourite part was they would all unanimously agree (which happens so rarely) that the pool at the hotel was the best part. They spent at least an hour or two in it both evenings that we were there. The best part: doing canon balls (and a few belly flops) into the pool!

Also while in Ottawa, Shane wanted to visit some of the museums. We went to the War Museum and the Aviation Museum. Shane thought both were great. The kids liked parts of the war museum but were much more interested in all the planes at the aviation museum. Liam has loved planes his whole young life (at least since he could tell us anyway) and he was in Heaven at the aviation museum. He followed Shane around and listened to everything that his dad had to say to him. Then he would find his sister and repeat what he had just been told. It made my day just to watch is excitement and enthusiasm! There were a few cockpits that you could go into and see what they looked like inside. Shane and Liam were in their glory. Liam was so interested and in awe that we had a really hard time getting him out of the cockpits each time. I loved to see the amazement on his face. The funny thing is,  even with the amount that he loves planes, when asked if he wants to fly them when he gets older, the answer is always no. Oh well, I guess time will tell.

This picture of the kids was taken at the war museum.

The next photos (collage of photos) were taken at the aviation museum.

We also went to The African Lion Safari the week after. I will post some pictures from that adventure another day. Until then, thanks for stopping by and I hope that you are enjoying some quality, memory making time with your families.

Deb

Hello

Hi there. I just wanted to pop in and say that, yes, I am still alive. We have been enjoying some good quality family time for the last three weeks. Shane has gone back to work today. The kids still have five weeks of summer vacation left! I am glad since the house would be way to quiet if everyone had gone back to work/school at the same time.

I am hoping to be able to post some pictures from our vacation later this week. It was more of a stay cation than anything else but we did go places and had a blast.

I hope all of you out there are enjoying your summer and are well.

Deb