Castle in the Clouds

  The Disney Dream docked at Castaway Cay. I hope to be able to take a major vacation every year. Most of the time, I expect I will be traveling alone because the kids are all getting to that point in their lives when vacation time is precious and they have adventures they want to have that don't include mom. Luckily, that time has not fully materialized just yet.  In the summer of 2022, I took KC, Allie, and Riley down to Florida for a week's worth of Universal Studios. That meant my 2023 trip would be with Gage and Hallie. For some reason, I really wanted to do a cruise. A Disney cruise, specifically.  Why Disney? Well, my cousin had taken her kids on a couple of Disney cruises over the years and she loved it. In fact, to this day, she says Royal Caribbean and Disney are her two favorite cruise lines. Knowing this and being a huge Disney fan myself, I was determined to spend the little bit extra (okay a lot more extra) and book with Disney. When I suggested this to the ...

Breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron In August, I took KC, Allie, and Riley to Universal Studios for a week of fun and sun. This was the first time Allie and Riley had ever been on an airplane. She was really nervous but they both did great! Riley watched cartoons on his Amazon Kids tablet or slept.  I should say everything went well with the planes on the way down to Florida. The return trip was its own special little adventure. We missed our connecting flight and ended up having to be rescheduled onto later flights that flew into a different city than the one we needed. Our luggage made the flight, though, and was delivered to the same airport where my car sat in Long Term Parking. KC, Allie, and Riley flew in several hours before I did and got picked up first. My ride had to pick me up and drive me from one airport to another in order for me to retrieve suitcases and reclaim my Traverse. Like I said, it was an adventure.  Other than that little fiasco and one shattered phone, th...

I had heard about Faster Horses but this was my first time attending the three-day country music festival. The headliners were Morgan Wallen, Eric Church, and Tim McGraw.  An important note: I was a big country music fan back in the mid-90s and early 2000s. This means I know a lot of Tim McGraw's backlist and was excited to see him perform.  However, this also means I hardly knew any of his new stuff, had listened to only a handful of Eric Church's songs, and absolutely none of Morgan Wallen's music.  I am not a Morgan Wallen fan. Sorry. I tried. I really did. Just not a fan. Eric Church has some songs I enjoy singing along with in the car.  Tim is Tim. He was the musical highlight of the festival for me.  The true highlight of the festival, though, was getting to spend a weekend away with my sisters and sister-in-law. I'd include Gage and Hallie in that, too, but they spent most of the weekend with Gavin and his friends. I think they may have also hung out a b...

 I created a Travel Bucket List post back in March 2014.  The first part of the list was dedicated to destinations outside the US.  Sadly, that portion of the post remains the same.  No travel abroad for me.  However, I do need to update the Travel within the US portion.   Let's dive in! Travel within the US 1.   Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming I've always wanted to visit Yellowstone.  In 2013, we made it happen.  It was a two-week vacation filled with many, many hours of driving.  We drove across the country to get there.  We drove through the park.  We drove through Beartooth Pass into Montana.  We drove down to South Dakota to visit Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, and the Badlands National Park.  Then we drove home.   I wouldn't change a thing.  It was one of the most beautiful trips we've taken so far.  I'd go back in a heartbeat. 2.  Badlands National Park - South Dakota Another national par...

After having to cancel a number of plans this spring and summer thanks to the pandemic, Ken and I were so relieved to be able to actually keep our cabin reservation on Mullet Lake.  We had been looking forward to spending the weekend on the boat with our good friends, Jeff and Laura.  We had had a great time last year and knew this year would be equally wonderful.  Given the stress of the last few months, it also felt like a very necessary break from our routine. If you're not familiar with Michigan's inland waterway, it stretches from Lake Huron to Crooked Lake, which isn't too far distant from Lake Michigan.  I'm not sure if you can get to Round Lake from Crooked Lake because we've never made it past the sand bar area in Crooked Lake.  I don't believe you can navigate completely from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, though.   The last time we rented a cabin on Mullet Lake it was back in 2006 when Phil and Beth introduced us to this trip.  That year...

This year on October 15, 2019, Ken and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  We did it in style because my husband took me to Hawaii, Kauai to be exact.  The Garden Island. I want to write separately about each day, but for now, enjoy this video compilation that I made using 1 Second Everyday.  A more detailed accounting will be forthcoming, I promise!

I don't remember the year.  It was before we had kids but certainly not the same year we got married and went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas.  I was pregnant most of 1997, which really only leaves 1995 and 1996 as viable options. I don't know why we decided to drive out west for our first vacation. We didn't know anyone in the area and we weren't meeting anyone coming from the opposite direction.  I think it might have had something to do with Ken's dad having served in the Air Force in Colorado Springs.  Ken had heard all about his parents' time there and I think he kind of wanted a visual to go with the stories his mom and dad had passed down to him. Me?  I just love to travel.  When he proposed Colorado, I had no better idea and no reservations.  In fact, I was eager to visit the Rocky Mountains for the first time.  Books and photos can only do so much.  You sometimes just have to experience the world to truly appreciate it. Being new...