The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page

Today, my boys and I started on an epic two week vacation to the northeast United States.

I asked my brother, Tim, to join us.

Tim and I have always been close and the fact that he became a teacher this year gave us both the luxury to be away for 2 weeks.

It started out normal.  We got up early. The car was packed to the gills.  We were ready to drive 800 miles and only stop for gas.

Thirty minutes from home, we ran into dead-stopped traffic - a wreck on the highway.

No worries (we thought), we will just take some back county roads.

The first crossroad looked like this...

Again, we thought, no worries...

Until the next 5 crossroads looked like this...

I started to wonder if someone didn't want us to go on this trip...

But thankfully, after these few set backs,  we made it all 800 miles without a hitch.

Our lake weekend getaway

I prayed for this...

I prayed for a weekend of no baseball and sunshine.

The forecast all week showed that this weekend was going to be nothing but rain clouds and storms... and despite the fact that I was glad that we finally had time to get away to spend time together as a little family of five... I was disappointed with the weather.

So, I prayed.

Because my momma taught me that God listens to even the littlest prayers.

We woke to rain softly falling outside.
I had prepared for this... I had packed card games, just in case.

The rain lessened but it was SO cold and damp...
It didn't stop the kids though.

Richard then took us out on the gator... and was crazy enough to let the kids drive!

We found a beautiful little bird's nest.

Then Todd and Lois started their craziness of cooking...

Course 1
Crab Cakes and Saffron Risotto served with Mango/Pineapple Salsa and Grilled Sausages.

Course 2
A lemon cake with lavender buttercream that I made...  Some chose to eat it with Vanilla bean ice cream.

Then as if it was planned... the clouds went away, it got REALLY warm... so we headed out on the lake. (Thank you dear Lord for hearing small prayers)
The kids had fun!

And then we all just laid in the sun

We headed back to eat more...
Todd out did himself once again...

Course 3
Chicken Roulade stuffed with Prosciutto, Gorgonzola, Asparagus, Sweet Bells and Sage served with Caramelized Cremini Mushrooms and a Marsala Cream with Sun Dried Tomatoes. Garnished with Chive Blossoms and Crisped Sage.

We had a wonderfully relaxing (filling) weekend!!

Driving is driving me crazy

Driving makes me a little crazy...
I think airplanes were invented because of people like me.

I mean... sure I love to see the countryside as much as the next person.
Just look at this Texas landscape... who couldn't love that?
With the puffy clouds and the blue skies...

 But what I am seeing is that long stretch of road... and children sleeping...

 ...and children...ummm... I think he is watching a movie (and covering his head because the sun was in his eyes... but I can't be for sure.)

and then, of course, they swap places.

It just makes me more than a little stir crazy to be home
Have I mentioned how *I* was the "sleeper" as a kid??
No, well... don't worry... I stayed awake. I mean... just look at those clouds... who would want to miss those??

Friendship is like wetting your pants... Everyone can see it, but only YOU can feel the true warmth

We pulled out Tuesday morning to head north of Dallas.

One of my college friends, Suzanne, lives there.

Man, how I have missed her!!

Originally we were going to spend the night and head on the next day, but once I was in Texas, I was like, "Heck no. I haven't seen this woman for 4 years!"

That's right... four years!
How in the world has four years passed without us seeing each other?
Oh yeah... it's this little thing we like to call life.

So, we arrived Tuesday afternoon and stayed till Thursday morning... wish we could have stayed longer... but there's that pesky little thing called life that was calling us back home.

Suz and I have a friendship that is one of those that it doesn't matter that it has been four years... we pick back up like it was yesterday that we saw each other.

We talked... and talked... and talked some more.
(We might have stayed up way past Suzanne's bedtime... and we might have partaken in a yummy new vodka that she introduced to me - Smirnoff Whipped Cream... but all of that is just speculation.)

image courtesy of Smirnoff.com

But then the next day, I did what any good friend would do...
I helped Suzanne re-arrange her house.

And she repaid me by letting me sit on her kitchen table eating homemade ice cream while she gave me a pedicure. Yeah... cause she's awesome like that!

It's ALL about eating

So... here we've made it to Monday...and we're leaving Houston tomorrow.

So... as a good mom, how do we spend the day??

Laundry ... and eating.

First thing on the eating docket... The Farmer's Market.

It was amazing!!

The boys were sad we didn't buy one of these... but where to put it?  They were HUGE!!

Then we had lunch... Pei Wei is a restaurant that we don't have at home... and I love.

The boys love it too!

Love that they give "chopstick buddies"

 Caught Sam with his mouth full!!

Then we went and packed the car... and had a going away dinner.

They didn't have a table big enough for all of us... so the hostess ask if it would be okay for the boys to sit in recliners and watch tv while they enjoyed their dinner.
I would have been a bad mom had I said no... mainly because the boys didn't even wait for me to answer the hostess. :)

We're going to the zoo... zoo... How about you... you?

Another sunny day and we head outside.

Today's destination? The zoo.

Sam made me sing the song that is in the title.

We have sung it since he was little.

Kinda makes me sad... not sure how much longer he will ask me to sing it...

But today... today was sung in a happy tone... with happy voices because we had sunny skies.

My little monkeys

 We went to the reptile house.
I get it that a lot of people don't care for it...
but me... I mean, how could you not love these little faces??

And then there were the meerkats... I love them... and so do my boys.

I mean... how cute are they??

We then headed to the African Forest...

 ...and I got a little artistic.

We finally were experiencing the Texas heat...

...a couple of ice cream cones later and a trip under a few shade trees

  ...and we were back to all smiles.

Then we met this cute guy.

 He even gave us kisses through the window.

We're been to the zoo... zoo.  How about you... you?
Sigh. I love that song...