Here's a Trip Down Memory Lane

Ryan decided he wants to collect soda bottles.  I have a rather large Coke collection - been collecting since my teens.  I love the look of Coke bottles and all that old diner style stuff.  Ryan wants to collect a variety of soda bottles - and T-shirts too apparently since he has several different T-shirts - Coke, Sprite, orange Crush, Mountain Dew, and more.

The one bottle he really wants, and we have had a super hard time finding, is a Mountain Dew bottle.  I mentioned this to a friend of mine and she pointed me in the direction of a store on the other side of town.  We decided to make a day of it (way back in July) and go to lunch at a Mexican restaurant about halfway there.  And of course, we invited my parents and brother to join us in our adventure.

Lunch was great, but Ryan was anxious to check out this store.  So off we went.  It was a pretty neat place full of all kinds of candy and soda that you can't find anymore.  When, low and behold what did they have but . . . The Pop Shoppe sodas.

Total walk down memory lane.  When we lived in Virginia that was the name of a store - The Pop Shoppe.  You would take these soda crates and fill them up with whatever soda you wanted.  You didn't buy them in packs.  And they had the most fun - and delicious - flavors.  Such as pineapple, black cherry, cream soda, grape, I think there was even strawberry.  Stuff you couldn't get anywhere else.  We all had our favorites and you always knew which ones they were because they were the ones left until the end.  Once you drank the sodas, you put the empty bottle back in the crate and then when you went back for more, you took the empty bottles back to them and got a refund towards your new purchase.  It was fun.  And us kids always looked forward to going so that we could help pick out our favorite flavors.  

To make the day even funnier, while I was standing there reminiscing with my brother Kelly about going to the shop, his cell phone rang.  It was another brother, Warren - who had just moved out of state - calling.  When Kelly told him where we were and that we found The Pop Shoppe sodas, Warren started asking if he remembered that soda place we used to go to and picked out the flavors that we wanted.  Kelly was like, yeah it was called The Pop Shoppe. 

Here I am with my parents holding one of the beloved
The Pop Shoppe sodas.  Yum!



Have you heard of a strange peach?

We went to Big Surf twice this summer.  Once with my family and once with a friend of Ryan's.  When we went with family, it was Ryan & I with my sister-in-law and three of her kids.  It was fun.  The wave pool was great - refreshing.  And the people watching is always interesting.

After the park, we headed back to my parent's house for a bit.  I saw the strangest peach I had ever seen.  It was all split open.  So, naturally I had to take pics of it.  Since I didn't take any of my cameras to the water park, I used my phone.  Not too bad really.

Smiley



Happy 4th of July 2011

This year, our 4th was a little stranger than normal.  We celebrated with my entire family earlier than usual - one of my brothers and his family (at least his kids that are still living at home) have moved out of state.  And all their packing and such was taking place right around the 4th.  So, we had one last get together at their house early, complete with lots of food and even some fireworks at the end.

And then on the actual day, we had my parents and one brother over for a very small cookout.  Instead of going to see fireworks (our fireworks family - The Halls - moved out of state last year) we stayed home and enjoyed a show put on by Ryan and Doug.  Our state legalized fireworks to be shot at home just this past year, so that is what we did.  And I of course had a great time taking photos of the fireworks.  I love night shooting - and this one was a challenge since I've never really gotten good firework shots.

One of the desserts I made and took over for
the last big family gathering.  The other one
was homemade mint chip ice cream - that
picture did not come out very well.

One of many fireworks Ryan had fun
shooting off for us.

Doug & Ryan with sparklers. 

Just Had To Celebrate This One!

When I heard it was international donut day (back in June), I knew that we just had to celebrate!  After our summer Friday activities - summer movies, a science class, and on this particular day lunch with my parents and brother - we headed over to our nearest Krispy Kreme for their Donut Day specials.  We got a dozen donuts and ate one in the store before bringing the rest home.  Such yummy goodness!

Ryan by the Krispy Kreme trailer

A Dinner Treat

One evening, Doug gave "the boys" a treat for dinner.  We had had bacon for breakfast, and saved the bacon grease.  Doug added the dog food to the bacon grease and heated it up.  It actually kind of smelled good.

Dog food fit for a couple of beagles.

"The boys" love the smell of that food cooking
just for them.

Half Day Fun

A Half Day at school calls for a cheese hot dog from QT.  Seems to be where we end up for lunch on half days.  Ryan was hamming it up for the camera, intentionally getting cheese all over for me to take some pics.

6th Grade Field Trip - Renaissance Festival

Doug & I were able to join Ryan and his class for the very last Elementary Field Trip.  This year we went to the Renaissance Festival.  The day before the field trip it rained all day long.  So, we were a little concerned about the weather and mud.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day - and not too much in the way of mud.  Just a few puddles here and there.   The parking lot was the worst area - and the place that I got all the mud on my shoes for the day. 

We had four boys assigned to our group.  And they are all good boys, not a trouble maker in the group.  We had a pretty easy day deciding which shows to go see, which shops to look in and what food to eat.  The very first thing the boys wanted to do was get Turkey legs. 

All four boys enjoying their Turkey legs.

Once we had our Turkey legs, we headed over to the jousting
tournament.  And wouldn't you know it, the knight that was
"fighting" for our section was purple!

Ryan bought a mystery egg.  It ran down this
track to get smashed and then you won a prize.



And of course funnel cake!  You can't possibly go to an event
like this and not have funnel cake - can you?



Happy Birthday To Me - A "Joe" Tour

This year for my birthday we did the tour of the Joe's restaurants.  I decided that is how I wanted to spend my day.  Doug & I both took off work and had a great day going to a different place for each meal.  Why did we do this you ask, because on your birthday (and I had to show my ID) at all 3 places we got a discount on each meal.  And since Doug & I split meals it made it an even better deal!

We started our morning at Liberty Market for breakfast.  We
went before school so that Ryan was able to come along also.

Ryan waiting for his breakfast.

Ryan's breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

Doug & I split a veggie scramble, potatoes dish and a biscuit.

For lunch we went to Joe's BBQ.

The tractor inside the restaurant.

Doug & I split a chopped chicken salad and a baked
potato.  Their salad dressing is so yummy.

Doug & I at Joe's Farmgrill.

Doug & I split the portabello mushroom sandwich and
sweet potato fries.  Yum!

It was a good day.  I meant to get some pics taken of my gifts, and haven't had a chance yet.  So hopefully, that will come in a bit.  Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes I had that day.  It was a fun day.

Christmas Eve

This holiday has been a very smooth one for some reason.  I would like to say it was due to really good planning, but that is probably not true at all.  Really, I think what it comes down to is just getting the stuff done that needed to be done.  I know how very simple that sounds . . . but let's be real, sometimes the simple things are the hardest.  This year, I worked on one or two projects everyday until everything was completed.  And . . well . . . it was super nice to have everything done & ready to go a full day and a half before Christmas Eve.  I cannot tell you how nice it was to spend Christmas Eve relaxing.  I'm hoping that I can do it all again next year - I guess time will tell.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were some projects that I really wanted to do this and did not get done.  But these were projects that were more for me to complete than anything.  And so, they will be ready for me next year to work on - because this year they just weren't meant to be completed.  And I am totally okay with that. 

Okay, okay so on to the photos - I mean, I'm pretty sure that's why you are here anyway - and not to listen to me ramble on & on.

As is our family tradition, we went to my brothers house for the evening on Christmas Eve.  We always have Mexican food for dinner, a Christmas story telling - and reenacting - singing and of course our fun family gift exchange.  My father also shared some memories of his childhood Christmases and how very different they were than we experience today.  It was a fun evening.

Our yummy Mexican Christmas Eve Fiesta

Now that is a table full of presents.  These are the gifts from the
exchange.  There were some pretty fun gifts this year - Lego set,
the biggest container of cheese balls you've ever seen,
a reindeer piggy bank, candy, socks and toys.

Another view of that massive pile of presents.

Ryan was the first to pick and got a box of
post-it notes - which got stolen by Kelly.
He then picked his next gift which was two
packages of sparklers.

When we got home, Ryan opened his gift from
his Grandma & Grandpa Harper - Christmas
jammies and a gift card to Walmart.

Ryan setting out some cookies for Santa.  He
was in bed by 9:30 ready for Santa to come
the next morning!

One More Day of Decorating

After having to reschedule two weekend in a row, we finally made it over to my parent's house to decorate their tree.  We went over on Ryan's last day of school before Winter Break began.  He had a half day and so off we went.  It was nice to get over there.  Ryan has decorated their tree for the past four years or so.  I'm so glad that this is something he is able to do and spend time with his grandparents.  Hopefully someday these will memories that he will cherish.

Grandma & Ryan getting decorations for the tree.

Grandma gave Ryan this ornament to put on
our tree since it's a French Horn.

The completed tree.

And as a special treat, my mom made
us potato dumplings for lunch.  They were so
yummy and always a special treat this
time of year.

The dumplings cooking.  So good!

Love The Holiday Candy

Christmas is always such a fun time for new Holiday Flavors in candy.  I absolutely love mint flavored candy - especially mixed with chocolate.  And it seems like every year there are more and  more fun chocolate mint candies showing up at the stores.  Here is one of the new items we just had to try . . .

Mint Musketeers!

Anticipating the first yummy taste . . .

Finally getting that first bite.

Thumbs up!  Ryan and I both loved it.

Thanksgiving Wishes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We spent the day at my parent's home with two brothers, a sister-in-law and a niece and nephew.  It was a great meal - as you can see - tons of food.  Which meant lots of leftovers.  Doug was unable to join us because he was home sick & sleeping (or watching some movies).  He did get to enjoy the food that was brought home. 

State Fair

On the last Saturday it was open, a friend of mine and I took our kids to the State Fair.  We headed out on a Saturday in search of anything on a stick to eat and fun games and rides!  They were having this great buy one get one free on entry fees.  So, that saved us some money on getting in.  I think we were both prepared for it be pretty busy.  And would you believe it wasn't.  The weather was perfect, not too hot and not the least bit cold.  All in all a great day!  Thanks Kim for inviting us to go with you. 



Ryan with his friends Shawn & Matt



Ryan & I.  Doug was at home with a sinus infection.

One of the biggest cows I have ever seen.  They were just huge.

They had had a pigeon competition earlier on .  I never knew there
were so many varieties of pigeon in the world.  I just know about
the ones that like to hang out people's roofs.  This one was pretty
neat, it had feathers on it's feet.  You could not see it's feet all.

Ryan and Shawn went on the bumper cars.  Ryan wanted to get the
Vikings colored car - and he did!

Matt playing a basketball carnival game.

I loved this huge pickle!  The boys humored me by letting me take their
picture with the pickle.

And of course at the fair they have some of the
strangest things to eat.  This is one I had not heard
of before.  I would have tried it but no one else was
game.

Funnel Cake!  One of my favorite reasons to go to a fair.

Shawn giving me the thumbs up on his very first
funnel cake!

Ryan won a fish at his very first carnival game.
Everywhere we went after that so many people
kept coming up to us wondering where we won
the fish at.

Ryan saved his money (mostly because I made him) and bought this
really cool bow and arrow.

Ryan won this basketball at one of the carnival
games.