Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fun Family Weekend - part 2





Friday morning Harley finally warmed up to Uncle Bryan.
After breakfast we loaded up and headed to Texas, first stop, Grapevine Mills Mall. The plan was to take the kids to the arcade in the mall but we didn't know they didn't have the arcade anymore. Oh well, there was shopping. We did a little shoe shopping before going to lunch at Rainforest Cafe.









After lunch we did a little more shopping and met up with Shae.





She got to eat leftover chicken fried steak that Abby ordered. It was huge!!!!









The girls had fun in the balls on the water. I'm sure there is another name for this but I have no idea what.

After the mall the girls went with Shae to see her new apartment while the rest of us went to the hotel and got a little nap in before the Rangers game.





















We had great sits. Beltre threw a ball up in the stands and Brent caught it, woo hoo!!! The rangers lost but it was still fun. They shot fireworks off after the game, by far the best firework show we had ever seen.

Up next, the zoo. Oy!!!

Until next time ~ Stacy

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Fun Family Weekend - part 1

When we were at Lindsay for July 4th, the brothers planned a fun family weekend. Bryan is an Orioles fan and they were going to be playing the Rangers so he wanted to go to the game. Brent was able to get tickets from a guy at work. Originally I wasn't going because well, it's hot in Texas right now :) We needed one more ticket so we looked online and there were seats available behind the seats we had. But we had to order two so I ended up going.

So last Thursday Bryan, Traci, Abby and Ally came down to start our fun family weekend. After supper we went down to feed the catfish.













Ally waiting on her driver :)

The girls swam and we all had a nice visit.

Next up, we head to Texas!

Until next time ~ Stacy

Friday, July 26, 2013

Happy Girl





She has been wanting her own Xbox for a long long time. Her brother doesn't share very well. She saved her money and finally was able to buy one, and few other things too.

Until next time ~ Stacy

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

July 4th

We didn't have our annual 4th of July bash since it fell on a Thursday. We just went to Lindsay and spent the day with family.





The cousins. So glad we got to see out great nephew Aiden. We haven't seen him in a long time, he has grown up so much. His grandparents (Brent's sister and her husband) flew to Houston to get him for a couple of weeks.





The men took the kids fishing.




Aiden with his great great grandparents.





And great grandparents.





And grandparents. Pretty neat!!!





The great grandchildren had to get in there ;)





And last, but not least, the grandchildren.





Finally got to play corn hole.





And brother bonding time with some backgammon.

Colton had to work so he couldn't go with us. It was a quick trip but enjoyed family time.

Until next time ~ Stacy

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Vacation Day 6 - Going Home

We had a late flight so after checking out we had lunch and then went to Boone Hall Plantation. Didn't know it until we toured the house but the North and South tv series was filmed here, it was Allie Hamilton's summer home in The Notebook, and another movie called Queen, it was Haley Berry's first movie. Also, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds was married there last year.




The southern oak trees. Oh. My. Gosh. Absolutely gorgeous. These were over 300 years old and can live up to 600 years.





We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house and only toured the bottom floor. The family still uses the house when they are in town. This house is the 3rd one built since the original house.




Cotton gin.





One out of the 9 slave houses still standing. There were 27 back in the day. I cried going through and reading about the slaves. 16 people lived in one house.














I can't even imagine.

After the house tour we toured the grounds. It is still a working plantation. They grow vegetables and have fruit trees and they have pumpkins for the pumpkin patch in the fall.

We headed to the airport after the plantation. There were storms popping up and we were just hoping to get out of town. They were canceling flights, connecting flights mainly, left and right. We had a non stop flight, thank you very much. At one time my weather app went ballistic with a tornado warning. We weren't getting any instructions from the airport people to take cover so we didn't worry about it. Our flight was delayed several hours but we were finally allowed to board and headed home. We flew out of DFW so we still had a 2 hour drive to get home. 30 minutes out of the airport, we run over something and our tire starts going flat. We were able to get off the interstate, thank goodness, and pulled in at a convenience store.




The kids were pooped.




I'm glad he was in the car when it happened. And yes he knows how to change a flat :). He couldn't see where the jack had to go so I looked in the manual. I just left it on the ground. He said I took away his man card after I posted this pic on Facebook and people were giving him a hard time.

We eventually got home after midnight. It was a fun trip but we were glad to be back home.

Until next time ~ Stacy

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Vacation Day 5 - Charleston

This is the only picture I took on day 5.





Hannah enjoying her Starbucks. After we went to the graveyard and had lunch, us girls went shopping while the boys went to a museum that had memorabilia from the Civil War. I found a little boutique that carried Oribe products. I can't remember where I first read about it but they have a dry texturizing spray that I wanted to try. I have super fine hair and even with a massive amount of hairspray, it doesn't hold up in the humidity we have in Oklahoma. I love this spray. It helps with volume more than anything I have tried. It's pricey but I don't use it unless I'm going to be out and about all day. I would love to try their shampoo and conditioner. I have to buy it in stages :)

We went back to our room to cool off and find a place for dinner. The kids didn't really want to go somewhere so Hannah had leftovers from lunch while Colton had leftover donuts. Don't judge, it was vacation. Brent and I went for Thai food again. It was really good. We walked back through a park and called it a night. Everybody was worn out and all though we had a blast, we were ready for our own beds and non hotel toilet paper.

Up next, traveling home. Oy!!!!

Until next time ~ Stacy

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Vacation Day 4 - Charleston part 2

We knew before we left Oklahoma that we wanted to take a ghost walk. It was one of my favorite things we did.








We were in the first group. Our tour lady was really nice and we learned a lot about Charleston. Part of the walk including going to a "dungeon" that was a hot spot for orbs. Freeeeaaaaakkky!!! It was located in the Old Exchange building built in 1771. That's old y'all. Lots of cool things happened in that building. Constitution things, reading of the Declaration of Independence to the people of South Carolina......

The dungeon was creepy. She showed us the hot spots, where people got pictures of stuff. The best way of capturing something was to take 3 pictures in a row directed at the same spot. I only had my phone. These are the 3 pictures I took of one of the spots.












The 3rd picture definitely shows something. I swear that I saw a lighted object go across my screen as the flash went off.

We walked along old cobblestone alley ways and heard ghost stories and learned a lot about Charleston. It was so much fun.

We ended up at a church with a graveyard, St Phillips. Did you know it's called a graveyard if it's located at the church and cemetery if it's not? I didn't. She had a picture that was taken by a man in the 80s of the graveyard.




It's said to be the ghost of Sue Howard Hardy. Watch this video for the story. It's pretty interesting. We went back to the graveyard the next day to see her grave. We also at lunch at Southend Brewery & Smokehouse. It's haunted too. You can read about their story here. I'm ready to go back, in the fall when it's cooler, and go on more walks/tours. I would recommend Bulldog Tours and will definitely take another one of their tours if we do ever get back to Charleston.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Vacation Day 4 - Charleston, SC part 1

We drove back to Charleston to spend a few days. We had time to kill before hotel check in so we planned on going to Fort Sumter.




I guess I slept through the part in school when they discussed Fort Sumter. I had no idea it was located in the middle of the harbor.


































And USS Yorktown was docked where we got on the boat to go to Fort Sumter. We didn't tour the aircraft carrier but it was very impressive looking.






After Fort Sumter, we headed to our hotel located in historical downtown Charleston. I didn't realize, or just forgot, what all happened in Charleston. And we were smack dab in the middle of it.

Our room wasn't ready but they gave us our parking permit so we got parked and headed to Hyman's Seafood. We were just a block away and walked. We didn't even drive again while in Charleston until we had to go to airport. Lots of walking but everything was close.

Anywho, Brent had read one of the top ten things to do in Charleston was to eat at Hyman's. I didn't know how famous it was and on a Monday at 2:00, the place was packed. We sat at a table that Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Phelps had sat. They had little name plates in the table.




That was Brent's flounder. I had shrimp and grits, wish I had a big plate of that right now. The hush puppies were the best we have ever eaten. Oh my, I'm drooling right now just thinking about it.

Next up, the ghost walk :)

Until next time ~ Stacy