SILLY SATURDAY

Do you guys watch The Great American Road Trip?

If not, you should!

These people freaking crack me up!

You know what is sad.......

ok......

.

I'll tell you........

I. TOOK. NOTES!

I couldn't help myself. Within the first five minutes I was cracking up OUT LOUD at how idiotic people can be on NATIONAL television!! It is like when a natural disaster occurs such as a tornado here in Oklahoma. The news stations pick the most white trash person with no teeth and no bra that can't speak anything but "hick" to put on the national news. Thanks! Then all the world thinks "look at those Oklahoma people"! Ugh! Drives me nuts! At least pick someone who speaks like a halfway normal human being!! Where was I........oh yeah the Great American Road Trip! It is a traveling game show of sorts with teams made up of families on a road trip across the US on Route 66 in RVs. Lovin' it! What kind of blogger would I be not to take notes on the irresistible blogging material!

First this week we had the ever so intelligent too cool to cut the mullet Silvio Di Salvatore, his wife Amy and their children from Yonkers, New York. He provides the best material from the cast of families. This week the first stop was Kansas. Silvio hears this news and says to his family, "Italiens don't goooo to Kansas because they have flyin' howses that land on people. Click your heels kids, giddy up!" (By the way there will be spelling errors in this post but they are purposeful to attempt to show how they pronounce words!) Then while reading their travel guide Amy, the mother, sings the Kansas song "Home on the Range" in the RV. Now some people don't care that they sing bad but seriously lady you should not sing on NATIONAL TELEVISION. Wow it was bad!!

The group of RVs is headed to Independence, Kansas. Independence was the home of Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. Upon each family reading this in the travel guide, each group of children asks "What is Little House on the Prairie and who is Laura Ingalls?" {insert my jaw dropping down to my second chin and a great big gasp} I couldn't believe it! I guess that made me feel old with my 80s childhood. Amie Pollard a mother of two from Alabama cracks me up too. In the first show she was saying "ya'll" and Silvio DiSalvatore was says "yous" and neither one of them understood each other!! Amie is a pretty southern gal with a DEFINITE but becoming southern accent. While trying to explain to her daughter about Little House on the Prairie she says, "Have you ever hurd people when they get ready to go to bed ~ they turn out the lights and say 'good night Jawhnn Boy'? That is from the TV show Little House on the Prairie." {insert me laughing and gasping} When her daughter looks a little confused and laughs, Amie then says to her husband Ron, "Ron was there a guy on the Little House on the Prairie named Jawhnn Boy?" Ron much to my praise says, "NO John boy was on the Waltons!" Thank you, Ron!! Amie then trying to redeem herself says, "Well the Waltons is a little liiike Little House on the Prairie what'd it?" Awwww a little confused but I heart her just the same!!

Silvio and Amy are still my favorites b/c well he is hilarious without even meaning to be or maybe it is just I ♥ Italiens and New York accents! While driving through Kansas, he points out the scenery to the family. "This howse he-a definitely could be hit by a twista or whateva comes out o the sky he-a!" Oh my I love it! He resumes his aimless driving, "Awwll my life I wonted to see Kaaansas n now I'm finally he-a. I get a chance to see a prayrie. Always wondered abowt a prayrie since the song God Bless Americah." I think perhaps prairies aren't that exciting but hey to each his own!! Although funny at times, Sil is disrespectful to his wife UNTIL they lost a challenge where he had to grill a hamburger for the first time in his life. His son was worried going into the challenge saying, "Can I just kick the burger b/c my Dad has never cooked before? We will definitely lose!" Sil follows this by telling the host, "Don't you know I don't do nothing?!?" Amy quickly confirms this statement with, "Yeeeah I do everything!" Anyway they lose the challenge with Sil's plain, dry burger and in his sadness he cleaned the entire RV until he let out another blurb......."My burger lost but my family loved it. Together we stand, united we foll!" Not quite sure if that is the saying there Sil but okay I appreciate the cleaning and you still crack me up!

This show doesn't seem as funny when I blog it but it sure seemed funny at the time! Sorry if you aren't laughing but maybe you should just watch!! They headed into our land here in OK!! They went to the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve then onto Arcadia Lake. I saw "our" land but I've never been to either of those places. :) My favorite part was this.............they sad nothing bad about Oklahoma....yet! They loved the bison and stepped in a lot of poop then ended the show at Arcadia Lake. Never actually seen a bison either except at the Zoo so maybe we should go there too! Nothing bad said yet!! I'll just wait until they talk to some toothless wandering hick before they make it through our state. THAT would be who they would choose to put on NATIONAL TELEVISION!!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five!

Come join in the fun....please!Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE....funny, serious, sentimental, to dos, pictures, no pictures ~ anything!

To see my Friday High Five posts for examples, click here!

Post about it, linking back to me (now you can copy and paste the HTML at the bottom of this post for a button!) then sign Mr. Linky!Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!!

Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad!

If you need help, let me know in the comment section!

Go view all the other High Five posts and comment away!

Have fun!

5 reasons I went to Springfield for the day yesterday

5. My Uncle's dog had puppies and my sister bought one so we went to pick it up!

4. TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE

3. Adult conversation ~ the four boys played, watched movies and ATE (that is a whole other post!!) while my sister and I talked and talked the whole way there and the whole way back!!

2. To take Grandma to put her jewelry in her safe deposit box. Since the whole tornado ordeal when she broke her pelvis she is paranoid that a tornado is going to carry her and the house away with her jewels in it! Since her bank is right by my Uncle's house I took her there. I listened to her stories about EVERY piece of jewelry. I now know who bought each piece, who gets it when she dies, when she got it and why and what each piece is made of.....wow....and the vault was so hot!! The funny thing is ~ she put the jewelry in the safe deposit box but the list saying who gets what and the meaning of the jewelry she is keeping at the house. Pretty much negates the purpose if you ask me but oh well maybe I'll remember just a portion of what she told me!!

#1

TO SEE GRANDMA!!

I love my Grandma and wish she was right here! Even though I saw her about a month ago and I talk to her weekly, I just wanted to see her and the boys did too! They love their Grandma "Souri" ~ that is what they call her ~ not Grandma, not Great Grandma, not Grandma Bryan, not Grandma Donna but Grandma "Souri" pronounced Zuri since well.....she lives in Missouri. She doesn't mind and I think she kind of likes that they made a name just for her and have stuck with it for so long ~ it makes her even more special.

<center><a href="http://angeleyesadventures.blogspot.com/search/label/Friday%20High%20Five"><img alt="Angela's Adventures" src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/gigibryan/HighFive-1.jpg" /></a></center>

SMALL TALK SIX!

6 places you would like to travel to if you had someone trustworthy to watch your children and pets

Ooooh how I love to travel!

1. I desperately want to go back to Europe. I LOVE ITALY! I want to go back to see more of it. This time though I also want to visit Amsterdam, Spain, Germany then swing on back to Switzerland and well while I am at it let's go ahead and go to Greece ~ that's not asking too much right but it will have to be one long trip ~ wait then can we boat on over to Ireland since we are in the general vacinity ~ hahahahaha ~ general vacinity that cracks me up!
2. Australia and New Zealand ~ I would have to take the boys with me though since Elijah has wanted to visit Australia for years. He is a HUGE Crocodile Hunter fan and wants to visit the Australia Zoo. He also wants to just travel through Australia looking for wildlife. I want to visit simply because of their beauty.
3. Africa ~ I would love to go on a trip to Africa and go on an African safari. I would also like to work there with their children and yet again I would have to take the boys with me!
4. Canada ~ The scenery from Jillian's home on the Bachelor was absolutely breathtaking.
5. Alaska ~ do they have a summer? I hate cold but I REALLY want to see Alaska
6. Hawaii ~ I haven't been there. This would be my last pick since I hate the mere thought of me in a swimsuit! I was supposed to be there this month for a wedding alas obviously we will not be attending now. Boo hoo!
7. Had to add a #7 ~ I want to travel around the Eastern US in the fall!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Top 5 places I would love to travel

I had the chance to tour parts of Europe after high school and LOVED it! We went to France, England, Switzerland and Italy. Out of all the countries I loved Italy the most but I have a passion for travel. Right now I am limited to the states but some day I would love to travel abroad again and let my hubby travel the world with me!

1. Australia/New Zealand (Elijah would love to take this trip with me to see "Steve Irwin's Zoo"
2. Africa
3. Alaska
4. Germany/Austria/Greece (put them all together b/c of proximity maybe it could be done in one trip)
5. Russia
6. Have to add a sixth - I would like to see the Eastern United States during the fall

BRANSON LABOR DAY '08

At the last minute my Dad informs me he has two hotel certificates that had to be used by the 31st and asked if we wanted them. Hmm....let's think there is no football game this weekend so do we want another vacation......YES! My parents and my oldest brother Rob and his family were all going to be there. We went to Celebration City, Whitewater Bay(free - thanks to a generous lady who overheard my conversation w/my sis-in-law!), the Landings to go to Ridemakerz, the fish hatchery(free!) and the outlets (not so free!) then we left on Monday and stopped by Mikala and Josh's house in Joplin to visit for a bit before going home! I must say we really enjoyed this trip. We got to spend time with my brother and his family even though they were actually there with friends and as all of our trips to Branson we got to spend time with my parents. In all the times we've been to Branson this was our first time to visit Celebration City and Whitewater Bay. We like Celebration City better than Silver Dollar City. It is definately more kid friendly and not as spread out!! The kids just loved both places. I must also say Whitewater Bay was unplanned but an unexpected good time considering I spent the day in a bathing suit and got really burnt. Seriously, there is red, burnt and then my situation which was beyond burnt or burnt to a crisp!! Whitewater Bay was way way better than Big Splash could even dream of being. We also finally made it to Ridemakerz. That place is awesome for little boys who love cars - my boys!! It is basically a Build-a-Bear for boys. They get to actually build the car and pick the parts they want to use (I liked the free ones the best!) I also didn't realize how old Joplin is now. It had been years since I had been there and it is OLD and run down! I'm done now April!!

PROMISE KEEPERS

This afternoon my husband left me alone overnight for the first time in 8 years. Seriously we haven't been apart one night. Weird I know but true! I haven't slept by myself other than a nap in FOREVER this could be awkward and sleepless. You know what is not good for an insomniac........mess up any resemblance of a routine! Bad news! Oh yeah....he went to Promise Keepers in Dallas with my brother and a few men from his church. This is the first year Martez has been able to make it and he is excited. Well he was excited until I told him it was a bunch of hugging, holding hands, crying and singing kumbayah (sp)! I was just kidding but his reaction was funny! I WAS excited b/c I had plans for a LATE night crop with my sister-in-law and nieces BUT my mom is out of town so I don't have a sitter. I need to find a good sitter somewhere! Guess we'll see how the night goes................until next time America..............OH YEAH this also means that I have to get up early, get Elijah's football gear on and have him to the fields by 7:15am ALONE.........hope someone can show me how to fix his shoulder pad deal that I can't seem to get in......I think I am going to let Zay sleep in and leave him home with Tez.........ugh this stinks!!

HELLO YOU FORGOT YOUR CLOTHES!!!

Tez came home from Youth Quake late Friday night and then went to his mom's Saturday. I notice Saturday while sorting through all the camping gear and washing every thing that he is missing: his pillow, five pair of jean shorts and four shirts! Nice considering school is about to start and I will have to buy even more clothes now!!

I call Tez to see if he knew where the clothes were and his reply was, "I stuck everything I wore in the dirty clothes bag!"

I reply, "the only thing in the dirty clothes bag was your swim trunks and a couple of pairs of socks - and I know you wore more than that so I just went ahead and washed every thing and about half of the clothes are missing!"

"I put every thing in there!" he snaps back.

"NO obviously you didn't b/c I am not blind. They are NOT IN THERE! I suppose you are also going to try and tell me you used the still sealed liquid body wash I sent with you too! I shouldn't have to remind you to use SOAP in the shower!!"

His response..............silence!

So I call Karen to see if there were any items at the church and explained what he had left.

Days later I find out I will need to go into the church garage to sort through the items to get what he left. Fine with me! I go to the church to get the clothes and the garage which was supposed to be unlocked...was NOT! I have Karen call the church so they will open the garage and oh dear Lord was it HOT in there! Note to self: don't enter an unknown dark garage during the hottest part of the day in Oklahoma's 100 streak!! I thought at one point I might have locked myself in but alas I got the door to open. My findings: one pillow, one pair of shorts and two shirts that I didn't even realize were missing. Still on the missing list: four pair of jeans shorts and four shirts! Nice! I don't think he realizes the clothes he wears COST MONEY or maybe he just doesn't care! Guess who is going shopping again! Later on he tried to say maybe someone took them! OK here is my theory......you left them and didn't keep track of YOUR clothes and if they were in the dirty clothes bag I seriously doubt someone is going steal them or go through your DIRTY clothes bag in the back of a hot, locked trailer on the way home especially from the kid that didn't use soap! Just say you forgot them and get over it! The only other believable scenario is that someone else picked them up, took them home by accident and their mother didn't realize it while doing laundry so they are just wearing them. I noticed that he had 3 shirts that were not his and a pair of shorts but I am a laundry freak unlike some so I notice anything new HOWEVER I washed the clothes and then returned them! Guess who is going to have their name in every item of clothing at the next camp!!

HE'S BACK!

Tonight Tez came home from camp and HE LOVED IT! He had so much fun and so much to tell! Apparently he fell in love with a couple of girls...........aren't teens hilarious! I can't laugh too hard I spent many a church camp going boy crazy! He can't wait to go on the next trip. He said, "Colorado is cold! You wake up in the morning and you are just frozen. We went to the top of a mountain and wow Angela it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!" I am really glad he had a good time and I am glad he is with us so that he had the opportunity to go!

We go to court Monday for the actual Custody deal pray that it goes well!!

TIME FOR A TRIP TO OUR 2ND HOME

Yep it's that time again.....time for another trip to our 2nd home Branson!!! Our family loves it there!! You can never run out of things to do no matter how many times you go, seriously! We left Thursday to return on Sunday!!! This was going to be Tez's first trip to Branson and we were excited for him. It was funny watching him experience so many new things. For instance, on the drive there when we were losing radio stations and looking for new ones he said, "why did that station start sounding fuzzy?" I said, "well we are losing that station so we'll have to find a new one." He looked at me as if I had lost my mind and said, "you can't lose a radio station!" I explained to him that Tulsa radio stations aren't aired all over America and tried to explain the radio theory. He was shocked & it just cracked me up. I didn't realize he had never been out of Oklahoma before! This was all new to him. I had arranged to go to see the "bendies" again just so Tez could see them. I absolutely love the "bendies" and everyone who goes to Branson should see them. It will absolutely amaze you! The 'bendies' as I call them are actually the Shanghai Circus Amazing Acrobats of China or as the acrobats say it: "d amadzinG ackwobats O china". I started calling them the bendies when we went with Shan and I said she should "get with" one of them b/c they are REALLY bendie!! Sick I know but you can't help but wonder about their bedroom acrobatics while watching some of the crazy things they can do. Smaller children may not be as impressed b/c of the length of the show but our kids love it! Needless to say Tez was more than amazed! The next day was Silver Dollar City and Tez rode roller coasters with loops for the 1st time with ME! I love roller coasters and now I have someone to ride with since Martez is anti-loop! He cracked me up though - the 1st one I swear he screamed my name about 30 times within 5 seconds just terrified but we got off the ride and got right back on! He thought he would have a heart attack but he survived and loved it. Long story short we stayed the day at Silver Dollar City. That evening I looked through brochures and the phonebook finding more fun things for us to do when I stumbled upon a Presidents' Museum having a Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibit. I quickly called my mom and made plans to go when Martez was taking the two older boys to ride go carts. My mom and I were very excited UNTIL we arrived. First of all it was in an old building and we couldn't find the museum portion. After we rode the elevator a few times we finally found a lady to ask where to go, she informed my mom there was a bug on here arm.....IT WAS A FREAKING ROACH! UGH I HATE ROACHES! THAT IS JUST NASTY! We finally found the museum and the Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibit was less than half the size of my room. Basically one glass case of guns, antique irons,etc and lots of reading on top of the case and along the walls which also had old clothing..oh AND a tape player playing an interview over and over again. My mom and I couldn't help but laugh and laugh AND laugh. We were all excited and this was it!!! Plus through reading all the info we discovered that the show didn't exactly hold true....they had a bulldog not a border collie, Mary never married, Laura paid for Mary to go to school then took care of her the rest of her life, they only lived in the Little House on the Prairie location for a few months....this list could go on and on. Needless to say I think we were better off thinking the show was more realistic! However my Dad had warned us that since it was a traveling exhibit it would probably be small and we could NOT let him be right so we played up the exhibit QUITE a bit when talking about it with the men!! We went to the outlets. I FOUND A SCRAPBOOK STORE...BAD NEWS I TELL YOU!!! We took the kids to see Kirby Van Burch and got backstage passes hoping to find trap doors and stuff to prove our theories about all the magic tricks - no such luck! Magic baffles me! Every time I think I have a trick figured out they do something to disprove my theory. We also went to the Monster Museum and Dinosaur Museum and I don't recommend either. They are rinky dink and not worth the price at all. Then off to see Grandma Bryan or as the kids call her Grandma Souri b/c she lives in Missouri. We had lunch with her on Sunday then headed home!!!

ROAD TRIP TO OKC

After discussing the cancellation of our Branson trip and the whole MIL situation my friend Shandolynne said well lets just go to Dallas or KC this weekend instead. I said, "Well if we went to Dallas I would want to stay longer than a day and a half and what are we going to do OKC?" Of course she named off several things and at this point it didn't even matter where we went as long as we just went somewhere, anywhere to get away from our busy lives even if only for a day or two. Martez said, "lets go!" Off to planning I went BUT we had one little hitch......the fence that fell the weekend before HAD to be fixed before we could leave town so the dogs wouldn't get lost! We fixed the fence the night before we left. It took much longer than we had anticipated because it rained and rained and then you guessed it....it rained on us off and on the entire time we were fixing or maybe I should say attempting to fix it until we get a NEW fence. I was standing in mud over my ankles and my flip flops (YES I was wearing flip flops!) kept getting stuck in the mud. I wasn't about to get my pretty tennis shoes all muddy! Did we give up? NO! We obviously REALLY wanted to go out of town! Of course we then find out that his Grandmother who I just adore was having a birthday party the next day (heaven forbid they invite us ANYWHERE with more than 24 hr notice) and Martez said, "we need to get away so we are only going to one event.....the birthday party or the family reunion?" I said, "You make the decision I don't care either way but we either go to OKC this weekend or Branson next weekend. I NEED to get away and I am tired of rescheduling everything b/c your family always invites us at the VERY last minute!" He decided to call and talk to his Grandma who said, "she'd rather us go to the family reunion and just bring her a nice present there!" lol Yeah for Willie Mae! Then I make a dumb comment to Shandolynne about our early departure Saturday morning something to this effect............"Are we going to be able to get up in the morning and by "WE" I mean "YOU"? We laughed b/c well neither one of us could be described as punctual esp. her!!! hehe! Love you Shan! Bad comment on my part b/c she arrived at our house ready to go and we weren't even awake yet! Oops! Can I say open mouth, insert foot!! We got off a little later than planned but who cares b/c WE WERE OFF! So we are driving along and who calls but my MIL all "hurt and offended" that we weren't going to his Grandmother's birthday party THEN she has the balls to talk about my family AGAIN and how we "always" do stuff with my family and never attend their family gatherings. He then asks her to name a family gathering THAT WE WERE INVITED TO and did NOT attend and of course she couldn't name one! He told her it had nothing to do with my family and they weren't even involved in this and half the time his own family doesn't invite him to stuff and when they do it is always at the very last minute and he didn't want to be around a bunch of fake people anyway! Woohoo! He explains that we just need to get away for a few days and do something fun. She then says she didn't feel comfortable at Isaiah's birthday party and basically my family is stuck up! (You have got to be kidding me! Shoot the horse!) He got ticked and said she had no reason to feel that way b/c they try to talk to her but she just secludes herself and she had no reason to be hurt b/c it was GRANDMA's birthday party and he had already asked her about it and she was fine! Needless to say he ended the conversation and was not in a good mood which apparently turn his foot into lead and well........................

First of all I must say you could drive a truck between the officer's two front teeth! Not kidding! We'd never seen anything like it! That was beyond gap it was like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon in his mouth! Second of all when my husband gets nervous and all police officers make him nervous, he gets a severe case of diarrhea of the mouth. He proceeded to argue with the cop over the acceptable amount of speeding! He kept saying, "well how fast can I go?" The highway patrolman said, "the speed LIMIT is 75." Martez would ask again, "yes but how fast can I go?" They went back and forth and I was saying, "Dear stop please!" He would then say, "but how fast can I go?" I was like HELLO the speed LIMIT is 75 quit asking how fast can I go?!?!?!?! Good grief what part of speed LIMIT don't you understand! He then said, "I thought I could go 5 over the limit and not get a ticket." The officer said, "WELL you were going 8 over and I can give a ticket to anyone going at least one mile OVER 75 mph! Do you really want to argue about this?" This entire time I am listening and secretly panicking BECAUSE I forgot to put the new insurance verification in the car! Crap! I had just got my tags about a month before and I had put the second verification into my purse which would've been fine IF I hadn't switched purses to come on this trip! I gave him the old verification promising over my husband's angry mumbling that we really were insured I just didn't put the new verification in the car after I got my new tags! This whole time the kids are saying, "hi officer!" and he is saying "hi guys!" The patrolman returns to his car and we all sit talking about the officer's teeth and fingernails trying to keep Martez calm which didn't work too well! I kept saying well the insurance ticket can be dismissed after we get home and send in the right verification! The officer returns and tells Martez to slow down, explains the LIMIT situation again and to get the 5 mph over thought out of his head............THEN proceeds to give him a freaking warning! YES BUT are you kidding me! No tickets for speeding or no insurance! I thought for sure with all the arguing, this pit stop in our trip was not going to end nicely but I guess our children's looks and great personalities wiled the patrolmen and he went soft and gave us a break! Thank you Elijah, Isaiah and Quinlynne!



FINALLY we arrive and went to see the Oklahoma Capitol and of course took some pictures!

NEXT was the Omniplex - Oklahoma Science Museum! I must say I loved the Omniplex!!!! Totally hands on learning for children of all ages including 32 yr old kids! We went to the Planetarium where Martez fell asleep and started snoring several times, the little kids play area, the giant tree house exhibit, weather exhibits, dinosaurs, space, rock walls, sound, electricity, energy, puzzles, gymnastics museum......................you name it..they have it and we ALL loved it!!! EVERYONE should take there! Another plus is it really isn't expensive either.....I think it was just $10 or maybe $13 dollars for everything and the little kids were free! Who doesn't love free! Don't we all cringe a little when our wee ones pass the free stage! Ha!

He's got the whole world in his hands!

What a smile!

The Planetarium was not as exciting as we thought!

Shandolynne loves a nice John Deere!

Shandolynne loves the different earthquake wave demonstrators but this one is WAY more "EXCITING" than the others! I think it's at the "focal point"!

Somebody find my girl a man, please!!

AKA A sleeping child will remain sleeping until awakened by another loud child!

Never wake a sleeping child!

A child running in my house will stop once they are stopped by an unbalanced force which would be MOM!!

Now time for some more fun at the gymnastics museum:

That night we went to eat, took the kids swimming at the hotel then me and Shan left the kids with Martez and went for our usual trips to Sonic (I think she is addicted to Sonic! No Seriously!) and Wal-mart. We get back and the kids are asleep.....woohoo Baby! He is so good!

Now that is just too cute!

Next morning off to breakfast at Crackerbarrel which I must say was a VERY long wait and then the service was terrible!!!! Off to the OKC Zoo.............where we got to see the elephants with the trainers. I think I was more excited than anyone b/c I LOVE elephants. They are so cute and HUGE!! You know I took pics right?!?!?

This girl needs some serious "support"!!

True case of "Monkey see, Monkey do"!

Feeding the ducks and fish

Elijah loves the gorillas, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes.......................I don't know if there is an animal he doesn't love! Among the 50 professions Elijah has in mind for his future, Zookeeper is one he actually stuck with for a long time along with a trainer at Sea World and to be the next Steve Irwin!!

I love this picture! True admiration!

He said, "Mommy take a picture so it looks like I am IN the aquarium!"

I said, "Okay but don't forget to hold your breathe."

He's too funny!



We left hot and tired and came home! Not a long trip but fun and very needed! Thanks Shan! I realized after getting home and looking on the internet that we missed a whole entire side of the zoo ................................ guess we have a reason to go back now. How we missed it I don't know but we had fun regardless!

CHOCOLATE

Some of you I usually talk to have already heard this story but I wanted to share it to those of you I don't get to talk to because everytime I even think of this story I have to laugh. The day after Christmas we left for a vacation in Atlanta. We left a day earlier than expected so we could split the 12 hour drive into two days to make it easier on the boys and to have time to stop and see different things along the way. Well we left later than originally planned on Wednesday and we were trying to make it to Memphis but it was getting late and Martez and the boys were ready to stop. I saw a sign for gas and hotels like Comfort Inn, Days Inn etc. at the next exit and asked Martez if he wanted to go ahead and get a hotel there since I had to stop to get gas anyway. He said sure whatever. Well we get off the exit and immediately after the exit it is pitch black. The immediate things like the little gas station and the Waffle House were lit but that was it. I decided to drive further to see if maybe the hotels were back behind everything since the only hotel we saw was "The Rat's Nest". Martez said, "Where are we? It is really dark. Let's turn around!" I said, "I think we are in North Little Rock because I just saw a police car that read NLR and that is the only thing I can think of." We then saw an old beat up truck designed to look like Mater off the movie Cars and that made the boys perk up. So I said, "Well let's at least go get gas then I'll ask." I stopped at the gas station and went in to go potty then when I came out I was standing on the corner of the sidewalk while Martez finished pumping the gas. I had been driving so I didn't feel like getting back in the car so I just stood there waiting. A girl starts walking across the parking lot from the neighboring Waffle House and this is where the good part begins.
She says to me "Chocolate's in there!"
I said, "What?"
She said, "Chocolate's in there!"
At first I am thinking: I know I am a big girl but that doesn't mean you have to tell me they have chocolate in Waffle House especially since you are even bigger than me!! I was getting offended!
I said, "What are talking about?"
She then says, "Chocolate is in there looking for you!"
I nicely reply with "Honey I am not from here and I certainly don't know any Chocolate so I don't think he or she is looking for me!"
She says, "Oh I'm sorry you look like Alicia and you are on her corner!"
WHAT??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Martez responds with a panicked yet calm voice "Get in the car and let's go! Chocolate is a pimp name if I've ever heard one!!"
OH HELL NO!! Now I was even more offended!! She wasn't telling me about the chocolate in Waffle House because I was fat but because she thought I WAS A HOOKER! Wow I know I was dressed in lounge wear set for a long drive but I didn't know I looked like trash standing on a street corner! It is all I could talk about for awhile just so offended she thought I was a hooker!! Needless to say I drove almost the rest of the way to Memphis before stopping again. Memphis is yet another story in itself. Memphis is by far one of the trashiest, nastiest, just plain ole dirty cities I've ever seen!! More about that later!! Until next time America.................

YET ANOTHER BRANSON TRIP WITH SHAN AND QUIN

We went on yet another Branson trip but this time we took Shandolynne and Quinlynne with us. We went to see the Dixie Stampede, shopped til we dropped at the outlets, had a pajama party, went to the Landings and played miniature golf. We had so much fun. Take a look:

LABOR DAY

We went to Branson over Labor Day weekend. We really like going to Branson. I know I know some of you doubters are thinking isn't it all country.....NO! There is so much to do there. We go about twice a year and still haven't even seen probably a quarter of what they have to offer and we have yet to see anything country. There is something for every age a Branson. It is close and family friendly. Helpful hint though if you go get a good map with the back road shortcuts called Yellow Route, Blue Route and Red Route. It will save you a ton of time b/c the main strip HW76 can get VERY busy!! Anyway let's see......this time we played Pirate Golf, went to Silver Dollar City, went go-carting, went to the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Exhibit, rode the ducks over Table Rock Lake, went to the Landings and went to two Outlet Malls (my favorite part always!) We have so much fun everytime we go! Let's see just a few helpful tips for anyone interested.....hmmmm....I already told you about the shortcut routes.......if you go to Silver Dollar City, go on a weekday if possible this includes Friday. The lines for the rides are cut by about 75% on weekdays. Riding the Ducks is actually fun and educational. We've been many times and never rode them but finally we did and loved it. Go in the cooler part of the day. If you have kids, at some point on the lake the captain of the Duck will turn it onto auto pilot and allow the kids to sit in the seat so you can have a picture of them driving the boat and then after the ride you get a free Captain's License (cool if you scrapbook like me). The Landings is the new downtown area of Branson. It is all new condos, hotels, and shopping with a lot of the mall type stores on the river or lake or whatever it is down there. They do a water/light show like the Bellagio in Vegas in the evening and then they will also have street musicians for entertainment. The Butterfly and Rainforest Exhibit is cool. They actually have 3 shopping centers with outlets but like all outlets you should know just b/c a store says outlet doesn't mean it is cheaper. The Children's Place outlet has great deals. You need to watch Old Navy b/c a lot of it isn't outlet pricing. The Tommy Kids store has good clearance along with the Levi outlet, Gymboree, Coach usually ends up being half of half (woohoo if you like Coach), Carter's and Osh Kosh normally have some good deals.....and I am going to stop there to put in my slide show.............sorry I rambled