Detroit

In taking the kids to explore Michigan we, of course, had to stop in Detroit and show them what it was all about.  D-town is kind of a sad place.  You try to be hopeful.. Some of the graffiti kind of amazed me.  

 But there is a lot there still...

 Lots of buildings

 And Beauty

 And Architectural details

 And history

 And intricacies...

 And neat ideas (this was an urban garden we parked by...isn't it beautiful?)

 We ate dinner at American Coney Island which was voted #1 for something by the Food Network.  So we went.  Still trying to figure out what was #1.  The hotdogs were made just for them and were pretty tasty :)

 After dinner we drove by the famous Fox Theater.

 And then had to stop by one of my favorite places of all time, the Astoria Pastry Shop.  When Nick worked in his government job he had a conference in Detroit.  Something about parks and your people or something, I'm sure.  Anyway, the kids were very small but my mother-in-law graciously watched the kids and I rode a train to Detroit to join Nick.  Anyway, we were able to kick around downtown for a few days and it was a lot of fun.  We stumbled upon this bakery during that trip and I've been hooked ever since.

 These are my absolutely favorite things in the world!  Chocolate dipped Biscotti.  They are GINORMOUS! And so delicious, I can't even tell you.

Anyway, Nick got this amazing Pecan Pie roll thing there and I got a chocolate dipped meringue.  Ours were wrapped in this cute box...isn't it adorable?  Old world charm.  The kiddos didn't have their's wrapped as they devoured them in the store.  :)

Detroit is such a neat place with such history.  I loved showing kids this city and hope you'll check it out too :)

Cotswold Tea at Greenfield Village

On September 1st we began our family vacation.  We are trying to get the kiddos to see all 50 states and this year our trip was to Michigan.  We started the trip out at Greenfield Village in Dearborn.  If you have never been I highly, HIGHLY recommend it.  My grandma took me there when I was in college and I loved it so much that I was giddy to bring the family!

To try to describe it, it is basically a village made of homes that Henry Ford collected.  He had homes brought from all over the place of famous people.  It's amazing!

One of my favorite memories of this trip was our lunch.  The boys sought out some barbeque while Emma and I made our way to the Cotswold Garden for tea. The tea is located next to a stone cottage from England.  Here are Emma and I in the gardens.  She's growing up way too fast!

Waiting...

And Waiting...

These were the gorgeous flowers right next to our table.  As beautiful as it was there were bees everywhere!  The availability of the restaurant being open was "weather and bee" permitting, so they must have some serious bee problems at times.

Tea is served!

How cute is this tea cozy?

Here were my tea sandwiches.  They were scrumptious!  Emma's were peanut butter and jelly...how adorable is that?

The angel drinking tea!  She kept putting gobs of honey in her tea, along with lumps of sugar.  She would then stir, taste and declare "I think that's just about sweet enough!"  Cutie :)  We had Earl grey Lavender tea which was the most scrumptious tea I've ever had!!!  Must find!

Here's Emma exploring the inside of the cottage.  And as romantic as cottages seem, I don't think I have any desire to actually live in one after going through this one.

Here's the outside of the cottage...isn't it lovely?  Clara Ford loved teas and gardens so this was created for her.  I loved this whole experience and afternoon with my little girl.  I hope she remembers it all.  I know I will.

Emma suggested we start having tea at home which I think I would love to do but haven't figured out how to do it yet.  I want to research and do it right, ya know?  So if you know anything about it, let me know :)

A Saturday Morning Retreat

Happy Labor Day to you all!  

We are camping the great wide unknown of Michigan this week.  Hope you all are enjoying time with your family!  

This past weekend I had to get ready for camping.  Camping for my first time to be more precise.  It was Cray-Z-ness!  

Saturday morning I was knee deep in about 8 loads of laundry, trying to make lists of items we would need, and suddenly I realized that the Pioneer Woman was about to come on.  

Screech to a halt the madness.  

I needed this.  

 So I ran upstairs to my haven...our bedroom...doesn't it look serene?

 I got some iced coffee...

 And scrounged around for the muffin I had gotten in Nashville, Indiana the week before and had managed to hide from the masses...

And sat in front of our teeny-tiny television to watch the show...

Ahh, heaven.  I was alone for an entire half hour while the children were downstairs doing their thing.  I don't think they even knew I was gone :)

May you find a soft place to hide and rest and destress amidst the craziness of life, sweet friends!

Happy 4th of July and Weekend!

Yesterday was the fourth of July and sadly we had no friends having cook outs or anything going on.  Poor Nick has been painting the house every day he's had off of work, the children have been slaving away around the house with school, and quite frankly we all just needed a break! 

So we headed out to Chicago which is only about an hour and a half from our house for the day.  We were very thrilled to just get out of the area for a little while.  Emma had a gift card to American Girl to spend which is conveniently located right next to the Lego store.  Our two favorite stores were checked off the list and then Mommy's fave store, H&M was visited as it is right across the street.  

After the shopping we went up to Lincoln Park to visit the zoo.  We had a picnic and then headed in.  

 Mr. Laid Back and Miss Sassy Pants.  Yep, those are our two kids.

 The children rode the Endangered Animals Carousel which they seemed thrilled with.  Emma had a big, glamorous bow that matched her dress but she didn't want to wear it.  I'm trying really hard to not let OCD get to me and just to let her be.   What a sweet girl she is!  She kept telling Nick thank you over and over for the day.  
 Here was Cal going around and then...

 Before long this whirled around.  Apparently as Cal reported to us, his name is Frank and he REALLY, REALLY wanted something on his head.  What a silly boy!

  I think our family favorite part of the day was seeing the Polar Bear.  Emma and I studied them last year and she remembered so much about them!  I was pretty impressed, actually!

 After grabbing some Garrett's popcorn we headed down to Chinatown for some shopping and strolling.  Cal found some ninja swords he just had to have and Emma got a stuffed animal.  What is up with girls and stuffed animals?  Anyone else's daughter just seem to not be able to get enough of them?

Calvin was very over sensitized by this point so as much as I wanted to stay and eat we headed home. Which was fine because he got progressively worse the closer we got to home.  So glad I didn't have to wrangle that in a sit down restaurant!

When we got home we let the dog out, had dinner, and then headed out for local fireworks.  It was a fast paced day and it was choked full of so much fun!  Hope your's was too, sweet friend!  And hopefully you're just having a super duper long weekend of celebrating!

Vacation Planning

Here are the kiddos this past week spending their Toys R  Us Gift cards from Christmas!  

Yesterday we were driving, just the kids and me, when they started the incessant begging that seems to have become a normal occurrence.  

Don't get me wrong...I like to eat out too.  And I like to buy new things too.  Just not all of the time! This past week we had taken them to go shopping and it seemed right after they wanted more. And the kiddos seem to want something all of the time.  Their consumerism has gotten out of hand.  

So I turned off the Fresh Beat Band we were jamming to and had a serious heart to heart.  

We talked about having a goal for trying to save money.  We decided to make our September vacation our long-term goal.  

I explained to the kids that our vacation this year will consist of going to Michigan...way out in the wilderness Michigan.  When Emma asked how much we are going to need I explained that there are different amounts  depending on what we want to do.  If we just want to go camping and explore, maybe buy a souvenir then it will cost one amount of money.  Another step up we could get ice cream and do fun things like putt-putt and get more souvenirs.  And the top price point would mean we could stay at a hotel, have lots of fun and explore lots of things.  Emma chose the last one.  

Nick and I are still putting together the numbers for each "price point" if you will and the kiddos seem pretty amped up.  They suggested a jar to keep our vacation money in as a visual reminder of what we are working towards. 

 Nick and I have some of our own hints for saving money.  At Nick's work they give out gift cards to gas stations throughout the year which we save for vacations.  We then have those we can deduct off our gas budget for the trip.  We also have a rebate program from our bank where we earn money on debit card purchases.  If we book our hotel through their travel agent they double this money towards our hotel.  So far we have about $140 to spend towards a hotel so that can be deducted from our amount  needed.  We are always looking to use things up and utilize little pockets of resources we have available.  

Anywho, I am so excited that they got into the action of saving and working towards something!  I told them whenever they want something they should  think of our goal and what we are working towards saving towards.  

I was thankful too that they were listening long enough too to talk about how God wants up to be a good steward of our money.  

Matthew 5:20-21 "  And he who had received five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.''

We need to take care of what God has provided us with and trust that  He will provide.  We need to be content with what we have rather than always expecting more.  

Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your life free from money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "

I'd love to know how you all are teaching your kiddos to live frugally and to be content with what they have. Ideas please! :)  

Tifton, Georgia

On our way to Floriday to visit Mickey Mouse, we made a stop in Tifton, Georgia.  Disney World is approximately 19 hours away from our house.  We definitely could have done the drive in one day.  But we knew if we went that route that, upon arrival, we would be completely exhausted from the driving and the kids would be all psyched up, ready to go! 

So we decided to break the drive up.  We left on a Sunday night at about midnight.  Nick had been able to sleep from about 6:00 p.m. until Midnight, so he was rested and ready to go upon departure.  While he was sleeping I packed the car, got some last minute cleaning done, and just plain old relaxed for a while, knowing in a few short hours I would be smooshed in the car with no personal space. 

We drove from midnight until about 5:00 p.m., making some shopping stops along the way, eating at every Cracker Barrel we could find (just kidding...kind of), and just plain old enjoying the drive. 

We stopped at a place called Lane Orchards.  They had pecans and peaches.  Oh my word, they also had homemade fresh peach ice cream which was to DIE for!  It really was homemade, not we bought this fake peach mix but mixed it ourselves...nope this was not too sweet and had this amazing fresh peach taste.  MMMM....I want some RIGHT NOW!!!

Eating the peach...goobers!

Life is so hard for these two :)

We chose to stay in Tifton with our travel agent.  It was about 4 hours away from Disney.  A good place to stop for the night and not have too much driving in front of of us the next day.  When we got there we discovered that it was a typical city that was getting built up around the edged.  But town's website called it the Friendly Place or something like that...so there had to be a downtown, right? 

The cutest lady at the front desk of our hotel told us in her southern drawl "oh, ya'll don't want to see the downtown.  There's nothin' there."  But I did want to see it.  I love old buildings, and Nick having City planning in his blood, made us an ideal couple to explore the downtown. 

Neatest old theatre was still there..loved it!

A bed and breakfast :)

Love Farmer's Markets...they keep neighborhoods alive and help towns to thrive!

We drove by this old Grocery Store...loved it and the media on the sides of the store :)

 For dinner we went to a place for dinner called "Charles Seafood".  When we are travelling we always try to find locally owned places that have been open for a long time..  You know, taste what the locals eat :)  This place has been opened since the '70's.  And don't you just love the decor?  Huh?  Yeah, you want some of that wallpaper for your guest bathroom, don't you??

 We sat across from these signs...it was cute!

And here was the dinner food you got.  Everything was served on paper/plastic plates.  If we wanted another plate for the kids to have  some of our food there was a 30 cent surcharge which kind of made me laugh.  Seriously?  And how many people ask for extra plates?  Tons?  So much so that you found the extra plates going out were making you go broke?  This is a hard economy, dude.  Anyway, the fried oysters were Amazing!  Like, Uh-maze-ing!  I am not a big fried seafood fan, but these were good!  Highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in the bottom of Georgia and stumble into Tifton!

So that's our little tour of Tifton!  We enjoyed our night there.  We were gone by 5 am the next day and then we were headed for Disney!!!!  

I promise, someday I will share those pics too :)