Lyon Family Farm, TN -- 2011

Yesterday we decided to take the kids to Lyon Family Farms.  Most people around here go to Tate Farm.  I actually have never been to Tate Farm.  Both Hunter and Emilee have been through school field trips, but the rest of us have not.  Last year was the first time we went to Lyon Farm and we liked it so much, we went back this year.  Now if you ask Emilee, she will say she likes Lyon farms so much better, Hunter on the other hand says he likes Tate.  I really don't know which is better, but we sure did have a good time at Lyons and really that is all that matters.

They didn't have this last year, but it was seriously funny.  Emilee could get herself going and then flop right in the middle.  They all had a race with Jeremy as well and the winner, EMILEE!!

So much to see and do.  I always am a sucker for a corn maze.  Hunter is hilarious 'cause he doesn't have the desire to get out of the maze, but to try and get lost as best as he can.  I would say, Hunter this way and he knew that it was, but he would say, "no mommy, this way, 'cause that is the way out over there".  Silly boy.  It was very difficult to get him out, and in the end, we came out of the entrance the way we came in.

Ah, the animal area.  Megan loves animals.  She could have stayed in here all day.  There was a kitten you could take home.  She tried hard to persuade me, but no, like that will happen.  She is lucky to have the dog we have.  I did like the pigs and for the three little pigs, there were three little houses.  One made out of straw, one made out of sticks, and one made out of bricks.  Totally cute, I just hope the big bad wolf doesn't need a cup of sugar.

 And of course to end our time at the farm was a hayride to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin.  Hunter wanted a green one.  He went and found the biggest green one he could find.  He says he wants it to be the Green Goblin.  Emilee wanted a fat orange one and Megan was trying to find the perfect small round one.

What a fun day!  

Camping in the Smokies of North Carolina

Now, don't get me wrong.  I loved my children as babies and toddlers.  They were always so cute and very fun to be around, but I love it even more now that they are a little older.  We are able to do so many fun things like camping.  We decided for fall break that we would take the kids camping to the Smokies in North Carolina (for you Hunger Games fans, we were very close to where they were filming the movie)  We were so lucky to go when the leaves were changing colors.  The weather was amazing, the colors beautiful, and the time was fantastic.  

After we got the tent set up and settled in a bit we were ready to start the camp fire so we could cook the food.  Now I have decided that this is the best part of camping.  For some reason it tastes so much better cooked over a fire.  

Funny thing about these smores.  Megan likes them without the marshmellows.  Emilee likes them without the graham crackers, Hunter likes them with the marshmellows, chocolate, and the graham crackers.  My kids are for sure their own person.

                       

Hot dogs and Smores.  That is what was on the menu.  Of course, what would be better on a camp out, right??  Now, remember when I said the weather was great.  Well, that is true, except when the sun went down.  It got real cold.  Megan not only wore her flannel pajamas, but her sweats over that and I think she might have had a fleece jacket on as well.  We weren't freezing, but it did get down to about 38 degrees at night.  Brrr, Chill, Cold, Freezing!

Before we went to bed, we even told a few ghost stories.  Megan told this one that made me laugh.  There were these boys and they went into this spooky old house and what did they see, but a floating coffin chasing them.  One of the boys decided to throw some cough drops at the coffin and sure enough, the coffin went away.  The other boy asked, "how did you know that would work?" and the boy said, "because cough drops always stop the coffin"  HA!  I love it!  

It was time for bed after that and boy was I tired, but we did get real cold in the night, but we all survived.  I did find out that my kids talk a lot in their sleep and the second night I woke up with the feeling that someone was looking at me.  When I looked up, it was Hunter standing above me.  I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom and all he did was get back in his sleeping bag and fell back to sleep.  OK, that might be just a little bit freaky and could be the plot to a scary movie.  He didn't remember a thing the next morning.  Crazy kids I tell ya, but I suppose I will keep them.

                 
                 

The next day we walked around town, shopped in some of the cute touristy shops.  The kids got to ride a Mechanical Bull, which was totally fun for them.  They rode Go Carts, Bumper Cars, played Laser Tag, and when we got back to the camp site they went swimming and after we cooked and ate our dinner they watched a movie they were playing in the middle of the camp grounds.  When we got back to our site the kids put on a puppet show for us with the puppets that they bought that afternoon.

Megan really wanted to get this picture.  I don't blame her.  When I was a kid, I always thought it looked like so much fun, so we decided to let Megan and Emilee dress up for this photo.  Hunter didn't want to.  They actually took some pretty good ones and some that I thought were totally funny.  

But in the end, we chose this one.  

After a good night's sleep, we woke up to a beautiful morning.  We decided to go on a small hike up to the falls before coming home.

                     


                      
                     

It was a good trip.  It is so much fun to do these fun fun activities with the kids.  I hope that they will always remember them.  We don't have plans for another camping trip for awhile.  We were thinking maybe for Spring Break.  There is a camp site in Kentucky that Jeremy wants to try out.  

New York City

Jeremy had some training for work in New York City.  Just like when he had to go to Hawaii for work, I couldn't possibly let him go alone.  So, of course I had to go with him.  I know, awful, right.  Ya right!  I have always wanted to go to NYC so I had to go with him.  I love cities that you can just walk around and don't need to have a car.  That is why I love San Francisco and London so much which are my two favorite cities in the world.  Like most places though, there are great things about this city and not so great things.

What I love about NYC:

--I love the fact that you don't need a car.  Public transportation is the best here and very convenient.

--I love the big buildings and architecture.  It is fabulous and wonderful to look at.  Most amazing.  

--It is full of history.  It is all around you.  I love it!

--So much food.  There are thousands of restaurants.  Food is very easy to get, anytime, anywhere.

--Despite the reputation of NYC, I found the people there very pleasant.  Most liked hearing where you were from and wanted to know what you thought of their city.  They were very eager to give advice of where to go and what to do.

--I love the famous buildings and landmarks to see.  I love the history that accompanies these landmarks.

--Culture.  So much culture.  It is amazing to see how much culture.  I must have heard walking down the street many different languages of residents that live there and tourists who come far to see this city.

What I did not like so much about NYC:

--It really is a very liberal place to be.  Almost too liberal.  They really do see things very differently in the world.  It made me feel very grateful for my small area of Madison Alabama to live where many have much in common with my values.  (That is to include many who are not members of my church)  We truly do have some wonderful people living here.  I have to laugh.  Being from Las Vegas, I get so many comments about living in sin city and the slogan what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  Well, Vegas is tame compared to NYC as far as I am concerned.  In Vegas, all the "sinful" things are pretty much in one area of town or close to it.  People that live there, never associate things with the strip unless they work down there.  In NYC, it is everywhere.  How Vegas got the reputation instead of New York,  I will never know.

--It is very expensive and can be quite annoying as such.  Most will say, "Well, welcome to NYC and inflation"  I don't think they should make that an excuse.  It should infuriate them as well.

--Pizza.  I love pizza.  I expected so much more of the pizza there.  Coming from the west, many who were from NYC would brag and brag about their pizza from NYC.  Now, I am not saying it was bad, but it is highly overrated.  Let me tell ya, I have had pizza from all over, including Italy itself, so I have lots to compare it with.  It was nothing special and those who are from the west, really are not missing much.  I am sure that would anger many from NYC, but oh well, that is just my opinion.

--Comedy.  Not good.  Let me give ya some advice.  If you ever go to NYC and you are walking around Time Square, don't buy comedy tickets from the people walking around.  They will tell you whatever you want to know to get you there.  I had asked about bad language and vulgar jokes and they assured us that though they might say a few swear words, but nothing that would be awful.  They also said there would be a two drink minimum.  No big deal, right?  Well, that would be about $15 for one person and since we don't drink that meant Jeremy and I paid $30 for our soda.  By the way, the show was full of swearing and vulgarity with many of the comics.  I don't find that funny in the least and shows me just how untalented they really are.  I would assume many of the other clubs are similar.  If you want comedy in NYC, make sure you see someone you already know. 

--Because the city is so big and so many people and so much to see, it can be a little overwhelming.  Most are just trying to get from A to B as quickly as they can.  I found that a little intimidating, but it takes getting use to, I suppose.  If I ever get back there again, I know exactly what to expect.

For the most part, I really did enjoy the city.  It truly is an amazing place to be.  I don't think I would ever want to live there, but visiting is truly an adventure.

  Up first, was the Empire State Building.  This was a great place to start and I highly recommend getting the audio tour.  I was able to see the whole city and all its burrows.  It was very informative and a great view.  By the way, I was so sad to not be able to see Mt. Olympus at the top.   HEHEHE  

Now, as far as I am concerned, how can you go to NYC and not see the Statue of Liberty.  She is an American symbol and I think an amazing thing to see.  The subway, takes you right there to the ferry that takes you over there.  Some just take the Statton Island Ferry (which is free, but it doesn't stop at the island), but I thought it was nice to walk around the Island and get up nice and close.  I thought she was an amazing site to see.

I know Time Square is truly the touristy place to walk around, but I have to say, I really liked being down there.  Especially at night.  There is so much to see and so many people.  I loved the crowds.  Jeremy, not his thing, but I was in my element there.  

Now if you saw The Night of the Museum and think you know the Natural History Museum, you would be wrong.  There really are not very many similarities.  I did find Dumb Dumb though.  I asked one of the museum guards if they give him any gum and he very annoyingly replied, "ya, one minute after midnight"  I might expect they get that question a lot, but I don't really feel bad for him.  When you work around tourists, guess what, ya gotta answer the tourist's silly questions.  

I liked Washington Square.  It was probably one of the more laid back places to sit and veg.  People are reading, painting, playing music.  And this is also one of the places where all the people are playing chess.  It was a great place to sit and relax.  This was the first time we got hot dogs from a New York vendor.  Some who live there think that's gross to get a hot dog from them, but I think it is very New York and you know what?  It was a pretty good hot dog.  So much, that I got another one the next day as well.  Oh  ya, I also got roasted cashews from vendors more then once.  Mmm, not only do they smell so good, but they taste wonderful.  

I found this fascinating.  I knew that the Manhattan temple was in the middle of the city, but to actually see it in the midst of the New York craziness was fascinating.  You would see all these businesses surrounding it and then there it was all in its glory.  Truly amazing!

You could spend days here and still not see everything.  Of course we all know this is where Percy Jackson began to find out who he was.  I saw some wonderful things here and I saw some weird things as well.    Below is a painting I bought from an artist on the street in front of the Metropolitan Museum.  She had some pretty pictures that she had painted, but in the end I decided on the Rainbow Bridge that is in Central Park.  Pretty, isn't it and I feel a very New York thing to get.  I saw lots of artists there either painting or trying to sell what they have painted.  I thought it was totally fun.

So, I really wanted to see the new 9/11 memorial.  Problem is even though tickets are free, they are reserved clear until the end of November.  When I went to the small museum next to Ground Zero, they said that they do give out 150 tickets every day that aren't reserved, but you have to get there pretty early.  Perhaps if I was staying longer, I could of tried harder, but I knew it would be too hard to get down there with the time I had to get those tickets.  I did walk around the area where the towers were though and looked through the small museum.  It was very humbling.  I saw many who were still affected by what happened as they put flowers, cards, and pictures to the fence of where they are building the new towers.  This is Freedom tower.  It is 

1,776 ft tall.  That is not a coincidence.  I was told though, when everything is finished, it will not be called Freedom tower, but the new World Trade Center, just as it always should be.

Here we have pictures of one of the biggest churches in the city, the "Dakota", where John Lennon was shot for you Beatles fans, the Guggenheim for those who want to see those weird Picassos and other out there works of art, the Brooklyn Bridge which if I had the time would have walked across to Brooklyn and some other city sites.

I took this picture of Central Park.  I thought it was a beautiful picture and you can already see some of those beautiful fall colors coming out.

So I have been to Madam Tussauds in London and also in Vegas.  I just finished reading a book by Michelle Moran about Madam Tussauds, which was a very good book.  I highly recommend it.  So of course, I had to go to Madam Tussauds in New York.  I know, you thought I really did see those famous people.  HA!  Ya right, like Abraham Lincoln is still alive. (I took a picture of him 'cause I just finished the book, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer.  As I was looking at him, I thought, he doesn't look like a vampire slayer at all.  It made me laugh.  By the way, that is a good book as well) I had to get a picture with Robert Pattinson cause he is Edward ya know, and we do love Daniel Craig, and how could we ever forget Bono.  Some of the others here are Helen Keller. ( I took one of her cause I live about 70 miles away from her childhood home)  Madam Tussaud herself, which is the last wax figure she did of herself, Bill Gates for you Microsoft fans, Miley Cyrus for you teeny bopper fans, and of course how could we forget SpiderMan and the Incredible Hulk.  Funny story about this place.  As I was going through the pop cultural part I saw the band "BackStreet Boys".  Well, there was someone taking a picture of them and I was waiting so I wouldn't go in front of her picture.  She seemed to be taking a long time so I proceeded to go behind her.  As I looked back at her I started to laugh, 'cause that person taking a picture was a wax person herself.  She was set up as a papparazzi person taking pictures of the band.  I felt really stupid.  So, I waited to see if others did the same and without fail, the next three or four people did the exact same thing as me.  We all just started laughing.  

The last night we were in New York, Jeremy and I were able to see a broadway show.  We decided to see SpiderMan, After the Dark.  Crazy I know, here we are in NYC and what do we see for a show, but SpiderMan.  Well, it was a compromise.  Jeremy really isn't into broadway so we had to see something he might like as well.  Actually, it was pretty good.  Kind of cool to see SpiderMan and the Green Goblin flying around the theater.  The music is written by Bono from U2 so if you are a U2 fan, you would like it.  Music was great.  Overall, not a bad choice.  

We had a good time.  So much to see and so much still to see.  I would love to go back sometime.