DC fun!

We all took a little field trip to Washington DC, and it was so much fun! Greg had a TDY there and we decided it might be fun to make it a family event :)

Can I just say that I love to travel and see new places?! I suppose that's a good thing, since we get to move around a bit with the AF!

We drove there, which might have been the most difficult part of the trip. This made our fourth big road trip in 7 months; this trip totaled 2200 miles...but, who's counting?!!!

Anywaysssss....We stayed with our friends Steve and Kelly for some of the trip (had a blast, just like our old times in Korea with them). We also stayed on base at Quantico-a marine core base in Virginia, and then we wrapped up our trip with a couple of nights in downtown DC, near the Pentagon; Greg had meetings at Quantico and at the Pentagon.

We got to see and do much; I had never been to the area, so I was lovin' every minute of it! The energy of DC sits well with me...for a few minutes I thought I might want to live there...but then the traffic kinda got on my nerves!

Speaking of living there, we are anxiously awaiting on "the list" to come out. Another words, we are waiting to find out where the possibilities are for us to move...hurry up already with that!

Back to DC...One of the things that I have no pictures of, but was a high-light of the trip was a mini-Osan reunion. There are a bunch of gals that live in the DC area that I was stationed with at Osan AB in Korea. We all met up for dinner and had such a wonderful time! We visited for 6 hours...time just flew by. I love all of the friends that I have made through the years thanks to the AF!

the Bailey's at the Washington Monument

Jannah in front of the WW 2 Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Lincoln Monument

Well, there's honest Abe!

Korean War Memorial

me and my man

The Old Post Office, built back in 1892. So gorgeous on the outside!

A little bit of bed-time reading with Daddy! I so love this candid shot, all three of them are ready for bed and giving Greg every ounce of their attention.

Pizza night with the Watts'

Oh my soul! Jamison just loves Steven to pieces!

This was taken at the Pentagon City Mall

My kiddos thought the pay phones were the coolest thing ever. It occurred to me that the reason they were so fascinated with them is because they have hardly ever seen them!

US Air Force Memorial

We ended our visit in DC with a treat from Georgetown Cupcakes :) A sweet treat and a sweet "field trip"!

What's in Collinsville, IL???

We woke up this morning to MORE snow on the ground. I'm kinda ready for warm weather and flip-flops, but I'm not going to complain! I want to tell you about our adventurous day. The day started with yours truly (me) shoveling the 4 or so inches of snow off the driveway. After that, we headed to Jordan's basketball game. I promise to have pictures of that soon;Greg is the coach and they are both having so much fun! We came home after the game, with plans to do nothing. That soon changed; we have been in the house so much this past week, I decided we had to get outta there! So, after some quick planning, we headed out to see a few things and do some really good eating :)

Do you see what I see?

It's a big ole' catsup bottle! They claim it's the world's largest one! It's in Collinsville, a small town that's only a few minutes away from O'Fallon. We told the kids that's what we were going to see; Jannah wasn't too thrilled. On the other hand, Jordan was super thrilled when he was the first one to spot it! It marks the spot where this brand of catsup used to be manufactured, but it's no longer an operating plant. Nonetheless, it was something to look at from inside our warm car!

We headed on through Maryville, then to Glen Carbon; that's where I took this picture~I just love the snow-covered evergreens!

We saw a historical sign for a covered bridge, we figured we should go take a look, why not? We were in no big hurry and we were hoping to show the kids a bit of an adventurous day! I had something else in mind (like the covered bridges you see in pictures), but it was something to look at and talk about...

We wound up in Edwardsville. There were two places we wanted to try. And neither one disappointed!

We had a Jerk Chicken Pizza at the Peel...check it out Peel Pizza

We then headed over to The Cup Oh my...I just love this place! The cupcakes are delicious and there's such a selection! My Italian Cream cupcake was to die for!!!

After our tummies were full, we came home and played in the snow, until dark! It was a fun-filled day!

Take Me Out to the BALLGAME!!!

When you live 20 minutes from St. Louis...I think it's mandatory to become a St. Louis Cardinals fan! We will ALWAYS be Atlanta Braves fans at heart, but...this was bound to happen! We were dressed and ready for the game...can you see that? The 1st and 5th graders from Jannah's school sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. It was so much fun and what a fun experience for her. I stepped back in time as we boarded the school buses to head down to the game; it's been a while! The boys were excited about the bus ride...and they weren't disappointed, it proved to be fun for all!

My love and I! Hey, these are the same colors as the Braves!

Sophie & Jannah...they met the first day of school, and have been kindred spirits ever since; could be that her parents are fellow Georgians!

In case you're wondering, this was his game face! He was content, the whole time! No surprise there!

The main event!!!! Not a good picture, rats! But, they sang their hearts out and the crowd cheered! Jannah is kneeling on the bottom row, about midways.

My favorite part of the night was when we got there and saw all of the people and vastness of the stadium, Jannah said to me, "we have to sing in front of all these people?!?!?"

Gaylord @ Opryland

One of the many sights to behold at the Gaylord...We decided to stay there and have some family fun as we headed down to GA for Christmas. It was so pretty and there were so many Christmas decorations (I'm a sucker for those), as you know. We had fun, my only complaint was the massive crowds of people that were there...seriously, couldn't we just have it all to ourselves? We went to the Opryland Mills for a little shopping and dined at the Rainforest Cafe, of course we had fun at the Bass Pro Shop there too! We went to the Charlie Brown Ice Sculptures, pretty cool...literally! It was 0 degrees in there, we all had on parkas to *help* keep us warm; we still froze! We enjoyed a train ride in the resort, walking around and admiring the decorations, a fountain show that was accompanied by the narration of Jesus' birth...that was really neat! One of my favorite parts...we ate out and I cooked/cleaned nothing! Is it sad when that's my fav part of a vacation/trip? I think not!

How about these necklaces? They were the must-haves...

live poinsettia tree

One of the many, gorgeous tress. I would not like to be the one to decorate/undecorate this place!

the fountains display

Charlie Brown's Christmas Ice Sculptures

This was all made of ice...how cool?!?!

ice nativity scene

Phuket Thailand

Greg and I decided that Phuket had to be a place we visited before leaving Korea; we have only heard wonderful things about the area. We spent 7 relaxing, romantic, fun and sun filled days at the Laguna Beach Resort (maybe I'm exaggerating about relaxing and romantic). We did have fun, and I did no cooking and laundry for an entire week...that's a vacation to any mama! The beach was beautiful and the sun was a welcome sight, as we left very cold weather in Korea. Each day started with an incredible breakfast at the resort. After that, we took our time and got in a hurry to do very little. The most difficult part was applying sunscreen on everybody...who knew that could be such a challenge?!? We did our best, but you'll see sunburn on some of the faces! We ate lunch at the poolside grill every day, and even had smoothies in coconuts! We napped, we swam, rode the ferry around the lagoon, went on an elephant trek, played in the sand, walked on the beach, and just tried to soak up the moments with each other. At night, we would set out walking down the beach and find a place to eat; if you're thinking Thai food was abundant, you're right. We ate it every night, and had some tasty dishes; one night we rounded dinner off with fried bananas. My family likes bananas, everyone thought the bananas in Thailand were the best! The Thai people were so kind and genuine. They seem to live a very laid back life and take their time at all they do. What a pleasant people to be around. They loved our children and wanted to do for them constantly. Truly, we had a great experience. I have an assortment of pictures, it was hard to pick from the 120+ pictures, but here's a taste of our trip!