Traveling Flats

I've known about The Flat Stanley Project for a while and have finally decided to join in.  I joined the Flat Traveler Homeschool Yahoo Group for resources, ideas, and to hook up with other Flat Traveler Families.  I'm not sure if the girls are old enough to appreciate this now, but I know they will down the road.  My plan is to put together a Flat Traveler (henceforth to be referred to as FT) scrapbook that they'll be able ot browse through and (unknowingly) learn from.  You can click here for more ideas & info on FTs.

I made two FTs:  Flat Ava and Flat Shelby.  Flat Shelby is not pictured, as she's on her way to Israel.  Flat Ava (pictured with not-flat Ava) will be going to visit my ex-SIL in Austria.  Shelby's holding the journal I put together that the hosting family will fill out for us.  In it are questions such as Did anything historically significant happen in your town?  What is your town's food specialty?  and places for the host to draw pictures or place stickers.  My plan is to visit every state and as many countries as possible.  I've made a list of folks I know in differet states & countries and will be hitting them up to host our FTs in the future.  You can send and host as many FTs as you like.  I think 2 out at any given time is plenty.  We are expecting two and I'm thinking that's a good number to have to keep up with...I mean host. 

I Can't Believe I'm 45!!! (seriuosly)

Me and the hubs, all glammed up for a birthday outing.

It was great to get out with other adults!

Here I am more au naturel, doing one of my favorite things: cooking.  Notice the almost complete kitchen.  I love it!

Atlanta Snow 2010

I spent the snowy weekend sick in bed.  We tried to go to the doctor on 2/12, but couldn't get out of the neighborhood because of the snow/hill combo.  Finally made it the next day and was diagnosed with "A Bad Cold."

2nd Place at the Girl Scout Bake-Off

Goodwill Finds

It had been a while since I'd been to my favorite store--Goodwill.  Most of the time, they have just what I'm looking for.  Sometimes they have items that I'm not necessarily looking for (like the books above), but some I just can't pass up!  For the books I paid between  $0.75 and $1.25.  Some of them are classics!  The prices for the appliances were: $5.95 for the ice cream/sorbet maker and the crockpot on the right, $7.95 for the programmable crockpot on the left.  It was a good day of shopping!  Anybody got any good crockpot recipes?

Daisy Scouts Bake-Off

Ava and Shelby made Butter Squares for the Girls Scouts Bake Off.  Curiously, we had to use the recipes provided by the troop leader.  Ava is a Daisy Scout, Shelby a "Tag Along" since she's not old enough to be a Daisy yet.  They got second place in the bake off. 

My girls handle that mixer like pros! 

The finished product.  Ava got to taste it, but Shelby couldn't because of her allergies.

Thanksgiving RV Trip

For Thanksgiving, we decided to rent an RV and go visit my aunt & uncle in Maryland.  I hadn't seen them in over seven years.  They had a houseful, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring our own accomodations.   She was a 38 footer and sooo nice!

The drive turned out to be longer than planned.  But it was OK, we had good drivers.

We had a very good visit with our family.  Delaney was a little monster the whole time we were there.  I think it was due to her sleep schedule having been disrupted.  I think she now has a bad reputation with the kin.

Here's my brother and me with Aunt Serena (who hates taking pictures) and two of the girls.

My dad with Ava & Shelby

Some of my crazy cousins.

I got to see two of my old Air Force friends while up there.  Gwen and I were stationed at FE Warren AFB in Cheyenne, Wy.  I left there in 1991, but we have stayed in touch through the years.

Karen and I were stationed at Hickam AFB in Hawaii in the 80's.  We experienced our first pregnancy together.  Our due dates were 3 weeks apart, but we ended up delivering one day apart (I was late, she was early).  I looked up to her, and she helped me navigate some of my marital woes.  We had lost touch in recent years, but I managed to find her through her daughter on Facebook.  It was so awesome to see both of them, but sad that we couldn't spend more time together.

We also took advantage of being up there and did some quick sightseeing.  I wanted the girls to see where the president of the United States and his family live, among other things.

The Capitol

The White House

The Wahington Monument

The trip cost much more than we'd calculated, but it was a great expereince overall.  We REALLY want an RV of our own, but that won't be doable for a long while. *sigh*