catching up....

the last time i blogged was saturday, and we had just spent a wonderful day at hershey.

sunday wasn't as exciting.  we went to a small church in elizabethtown, pennsylvania.  everyone there was super friendly and welcoming.  the worship service was very relaxed and joyful {as it should be}.  after worship we had lunch and drove through amish country.  

since it was sunday, the amish people weren't doing anything.  we saw a few walking on the side of the road and some others in their carriages.  their farms and houses were something to see, though.  lush green fields and white houses with barns and silos dotted the land.

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amish country

of course the boys were not thrilled with taking a sunday drive, so after a while we just went back to the hotel.  daryl took the boys down to the pool, and i took a much-needed nap!  then we had dinner and took the boys to see night at the museum.

monday morning we got up, had one last holiday inn express breakfast, and started the long journey back to oklahoma!  martha {our gps device} took us home by the northern route, and it was a lot less scenic.  it wasn't ugly or anything, but there weren't near as many mountains or valleys as the southern route through kentucky and west virginia.

the coolest part about this part of the trip was actually driving THROUGH the mountains!  that's right!  tunnels were built right through the mountains, and you had to drive in them.  you knew a tunnel was coming up because you would see road signs that read "remove sunglasses" or "stay in lane".

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through the mountains

we stopped late that night somewhere in illinois to spend the night.

the next morning we were up again determined to drive the rest of the way home, even if it killed us!  

daryl had promised us we would stop at the arch in st. louis, and he stayed true to that promise. the closer we got to the arch, the more colby protested about going inside it!  he just kept saying, "i don't want to go. i don't want to go."

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st. louis arch

as we were walking through the park to actually get up to the arch {you can't park close to it!} colby just kept stopping and saying, "i'm staying right here."  and we just kept walking, leaving him behind.  he'd run to catch up and then say again, "i'm staying right here."  we finally got up to the arch, and he leaned up against it and started knocking on it to make sure it was safe!!! and again he said, "i'm staying right here!"

of course he changed his mind and joined us on the journey to the top of the arch.

he was not thrilled about the ride though. he held on for dear life!  i was not so sure about the safety of our little capsule, either!  it was a bit claustrophobic in there.  imagine crawling into the drum of an over-sized dryer, and that's what it was like!  even i had to duck while we were riding in the capsule because it was so small!

once we got to the top, colby was just fine!  it was hard to believe we were 630 feet in the air!  the view from up there was incredible! i think spencer took more pictures than i did!

after the arch it was time for lunch and the last leg of our drive.  by that point we were all ready to be home.

that is why i was only allowed ONE stop at an antique store, so daryl said to make sure it was one i really wanted!  {how was i supposed to know if it was a good one until i went in?}  so i just looked for a big store!!!!  

as soon as we walked in, i heard that annoying alert from the emergency broadcast system coming from the store's radio.  my heart started pounding......."the national weather service in springfield, missouri has just issued a tornado warning for pulaski and lebanon counties until....."  i had no idea where in missouri we were, so i just marched up to the counter, butted in line and asked what county we were in!  the ladies in line and at the register asked what was announced on the radio, so i told them that pulaski and lebaNON counties were under a tornado warning.  can you believe that they actually had the nerve to correct my pronunciation of lebaNON to lebaNUN???? our lives were possibly on the line, and i could care less how to say the name of the county!!!  i just wanted to know if i was about to get blown away by a tornado!!!!!!!!!!!!

so as it turned out, the store was not in one of those counties, but they were the next counties on I-44.  we were headed straight for the storms.........so from springfield to the missouri/oklahoma border, i was armed with the missouri map and was actually tracking the tornadoes!  {i also had daryl's phone playing bookworm to distract me between tornado warnings!}

we drove through nearly every county that was under a tornado warning while the warning was still in effect!  needless to say, i was a tad bit uneasy during all of this, but i couldn't let the boys know that.  we would have had some major problems if they really knew how nervous i was!

after a long day in the car, we got home around 6:30 last night.  we got squirt and joey back from the howes, and then i just sat on the couch.  it was so nice to be home.

this morning daryl and spencer got rocky from the kennel.  he was more than happy to be home!!!  he wiggled and ran and jumped for several minutes after he came in the house!  when i picked him up, i noticed that i couldn't feel his ribs sticking out on the sides like i normally could.  then when i was rubbing his belly, i noticed he didn't feel as bony there either.  he had actually gained weight while we were gone! 

so i asked spencer what they'd fed rocky at the kennel, and he said we took his food.  oh my gosh!  have we been starving our poor little dog?  

another little change occurred while we were away.  the birds came back to the grill and built another nest!  only this time they were able to lay their eggs since daryl wasn't here to destroy their home!  maybe he'll be nice enough to let these eggs hatch before he demolishes the nest. {doubt it.}

photo of the day #160

the birds are back!

quote of the day:  "There's no place like home." ~Dorothy, Wizard of Oz

we're home!

yay!  we're back home!  i'll tell you more about it tomorrow.  right now i'm too tired to blog.

chocolate.......

today was hershey. wow.

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hershey chocolate world

the first thing we did was take a trolley tour around hershey, pennsylvania.  these 3 people were our singing tour guides....that's right, singing!  it was so awesome!  everyone on the trolley sang along to songs like sentimental journey, you are my sunshine and god bless america.  i must say that our group could sing!!!!!!  the harmony was incredible!  the driver even complimented daryl on his singing.
love the street lights in hershey!
this is one of the hershey factories.  the story of milton hershey was very interesting. he actually failed many times as a candy maker.  he started out in the caramel candy business because chocolate was not in the united states yet.  milton hershey is credited with bringing chocolate to the u.s.  thank you milton!
after lunch we went to hershey university and learned the correct way to taste chocolate! these were our supplies.......
we frothed this chocolate and cinnamon beverage just like the mayans and some other indians did.  this was an interesting drink.
colby was chosen from the audience to be a guest professor who was an "expert" at crushing cacao beans.  at first he didn't want to do it, but when she told him there was chocolate involved, he was out of his seat!  he even tasted a raw cacao bean!  
then the boys went to work at the factory and assembled their own packages of hershey kisses!
daryl and i didn't work.......we just wanted the cool hats!
quote of the day: "A love that has nothing to do with each other, for I feel my love for each of you is total and all-encompassing. Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it." ~Milton Hershey 

color me happy!

today we finally visited the crayola factory in easton, pennsylvania!  i've been looking forward to this for weeks now!  all of us had a good time playing and creating.  i'm pretty sure daryl didn't enjoy it as much as i did, but he did join in on the art, too!

i made this sock monkey and crayon out of model magic!  this stuff was so much better than modeling clay, and you can color on it with markers! 

we also got to draw on glass with these really cool markers!

this is the world's largest crayon.

the best part of the crayola factory was at the store.  i got to put together my own tin of crayons!  

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create your own crayon tin!

quote of the day: We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box. ~unknown

great day in philly!

philadelphia was awesome!  i liked it better than d.c.  i'm not real sure why, but i did.  today i learned that if a house had more steps, back in the day that meant you had more money! in this picture, one house has 2 steps while the house next door has 4.  the foundation isn't uneven, just different numbers of steps.  so the people who own the house on the right was wealthier than the owner on the left.
the liberty bell was exciting to see. the line for the security check was extremely long, but it was worth it.  i just wish i could have touched it!
after the liberty bell we got to see independence hall.  at first i wasn't all that thrilled with the guided tour because the park ranger kept talking too much.  when we finally stepped into the room where the declaration of independence was signed, i literally got goosebumps!  it was so weird to feel that way.  it was just a room, but there was something magical about it.  i just kept thinking that this is where it all began!  they even had the chair that george washington sat in during the signing!
we had a quick lunch in the reading market hall, which was VERY cool!  i wish we would have had a lot more time to walk around in the market.  i've never been in a place like that.  i also got my first real philly steak sandwich!  it was sooooooo good and messy!

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our family

after lunch we played for a couple of hours at the please touch children's museum.  at first the museum seemed like it was going to be a bit too young for the varmints, but after a while they really got in to playing with everything from running in a big hamster wheel to constructing airplanes.

but to me the best part of the day was after supper tonight.  spencer had been begging us to find this sweet treat called water ice because his p.e. teacher, mr. black, told him he should try it.  we drove around trying to find this place called rita's water ice.  we were just about to give up, when daryl shouted, "rita's!" and crossed 3 lanes of traffic to make a right turn into the parking lot!

of course i had my camera with me, so i took a picture of the sign as we were walking up to the window.  the guy inside asked me if were from out of town because i was taking pictures.  we got to talking and he said he liked my accent, so i immediately thought he was awesome!  anyone who likes a texas accent is ok in my book!  

anyway, since we'd  never had rita's water ice, he just started sending out sample after sample for us to try!  he was so friendly and funny!  let me introduce you to kevin:

after trying many samples of water ice, which by the way is awesome, i settled for a strawberry water ice.  daryl and colby both got water ice, and spencer got........frozen custard!!!!  he's been whining all day about not getting water ice, and when we finally found a place that had it, he didn't want it!!!  oh well, he missed out!

quote of the day:  "Proclaim liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof."  ~Leviticus 25:10 {inscribed on the Liberty Bell} 

off to philly...

this morning we left d.c. to travel to philadelphia.  on the way there we stopped by the air and space museum near dulles airport.  it had some really cool airplanes!  this little red one was called la cucaracha. it was one of my favorites!

we also got to see the space shuttle enterprise!  it was so huge!!!!  

but to me what was even cooler than the space shuttle was the stuff the astronauts took on the space shuttle! scientists made a modified version of scrabble!!! it was made of super-strong magnets so the pieces wouldn't float away.  so cool!

photo of the day #153

space-travel scrabble

we also made some detours in baltimore.  we got to drive through many parts of town where the homes were all different colors!  i loved driving down the streets there!

we also saw a homeless guy carrying this sign on the corner in baltimore.  i have to give him points for creativity!

we had lunch at another diners, drive-ins and dives restaurant.  the food was delicious...especially the boston cream pie daryl and i shared for dessert!  yummers......

but probably the coolest site we saw in baltimore was the charm city cakes store!  it is where the food network show, ace of cakes, is filmed.  the windows are covered in some type of black plastic so you can't see in.  but we did see mary alice getting in her car, though....it was pretty exciting!

quote of the day: "I didn't know he would fall down!" ~Spencer

d.c.

all i've got to say is d.c. is not for the faint of heart!  wow!!!  everyone said there would be lots of walking, but i had NO idea it would be like this!  i wasn't near this tired {or cranky} after a much longer day at disneyworld!  

there's so much to see, and it's so spread out.  you hate not to go to everything since you're here, so you just keep going and going.  i wore the wrong shoes today and now i have blisters on the bottom of my feet!  someone on the metro {which was very simple to navigate!} said that today's temperatures were very unusual.  it's not typically this hot until august!  so on top of having blisters, i was unbelievably hot.  in the air and space smithsonian (sometime around 5 p.m.) i had a meltdown!  i just asked daryl and the boys to go see it without me, and i sat on a bench and cried!  isn't that absolutely stupid of me?  this is the vacation of a lifetime, and i was so miserable i couldn't hold it together!  i was also feeling guilty because i know that daryl was loving everything, and i was ruining his fun, too!

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barking dogs

so even though it sounds like i had a cruddy time, we really saw some amazing sites!  i'm just going to post the pictures instead of commenting on all of them.  it just takes too long, and i'm ready for some shut-eye!  

quote of the day:  "Thomas Jefferson is the man responsible for introducing macaroni and cheese to America!" ~the Tourmobile guide

hayes' summer vacation days 1 and 2

we are finally here!!!!  we are just outside washington, d.c. in vienna, virginia.  it's hard to believe that just yesterday we were in tulsa, oklahoma.  we've been in 8 states since noon yesterday!  wow!

i'm going to try to keep this short and sweet, but knowing me, that probably won't happen! 

let's get started, shall we?

may 31, 2009

photo of the day #150

here we go!

we left tulsa around noon with chuck and martha riding shotgun along with daryl and me.  chuck, as you know, is my rubber duck disguised as a chicken.  martha is daryl's gps device that he got for his early father's day gift.  we decided to name the garmin martha after martha washington since we were headed to d.c.  {she's done a fabulous job guiding us!}

the first 'attraction' we saw on our adventure was the mc donald's that stretches across the highway.  when daryl said, "look there's the famous golden arches that goes across the road," colby disappointedly said, "that's THE arch you've been talking about?" {referring to the st. louis arch!}

missouri was not that exciting to travel through.  there were TONS of antique stores and antique malls in missouri, but of course we didn't get to stop.  this leg of our trip was strictly for traveling to d.c.  no unnecessary stops! boo hoo.  however, i managed to get daryl to take a little detour in springfield.  i told him about this store there that abbey and gina absolutely LOVE, and he drove there!  the sign on the door said it was open on sundays, but apparently not this sunday.  i still took some pictures of it though!  

for supper last night, we took another detour in st. louis to find a restaurant recommended by guy on food network's diners, drive-ins, and dives.  i was a bit skeptical about eating there because it was in a rough-looking part of town, and there were two security guards at the door! but since this was an adventure, i decided to suck it up and not worry!  i'm glad i did because it was yummy!

the place was called sweetie pie's, and they served mississippi soul food.  i had fried chicken wings, stuffing and green beans with new potatoes (they also had something stringy in them.  i'm guessing it was some kind of meat!)  the portions were GINORMOUS!

on the way out of st. louis, daryl managed to snap this picture of the arch as we were flying down the highway!  he promised we'd stop and go up inside the arch on our way home.  i'm holding him to that!

next we travelled through illinois and indiana.  most of those two states looked like this:

we also DIDN'T stop in santa claus, indiana.  another place to visit on the way back!

we finally rolled into kentucky around 11:00 p.m.  louisville is amazing looking at night!  i was very impressed!  we stopped in shelbyville, kentucky around midnight to get some shut-eye.  thank goodness!

june 1, 2009

day 2 started with breakfast to go from mc donald's at 8:00 a.m. our hotel was out of fruit loops, so daryl didn't want to eat there! 

it wasn't long after breakfast that one of the hayes' family members had to go potty!  i'm not naming names, but it's one who can't go on the side of the road.  luckily there was a rest area nearby.  as i was walking out of the little travel center, colby came running up to me shouting, "mom! mom!  come here!  you gotta see this!" 

 spencer and daryl were standing by an older couple's truck, and spencer had something tiny in his hands.  when i got closer spencer said,"these are puppies that were just born last night!!!"  my immediate thought was, "and why are YOU holding one?"

the couple saw daryl and the boys, and asked daryl if they could see some puppies.  how kind was that?  mr. and mrs. baker said they have grandkids, and they thought our boys would enjoy the puppies.  

i got to hold one, too.  look how little his paws are!  it was such a magical moment!  daryl took this picture, and i love it because he got the precious little puppy and the "life is good" logo on my shirt all in one shot.  how right that is.  life really is good.

photo of the day #151

new life

i have much more to share from today, but the troops are getting in bed now, and i was instructed to join them!  it's 9:46 p.m. here, and we're getting up early in the morning to catch the subway into d.c. {i'm a little scared about that, too.}

quote of the day:  "Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!" ~on a sign in WV!