More pics

This one is pretty self explanatory.



More of the Halifax harbor, or harbour, as they say in Canadia.


Glass blowers in Halifax. We sat and watched these guys for a good half hour.



One of the many cemeteries in Halifax. These headstones are made of Sandstone, and therefore don't weather too well. Some of them are paper thin. There is also a headstone here marking one of the Titanic victims. They date back as far as 1700.

Apparently the only picture I have of Bar Harbor. I'm sure I have more on my phone, I'll just have to upload those. The colors on this island don't do justice to the main island beauty.

Pics

Sorry about the lack of rotation on some of these.

Radio City Music Hall. Right down the street from our hotel. Anyone that knows me, knows that I would love to see the Rockettes Holiday Show. Too bad we were a week too early.

Sean in Central Park. Isn't he so GQ?

This is me on the balcony of our stateroom. It was super sunny, hence the squinty eyes.

Ellis Island. This is the view from our stateroom as we left the Port of New York.

And the Statue of Liberty. Also from our stateroom. I'm glad we picked Starboard just for this reason.

I'll post more pics. Blogger was limiting me to 5.

Sleeping in The City That Never Sleeps

Well, I've returned from my cross country jaunt. I know most of you (GABE) have been sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for my next witty post. Well, no more waiting, here it is. I'll try to be brief.

Day 1: Ate at Cheesecake Factory in Lincolnshire at 11:00 PM. Yummy.
Day 2: Met Realtor and looked at 20 homes in 8 hours. Only 3 possibilities.
Dinner with "Boss Man" at Wildwood. Yummy.
Drove to O'Hare and stayed in a sweet suite.
Day 3: Flew to NYC on the tiniest plane ever. I was so brave.
Found Hotel. Hotel was waaaayyyy tiny. But cool.
Took a bus tour starting at Midnight. Finished at 2:00 AM, and there was construction!
Day 4: Walked through Central Park. Took a cab to the Pier, and boarded ship. Took nap.
Day 5: Sea Day. Took nap. Ate food, not so yummy.
Day 6: Arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was up at 4:00 AM, and the port is beautiful!
Found a coffee shop and drank hot chocolate and at cinnamon rolls.
Realized Canadia has their own funny money.
Watched local glass blowers. Cool.
Went to Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and saw Titanic exhibit. Very interesting.
Had Seafood Chowder, and fries with vinegar. Weird, but good.
Boarded ship, took nap.
Watched freaky family for entertainment.
Day 7: Arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine. Again, up at 4:00 AM to watch the ship dock.
Realized people talk funny in Maine. Bah Hahbah especially.
Ate crab balls and lobster rolls for lunch. So Yummy!
Took tour of Acadia National Park, very cool. Saw Martha Stewart's home.
Boarded ship. Took nap.
Watched funny comedian for entertainment.
Day 8: Arrived in Boston, Massachusetts. Up at 7:00 AM.
Had Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. So Yummy!
Followed the red Freedom Trail around to all the tourist sights.
Had a good time talking in British accents.
Ate chili in bread bowls, and Gelato.
Boarded ship. Took nap.
Sang Karaoke. Scary.
Day 9: Arrived in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Very, very windy.
Had to tender to shore in 12 foot waves.
Rented car to explore island. Pretty cool island.
Ate the best nachos in a sea side tavern.
Realized a hurricane was headed our way.
Boarded ship. No nap.
Tried to eat dinner, but all fooded out.
Was rocked to sleep by huge waves.
Day 10: Arrived in NYC. Disembarked ship and headed for airport.
Upgraded to first class, and hung out in first class lounge for 6 hours. Niiice.
Flew home.
Home sweet home.

That's pretty much it. I'll post photos after I get them uploaded. I've been stuck behind mountains of laundry, so no time for fun, yet!

Off I go!

Well, folks. I'm off. Off to the Windy City, and then to the Big Apple! If I knew any cute names for Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Bar Harbor Maine, or Nova Scotia, I would use them too. Be back in a week or so!

Government, sheesh!

My passport is nowhere to be found. And I'm not the one who lost it. It's somewhere between Miami, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. I need it to go on the cruise. And I leave tomorrow. Let's just say the poor customer service guy at Passports and Visas.com has the patience of Job, especially after dealing with my rants and raves. Thank goodness I had my Birth Certificate for a back up. Oh, wait. Nope, no birth certificate. Hmm. So, it's off to the Utah State Department of Health to the Vital Statistics Department. Downtown. And did I mention this is the State? I know Hester works for the State Department, as does Dale, and now Bryan too, but I can assume they all have some knowledge of what customer service entails.

Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I must have good luck. Getting my drivers license renewed wasn't too bad either.

So now I have a certified copy of my birth certificate, no passport, and a renewed drivers license. I should be okay leaving the country. I'm only going to Canada, it's not like they have to worry about me staying there or anything....

I'm also pretty sure that now that I have my birth certificate, my passport will show up. Had I not gotten the BC, the passport would stay lost. Is that Murphy's Law? And who is this Murphy person? The same Murphy from the Romance?

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Deep thoughts

This is probably a first for me. Or maybe a second, but either way, it's unusual for me.

I'm about to go deep. Yes, people, I've been thinking. Scary.

In hearing of the Malibu fires that have affected Bonny and her crew, and especially after hearing Esme say she took a box of "things money can't buy", I started wondering about what I would take if I had to leave my home so quickly.

And honestly, I'm not sure.

I know I would grab my fireproof safe with all the important documents, birth certificates, passports (which there will be another post about shortly), car titles, and insurance info. I would grab my scrapbooks. I would grab the Wedding Egg from Nunn Bee, and the quilts from my mom. After those things, I'm not really sure what else I would take. What else would be irreplaceable? So many things are merely material. It kind of makes me sad that so much of my life is replaceable. I guess I should take more time and effort to make things special. What is irreplaceable to you? What are your "things money can't buy"?

The latest

This week has been unusually serene. Especially considering I'm leaving in 3 days for 10 days. So that translates into not much to blog. So sorry. But for those of you on the edge of your seats, here is the latest from our home front.

And Meg, these bullets are just for you.

• It would seem some thoughts and prayers are in order for Bonny and her family, as they battle the Malibu fire near their home. You can see the updates here.
  
• My passport is nowhere to be found. We had it expedited in 4-8 days, and 8 days later, still no sight of it. Hmm, what will I do to get on that ship?
  
• Gretta came down with the pink eye, which then spread into the other eye as well. Now we have to put gunky antibiotic ointment in her eyes twice a day. Try doing that on a wriggling 9 month old.
  
• Gretta is 9 months old today. 15 pounds, and a super crawler.
  
• I have a new addiction. StumbleUpon, on Firefox. Holy crap, this thing is addicting.
  
• The red paint in my kitchen and up my stair well has been discontinued. Too bad we have another coat to do on one wall, and a few touch ups on the existing red. I wonder how that will look? The new red is close, but I don't think it's close enough. Stupid Lowes.
  

That's pretty much it. I will try and figure out how to post from my email account so you won't have to wait 10 days for an update. I know how torturous that can be.

Halloweenies

Last night we were treated to a wicked fun party, courtesy of Mom and her mad party throwing skills.

Thanks, Mom!

They had soup in bread bowls, and doughnuts. It was muy delicioso. I made Gabe/Laura's tortellini soup with ground turkey. Super yummy. You can find the recipe here.

Later today will bring:

A trip to the craft store for Halloween party invitation shiz.
3 kids getting flu shots.
Gretta getting a prescription for antibiotics for her pink eye (thanks mom!).
Probably laundry.
Me battling with Maggie for her to wear pants. She only wants to wear "soft shorts" and it's 50˚ outside.

Good times.

Random

I have pink eye.

Maggie has a fever and won't eat.

Gretta is pulling up on anything that she can get her hands on.

Emma has decided it's better to do her entire homework packet on Mondays, so she's free the rest of the week.

Sean and I saw each other for a total of 1 hour yesterday. Today will probably be the same.

I have to start packing. I do, I do, I do.

We leave for our cruise in a week and a half! Yay!


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Excellent

Thanks to Napoleon "Snaggletooth" Dynamite for leading us on a not so excellent adventure down the lazy Colorado River. Fun.

See more details of our wicked fun trip here.

Actually, what made my trip was this.

Have you ever needed to use the facilities, like, NOW?

I was in that mode, and at the Maverick, the line for the ladies room was 10 deep. No way was I going to make it! So what do I do? Use the Men's room, of course!

Only come to find out a little too late, the toilet doesn't flush. I'm looking around waiting to be Punk'd. I guess that's Karma kicking my butt for using the Men's room. I put my plumbing expertise to work, and saved my butt. Whew! We all had a good laugh about that!

Moab is a cool place, probably one I will miss quite a bit when we move to the Midwest. :(

The red country

It's off to Moab we go. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of last year.

I'm taking "Knocked Up" to see what that's all about. Sean bought it at Wal-Mart while us gals were in Seattle.

I guess that means he got Knocked Up at Wal-Mart. I'm guessing he's probably not the first.

Scary seven layer dip

For the "recipe", and a cute picture, see here.

When I grow up

I was asked by Maggie what I want to be when I grow up.

I said a Sea Otter.

She said she will be a super hero, and she will fly and swim, and save me from the kelp.


Um, okay.

The Ghettos of Barrington

Well, we return. Again. Only to leave in 3 days. Again.

I'm not a traveler. I'm a homebody.

So our trip to Chicagoland was fruitful. And a bit discouraging. We found a lot of places to live. A lot of places we can't afford. With property taxes at 2.5%, it's killing our bottom line. But we have a decision to make.

1. Do we want an acre of land 45 minutes from Sean's office? Problem, the HOA will not allow any outbuildings (ie. a garage big enough to hold our trailer), or for us to park the trailer on the side of the house. So what's the point of an acre that you can't do anything on?

2. Do we want a house in a cookie cutter neighborhood like we live in now, 10 minutes from Sean's office? Problem, the land is too small for us to park the trailer on the side of the house. Do I want to spend $100 a month for storage? Although, the smaller property comes with lake rights, and is right across the street from the beach of the small-ish lake. Possibly sell the trailer and buy some wave runners?

We did drive through some areas that had homes on 300+ acres, with ranch houses and barns as big as neighborhoods. Barrington is one of those. If only there was a ghetto. We didn't get to see any of downtown Chicago, since Sean's office is over an hour away from there. We looked into Wisconsin, but property tax isn't that much less, and the commute would be brutal, so that was nixed. Hopefully we can narrow down some homes and get out with a Realtor and see them in a few weeks.

Other things that happened:

Sean puking on the plane after THE WORST take off ever.
Our "little person" car.
Marble Columns.
RED LIGHT! SCREEEEECH!
No sense of direction, due to lack of mountains.
Lake Michigan. Freezing, BTW.


Many, many many thanks to My "'Da Bomb" Mom, and of course Meg, for watching the girls. It sure made life easier not having to schlep around 3 kids. Gretta is having Nunn withdrawals.

Where to begin

I've just been overwhelmed with the thought of packing. I can't even seem to begin to wrap my mind about the task that lies ahead. Luckily Sean and I both love dejunking, so we don't have too much stuff, but we do have three kids and all the stuff that goes along with that. I've perused the internet fully on tips to move seamlessly, but still, I find myself in a funk when it comes to organizing it in my mind. What are some ways you all (or should I start saying y'all?) have found to make the moving process easier?

October Brings...

October ushers in so many things. Especially in our family. For some reason, we have numerous birthdays in October. I guess that's what happens when there's an extremely cold winter.

3rd (Today)- Meg. 26!
5th- Mom. 29!
6th- Mckinley. 9!
7th- Maggie. 4!
21st- Troy. 37!

Other things October brings:

Wind. Ick.
Election Candidates calling incessantly asking for my vote. I must be popular!
Chicago trip this weekend.
Moab trip next weekend.
10th Anniversary cruise/NYC on the 26th.
And of course, Halloween.

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

Home is the most important place in the world

I made it back from the land of the rain and coffee. Seattle is a very cool town! I love how it's very outdoors minded, and they recycle everything. Apparently even people, as homeless people are everywhere. We visited the Space Needle. There is seriously a Starbucks at the top. It's quite a ride up, about 41 seconds, and worth every one at that!


We did the Underground tour. Which is very cool, especially if you come from a construction family. Yes, the eye beams are old, but since they are founded into 36" of concrete, they are stable. And yes, the keystone arch is the strongest form in construction. It will hold for centuries, apparently. Plus we got to see a guy in a kilt. Cool.


This is the lock going from Puget Sound into Lake Washington, which then joins Lake Union. If you look closely you can see the water level we're at, and then behind the lock you can see the level of the lake. The water is let in to the lock via gravity and pipes, and in about 10 minutes, we rose nearly 8 feet. At low tides it can raise a vessel as high as 26 feet.


And this is one of my favorite moments. This is one of the many, many homeless people that come out at night. You can't read his sign, but I was trying to take a picture without him chasing me and asking for money. The sign reads "My father was killed by street ninjas, I need money for karate lessons". I would think teeth or a shower would come first, but that's just me.


And me on our ghetto shuttle to the airport. It actually wasn't that bad. Just a big bus. It rained so hard on Sunday, I was thankful it was our last day. The other days were just right. A little chilly, unless you're Meg, then you freeze, but I didn't think it was bad at all.

Other fun things:

Jill saying "HUH?"
Finding a great store in the mall with blouses for $34!
Giggles getting tickled on the face by a fish butt.
Kelli taking one right in the face!
Me texting Sean about the homeless guy with a sign, and walking into a sign!
A Pikes Market Labradoodle/Wooley Mammoth.
A wiener dog with a cowboy hat on.
Crepes and Limonata!
Mom noticing the plethora of homosexuals. Good eye mom, good eye!

* And how could I have forgotten the funniest, craziest, hilariousest thing ever! Mom hitting innocent little defenseless Gracie in the face with the check from Ruth's Chris in an attempt to foil our plans for paying for her dinner. We got it, thanks to Gracie's sacrifice. Boo-Ya!

Fun weekend, and we need to do it again. Next time, Chicago!

Sleepless in...

Here we come, baby! It's a girls only weekend, and we're going to ROCK IT ALL WEEKEND!'Specially my Mom, who is the BOMB! Harbor tour, Underground tour, nice dinner, and shopping, shopping, shopping! My sweet sisters are my sweet homies. Gotta love 'em.

See you Monday!

The weekend

Well, we had a fun weekend. After realizing that we hadn't used the Trailer in all of September, we figured we better get out for the last chance weekend. Good idea. We headed about 15 miles from home up Big Cottonwood Canyon. After 15 years of traveling hours to Yellowstone and never seeing a moose, what should go tromping through our campground but this:
And this.

Thats a whole Moose Family, in case you can't tell from the great picture, courtesy of the BB Pearl.


And then we drove over Guardsman Pass into Midway/Heber Valley. Look at that view. I don't remember a time that I've ever seen the leaves so pretty. We must have been right on the money when it came to foliage viewing timing.

Other fun things that happened:

Meg filled up the Audi's trunk with wood and joined us for Tin Foil Dinners. Fun.
The Boy Scouts next to our camp decided our wood was better for stealing.
Sean throwing lighter fluid on the campfire and scaring the crap out of the kids.
Why does this seem to be a recurring theme?
The batteries in the trailer going dead so the heater wouldn't work. Not fun.
The drive over Guardsman. Fun.
The rain. Not fun.
Watching "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" over and over and over. Not fun.
Deciding at 7:00PM to leave because the rain was just too much. Fun.

Reelowkateeng

News. Sean's company has decided to shut down the Salt Lake City operations.

Bummer.

As of December, many, many people will be out of work.

But my Sean, "The Bull", has come away unscathed. Or so it depends on who you ask.

Ask my mom, and she'll tell you differently. Ask me, or Mr. Bull, or the kids, or the in-laws, and they say go for it! Sorry, mom.

So it appears the Frozen North of Wisconsin will be our new home. Sean will be working in Chicago. Sounds fun, eh?

So, from all you pros that have moved across the country, I need some tips. Please, please, please, give me tips on how to make this easier than the scenario I have in my head.