It’s July.

It’s the five year anniversary of the month in which I started dating My Christopher.

It’s also our third anniversary month.

Though not quite the end of the month (the 29th is our actual anniversary, sort of) this week we had some time off together for a little getaway.

Originally I had planned on traveling to Portland, Oregon for a week of girl time with one of my besties.

Her son was signed up to attend a sports camp but after an injury that required surgery, camp was out of the question.

I’ve always wanted to stay in a Bed & Breakfast so I literally jumped on this opportunity to spend a few quiet days alone with my honey.

Now I have a new love:

The man who built this wonderful home also built another much like this in another part of this teeny tiny town.  He also built two smaller homes that also included the horseshoe shaped window like the one you see here.  The window was actually one in our room.  I loved it.

The owner did a wonderful job restoring this place.  It’s simply fabulous.

I would love to hire her groundskeeper and take him back home with me.  He does a fantastic job keeping this place looking so pretty.

This tub took My Christopher by surprise.  I don’t think he was sure what to do without a shower.  Being a girly girl this was right up my alley.

Isn’t this a funny little commode?

The sink was so pretty I almost didn’t want to use it.  My fear of all things smelly, dirty and germy kicked in though and that quickly flew out the window.

One of the dining tables.  The blur of a person in the entryway was our innkeeper.

There were always drinks and snacks readily available.

If you’re a tea drinker or love chocolates this table is for you.

And for you cookie lovers.

Our first breakfast, which mind you comes in courses as if it were a fancy dinner.

The tile on this fireplace is still the original tile from when the home was built in the 1890’s.

The front entryway.

The staircase leading up to our room.

The parlor.  There were books on the history of the area lying around for us to look at.  I love reading those kinds of books.

She loves to cook and what a wonderful cook she was.  This Italian omelette was YUMMY!

I love the antique furniture.

Of course I also LOVED all the photographs of the historical people from the area.

The kitchen has a tin roof which was common for the era.

I also managed a peek around the corner into the kitchen.  I would so love a stove like that for my kitchen!

I can honestly say that I now prefer a Bed & Breakfast to a hotel for any trip I plan in the future.

If possible

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Our first day of vacation was spent in 4 different airports.

We actually went in to 3 of them and the other we just parked and waited for others to board and deplane.

We departed Indy a little late because there were quite a few older peeps in wheelchairs.

I found out on the first leg of our journey that people over 70 are very squirmy

More so in fact than my 9 year old.

I also discovered that these folks like to travel very early in the morning because over 50% of the first flight were elderly people.

Then we landed in Las Vegas.

Vegas is very hot and dry.

So dry in fact that my hair static clinged to my face.

The temperature hovered near 105 degrees. UGH!

We flew over many many mountains and lots of desert.

I haven’t ever seen a place that didn’t have lots of greenery so it was a new experience for me.

In Vegas Cade saw slot machines for the first time and thought they were very cool video games.  He wanted to play.  I told him it was illegal.

We landed in Boise briefly then flew on to Spokane, Washington.

Angie and Mason picked us up at the airport there.

We had a lovely dinner at Bonzai Bistro, just as Angie and I had done the month before.

Day number 2 we traveled.

And it rained.

So we set up camp after dark when the rain stopped at a campground at West Glacier, Montana.

Our Camp

My Christopher modeling his new hat.

Chris and Merlin being themselves.  Merlin has started calling Chris Shnookums.

We took a trip across The Road To The Sun and this is some of the scenery.

If you look closely you should be able to see some mountain goat butts.

We traveled close to the top of the mountain and found some glaciers.

More scenery.

And finally some wildlife.  These guys weren’t even scared of us.

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On Wednesday Angie, Maddie and I packed an overnight bag each and headed to Montana.

Road To The Sun was closed and we were reserved on the Eastern side of the Park at Many Glacier.

Riding with Angie is much like riding a roller coaster or maybe even bumper cars.

You know how when you’re getting ready to hit someone’s car and you anticipate the blow and slow down.

Yes I’m serious.  There were so many bad patches of road around the park that we had to slow down quickly and frequently.

I’m saying this all in good fun.  Angie is a great driver.

Really.

I took quite a few photos of our trip over/up.

Angie & Maddie

Finally we reach the lodge.

The hallway where our room is located reminded Angie of ‘The Titanic’.

The view from our room.

The backside facing the water.  Our room was on the 4th floor, this side of the lodge.

I believe they were trying to get cell service.  I think not.

Angie & Maddie just hanging out.

The big fireplace on the main floor.

Because I couldn’t resist a photo of this plumber in the making.

The fireplace up close.

The trek up to the parking lot.

The front side of the lodge.

Maddie

These surrounded the lake on the back side of the lodge.

Can’t wait to go back.

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After working all night then staying over for a very special baby delivery I had just enough time to get out of the hospital and to the airport for my flight.

From the air over the Montana.

Above the clouds.  The first flight was an adventure in itself as I had a 4ish little boy that pulled down his tray and used it as a drum.

The entire flight.

From Minneapolis to Spokane wasn’t so bad.

Angie texted me that her sister was on the flight with me.  She even sent a picture.

I found her right away.

Having words with the desk lady about why their seats had been changed from what she had chosen.

She wasn’t happy.

I didn’t introduce myself.

I was afraid.

LOL, not really.  Her name is Heidi and she’s great.

She also has two very cute little boys.

This is Santa.  She’s Angie’s foster daughter.  She loves playing with Max.

We went down to the lake for dinner.  Since we arrived a half hour before our reservation we took a walk on the boardwalk.

Here’s Angie.

This is where we had dinner.  They have amazing lettuce wraps.  Very comparable to PF Chang.

There is a hill next to the lake named Tubbs Hill.  I just had to capture all the information about it for my husband.

His nickname is Tubbs.

This is Mudgy the moose and Maddie.  Mudge the moose has been cloned and appears everywhere.

After these photos we went back to Angie’s home as I’d had no sleep in 37 hours.

I was very tired.

And called it a day.

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While in Cincinnati a few weeks ago we spent a day at the Newport Aquarium.

The first photo is at a mall we had to walk through to get to the aquarium.

They were apparently ready for a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Of course we can’t go on a trip anywhere without it raining for part of our stay.  That’s just the way our luck runs.

I like the next one because you can see Cade’s reflection in the glass.  I just thought it was cool.

This next guy looks kind of creepy.

This turtle looks a little beat up.  .  .  . and old.

One ugly dude.

Entrance to the bird exhibit.

Isn’t this so very cool?

Jellies are amazing.

 Cade’s favorite of all.

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Last year when My Christopher purchased tickets for us to see Taylor Swift here in Indiana he had no idea that Cade really wanted to see her too.

I had asked him if he would like to see Taylor or Miley Cyrus and he chose Taylor.

Well Chris bought two tickets for him and I to see her as a sort of surprise not knowing Cade and I had had any discussion about it.

So I purchased tickets for him and I to see Miley and wasn’t really planning on him knowing Chris and I were going to see Taylor.

So I made him a promise that if she were to perform anywhere close by then I would take him to see her.

Well the tour ended, or so we thought.

Until.  .  .  .  one day I saw somewhere that she had added on more tour dates for 2010 and one was for Cincinnati.

So a couple weeks ago we packed up and headed east.

US Bank Arena is right on the Ohio River.

First Kellie Pickler took the stage.

Then Taylor.

Then the part he asked me about at least 20 million times.

Yes, she got DRENCHED.  What isn’t cool about that?

I’m thankful she dressed appropriately for this part.

I wouldn’t have expected less.

She’s classy that way.

Seriously 5 semi truck trailers to haul around all her stuff.

Chris says there were more around the corner.

.  .  .and just because moving cars at night are cool to take a photo of.

Well Cade thinks so anyway.

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The images in the above collage are from our family vacation to the East Coast last summer.

It was an extremely wet trip, raining every day except for one.

The one and only day I was able to get any senior pictures of our 2 seniors – in Central Park.

Really I just wanted to play with my collages today because I’m kind of bored.

My honey is sleeping the day away because he’s working this weekend, child number 2 is with his male parental unit and child number 1 just took off in my jeep to pick up his clothes at a friends house and then to work.  Unfortunately he suffers from his Mother’s luck when it comes to his vehicles.

I’ve been hanging in the loft with my girls playing with collages and at times standing on guard with fly-swatter in hand ready to destroy 3 wasps that keep threatening to swoop down and attack my baby Zoey.  Can I just say I hate wasps and they need to leave my poor innocent puppy alone.  She doesn’t know that wasps taste nasty and besides I think she really only wants to play.  You know kind of like kitty’s play with mice before they eat them.  Yes, she gets confused sometimes and thinks she’s a cat.  I haven’t the foggiest where she gets that idea.  We don’t have cats, I’m severely allergic to them.  She bats toys around with her hands (front paws), pounces on her sisters and scratches at the furniture.  You know now that I think about it, I think she may have a personality disorder.  Yes that’s it, she has 2 personalities; a cat personality and she must have a dog personality because I never knew any cat that liked to get into the shower before and not only that but her Mama was a dog after all.  I still believe though that she’s the sweetest thing on Earth and the most cuddly snuggle bug that ever shared a pillow with me before.  So, I’ll keep her – personality disorder and all.

BAM!!!.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  2 down and 1 to go.  Take that you wiley beasts.

I think my Honey needs to call the wasp exterminator.

You know before my girls get hurt or I get stung trying to protect my doggy family and go into anaphylactic shock

.  .  .  .  or something like that.

Hey.  .  .  . it could happen.

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On Sunday December 20th My Christopher, Cade and I took a ride on the Polar Express.

This train ride takes place in Connersville.

After boarding the train the train personnel pass out hot chocolate and cookies to all passengers.

Then on to the North Pole.

The story is told and heard throughout the cars by speaker.

There are elves, cooks, hobos, basically every character from the story.

There is even a conductor that punches the kids tickets.

Upon arrival at the North Pole Santa boards the train and rides back with us.

During the trip back he sits with each child and presents him or her with a bell which they ring if they BELIEVE.

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This is one of those posts that got lost in cyberspace, but I wanted to repost because I love a few of these photos.  Especially the buildings.

This is the day my friend Mikey took the family and myself to Harvard while we were vacationing in Boston.

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This is my first time contributing to True Story Tuesday.  If you click the box below you can read other true stories.

Okay the following story is true twice over.  We did in fact make a trip to Salem when recently vacationing in Boston, but the historical part of this is also true.

On day 2 we made a trip to Salem which is only a half hour from Boston.

We visited the Salem Witch Museum and saw a reenactment of the trials of those innocents that were accused and then murdered sentenced to death for being “witches”.

The building was really cool.

We also went to see the cemetery where some of the townspeople from that time are buried.

This was the home of the Mother of John Hathorne (witch trial judge)

The Location
Also known as the Charter Street Cemetery, this graveyard holds the earthly remains of Salem Witch Trial Judge John Hathorne. The first wife of Salem Witch Trial victim, Giles Corey, is also buried here. A lot of the graves here are in poor shape due to the material they were made from, extreme age and vandalism. John Hathorne’s grave is practically a fragment at this point. It is suspended in a “new” concrete gravestone. (The Cabinet ~ Dark Destinations)

Where this sign says “Graves Of Greatest Historical Interest” is the  place where the memorial is to those accused of witchcraft.  Each person (20 in all) has a marker with their name and date of execution.

The Salem Witch Trial Memorial
This memorial to the victims of Salems witch hysteria of 1692 sits in the same cemetery as the Judge who condemned them. The memorial consists of a walled courtyard surrounded by empty stone benches. The benches each bear the name of a victim of the hysteria. The emptiness of the bench represents the absence of the victim caused by their execution. Quotes from the victims are carved into the ground across the entrance. The words are partially covered on either side where the stone walls of the courtyard start and end. These words are cut off to represent how the lives of these victims were cut short as well. Since most of the Salem Witch Trial victims never received a proper burial, the cenotaph benches are the closest they have to actual gravestones. (The Cabinet ~ Dark Destinations)

This again was the home of the Mother of John Hathorne.   There are currently people living in the home.

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