Happy 4th of July! Or, as my son likes to put it : Happy Birthday to America!
He picked out the picture.
This has always been my favorite holiday because it takes place in my favorite month, during my favorite season.
Not to mention the day honors my favorite place, my home, where I have grown up and lived pretty much my whole life.
What’s great is that the entire country starts celebrating a week in advance.
And I love celebrating.
Enjoy the fireworks, everyone!
Day 5 Tuesday – Clearwater Beach
Day 6 Wednesday – Tampa/New Port Richey
Day 7 Thursday – Orlando
Rental town home
Disney
Day 8 Friday – Orlando/Clermont
Picking oranges in Clermont
Downtown Orlando
Day 9 Saturday – Drive home
We’re back!
We arrived in Chicago on Monday night, after a long, long drive from Florida.
For those unfamiliar with it, this is what the route there looked like.
Our neighbors told us we took our vacation at the perfect time.Ā Apparently Chicago was a cold hell while we were gone.
What else is new?
Florida was a lot of fun.Ā And super super hot.Ā The temperature during the day never got below 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
We split the time between Tampa and Orlando, spending about three days in each city.
The time spent driving felt long, but it wasn’t too bad.Ā It wasn’t beyond what I expected it to be.Ā And it felt great to explore different parts of this beautiful country.
I have seen more small towns of America during this trip than I have in my entire life.Ā That’s what happens when you have two boys with alternating bladder schedules.
I also have people waiting on me for pictures.Ā Some of them are angry that I didn’t post a few already.
So now I will be showcasing vacation pics ad nauseaum.
For the next couple of blog posts, you will be seeing almost all the photos we took, sorted out by day and location.
I am glad I have a blog to display them on because I hate giving Facebook access to my pictures.Ā They do this creepy thing where they download my photos without my permission.
Enjoy!
And for the people that hate vacation snaps, look away, because there are lots of them coming at you!
Day 1 Friday – Chicago
We drove to my in laws place in Terre Haute, IN on Friday and spent the night there.Ā That cut around 5-6 hours out of the drive itself.
On Saturday, we hit the road, with Atlanta, GA in mind as our next stop.
Day 2 Saturday – Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia
With some late night driving by my husband, we managed to get an hour past Atlanta, to a little town called Byron, where we spent the night.
Day 3 Sunday – Byron, GA
The hotel where we stayed had a cute little produce place next to it.Ā My sister and I wanted to try the famous Georgia peaches, while my kids really wanted to pick some strawberries from the long rows of bushes in the back.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, we arrived at our hotel in Tampa on Sunday night.
Day 4 Monday, Memorial Day – Tampa.Ā
Lowry Park Zoo
Tampa River Walk
I thought I could cram more pictures in this post without making it five pages long.
Oh, well.
Road trip 2015, Part 2.Ā Coming soon to a blog post near you.
Happy Mother’s Day!
May has always been a very busy month in the View Through the Window household.
There is my mother in law’s birthday, my brother’s birthday, Mother’s Day, my birthday, and then Memorial Day, when we usually go somewhere for vacation.
The month has gotten even busier since I started school again.Ā It means the end of the semester.Ā In fact, all my work for my classes is due before midnight on May 15.
I wasn’t going to let schoolwork get in the way of my enjoying my weekend, though, especially since I had extra reason to celebrate.
Reason number one is that my brother and his wife had their first baby last week.Ā I am an aunt now for the second time!
And if that wasn’t awesome enough, my sister and her son, my four year old nephew, paid us a surprise visit all the way from Dallas, Texas.
There he is hiding behind his cousin, Son 1.
Seeing my nephews was the best gift ever.Ā It made me so happy to be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with them.
We all went out to Chicago’s Chinatown on Sunday.
Chinatown has a little courtyard type of area, where there are statues of the animals of the Chinese zodiac.Ā They have a little description underneath for who falls under which year and what animal.
Mine would be the Rat.
Here are some of the other ones.
We had a late lunch…
and then toured some more.
Above are pictures of Chinatown’s candy store, where they lay out samples of stuff likeĀ dried plums, sesame seed candy, and sweet ginger.Ā They have the regular stuff like Airheads and Skittles as well.Ā I even saw some small samples of dried squid and cuttlefish.
I spent half my time in that store hollering at my boys, who had never been through the sampling process before.Ā They thought it meant they could take a bite of whatever it was they were sampling, spit it out if they didn’t like it, and put it right back in the little dish.
I spent the other half fishing out whatever they had put back and throwing it away.Ā š
It’s a miracle they didn’t kick us out.
The weekend went by too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to drive my sister to O’Hare airport and say goodbye.
Son 2 and sister 2 joined me in dropping them off.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Spring is officially here!
*Doing a little happy dance*
School and homework are keeping me busy.Ā The weather is getting better and we find ourselves spending a lot more time outdoors.
I haven’t had the chance to read any of my favorite blogs or devote much time to my own.Ā š¦
Today’s blog post is another click a pic one.Ā Over the weekend we visited my sister on/near the campus of the University of Illinois in Chicago.Ā One of the highlights of the trip to Fati aunty’s are the fantastic views you get to see along the way and while there.Ā Chicago is, after all, famous for its architecture and skyline.
I lived in Queens, New York before moving to Chicago when I was fourteen.Ā This city has its pros and cons, but New York will always be close to my heart.
If my husband were awake, he’d read this over my shoulder and say So you enjoyed the smell of sewer water and being mugged twice a week?Ā and I would tell him to take his country ass back to Kentucky.
We’re soul mates. ā¤
Seeing the Chicago skyline while cruising down one of the city’s many highways is awesome.Ā Being in the city always gives me a thrill.Ā Must be the New Yorker in me.
The visit to Fati’s turned into a sleepover for me and my kids because of how late it had gotten.
It was so lovely to see this when I happened to wake up around dawn.Ā It felt like the whole world was waking up with me.
At night from the balcony.
After seeing all these beautiful photos I have come to one major conclusion : I need a better camera.
I can’t wait for my classes to be over.Ā School is a pain in the ass.Ā I wanted to elaborate on the name of my blog and explain why I am so in love with views, but that will have to wait for another post.Ā I have a mountain of backlog of homework to do. š„
Today is my husband’s birthday! Ā Yay!
We didn’t get to go out to a restaurant like we wanted, so dinner had to be pizza.
Deep dish, Chicago style, and meat lovers, of course.
Since it was his special day, he got to order what he wanted. Ā I personally don’t like deep dish pizza very much. I’d pick New York style over it any time.
My husband and I have now been together for over eight years. Ā I hope we get to spend many more birthdays together. ā¤ļø
And for nostalgic purposes, here are some photos of us from our honeymoon in Orlando, Florida.
If you look real close there’s a blurry-ish full shot of me.
Happy March everyone! Ā I can totally sense the allergies coming on.
I have four siblings. Two brothers and two sisters. That makes me the eldest of five.
Most of the time I would say I’m very loving and maternal towards them. I’m sort of like a den mother type.
But of course siblings can piss you off.
We don’t fight often, but when we do, things escalate pretty quickly. We get MEAN.
When you fight with a sibling, you don’t hold back.
My youngest sister sent me this yesterday to say the sun reminds her of me.
ļ»æ
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Ha ha ha. š I have to say, I agree.
Happy Valentine’s Day! ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
My in laws did us the awesome favor of babysitting. Yay for couple time!
My husband’s work friends all asked him when he was going to go see Fifty Shades of Grey. Apparently their wives and girlfriends are all dragging them to the movie.
I haven’t even read the book yet and I’m not planning to, either. My idea of a great book/love story is Jane Eyre. I can watch that on Netflix and read it on iBooks. And I have.
Michael Fassbender makes an awesome Mr.Rochester. š
I heard something funny on the radio about Fifty Shades of Grey. A DJ described the movie as “two hours of the stuff you fast forward through in a porno.”
Interesting.
Prayers for the tragedy in France.Ā “Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it must be attained through understanding” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Welcome to the newly renovated The View Through The Window.Ā I was getting tired of that old theme and I like to switch things up now and then.Ā I hope you like this new blog style as much as I do.Ā Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.
He’s the good cop to your bad cop.Ā The fun loving parent to your disciplinarian.Ā The one who sneaks your kids candy during time outs.Ā I quote, “Daddy’s awesome and you suck.”
Point noted.
Husbands.Ā You gotta love em.Ā And because we love them, let’s start with all the things they do that make them wonderful :
-He comes home after work.
Moving on.
I’m just kidding.Ā We all know husbands do a lot more good than just come home from work.Ā Let’s add to the list.
-He comes straight home from work.
Still kidding.Ā Don’t get your boxers in a bunch.Ā The real list follows :
-He comes straight home from work to a crabby wife and hyper kids, yet still manages to remain upbeat.
-Is tired as hell but tells you to take a break.
-Knows exactly what to do when you’re angry.Ā When I’m mad at him, my husband starts cleaning.Ā He strongly believes that cleanliness is next to godlinessĀ because it prevents your wife from doing that head turning thing from the Exorcist.
-Doesn’t question the logic behind why I can be as grumpy as I want but he gets in trouble for not smiling enough.
-Worked for years at a job he hated because he felt he had to.Ā His hard work is what made it possible for me to stay at home with our kids.Ā This is the reason why I call my husband the real superman.Ā That and because he’s survived being married to me for so long.
-Is ever supportive, whether it’s you wanting to go back to school, starting a blog or turning off all the lights and pretending no one’s home when the neighbor’s annoying kids show up uninvited.
-Is the world’s greatest dad.Ā My husband has more patience than a monkey has love for bananas.Ā He can play make believe games with my boys for hours.Ā I would rather clean the house. Or watch paint dry.Ā Or clean the house while I watch paint dry.
-He lets you blog about him.
And since nothing and no one is perfect, here are things he does that make him so very annoying :
-You send him to the supermarket for cauliflower and he returns with lettuce.Ā You ask for parsley and he gets spinach.
-Half your kitchen stuff ends up where it shouldn’t be when he unloads the dishwasher.
-His version of cleaning is to dump everything in the kids’ toy box and/or the closet.
-You can always count on him to not answer his phone.
-Wouldn’t know his way around the kitchen even if it came equipped with exit signs.
-Thinks it’s okay to have a conversation with you when you’re brushing your teeth.Ā Or through the bathroom door when you’re perched on the toilet.Ā But thou shall not interrupt the watching of football game.
-Thinks we are out of <fill in the blank> if a sixty second search for it yields nothing.
-Grins and says But I picked you when you tell him his taste sucks.
-Thinks sitting down to pee is a strange and foreign concept.
-His looking for something usually ends up with you finding it for him.
-His lack of attention to detail and failure to pick up on social cues makes you wonder if he spent his adolescent years devoid of human interaction.Ā When I was pregnant and mine no longer fit, my husband thought it was okay to tell my family I was wearing his underwear.
-Hogs the blanket.Ā Tosses and turns enough to wake the dead.Ā My husband’s nocturnal bed shaking (no, not that kind) once even woke him up.Ā He turned to me, still half asleep, and asked was there an earthquake? to which I replied no, darling, your ass was just doing its sleep aerobics thing again.
-Leaves all pantry and cabinet doors wide open.Ā Shutting them makes you feel like Vanna White after an exceptionally large puzzle solving on an early 90’s episode of Wheel of Fortune.Ā You know, before it went all touch screen.
-He lets you blog about him with the condition that you will do a similar post on wives.
Needless to say, I accepted the challenge.
I had the opportunity to guest post good doctors, bad doctor on the hilariously entertaining blog, Harsh Reality.Ā I was already a fan of the Opinionated Man based on his writing style, but he’s also a nice guy that likes to help out new entrants to the blogging world.Ā You can check out the post here.
The View Through The Window 