I've been on vacation!! yay!! part 1: the bourbon trail

Sunday night, my husband and I got home from a long, wonderful, much needed vacation withOUT kids! We were gone for about 10 days and the purpose of our trip was to meet up with 5 friends that I met online when we were all pregnant with our twins. Scott and I decided to take our vacation road-trip style, stopping along the way to soak up some new places.

The first leg of our journey led us down the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. We participated in program where you have a passport stamped at several different distilleries, earning a t-shirt if you get to all of them. It was fun to do and the countryside was just gorgeous! Scott even had to drive through a washed out road/river at one point! Gotta love back-roads.

We started out at Jim Beam. We don't drink Jim Beam, but it was a nice place!



Second stop was Heaven Hill. We hadn't even heard of it! Might have something to do with the fact that it all burned down in the 90's. lol Bourbon and fire don't get along well!


Next up was Maker's Mark. I remember visiting this distillery with my family as a child when we lived in Kentucky. The smells and heat from the huge vats of fermenting alcohol have always stayed with me. They weren't as intense as I had remembered, but it was fun to take Scott there so he could experience it too.



If you aren't familiar with bourbon, it's made from grains and corn, fermented until it's basically moonshine. Then they place it in wooden barrels that are charred on the inside, where they are aged for 6-8 years or so.

While on our trip, we became Maker's Mark ambassadors, which means we get our names on a barrel and when it's ready, we get a bottle from that barrel! You can sign up for free on their website and they send you Christmas presents and invites to events and stuff. It sounds pretty cool and we're excited!


We picked up a couple of bottles of the brand new "46" which is pretty darn good!


Next stop was Four Roses. By this time of day, the distilleries were getting pretty crowded, so we didn't stay long, but this was definitely a beautiful place!



Wild Turkey. The only whiskey/bourbon I've ever had a baaaaad experience with. lol


We saved the best for last. Woodford Reserve's distillery is the oldest and by far the best and most interesting place we visited. If you had to just pick one of these distilleries to tour, this would be the one we'd recommend. It was in a gorgeous spot too!



They use these cool copper things that no one else does, or so they told us.



We saw and sampled our way through all of these fun places and would definitely do it again! You can learn more about bourbon and the bourbon trail HERE.

God bless America!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We spent Saturday with my in-laws and the kiddos participated in their annual neighborhood "parade." It's becoming a tradition for us and I know it's making memories for the kiddos. Living down in Texas most of my life, we never did a whole lot for this holiday because it's always too dang hot and dry!

The kids in the neighborhood decorate their bikes, wagons and strollers, walk around the neighborhood lake and end the parade at the water with popsicles for everyone!




Once evening set in, the family pyromaniacs started in on their stash of explosives! I parked myself in the back of the mini-van. :)





We ended the night with a real fireworks show and full bellies, happy to live in the greatest country on earth!

ahem....

Hi.

Remember me?

Ummm, ya. It's been a little crazy around here! It's not getting any less crazy, so I figured I'd take some time today to update my blogs a little. I haven't blogged since April, so there's lots to catch up on!

During our spring trip to Texas, we visited a strawberry farm near Marble Falls. It was our first time out there and it was a lot of fun! We went on a gorgeous, cool day and found tons of berries!

peace in the pasture

Last night, I finally went through some of the pics from this past fall when I took the kids down to Texas for a visit with Nonna and Boppa. We went for a walk in the pasture with Nonna and the dogs and, somehow, everyone under 3ft tall wound up swimming in the stock tank, even after they had received clear instructions not to do so.

Christmas: part 2

Obviously, I'm a little behind on blogging, so hang in there with me!

Originally, our plan was to visit with my husband's family on Christmas eve, go to church, and open presents with all of them. Because of the blizzard that blew through, we weren't able to go until the following Sunday. We went to a service at the family's German Lutheran church and then had a nice lunch with Scott's step-dad's mom and family. :)

Sarah and Phoebe both wore the snowman skirts I made for them, but Ellen insisted on wearing the monkey dress I made for her the night before (which she also insisted on sleeping in.) So much for matching! I'll try to get some better pics of them in their skirts soon.


Afterward, we headed back over to my in-laws' and proceeded to eat more good food and open more presents. Goofy grandpa put wrapping paper on his head and the kiddos found all the candy and goodies that Santa had left there for them.


Lots of grandmas, lots of goodies! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

"look at mommy and smile!!!!!"

Today was Christmas picture day and I think I said "look at mommy and smile" about 800 times. The kids only heard it about 3. Every year I get so flustered, I promise myself I'm not going to try it again for a whole 'nother year. I've learned over time not to expect much when trying to photograph all 3 together, but I *really* wanted a decent shot this year. Here's the best shot:

Not too shabby! I feel like my colors are a little wonky, but I'm working it out. The headbands are the ones I blogged about last post, and the background is wrapping paper taped to the garage door. I found some Christmas cards on clearance last year that have that same damask print, so everything will be perfectly matched. :)

Since I couldn't get the girls to look at me, I tried a different approach and told them to kiss Sissy and cuddle up to her. Here's how that translated...lol.

I was hoping it would get them all giggling so I could get some great smiles, but this is about as happy looking as they got.

To make it even more "fun" for mommy, there were dogs romping around across the street, so I had some serious competition for their attention. Phoebe thought her eyes needed to be closed to make "cheeeeese!!!" as cheesy as possible, and Ellen lost all control of her facial expressions. 98% of the pics looked like these:


I guarantee you I said "look at mommy and smile" before I snapped every one of these shots!

Here are some of the girls individually. They were just as difficult during these. lol



This afternoon, grandma and grandpa came to visit with cousin {R}, so I stuck her in a headband and took her picture too.


Now I just need to find the time to do the Christmas cards and I'm all set!