we love watching and reading the polar express every year at christmas, and always say that someday we should ride the one of the many polar express themed train rides offered in our neck of the woods. well, our “maybe someday” turned into this year, when our family gift from the grandlidboms was a polar […]
isaac
wild + free moravian candle tea.

the old salem candle tea is a standard christmas tradition around these parts. nevermind that last year was the first year i had ever attended in the 16 or so years that i’ve lived here-ish. when we went last year, we were on our own, and had an early tour time and just drove into […]
and then the crazel was six.

after thanksgiving, the next major event in the lidbom calendar is the birthday of one hazel grace lidbom. somehow she’s already six. the crazelnut is still super hilarious, always trying to be the class clown of the family. she’s super smart and now loves to read. she is snuggly, sweet, and generous, and i’m told […]
november, randomness.

after a month filled with exciting travel in october, november was pretty chill. even though it’s not quite the same as fall in western new york, it’s still my favorite season in north carolina. cooler temps. pumpkin themed foods. upcoming holidays. falling leaves. fewer bugs. you get the idea. here’s how our november went. we […]
being thankful in batavia.

now that we are (stuck) back in winston-salem, we are back to figuring out how to spend various holidays. i was determined to spend christmas in the stupid new house, because the ONLY time i ever missed having a house while we were on the road was christmastime. so, that made thanksgiving a perfect time […]
some november field trips.

one day, we were at the library, picking out books, looking up books to put on hold, guessing the number of pieces in the candy jar, when our friendly librarian told us that someone had just returned the library’s pass to the local science museum. we jumped at the chance to check it out for […]
forty three.

in november, i turned 43. sounds very old when i say it out loud or see it in writing. like a grownup, even. anyhooooo. the derek and the kids kicked off my birthday morning but going out and picking up a starbucks peppermint mocha and bagel station salt bagels and chive cream cheese. so good. […]
shenendoah national park.part two.

our second full day in shenendoah was beautiful. unfortunately, so overnight wind and rain had knocked a LOT of leaves off the trees. there was a distinct difference in fall foliage between the two days. on tap for the day was a short little hike that derek discovered that took us up to bearfence mountain. […]
shenendoah national park.part one.

we didn’t have much time after our giant acadia adventure before we would head back out into the wild. our second trip in october was to shenendoah national park, which isn’t all that far from our house (4-5 hours), but we have actually never been. we arrived in the afternoon, scoped the visitor center, checked […]
crayola museum.easton, pa.

after two legs of the trip, we found ourselves just outside easton, pennsylvania, home of the crayola museum. this is another spot that we visited when we were very first on the road, and we were pretty excited to go back again. i took the kids, which gave derek some time to do his actual […]