as has become standard over the years, we planned for one of the days of our spring break trip to be a big fat longer hike for me (and a much needed day of doing nothing for my people who enjoy doing nothing and derek who was a little under the weather for the whole […]
vacation
spring break 2023bryson city day.

our second day of spring break was a little drizzly and overcast, so we figured it was a good day to do some shopping and exploring in bryson city. you know, making sure we were close to shelter. but before we hit the city, we drove up “the road to nowhere” to walk through the […]
spring break 2023. wesser bald fire tower hike.

for our first big spring break adventure, we dragged the kids out on a three-ish mile hike to the wesser bald fire tower. it was relatively uneventful. derek wasn’t feeling great and ike was nursing a sprained ankle, so they took their time, while i forged ahead with the girls. we started out a little […]
spring break 2023…

for spring break this year, we packed up and headed to an airbnb, in the wilderness of the nantahala national forest, on the tippy western end of north carolina. as the children grow, so does the volume of our “luggage” (reusable shopping bags, mostly), making packing the back of the subaru feel like the most […]
whirlwind solo adventure to WNY.

with a pair of tickets to the bills game in hand (or saved to my phone using cyber space magic), i began preparing for my trek north for the big adventure. there was some debate about the entire family heading up for the weekend, but that would require missing school and a lot of logistical […]
bills v. dolphins, the playoffs.best ever makeup birthday gift.

in november, i was supposed to attend the bills-browns game for my birthday gift. then, a massive snowstorm struck the area the day before the game, and it was moved to detroit. we were issued a massive refund (140% of our original ticket prices), so when the bills first playoff game was scheduled for a […]
attempts at favorite aunt status. thanksgiving cookie edition.

in a desperate bid to win the designation as holden’s favorite aunt, i packed an arsenal of cookie decorating supplies for our trip to batavia for thanksgiving. my mom babysits him every monday, so i hyped him up for a full day of baking and decorating and he was all in. my diabolical plan for […]
august in western new york.

usually, we head up to western new york for our annual summer pilgrimage in june or maybe early july. but this year, my baby brother’s wedding was set to take place in august, so we planned our excursion around the wedding date. we arrived the weekend before the wedding, so we could get in some […]
atlantic beach week. cape lookout shenanigans.

as previously mentioned, the weather for most of our atlantic beach week was pretty windy. for this reason, the big epic adventure we had planned kept getting postponed. but, finally, on our second to last day, we received word that our adventure was ON! what adventure, you ask? well, two-ish years ago, during a trip […]
atlantic beach week. the aquarium.

our first non-beach excursion during our week at atlantic beach was a visit to the pine knoll shores aquarium. it’s the perfect size for a quick morning visit, leaving enough time for an afternoon in the sand. obviously, we took all the pictures in the photobooth type places… the ultraviolet room with all the jellyfish […]