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August 30, 2010

Back Home

We are back home. We left Illinois on Wednesday and stayed the night in the hotel. We had an early flight back on Thursday so staying close to the airport was nice.

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Rest Area

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Arch Drive-By Picture

Gabe's parents met us in St. Louis and we went on the Budweiser Brewery Tour. Alex really liked looking at the horses.

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Horse on Brewery Tour

We had dinner in St. Charles. It is a neat little historic town.

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Alex really liked this bike rack.

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We had fun walking by the waterfront and exploring the park.

We flew back on Thursday and we are attempting to catch up on everything that happened while we were gone.

August 24, 2010

On the Road Again

We are in Illinois. We flew into St. Louis in Saturday. After making a quick stop at Archiver's we headed to my parent's house.

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Alex on the plane.

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Sitting on the pig bench outside of 17th Street Bar & Grill

Gabe really likes the ribs that he gets there.

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Alex really likes playing the Huggies diaper box. We pushed him around and he drove the "race car".

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My brother's awesome new car.

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Alex and Maddex playing some tunes.

We had Alex a birthday party at my parent's house. We had BBQ, chips, coleslaw, and yummy cake.

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The birthday boy!

We are off to St. Louis tomorrow and then back to Arizona on Thursday.

Groupon 8/24/10

Last night I took advantage of an awesome Groupon deal. Only $25 for $50 worth of products from Zazzle.com. It can even be used on custom postage! The deal is available today, through a different city. Below are some of the Groupons that I thought people might be interested in since they are pretty much all online deals. If you see a city you are interested in just click on the Groupon link and then select the city on the Groupon page for the deal.

Baltimore: $9 for One-Pound Tin of Otterbein's Cookies ($18.99 Value)
Chicago: $40 for $85 Worth of Wine Shipped Right to Your Door from MyWinesDirect.com (valid in certain states only)
Columbus: $29 for $100 Worth of Silk Flower Arrangements from Silk Mama
Fresno: $21 for a Side-by-Side Tree Planting for a Loved One from Plant Trees 4 Life ($35 Value)
Hampton Roads: $8 for a One-Year Subscription to "Hampton Roads Magazine" ($19.95 Value)
Memphis: $12 for $25 Worth of Candles, Gifts and More from The Candleberry Company
Pittsburgh: $15 for $35 Worth of Gourmet Coffees, Teas, and Gifts at Joe's Coffee House Online
Richmond: $10 for $25 Worth of Nuts, Dried Fruit, and More from Nutty Guys (I bought one of these)
Washington DC: $25 for $50 Worth of Customizable Gifts from Zazzle.com (I bought one of these)
Wichita: $10 for $25 Worth of Cookies, Cakes, and Confections from Dessert Diva

August 13, 2010

Friday, June 4, 2010

We took the train from Paddington Station to the airport. Our flight was uneventful...which is a good thing.

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Alex and the Beefeater statue in the airport.

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Sleeping on the airplane with Hans. Hans is the bear we bought in Denmark. Alex grabbed it in the store and would not put it down.

August 12, 2010

Thursday, June 3, 2010

After arriving in Dover we took a train into London. We walked all over.

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White Cliffs of Dover

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The train to London

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.
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The guitar that started it all.

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This Alex's first trip to London, so of course he needs a picture with a phone booth.

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Buckingham Palace

Next up: The United States

August 11, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Amsterdam is definitely a bicyclists town. There are bike riders everywhere!

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View down a waterway.

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Rembrandt's House

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Stopping for lunch at Hoppe.

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Amsterdam's narrowest house (6 2/3 ft. wide).

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Buddhist Fo Guang Shan He Hua Temple

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Alex and a cow statue.

Next up: England

August 9, 2010

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today we spent the day at sea. Alex had a great time dancing around the common areas and clapping to the music.

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Next up: The Netherlands

New Years Resolution Update!

1. Run in a race. I plan on running in a race in October.
2. Lose 10 more pounds
3. Finish 2009 Scrapbook (I am on November)
4. Read Run For Your Life by James Patterson Done!
5. Read Rites of Spring (Break) by Diana Peterfreund
6. ReadTap & Gown by Diana Peterfreund
7. Read The Lost City of Z by David Grann Done...and I can't say that I would recommend it.
8. Read Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
9. Read The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost This book was pretty good. I am not sure what took me so long to read it.
10. Read Broken Music: A Memoir by Sting
11. Read Catch Me if You Can by Donna Kauffman
12. Read The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
13. Read Storm Front by Jim Butcher Done!
14. Read I, Alex Cross by James Patterson Done...and excellent as usual.
15. Read Heat Wave by Richard Castle
16. Read Twenties Girl by Sophie KinsellaDone!
17. Read Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson Done, but not your typical Alex Cross book.
18. Request Medical Records Done!
19. Go through Credit Card Stuff
20. Read the Bible, chronologically, in one year. Here is the printable version.
21. Complete the 365 Project. I am going to do it this year! I am caught up.

August 6, 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Today we went to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a great town for walking.

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Mermaid statue by the waterfront.

The Kastellet was a fun place to visit. It is an active military area, but you can walk through and see all of the neat things.

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Church at the Kastellet

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Windmill at the Kastellet

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Alex and an Anchor

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Statue of King Frederik V placed in the center of the square at Amalienborg Palace.

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Part of the royal residence in Copenhagen, Amalienborg Palace.

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Guard at Palace.

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The marble church has the largest dome in north Europe with a span of 31m.

Next up: Day at Sea

August 5, 2010

36 Books Goal

This post is just a check-in entry to see my progress for my 36 book goal. So far I am ahead of schedule.

January
1. I, Alex Cross, by James Patterson
2. Alex Cross's Trial, by James Patterson and Richard Dilallo

February
3. Galatians: Breakaway to Freedom (Bible Study), by Sarah Howell
4. Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell
5. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

March
6. Run for Your Life, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
7. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, by Rick Riordan
8. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
9. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan

April
10. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
11. Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan
12. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan
13. Worst Case, by James Patterson

May
14. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan
15. I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced, by Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui
16. Make Over: Revitalizing the Many Roles You Fill (A Modern Girl's Bible Study), by Jen Hatmaker.

June
17. Echoes of the Dead, by Johan Theorin
18. Storm Front, by Jim Butcher
19. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, by Stephenie Meyer
20. The 9th Judgment, by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
21. Twenties Girl, by Sophie Kinsella

July
22. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Demigod Files, by Rick Riordan
23. The Murder of King Tut, by James Patterson & Martin Dugard
24. The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, by J. Maarten Troost

August (currently reading)
25. Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
26. Private, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

August 4, 2010

July

The month of July went by fast. In an effort to catch my blogging up, I am going to post some pictures from a couple of events. This post is very picture heavy.

We went to Gabe's office and looked at the trucks. Alex thought the big trucks were a lot fun. Sorry, no pictures.

Alex loves the International Wildlife Museum. He has a blast touching all of the animals.

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Running under the giraffe was a lot of fun.

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Crawling through the ferret tunnel was fun too!

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Alex the lion.

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Hanging out with the lion at a neighborhood park.

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Sharing a cookie.

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The Tucson Children's Museum is a great place to go on a hot day.

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Driving a firetruck.

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Hanging out with the locals.

I took Alex to Gymboree for the first time. He had a great time crawling all over the equipment. I think this is going to be something that we do once a month.

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Alex loves to vacuum with his toy vacuum. So, we bought a Bissell Sweeper and Gabe only attached the first portion of the handle. Now Alex has vacuum cleaner his size that really works!

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We also went to the Mini-Time Machine: A Museum of Miniatures and a baseball game. He enjoyed watching all of the action on the field.

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Alex picking a peach at Apple Annie's.

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Trying out an apple.

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We have also been making recipes from the counties we visited on our last vacation.

July was a busy month!