Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Florida Bound!

One more stretch of driving, and we'll be in FLORIDA! YAY! 

 Packing the car is definitely like playing Tetris.

 Isaiah loves reading maps. πŸ’™

 Rest areas are for potty breaks and conquering Pokemon gyms.

 You know you're in the south when you get to eat some greasy Whataburger. Oh, yeah.

 Battleship in Mobile...almost there!

 15 minutes from Dad and Mom's...gotta stop to potty. We were so close! Oh, well. At least the Welcome Center is cool.




πŸ˜€πŸ’“ HOME! πŸ’“πŸ˜€

 WAKE UP, SHELBY. I want to bug you.


 Holly is ready to go! Woop woop! So happy to see family!

 Lucy, we finally get to meet!!! Now come on out from under that table...

Isaiah is so ready to go swimming!

Monday, July 31, 2017

Good Friends, Good Times

We ALWAYS have fun when we have the opportunity to visit with our friends Aaron, Julie, Wes, and Evie in Cape. If only we lived closer and could spend more time together. πŸ˜•




 Wes: Lemme take a look here... Hey, Isaiah, could you give me a hand?

 Wes: *reconnects battery* There we go! Let's ride!

 Nerf War!

 Just a little Snapchat that my dad sent me...Florida tomorrow means BISCUITS & GRAVY! πŸ΄πŸš—πŸ΄

 Fashion Show!

 Mallory: So, it's a little small, but I look like I belong at Downton Abbey.
Me: super proud mom!


 Just a queen and her unicorn. πŸ‘ΈπŸ΄πŸ˜†



~ becky

We interrupt this vacation...

...to file a police report. 😠

Our first vacation sleep was spent in Jackson, Missouri. We stayed at the Drury Inn & Suites where Tim and I had our wedding reception almost exactly 13 years ago. πŸ’“ The plan was for Tim to spend Monday fishing with his friend, Aaron, while the kids and I relaxed at the hotel and swam in the pool.

Tim woke up early to meet Aaron, but he promptly returned to our room in search of his tackle box. Initially, he thought that Mallory or I had brought it up to the room. Neither of us remembered hauling it upstairs, so I offered to go down and check the car, too.


I looked through the car, but I didn't find it either. I noticed that Tim had even lifted the seats in the third row; however, I would find out later that Tim hadn't actually done that. My thought process was that we knocked it out of the car when we were pulling out luggage, so surely someone turned it in at the desk. Nope. The desk did not have any items turned in from the parking lot.

I went back to the car where I realized that Isaiah's metal detector was also missing. Why would Tim be taking that fishing? It was at this point that we starting putting the pieces together. Someone had broken into our car.


As you can see, they were rather thorough. Besides lifting up and looking under the third row of seats, they pulled everything out from under the other seats, too.


It seems they used something to pry open the door and pop the lock. Jerk. Nissan's later estimate was around $2100 in damage to the car.






A big thank you to Deputy Cheney at the Cape Girardeau County Sherriff's Department. He was super helpful - even though we'll never get our stuff back.

We were very disappointed with the staff at the hotel. The manager was not very helpful or apologetic at all. He was suddenly "busy" or "not at the desk" when the deputy asked to talk with him about another hotel guest that I mentioned seeing wander around the parking lot after 10:00 the previous night.

We lost our Garmin GPS, Isaiah's metal detector, Tim's full tackle box, a Sony bluetooth speaker that Tim brought along to give me for our anniversary, 2 Brewers baseball caps, and a credit card. We realize that it is just stuff, and stuff is replaceable. But it was our stuff, and we work hard for our stuff. Nothing takes away that feeling of being vulnerable and violated. That being said, it could always be worse. We are extremely safely to all be safe. We did learn to take everything into a hotel, though, even if we are only staying for one night.

~ becky

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Off to Florida

One thing we value as a family is travel. Sometimes we have the opportunity to explore new places, but this year we were super excited to head to Pensacaola to spend some time with my family!

 We have great neighbors that were willing to look after our sweet kitty girl. For a brief moment, we might have considered bringing her with us. (We learned by the end of the trip that 13 days was most definitely too long without her.) 

 How unusual that I was in the car ready to go before Tim. ;) Naturally, we didn't make it out of the neighborhood before we had to turn back for something. We forgot Tim's fishing pole and tackle box. Oops. At least I knew that my flat iron wasn't plugged in. Not possible, considering it was in my suitcase. :P

Checking out the sites along the way is a great way to stretch your legs. Beware of the chicken sandwich at the Wendy's in Lincoln, IL. Tim's was raw when he bit into it...GROSS!

 Me: Smile.
Tim: I am.
 That's better!

Just passing through...that skyline view makes me smile.

Monday, July 24, 2017

{Saturday Breakfast} Angels Restaurant

Because we were out of town on Saturday, July 22nd, we decided to spin the Wheel of Breakfast on Monday, July 24th. This week's selection ~ Angels Restaurant! Angels is a place that we have been curious about since moving to Appleton, but we never took the time to check it out until now.


 Points for a Pokemon Go gym for battling while waiting for food!

 Or a good old fashioned Rubik's Cube is fun, too.

 The coffee was excellent!

 Check out that rye toast! Wowza!! It reminded me of the croutons on the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday's. My meal tasted every bit as good as it looks, and it was super filling.

 Strawberry Pancakes - oh boy!!

 As you can see, Tim and I both decided to go with the traditional breakfast - eggs, potato, meat, toast.

 Mallory ordered a la carte, so she could enjoy some hashbrowns, too. We've learned that not all kids menus are created equal at restaurants across the area. :/ A little more consistency in this area would be nice.

Our family selfie is so fun! :)

Ambience - 4 out of 5
Angels Restaurant is certainly clean, but the tables and seating do appear a bit dated. The dining room is one large room with a smaller room off to the side. It was nearly empty on a Monday morning, but I imagine it can be quite loud when busy.

Food - 5 out of 5
We definitely enjoyed our meal! The food was fresh, tasty, and made to order!

Service - 4 out of 5
There were two servers working the floor, and they worked quite well together. Great teamwork on their part! The man running the register looked a little bored, though. I'm sure there was something he could have been doing instead of reading the newspaper...

Speed - 5 out of 5
No problems with waiting at any time during our visit.

Cost - 4 out of 5
I'm holding back on a score of 5 for cost because I felt as though the children's menu was lacking just a bit.

Final Rating ~ 4.5 Breakfast Platters out of 5

Overall Ranking
1. Angels Restaurant
2. Golden Basket
3. WeatherVane

~ becky