The best restaurant in the whole entire world.

Last weekend, I was cleaning out the van and getting organized to pack for our big trip to GA. We live in the van, so it is always a disaster. BUT we usually have everything we need at any given time.

Water? check. Bandaid? check. Snacks? check. 27 stuffed animals? check. Trash? check.

I digress. I was vacuuming and using very liberal amounts of Febreeze (the van also smells like we live in it. . .) The kids were playing in the front yard. Of course, as usual, we have several kiddos from the street come on down to hang out. I am busy, but I can hear snippits of conversations. My ears perked up when I heard Jessa start talking about our trip. I LOVE to hear them talk when they have no idea I am listening.

Jess: Yeah, my mom's getting the car ready to go to GA.

Friend: Oh really.

Jess: My grandma, May, she lives in GA and we are going to see her. I was also born in GA.

Friend: Yeah, my brother was, too.

Jess: While we are at my Grandma's house, we get to go out to eat at the best restaurant in the whole entire world.

Friend: Oh yeah, where?

Jess: The Varsity.

Friend: I have been there. Did you know that Coca Cola was invented in Georgia?

Jess: Yes! And we love Coke!

I got so tickled. We do love The Varsity in Atlanta. And we do eat there every time we come to visit. I am glad that she loves it, and I am sure that many would argue it is the best fast food restaurant in the world. And when you are 6, I guess fast food is the best type of food, so I see her point!!

So last night, we made her dream a reality and went to The Varsity!

Nikki always likes to eat there when she visits, too, so we were all happy. We always sit in the same place, so Mimi and Poppy know where to meet us. And last night was no different. Usually the "guys" go and get the food and the ladies say with the kids to save our table. But last night, the only "guys" were Poppy and Spencer, so I went with them. I smiled when I heard a man behind us in line say, "I have never even heard of this place. I was in town on business and someone at the hotel said I had to try it." Yep. It is sort of a must when you travel to Atlanta!

We had a wonderful time. We laughed. We ate lots of greasy food.

And Jessa was beaming to be in "the best restaurant in the whole entire world!"

We even took a ton of pictures. I laughed because I am sure that people thought we were tourists taking 1,000 pictures!!

FYI:

If you have never been to this wonderful place, we think that you MUST eat onion rings and drink a P.C. (that is a Plain Chocolate milk poured over ice). AND if you want to impress them, I can help you with some lingo. Don't be shocked if they start yelling at you "What'll ya have!?" And if you want a plain hot dog, that is a "naked dog." AND going with Poppy is always fun - he has stories! When he was a student at GA Tech in Atlanta, The Varsity closed at 1 AM. Which meant that students, like Poppy went to the back door at 2 AM to get free food that they would be throwing away.

And we saw this in the parking lot:

Poppy said it must have come from the Athens Varsity because it looked like it came from the UGA library! Gotta love an in-state rivalry!! (No offense, Lucas and Bay!!)

We all got so tickled.

See, I told you Poppy was fun to bring along!

City Museum

Living at Scott AFB is very exciting for us. We have mostly stuck to the South, except for our time in Europe. So we are thrilled to check out a new area. The closest big city to us is St. Louis. There are tons of things to do in and around St. Louis. We had already done a few things on visits with Daddy over the past few years, but now we have lots of time to check it all out!


The first FUN place we visited was the City Museum. Wow!

They built this museum in an old Shoe Factory. It is definitely not a traditional museum, by any means.

Look at our incredibly expensive and oh so fashionable bracelets.

It is hands on and very kid friendly (and rather expensive). Most of the bottom floor was caves that could be explored. We were crawling around, checking out the cool carvings and the tunnels and slides. SO fun! I was sorry I was wearing shorts!

Look at that big kid. They are big on the parents being involved!

Posing in the caves - Jessa cannot even stop looking around to look at the camera!

David was a trooper!
As you crawled through the caves, you found old staircases to climb up into the old factory. There was a huge, spiral slide made out of an old chute used in the shoe making process. Jessa was nervous at first, and Spencer wanted me to slide with him. After Jessa finally consented to go down this slide but only with Bay, she was hooked! She ran up the all the stairs with us trying to keep up. So funny – as I topped the stairs, I saw the back of her head sliding down and Bay hopping in the chute quickly, just trying to follow her!

There were slides everywhere. The staircases used painted old conveyor belt rollers. You could climb inside tunnels and over other people. Everything was cool and recycled and fun.

Daddy trying to make sure Jessa waits her turn on a big slide.

Big bowl slides

Bay is the coolest grandfather, wouldn't you agree??

The roof was another attraction all of its own. There was a Ferris Wheel! What a view!

The elevator taking us to the roof.
Also on the roof was an old school bus. It was mounted on the edge, so if you climbed to the front you were hanging off the side of the building. So cool!!

Spencer could not wait to hop on the bus!
Oh and Jessa loved being able to walk across the fountain pond.

There was also an aquarium in the same building. It was sort of small, but we still enjoyed it. There were tunnels in the tank for you to look in and climb in.

Jessa made friends with a turtle:

Oooo and lunch was fun, too. A little pricey, but the seats were worth it.

AND they have the world's largest pencil there.

Bottom line: We love the City Museum in St. Louis! What a fun way to spend the day!

6 thumbs up (Jessa, Spencer, David, Bay, Nikki, and Me)

Lemonade, anyone?

Aren't Lemonade Stands like a rite of passage in childhood?

Well, my kiddos decided that Monday was the day for their first attempt.

We are in GA now. We drove all day on Tuesday, so Monday was the big preparation day. I always like to start the trip with a clean and organized car (it only lasts about 10 miles, but I like things to at least start well!). Jessa asked me as we were in the garage working on getting organized if she and Spencer could go to houses and "sell stuff." I think that she got the idea because some of their new neighbor buddies went door to door selling cherries over the weekend. I told her I did not think that was a good idea (I do not want people to cringe when they see my children at their door begging for spare change. . .). I said that maybe they could sell something at the house while I was in the garage. Jessa's face lit up and she said, "Lemonade!"

So we set them up a stand. We got a plastic garage shelf as a "table" and some chairs. They colored some signs. Jessa wanted to charge $1 per glass. I told her that was a little steep, and cousin Nikki made a "Donations Only" sign. I made some Country Time, and they were all set.

Jessa's sign on the left, Spencer's on the right.

Both signs have a line of customers - You've got to admire their optimism.

What serious business people.
The only problem: we live on a circle on the very last straight in the whole housing area. This means there is not a whole lot of traffic. After about 1 minute and 30 seconds, Jessa was already bored!

But they stuck with it. I bought a cup, but I had to pretend to not be their mother. Then Nikki bought a cup:

Nikki enjoying a $2 cup of lemonade.
The first REAL customer was the UPS man! Bless his heart, he gave them a whole dollar! Once some neighborhood kids were outside, Jessa started screaming "FREE LEMONADE!" This drummed up some business. Before long, we had to make a new jug. Our next door neighbor is a Priest, and he stopped by for a cup. We even had a car stop and give them a $5 bill!! I tried to give it back, but they ran to the car and said they wanted to do it! So sweet!

We had a long day with busier times than others. They finally ended up in the backyard playing with some new friends. I heard someone come to the front door and yell, "I want some lemonade." I ran to get the kids, and they found a VERY important customer.

He may be an important Army Officer, but he is just their BAY.
They gave him 2 very full cups to take back to work with him.

They ended up making $14.31 - not bad for an afternoon of "work," huh? I have a feeling this was not our last afternoon of hanging out and selling our wares.

I'll gladly make more lemonade any day for these two sweet faces.

Happy 5th of July!

Boy are we confused! We woke up in the wee hours of the morning on July 4th to the sounds of thunder. It was one heck of a storm!! The whole rest of the day was rainy and dreary and windy and sticky. And it rained and rained. And then later, it rained some more. The yard was wet and muddy. Our fun grilling out afternoon was nearly impossible. And the biggest tragedy was that the fireworks display that we were looking forward to was postponed! Now, we were lucky that the stormy, rainy 4th of July was a Saturday. This made it easy to shift the fireworks fun to Sunday night.

So we celebrated a Happy 5th of July instead.

I love the 4th of July: parties, great food, fireworks, and family. And I love any holiday that encourages patriotism and flag waving!! The past several years, my cousin Nikki has been visiting the mainland from Hawaii. It is always fun to celebrate with her. We also are usually in GA. Daddy ran his 29th consecutive Peachtree Road Race, and many times, David runs with him. (For those of you not from Atlanta, this is the world's largest 10K that is run each year on Peachtree through the streets of Atlanta.) Daddy is the founder of the Overseas Peachtree Road Races; he started one in Kuwait when he was there (he did not want to break his streak!). And since then, the race has grown to several in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Daddy ran 2 races in Kuwait, and then he has been on the starting line on Peachtree Street at Lenox Square each year to start the overseas races via cell phone. We have gone with him several years.

Our first trip to watch him start the Overseas Races: 2006.

Trip number 2, 2007.

Last year, 2008. Haven't they grown? Holy Cow!
This year Daddy started 5! And it should be noted that the Atlanta Track Club donates all the T-shirts and race gear and has it shipped to the loaction of the race. The runners get the same shirt as the 55, 000 in Atlanta. What an awesome way to support our troops!

We were sorry we were not able to be with him this year, but we sure are proud that he is such a devoted Peachtree Runner and race starter!!

So Sunday, we woke up to another overcast day, but no precipitation - whew!
The craziest part of all of this whole postponing the 4th thing, Daddy was in Atlanta to start races, run a race, and celebrate with Momma. BUT he also had time to drive 9 hours back to Scott AFB in time to celebrate the 5th of July with us! He must have felt like it was Groundhog's Day!

We had a delicious supper of kabobs, potatoes, and salad. And while I got dressed, David churned a freezer of homemade vanilla ice cream. We got the ice cream all fixed in to-go cups and headed to the fireworks.

Look at those rednecks jammed in there to see the fireworks!
It was very laid back and easy. We just went to the town where the show was scheduled and found a spot on the side of the road. We all crammed into the back of the van to see the awesome fireworks! Yay family fun and togetherness!

The only thing missing was a soundtrack. David searched for something on the radio, but he could not find anything suitable. So we all sang various patriotic songs. Jessa sang her own made up song, too. It was a disturbing and graphic sort of cautionary tale about getting too close to fireworks. I will not share it with you. You should thank me.

Spencer could not choose his favorite kind. He finally said that they were all his favorite! And he was so worn out, he fell asleep on the way home, bless him!

I took the picture after we were home -

Don't call DFACS, he was safely strapped in until we were home.
Happy 4th of July and also, Happy 5th of July!

God Bless America!

God Bless all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines!

And God Bless all the families who support them!

Company

I love having company. And we have a full house right now! YAY!

Mimi and Poppy got here last Saturday for their first visit to the new new house. I was hoping to have it more unpacked, but you know. . . And frankly, Mimi is only watching the kiddos anyway, she wouldn't notice a marching band coming through.

THEN on Wednesday May and my cousin Nikki arrived. We LOVE when Nikki comes to visit. She is my 16 year old cousin who lives in Hawaii, and Jessa thinks they are the same age!! They are really cute together, and Nikki is SO patient with her little cousins who think she hung the moon.

We were sad because our dear friends Roy and Peggy were unable to come. They were also supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but they had a family emergency. They did ask for a rain check, and we granted it without hesitation.

Anyway, there is not too much time for blogging, but I will have many funny stories to share when they are headed back home.

Until then, think of us all together, eating and laughing - 'cause that is what we are doing.

David, Mimi, Dana, Poppy, Spencer, May, Bay, Jessa, Nikki