I'm off to my hometown this weekend to enjoy seeing old friends at my high school reunion. I can't wait to reconnect with them, visit my brothers and their families, visit my parents' gravesite, eat real seafood, hit the coast and remember what it was like to not have frizzy hair (from humidity!) It's a jam packed weekend but will be so nice to be back in the PNW. I haven't been back for 7 years. I'll return next week with pictures, a little DIY and thrifty finds from this week.
 Have a great weekend!



Via

View from Clark County, WA where I grew up. That volcano in the distance is Mt. Hood.

 

Via

View from the building where I worked in downtown Portland. The red brick area is Pioneer Courthouse Square, aka Portland's living room. I spent many a lunch break sitting out there with a hundred other people.

Via

Cannon Beach - one of our favorites! I'll be heading there with my brothers. I got stuck out on one of those rocks once when the tide came in. My friend, who is picking me up Friday night for one of our reunion parties, took a picture of me all helpless. Thanks.

Junior Rangers - US National Park program for kids

There are over 84 million acres of treasured places in The United States of America, They are our national parks and are waiting to be enjoyed. If you're doing any traveling this summer, you may be surprised at just how close you might be to a National Park or historic site. There are over 400 of them! So if you want to see any (which I highly recommend!) and you have children or grandchildren with you, there is a great program for them called The Junior Rangers. 

It's an activity based program where kids complete some easy tasks during a park visit, tell what they learned to a park ranger, be sworn in as a junior ranger, and receive a badge and certificate. They make it super easy. I love these types of things! I remember many road trips when I was young where we explored a historic site or took in a national park while we were traveling in the area. Sometimes they didn't seem as interesting as another but it always made for lasting memories. I think a program like this would've made it even better.

There is also an online program called Web Rangers that my kids do so they can receive badges when we're not traveling to a park. The park service will actually mail you a badge.

Because we live so close to the DC area, we're able to visit fairly often. So last year during the Cherry Blossom festival my kids were sworn in as Junior Rangers after completing three fun craft activities. I don't have the photos with me but will do a photo update when I do. This is what that badge looks like.

And now since we are in Arkansas for work, we are able to visit Hot Springs National Park all the time. So once again, we have some more badges. I wish I had started collecting them earlier since we have been to quite a few historical places and parks in our 22 years as a family. We'll just have to retrace our steps.

If you're like me when you hear the words "National Park," you automatically think of the iconic, maybe more beloved ones of our country, like the top 10 visited in 2014:

Great Smokey Mountains

The Grand Canyon

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Rocky Mountain

Olympic

Zion

Grand Teton

Acadia 

Glacier

They had a staggering 70 million visitors! But there are so many other places that you can take in where you or your children can have the park experience, like the Edgar Allen Poe Natl. Historical site in Philadelphia, Charles Pickney in SC, Ellis Island, Gettysburg, Golden Spike in Utah, The Badlands of SD, Golden Gate Recreation area in CA, Fort Clatsop in Astoria, Fort Vancouver in WA (went both places on field trips and that's where we grew up watching fireworks on the 4th!) There are just too many to list.
So don't worry if you're not in an area with one of the more 'famous' parks. There are just as many interesting and beautiful places to discover and maybe a little more accessible and away from crowds. And to make it easy for you to find one, Here is a list of the participating parks for JRs and also free entrance dates by state! Free is always a plus.

If you find a park near you and have the kids sworn in, let me know!

Have a great day

Love,
L

Yosemite 1994

sharing at The Happy Housie

Going to Razorback country

So last fall Jon's company transferred him to Arkansas. He's been coming home about a weekend a month since then except for December when he took a 2 week vacation.

The first thing Jon did when I called to tell him I quit my job was buy me a plane ticket to Hot Springs. So two weeks after that, I was on a little vacation.


It just so happened that the day I flew out of PA, was on the biggest snow storm we had all year. Eight to ten inches. I was worried that I would miss my flight. Of course nothing had really been plowed between my house and the airport which is about 20 miles. I put it into 4 wheel drive and carefully passed everyone on the freeway. I followed tracks of a semi truck who paved the way. I made it in half an hour.

It never fails that I get the full pat down when I go through security, every. time.
So I stood there while the agent kept saying, "I'm using the back of my hand" when she felt my backside, sides of the breast. I was thankful for the warning.

It took an hour to de-ice the plane which was fine by me. I was sitting in between 2 gentleman; one a Delta pilot and the other a father of 5 from Nebraska. They were both nice and we chatted the whole time. I made the pilot laugh when we were talking about roller coasters and he said he preferred to stay on the ground. I replied, "Said the Delta pilot." which made him slap his knee at the irony. Coincidentally enough, each of us stopped at Subway before the flight so we ate lunch together in our row, kinda fun.

Takeoff was a little bumpy and there was a lot of turbulence. A plane had just skidded off the runway at Laguardia earlier that day so that was on my mind. I noticed the pilot wasn't white knuckling it, so I felt pretty good even when the plane swayed back and forth and the attendants had to suspend snack service.

After a long day of layovers and flying, I grabbed a rental car and drove an hour up to Hot Springs. It was a pretty drive going up to the mountains, hills more like it. But nonetheless, pretty. It was dark by the time I arrived to Jon's hotel so I couldn't see much of the town but I saw lights reflecting on the lake that his hotel overlooks. And a lake nearby is always a good sign.

A Take on the town later!

Love,
L

An old sign in the very cute town 

of Hot Springs, Arkansas 

After a full day of sightseeing in Paris

we boarded our overnight train to find our coach cots.

We couldn't afford a private car and never stopped to think how this sleeping thing was going to work. Our usual thought process to just go with it always works out, I thought.

As we walked down the tight aisle with all of the couchettes to our right and seeing how full they were made us a bit nervous. Was there going to be any space for us together? Most of them were smoke filled which gave me visions of having a massive migraine because of my high sensitivity to cigarette smoke. At each car we quickly turned our heads to look in and continued to walk. When I looked behind me I realized that we were the only ones still looking for a room so there was no pressure to hurry anymore. We decided to keep walking the length of the train and came upon an empty sleeping car.

We settled in on that one and I closed the sliding door behind me to keep out the smoke that was now wafting into the hall. I heard the click of the door and turned to Jon who, standing, held out a bottle of water and was waiting for me to sit. Always the gentleman.

I still had my baguette tucked safely under my arm.

Because of the small paper wrapped around it, giving just enough space to hold onto, there was no place to set it down without it touching the table.

Smiling, Jon asked, "Are you going to hang on to that all night?"

Pointing the baguette into the air I said, "Yep, it took me two days to figure out where to buy this. The kids are going to say, 'My parents went to France and all I got was a piece of bread.' How sad. But oh, so good" and I took a bite of the best tasting bread ever.

We sat down and waited to see who would join us and began talking about all we did and saw. I was still smitten by the petit dejeuner we had earlier that day in a textbook charming cafe. It was just like in a movie, sitting in those famous French bistro chairs, having breakfast served to us on individual silver platters donned with a fresh flower and pretty carafes filled with fresh orange juice. In a corner, aged club chairs begged you to sit and read the paper. Needing some protein for the long day, we made it an American breakfast and ordered eggs. Even they tasted better there somehow.

"I don't care what people say, the French know how to do things right." I said

"They don't know how to do everything right." quipped Jon. We both laughed knowing what he meant.

"True. But I'm talking about the pretty things. Some other stuff, yeah, they could use a little help with but that's ok."

"How about that guy who gave us a ride to the metro in the pouring rain?"

"I know. I can't believe we did that. Remember how we all laughed when he finally deciphered our poor French and took us to the right station? That was funny. He was the nicest French person."

"What's funny is that he wasn't even French." Jon said.

"What about the horrified looks on people's faces on the bus when we missed our stop at midnight and jumped off at the wrong place? It's a good thing we can run fast."

"Or how about the girl who threw a firecracker at me? Good times... I can't wait to go back! Next time we'll know better what to do and where to go and where not to."

Just then the door rattled. We looked up to see who would be joining us. It rattled again and we heard someone talking to another person. Looking puzzled, Jon asked if I had locked the door but I knew I hadn't. Jon got up to go to the door and I tiptoed behind him. He tried to open it but it didn't move. Giving the door a firm tug, it finally gave. He leaned his head into the hall and saw that no one was there. He closed the door and tried it again but it was jammed. "The door's stuck! They probably thought the car was full with the door locked and kept going."

We heard a voice from the hall yell something every so often. It was official sounding, announcing something as they walked down the aisle. We assumed it was an attendant checking off all the rooms. A minute later the train began to slowly pull away from the station. We did a happy dance as we realized we had a private car after all and high fived each other.

Taking our water bottles, we toasted to our little, albeit unplanned, coup as the train began to gently sway. It gained speed as I rested my head on Jon's shoulder and watched Paris fade into the distance.

Ten hours to Rome and the adventure would begin again.

Un Temps Magnifique!

Come along on a little tour...

At the Plaka in Athens.

Jon at The Louvre

Laura visiting the Vatican.

Our train to Paris

 

 

Last night Jon asked me out on a date and took me to see the movie, "Julie & Julia."

His idea.

I say that because I want to give him credit for thinking of me. It makes me feel secure knowing that someone knows what I would like, especially the one who should know the most about me.

We took in a later show because we had other stuff to do around the house.

Jon bought me popcorn, water, Raisinets, Goobers and Junior Mints.

We didn't eat it all.

As a matter of fact, I am enjoying some raisinets right now. One of my pleasures of motherhood - hiding and enjoying a bit of candy anytime I feel like it. I'm sure the kids will sniff it out sooner or later. They have as keen a sense of smell and tracking skills as a Bloodhound. Except for getting dirty socks out of their room or finding that lost library book.

The movie was great. It was clever and interesting and a nice love story of sorts.

Now I want to dive into Julia Child's Parisian cooking. When we were at the Smithsonian we saw the recreation of her kitchen and all the vintage copper pots she used. It was fascinating.

I only have one copper pot of my own. Not vintage.

On the way home we talked about our own trip to France a few years back. We walked all over Paris as I pinched myself making sure I was there. The Louvre, the architecture, the fashions, the food...I was in love. I came home raving to my mom about their scarves and pashminas. My mom surprised me with a cashmere pashmina for Christmas that year. Sadly, I think it was lost in our move.

We both would love to travel abroad again and savor the flavors of Europe. As we walked the pretty Parisian streets, I saw people holding baguettes, wrapped in paper, tucked under their arm like a newspaper. I wanted a baguette. We were on the Champs Elysees and I did not see a patisserie. I finally asked where I could find a baguette and a nice person said to go off into the side streets and I would find one. So we did. They were lovely little cobblestone streets with shops closely lining their edge. Things like that make me giddy with excitement.

I saw a patisserie and the Parisians lining up to get their daily bread. I waited, nervously, knowing I would have to speak in French. I had a friend who spoke French so she wrote out things for me. So when the clerk asked what I would like, I was ready, hoping she didn't ask anything else because I only memorized one easy conversation.

Success! At least to my ears anyway...

I proudly held on to my baguette and we enjoyed it on the overnight train to Italy. ( That was a story!)

It was a little challenging to find the bread but I savored every little bit.

I don't know when we'll get back to Europe so I'm glad that we crammed as much enjoyment into our whirlwind trip as we could.

Just as in life, even though our days can give us some challenges,

we need to savor every little bit, filling them with as much enjoyment as we can.