travel
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Teaching children to behave in restaurants
While we typically don’t eat at restaurants with the children when we are home, we do eat out often when we are on vacation. We usually get compliments on our children’s behavior even though we sometimes wince if we think they get too loud. They do usually behave fairly well and do not disturb others much. I travel often times alone with them in the summer and take them all out to eat on our roadtrips and usually do not have to deal with meltdowns. Today I decided to share some tips on how to teach children to behave in an appropriate manner at restaurants. Practice: even if it is…
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Favorite Vacation Outfits
I thought it would be interesting to look at the outfits I wore on vacation last year and pick out my favorites. I usually am a minimalist packer especially on trips abroad so as to have space for gifts and souvenirs. On trips to the beach, I usually overpack and come home with clothes I didn’t wear and on other trips I am usually right on point. Trip to Europe (France and Spain) I am choosing two outfits for this trip since in the second one I am wearing a shirt I bought in France and did not pack. My jeans were my most worn bottoms on this trip as…
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2020 Travel Goals
Here were my travel goals and plans as of September. A few things have changed in the past few months to where we might be able to add a few trips and vacations this year if I am careful with saving. Winter break The boys have a short winter break in February, 4 1/2 days long. I am hoping to head to Chattanooga for a couple days with our family. As usual for a vacation that involves a hotel stay, we will use hotel points we have so our expenses will include lunch and dinner as well as any fun activity we plan to enjoy. I am thinking, the children’s…
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Hiking near the beach
Most of the places we go to the beach have wildlife refuges or state parks nearby. As we were looking for an outing and we love to hike, we came upon the Bon Secour Wildlife refuge. We chose one of the trails and hiked for about an hour or two at a slow pace. I love these trails because you see different types of flora and fauna, in this case mostly flora, many different cool plants! Isn’t deer moss really cool? It belongs to the lichen family and is very slow growing. It felt spongy to the touch. The brackish water gave the water a strange reddish tint. We were…
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Estuarium at Dauphin Island, AL
What is an estuarium? An estuarium is “a water passage where the tide meets a river current especially : an arm of the sea at the lower end of a river” (www.merriam-webster.com). While visiting Dauphin Island during our Thanksgiving vacation we visited the estuarium there which was a small aquarium focusing on animals and plants that live in the bay area. Before heading there, I checked for coupons for the admission fee and found discount tickets on Groupon which helped us save some money. We took the ferry from Fort Morgan to the island which was a first for all of us I think: it was fun to drive the car…
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Fort Morgan, Alabama
Last year, when we traveled to Fort Morgan, we did not do much more than sit and play on the beach. This year we planned a few outings. One of my favorites turned out to be visiting Fort Morgan. Construction on Fort Morgan began in 1819 and took 15 years to complete! Sadly the labor for this project was slaves as the government made a slave lease contract with owners in the region. The longest period of military occupation at the fort was during the Coat Artillery era from 1898 to 1923. The fort was also used during WWII as an ordnance depot. While this fort is not as well…
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Berry College, Rome, GA
Berry College is a private Christian College that was found in 1902 by Martha Berry. The college is located in Rome, GA and has one of the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. Visitors are allowed to visit the campus and just have to have a copy of their driver’s license ready so their information can be noted at the entrance gate. My favorite part of the campus is the buildings that look straight out of England but the woods and trails are beautiful too. The campus is comprised of 27,000 acres of land with fields and forests. I visited once with my brother and another time with my…
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Fall at the beach: packing
This Saturday, we will leave for a week at the beach (I will be taking that whole week off from blogging but will be posting some on Instagram). When getting ready for a vacation where we are renting our lodging, my first 2 tasks are planning some meals and planning my wardrobe. The meals I am planning are instant pot crack chicken (I will prep it before we go so we will just have to warm it up), a vegetable lasagna and we will cook a boston butt when we are there. I love hassle free meals and like to bring most of our grocery so hopefully it will all…
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Rock Garden, Calhoun, GA
Taking advantage of free activities or outings in your area or state is a good way to enjoy family time when you are on a budget. You can hike, go to the park, enjoy free festivals or find special places to discover. A friend of mine often shares places she would like to visit in Georgia on her Facebook page. I often screenshot those places so I can refer to them when we do not know what to do. A couple weekends ago, we had about an hour of free time after church before my son soccer little shoot out competition. I remembered reading about a rock garden in Calhoun,…
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Visiting Rome, GA
Visiting one’s backyard can be provide an afternoon of fun for little or no money. After celebrating my father’s 80th birthday in Rome, GA, we spent a couple of hours walking around town. Rome is built where the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers meet forming the Coosa River. It is also built on seven hills which inspired the settlers to name it Rome. While still a small city (36,000+ in 2017), Rome has a number of historical places to visit, a cute downtown area and nicely developed area to walk by the river and hosts Berry College which has a beautiful campus. I will share pictures of the campus on…