Getting closer to my goal!

UPDATE: my mom informed me I've been to more states than I thought so now the total had been updated!

My goal is to someday be able to say that I have been to all 50 states. I'm not that far off if I recall correctly so I decided to type it out and see how my progess is doing. Amy, you'll have to help me out a bit...

Alabama-traveled through according to mom (don't remember!)
Alaska-lived here for 9 years
Arizona-visit Ben's family here nearly every year
Arkansas-not a bad state to drive through, pretty surprised!
California-loved San Diego and want to see more of the state another time
Colorado-visited friends on the way to AK
Conneticut-driven through it several times
Delaware-driven through it
Florida-been several times-too humid!
Georgia-went to Six Flags...my shoes melted to the pavement (cheap Keds!)
Hawaii-LOVE IT!!!
Idaho-NEVER BEEN
Illinois-been to Chicago
Indiana-went through going to AZ
Iowa-traveled through when going from AK to NH (according to mom LOL)
Kansas-NEVER BEEN
Kentucky-visited colleges for my sis
Louisiana-my sis says I lived here for a short time (as an infant) guess my memories aren't that vivid!
Maine-beautiful coasts
Maryland-been to Baltimore twice and driven through it several times
Massachusetts-Boston was super hot and plan on going back this summer
Michigan-NEVER BEEN
Minnesota-NEVER BEEN
Mississippi-???
Missouri-fun state to drive though, saw the arch
Montana-saw an awesome lightening storm here
Nebraska-visited friends here
Nevada-NEVER BEEN
New Hampshire-born here and visit relatives every summer
New Jersey-stayed here and took a ferry to NYC
New Mexico-stinking cold like NY in winter!
New York-live here! Been to NYC twice
North Carolina-been here and layovered here (is that a word?!?) but don't remember what we did!
North Dakota-been here but that's all I can say! LOL
Ohio-loved driving through this state! Fun highway right through Cincinatti!
Oklahoma-looks too much like Texas LOL
Oregon-NEVER BEEN
Pennsylvania-been to the Lackawanna Coal mine tour...very cool!
Rhode Island-don't blink, you'll miss it
South Carolina-been to Myrtle Beach
South Dakota-went to Mount Rushmore
Tennesee-sis was supposed to go to college here, visited Union University, loved Nashville
Texas-sorry people but boring state, although I did enjoy Grapevine/Dallas area
Utah-NEVER BEEN
Vermont-went to the Ben and Jerry's Factory-YUM!
Virginia-sometimes stay in Roanoke when traveling
Washington-NEVER BEEN
West Virginia-been through it on I-81...can't recall anything else..hmmm
Wisconsin-NEVER BEEN
Wyoming-driven through it

So here's the total-
STATES I'VE BEEN TO: 40
UNSURE: 1
ON MY LIST: 9

*the reason I'm sure unsure about some is because growing up my family traveled a lot for fun and we also drove from Alaska to NY making stops along the way so it's all kind of a blur when you're 10 years old!

Interesting tidbits from our vacation

• the trip added nearly 6,000 miles to our car's odometer
• Ohio and Missouri were my favorite states to drive through...sorry Texas, couldn't wait to leave your state!
• We paid $1.59 for gas in Missouri (we currently pay $2.09 here in NY)
• Andrew would have played outside all day long if we had let him. Poor kid is cooped up with our cold winters!
• Andrew and Austin loved that I let them jump on the hotel beds. =) It's vacation right?!?
• Andrew sat on Ben's chest one night and read Ben's shirt..."A, R, I, Z, O, N, A-that spells shirt!" LOL
• Austin soon learned that he could tell me he was thirsty in the car (we used sippy cups to limit spills) by pushing his cup through the space in my headrest!
• My kids could watch Veggies Tales, Boz the bear, Cars, and Elmo for hours-and yes they did (it's vacation right ?!?)
• My husband and I witnessed police aggressively arresting a man in Tempe (outside of Phoenix)
• Ben saw a black bear while driving (I was napping =( )
• I am SOO sick of eating McDonalds. We must have drove by hundreds of them.
• I am seriously thinking of writing to Burger King and asking them why they sell 'Kids Meals' if not one of their restaurants we ate in has a changing table!
• We got stuck behind snow plows in the mountains of AZ. Get this: the police escorted the drivers behind the plows because there was a 1/4 of an inch of snow on the ground! 25 miles an hour for 30 minutes! We got a kick of out that.
• We stopped in New Mexico for dinner while it was windy/snowy out (no snow was sticking to the ground) and the waitress asked if we were 'waiting out the snowstorm'. It was so hard not to laugh. We had to tell her we're from NY, this is our fall and spring!
• Austin wet the bed (sleeping bag) every single night while we were gone. Due to wearing spring pj's, he was able to flip himself up out of his diaper in the middle of the night. We're seriously looking into special needs pj's if he still is doing it once we start wearing spring pj's here.
• We stayed in Nashville for a few hours to site see. We loved it and plan to return some day! By the way, Hard Rock Cafe charges an extra $3 per topping on your nachos. We won't do that again!
• I got to play the card game 'Spoons' with Ben's family. So much fun! I had bloody knuckles and I accidentally scratched Ben!
• I played scrabble with my mother-in-law (an English teacher) and my sister's-in-law (smarties) and I won. Whoo hoo! It's an ongoing rivalry with us!
• I got to see the Arch in Missouri for the first time and can cross Kentucky off my list of 'states I've never been to'!

I'm sure I've forgotten something but oh well! That's our trip!

Our 2 week vacation: driving to Arizona from NY

Instead of typing out what we did on our long vacation, I'm going to do it in pictures and then list the interesting things we learned, saw, and did while we were away! Enjoy!


Phoenix Zoo

We took the kids to the park -Austin enjoyed running his hands on the benches

Austin did play although it took a lot of coaxing! He's very fearful!

Pictures in the park

I love this picture of us!

Believe it or not, but getting this picture was hard work! I had to chase him while he laughed at me and when I grabbed his arm, he turned and grinned!

Andrew sleeping in the car (no, he's not hot-it's part sunburn, part eczema)

Austin sleeping, same time as Andrew even! Old towels make great window shades!

More to come on things we learned, saw, and did!

Pictures to come soon!

Well we arrived home from our drive across country last night at 7:30pm so today is being devoted to unpacking, going through emails, and doing laundry. I'll be posting pictures and a few fun facts from our trip soon!

Blissful relaxation

Well as you can tell from my title, we're in Arizona now. Funny thing is New York is warmer than Arizona today! That's just wrong! I'm sure many of you have heard about the tornados in Oklahoma. God had his hand on us, we drove somewhat close to that area just 24 before those tornados hit. We had unbelievable weather the entire way. Blue skies 90% of the drive! I'm looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing for the next few days. We've talked about taking the kids to the Phoenix Zoo tomorrow so we'll see!

Taking a break

Well we are now in Gallup, NM taking a break for the night. We could have made it to our destination but it would have been around 11pm and I have a raging headache from lack of sleep. The boys are still doing really well and Andrew is constantly making us laugh. Tonight his song of choice is "This little light of mine". So far each night he serenades us with a tune and makes us laugh so hard. I didn't even know he knew the correct words to the song! Well we'll be at our destination before lunch tomorrow and I'm hoping my tired headache will be gone by then.

We're in Oklahoma!

Just wanted to quickly say that we're in Tulsa, Oklahoma! We're making great time cause the boys are being excellent and we've had fantastic weather the entire drive. We'll see if we make it the rest of the way to Arizona tomorrow. I'll have to catch up on all my blog reading later since Andrew is jumping on the hotel bed as I type this. He is soo wound up and it's bedtime. Should be interesting! He'll talk nonstop until he falls asleep. It's really cute actually. Last night in the hotel he announced "ok mom, I'm going to sleep now." and then he turned to Ben and said "daddy, I see your belly!" LOL

Leaving for Arizona tomorrow!

Well, after debating the flying vs. driving issue, Ben and I decided this year we'd drive to visit his family in Arizona. Yes, you heard right. We're driving from NY to AZ. Takes about 3 days. It's no big deal for our family. I grew up taking trips all the time and this will be my 4th time traveling across country. Austin has made the trip twice and this will be Andrew's first time. Pray they behave! They're really good travelers in the car but you never know what can happen. I should be able to update my blog as we travel. We'll be gone two weeks with lots of pictures when I have free moments!

For those of you wondering why we'd pick driving here's why:
-airlines charge $50 for each extra bag
-airlines charge for meals, movies, and now some charge for pillows and blankets
-airfair is expensive from SYR to PHX
-we don't have a vehicle while we're there
-we have to carry 2 car seats through the airports to connecting flights
-Austin + airplane seat= lots and lots of stimming to the dismay of whoever is behind him and in front of him
-we'd have to buy 4 tickets cause Andrew's too old to sit on a lap

Hopefully we made the right decision!

This and That

Well here's a better picture of my new 'do'. Still not great but you can sort of get the idea. It's shorter in the back. Oh, and for those who have asked-I've worn contacts since high school. I wear the focus dailies so if you see me without glasses that means I bought more contacts! LOL I've also added a picture of Andrew taking care of the laundry for me. Isn't he helpful?

Can we all say "awwwww"??

My mom found these pictures when she cleaned out her dresser so I took my camera and took pictures of the pictures. I'm too lazy to scan them! LOL I can't remember how old Austin is but he's definately younger than 18 months. Enjoy!

The new haircut

I have probably taken 12 or more pictures of my new haircut and none of them do it justice so I'll retake some more tomorrow morning and see how that goes but here are a few I could manage.

The process of chemically altering my hair

Feel free to laugh at my lovely expressions. I'm wearing my mom's paint clothes (mind you she's 5'3" and I'm 5'8"), I'm sitting on a tiny stool so my mom can reach my head, and I'm also sitting on an old sheet to catch any drippings. =)


Before


Reading Prevention magazine while I process (and chew on my lip. lovely.)

Rinsing and washing (thanks mom!)

My sis took this picture as my mom washed my hair

After (not a great one to see the color but more will be coming!)

I'm dyed and fried now

Well I finally broke down and dyed my hair last night. The shade? Light Auburn. Still not convinced it looks good on me but my husband likes it and that's all that matters right? My mom dyed my hair while my sister lovingly took very unflattering pictures of me in the process. As soon as she hands them over I'll upload them so you can laugh. I'm also getting a new hair cut this afternoon to go with my new color. I'll be a new woman! Haha! Pictures to come!