We had a very long drive from Memphis to Sacramento, but saw some amazing things along the way…

Little Rock, Arkansas was really educational for the boys.  They learned so much by seeing Central High School, where the “Little Rock Nine” attempted to attend an all white school in the 60′s.  It was very difficult for them to relate to why so many people protested children wanting to go to school.

They also learned a ton at the Clinton Museum.  They especially liked the replica of the Oval Office and the Presidential Limo.  It’s a beautiful museum, definitely worth a special trip to see.

We also LOVED the food at Whole Hog BBQ.  Delicious.

From Little Rock, we went to Dallas.  The kids loved the Opryland Hotel.  We had a blast watching a Dallas Cowboys game on their huge movie-size screen.

After Dallas, we headed towards New Mexico.  Santa Fe was fantastic.  We stayed at a great hotel where we could walk the town.  Chris and the kids had a great day skiing at the resort.  It was beautiful and snowing.  We had one more stop in Flagstaff and then headed through Needles, Ca and finally home.

We have been staying in an apartment while Christian completed State Cup with his team, attended tryouts, and got back in “goalie” shape.  Our trip has made it difficult for Christian to stay up to speed with soccer, and this has been a bigger deal than we anticipated.  He has been very happy to be able to be back with his team.

After six months of staying in hotels, we have enjoyed being in one spot for a while.  We love our apartment, and really love seeing our friends and family.

We are back home for now, but still plan to travel to the Grand Canyon, Alaska, New Orleans and throughout Italy within the next six months before the kids go back to school.

More Soon!

We had cold, rainy weather, but still managed to have a blast.

We had our first lunch at Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken.  The atmosphere is very casual-meals are served on paper plates with plastic.  It doesn’t matter. At all.  It is the best fried chicken I have ever tasted.  Juicy, crispy, spicy. Amazing.

Beale Street was so much fun!  It’s looks like a mini Vegas.  Music is blaring and everyone is very friendly and happy.

The Pink Palace was one of the strangest museums we have been to.  It is in the mansion of the Piggly Wiggly founder, Clarence Saunders.  This guy created the first self-service grocery.  With all the money he made, he bought this land and had this mansion created. Unfortunately he never got to live there because he ran into financial issues before he completed it.

Inside there is a replica of the first grocery store-which is very cool.  The rest of the museum is kinda random.  Lots of memorabilia from the Civil War, lots of stuffed birds and other animals, and a living room decorated from the 1920′s.  They also have a Planetarium and an Imax theatre.  I think you should go-it’s puzzling and fascinating all at once.

My favorite part of Memphis was the National Civil Rights Museum.  On the way to the museum, I was explaining to the kids that they would see the exact spot where Martin Luther King was shot and killed (Lorraine Motel).  I started to read them his last public speech, “I Have Been to the Mountaintop”, and had a hard time finishing because I got so emotional.

It was a powerful day and an excellent museum.  It is currently going under a huge renovation promising to make it even better.  It is a must see.

We had lunch after the museum at South of Beale.  Delicious.  I had gumbo to die for.  Connor had gouda Mac and Cheese. They also serve a wonderful spiced popcorn while you are waiting for your meal. Four stars.

Finally, since we couldn’t enjoy what looks like an amazing AAA baseball park right in downtown, we decided to check out a basketball game at the Fedex Forum.  It was an awesome time.  The Grizzlies went into overtime and ended up winning, but I am pretty sure the highlight for Connor and me was the Pulled Pork Nachos. Unbelievable.

Chris and I had one of the best meals of our trip at a little restaurant downtown Birmingham called Hot and Hot Fish Club.  Amazing menu, atmosphere and service.

We stayed at a very cool little hotel called Aloft.  It’s part of the W hotel brand and super hip.   The kids loved the pool table and Wii in the lobby.

But I think the most powerful part of our stay was the Civil Rights Institute.  It was very well done and extremely powerful.  We learned so much about the Crow Laws, Segregation, the Freedom Riders, and demonstrations of violence in the 1960′s.  (Unbelievably not that long ago.)

Looking out the window of the Institute you can see the street where men, women and children were shot with fire hoses and the 16th Street Baptist church that was bombed by the KKK killing four little girls. Sobering.

On the way out of the Institute, we were mesmerized by a video of artist Denny Dent painting speed painting Martin Luther King.  I wish I could find it online because it is so amazing.  I did find one of him doing Jimi Hendricks.  He does his portrait in the time it takes to play one of his songs-it’s worth the three minutes.  So impressive.

We were on the concierge floor the included free drinks and food all day long in the lounge.  We spent many hours working-but we had a great view and amazing food.

I love that such a fancy hotel loves to have our dogs.  We had a great time.

There was an amazing mall in walking distance from the hotel, where Christian spent many hours at the Apple store taking classes.

We also went to the most amazing movie theatre we had ever been to.  It had fully reclining chairs-by far the most comfortable I’ve ever been watching a movie.

We we working quite a bit, so we didn’t really get to experience the restaurants, which are amazing we hear, but we did go downtown.

We went to the Coke “Factory” which the boys LOVED.  My kids love soda (mostly because we tell them they can’t have it), and this factory did not disappoint.  They boys could taste every single flavor of soda from every different country.  We had a hard time pulling them out.

Chris and I thought it was a bit “markety”, but it was still worth the visit to learn how they actually make coke and the long history of the company.  Fascinating.

We also did the tour of CNN-totally awesome.  We got to see how they produce the news in real time.  We saw them actually filming and editing.  The tour guide was hilarious.  We all really liked it.

Did I mention that it seems every person in the south is friendly?  Seriously.  Everyone goes out of their way to say hello and find out where you are from.  It has been such a pleasure.

Christian has State Cup soccer in January, so we have decided to drive back to California slowly.

Our first stop was Chattanooga, Tn.

We stayed at the nicest Residence Inn on our trip so far.  It was brand new, spotless and so inexpensive.  Our huge two bedroom suite with full kitchen was $79.  Awesome.

We were only there for about one day, so we didn’t get to experience a lot, but what we did see was fun.  Just driving around was beautiful because of all the beautiful trees in different colors.

First, we drove by the Volkswagen Passat Factory, which was HUGE, and the Amazon distribution center, which was even bigger.  Kinda cool to see.

Then we went to Lookout Mountain, which had spectacular views. In order to get to the best views at “Lovers Leap”, you have to buy a ticket to “Rock City“.  I found it to be kinda strange.  It was a garden with rock formations and trails that had been turned into a touristy trip.  There were gnomes placed throughout and weird fairytale caverns that didn’t make much sense to me.  But it didn’t matter because once we got to the lookout-the views were incredible.

The lookout is close to the border of Tennessee and in Georgia, and so high up it supposedly gives you a view of seven states.  They had all the flags of each state and permanent map on the ground of what you were seeing.  Very cool.

From there we checked out the Battle of Chattanooga Museum.  The kids were bored and Chris could have stayed there all day-a consistent theme in all of our war museum visits. It’s worth a visit to just read about how hard the conditions were during the war for the soldiers.  We were all surprised at how many soldiers were claimed as “missing” during these decisive battles.

Overall Chattanooga is a beautiful place to pass through…

On our way, we stopped to visit my friend, Christine, in Asheville, North Carolina.

It is truly one of the most beautiful places to visit.  The trees are all different colors, the mountains are spectacular and the town is adorable.

We ate at a fantastic restaurant, The Admiral.  It looks kinda like a dive bar, but the food is fantastic.  HIghly recommend.  (Absolutely need reservations.)

We went straight from Asheville to Blackberry Farm.

Let me just tell you that this resort is like none other.  It was like walking into a perfect storybook experience.

The setting is magnificent.  Rolling hills in front of mountains with autumn trees everywhere.  A small lake with a boathouse and a help yourself canoe.

A river for fly fishing runs through the property.  There are gorgeous horses with acres to roam within miles of white pasture fencing.

I can’t even begin to explain the experience in enough detail to show you how it was.

They had a live band with a banjo playing while we ate a lunch of peanut soup, salad,  and turkey on wooden Restoration Hardware picnic tables.

We had Thanksgiving in a beautiful barn lit with candlelight.

Christian drove a golf cart all over the property like it was his own car.

They have Lexus cars you can borrow to take a drive.

We went skeet shooting, hiking, fly fishing and to the spa.

It was a once in a lifetime experience.  I kept asking my mom if we were inside a storybook.  Idyllic. Charming. Gorgeous. Fun!

Go there!  I found out about it from the book, 1000 Places to Go Before You Die.  They weren’t kidding.

The ship was the Carnival Splendor.  We were able to get a large suite for a very affordable price. Once we got on board I realized why.

The ship was very dated.  The food was just okay and the entertainment was, well, a little love boatish.

But we had fun.  The kids loved being able to go wherever they wanted.

We only had one stop in the Bahamas at Nassau.  We went to directly to Atlantis for a dolphin experience.  It was amazing.

We got these motorized underwater scooters that let us keep up with the dolphins. We got to swim with them and learn about them.  The kids were in heaven.

The resort was beautiful and huge.  We stayed there the entire day.  The kids swam in the ocean and played in the huge aquarium.

Overall a very fun experience.  But I did learn that we don’t want to take a seven day cruise and we don’t need to go to Atlantis for a week.  We were considering both of these options, and after our three day adventure, we realized it’s not something our family wants to do for much longer.

Been there done that.  What’s next?

Miami Renaissance Marriott (Eden Roc) was fantastic.  They gave us a room on a very high floor with a beautiful view of the water.   Christian took this photo with his phone.

The white sand beach was so nice to walk on after a day of driving.

Chris and I had dinner at the amazing 1500 restaurant (the chef is one of  the winners of Hell’s Kitchen).

It’s all farm to table with a great decor and impeccable service.  Such a nice treat.

The next morning we went to Ocean Drive to check out the Miami scene.  It was much less glossy than I thought it would be.  I have watched a lot of Miami CSI.  The street was lined with tables and chairs from the restaurants and people desperately trying to convince us to eat and drink cocktails! at 11am.  ”We’ll give you free drinks if you eat here!”  I saw a waiter deliver one woman a green drink, the size of a basketball,  with two upside down beer bottles in it.  I can imagine what it’s like in the high-season.

After eating, we left Miami and drove to The Florida Keys.

I had heard the drive would be great because it is turquoise water on both sides.  Well, that was only for about an hour of our several hour mind-numbing drive.  Two lanes of slowness and mostly nothing to see but tourist shacks.

But once we got there, we loved it!

We stayed at Southernmost hotel on the beach that is the southernmost in the US.  It has a wonderful restaurant right on the sand.  The kids loved it and swam for hours in their heated  pool.

The next day we jet-skied around all of the island.  So. Much. Fun.

The town was touristy and not very exciting, but the water and views more than make up for it.

We ate delicious Cuban food before we left. There were chickens and roosters roaming around the restaurant-eating rice out of the kids hands.  They seriously LOVED that.  So funny.

Next stop…Bahamas!

It’s an awesome resort with a perfect two bedroom villa for our family.  (It’s pretty rare to find a two bedroom with two queens in one room and a king in the other.)

One of my best girlfriends, Suyin, came to visit for a few days and we had a blast.

We went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Universal Island Adventure.

Let me just say that it’s not cheap.  Each ticket for each of us approached $100.  And that doesn’t include the money you spend once you’re in the park.

Magic Kingdom did not impress.  It was a bit too similar to Disneyland, and we have been there a lot.

Epcot was off the hook. They were having the food and wine festival when we were there, and we loved every second of it.  We went to each booth and bought a speciality from the country it represented, and then we each had a taste.  My favorites were the Swedish Meatballs and the Canadian Cheese Soup.

Epcot also has an amazing show on the American Presidents. It was perfect timing for the kids studying American History and we went on Election Day.

The whole park is actually very educational with its World Showcase and Science Exhibits.  I had never been there and I highly recommend you go.

Universal Island of Adventure was our last park to visit.  Suyin loves Harry Potter, so it was fun to see her excite in the amazing world they have created around everything from the books.  The kids loved the rides and really loved the “Butter Beer”.

At all three parks the weather was perfect, we never waited longer than five minutes in a line, and had delicious food.  Off season rocks!

Oh!  I also want to mention that our kids loved loved loved Disney Quest in Downtown Disney.  I think it’s the largest arcade in the world with five floors of games and virtual reality.  We paid $44 for the kids to get in and they played for four hours straight.  This made it very easy for Chris and I to go out for a date night dinner.

We are now off to Miami and Key West…

We said yes.

They asked us to invite another family to do the shoot with us, and I invited one of my best girlfriends, Jodi, her husband, Karl, and their two kids, Julia and Emma.

The show took place on the Crystal Coast in North Carolina.  We arrived there the same day the superstorm was passing through. It was crazy rain and wind that day, but it was so beautiful, it didn’t matter.

The house they rented for us was ridiculously spectacular.  It was three stories of windows and luxury on the beach.  Eight bedrooms, a movie room, ten bathrooms, a pool table room, a pool, an outdoor bar…

We had the first few days to do whatever we wanted, so we played games, walked the beach, and cooked some amazing meals.

The crew showed up on the third day, and the filming started.  I didn’t anticipate meeting such an amazing crew; they were an exceptional group of people.

We spent the next four days exploring this amazing area (The Crystal Coast) while being filmed.

They took us to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, where we climbed to the top and enjoyed beautiful views.

We visited the Shackleford Wild Horses who are decedents of horses who literally swum ashore from shipwrecks hundreds of years ago.  So beautiful.

We went to the Maritime Museum and learned about pirates and Blackbeard.  We went shopping in the charming towns. We went to the spa.  The kids went surf fishing.

We saw dolphins, baby turtles, huge pelicans (my favorite) and lots of full-sized crabs.

We found some of the most beautiful shells-the kids were going nuts.

It was seven days of pure heaven.  There is something magical about sleeping to the sounds of waves and waking up to a sunrise over the blue horizon.

It was so fun to just sit and talk for hours with my friend Jodi in such a beautiful and healing environment.

There are few weeks I know I will remember for the rest of my life.

This was one of them.