Category: Photography
Oakes Quarry
One of our favorite places to walk is Oakes Quarry. It’s a reclaimed limestone quarry that has the most interesting landscape.
Last night, the Scouts decided to meet there for a social distance walk / get together after not seeing each other for months. I joined along so that I could take photos.
Instead of staying with them, I took off, walked, and explored without the rest of them.
The quarry is located near an Air Force base. Last night a lot of planes were either coming into the base or leaving the base.
Those ponds disappear when there hasn’t been a lot of rain. I’ve been to the quarry when there has been very little rain. Instead of having those beautiful ponds, it’s dry land.
We had been there a week earlier and had found this stream full of tadpoles. So cool! I went back there last night. There were still tadpoles there but fewer than last week.
I am so fortunate to have this cool park to walk around and explore. You never know what you are going to find when you walk through this park.
Stay kind!
Have a magical day,
Traci
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Not On My Honeymoon
Back in 2000, Hubby and I went on our honeymoon. We had been married for a year.
Where do you think we went?
Well, Disney of course. While there, I turned 25 years old.
It was my first time there since my College Program. I was so excited to show Hubby around the World since it had been 15 or so years since he had been there.
I was also excited because I was going to be able to finally step foot in the Animal Kingdom because I watched it being built while I was on my College Program.
The first few days of the Honeymoon was great. We enjoyed spending time in Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom.
Then the worse possible thing happened while down in Walt Disney World. I ended up with food poisoning. I spent all day Wednesday of my honeymoon stuck in our Mighty Ducks hotel room. All day long, I was worshiping the white porcelain God.
It was either the Key Lime Pie at the Rainforest Cafe or from drinking at the water fountains. I can eat Key Lime pie now but ever since then I don’t drink at water fountains.
The next day I was able to get out of our hotel room. We went to EPCOT and had breakfast or lunch at the Garden Grill. They gave us a free cake since it was our honeymoon. I don’t think I was able to eat any of it because my stomach was still upset.
We left on Friday of that week. I only wished I hadn’t gotten sick. The flight home was interesting but that is a story for another day.
The next year, we drove down to Walt Disney World in order to have a second honeymoon.
Never get sick in Disney. And not on your honeymoon. That’s the moral of my story.
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If I Had Stayed IN Bed
I wish I would have stayed in bed.
Some days are like that.
Lately, it seems as though those are more and more days like that.
However, it is usually moments that are fleeting. Not the entire day.
Today was one of those days.
Listening to my son rant and rage about how he is feeling about the whole breakup has broken my heart. He usually has a kind soul who loves life.
I put on P!nk’s Hurts 2B Human album and played the song Hurts 2B Human on repeat and just bawled my eyes out on the way to work. I was a truly hot mess when I got there this morning.
I did listen to a few other songs but I played that song about 5 times.
I encountered some really stupid drivers on the way to school so that didn’t help. One of which pulled over in my lane and slowed way down so that he could get into the other lane so he could get off at the next exit. Luckily there was enough space between us so I could safely slow down.
Four of my co-workers allowed me to rant about the situation because I needed to get it off my chest before the students came in for the day.
Then the day started. I got hugs from students. One in particular gave me a hug several times throughout the day.
I escorted a student to class because he couldn’t figure out how to be sneaky so he wasn’t caught by me, the hallway patrol.
I had some good intervention sessions. In fact, I had some awesome ones. Then there were the ones where I am left in bewilderment on how disrespectful the students can be to each other and me. The one group sees me twice on Wednesdays so they made up for their not so good session. I don’t know why they were so bad during math intervention.
Listening to students get excited about what we were reading made my day. I had students asking questions and wanting to know more and other students using context clues. Those make an Intervention Specialist’s heart soar.
A student decided she needed to hang onto me as I was trying to lock my door. She has no concept of personal space.
During dismissal time, one of my students from last year showed up at the building. I got to talk to her and her mom for a while. It was such a sweet conversation. I love how she asked me if I had traveled anywhere lately.
I also found Swt. Blessings scripture plan for this month. It’s about finding comfort in God. I read today’s Scripture from 2 Corinthians 4: 7 – 9. It gave me comfort during this time.
So although at the beginning of the day and at moments throughout the day I felt as though I wish I had stayed in bed, I would not have had the beautiful parts of the day.
Stay kind!
Have a magical day,
Traci
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Our Adventure | September 29
The past week has been trying for us. The Oldest had his first heartbreak and break up. I’ve had to be a “friend,” mom, and sounding block.
As I said, it’s been trying. For 2 weeks prior to the break up, we have gone through mopey Oldest, angry Oldest, and then happy Oldest. It was hard to watch this roller coaster.
Last Sunday, she broke up with him via text and then immediately blocked him. He has to see her because they are in 2 classes and ride the bus together. Needless to say, he’s gone through a multitude of emotions. He is now happy and sees the break up is a good thing.
During those last 2 weeks, he would complain about being bored but refused to do anything. It was very sad to watch.
This weekend, I suggested we do something on Sunday afternoon. I was thinking of the Huffman Dam but he and his brother decided to go to the Englewood Dam. We also visited a favorite local restaurant for dinner. It was nice to have him back.
Not only was he was back so was the Youngest. My soul needed that because we used to go on a lot of adventures when they were younger.
Off topic: I’ve recently discovered Lizzo. She has great lyric in this song. “Don’t text me. Tell it me it to my face.” That’s how the Oldest is feeling right now. He is big on communication. That was the problem with the relationship.
Onto to the photos from our adventure:
After spending time in nature, we went to a favorite restaurant for our dinner. Airline Dairy Creme is located close to the Dayton International Airport.
I’m so happy that I got to spend some quality time with my teenagers. They are growing up so quickly.
Stay kind!
Have a magical day,
Traci
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Sunflowers | September 9, 2019
Every year or almost every year since 2010, we have a tradition of going to see the sunflowers in a town near us.
They have a field that blooms for about 2 weeks. It is absolutely gorgeous so many people stop to take photos and even draw pictures of the sunflowers.
It’s gotten so popular that they have a parking area which they never had before a few years ago. I used to have to sort of parallel park in the grass near the field.
As I said, we go every year or almost every year. I have found photos from 2010, 2011, and then 2014-2019. I don’t remember if we went in 2012 or 2013.
This year, we took the Oldest’s girlfriend. She had never been to the field before so it was fun to watch her discover the absolute beauty of the field.
While walking through the rows of sunflowers, you have to be careful of the bees because they love to hang out there and the prickly plants that grow near the sunflowers. Other than that, it’s fun to get lost in the hundreds of sunflowers.
We also have a tradition of going to the local dairy that is just down the road after visiting the sunflowers. So we did that also on Monday. Oldest’s girlfriend hadn’t been to Young’s Dairy for a while so it was fun to treat her to ice cream made with milk from cows from the dairy and to watch her feed the goats.
Visiting the sunflowers is one memory that the boys are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Even though Youngest would have rather stayed at home and played on the computer.
Enjoy the video.
Stay kind!
Have a magical day,
Traci
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My Favorite View – Summer 2019
This summer has been a different type of summer.
The boys are getting older so there wasn’t very many day trips. Let’s take that back – We’ve done day trip. I’ve done some road trips with each of them individually.
The Memorial Day tornadoes change the dynamics of my summer. Even though it didn’t directly affect me, it affected the area I teach in so that made me upset.
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Chicago – Throwback Thursday
It was not until our Youngest was 5-years-old that Hubby and I dared to take a trip away from the boys. In 2010, we drove to St. Louis for a few days to let us be a couple instead of just parents of our two boys.
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Into the Mist
A few weeks ago, the Youngest and I embarked on his 14-year-old trip and my EPIC trip with my friend. I made the decision for us to all ride the Maid of the Mist.
The Maid of the Mist is in the New York side of Niagara Falls. We were staying on the Canadian side of the Falls. We were left with 2 choices: drive to the Maid of the Mist which on my GPS unit said was 10 minutes or walk which was about an half hour.
The GPS saying that it would take 10 minutes did not take in account of us probably getting turned around, going through border patrol, and trying not to hit all of the tourists. So it could have taken us about the same amount of time as walking.
So we walked over to there. The Youngest took a point off the experience of going to the Maid of the Mist because of the walking.
I’ll save my story of going through border patrol for another time.
We got to the Maid of the Mist as they were getting ready to depart. We were told to HURRY and get on the boat so we didn’t have to wait for the next boat.
Trying to get the poncho on, take a few photos of my friend, and then put my DSLR camera in ziploc bags inside my backpack under my poncho was a feat.
Luckily my phone is water resistant so I was able to get photos and videos until we were under the Falls. Once the water was coming down us in buckets, my phone was put into another Ziploc bag and put into my pocket under my poncho until it was safe to bring it out again.
The Youngest stood at the very front of the boat for the majority of the trip. He enjoyed getting wet and the whole experience.
When it was time to depart, he was ready at the gate. As he was standing there trying to wipe of the water from the gate in front of him, one of the workers was also doing the same thing as him. I don’t know if the Youngest noticed but I did. I thought it was cool.
After we got done with the Maid of the Mist, my friend and the Youngest got rid of their ponchos. I still have mine.
Oh and the Youngest gave the Maid of the Mist a score of 9 out of 10. The only point off was for the walk to and from the attraction.
Stay kind!
Have a magical day,
Traci
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Chattanooga, TN – The Zoo (Part 1) – Part 13
During Spring Break 2019, we traveled down to Chattanooga. While there, we enjoyed the scenic views of Lookout Mountain. We also visited Ruby Falls, the Tennessee Aquarium, and the Chattanooga Zoo. We also looked for ghosts and ghouls on a ghost tour. Enjoy our spring break/ 20th wedding anniversary trip.
- Way Down
- Rivers Journey – Tennessee Aquarium
- Ocean Journey – Tennessee Aquarium
- Downtown and Pedestrian Bridge
- Ruby Falls
- Rock City – Grand Corridor
- Rock City – The Overlook
- Rock City – More of Rock City
- Rock City – Fairyland and the Rest of Rock City
- Lookout Mountain Incline
- Point Park
- Downtown
After getting done with our coffee trip, we went to the Chattanooga Zoo.
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