Since you last heard from me...

... I have been one busy bee!  One day {sooner than later I hope} I'll have posts written in advance and won't fall off the map for a few weeks at a time when a big trip comes up or I have VIP company in town {miss you already L!}. But I'm back now and have all kinds of new experiences and places I've been to share before I head out on my next adventure that is in just ONE month. My goodness it will be here before I know it. I better get to packing soon! :-)

So since you last heard from me back in May...

I had a weekend get-away in Fredericksburg, TX with L. Just the two of us to catch up, see hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from their cave into the evening sky, do a little snuggling, learn more about WWII at the Museum of the Pacific War, eat some German food, and make an unplanned stop to visit the Texas State Capitol in Austin, TX {instead of Enchanted Rock when the rain just would not let up}.

Old Tunnel State Park for the evening bat emergence

Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX

Texas State Capitol in Austin, TX

I let the kiddo play hooky from school one afternoon as he, L, and I played tourist in Houston and visited the Museum of Natural Science. We went for the 3D movie called "D-Day:Normandy 1944" but also spent a few hours wandering through to see dinosaur bones, the Hall of Ancient Egypt, and some Mayan artifacts {to get us pumped for our upcoming cruise...well MORE pumped up really. We were already pretty excited by this point}.

Mummies at the Museum

L, the kiddo and I also played umpteen games of cards over the past few weeks and would you believe it... I won them all! Or at least I can say I won them all since neither of them are here to say otherwise. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it eh? :-)


AND if all of that wasn't fun and exciting enough {which it was!} L, the kiddo, and I got to visit THREE new countries and go on our first ever cruise with Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas! It was a ton of fun and I'll be sharing lots of pictures, stories, and cruising tips in upcoming posts after I'm finished sharing the rest of our trip to Normandy and Ypres. For today though I'll leave you with a photo from each of three countries we visited- Honduras, Belize, and Mexico.

So tomorrow I'll have another postcard and I will pick back up this week where I left off on our trip to Normandy and Ypres. Coming soon I'll also be featuring a special guest post from L as he writes about our visit to Pegasus Bridge.

Travel Tuesday: Love, Long For, and Live In...My Three Places

Today I'm participating in the Travel Tuesday link-up by A Compass Rose for the first time. I've seen links to it for a few weeks now but the theme is what finally made me join in the fun today.

The theme for today is Three Places and the prompt is to share three places...the place you have been that you loved the most, the place you cannot wait to visit and something about the place you live in.  

The Place I have Loved the Most

This one is getting tougher and tougher with each visit to England but I'm going to have to say the place I have loved the most is still Paris. Maybe it's because it was the first place I visited outside of North America so it will always have the honour of showing me Europe first. Or maybe it was the challenge of traveling in another language and being reasonably successful at it. Or maybe it is just that there isn't anything to not love about Paris. At least nothing that I have found yet. I know the stereotype is that people are rude in Paris but that's not something I've experienced. In fact quite the opposite which has made for interesting chats with shopkeepers, fellow travelers on the métro, and even policemen. And then of course there are the beautiful buildings, all the history and culture, the scrumptious food, the great memories of the time spent with my Mom and my friends there, and oh the ceilings! I could wander around looking at the ceilings all day.

The Place I have Loved the Most...Paris

The Place I Cannot Wait to Visit

You would think with all the lists of places I want to visit this one would be the hardest to answer but surprisingly it's not. I do read about and daydream about so many places but there is one that I find myself mentioning over and over to anyone that will listen to me because it just looks so amazing to me....the glass igloos at Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Finland. From the first moment I saw this picture I have wanted to go there, and I don't even really enjoy trudging around in the snow that much. There is just something that is so ultimately cozy (and yes romantic too, as the kiddo just pointed out to me) about the igloos that I just want to cuddle up, gaze at the stars with L, and if we're really lucky, watch the Northern Lights dance across the sky.

The Place I Cannot Wait to Visit...Finland (photo source)

Something About the Place I Live In

I have lived in Houston for about 15 years now but really it's only been in the past few years that I started to enjoy it a little more as the kiddo and I have started exploring the city. Besides getting to do some fun and interesting things with him I figure I better see and do all that Houston has to offer while I'm still here. We've visited museums, attended sporting events (oh how we miss you Houston Aeros!), gone to concerts, tried foods from different countries, all kinds of things. One of our favourite things to do in the spring is to go to Discovery Green for one of their movie nights. They blow up a big screen, everyone brings their blankets and chairs, and we settle in for a movie with the highrises of downtown Houston as the backdrop.

Something About the Place I Live...Houston

Where are your places in the world? Come join the fun with Bonnie, Tina, and Melanie!!