Spring in Buffalo

May 16th, I left for Buffalo and was lucky enough to spend a couple of days with Josh, Kandis and Hayden. It had been five months since I had seen Hayden and he'd grown so much. He's so active and is engaged in everything that's going on around him. I can't believe he's almost 1!

Hayden loved to come in my room and shut the door.

While I was there, Kandis and I traveled down to Amish country. We got a little lost (30 miles out of the way...thanks google map!), but we eventually found our way. It was a very interesting experience...it felt like we stepped back in time. Amish country is about 30 miles south of Buffalo, but such a different world.

As we passed the houses we noticed long lines of laundry and women hand washing clothes. I HATE doing laundry...and I have a washing machine! Seeing horse and buggy was a such a sight to see. Kandis and I knew we wanted to shop in Amish country, but we were not aware of what this consisted of. We just assumed there would be a row of shops down a main city street. In actuality, each family sells certain products out of their house. Our first stop was a house that sold baked goods and rugs. We each bought a beautiful rug and some homemade cookies.

On Sunday, Kandis, Hayden and I went up to Niagra on the Lake and enjoyed the spring weather. Last time we went up there, it was cold, foggy and rainy. This time, we had perfect weather and enjoyed walking around the town and playing in the park. While we were there we even ate at a restaurant called "Jordan's".

Hayden was infatuated with the dandelions...even tried eating a couple.

I had a wonderful time visiting and wish I could have stayed longer. Jordan and I miss you guys and wish you lived closer.

50 Billion Dollars and some Kitchen Aid...

I had an awesome birthday this year. I don't know why it was any better than previous ones, but it was. My birthday celebration started on Saturday when I got an hour long massage. I apparently needed it becuase the massage therapist asked me, "Girl, what do you do for a living?" In which I replied, "I'm a first year, first grade teacher. " I guess that explained it because she then said, "Oh, I see."

After a lot of relaxtion and some pain, Jordan took me to Noodles. I had a free birthday entree, so that made it a pretty cheap date. Not that it matters about how cheap it is or not...I'm rich!! Thanks to Maggs! For my birthday, Maggie sent me 50Billion Dollars...in Zimbabwe money, which is equivalent to one penny...BUMMER.

On Sunday, Jordan and I met my parents for lunch and then they came over for dessert. I love my birthday present from them, even though it has not yet arrived. Any guesses...

...of course, the newest Vera Bradley purse! (I know, I'm addicted)

The bummer about having a job is that you have to work on your birthday. My day was made better when my co-workers took me out for lunch at Rumbi and baked me a berry pie. So, it wasn't that bad. I also had to get lab work done for my Nigeria physical, so I ended up getting blood drawn, a TB test, and a couple other things done on my special day. Oh well, it's one more thing checked off my never ending list.

When I got home, Jordan and I changed and headed out to dinner. We went to PF Changs, which I LOVE! I gorged my self with lettuce wraps, crunchy honey chicken and dessert. It was a wonderful date. Jordan is so sweet...he bought me a ton of socks (I love cute socks) and a couple accessories for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I love cooking and I'm so into kitchen gagets. My husband knows me well!

Today, my birthday celebration continued with my friends from CC. I was lucky enough to get a Wooglins (Hooligans...inside joke) gift certificate and some teacher stuff. My friend, Polly took me to Wooglins for dinner and we enjoyed catching up and of course, venting our many frustrations.

My birthday week, as Jordan and I call it, turned out to be pretty good. I got to spend time with family and friends and I made out with some awesome gifts! Thanks everyone for making me feel so special.

Rest and Relaxation

During spring break, we headed up to the Pacific Northwest. We love it up there and we were so excited for our vacation. The first day we hung around downtown Seattle and ate at the famous Pikes Place Brewery. Everything was organic and bought from the Pikes Place Market below the restaurant. I would love to be able to shop for all my ingredients in an open, organic market like Pikes Place.

The next day we headed over to Whidbey Island. (I've been wanting to visit Whidbey Island since I saw the movie "Double Jeopardy") We LOVED it there. In order to get to Whidbey Island we had to drive our car onto a ferry and cross the Pudget Sound. Once on dry land we went on a couple of hikes and explored the island. I had done my research (of course) and found a wonderful farm on the island which had a winery and is famous for their loganberry pie, which is why I wanted to go there. We stopped by and had a piece of pie ala mode and then were on our way to northern Washington.

Hiking down to the beach on Whidbey Island

Last year when we were up in Washington we stayed at a wonderful resort in Blaine. We loved it so much that we decided to stay two nights up there and just relax. We enjoyed the spa, walking along the ocean, and the peace and quiet. Our room had a balcony which was wonderful for the sunsets and watching the playful seals show off.

After resting in Blaine, we headed up to Vancouver. While we were in Vancouver we rented bikes and rode around Staley Park. It was a beutiful park in the middle of Vancouver. We ended up riding around the whole park which was a 11 mile ride, but the scenery was so beautiful we didn't even notice how far we had gone. The last day in Vancouver, we headed up North of the city and went to the Capilano suspension bridge and tree trails. The bridge was 230 feet above the river and swung back and forth while you walked to the other side. In the middle of the bridge, Jordan says to me, "Have I ever told you that I don't really like heights" (Of course, I had no idea since we've done many things that have been above the ground and he's never mentioned it before. =) ) I just had to laugh...there was no turning back now. Once we got across the bridge we hiked some trails and walked on the tree trails which were elevated bridges suspended from the tops of the trees. We had so much fun and enjoyed our time in Vancouver.

Before we went home, we wanted to check out the tulips in Skagit county, which were not blooming yet. I thought we might have better luck this year than last year just because it was later in the season, but no such luck. The only flowers blooming were the daffodils.

I had heard a lot about the Ballard locks in Seattle and Jordan's dad suggested us go check them out. After a while driving, we finally found them and even got to see some boats go through the locks. It was amazing to see the locks at work. Of course we had to have fish n' chips before we left Seattle, so we found a restaurant by the locks and then headed to the airport. We had such a wonderful vacation. We had a perfect amount of rest/relaxation and toursist activities. As many of you know, I like touristie things and Jordan likes to go on vacation and relax. We found a good compromise and had a nice time!

We are now ready for the home stretch and the countdown is ON!

4 for me, 5 for Jordan

That's how many days until we're FREE! The 3rd quarter has flown by and Spring Break is right around the corner. We're so excited for our vacation that we can hardly stand it. We're looking forward to spending some much needed time together. We'll spend a little time in Seattle and then we're heading up to North Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The countdown is on...

TA DA!!

We have finally surrendered ourselves to the blogging world.