Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Today is the day we've been looking forward to for over 6 months now ... we are jumping over the pond to attend our friend's wedding in a castle in the Scottish countryside. So, basically, entering a movie set - my dream come true! We are taking full advantage of our pricey tickets to fly over there by extending our visit to 2 weeks touring Scotland, Ireland and England. Even visiting the little town of Ochiltree, Scotland where Kyle's great-great-great-great-grandparents are buried - too cool!

Thanks to General Mills for allowing me some additional time off to further extend my travels. My friend, Beth, from college will meet me in London the day my hubby flies home and we will bounce around Europe, visiting several of my friends I met while studying in Denmark. London to Paris to Barcelona to Valencia to Rome to Cinque Terre to Milan to Munich. Dizzying, I know. We'll be thoroughly exhausted when we get home, but it will be well worth it. We'll have local guides (and free accommodations) in 5 of the 7 spots we'll be touring. Priceless.

I have to apologize in advance to my faithful blog readers. There may be quite a hiatus in my posts, given that I'll be overseas for a whole month, but I'll do my best to make time to drop you all a line at some point along the way.

My apologies as well as this is the FIRST and hopefully the ONLY blog that does not include pictures. This is just a teaser - the set up for the most amazing pictures to come ...

Four words: Kyle in a kilt! I get giddy just thinking about it. :)

Natural Wonders of the Natural State

Kyle and I took advantage of the amazing weather this weekend (75 degrees and sunny) and checked out Devil's Den State Park, just south of Fayetteville. The park was bustling with people; camping, canoeing, hiking, biking, picnicking, and generally enjoying the great outdoors.

Kyle and I hiked a couple of the trails and took in some amazing sights while getting a good workout. I'd like to thank Zyrtec for keeping my allergies in check most of the day.

Our country really has some beautiful gifts to share. And thanks to General Mills, we've been able to enjoy all that Arkansas has to offer - because, let's be honest, we probably wouldn't have ventured down here otherwise ... but I'm glad we did.

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

Earlier this week, my friend Chaney stumbled into some free tickets to a Dierks Bentley concert and invited Kyle and I to come along. He's a country star, for all of you who haven't yet discovered, accepted or admitted the joy of country tunes. Y'all need to give country a chance! When in Rome ... or Arkansas ...

We'd seen Dierks once before at Austin City Limits but he really blew us away this time. Here we are pre-show. I mean, are we cute or are we cute?!??! Kyle still knows how to clean up when he gets the chance to leave the house!




Here's Mr. Bentley and his crew. He really took the time to interact with the crowd and the fun he was having on the stage was contagious. We do think he had libations in his little red cup as he got crazier as the show went on ... and literally forgot the words to one of his songs ... but it was authentic and thoroughly entertaining.


And here is one of my many lessons of living in the South. Ladies all wear their cowboy boots to country concerts ... usually paired with a cute little dress. While I looked hot, my black heels didn't really fit in. I'll probably get this Southern thing down by the time we are moving back North.

Yak Attack

This past Easter weekend, we had the honor of hosting my parents for a few days. I feel like we've come full circle ... because if you look back at the blogs in April of '09, you'll see a posting of my parents visiting last Easter. That means we're on the home stretch ...

Kyle and I, being the best daughter and son-in-law EVER, celebrated my dad's birthday with a Branson tour. That's right. We stomached a day in Branson, Missouri to fulfill my father's dream. We even bought tickets for the four of us to see Yakov Smirnoff's Moscow Circus! (Mom and Dad - please log all the brownie points we scored ... we need credit for this one!)

We all prepped with some much needed Dramamine to handle the super curvy and super hilly 90 minute ride out there.

Ok - I'll admit, my Mom deserves brownie points for making the trip too! Let's be honest. I think my dad is the only Yakov fan on the planet and true to my Mom's generous soul, she'll do whatever it takes to keep my father happy. Bless her heart.

The crowd was so small there was literally one performer for every audience member ... but they still performed their hearts out. Here was one of our favorite acts - cute puppies doing circus tricks while dressed up as ferocious lions. Strange, yet adorable.

The performance was topped off with an authentic Russion meal ... well, as authentic as you can get out of a box.

The remainder of the weekend was fairly schedule-free ... very unlike my parents ... but I think it was good for them.

We went out to dinner only once (a record low for my parents,) my mom and I got manicures, we went for a walk around the lake and just spent a lot of down time at the house - playing games and hanging out together. My Dad even joined us for a game of Scrabble ... probably the first (and only) time ever. He really mastered the 3-letter words.

We enjoyed the nice weather with a cookout on the deck ... courtesy of Kyle.

We soaked up some sun on my parents first ride on the boat ... also courtesy of Kyle.

We even got my parents to play darts ... can you believe it?!?!? My Dad said he hadn't played in 40 years ... wow, he's old. :) But, I'll tell ya, it all came back to him as he hit the bullseye several times. Hence his new nickname, Bullseye Bill. And thanks to his mad skills, the boys won!

Thanks, Mom and Dad for coming to visit us in Arkansas again ... you're our first repeat visitors! We expect you to spend some time refining your dart throwing skills so we can step up the competition next time and be sure to let us know how we can cash in those Yakov brownie points we worked so hard to earn. Love you!