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Summer 2015, Birdeye

Friday, June 12, 2015

Katie and our newest Afghan, Pharoah
Friday Chloe and I loaded up East Birdeye (Whit, Stella and August) and Midtown Birdeye (Linton, Katie and Reece) and
met Julia Shepherd at the pool.  We had a great time and watching 8 kids was a blast for me (I am serious!  :))
Left to right, Linton, Whit, August, Julia, Katie, Stella, Chloe and Reece
You can tell how proud they were with their fire
There was a bike ride hosted by Stan and Beth two weeks ago....left to right, Kyle, Stan, me, Jackie, Cecelia, Beth, Kara
Martin, Lisa, Chuck and Julie
Since we are such fans of Naked and Afraid and were just at Parkin Archeological State Park learning how to make fire, I
bought a Swiss Army Fire Starter.  Here's Whit lighting it up Tuesday on my fire pit.  They LOVED it!
They scrambled eggs but those stinkers didn't eat them
Hobbes, Buddy and Biscuit

Then they all got into the XBox Dance...cracked me up
Reece, Stella, Katie, Whit, Linton and August and the Aghan napping on the couch
Not a great shot but Chloe and Whit took Gumball, Buddy, Biscuit and our foster Hobbes to Village Creek Tuesday.
We had a nice picnic lunch and had a great time.

Chloe made an oven Sunday to cook eggs on....it was HOT outside that day (the egg kinda cooked)

Tuesday we went to Marion to hear one of Chloe's BFF's Bailey Bigger play at the Shake Shack.  It was a real treat.
She sang some of her own songs and others from Kacey Musgrave plus one from the Black Crowes

Do you remember when I loaded Whit and Chloe up for a state parks
photo shoot last November?  We didn't make the magazine but
Denny Hess did, he's a local, professional mountain biker
Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Summer is in full swing!  I'll let the photos tell much of the last 2-3 weeks.  We're gearing up for golf lessons at the Ridges at Village Creek, swimming and Chloe's favorite, sleeping in.  She takes the written driving test this Friday, if she passes, then she'll go back in 30 days for a driver's test for a permit to ride with anyone 21 years old.  I've been letting her drive down the Bay Road after school from Levesque to Birdeye and she's done a good job.  Golf is next week, then a week in Little Rock for the publications staff, a Cardinal game and off to Ferncliff.  It's been good so far, even though we've pulled a ton of ticks off Chloe and ourselves.  I will share two new fabulous Italian recipes ASAP plus garden shots.  Oh and cucumber pickling season is here, I.CANNOT.WAIT!


New York Birthday Trip 2015

Thursday, June 4, 2015

This is Stella, Audrey and Chloe waiting for our rescheduled flight in Memphis...the beginning of a LONG 24 hours

Everyone HAD to get a neck pillow because of the fact we were supposed to arrive in NYC at midnight.  They're smiling here....:)


The High Line in Chelsea...Audrey and Chloe's first stop in NYC this
is about 9 am Friday after leaving the Atlanta hotel at 4 am....yes that's
not a typo

Charlie Bird in SoHo for lunch.  What an OUTSTANDING place, thanks to Ryan Lawson's recommendation!
Left is Stella and Emmy Burton, Audrey and Chloe...Tara Burton in the background

The Statue of Liberty was a real treat

On our way to dinner Friday

Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge should be a mandatory thing when in NYC!


I love Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show. It's quite my thing now since
he took over in Feb. 2014.  He wasn't filming this week but we stopped
by for a photo :)


Top of the Rockefeller Center, that's the Empire State Building behind them

Audrey is so talented...she payed attention the the streets in NYC, counted how many times we hit up a Starbucks and did
Stella and Chloe's hair several times.  Here she is doing Chloe's bun before Matilda.  Our most favorite play EVER.  If you
get the chance to see it you MUST!!!
After Matilda...what a great show!!!
Times Square

Stella's birthday cake before the play
Monday, June 1, 2015

Last year I talked to mom about helping with a trip to New York for Chloe's 14th birthday and luckily it was also cousin Stella's birthday June 3 and cousin Audrey's birthday June 25, so we made it a fun time for all.  We had several glitches on the trip, the first being our Thursday 1 pm flight was cancelled due to weather in NYC and we were re-booked on the 6 pm flight through Atlanta.  We were delayed two hours getting to Atlanta and missed our La Guardia connection.  They told us in Memphis that we would miss the connection but wouldn't get vouchers for our hotel in Atlanta.  Dang it.  Then when we got to our hotel at midnight, Kara printed out our boarding passes while I was getting the girls in and out of the shower, and Delta spit out 5 vouchers for a Hilton Hotel.  Well we were at a Marriott.  Dang it number 4.  To top it all off, we left our hotel at 4:20 a.m. and stood in a SINGLE DELTA line from 4:30-5:30 to simply print out Audrey's boarding pass then had to stand in security and had 5 minutes to board our flight, on an empty stomach no less.  Dang it number 5 and 6.  We arrived in NYC at 8:00 am to start our day on 4 hours sleep (if that, Kara and I really didn't rest much).

Friday was a great but exhausting day.  We hydrated with water and tea throughout the day and had a great time walking the High Line in Chelsea.  The High Line is an abandoned railroad that was going to be torn down but residents raised money to save it and make it into a park.  We had a great lunch at Charlie Bird in SoHo,  What a great time it was sitting outside.  Our next stop was the Statue of Liberty several blocks south to Battery Park.  The blocks are long and slow in NYC so I asked everyone with us who had a handful of luck and if they did to use it so we'd make our 2 pm ferry over to the statue.  Hailing a cab isn't easy in the big city.  The handful of luck worked when I walked up to a hotel bellman and asked him to hail two cabs for our party of 7.  He said, "Just a minute, wait here".  So we did and he said, "Vladimir will take you anywhere you want to go in our hotel car.  Don't tip him, it's part of our service".  For the record, we didn't come out of the hotel as guests, I walked up to him off the corner of Varick and Spring Street.  Well Vlad was, I'd say, 70 years old, dressed in a full Italian suit and Prada sunglasses.  He escorted us to a 2015 Black Cadillac Escalade.  It was a thrill riding the 6 blocks to Battery Park with Vlad.  We did tip and thanked him a ton.  The Trump SoHo rooms go for $625 per night.  WOW.

The Statue of Liberty was great.  It was a beautiful day.  We had tickets to see the 9/11 Museum at 6 pm and we timed it about right to see the wonderful memorial then the museum. Dinner at Mercer Kitchen was a thrill, as always.  Audrey tried sushi, I was so proud of her.

Saturday we slept in until 8 am, what a thrill that was.  By the way, Kara found our hotel the Affinia Manhattan was outstanding.  Saturday we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and had lunch at a Peruvian restaurant called Pio Pio in Hell's Kitchen that my high school youth minister met Jackie and I at a few years ago.  It was really good and I was proud of Chloe, Audrey, Stella and Emmy for all trying food outside their comfort zone.

Matilda, Matilda.  Thank you to Mary Margaret Meyer, who originally was to come with us, said it was the play to see and boy, was she right.  It was in the quaint Schubert Theater on Broadway.  I've never been in a theater that small but it was a real treat.  We loved the actors and music.  It really was the best play I've ever seen.  We walked to Times Square and Toys R Us then headed for bed.

It was a great birthday trip with Kara and Tara, two humans I'd travel with anywhere, anytime.  It's nice when people you travel with are on the same page.  The girls all did great too.

Sheryl Crow and the Arkansas River Trail, Little Rock

Little Rock Riverfest 2015

I think Sheryl Crow will always be my favorite musician 

Mugs Cafe is a perfect place for breakfast in North Little Rock

This is downtown North Little Rock on the trail

You can see how close the river flooding was to the trail

We had some hills in there, go Chloe!

On the way back, Chloe was glad to get off her bike.  Her seat was burning bad.  Overall
we rode 17 miles out and back.  We will all have to do 30 one day and 50 the next this summer
when we visit Mt Rushmore...it's time to ride some bikes!
Saturday, May 22, 2015

Jackie got us tickets for my birthday to see Sheryl Crow at Riverfest in Little Rock last night.  It was the 9th time I've seen her and I have to say last night's concert was my favorite of them all.  She has crossed over from rock to country but mostly played rock and some classic songs I'd never heard live.  For those that care and love her music like I do, her first song was Steve McQueen off of her 2002 album C'mon, C'mon.  I hadn't heard that song live ever.  It was as thrill, as were the rest of the songs she sang like Can't Cry Anymore, My Favorite Mistake, Sweet Rosalyn (off her first album, that was a real treat), Strong Enough, 3 new country songs, Picture, Happy, Soak up the Sun and my favorite, Everyday is a Winding Road.  It was a GREAT concert down on the river.  After her standing ovation, she came back for an encore of Run Baby Run, and Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll.  What a treat.  The next morning, Jackie, Chloe and I had a terrific breakfast at Mug's then toured the Arkansas River Trail to Burns Park and back.  Burns Park was closed to vehicular traffic because of the flooding but we were among tons of cyclists out there.

Thanks for a great birthday present Jackie and Chloe.  It was a blast!