Better late than never...

The Brown-David clan has been away for a couple of weeks.  The girls got to spend a couple of weeks in St. Louis with my mother and the hubs and I finally got a honeymoon (sort of).  We spent 10 days (child free, mind you) on the East Coast visiting friends and family.  We divided our time between Washington DC, New Jersey and New York.  We had a great time and ate more delicious food than I thought humanly possible!

There was a great video game exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in DC.  Couldn't pass up a chance to play giant PacMan.

I have been hearing about Ethiopian food for the last two visits to DC.  We finally got to go for Ethiopian.  Look how happy he looks.

The "Little Old Lady" suite at the B&B where we stayed in New Jersey.  It was close to the beach AND provided bikes for the guests.

Apparently in Bradley Beach, you need badges to actually get onto the beach.  These came with the room, of course.

Don't I look like I'm enjoying the bike ride?  I really did!  The weather was pleasant, the ride was easy and there was not a hill in sight.

My only good picture of the Verrazano Bridge.  It's difficult to take pictures from a moving vehicle.

This is his excited face.  We spent the afternoon at the Dekalb Market in Brooklyn.  There was great food and music.

Notice the beer and donuts (in the box) in the background.  It was that kind of day!

Awesome street art!  Notice the box of donuts still being carted around.  Those donuts saw all of Brooklyn that day.

Our first trip on a NYC subway. There's a much better picture than this somewhere...

I got the COLDEST popsicle known to man in Central Park.  The vendor had them in dry ice and the condensation was refreezing on the popsicle.  It was literally getting BIGGER as I ate it (and my lips kept sticking to it)

Cooling off (or trying to cool off, anyway) in a little pavilion in Central Park.

A trip to Chinatown always means ducks (and chickens and a variety of other animals) hanging in the windows.

It also means really tasty, cheap food.  We had giant, steamy bowls of noodles and balls of various origins.  These particular ones were fish.  I had shrimp balls in mine (which looked almost exactly like this, only pinkish).

I saw this sign while were in Manhattan and I thought it was humorous.  Hopefully my Keen sneakers were acceptable.

 I love Urban Outfitters and that's really all the I can say about this picture...

The kids also had great time in St. Louis, but because I had the camera, there are no pictures to share.  I'm sure my mom will have to sleep for the next two weeks to recuperate from spending two weeks with my four little girls.  They can be handful.  Now, to get back into our regularly scheduled routine.

Back to our own little piece of the world

So we made the 16 hour journey back home yesterday. We were all ready to be back in our own home. This trip was epic! We had a really great time in all of the places that we visited and we are so appreciative of everyone's hospitality. I know that our family travels like a caravan, so we can definitely invade a space. Now it's time to deprogram the kids and get them back into the old routine. I will post more pictures from the trip as soon as I can (back home means back to Wii internet. Blah...)

Where in the world....back to Philadelphia

Well, it's time to officially wind down our whirlwind vacation. It has been epic, but unless we want to be stranded somewhere on the east coast with four kids and no money, we should probably head back home. So we cut our stay in Massachusetts short snd headed back to Philly. Massachusetts was alright. It's definitely not the place for us. On the surface, it seemed like a place that we could fit in, but alas... I did learn a valuable lesson during our stay there. Just because a kid has all the earthy, natural, organic "stuff" (food, toys, parents) it doesn't mean that they are going to be any more respectful, polite or well behaved. It definitely made me appreciate my parenting style and children for who they are.

Now, I think I am finally in a position to add pictures from the last couple of weeks, so I will be going back and updating some older posts. Feel free to look back!

Where in the world...

Guess what happens when you put six kids together in a backyard garden in Massachusetts with free reign on the ripe vegetables. Go ahead, guess. I'll wait.....
Well, when if it's my four kids and our friends' two kids, they make a.....wait for it.....SALAD! Yep, our kids gathered cucumbers, green tomatoes, fresh basil and carrots from the garden, raisins, pickles (yeah pickles) and salad dressing from the fridge and made a big vinegary salad. Then they all sat around a table in the backyard (barefoot and in a slight drizzle) and ate it voraciously with forks, hands and chopsticks.

On a side note. Today is my husband's 34th birthday. Happy Birthday, hun. Someday we will have money on your birthday and we'll do something awesome. I guess being in Massachusetts instead of Mississippi could be considered awesome. I guess we'll just have to see what the day brings.

UPDATE: SO we spent the morning at the river with the kids. It was SO hot and river was so nice. This was one of the highlights of our trip. I'd go back there every day.

Where in the world....Lenox and Greenfield, MA

I had to make a trip to the art museum here before we hit the road. You know, the one from Rocky? Yeah, I'm not a Rocky fan, so I avoided the long line of people waiting in line to take a picture with the Rocky statue. I did, however, get to see original Van Goghs which were well worth the hike uphill from the car.





So has anyone seen the movies Away We Go (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski)? Basically it's about a 30 something couple that find out that they are pregnant and head off to find the perfect place to live. They visit crazy friends and relatives and it's a sweet, sometimes emotional, very funny movie. It's a favorite right now for the hubby and I. Well, we've watched that movie about a thousand times over the course of this last two weeks. It's such a parallel to our lives right now. No, we aren't pregnant (again), but we are on a search for our home. A place that will feel right to us. Living in Mississippi has definitely had it's positive aspects, but it's really not the place for us. We stick out like a sore thumb, and as much as I enjoy being, well, off the beaten path, I don't like sticking out quite as much as we seem to. So the second goal of this trip has been scouting out locations that may work as our home. Ultimately we would like to keep heading north to Canada, but until we are in a position to do that, we need to find a home that makes us all happy. There are plenty of place that we know we don't want to be, but we are still figuring out where we'd be happy. So here are the places that we have visited so far on this trip: St. Louis, Columbus (OH), Washington DC, Leesburg VA, Philadelphia (actually Lafayette Hills) PA, and Atlantic City NJ. Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Lenox, MA. It was actually a really nice town. It's one of those place where people ask you if you live there all year (several moms asked me that while we were at the playground). It was also one of those towns that I could just tell that we could never afford to live in. From Lenox, we headed to Greenfield. It's our first official day here, so I haven't had a chance to feel it out just yet. I have to say, I'm excited to be with friends who have kids and are raising them in a similar way. The kids have yard space to play, a garden to help tend, cats and chickens to feed and no TV, Barbie or Justin Beiber as far as the eye can see. Right now I am watching Zion, barefoot, in the backyard, waist deep in what I think is basil (but I could be wrong). It feels good. I keep waiting for the black screen to pop up saying "away to home", but life just isn't that simple. I don't necessarily think that Greenfield, Massachusetts is the place for us, but I know that place is out there and we have been having a blast trying to find it.

Where in the world....Atlantic City

We took a short trip to Atlantic City yesterday to visit a family friend. We've never been to Atlantic City before, so it was a fun, new excursion. But, because we'd never been before we didn't foresee to horrendous Saturday traffic caused by the thousands of people flocking there for the weekend. Ugh, traffic makes me ill (one of the perks of small town living). I really enjoyed getting to the ocean again, though. I haven't seen the ocean since we left St. Croix. Granted the Atlantic Ocean is not nearly blue as the Caribbean Sea, but I'll take what I can get at this point. The kids had a blast, even though they could only put their feet in the water (it was an impromptu trip, so no swimsuits were packed). I realized halfway through the beach visit, that it was Zion's very first trip to the beach. I realized this as she was using my flip flop as a shovel and laying face down in the sand. I think I can safely say that she enjoyed her first trip to the beach (maybe she can feel the island blood coursing through her veins despite her Mississippi birth).

Zion's first steps on the beach. Her little toes were made for sand.

Yep, Ikea is the highlight of the day...

Okay, so theoretically we are seeing lots of fun and educational sites in all of the places we are visiting on this massive family road trip. But I have to admit, the highlight of our Philadelphia trip so far (you now with the exception of hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law) has to be our trip to Ikea today. I'm probably a little biased (because I love Ikea and the closest one to Oxford is in Atlanta, so we never go there), but our trip to Ikea today was the best. First of all, I love any store that provides a fun place for me to drop my kids off and leave for an hour. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but browsing is so much easier when I don't have to do the periodic head count or catch the baby or wrestle the three year old into the cart. So, I got a good hour of browsing peacefully with just the baby. About 45 minutes in, the baby got hungry so we went up to get a little kids meal from the cafe (pasta with marinara, veggies and an apple juice). Now the kids menu in itself is only $2.97 which I think is a good deal, but when I got to the check out line the lady just printed my receipt and said have a nice day. That's right, kids eat FREE until August 13th!! So on top of a peaceful hour of shopping, I fed all of the kids of $0. AND they keep diapers and wipes stocked in the changing area of the family bathroom! Yeah, so maybe I'm easily impressed, but I love a store that makes shopping with kids easier.

Where in the world...Philadelphia Bound

Today, we hit the road and head for Philadelphia. Washington DC has been great, but I'm ready to move on. The kids are getting antsy and are falling prey to some modern day influences that we try to avoid at home. Basically, too much TV, too many movies, too much computer access, too much weirdo kiddie pop music, too much staying the house, too many Capri Suns and way too much getting their way. The kids love visiting with their cousin and I love watching them spend time with family, but it's completely affecting the way they interact with each other. There's so much more fighting and bickering and being mean. It's driving me nuts. So, I am looking forward to heading to our next destinations and getting back to what we are used to in our kids.
We don't have much planned for Philadelphia. My sister in law and I have planned a trip to Ikea (just because I LOVE Ikea) and they just opened a HUGE Whole Foods in her area and I think there are plans to make vegan marshmallow treats. There won't be 1000 TV channels or extensive computer games. And best of all? NO BARBIE!!! Goodbye Barbie and Justin Bieber (whoever you are) and hello vegan marshmallow treats and arboretum!

Wrapping up in DC

Tomorrow is our last day in Washington DC. Today we took the kids to the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Natural History. I'm not really a fan of the stuffy presidential portraits, but I do appreciate them for their technical skill. What made my day was the gallery filled with the 49 chosen portraits from the annual portrait competition. I have to acknowledge how difficult it is to be inspired to paint when there is so little outside art in my life. Today was inspiring. I think I want to start a long term project (a year maybe), where I create a self portrait each week. That's really the only goal. Mediums and techniques will vary, but I will be the subject. I think I will enter the National Portrait Gallery's annual competition (I picked up the info today) and see where that takes me....

Anyway, after the NPG, we had lunch in the Sculpture Garden (and I got to see a friend that I haven't seen since college.

This metal tree was awesome.

It was a brief meeting, but enjoyable none the less.) and headed on over to see the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History. Of course it was Bijou's favorite part of the day (she was annoyed that the Portrait Gallery had no dinosaurs). She got to see her favorite - STEGOSAURUS!

Model of what it may have looked like when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

It was too dark and WAY too crowded to get a picture of Bijou with the stegosaurus, so we had to settle for the triceratops skull.

We also checked out the rocks, gems and minerals. Ashni and Jena were both pretty intrigued by the Hope Diamond, but both were more impressed with the toxic fibers of asbestos in the area with crystals. It's is fun to watch Ashni go through and pick out rocks and crystals that she has in her collection at home.

We're all exhausted now, but it was well worth it. Thanks for hanging out with us Uncle Gregory (we'll be waiting patiently for your awesome pictures of our visit).

Where in the world... or The great DC blackout of 2010

The day was going along just fine. We were preparing for our Sunday cookout - pasta salad was being made, apple pie in the works, charcoal going in the grill. The sky was blue , the sun was shining and the kids were entertaining themselves. Then the sky started to look a little gray. "I think it's going to rain, but that will cool things off, so that's good." Withing moments the sky went from gray to black. The wind kicked up and sheets of rain moving horizontally blinded us all. For ten minutes the weather was pure chaos! Thunder, lightning, hail in some areas. With a particularly loud clap of thunder and frighteningly close bolt of lightning the power was knocked out. "It will be back soon. I mean, it flashed for a minute earlier." Um, yeah, we were wrong about that one. After ten minutes the storm was over, but the power was AWOL! For 12 hours we had no lights, no fridge, no stove, no air conditioner, no fans. Has anyone been checking the weather on the east coast lately? Yeah, it's HOT!


The cookout went as planned (without apple pie or cheddar biscuits though, because the power died before I could get them in the oven). We ate, drank and were merry, but soon the guests went to their homes that had lights and air conditioning. So, we played board games, painted our finger nails and toenails, laughed and drank warm soda, all by candle light. We had a blast. It was HOT, but we made the best of it. The power came back in the wee hours of the morning. I was awakened by lights, fans, humming of appliances. It was a welcomed sight. After going through the house turning everything off (including the oven and garbage disposal), I could sleep comfortably beneath the much appreciated and fully powered fan. This morning as I use the internet, listen to the radio in the next room, and absorb the white noise of the air conditioner, the black out becomes just a fun vacation story to talk about later. I'm sure there will be many more over the next couple of weeks of travel.

Where in the world... Hello DC

Today is our first full day in Washington DC. We planned to leave St. Louis around 4am on Tuesday, but lost track of time and long story short, we ended up just getting on the road at 2am instead of trying to sleep for two hours. We drove through a massive thunderstorm in Illinois (at 2am!), but after that the weather was great. The trip from St. Louis to DC is supposed to be about 14 hours, but we got lost somewhere in rural Maryland and it ended up being about 16 hours (but that's what makes it an adventure, right? Yeah...). Surprisingly, the kids did great (and neither of the drivers fell asleep behind the wheel)! I have to admit that staying up for 48 hours was much easier when I was 19 and had no children (staying up that long now is just plain stupid and I'll be paying for it for the next three days, so I don't recommend it).
Anyway, on the itinerary for the next week are:
1. A family and friends cookout with the in-laws and hubby's friends
2. The portrait museum for Jena
3. Dinosaur bones for Bijou
4. A quick trip to see the White House and Washington monument
5. Lots of sitting around and naps to make up for yesterday's loss of sleep.
Unfortunately, my father in law's computer does not have a slot for my SD card and I left all of the camera cords at home, so pictures will have to come later..... Well, it's later and here are pictures.

Apparently Zion is unhappy with her current amount of accessories and would like to add large, flower shaped clip on earrings. I think they make a statement.

Generally we don't allow hula hooping in the house, but when you're this cute with a hula hoop exceptions must be made.

This is what being on vacation has done to rides in the car. No matter where we went, this is what it looked like in the back seat. This is reason enough for everyone to take a massive road trip with their kids.

Just before we go lost in Maryland, this was the lovely view from the car. Not that the view wasn't lovely while we were lost, but things are much nicer when you assume you know where you're going.

Happy Trails...

Today is our last day in St. Louis. Early tomorrow morning we hit the road and head to DC. I've enjoyed spending time with my family, but this trip has been a reminder of why I left St. Louis. For a brief moment we considered coming back here for a year or so until we decide for sure where we want to live. The moment was brief. St. Louis is NOT the place for us. I've had my time here and now it has become a great place to visit for a few days. That's it. It's been fun St. Louis, we'll see you on the next go 'round. Look out Washington DC, here we come!!!

(No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to Crown Candy for ice cream!)

Where in the world, Part 2

So we are still in St. Louis and as I mentioned we are staying at the family house here in the city. This neighborhood has changes so much since I was a kid. There are so few people left in the area. This lovely dilapidated building is my childhood home. It's hard to believe that the bulk of my childhood was spent in this house.

The "big house", as it is affectionately called is one of the few houses left standing and livable in the neighborhood. The house is over 100 years old (I believe) and still has original hardwood floors, ornate fixtures and woodwork. There are even a couple of original stained glass windows along the front stairs.

Zion and Granny share a granny/granddaughter moment on the front steps. I think they were counting the rocks that Zion had collected from the front garden.


All the kiddos by the big beautiful hydrangea bush in the front yard. We were on our way to the Friday night family meet and greet.

Yesterday was the family picnic. The big girls were in charge of creating this family tree. I drew the tree and they had each member of the family leave their fingerprint "leaf" and name. I was hoping for a fuller tree. Maybe we will leave it unframed here at the house and as more family members gather for other family functions they can add their leaf to the tree. There were more leaves than this by the end of the day, but we have a HUGE family, so we could fill the page with prints.


Jena had a ball playing Davis bingo. She didn't win, but she had fun all the same. I think it helped that her cousin Nia was sharing the bingo card.

Zion ended her day exhausted and filthy, the true sign of a great day.

A little people pow wow.