My Love for the Number 5

I love the number 5.  There...I've said it.  I can't explain it, I just do.

There are lots of obvious 5's in my life. 

I have 5 kids.

I was born in the 5th month, I'm 5' tall.  I wear a size 5 shoe.  I love high 5's and I have a theory about them but that's a story for another day. 

Then there are the not so obvious 5's in my life.  These are the 5's that I find using simple math techniques that I like to call addition and subtraction.  For example, I was born on the 27th and 2 from 7 is 5. 

I am sure I annoy my family by "finding" fives.  Well actually I know I do but I can't help myself.  It's like a subconscious habit to find and celebrate 5's.  I also like to think I'm helping them keep their basic math skills sharp by having them add  and subtract to come up with my "not so obvious" 5's.  Isn't that sweet of me?

So here are just a couple pictures of a few 5's that I've recently come across. 

 

This first picture is at Six Flags Over Texas at the old timey car ride.  We stood in spot #5. 

This next picture is in Rapid City, South Dakota.  We were exploring the city by taking the tour that I labeled The Prez Parade in a recent post on my blog. 

The timing on this shot was awesome - I was able to capture the cross walk sign as it flashed "5" while facing 5th street!  Double 5's!

And last but not least while in Hebron Nebraska we stopped so I could get a picture of myself on The World's Longest Porch Swing.  It just so happened to be located on 5th street.  I submitted my photo to my absolute FAVORITE website RoadsideAmerica.com and guess what?!  They used my photo!!  So click on this link to see ME!!  ME on The World's Largest Porch Swing!!  How cool is that?  Now here's the pic.

So yes I do love the number 5 and I'm sure I always will.  Here's one last thought.  I found the picture of myself on The World's Largest Porch Swing on my absolute favorite website RoadsideAmerica.com on 2/27/2010.  Here's a not so obvious 5 in action as it would sound if my kids were sitting here with me:

Me:  Hey kids!

Kids:  What Mom?

Me:  What's 2+2?

Kids: 4

Me:  Plus 7?

Kids:  11

Me:  Plus 2?

Kids: 13

Me:  Plus 1?

Kids:  14

Me:  And what's 1+4?

Kids:  :::sigh:::

Me:  And what's 1+4???

Kids:  5 Mom

See the beauty in that?  Amazing, huh?!?!

And in case you didn't see it - my picture is on RoadsideAmerica.com right HERE :) !!

Technorati Tags: 5,RoadsideAmerica.com,AFWingMom,World's Largest Porch Swing,Hebron Nebraska,Rapid City,South Dakota

The Prez Parade

On our recent trip to South Dakota we were able to spend part of Saturday exploring Rapid City which is also known as "The City of the Presidents".  In addition to the presidents you can find at Mt. Rushmore there are also bronze statues scattered throughout the downtown area. 

The bronze sculptures are a part of the City of Presidents project that began in 2000 as a way of honoring the American presidency.  There is a visitor center located at:  302 Main St. (Downtown), Rapid City, SD 57701. 

I have to admit I have never memorized the names of all of our presidents.  Because of that I found myself quite surprised at some of the names that we came across. 

Here are some pics of some of the lesser known (to me) presidents:

Warren G. Harding

 

Franklin Pierce

William Henry Harrison

 

John Tyler

I'm sure there are some of y'all out there that are thinking how could I not know these presidents.  I know, it seems weird that I wouldn't know all of them but I just never had to memorize them and never had the desire to memorize them.  You can check out ALL the presidents by visiting this site:  Whitehouse.gov The Presidents.

Now we can't just take regular pictures of the statues and call it a day.  We have to have a little fun as well....

We had a great time exploring a little bit more of Rapid City and increasing our knowledge at the same time.  :)  Fun times with family!

Technorati Tags: Rapid City,South Dakota,City of Presidents,travel

Joining Weight Watcher's (WW)

My sister and her husband have joined Weight Watcher's again.  She mentioned this via a text and asked if I wanted to join as well.  Now I may have mentioned that I've joined with her before and quit several times so I was not sure if I was entirely ready to make a commitment.

I thought to myself, really?  I was pretty sure I wouldn't stick with it because it requires effort.  And then she said the magic words...

     :::YOU CAN DO IT WITH YOUR iPHONE:::

The clouds rolled back, the sun started shining and in the distance I could hear a choir of angels begin singing. 

I could use my iPhone?  My most favorite piece of electronic equipment besides my camera that I own?  I said.....SOLD!!

So on 1/30/10 I joined.  I went to the meeting and i weighed in.  I weighed about what I expected. 

One of the things that I liked about WW's was the lady who weighed you in each week.  The first 12 times I joined - and that may or may not be an exaggeration - I would weigh in with the next available rep.  Somewhere along the way I began weighing in with Jodi.

Now why would I want to weigh in with the same person?  Familiarity, comfort - maybe I just wanted to have a "friend" at WW's.  Who knows?  I just like to.  I also have a secret theory that I weigh less when I weigh with her. 

So I'm back on track and I've logged in using my iPhone and so far things are going good.  :)  I'll keep you up-to-date on my progress.

 

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers,iPhone

The Military Alphabet

I have memorized the military alphabet for no reason.  It kind of began when my son joined the Air Force.  I started reading about the things he was going to be learning and doing and memorizing the alphabet was one of them. 

A:  Alpha

B:  Bravo

C:  Charlie

D:  Delta

E:  Echo

F:  Foxtrot

G:  Golf

H:  Hotel

I:  India

J:  Juliet

So you know how when you are spelling out something and then you say "C" as in "Cat" or "S" as in "Sam"?  Well now I can spell something out using the widely used military alphabet aka NATO phonetic alphabet. 

K:  Kilo

L:  Lima

M:  Mike

N:  November

O:  Oscar

P:  Papa

R:  Romeo

S:  Sierra

T:  Tango

I often test myself while I am in the car by "reading" the license plates on the cars around me.  I want to ensure I am prepared at all times in case an emergency arises and their is a sudden need for someone who knows the military alphabet.

U:  Uniform

V:  Victor

W:  Whiskey

X:  Xray

Y:  Yankee

Z:  Zulu

It may not be a skill or talent that can be used at parties or one that I will put on my resume...or maybe I will...but it is something I do know that not everyone else knows.  Maybe it's a WingMom thing?   

Technorati Tags: military alphabet,Air Force

Water Tower Dream

I used to have a recurring dream that has never been clearly defined in any dream interpretation books that I've seen.  If you have any thoughts on the meaning after reading please feel free to share. 

Here's my dream:  I am at my old elementary school, Grafton Village Elementary School.  As I remember it there was a field and at the far end of it was a blue water tower.  We used to have to run to it and run back to the school during recess. 

In my dream I am running to the water tower and I touch it.  I turn and begin running back when I realize that the water tower is falling towards me.  I begin running as fast as I can but I know I'm not going to make it and the tower is going to fall on me.  I'm getting a stitch in my side from running so hard but it doesn't matter.  I know I still won't outrun the falling tower. 

::: And then I wake up :::

That's it.  I don't know the correct interpretation of this dream but I'm sure it's out there.  I don't even remember the last time I had the dream. 

I do know that I have a slight fixation with water towers now.  Here's one of my obvious favorites.

Now I'm not the only one with a water tower fixation.  There's a whole bunch of sites devoted to it but here's a great one to start with, WaterTowers.com.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on my dream or have any favorite water tower pictures you'd like to share?

Technorati Tags: water towers,recurring dream,Grafton Village Elementary School

Dinosaur Park and Philly Ted's

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I LOVE RoadsideAmerica.com and I use it often to search for places to visit on my road trips. 

On this trip we visited Dinosaur Park in Rapid City.  There's not a whole lot to it but the view was pretty cool.

The best part is I was able to enjoy all this with two of my favorite guys.

Now of course the main part of dinosaur park would be the fact that there are dinosaurs there.

 

We parked at the visitor center and then walked up a bunch of stairs to check out the dinosaurs.

Nick suggested that we eat at Philly Ted's.  He had eaten there before and really liked it.  I thought it was a really cool little place.  Everyone there was really friendly and they didn't seem to mind a crazy woman taking a bunch of pictures.  :) 

They have specialty sandwiches named after football teams.

Now despite being a huge Dallas Cowboys fan I chose to try the Red Dog which is steak, provolone and marinara sauce.  It was pretty good but I couldn't finish the whole thing.  

Inside Philly Ted's there are lots of little signs. 

My all time favorite sign was this one.  I'm sure you can guess why.

No one can resist a high five!

Technorati Tags: Dinosaur Park,Rapid City,South Dakota,Philly Ted's,number 5,road trip

Our January Trip to South Dakota

I love to road trip.  I love researching on RoadsideAmerica.com for cool places to visit.  They now have a really cool iPhone app that I'm having a lot of fun using.  Now on to our trip.

Day 1

We left on Thursday afternoon and made it to Wichita Kansas.  The purpose of our trip was to take Nick his "new to him" car.  It was getting foggy and it was late and so we stopped. 

We checked into our hotel, Quality Suites Airport and settled in.  We got up the next morning and headed out after eating our free full breakfast.  The best part of the hotel was Steve, the guy who helped during breakfast.  He was really friendly and seemed like a good guy.

Day 2

Not a whole lot to say about Kansas or Nebraska as they were extremely FOGGY. 

Not completely sure if these were taken in Kansas or Nebraska because as I said it was really, really foggy.

 

Before leaving Kansas we stopped at a travel information center.

We actually had fun talking with the people that were inside.  We even met a couple from South Dakota that were on their way to Texas.  This travel information center also had a great assortment of handmade crafts that looked like someone's grandma had made.  They also had lots of the regular souvenir stuff you would expect - Wizard of Oz and sunflower stuff. 

I mentioned RoadsideAmerica.com earlier.  Well one of the sites that I had researched was the World's Largest Porch Swing.  Here's a picture of me on the porch swing. 

It's not too far off of the highway in Hebron Nebraska.  You just take US 81 to the outskirts of town and turn west onto Lincoln Ave. Drive into town and turn left onto 5th St., then right onto Jefferson Ave. The swing will be on the right, in Roosevelt Park.

Speaking of 5th St.......

Oh how I love the number 5.

Also while we were there we were fortunate enough to pass by the Post Office. 

After we had a little side trip we stopped for a bite to eat in York, Nebraska.  They had had a lot of snow and here's a picture of my hubby parked beside where they had plowed. 

We stopped to eat at Country Kitchen.

I had the baked potato soup.

It was delicious!  And one cool thing about York, Nebraska is they have an awesome water tower!

Technorati Tags: Kansas,Nebraska,Hebron Nebraska,York Nebraska,Roadside America,Quality Suites,roadtrip,Worlds Largest Porch Swing,post office,number 5