Build A Bear

For her 3rd Birthday, my friend Catherine decided to take Morgan to Build-A-Bear Workshop. She took lots of pictures so I could see how much Morgan loved it!

Morgan picked out the horse, which was no surprise to me. She loves horses and unicorns just like her mommy! This is the horse before they put the stuffing in.

It is so cute how they have the store set up. Kids are able to help create their stuffed animal. This is Morgan pushing the pedal to fill up her horse.



Morgan even got to pick out a heart, so her horse would be brought to life!



Now the horse was ready for its first bath and grooming!


Morgan really loves "Brownie". Thanks Catherine! And happy 3rd birthday to my sweet little girl! More birthday pictures to follow!

Swagbucks

I stumbled across a website the other day, because I saw my friends on facebook were "liking" it. It is called Swagbucks and basically you earn points for searching the internet, which you can redeem for prizes. I have been doing it for three days and already have enough for a $5 amazon gift card. It doesn't sound like much, but I literally didn't do anything, except browse the internet like I normally do anyway! I downloaded the toolbar and whenever I do a search I just search out of their search engine...which does suck, because it brings up a lot of ads mixed in with the real results...but what I am looking for is usually at the top of the list anyway. Obviously I wouldn't recommend using it for a research paper, but when you are just messing around on the internet it is not a problem.

So...if you like the idea of earning prizes for browsing the net, go ahead and sign up with this link. I will get points for you signing up and if you don't like it you can just stop doing it. Just use a junk e-mail account and you will never hear from Swagbucks again, lol.

Finally!

So yesterday I got back from a trip full of delays, which left me super tired and cranky. But I got home and found out I got awarded part-time! I am so incredibly happy, it was like Christmas! I have been waiting for this for 7 months. It has been so hard being away from my kids and Emery for so many days a month, but now I will be home so much more. I can still pick up trips if we need extra money. Honestly, I don't ever see myself leaving this job now that I am part-time. Now I can have that perfect work-home balance that I wanted so badly and I am so grateful.

Oh and I did have an overnight in Portland, so my parents took me out to dinner. It was so good to see them as it always is! I also had an overnight in Eugene and the weather was beautiful so I took a nice bike ride. Besides the many delays, it actually wasn't a bad trip I guess. I am on call Monday thru Friday, so who knows what the coming week has in store for me...but for now I will enjoy my two days off!

Omaha

Today I am in Omaha, Nebraska. I was not excited about it, but I actually had a great time! The other flight attendant, Beana, is brand new so she still wants to get out and explore...unlike most other flight crews I have had! So we decided to walk over to a big pedestrian bridge, I guess it is the longest pedestrian bridge to connect two states (Nebraska and Iowa). We got lost trying to get there, so we stopped and talked to a parking lot security guy. We asked him what we should do in Omaha and he said "just get out"...haha, apparently he is not a fan of where he currently lives and wants to go back to Texas. But he told us how to get to the bridge. Once we got to the start of the bridge we saw a bus and thought we would ask them how to get downtown to an area called "Old Market" where there are a bunch of shops and restaurants in neat old buildings. Beana convinced the bus driver, Carey, to let us ride for free, so off we went. We walked around downtown for a while and then found a bus stop so we could get on another bus before our free transfers expired. There were many crazy people at this bus stop, including a woman that thought Miley Cyrus was her daughter. The bus took us back to the pedestrian bridge and we went across into Iowa. (Not the best picture of me, but oh well).We walked really far and ended up at Harrah's Casino, where we enjoyed a delicious buffet. We were so tired from walking that we called the hotel and had the shuttle come pick us up. They were so nice to have done that! Beana and I had a fun time and hopefully I will get to fly with her again sometime!

Bored at the Airport

Today I am sitting ready reserve. This is the airline term for waiting around in the airport with you phone attached to your hand, praying you will not get called out by crew support. Or, I guess if you like to work a lot you are praying to get called out...I am not one of these people. So I guess since I am sitting here with nothing to do I will update my blog.

This trip I just got done with was not the best. I went to Toronto, New Orleans and Albuquerque. This may not sound like a bad trip, but the problem was there wasn't any time to go out and explore these cities. Except Albuquerque, but I had an essay due for my class last night, so I had to finish that up. The bed in ABQ was AMAZING though...I love when I get a hotel with a good bed.

Next week me and the fam are headed to San Antonio on my days off, to go visit a friend who lives there. We plan on going to the Riverwalk, Alamo, Zoo, and hopefully Six Flags...it should be super fun! We have not had a vacation in FOREVER and it is much needed. Next month, if I get the days off I am hoping to get, we will be going to Hawaii. That is why I put up with crazy passengers, bad schedules, and less than great pay...so I can do what I love to do...Travel!

Well, I still have another 2 hours of sitting here in complete boredom...maybe I will go take a nap.

Update: Before I submitted this I got sent to Chicago to sit reserve there. Yes, crappy days can get worse.

Dream Destination: Machu Picchu

I have decided I am going to start making a list of places I want to visit. Many of these places will be hard to do with kids, so I will have to wait until my parents retire or have time off to watch the kids.

First up on my list: Machu Picchu. These old Inca ruins are located in Peru and were built around 1450. I love historical places and I think it is so interesting to be walking around an ancient city and thinking about what life was like for them so many years ago. Tourists can hike up the mountain to get a really great view, which I would definitely want to do. Transportation might get tricky, because we would have to fly into Lima and take a smaller plane to Cuzco. From there we would have to take a 4-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, which is the town we would stay in. From there we could walk or take a bus up to Machu Picchu, but if we are going to be hiking we would probably want to take the bus so we didn't get worn out.

This will not be a cheap trip, but it would be worth every penny for this view!

Calgary

One of my more recent trips was to Calgary, Canada. I had 24 hours there, so I wanted to get out and explore a little bit. I have gotten used to going out and walking around cities by myself. I just had to have someone take this touristy picture of me with the beaver in a hockey uniform, haha.
This is the Calgary Tower. I considered going up to the top, but I didn't really want to spend that much money. Maybe next time.
I was there during this huge rodeo festival called the Calgary Stampede. I guess it is a really big deal and the biggest rodeo in North America. There were so many people everywhere. I kind of wish I had gone to the Stampede, but once again I didn't want to spend the money, especially since I was by myself. If Emery had been with me I would definitely have gone though.


This street, Stephen Avenue, was pretty neat because it is only for pedestrians and there are a lot of restaurants and shops.
Of course I had to take a picture of this bar cause I LOVE unicorns! I will have to go eat in there next time!
I didn't know burgers had families...I have never seen that on the A&W's in the U.S. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention.
This was the China town section of the city. Everyone was making a big deal about it and said it was worth visiting, but it was actually really small and not much to look at.
The lion was guarding the street I guess.
I thought these buildings were pretty. I love how reflective they are.
This is what it looked like about 30 seconds later. I was walking down the street and I saw something drop onto the ground in front of me, but I couldn't tell what it was. I looked up to see if someone had dropped something from their balcony, but there was no one anywhere. I soon found out it was ice! It started hailing like crazy. Seriously, the hail was as big as ice cubes! I have never seen anything like it in my life. Luckily I found shelter!
This picture does not do the hail justice. Car alarms were going off everywhere. There was lightning and thunder too.
I picked up a couple of pieces that came underneath the overhang I was standing under. This was a small piece! I was too scared to go out and grab one of the big ones...some were the size of golf balls!!! It wouldn't stop raining, so I had to walk five or so blocks back to the train and got soaking wet. But I am glad I went out and explored Calgary!