The #KaiserCation2K15 Chronicles.

What. A. Week.

People, if you've never been on vacation with the Kaisershots, put it at the top of your bucket list. It is a blast and a half, I tell ya. I don't care how biased I am, ya gotta do it. It will change your life.

So for those of you who have not noticed from my frequent Facebook postings, my family and I went on a New England road trip this past week as a last hurrah before the summer ended. Our stops consisted of Niagara Falls on the Canada side; Portland, Maine; and Salem and Boston, Massachusetts. The whole trip was amazing.

Friday 8/7:
We left that evening to start the trip off strong, so we made it all the way to good ol' Fort Wayne, Indiana before we stopped for the night to rest up at a hotel.

Saturday 8/8:
Up and at 'em! We continued our (long) drive to CANADA, Y'ALL. That's right, we crossed that border, what what.  We got to our hotel, ate dinner at a restaurant called The Keg, and then walked down to the falls and OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT.  It was so amazing to see!  Although I do not recommend going to see it if you have to pee.  Just sayin'. We took a bunch of pics and stayed long enough that the colored spotlights lit up the water. It was really neat. We also sat out on this patio at a restaurant and had a drink.

After that, Kourt and I went to da clubbbb!  It was pretty fun with some good music and a fog machine, but my goodness, there were so many dads there.

Sunday 8/9:
Breakfast at Denny's and then we headed back down to the falls during the day to get some more pictures.  The mist was so high and was raining down on us; it was awesome.  We tried some maple suckers (real Canadian maple syrup, eh) and then drove to a park to walk the trails a little.  Canada is so beautiful! On our way back, we stopped for doughnuts. Here's the deal: the unofficial KaiserCation goal is to eat doughnuts in every place we stop. So, we made our first stop at a doughnut shop that also sold won-ton soup, lol. Then for dinner that night, we sat out on a patio at a Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville.  It was lovely outside! We made our way back down to the falls (because really, they never get old) so we could see the fireworks they shoot off. They were huge I'm telling you! What an incredible experience.

Monday 8/10:
Here we go, off to Maine!  Only an 8 hour drive!

...Which turned into about 11 hours with the number of times my mom and I had to stop for bathroom breaks, lol. We made it to Maine late in the evening and went to a neat little hipster restaurant and brewery called Liquid Riot. We ate some spectacular lobster rolls out on a deck overlooking some water and just enjoyed each others' company. Afterwards, we walked around the cute little downtown area (the sidewalks are brick!) and headed back to the hotel to gear up for a full day the next day.

Tuesday 8/11:
Original plan: visit a lighthouse and take a ferry to Peaks Island and rent some bikes to ride around.
Actual plan: everything but that. The weather just wouldn't cooperate (rain, rain, go away), so we had to improvise a little. We started out the day with a visit to a Victorian mansion for a tour. It was actually very interesting to walk around and see all the ornate decor and furniture!  We were then heading in the direction of the National Cryptozoology museum to learn more about Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, mermaids, and more, but then we found out it was closed...on a Tuesday. K.  So then we made doughnut stop #3 at Holy Donut, recommended by the one and only Chloe O'Neil.  We got an assortment there and ate them en route to the lighthouse. And by assortment, I mean assortment. We're talking pomegranate, chocolate sea salt, ginger-glazed sweet potato, lemon, and triple berry doughnuts. #doughnutswag. 

Upon arrival at the lighthouse, we turned right back around because it was still raining. We headed to the Maine Mall after that and perused the stores (how unique to Maine! We definitely couldn't do that at home! she said sarcastically). Then we tried to find something else to do to pass the time and found a market place thingy online. We drove around town trying to find it.

...But then we found out it was just a grocery store.

...But then we found out it actually wasn't a grocery store and was just little food shops.  Which normally would have sparked our interest, except for the fact that we were still stuffed from doughnuts. Sigh.

For dinner we hit up the Portland Lobster Company where I feasted on lobster mac 'n cheese, then we ate some delicious ice cream (Drunk Monkey, made with Malibu, oh yeah) from Captain Sam's. We also stopped at a little touristy gift shop to purchase some souvenirs, hehe.  Then, because we felt so fat, the whole fam hit up the work out room in the hotel. Aw yeah.


Wednesday 8/12:
Everything we wanted to do on Tuesday that we couldn't because of the rain? We packed them all in today.  First on the agenda was to take a ferry over to Peaks Island so we could rent bikes and ride around for awhile.  We were blessed with a beautiful day, thank goodness!  When we got to the island, we rented our bikes and began our ride.  The island was gorgeous!  There were so many cute beach houses there!  We rode along the coast and stopped for pictures here and there.  There was also an old war fort we climbed around on which was pretty neat.  After the ride, we were ferried back and stopped for lunch.  Next we made our way over to the lighthouse we tried to visit the day before.  We spent about an hour taking pictures, climbing on the rocks, perusing another old fort and run down mansion thingy, and taking in the beautiful scenery.  It was so cool!

Before long, it was time to say goodbye to Maine.  We drove about 2 hours down to Salem, MA where we took a walking tour around the city to learn about some of the history and the witch trials.  It was really informative and interesting!  We then left for Boston.  It was definitely not what I was expecting.  When we drove in, I was so surprised to see all the lights and tall buildings.  I don't know why, but I had always thought it was very old-timey and not modern at all.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.  We checked into our hotel and hit the sack in preparation for a busy day the next day.

Part of the Salem Witch Trial memorial

Thursday 8/13:
So basically, I am in love.  Boston is the coolest and I kinda wanna live there.  I love the feel of it!  You've got your history, you've got a quaint atmosphere, you've got your modern city feel, and you've got water.  What more could you want?

Our first item on the agenda was to take a tour at the Samuel Adams brewery.  It was really neat!  First of all, they don't charge admission but instead take donations for local charities.  So awesome!  We got to see what they used to make the beer, see the area where it was actually brewed, and then we got to taste it.  We even got a souvenir glass!  It was a really neat experience, and our tour guide was really funny.

Then, since we were in Boston, of course we had to walk part of the Freedom Trail.  We saw Paul Revere's house, the North Church, and the USS Constitution monument along the way.  We also made a stop at Mike's Pastry for canolis and other pastry items at Jess's suggestion.  So good!  We went to Dick's Last Resort for dinner (the servers are supposed to be really mean to you and mess with you, but I wasn't impressed) and walked around this really neat marketplace, called Fanueil Hall marketplace, at night.  It was so neat to see all the shops and the cobblestone streets and the pretty lights.  I loved it.

One if by land, two if by sea...

Holy canoli!

Friday 8/14:
We woke up to an absolutely beautiful day!  We began our day with breakfast in the aforementioned market area (aka my new favorite place on earth) and walked down by the water to look at the big, beautiful yachts (and also wait for Ben and Jerry's to open).  After that, we headed to the Museum of Science via the T!  I was so stoked for this.  They had exhibits on optical illusions and light and animal habitats and models and mapping and all sorts of stuff.  We watched a presentation about lightning too.  The best part?  The Hall of Human Life. Each person got an ID bracelet and there were different computer stations where you had to participate in activities (such as, how big do your pupils dilate when you see images of animals, or how many calories do you burn based on the way you walk, or how distracted are you).  After you answered these questions, they compared your data with other museum visitors based on your age, gender, etc.  It was so cool and interactive!

From the museum, we took the train over to Fenway park for the Mariners vs. Red Sox game!  We ate dinner first, then walked over to the park and found our seats.  You wouldn't believe how many comments we heard about us since we were all wearing our Mariners gear.  Some were good (Oh! I'm from Seattle!) and others not so much (We've got some Mariners fans over here...they look confused).  While the game was fun, the Mariners got crushed, 15-1. Sad face.

Saturday 8/15:
Am cryin'.  Today we had to leave my new favorite city behind.  We woke up, packed up, and made our last doughnut stop of the trip: Kane's Doughnuts.  These were huge. I got blueberry and Snickers, and they were both very tasty.  Then we hit the road.  We drove.
And drove.
And drove.
And drove some more.

A total of 18 hours later and we finally made it home around 2:30 am.  What an incredible trip.  I had such a blast and getting to spend that much time with my family was amazing.  I am so blessed to have such cool people who I share blood with :)

All our donut stops:

Niagara

New York

Portland, Maine

Boston

Shout outs!
Dad- Way to drive that 18 hour stretch! You killed it! Plus also, thank you for planning and paying for this trip. It was the best!
Chloe- Thanks for giving us ideas of things to do in Maine!
Dylan- Thanks for the trip hashtag. You rock!

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About the Past Few Weekends.

Summer is winding down, but the fun is not! Here's how I spent my last 3 weekends:

Taylor Swift 1989 Tour Concert

Who has two thumbs and was lucky enough to get to see Taylor Swift in concert with two of her most favorite people in the whole wide world? This girl!  On July 18th, my mom, sister and I trekked up to Chicago to see our home girl live in concert. It. Was. Phenomenal.  First of all, when you have openers like Vance Joy and Haim, you know it's gonna be a good night. And I don't care if you hate her--Taylor was amazing. Her voice was great, her dancers were great...it was just great.  Sorry for my lack of adjective diversity. Taylor mostly sang songs from her newest album, but she played a couple older ones that she remixed ("I Knew You Were Trouble" was spectacular). Plus, everyone had on a wristband that lit up to the beat of her songs, which was so cool! And Andy Grammar made a guest appearance to sing his "Honey, I'm Good" song, and my mom was so excited. Overall it was a really fun night spent with some fab ladies (besides this bratty girl that sat in front of us that gave us death stares all night...sorry we like to have a good time). I couldn't be luckier :)























**Note the lack of pictures of Taylor Swift...our seats were too far away from the stage


5 Days with my Boy

As if I wasn't lucky enough, the wonderful man in my life I call Lush came to visit me in West LaFiesta last weekend! He took the train and his arrival time was scheduled for 10 pm on Thursday. However, thanks to various reasons (including someone clogging the toilet on the train?), he didn't arrive until 2 am. And I had to work at 7 that morning. Yikes! 

But after my shift on Friday morning, we went to Prophetstown State Park with Jess and Michael and went on a hike where we got eaten alive by bugs. 




On Saturday, we went on a canoeing trip with Brooke and Ethan and got sucked into a tree. That's right, folks.  There we were, minding our own business as we traveled leisurely down Wildcat Creek when all of a sudden, a swift current came out of nowhere, and as hard as we tried to avoid it, it carried us right into a tree hanging over the creek so we were perpendicular to the flow of water. And let me tell you, we were wedged in there pretty tight. We both had to abandon canoe, submerge ourselves into the water, and heave ho it out of there. If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that we made a good team because we showed that tree and canoe who's boss and got ourselves out. Whew! I also made enchiladas for dinner and we played Catchphrase with Brooke and Ethan. We also attempted to stargaze on Slayter Hill, but we got eaten alive by bugs...again.

On Sunday, Lush and I ate pancakes and attempted to go on a mini hike in Hort Park, but again, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes, which was a "buzzkill" as Lush put it. The good news was, we did find a geocache. We watched Game of Thrones and then checked out this beautiful flower garden on campus.

Monday was fun because I only worked for two hours. We watched Game of Thrones, went to Von's, and got some ice cream from Silver Dipper. In the evening, we challenged Jess and Michael to a tennis match. Lush and I showed up in matching uniforms ready to slay. It was a blast, even though I suck at tennis. My boyfriend on the other hand? He's pretty handy with a racquet and carried our team to victory. I just stood there and looked pretty. We went out to dinner with Jess and Michael after the match, and then went home to eat more ice cream and hot fudge. I was sad that he had to leave the next morning, but it was such a great weekend overall.

When you and BF look swag AF

We clean up pretty nicely

My First Weekend with Nothing to Do

There have been what, 11 weekends this summer so far?  And this was the first one where I had nothing to do, so I was pretty darn productive if you ask me.  Syd just moved in with us for 2 weeks while she's between leases, so we killed it the past two days. We went to the mall on Friday to get new workout tank tops to motivate us (this was in place of working out, mind you) and got some killer deals at Kohl's (thanks, Susan!). Then my car wouldn't start (surprise, surprise) and I had to be towed. We went out that night and then Kourt and her friend stayed with us at night so they didn't have to drive all the way home from Indy after their One Direction concert. 

On Saturday I made pancakes for everyone and said goodbye to my sis. I then picked up my car from the shop because guess what? It started for the guys there and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Yippee. Syd and I slayed at the gym for leg day, had a solid study sesh with our student teaching books, went to run some errands, and ate a feast of spaghetti, corn, and garlic bread....and then brownies and ice cream.  Between all those things, we managed to clean the kitchen, mop the floors, and vacuum. Seriously killing it over here.

Today consisted of church, lunch with Syd and Annie, and later I will hit the gym.  Then four more days of work and I will be home to leave for vacation with my family! Woot woot!

Mirror selfies fo' dayzzz

Here's to a wonderful week everyone!

Visitors and Visiting.

If you read my last post, you know I've been traveling to Champaign the past few weekends to geocache with Lush, but this weekend was a bit different.  For one, this weekend was the longest I've spent in West Lafayette since the middle of May!  But I still didn't spend the entire weekend here, lol.  So what did I do? Well, I'll tell ya.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, Syd and I got some good workouts in, and boy can I feel them. Since she had been on vacation, we had both kinda slacked on our physical fitness, but hey, whatcha gonna do. Let's just say that it kinda caught us off guard how weak you can get in one week...

Saturday afternoon rolled around, and Lauren and Julie, two of the girls I nannied for last summer and the summer before, came to Purdue to visit me!  I had invited them over so their parents could have a date night in Indy, and we had a blast! 

After they arrived, we immediately set off to campus with Syd so we could be their campus tour guides and so we could go on a fountain run. The girls had a blast running through (and drinking out of) the fountains, even though it got pretty chilly when the sun went behind the clouds. We dried off on our walk home, changed, and then headed to the Columbian Park Zoo. I had never been there before, but what better excuse to go than if you have kids with you, amirite? I was really impressed with the zoo. First of all, it was free, and if free stuff doesn't make you happy, then you need to see a psychologist. The animal exhibits were really unique and interactive, too.  For example, in the groundhog exhibit, you got to crawl through this tunnel and pop your head out through this bubble so you were actually inside the exhibit!  You could also crawl through a tunnel surrounded by water in the river otter enclosure. It was really neat! Perhaps the best part though was the petting zoo. There were SO MANY GOATS. If you sat down on the rocks, the baby goats jumped into your lap and tried to eat your clothes! The girls (and Syd and I) loved them.  They were so cute!

We headed to Triple XXX for burgers and root beer after the zoo. Lauren got a peanut butter burger and really liked it! When we got home, we Facetimed Faith, the other girl I nannied for the past few years, who wasn't able to come up this weekend. We then watched a movie and headed over to the Silver Dipper later to get ice cream. The girls loved the fact that you could get mini scoops and try a bunch of different flavors! We got to bed pretty late, and in the morning I made chocolate chip pancakes for the girls (as was tradition when I nannied for them). Their parents came around 10 and we sat around and talked for awhile before they took off for their own family vacation. It was so great seeing them and I just love that family!

The girls with John Purdue!

Triple XXX!

Once they left, Jess and I headed down to Bloomington, IN to visit Elaine for the day because we missed her! We went out for lunch, walked around the Indiana University campus (which is gorgeous, I hate to admit...IU still sucks though), and explored her house. It was so cool! They even have a secret little attic room, which was awesome! We played Wii up there (lol, throwback to high school) and then went out for dinner. Her mom made homemade hot fudge too, so of course we had ice cream sundaes when we got back. Essentially, the visit to Bloomington caused me to gain 5 pounds, because all we did was eat. It was a grand ole time though, and I'm so glad we got to go.

Yay Elaine!

In other (boring) news, still trucking through my Fulbright essay revisions, and I even got to Skype with a Fulbright ETA in Mexico who graduated from Illinois State! It was neat to get her perspective on her experiences, which makes me even more excited to go if I am blessed with the opportunity. I'm also slowly but surely making my way through my student teaching books to prepare myself for student teaching when it rolls around. "Yippee!" she said sarcastically.

Plus last week our work volleyball team CRUSHED IT at our first game. Can't wait for Thursday's game!

Don't mess with the Underdogs

Oh, also, Lush and I celebrated our "Swipe-i-versary" earlier this week on the 7th because that was the day we were matched on Tinder lololol. I can't believe I've known him for a year already...it's been one of the best years of my life though. He's the best :)

Current...
Weather: Rainy, boo.
Mood: Blah.
Wish: That I had Elaine's mom's hot fudge recipe. And that I was watching Game of Thrones with Lush. Preferably with that hot fudge.
Outfit: My pjs, lol.
Dread: It's leg day again...
Thankful thought: I don't work today!
Excitement: Annie comes home today! And I get to talk to my dad tonight!

Geo(I need some)cache Adventures & Other Stuff.

Wow, that title...what a knee-slapper. I should start a career in blog post titling. 

So, geocaching...what is it, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

It can make you laugh.
It can make you sweat.
It can make you shout.
It can make you want to pull your hair out.
It can make you angry.
It can make you frustrated.
It can make you elated.
It can make you addicted.

And if that doesn't sum it up, then I don't know what does.

Okay, okay. Obviously that description could be anything, such as eating an entire pizza all by yourself or rearing children.  But geocaching?  Geocaching is essentially a worldwide scavenger hunt.  Various people who are into the activity will hide a container somewhere (they are everywhere), post the coordinates to find it, and when you do, you sign a log stating that you found it.  Some containers are tiny and only have the log inside, and others are bigger, so you can put little trinkets in them. It's so nerdy, but it's so much fun.  I first learned about the activity from my high school physics teacher way back in the day, but then I was reintroduced to it by my Elementary Education PE teacher last semester. And now, I'm sad to say, I'm obsessed.

So, that's how I spent my last 3 weekends.  Let's start the countdown:

3 weekends ago
Father's Day weekend! Unfortunately my dad had to umpire for softball games most of the weekend, so I spent Friday evening and Saturday with Lush...so we could geocache.  We also hit up Market at the Square, which is Champaign's farmer's market, to peruse the stands. Unfortunately, we got there towards the end when everything was sold out, so we vowed to come back the next weekend with a game plan.

I went home on Sunday so I could see my dad and family. We went to the zoo (why not) and I introduced my fam to geocaching, so we found one at Miller Park. Then we feasted on delicious food...boy do I love my family and food!

Hey guys, check out my cache.

How did we even find this?!

Signed the log like champs.

Another cache.

We were pretty proud of ourselves.

The family that geocaches together, stays together.

2 weekends ago
Headed back to Champaign for more farmer's marketing, geocaching, and the Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival! This is a street festival with various foods and blues bands playing.  It was so fun! I got to introduce Yashas and his friend to funnel cakes, because nothing says America like fried stuff.

Hockey stick cache!

Cache on cache on cache

He actually had to climb up an old water tower to get one...

Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival!

Farmer's Market meal...delish!

Last weekend
In Champaign (again) to celebrate the 4th of July! Katie came down in the afternoon after Lush and I went back to the farmer's market. We watched the parade and, yep, you guessed it: geocached some more. Then Katie headed home and Lush and I watched some beautiful fireworks in a parking lot.  On Sunday, he and I went paddle-boating at Crystal Lake Park and made some pasta that we bought from the farmer's market. Yum!

'Merica

More Farmer's Market food (lol the corn was from Target)

Paddle boating, feat. an American flag sticking out of my purse

This coming weekend
Hah!  I bet you thought I was gonna say I'm going to Champaign, but that is not the case! Stay tuned for that information.

In other news...

Last week I did a Detective Day for the school age kids at the daycare.  Someone "stole their Wii" and they had to solve different missions to find clues and narrow down the suspects to find the culprit. They had a lot of fun, and so did I!

Someone stole the Wii

Suspect wall

Laser maze

Spotlight corner!
My neighbor/sister from another mister, Tyler, aka one of my top followers of my blog, has started her own blog, people!  She is traveling through Italy and Spain with her uncle and mom and is posting all about her trip. I highly suggest that you read about it, considering that if you are currently reading this, there is a high likelihood that you are in the Midwest and will not be going to Italy anytime soon.  So, live vicariously through her as I will do for the next few days!  Read about it at http://tylerlorraine.blogspot.com/.

That's all for now, folks! Have a fabulous week!