More Flat Friend Adventures

My flat friends are packed and ready to go on another adventure. As you know from my previous post, they had a blast in Forks, WA; home of Edward and Bella from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. This adventure is no where near as dangerous as hunting for vampires, but these girls do like to enjoy themselves.

Here they are on the plane flying out of Dallas. They had quite and interesting conversation with a young man from Nigeria while I napped. Apparently, they got into a bit of mischief because when I woke up they were looking a bit worse for the wear. Thankfully, I brought along some popsicle sticks and some glue. I was able to fix them up so that they didn't have to miss out on any of the fun.

We didn't land and get settled in until after 2am Seattle time so, I had to drag them out of bed the next morning. Fortunately, we were staying at my sister-in-law's house so the girls had a room to themselves.

Being as tired as we were, our first stop was obviously at Starbucks #1. I mean how can you go to Seattle and not stop at the very first Starbucks? I had my usual, a grande java chip frappuccino with a shot of espresso. I don't remember what the girls ordered, they were so busy chatting with everyone in line about their little adventure and of course they had to get a snap shot to commemorate their experience.

Next, we had to eat! My husband was in charge of picking the place since he knew all the great spots. Here you can see the girls sitting out on Pier 56 at Elliott's Oyster House. They had one whole page of all the different types of oysters they offered. The girls once again gorged themselves on oysters and shrimp. Honestly, it's hopeless trying to taking them anywhere.

We drove around and visited some of my husbands old haunts, but after a while the girls were begging me to let them out and stretch their legs. My sister-in-law was nice enough to snap a picture of me with the girls on the beach.



All in all I'd say we had a great day!

Flat Twilight Adventure Tours

How many of you know about Flat Stanly? If you aren't familiar with the book and the character check it out here. He's this cute little kid that flattens himself out and travels through the mail. Teachers, scouts troops, and even parents use him as an opportunity to teach kids about different places. They simply mail Stanly (a paper doll) and have the recipient take pictures or mail post cards at each location.
As many of you already know, I am one of those TwiMoms. I have to admit I think Stephenie Meyer's did a phenomenal job of speaking to women of all ages when she decide to put her dream down on paper. That being said, I didn't care as much for the movies as I did for the books.
On a recent trip to Seattle, for my husbands high school reunion, my sister-in-law and I convinced our husbands to take us to Forks, WA. Being that I don't think you're ever too old to jump on the band wagon, I flattened some of my Twitter/Twilight friends and took them along on the adventure.

Here they are!

LovesSam, KatieBMundiMom, KatzNi, and KatarinasMama.

They're all buckled up for the trip.

We had to take the ferry over the Puget Sound.


Our first stop was in Port Angeles.




We had to see where Bella ate mushroom ravioli with Edward.

The Bloated Toad where they ate in the movie is located in St. Helens, Oregon according to AssociatedContent.com.

This is Bella Italia where they ate in the book.

After a bit of a drive, we finally made it to Forks.
Population 3,120 humans and 7 vampires.

Our first stop was here at Bella's house.

Don't the girls look disappointed?

This isn't the house we all saw on the big screen is it?

The house used in the movie is actually in St. Helens, Oregon according to AssociatedContent.com and looks like this,

remember.

We discovered that Forks High School had been razed, but as you guessed the movie version of the high school was actually Kalama High School, in Kalama, Washington. The sign seen here is the one that was used in the movie, but was moved when the building was destroyed.

Say hello to my flat friends.

I did not find out any information about the hospital. If you know anything please share.
This reserved parking spot is actually in the parking lot of the Forks Hospital.
My flat friends wouldn't miss the opportunity to get their picture taken with Dr Cullen if they could have, but this is a close as they could get on this day.

The Forks Police Station shown in the movie is actually the Wauna Federal Credit Union in Vernonia, Oregon.
This pictures was taken of one of the actual Forks Police cars at the police station.
Notice the girls didn't hesitate to hop up on the car.

Good thing no one was looking.

Here is Bella's truck in front of the Chamber of Commerce.

This truck resembles the one in the movie. It seems that I read somewhere that it was found by someone in Forks and donated to help with tourism, but I can't be sure about that.

Of course, my flat friends still wanted their picture taken on the truck.

As you'll notice I didn't take a picture of the Cullen's house. Why you may ask, because the B&B that was tag as the Cullens house didn't resemble the house used in the movie. The house featured in the move is actually the real home of the Nike Director of footwear design, John Hoke and is located in Portland, OR.

We were so excited on the drive up because there was enough cloud cover to let all the vampires run around town without fear of detection, but as we got closer the sun started to shine through and any hopes of seeing Edward or his family were dashed.

As I had buckled my flat friends in I felt like I was being watched.

I stepped into the edge of the woods and guess who I saw? That's right Flat Edward was watching me. I just gave him a little peck on the cheek before we had to leave.

Please don't tell my flat friends that I met Flat Edward. *wink*

An Old Fashion Fair

As a child I remember getting ready and going to the state fair in Jackson, Mississippi. I loved looking at all the bright lights and colors on the midway. My favorite ride was the tilt-a-whirl. I couldn't wait to ride it with my dad. My mom usually stood and watched as we rode the fast spinning rides. She was more the ferris wheel type. I never under stood that until I turned green while riding the tilt-a-whirl with my daughter. Now I watch as my husband rides the fast rides with the kids, I'm more the ferris wheel type these days.

This week is the county fair. County fairs are really the perfect place to show off what you've been doing and to have a good time. That is unless a hurricane has dumped copious amount of rain on your partially paved fair grounds.

This is our second year to enter chickens in the fair. Last year the kids entered four of our original six barnyard chickens. This year they entered six of the new girls. My darling daughter entered a Dominique, a Barred Rock and an Americana. My sweet boyd entered a Buff Brahma, a Production Red and a Golden Laced Wyandot. They won three blue ribbons and three red ribbons.

The kids also entered some of the canned goods, dried peppers and eggs winning a total of seven blue ribbons and three second place ribbons. My husband won blue ribbons on his banana peppers and chili peppers. I was lucky enough to get a blue ribbon on my okra and a second place ribbon on my beans. I also entered some photos. I won one blue ribbon, three second place and one third place ribbon. Obviously everyone wins something.

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Addendum

My son not only won a blue ribbon with Disco (the Buff Brahma), but he won grand champion. We are all so happy for him.

THE SWAN CITY

I've always know Hattiesburg as The Hub City with it's central location to Mobile, The Gulf Coast, New Orleans, Jackson, and Meridian. But about a year and a half ago Hattiesburg, MS became know as The Swan City when the Area Development Partnership decide to unveil the Festival of Swans. The ADP selected the swan because of its elegance and beauty. We're talking about a small college town in South Mississippi, I don't know what they were thinking. In my opinion, I think they should have hung a bunch of hub caps up in the pine trees and kept the whole Hub City theme alive. Anyway, the swans are really beautiful, (blah blah blah) so I spent part two days running around town with friends snapping shots of some of the swans. I believe we got a total of 25 out of the possible 48 swans.

There is also a book titled The Festival of Swans. Click here if you'd like to see more on the swans.