Travel and Tahiti

While we booked our flight to New Zealand with Delta - Delta doesn't fly to New Zealand. But thankfully Delta is partners with Air Tahiti! I couldn't have even dreamed up a mandatory lay over in Tahiti - for 12-18 hours! Warren decided that was too long to hang out in the lobby and he booked us a hotel in Tahiti to catch some much needed shut eye. We landed in Tahiti at night - drove to the hotel in the dark - found our rooms and we all crashed and slept about six hours. Imagine our surprise when we woke up, walked out onto our patio and saw the beatutiful ocean! An ocean view of Tahiti! What a blessing for this family of weary travelers. We also had time for a quick dip in the pool! Radisson Resort Plaza was a wonderful stop over!

Making a list and Checking it twice

We, the Ladbrook family of five, have been hoping, dreaming about and planning a trip to New Zealand for five years.  Warren is from New Zealand and we all lived there for three years, 2002-2005.  More recently we have lived in Alpharetta, Georgia, for the past six years.  While Warren has a job based in Atlanta, he travels for his Engineer work to faraway places in the dusty regions of the Middle East.  Frequent trips to the Middle East mean lots and lots of frequent flyer (ff) miles have been saved for a special trip.  This past year Warren was even inducted into the ff Diamond Medallion Club and we finally saved up the 800,000 ff miles that were needed for us all to travel to New Zealand!  Warren subsequently booked our overseas adventure and we had to renew our children's passports and wait for summer to arrive.  The kids are out of school and counting down the days till we take off and fly around the world.  The boys remember traveling to and living in New Zealand and have been eagerly looking forward to returning.  Anna-Kate was just three when we moved back to the states, so this will be a new adventure for her.  Warren and I sat down today and made a packing list for everyone which includes both bathing suits for a stopover in Tahitti and Australia and warm weather clothes and ski gear for our time down south in the winter time of New Zealand.  Stay tuned for more pictures, updates and budget travel tips from this adventurous family of five.
p.s. - the kids don't read my blogs and don't know about our extra stop overs and please click follow if you would like to read more about our travels! :)

All about me and Etsy!

Hello!  I have been helping my mom with her new blog and etsy site - so I haven't been by here in a while.   I hope to drop by more to write and share!  My mom has a new shop at http://www.allthingshomey.etsy.com/ and we have a shop together at http://www.treasures4ewe.etsy.com/
I have always loved sheep and collecting treasures - hence the name - Treasures 4 ewe!
For my new followers I wanted to share about me.....

Q.  Are you married - kids?
A.  Yes, I am married and have three kids; Peter, Luke and Anna-Kate.

Q.  What state/country do you live in?
A.  Currently we live in Alpharetta, Georgia (USA) and have lived here (just north of Atlanta) for five years.  Prior to that we lived in New Zealand for three years, and before that, Texas for three years.  I am so thankful to be settled down for a bit.

Q.  How long have you been crafting and selling on Etsy
A.  Well....my mom is an artist - so I was raised around crafts.  I am not nearly as crafty as her.  And I have always loved vintage things!  I live in a great area to shop for treasures at garage sales and thrift stores.  I started selling on Etsy this year - 2011!

Q.  Which of these three would you prefer to do...Hang glide, bungee jump, or sit by the pool? 
A.  I would rather sit on the beach and watch my children play!  I love going to the beach!

Q.  Where is your family going on their next vacation?
A.  We are all going to New Zealand on an overseas adventure.  My husband is from New Zealand and we have been saving up frequent flyer miles for six years.  My husband travels for work - so with all his miles we have saved enough FREE MILES to ALL travel to New Zealand.  I will be posting pictures and updates on this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Colette

Thankful for Anna-Kate

Thankful for.....

While the above page is not my Thanksgiving photo page, I hope to post that after Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for FIVE Years in our current home - so thankful we haven't moved in five years!

I am thankful for all three of my children, Peter, Luke and Anna-Kate.

Today, I am writing about Anna-Kate - because she is so cheerful and helpful and she has taught me a lot about being thankful.  Today she is cheerfully helping me bake and prepare for our thanksgiving dinner.  She wants to make a apple crandberry pie from scratch - because she likes to chop things up and help, and because that's what we made last year.  She has come in to remind me.....mom...it's supposed to be a baking day. 

I hope you and your family are enjoying the holiday that we pause and take time to be thankful! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Valentines Day!
Warren took our precious daughter, Anna-Kate, to the Annual Alpharetta Father Daughter Dance! Anna-Kate looks forward to this each year and this was their 3rd time to go together! Warren and Anna-Kate started their evening with dinner out and then off to dancing and fun. The photo and page were created by Sally from last years pictures. This year was unique because there was snow on the ground - very special for this part of the south.
Hope you had a blessed Valentines day!

'Snow' much fun!

LET IT SNOW!
Sally made this fun page last year, after we had snow in Georgia. I really like this bright page with the blue background and snowflakes! This page was one of many that I got as a Christmas present this year - one of my favorite gifts. Peter, Luke and Anna-Kate had a blast playing in the snow. Recently (January 7th, 2010) we had a little more snow in Alpharetta and I have new snow pictures I will post soon. Our beloved dog, Bernie, is in one of these pictures because he likes to play in the snow too! This morning we woke to 15 degrees at 7 a.m. So much for Global Warming. I hope to post more of the creative pages Sally has made soon! Hope you are warm and well and have a blessed day!

FREE Christmas Download element!
Sally put this together for our followers to use with scrapbook pages!