The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

The big apple

When GJ found out that Phantom of the Opera was closing in April after 35 years on Broadway, she decided she needed to go see it one last time! She nicely invited Samantha and I to tag along! Last Friday we got up super early and flew to NYC. We were in the city by 10 and at lunch at Sarahbeth’s in Tribeca by 11:30! Can’t beat that!!

nyc

nyc

lnyc

nyc

We then made our way to Soho to the Sloomoo Slime Institute. This girl was a very happy camper!

slime

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slime

slime

lsime

slime

I have to say, I was pretty happy too! It was really fun and playing in the all the slime was cool. Also, because I’m the best mom ever, I agreed to go under the Slime Falls with Samantha and get slimed!!

slime

slime

slime

haha! We then got to make our own slime complete with some really good scents. Mine smelled like leather!

slime

It was a fun adventure!

slime

slime

slime

We then headed into Bloomingdales…

badges

and then back to the hotel to rest up for the show. We were so excited to see Phantom!

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phantom

phantom

Samantha enjoyed it…even if she had a lot of questions in the first act. Pretty sure the people behind us shush’d us at some point! ha! A fun day 1 in NYC!!

Miami Heat

While down in Naples, we took a little drive over to Ft. Lauderdale to eat at Houston’s! Totally worth the trip to get that spinach dip…

trip

trip

Well, maybe that wasn’t the only reason we went! We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale and took the Brightline train into Miami to go to the Heat v. Lakers game!

train

heat

Of course Spence had to get some swag…

heat

and we all were pretty excited to see Lebron!

lakers

The boys were also excited to see Jimmy Butler and Russell Westbrook. It was a fun game and the Heat ran away with the win!

win

nab

What a fun night with my favorite people!

miami

Naples

After Christmas we headed down to Naples for some rest, relaxation and sunshine! Despite a delayed flight out of Bham, we made it to Ft. Myers with no problems mainly thanks to a full speed sprint through the Atlanta airport! Phew! The kids were happy to get to open some more Christmas gifts…especially when those gifts consisted of cleverly wrapped cold hard cash!

cash

cash

cash

Leave it to GJ – she’s the best!

gj

gj

We didn’t get to to go to the beach while we were down there. It’s still being put back together after the hurricane, but that didn’t bother us!

naples

Gary the Gator even came by to say hi!

gator

We did enjoy some dinners out…

dinner

and tried some new foods!

naples

But consumed lots of chicken fingers and fries too! ha! We also did a little shopping…

shopping

shopping

and made cookies, of course.

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As always, the trip was too short and we can’t wait to go back!

naples

See you again soon GJ!

NYC!

Last week we got up bright and early to catch the 6:30 am direct flight to NYC!

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It was worth it to be in NY by 9:30! GJ took an early morning flight too and her plane got in 10 minutes after ours only 2 gates away! Perfect! We got all checked into the Mandarin Oriental…

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nyc

and then hit the streets! First stop was the first apartment Robert and I lived in together right across the street from our hotel – 330 West 58th Street.

330

330

We then hopped the subway down to Soho…

subway

and got lunch at Fanelli’s Cafe…

lunch

and had a celebrity sighting! Nobody cared except for me but I was thrilled to see Gary Janetti and grab a picture! He’s IG famous!

gary

We then started shopping!

soho

soho

Shooting hoops in the Nike store!

nike

We then had tickets to go Color Factory and it was so great! Everyone had fun!

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color factory

color factory

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nyc

color factory

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nyc

We then did little more shopping and Samantha got her first Brown Bag! 🙂

blades

That night we were worn out after our early morning. Maxwell and Robert headed to the east side for burgers at JG Mellon’s, GJ, Samantha and Spencer ordered room service, and I got my very favorite NY sushi delivered! Tenzan!

tenzan

We love NYC!

nyc

LOTS more to come!

The Judds

After Boo Bash on Friday, I skipped out on some of the clean up and hit the road at 2:30 to make the 3 hour trip to Nashville! I knew it was going to be a good trip when I got this fortune at Boo Bash!

boo bash

I rolled into town just in time for a quick dinner before heading into Bridgestone Arena with full VIP Access to the The Judds!!!

judds

judds

judds

Well, one Judd. RIP Naomi. We had full backstage access to anything we wanted.

judds

Of course, everything is that much more fun when you get to do it with Lyndsay!!

judds

I sadly didn’t get a pic with Wynonna but I was feet from her and this close to her at the beginning of the show!!

judd

judds

It was a fantastic show – especially when you consider everything she’s been through in the last 6 months. I’ve always loved The Judds and getting to see this show was pretty insane!

judds

I got back to the hotel about 1am and was back up at 5am to get back to Bham in time for some very important playoff football games at 8:45! Don’t worry, I made it in plenty of time. I don’t think they missed me one bit while I was gone…for a whole 12 hours. They were living it up at a football party…

party

and Robert’s office party!

party

The fun never stops!