10 American Icons to See At Least Once In A Lifetime

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Post written in collaboration with Mary Davis.

With the current pandemic going on, we can’t partake in our usual habits, let alone travel as we once did. At least for now! When it is safe to travel again, there are so many beautiful places to visit in the USA, especially with your family. 

Here are 10 American icons to see at least once in a lifetime:


1. The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is an iconic neoclassical sculpture that is the symbol of America and also one of freedom. It stands at 151 feet high located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, and it was gifted to the United States from France. 


2. The Chrysler Building 

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco-style skyscraper located in Manhattan. Used as an office building, the structure draws a number of visitors due to its architectural design and impressive height of 1,046 feet. The construction of the Chrysler Building began in 1928, back when people were determined to make NYC home to the tallest building in the world. 


3. Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is an incredibly beautiful natural site. It is carved out by the Colorado River and the eye can follow the river valley for miles. You can go hiking, catch gorgeous sunset views, and visit other natural sites in Arizona nearby such as Horseshoe Bend.


4. Mount Rushmore 

Mount Rushmore, located in South Dakota, is a sculpture with 60-foot faces of US presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Washington carved into the side of a mountain.


5. Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, located on the border between Canada and the United States, is made up of 3 huge waterfalls: the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and the Horseshoe Falls. One of the most popular spots in Niagara Falls State Park is the Observation Tower that gives you a view of all 3 waterfalls.


6. Golden Gate Bridge 

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is an iconic structure and one of the world’s most beloved bridges. It stretches over the Pacific Ocean to connect the city of San Francisco to Marin Country.

7. Yellowstone Park 

Yellowstone National Park is a must-see for nature lovers. You can hike, camp, visit the famous ‘Old Faithful’ geyser, and take in the beauty of this 3,500-square-mile park situated in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. After 14 years of creation, the sculpture was first open to the public in 1941. 


8. Walt Disney World 

Walt Disney World, located in Orlando, Florida, is an entertainment complex home to four theme parks as well as lodging. If you have a Disney lover in the family, this is a must see spot at least once that makes for an extra special family holiday. 


9. The White House

The White House is of course an American icon worth seeing. Home to the President of the United States and family, it tends to emote a powerful experience that is also inspirational for many visitors.

10. French Quarter, New Orleans 

The French Quarter in New Orleans is the oldest section of the city. You feel as though you travelled back in time as you explore the 18th-century architecture and traditional-style area. It is one of the USA’s National Historic Landmarks. 

There are many things that I am looking forward to going back to when possible, and exploring and traveling with my family is one the top things on my list!

Scenes From Quarantine, Part 3

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It finally warmed up enough to plant our garden! Justin and Jase spent a few ours making sure we would have plenty of watermelon, okra, squash, and all of our other favorite things.

Desperate times call for desperate measures 🙂

Kyndall invited a few friends over for some “socially distanced” fishing.

The kids have been riding all the horses and donkeys, almost every day. I am so thankful we have room to roam and animals to play with. It has made quarantine so much more fun!

I forced Papa to take a selfie. He wasn’t happy about it, but I sure am!

Work day on the front porch. I miss my classroom, I miss my students, I miss my coworkers, but I could definitely appreciate some “work at home” days next school year!

Introducing Moose. Having three kids means you have to have three dogs, right? Technically, Moose is Jase’s dog, but we all love him TONS!

Full disclosure: I am not super upset about quarantine. I have loved this slower pace and being able to spend so much time with our family. I am not in any hurry to jump back in to the busy schedule from before. Right now, I’m just soaking up and appreciating this time!

Best Bodyweight Exercises to do at Home

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This post was written in collaboration with Mary Davis.

When you consider exercising, your mind most likely goes to cardio exercises like running and walking, or lifting weights in the gym. However, if you are looking for the best exercises to do at home, read on. You do not require any equipment for these exercises because you use your body weight for resistance.

1. Plank

Planks refer to full-body exercises. Not only do they affect the core muscles while maintaining the position, however, they also work the muscles of the legs and arms. The good thing about a plank is that you can set time for your grip and always try to exceed your objective. Doing the plank may seem very simple, but your form must be perfect so you do not hurt your wrists or back, and there are also a lot variations to the basic plank- these are some of the best planks for beginners to try. 

2. Squats 

Squats are a vital component of bodyweight exercises. While mastering the correct form of squats is important, this exercise is simple to do anywhere and requires no equipment. Jump squats are also great as they create stability in the lower body and legs. Squats are as well recognized to work the glutes. And in case you have a chair, you may use it for lunges or split squats.

3. Lunges 

Even though lunges are more difficult to maintain, they are a great lower body workout without weights. Stand in an athletic posture for a lunge. You will then push your left foot frontward and bend down to prevent your right knee from reaching to the floor. Then explode back to a standing position. You keep on repeating the process.

4. Push Up

Push-up is a great way to promote upper body muscles and strength. To do a pushup, start with your hands at shoulder height in a plank position. Then, slowly lower the body till your chest is fairly above the floor, then push back into the plank posture. Repeat the process as often as possible. Push-ups are a way to get up where you can do dips and pull-ups.

5. Crunches 

Crunches are a standard basic exercise. They chiefly train your abs, which are a portion of your core. The core also includes the oblique muscles located on the rims of the trunk, along with the muscles of the pelvis, hips, and lower back. These muscles work together to assist in stabilizing your body.

6. Mountain Climbers

Even if many people consider mountain climbers like a lower body exercise, they are great for all muscle groups in your body. To do a mountain climber, begin in a plank posture. Then raise one knee to your midsection. As the knee extends to the floor, prepare to take your other knee to the mid-section. Repeat the process as long as you like. Mountain climbers are performed at a fast pace, hence go as quick as possible.

7. Burpees

Burpees are an exercise that is certain to assist you to tone your whole body while exercising your upper body, lower body, and core. In this exercise, you stand with your feet apart. When you start, squat down by pushing the hips back and bending the knees. Push your feet back from a squat position so that you land to a plank position. From here you bend down and jump in the air. If you go down, duck again and repeat this process. The exercise is tough but yields great results. 

In case you are short on time but still need to stay in shape and workout without significantly affecting other parts of your life, now you may do so with these effective exercises.  

Scenes from Quarantine, Part 2

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Water gun fights.

Desserts by Libby. She LOVES to bake and has made strawberry pretzel salad, multiple cakes, and so many cookies and muffins!

Dirty board. UNO. UNO Dare. Yard Yahtzee. Headphones. Game after game to help keep ourselves entertained.

Reading all the books.

April 3. Staying home is no longer just recommended, it is mandatory. Our lives didn’t change very much because we had already been following the rules, but it is still worth documenting.

Tornadoes trump Corona.

Remaking an Easter picture in between storms. With paper towel masks, of course.

Scenes from Quarantine, Part 1

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On Friday, March 13, we began preparing for ways the Coronavirus might affect us. By Saturday, schools were closing for an “extended Spring Break” and closing dates moved from Wednesday to Tuesday to Monday. Gatherings were reduced from 500 to 250 to 50 to 10. Every news briefing issued new guidelines.

We decided to “quarantine together” with Pops and Gra-Gra, Mallory and Micah, and Hannah. We had been together every day pre-quarantine anyways, so we might as well do this thing together, too.

Scenes from Quarantine:

ALL THE HIKES. We are blessed to have room to roam and boy, have we roamed. We have hiked every square inch of the farm acreage, multiple times.

Fishing, fishing, and more fishing. If bad turns to worse, we have plenty of fish in the pond that can become dinner.

Missing my students and coworkers like crazy!

At-Home Church. In our pajamas and with coffee. Not such a bad part of quarantine 🙂

Snapchat caption says it all. Justin needed an escape 🙂

Taco Mama, Curbside Pick-Up.

Masks. AKA: new shopping attire. Disclaimer 1: Jase hasn’t been in any stores–he was just trying his mask on for fun. Disclaimer 2: Justin’s N95 mask is one that he has had for YEARS and uses when he mows.

Quarantine STINKS, but I keep reminding myself how blessed we are. I am able to teach virtually, and while it is zero fun, I’m still working and getting a paycheck. We are having more family dinners and family game nights and family time. We are safe and healthy. We can get through this, together.

California Day 7: Homebound

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We woke up early on day 7 and headed to the LAX airport. Our flight went from LAX to San Francisco, then San Francisco to Chicago, and Chicago to home. LAX to San Fran was beautiful, San Fran to Chicago went smoothly, and in Chicago, we ran into a little problem.

We knew we had a scheduled 3-hour delay in Chicago, so we had planned on doing lunch and hanging out at the airport for a while. After our scheduled delay, we found out that there were issues with our plane. Our 3-hour delay turned into a 4-hour, and then 5-hour, and then finally, was cancelled until the following morning.

The airline provided us with a room for the night; all we had to do was hop on a bus to get to the hotel. By this point, it was close to 11 pm and most of the airport employees had gone home. We met up with a group of other travelers headed in the same way we were and together with them, we got lost in the Chicago airport.

In our defense, the route we were supposed to be taking was closed because of a suspicious package. They had called in the ‘bomb squad’ and were using a robot to check things out and everything. It was all very exciting, but it meant that it took us an extra hour (or two!) to get to our room.

In hindsight, we should have just forfeited the room and stayed the night in the airport. But at long last, we found our room and settled in for a short nap before heading back to the airport for our flight. From there, everything went smoothly—Chicago to Nashville, Nashville to Sweet Home Alabama!

We loved almost everything about our California vacation and can’t wait to go back. On our next trip, we plan to hit the Northern half of the state, so if you have any tips or must-do’s, please let me know!

California Day 6: San Diego Zoo

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On our 6th day in California, we went to the San Diego Zoo. We were one of the first cars in the parking lot when they opened and one of the last to leave!  There isn’t a bit of the San Diego Zoo that our family did not explore and we LOVED it!

The first thing we did was hop on the double decker Kangaroo Bus to get a quick overview of the zoo. The tour was around 45 minutes and was definitely interesting.

The animals were all so interactive! The weather was perfect, so they were out and about. They seemed to notice us and want to play!

The San Diego Zoo boasts “natural” habitats for its animals and it absolutely made it more fun as a visitor. None of the almost 3,500 animals were in cages–they roamed about in lots of space and what looked like, to my untrained eye, natural habitats.

Halfway through the zoo, we hopped on the Skyfari Aerial Tram and cut across to the other side of the park. The Skyfari was an experience in itself; it took us high above the zoo and gave us a really cool birds-eye-view!

The San Diego Zoo is a major contributor to animal research and conservation. They have over 300 conservation scientists working in countries around the world. For example, there are currently only two Northern White Rhinos remaining in the world. The San Diego Zoo is partnering with FrozenZoo to use science, in-vitro fertilization, and surrogates to breed more of this almost-extinct animal. How cool!

Tips for visiting the San Diego Zoo:

  1. Arrive early and plan to stay all day. The zoo has over 100 acres and 3,500 animals. It will take a while to explore it all!
  2. Grab a map as soon as you arrive and check out the Keeper Talks. We loved hearing about the animals from the experts!
  3. Take the guided bus tour first to get your bearings.
  4. Hop on the Skyfari Tram.

California Day 5: San Diego, La Jolla Cove, and Coronado Island

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On day 5 of our vacation, we said good-bye to Pops and Gra-Gra. They headed home while we hit the road towards San Diego. San Diego ended up being our favorite stop in California–it was absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to go back!

Driving in, we stopped by scenic La Jolla Cove. The views were absolutely breathtaking–sea cliffs, rocky reefs, and endless stretches of the Pacific Ocean. We loved watching the seals and sea lions. We spent several hours just sitting on the beach watching them play.

The water around La Jolla was crystal clear. The Children’s Pool was closed for swimming because the seals and sea lions had claimed it for themselves. There were HUNDREDS of them lying around. We loved watching the mamas with their babies!

When we finally left the beach, we drove to Coronado Island. We stopped for dinner at Bluewater Boathouse Seafood Grill, which was delicious! It was also right on the water, so the view was amazing! I had a total country-bumpkin moment and embarrassed myself here, because when the waitress asked which places we had visited so far, I said “La Jolla.” For the record, the correct pronunciation is “La Hoy-a.” She corrected me very quickly 🙂

From the restaurant, we walked over to the beach near the Coronado Naval Base. We were hoping to see some SEAL’s in training. We weren’t able to see any on the beach, but they were doing helicopter training out above the water and it was so neat!

Are any of you Hawaii 5-0 fans? Jase had heard us girls talk about hoping to see Steve McGarrett so much that he ran around the beach yelling for him! Yes, we know Steve McGarrett is a fictional character and is not a real SEAL. But the actor who plays Steve McGarett is on my 100 Happy Things list, so there’s that 🙂

When we checked into our hotel in San Diego, the lady at the front desk called the manager out of her office to come hear the “real-life southern belle” that was checking in. They asked all sorts of questions just to hear me talk 🙂

If you are planning a trip to Southern California, La Jolla Cove is a must-do. Schedule in a few afternoon hours here so that you can relax and enjoy the scenery and wildlife!

California Day 4: California Adventures

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California vacation day 4 was spent at California Adventures. When the park opened, we made a bee-line for Cars Land and it was awesome. We met Lightning McQueen and rode Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters.

After Cars Land, we got in line for the Radiator Springs Racers, and honestly, that’s where it all went downhill. When we got in line, the estimated time to wait showed 1 hour. Not bad for a place like California Adventures. THREE HOURS later, we were stuck. We had spent so much of our day waiting in line that we couldn’t leave. We had to see it through until the end. The ride was amazing, but it was definitely not worth the 3.5 hour wait it took us to get there.

From Cars Land, we grabbed lunch at Pacific Wharf. We rode the Incredicoaster multiple times, met Mr. Incredible himself, and tested our gaming skills at Pixar Pier.

At one point during the day, as we were walking by all the people and characters and rides, Jase looked around and said, “It sure is a nice day to be fishing.” 🙂

We finished our day at Goofy’s Kitchen and it was the best part of our day. Character dining is my favorite thing to do at Disney and Goofy didn’t let us down. We had a buffet of food to choose from, and the characters mingled and danced all evening. It was the perfect way to end our very busy day.

Note for the future: Plan a fast-pass for all 3 rides in Cars Land so that you don’t have to waste half the day waiting 🙂

California Day 3: Disneyland

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Donald Duck’s Seaside Breakfast at PCH Grill

We kicked off day 3 of our California vacation by having breakfast with Donald Duck. We spent our Disney night’s at the Paradise Pier hotel, which houses Donald’s PCH Grill. (Donald does require reservations, so plan in advance if you want to do this!) We scheduled a super early breakfast so that we could eat and still hit the park when it opened!

Disneyland, Donald's Seaside Breakfast
Disneyland, Donald's Seaside Breakfast
Disneyland, Donald Duck's Seaside Breakfast

I LOVE scheduling character dining when we do Disney because it frees us up from feeling like we have to wait in lines at the parks to meet the characters. Donald, Daisy, Stitch, and Minnie all came right to our table while we were eating.

Disneyland, Donald Duck's Seaside Breakfast

Following breakfast, we walked into Downtown Disney and took the Monorail into Disneyland. This took us past the entrance lines and straight into the middle of the park. (I definitely recommend going this route–while everyone else was walking from the front of the park, we were going in the opposite direction, so the crowds were low.)

Disneyland

This was Jase’s first visit to Disney–that he will remember. (He went to Disney World when he was five months old!) He wasn’t super excited about the characters, but he LOVED shooting the aliens in Buzz Lightyears Astro Blaster and riding Gadget’s Go Coaster.

Disneyland

{Side note: Disneyland is extremely strict with their height requirements. Most of the rides require a height of 40″ and Jase was literally just-a-hair under that. So much so that when we changed his shoes the next day, he met the 40″ requirement for California Adventure. If you have a little one who might be a little under the height requirement, pack shoes with a thick sole!}

We purchased MaxPass as part of our Disney package and it was well worth the extra $15 per ticket. Disneyland still does fast passes the “old Disney World way” in that you can schedule multiple passes at once, all from your phone. Using these passes, we were able to hop around the park and not have to wait more that 20 minutes at any ride!

Disneyland

One of the kids favorite things to do was trade pins. When we checked into our Disney hotel, we were each given a lanyard and a trading pin as part of our package. The kids were able to trade their pins at any shop or with any worker who was wearing a lanyard. They loved looking at all the available pins and deciding whether or not to trade one of their existing pins.

Disneyland
Disneyland

The only character Jase was super excited to see was Pluto and he just happened to walk by while we were eating lunch in Toontown. Jase saw him and his whole face lit up. 🙂

Disneyland

Disney is super fun, but super exhausting! At the end of the day, our devices showed that we had walked around 15,000 steps. (By our calculation, that equals about 27,000 Jase-steps!)