The White House

The Cook Family hits DC

I will write a more in-depth post later about what a great, amazing family vacation we had to Washington, DC. But as I’m sitting in the airport, looking at our list of things we’ve done, I thought, damn, that’s impressive.  So, here’s the raw list of everything we managed to accomplish: WEDNESDAY: Flew in to…

Chef Mickey's Character Breakfast

My boy has become a guy

I really don’t know when it all happened. There was a time, not that long ago, where my children would be mildly interested in sports and sport news, but would rather play with toys. Suddenly, my oldest, who is now 11 and in the 6th grade, has become sports obsessed.  It’s kind of awesome, and…

Road Rules: Cook Style

Rules of the Cook Family Road Trip: No restaurant chains – only chain hotels. Exceptions include: McDonald’s once every other day if needed.  And Waffle House once on the trip. Everyone plays the license plate game The navigator, sitting in the passenger seat, controls the map and aids the driver in any needs including grabbing…

The bride & groom!

Fourth of July in Chicago

We were all most excited about the Chicago portion our adventure! This is where we would hit the main event of our trip, the big family wedding!  But also because it was finally time to see my youngest sister’s new house! And that also meant a giant family sleepover! After buying all the beer and…

The Cook Family hits Wisconsin!

As a child, I spent a lot of time in the great cheese state of Wisconsin. My grandparents lived in Burlington before they died, and we visited often.  We also spent time as children at the great Milwaukee event known as “Summer Fest.”  We never actually went to Summerfest.  We only went to Polish Fest…

Coaster loops at Kings Island.

Hitting Kings Island on our road trip!

Last summer, we hit Cedar Point.  This year, we saved our Coke Reward Points and scored tickets to Ohio’s other theme park, Kings Island.  I like to pretend to go to the park an re-enact that one episode of the Brady Bunch.  However, no one else in my family knew what I was even talking…

Jen at CNN

Touring CNN in Atlanta

It pays to have friends in the TV business! One of my former co-workers now works at CNN in Atlanta and offered to give us a tour while we were in town.  The big news nerd in me knew that was too good to pass up! It was a Saturday, and things were pretty slow. …