Traveling Ingys Love NY

It was just a few weeks ago we Traveling Ingys were smelling the roses in California. This week we're on the other side of the country taking a bite out of the Big Apple. (We sure are busy using our senses aren't we?) My sorority sister, Amy, her husband, Eley, and their precious daughter Kendall brought us along to New York City and I couldn't have been happier. The closest I've been to The City is the Newark airport, so it was great to see it up close.

Here we are in Times Square...right in the middle of the action, and you know we always want to be where the action is!


The kids wanted to swing in Central Park. Unfortunately, Suri Cruise and Barron Trump weren't there that day, so I guess we'll have to go back another time.


Whew! After all the swinging we needed to take a break. And what better place than a park bench in Central Park?


Checking out the view of the Brooklyn Bridge in our hotel room.


And our favorite! Playing the Big keyboard in FAO Schwartz. Tom Hanks was way impressed with our musicality!


Thanks Eley, Amy, and Kendall for taking us along. We loved it!

And when you vacay, don't forget us! If you don't have your own Traveling Ingys pick us up here!

Traveling Ingys: Smellin' the Roses

Okay, so the National Championship didn't turn out like we'd hoped, but at least we Ingys got to go to the game. Here we are tailgating at The Rose Bowl with some of my sorority sisters: Shelley, Lynn, Kelly, and Shari. (Marcia, Where were you during this photo-op?) And if The Horns could have pulled it out by the cheers of the crowd alone, it would have been due in part to these ladies. All I'm saying is I've witnessed Shelley fall off a table trying to lead Texas cheers, and Kelly chase a news truck down 6th Street screaming "CAN YOU TASTE THE SUGAR?!" after a win against A&M that sent Texas to the Sugar Bowl. Yep, these girls can cheer for the orange and white. And we're so happy Shelley let us come along (especially with Jason being an Aggie an all).

Traveling Ingys Get Soaked

Now that it's summer the Traveling Ingys are ready to get out and about again! And to kick off the Traveling Ingys Summer Season, Shelley and her mom, Connie, took us with them on their adventure to Niagara Falls. None of us Ingys had ever been to "The Falls" so we dove at the chance to go! And as you can see, thanks to Shelley, we Ingys made quite a splash! What a great vacay...water for JR, thrills for Jason, and costuming (in the form of a rain poncho) for me. What more could we want? And BTW, Isn't the look on Shelley's face hilarious?!

So don't forget to take your Traveling Ingys wherever you might roam this summer. I've posted a "new" one in the next post in case you need a copy. (I'm saying "new" since I'm recycling the one from last year. I live in Recycle Land now, so I thought it only fitting.) As always, you don't have to be going on a big vacay to take us along. We've been to get a mani/pedi, to the gym, and to Lupe Tortillas for dinner. But we also love big trips...like when we went to Canada, Greece, and The Olympics in Beijing. And don't worry, if you forget to pack us, you can always photoshop us in when you get home! But remember, it's still really cold here in CO for us native Texans, so lots of trips to warm places would be awesome!

Get Your Traveling Ingys Here

The Traveling Ingys are Good Baptists

If you're a regular around here then you know we real Ingys made a trip to South Carolina this summer. We didn't make it as far as North Carolina, but recently my cousins, Lu, Kristi, and Sarah went to Asheville, NC for their annual Mother-Daughter Weekend. We Traveling Ingys hadn't been out in awhile so we were happy to go along to check out the "changing of the leaves". I'm super excited we got to make the trip since, yet again, we went someplace I didn't even know existed. On the way up to Asheville, my cousins stopped in Charlotte to tour the Billy Graham Library. Now for us Baptist, Billy Graham definitely has rock star status. Other denominations can lay claim to him too...My mom's a "dyed in the wool" Presbyterian, mention the name 'Billy Graham' and she's quick to point out that his wife, Ruth, was also a Presbyterian. Kristi, who was married at the Methodist church, reports that the whole place was "fabulous" and "stunning". I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't know Billy Graham had a library, (I sure won't be telling that around Sunday School) but thrilled to know the Baptist are keeping things 'fabulous' and 'stunning'. Here we are outside the library at the foot of the glass cross. The library website says it best: everyone who enters the doors "encounters the story of a man who made it his life’s work to tell history’s most powerful story—that God loves all of us and invites us to experience that love through His Son, Jesus Christ." Woo-Hoo, Billy Graham!

Traveling Ingys and Southern Sports

We've been spending so much time in the Midwest that Allison thought we needed to get back to the business of being Southerners. And what's more Southern than a day at the racetrack?! Allison took us along to Ennis, Texas (which is just south of Dallas) to the Fun Ford Weekend Drag Racing World Finals. "Drag Racin', Y'all! (Say it in your best Britney Spears voice for the full effect.) Allison's husband, Geoff, races a Ford Cobra GT 500 Shelby. As you can see we started out in the stands, but we quickly worked our way up to some serious action.

Check us out in the pit! I don't really like to get my clothes dirty, so I let the boys handle the mechanic stuff.

The pit wasn't fast or dangerous enough for my boys, so we hit the race track in Allison's new GT. Look at us go! Weeeeeeeee!

Traveling Ingys Love the Midwest

We seem to really be enjoying the Midwest these days. (Michigan is considered the Midwest, right? You know us Texans, we think we're an entire country unto ourselves.) My favorite, opera singer, ex-student, Joseph (AKA: JD), took us to a corn maze in Ann Arbor. What's funny is that JR had just seen a corn maze on TV and asked me if I would take him to one sometime!

Look JR, It's a corn maze!

Do you think we're lost?

JD, I'm absolutely positive that you're the best dressed corn maze participant ever!

Fellow Texans, Can you believe trees actually look like this? No wonder you Midwesterners brave those cold winters, look how gorgeous fall is!

Minnesotaians Take The Traveling Ingys Even Farther North

When I started doing the Traveling Ingys I thought we'd get to go to a few neat places, but I never dreamed of all the great places and cool things we would see and do. Today's trip is certainly one of them. A little family background before I get started: Jason's mom, Sherry, is originally from Minnesota. (She's a Norwegian Minnesotaian to be exact...Thank goodness for those Norwegian genes...all my babies wound up with blue eyes.) So, today we'll be focusing on family members who wear coats and jackets 10 months of the year, instead of the family members down here in Texas that wear shorts 10 months a year. Meet Sherry's niece, Nancy. And Nancy's daughters, Beth and Nykkole. Nykkole came to live with Nancy's family and is now their adopted daughter. Nancy and Beth accompanied Nykkole to the North American Shaken Baby Syndrome Conference in Vancouver, Canada and we Ingys got to come too. And if you'd like to read more about Nykkole, she has her own blog.

Here we are in the Seattle/Tacoma airport waiting to get on our puddle jumper plane to go to Vancouver.


Registering for the North American Shaken Baby Syndrome Conference


Outside our hotel, Westin Bayshore. Look at those things everybody is wearing...I believe they're called long-sleeves....Yes, that's it...long-sleeves. We won't be seeing those in these parts for another month or two!


The view from our hotel room!


Hanging out in the hotel room, all packed and ready to head home!

Traveling Ingys Visit Our Neighbors to the North

And when I say "north" I mean waaayyy north. Shelley was nice enough to take us along for her trip to Québec City. Being that I'm a native Texan and Jason's an A&M graduate, we're about as far from French-Canadian as you could possibly be....Pretty sure there's not many Conservative Republicans running around up there. But, looks like we still had a great time!

Here we are at our hotel. The hotel we stayed at is the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. Of course since it's French-Canadian it's not merely a hotel located in the heart of Old Québec ─ it is the heart of Old Québec! I'm guessing Le Château isn't the French word for La Quinta.

Nestled on a mountainside overlooking Lac Beauport, Mont Tourbillon is one of the most scenic golf courses in Québec. Since it's opening, it has become an established favorite with golfers who enjoy the mountain vistas as much as the challenging play. JR wasn't too impressed since he prefers "Dinosaur Golf" at the Katy Mills Mall.

We also went to Montmorency Fall just outside of Québec City. It has impressive waterfalls measuring 83-metre high. (in honor of our trip, notice my use of the metric system and the spelling of the word "meter")

Thanks for taking us along, Shelley. And everybody else, don't forget to get out your Traveling Ingys and take us around. We don't have to go anywhere "special" we just want to go! And if you'd like your own Traveling Ingys to take pictures with (and be featured on our blog), just drop me an email. I'll be happy to send you one!

The Traveling Ingys Go European

With all the stress of the hurricane, we were definitely in need of a fabulous vacay. Leave it our friends, Gary and Anita, (Blog readers, you'll remember them as the friends we went to visit in Charleston) to jet set us on over to Europe. Here we are hanging out on the island of Santorini. And since my European geography is not near as refined as my Asian geography, I actually had to google Santorini to find out where we went. Turns out we were hanging on a volcanic island off the southern coast of Greece. As you can see in the pictures, the island has a giant central lagoon and is surrounded by high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. Santorini claims to have some of the best sunsets in the world, and after checking out our pictures, I definitely believe it. Hello?... Are we fancy pants or what? Actually are pants really appropriate in Greece? I'm thinking a toga is in order!

Olympics? Saw it Live, Baby!

The Traveling Ingys made it to our favorite place in the world. And while we were there we went to the biggest event in the world. Oooohhh, yeah! I sent Katie to the Pearl Market to get me my new passport that says I'm 25, and she did me one better. Say it with me...O-lymp-ics!


Here we are hanging out with the Benson family (Katie, Ella, Madeline, and Andy) and 4 of the 1 million Olympic volunteers. JR was just thrilled to be back in the arms of a girl from his homeland.


So what did you do this summer? Oh, really? Yeah, we didn't do much....Just watched the USA women's soccer team win a gold medal over Brazil with Madeline!

It's Bird's Nest all the way! We weren't as fast as Usain Bolt at the Track and Field events, but hey, when your bodies look like Michael Phelps and Misty May what more could you want? We can't have everything now can we?

And to wrap up the Olympics, Katie took us to the USA vs. China baseball game. And yes, we cheered for the Americans...the Chinese have enough medals!

Traveling Ingys Hit The Beach

Now that we've got our new hot bods from our day at the gym, it's time to show them off. And what better place to flaunt our rock-hard abs than at the beach? Good thing Allison has been spending the summer in Galveston! She took us with her to hang out and soak up some sun. Allison, make sure you've got lots of sunscreen on hand...you know how I burn!

Catching Up with the Pumped Up Ingys

I know everybody has been wondering how our personal training session with Burt the trainer went. Well, I'm happy to report that I was right. It did only take 1 or 2 workouts to get the bodies we were going for. I told you we'd look like Misty May and Michael Phelps in no time!

Traveling Ingys Get Pumped Up!

Now that Jason is 40 lbs. lighter he thinks 6-pack abs are supposed to just magically appear. Thank goodness Kelly finally took us to the gym, she thought we could use a good pumping up! My arms are pretty strong from toting around 2 babies at a time, but the rest of me sure needed some working out. Here we are with Kelly's trainer, Burt. I'm sure he'll have me lookin' like Misty May and Jason the spitting image of Michael Phelps in no time. Bodies like that only take 1 or 2 trips to the gym, right?

And here's Kelly's son, Jackson. Looks like he'll be taking over the workout regime for the little ones....it's never to young to start a healthy lifestyle...as long as I can still eat cake, ice cream, or cookies for breakfast!

Traveling Ingys Get Some Culture, Y'all!

The Traveling Ingys have made it out of Texas, and we're doing some high-falutin', fancy pants stuff. My buddy Joseph Roberts (those of you who know me, know him as J.D., but his professional name is Joseph, so I'll go with that) is making his way in the world of opera. Yes, can you believe it? I'm actually friends with an opera singer. I'm thinking that fact alone would make me a shoo-in for the Junior League. Anyway, The Traveling Ingys were out in high style and sophistication when we went to Minneapolis to visit The Minnesota Opera Company. And it was first class for us all the way, baby, since we were hanging out with a future Minneapolis celebrity. It was none other than the new Associate Conductor of the opera. Oh yes, that's right....Joseph's friend, Clinton, is the new Associate Conductor of The Minnesota Opera Company. So here we are atop the opera building overlooking Minneapolis, and also inside.

Oh! And a big shout out to the Greseth Family...We can't talk about Minnesota without thinking of the family on Granny Sherry's side. Of course if we real Ingys had been there we certainly would have swung by to say hello!

Traveling Ingys Adventures with Shelley

The Traveling Ingys were out and about again with Shelley. She took us to visit her nephew, Gus, who lives in San Antonio. What a cutie!
She was also excited about taking us to Chicago with her, and even put us out the night before her flight so she wouldn't forget us....But she forgot us! I've never been to Chicago, so I'm quite upset we were left behind. We were supposed to go with her to a Cubs baseball game..So here's Shelley and company at Wrigley Field....Hummm, for some reason they don't look like they're feeling too bad about forgetting us at home...they must be putting on a brave face....fighting back the tears with happy smiles!

Traveling Ingys Have Girls Night Out

Jason's been out of town this week, so I have really needed a night out with the girls. Good thing Kelly took us along for her girls night out! Y'all know what flirts all the Ingy guys can be....especially Jason, so they were more than happy to have all the ladies to themselves. With a big white limo, Kelly and her buddies sure know how to go out in style! The Ingys were along for the whole night, and as you can see by the last photo, fun was had by all!

The Traveling Ingys Get Mani-Pedis

It's so hard for me to get out of the house to get
"routine maintenance" done these days, so what a treat it was for Allison to take The Traveling Ingys out for a pedicure last week. Don't tell anybody, but Jason loved having pedicures when we were in China, so this was a special treat for him. My nails were in bad shape, so I was glad to get them prettied up. And the boys fingernails all grow so fast it sure was nice to have somebody cut them besides me. Thanks, Allison...we all really needed some re-lax-ation!

The Traveling Ingys Eating Yummy

We ate at home this weekend (which is actually unusual) but as luck would have it, The Traveling Ingys went out to eat on Saturday! Shelley took us to one of our favorite restaurants, Lupe Tortilla! Shelley was having dinner with her high school friends and their kids...So The Traveling Ingy adults were able to enjoy margaritas with Shelley and her friends, while The Traveling Ingy kids were able to play in the Lupe Tortilla sandbox with the other 6 kids in Shelley's party. Thanks for taking us along, Shelley...I know we had a great time!

The Traveling Ingys

In the tradition of Flat Stanley, I have created The Traveling Ingys. With gas prices, airplane tickets, and the noise level in our car at an all time high, The Traveling Ingys are our way of getting to go everywhere and do everything. We aren't particular about where we go, we just want to go. I sent out a few sets of Traveling Ingys last week, and we had our first adventure! Well, almost. My cousin, Joy, who is as fun and fabulous as they come, took us with her to Dallas this weekend. But, unfortunately, we got left behind in her suitcase. But if we had made it out of her bag, here's what Joy said we would have done:

"...you guys (would have) gone to dinner and had Mexican Food and lots of Ritas, then hit the rooftop at Fuse and finally ended the night at a hole in the wall...but we left immediately, as it would not be a good place for the boys! :)"

Joy even sent me pictures of the night to photoshop ourselves into, but since I'm not photoshop literate, I'll just post Joy's pictures of where we were supposed to go. Oh, and the theme of their night was "Wig Out". How fun does that look? I love the way Joy is in all pink and has one of the funniest wigs of the bunch...Yep, we're obviously related.

So, if your interested in having your own Traveling Ingys just send me an email with your home address and I'll put us in the mail to you. Don't think you can only take us on vacation, we're excited about going anywhere, as long as you aren't going to the HEB on Gessner (the place we seem to frequent most these days), we want to go!