No, no, no!! Not on LBT -- I mean, we all pretty much got HERE the same way, right? >wink,wink< , *nudge,nudge* We want to know about where all you've been

I WAS BORN IN: Bogalusa, Louisiana Map of Bogalusa, LA by MapQuest

AND GREW UP IN: the same

I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: At 16 y/o, I fell in love with this handsome, blue-eyed, blonde Texan with grease under his nails

SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED: Garland, TX (21 years) -- Midland, TX (4 years) -- Pearland, TX (3 years) (notice a theme

I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: Haven't really traveled a lot, but hope to now that the kiddos are all grown and my 'cargo' is shrinking!

FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: We sailed Alaska's Inside Passage, in June, on the Norwegian Star. First cruise and we LOVED it.

BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: See previous answer

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: Trying to make up for all the years we couldn't afford a trip and taking four kids (one sick, one lovesick and one homesick) on an 11-day trek through the hell of The Deep South in June, by way of Orlando. Basically, we spent close to $5K to be as miserable as is humanly possible in a Ford Aerostar

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: I would love to go to the UK and trek through every damp, musty old castle or ruins I could gain entrance to. And just spend months listening to the accents in Scotland and Wales

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: The French Quarter. My daddy worked there when I was a little girl and we'd go spend weekends with him some. Then there were yearly field trips. And I've had the pleasure of taking each of my kids and spending time with them there, showing them sights that still put a thrill in my heart and I look forward to taking my grandkids. Mike....he couldn't care less if he ever saw it again. But I love my Vieux Carre.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/crazy-ates-get-know-me-debut-query-39747/

I WAS BORN IN: New York, NY. The Big Apple. Manhattan, the city that never sleeps.

AND GREW UP IN: the same

I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: at 17 I went to college in upstate NY, and only lived under my mother's roof briefly after that, now and again.

SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED: Manhattan (2 places); Queens (2 places in 4 years); Brooklyn (2 places in 4 years); Morris Co, NJ (3 places in 4 years)--I moved 8 times in 13 years, the last time in 1996. I ain't NEVER moving again!!!

I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: Before kids travel was my #1 leisure priority. 3 months in Europe after college, Canada, Australia, Caribbean, as much as I could manage. After kids? Different story. But we'll get out there again.

FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: Australia in 1992. Loooong flight for 11 days, I'll tell you!

BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: Hmmmm.... I'd rather keep having new travel experiences, but will always love a beach vacation. Cancun in 1994 when Michael proposed to me is probably the best memory from a regular vacaion.

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: None. All travel experiences are precious to me. But if I have to pick one it'd be last summer's week in Cape Cod, with bad weather and an ER visit on the second day because my 5 y.o. needed stitches. But I always know it could have been worse, and it's just another story for the family to laugh over later.

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: Ahhh, now you're talking. I'd go on one of those around-the-world trips that go with only a few dozen people and take a year.

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: I want to go back to Paris. I want to go back to Fair Harbor, Fire Island (NY) where I spent childhood summers. My heart is always in Manhattan.

Great questions!!

All travel experiences are precious to me.

Spoken only as a woman who's never vacationed with teenagers! :heh:

But if I have to pick one it'd be last summer's week in Cape Cod, with bad weather and an ER visit on the second day because my 5 y.o. needed stitches.

Ah -- sounds like that infamous trip of ours. In the first six hours --

• we leave behind WEEKS of drought and unending sunshine to drive for six hours in the pouring down rain
  
• have a fight over where to eat
  
• have an even bigger fight over where to stay
  
• let the kids swim, then leave them at the hotel to sneak away for a little quiet time -- just Mom and Dad

After a walk around Hot Springs

• we get back in the van and discover the AC has croaked
  
• get back to the hotel and find the wee one has tonsils the size of golf balls

Word to the wise -- when the vacation gods give you NOT ONE, but TWO omens in less than half an hour, DO NOT PROCEED. Turn around and go home quickly!! Whatever expenditures cannot be recouped are a small price to pay to prevent more suffering and torture! :straight

Spoken only as a woman who's never vacationed with teenagers! :heh:

I do worry about that, indeed. My girls are handfuls now, at 6 and 9. But then I remember that my husband's family went for a LONG cross-country drive back in the late 60s in a station wagon. Two kids, 12 and 10, and two parents, one who hated to drive, no iPods, no GameBoys, no DVD/CD players, and they managed to go all over this nation for two months learning and seeing and doing. Hell, if they can do that, we can handle whatever adventures traveling throws at us.

I do worry about that, indeed. My girls are handfuls now, at 6 and 9. But then I remember that my husband's family went for a LONG cross-country drive back in the late 60s in a station wagon. Two kids, 12 and 10, and two parents, one who hated to drive, no iPods, no GameBoys, no DVD/CD players, and they managed to go all over this nation for two months learning and seeing and doing. Hell, if they can do that, we can handle whatever adventures traveling throws at us.

Well, and see -- the life they left at home wasn't anything like what our kids are exposed to, either!

My daughter was 15 and in the middle of her first love.

Her brother was 13 and seriously addicted to ESPN and RAW.

She wanted to go home because of the boyfriend. He wanted to go home because he just wanted to be a home. (He's 24 and STILL a big homebody!)

The little ones were great -- Jake was almost 10 and enough of a history-geography buff he was taking it all in and the little one was 7 and excellent considering how sick she was.

In hindsight, if I'd had any idea how much grief leaving the snotty little boyfriend back home was going to cause, I'd have brought the goober with us. We had more than enough room and it couldn't have made matters any WORSE.

But, two, the same gender and as close in age as yours are....you probably won't have many problems. We're looking at taking our granddaughter on a trip next summer. And thinking it might behoove us to take along a friend or cousin, as she might get a little bored with nobody but 'old folks'!!

I WAS BORN IN: Baton Rouge LA

AND GREW UP IN: Miami FL, Baton Rouge, Natchitoches LA

I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: I went to boarding school for high school.

SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED:In or around the New Orleans area

I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: HA I have a two year old... we make the rounds between family in Dallas, Knoxville, Mississippi & I travel with my math team. This year we went to Tampa (without the baby but with 7 teenagers.. I think I would have rather my two year old after 8 days of teenage DRAMA.)

FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: Carribean or upstate New York.

BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: I worked for an organization for a summer and the first part of our job was to get to know one another and learn to work as a team. we went on a big tour bus all over the US: New York, Michigan, Indiana, Washington, and all sorts of place in between.

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: Don't have one of those yet. ALTHOUGH when we evacuated for Katrina that would be the TRIP from hell. It turned on the same day so I had a few hours to pack my 8 month old up and forgot all sorts of stuf and then we sat in the parking lot of cars. It took us 3 hours to go 60 miles. Then we had to drive so late into the night trying to make it to my grandmothers house and Jacob decided to scream like the last 3 hours.

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: The honeymoon that I have planned out for someday. Cruise to the UK see the sights there, catch a train or fly to Spain. Visit Madrid see the gypsies in Sevila. Possibly fly to Italy and spend a few days there.

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: My maw-maw in Mississippi. She lives in the middle of nowhere. No cell phone reception or anything. It's just nice to get away from the business of life. Of course, her house is stocked with fun outdoor activities like a fishing pond, four wheelers, hunting stands, hiking trails, a huge porch with rocking chairs and we usually start up a softball game with the rest of the family.

I WAS BORN IN: Pittsburgh, PA

AND GREW UP IN: Pittsburgh, PA

I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: We live within 5 minutes of where I was born. Left for undergrad & grad school but I always came back home.......

SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED: Since we've been married......we have lived in 2 different communities within 5 minutes of where my DH and I were both raised.

I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: I traveled extensively up and down the East coast for about 5 years for work. Some places I would never return to...other places I love. DH travels non-stop for work....far and wide. We have a place in the Outer Banks of NC.....heaven for us! I am a beach, beach, beach person. With the hectic pace of our daily lives, we love to just kick back and do absolutely nothing. We also travel to my family's place in Florida about once a year. We tacked that on to a trip to Disney this past Spring. That was a "working" vacation if there ever once was! We've done our fair share of vacation/travel--Canada, Mexico, Italy, Bermuda, Bahamas, California, Boston, NYC. When we can't go to the beach.....we enjoy little trips (within 2 hours)...quaint B&Bs, wine festivals, concerts mostly. Girlfriends and I like to take little trips for special craft fairs or big market type places. My sisters and I and our daugthers like to go on at least one big shopping trip a year---the local changes each time. DH and I are planning a trip to Napa Valley for a wine tour to Celebrate the 50th birthdays of my DH and a few of the others in our group of "Wino" friends. I am so excited for this trip.....mostly because I know I will be THINNER. It's in May 2008.

FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: Calabria, Italy--birthplace of my husband's family

BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: Honestly, I just love the Outerbanks of NC. If the weather is good, I love it. And, even if it isn't, I still love it. If I am with my family, I am happy.

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: A trip to Erie, PA in the late 1980's. We still talk about it......

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: A very romantic, 2 week trip with DH.....someplace with a beach. Those are my only requirements.

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: Outerbanks, NC

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: A very romantic, 2 week trip with DH.....someplace with a beach. Those are my only requirements.

Honey -- time and money NO OBJECT, don't you want more than TWO weeks? Or is it so very romantic two weeks is all you can stand...?

:eyebrows:

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: Don't have one of those yet. ALTHOUGH when we evacuated for Katrina that would be the TRIP from hell. It turned on the same day so I had a few hours to pack my 8 month old up and forgot all sorts of stuf and then we sat in the parking lot of cars. It took us 3 hours to go 60 miles. Then we had to drive so late into the night trying to make it to my grandmothers house and Jacob decided to scream like the last 3 hours.

Girl, I feel ya!!! I was one of those cars stuck on I-45 North trying to leave Houston ahead of Rita a few weeks later. I reset my tripometer when I got on the freeway at 3:05AM -- when I got off at 4:30PM I had moved exactly 9.2 miles.

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: My maw-maw in Mississippi. She lives in the middle of nowhere. No cell phone reception or anything. It's just nice to get away from the business of life. Of course, her house is stocked with fun outdoor activities like a fishing pond, four wheelers, hunting stands, hiking trails, a huge porch with rocking chairs and we usually start up a softball game with the rest of the family.

Reminds me of my Granny's house a long time ago -- without the 4-wheelers as such. As a kid I couldn't understand why relatives who lived in bigger cities than I did got such a kick of going out to the boonies. Now I understand it better. What part of Mississippi is she in??

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: Outerbanks, NC

I'm going there next week for the first time! What shouldn't we miss? We're going to Duck. Do tell!!

Hi Alexandra.....

Oh, I am soooo jealous! Duck is the cutest little area. Our place is further north (straight up the road) in Ocean Sands (towards Corolla). Duck is a nice little area to ride bikes along the side of the road. They have a bike trail--which makes it nice with kids. As for what not to miss.....I'm probably NOT the best person to ask since I love to do nothing, nothing, nothing. For us, it's a beach vacation....the beach and not much else. We have been going to OBX for 21+ years. We have stayed in Duck before so I am very familiar with it. In the early years, the whole area was so remote that there wasn't much to do anyhow....which suited us just fine! No big food stores or Walmarts either at that time! So, we had to drag everything with us. And, the kids were little anyhow so we could not go out much even if we really wanted to. We have had the place in Ocean Sands for the past 8 years. My 2 sisters and I and our families own it together. We always go together for 2 weeks a year, try to get there at least once on our own and keep saying (for 8 years!!) we are going down there for Thanksgiving but it's never quite worked out that way. We rent it out when we can.,....helps with the bills!!! But, here's a few ideas....things we have done in the past and enjoyed as well as a few inside tips. There are a lot of other things that we did that were okay and we would not do them again. Can't wait to here about your trip. Feel free to ask me anything.....

FOOD STORES

Shop at Harris Teeter (so much nicer than Food Lion)--new one is down near Nags Head. There's also one further up near Corolla but that's a bit of a hike.

Tommy's Market--in Duck--very nice but pricey. You can find some excellent dips, seafood and special ingredients

Chip's Beer and Wine Market--A must for anyone who really enjoys beers. They also have a good wine selection.

EATING OUT

Tip--Sunset Grille in Duck is popular so it get's pretty crowded. It's okay but not wonderful.

Elizabeth's Cafe & Winery--in Scarbourough Fairre* (see description below). Very nice, good food and wine. Might not be very child friendly, though.

The Blue Point- Duck--Our favorite place to go when we are down in Duck

Ocean Blvd--Kitty Hawk--A little pricey but good food. Not sure if kids would enjoy this.

Black Pelican Ocean Front Cafe--good food, good for all ages

Run Down Cafe--Southern Shores/Kitty Hawk--Caribbean Food. We have enjoyed many lunches there

Kelly's--A good place to go with family. Only open for dinner. It's a little pricier than some restaurants but the food and service is consistently good.

Duck Deli--good place for lunch if you want to go out (and miss beach time!)

Sam & Omie's--DH and DS rate this as a top Breakfast place.

Flying Fish Cafe--in Nags Head, not a far drive at all

Red Drum--we like this alot for lunch when we are down towards Nags Head

Big Al's--50's themed place that's great for the kids. We took my little nephews this year....they like it.

Owen's--in Nags Head. Old Nags Head Restaurant that's held the test of time. Good food. A little pricey. This past year, our friends went and suggest that you go as early as possible to avoid waiting.

Fat Boys Ice Cream-in Nags Head--hands down the winner in ice cream. But, the line can be soooooooo long....especially at night.

THINGS TO DO

GO TO THE BEACH !!!! BUILD SANDCASTLES!!! READ BOOKS!!! RELAX!

Take the Ferry to Ocracoke--this beach is rated the top beach in USA 2006. It is beautiful. Plan to spend the whole day on this trip. My sister and her family do this every year. We do it every few years.

Jockey's Ridge--Kill Devil Hills....do this in the evening with the kids. Big sand dunes.....the tallest sand dune on the East Coast. Beautiful place.

Check out the offerings at the Professional Theatre Workshop--an outdoor theatre

Firehouse Wine Cellar--fun place for foodies & wine lovers to go. Wine tasting all day long

*Scarbourough Fairre--this is a quaint little shopping area in the heart of Duck. As long as you enjoy shopping and have patience (since it can get crowded) you will enjoy this. Parking is a little rough so if you can walk, that would be great.

That's all I can think of now....but, feel free to ask me anything about OBX. What a great choice for a vacation!!! Judi

Wow, Judi, Thanks! You're like me: give me the ocean, salt air, a porch, a book and I'm happy. The kids like a little more action, though.

We've been going for years to Cape Cod until finally someone recommended OBX and we compared prices. We're getting three times as much house for 2/3 the money, and (we hope we hope) it will be WARMER than the Cape at this time of year. I'm so glad to hear it's laid-back; I was a little worried it would be all touristy and built-up.

We can't wait!! Saturday we roll out. Yay!

Ya'll are giving me wanderlust!!!

I'd LOVE a trip to just sit and do nothing!!!

But, we're gonna Celebrate every 25 lbs with a weekend getaway -- first stop on the itinerary is San Antonio. Very close, easy to do and although we've driven through it several times, neither of us has ever BEEN there.

Enjoy your trip, Alex. Fill us in when you get back!

I WAS BORN IN: Melbourne, Australia

AND GREW UP IN: Mt Dandenong, Australia

I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: ...well, I haven't done that yet. I was hoping to have a full time job and get a home of my own when I moved. But I do rent my room now as if I were a border. :biggrin1:

SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED: ...here. And sometimes in Queensland with my dad.

I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: Don't really have the funds for travel yet, other than a trip north to visit and live with Dad for a few weeks, but looking forward to it!

FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: New Zealand when I was 11, as an exchange student. And Perth when I was a kid... they seem to be the same distrance. :heh:

BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: I used to go to this beautiful place called Cape Liptrap when I was a kid, we'd go fishing, camp rough, take our boat... we had to sell the boat and caravan and Dad moved north, so they all stopped when I was about thirteen and I've only been back a few times. But I'd repeat those trips in a heartbeat, even if on my own!

WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: Haven't really had one yet. :car:

DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: Ireland! I'd love to go to Ireland. Then I'd hop on that wonderful year long cruise and sail the world as a young single woman all alone. :whoo:

SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: Cape Liptap/Bear Gully and Daylesford

lol, it's a bit obvious that I'm young and inexperienced in life still, huh. :heh: But let's hope I can go do it now!

Sara -- forget about "young and inexperienced" -- I'm just so happy for you being banded, and eradicating the encumberance of obesity from your future so all those dreams you have won't be deterred at all!!!

Congrats and thanks for letting us "GET TO KNOW YOU!"