Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20th, 1969 and then spent two and a half hours making footprints on a surface no foot had ever touched. Not a bad way to spend a summer afternoon. So, on this July 20th, let’s celebrate the innovation and curiosity of the men and women who’ve given us a close up to space, that mysteriously cool world beyond our own. Click the fun fact …

Remember summer as a teenager? A bowl of Lucky Charms with the windows open at 11 a.m. and lunch and a boom box by the pool in late afternoon. Evening would stretch into tomorrow without a thought. Summer was one long endless day – and it was glorious. Fast forward to summer now as a parent of young kids: breakfast at 6 a.m. (probably still Lucky Charms), parental lifeguarding at the pool for hours, and …

To quote Pete Seger, “where have all the flowers gone?” Seriously. Where? The more I take my kids to the park, the less we see, well, the park. Let me preface this by saying I love teenagers, but… Click the picture to read how I’ve lost all my cool vibes on Her View From Home. *Linking up with Meg, this sunny summer Monday. It is, of course, perfect park weather. Tell me your best park …

There are dead armadillos all over Nashville. Their armored bodies litter the roads. Everywhere I look, a tail hangs limply over a curb. It’s the armadillapocalypse. But this is opossum country. Don’t armadillos belong in Texas? Don’t you think they’d be more at home in the scrub brush? The armadillos weirded me out, so I went to the internet…to be more weirded out. Apparently, armadillos are the status quo now here in Tennessee. There are …

I’m 18 and 2,000 feet in the air. The wind gusts have me clinging to the canvas hand-holds like grab bars on the subway, the consequences of letting go much worse than a collision with a sweaty neighbor. Heat waves from each fiery blast into the 55,000 cubic feet of balloon above me force me to turn my face outward. And outward is everything. Rolling hills unfold like cirrocumulus clouds with ripples in the green surface below and …

Now that Barnum & Bailey have hung up their hats and all the elephants have gone on to live happier lives doing…whatever elephants do when they’re not balancing on balls and flinging batons, life under the big tent is going to have to come to you. Because everybody needs some popcorn and cotton candy and a ring toss or two in their lives, here’s how to keep the magic of the circus alive and kicking. …

I missed out on Wonder Woman. Having been born just after Linda Carter’s epic series, I wore the outfit once or twice for Halloween, but otherwise left the die-hard fans to themselves. But I never felt at a loss for female heroes. We had our fair share growing up in the ’80s. This was the era when women first began to knock on that “glass ceiling,” when ThunderCats roamed the land, and Oprah began her …

I love a good game. To a fault. I love Scrabble and Pictionary and chess and checkers and poker. I will play to the death, which is why I usually have to sit out a round or two while the rest of the family continues. They put me in time out. Games are all about connection—with other people, with abstract ideas, with logical thinking. They can teach with fun what often takes years of skill-building …

When you’re a kid, summer means freedom. No alarm clock. No bedtime. No cafeteria lunches. No homework. No rules. No one telling you what to do all the time. Read that list again as the parent and try not to hyperventilate. You want to make the most out of summer and the quality time with your kids, but you also want to survive. You want all those memories of afternoons at the pool, and chasing …

In honor of the post-4th of July cookouts and summer fruits and fresh-squeezed lemonades, I’m bringing you a love-note to fast food. Because it has it’s good points too and Scary Mommy agrees. Click on the picture to read all my feels about the drive-thru kingdom.   Do you eat fast food? Any good fast food memories?