One Last Summer Fling

Before school started, my little family took a road trip slash vacation to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for some much needed R&R.

 

 

We spent a day at Mackinac Island, rented bicycles and explored the island, hiked to Arch Rock and other super cool landmarks. We ate mackinaw island fudge ice cream and bought sea salt caramel fudge & salt water taffy to take home.   

 

We took a ship ride to explore the breathtaking Pictured Rocks.

 

 

We took a glass bottom boat ride to see some famous Lake Superior ship wrecks, which Clay and I completely geeked out over. The captains were awesome and knowledgeable and entertaining and answered our children's many questions. 

 

an anchor!!!

 

We climbed down a 500-foot sand dune to find a Lake Superior beach that we had entirely to ourselves.  We hunted rocks, and skipped stones, and left our footprints in the sand.  We spent an hour climbing back up the dune, with the kids pretending to be bear cubs, and felt exhilarated when we finished.

 

 

We hiked through a forest to find a waterfall that we dipped our feet into.

 

 

We walked through quaint small towns. We found a winery and had a wine tasting where we picked up three bottles of wine- blackberry, raspberry, and honey peach. We went antiquing. We found this book store/ice cream shoppe/cafe, which we spent a lot of time in- playing chess, perusing books (I found 20 mint-condition Sweet Valley High books for only a dollar each that I'm still losing my mind over) and drinking double shot mochas. Well Clay and I did, the kids got double scoop ice creams.

 

We stayed in hotel with a water slide, swimming and sliding way past the kids' bedtimes then going to our room for a night of pizza, spotify playlists, and Old Maid. Another night we stayed in a hotel that was as close to a roughin'-it-cabin as one could get without actually staying in a roughin'-it-cabin.  

 

We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, fresh Lake Superior perch and homemade pasties for lunch, and ice cream for dinner. Clay and I found a brewery with this incredible blueberry beer and a diner with "world famous" blueberry muffins.

 

We took our time driving home, visited a bear park where we got to feed & pet a cub, stopped at a Mystery Spot (Gravity Falls, anyone?), played some putt putt, sang songs and had car dance parties.

 

We came home happy.

♥ ♥ ♥

Britney and Vegas

 

My husband and I just got back from a whirlwind Vegas trip.

 

Sunshine, complete & utter debauchery, and Britney Spears.

So, basically, the time of my life.

 

Britney's iconic costumes are displayed all throughout the Planet Hollywood concert lounge.

 

Even the elevators are fierce.

 

And Brit? She put on one HELL of a show.

 

Our seats were incredible, the vibe was intense, the venue & theatrics were simply amazing.

You cannot be a Britney fan and not see her Vegas show. 

 

 

My *fifth* Britney Spears concert; my *fifth* Britney Spears concert tee.

No shame.

The rest of the trip was awesome, too. We met up with our good friend Andy and his friend Shelly (who became my new bestfriend. Love that chick!). We woke early and played slots while drinking mimosas at 9am. We laid by the pool and soaked up sunshine.  We spent a lot of time on Freemont Street, something we've never done before. We hung out in this incredible bar called The Griffin and I played Black Jack for the first time ever, winning about $150 (that my husband subsequently lost but whatevs).  We drank a lot of fireball. It was perfect.

 

And we saw Britney Spears! Gah!

A Quest for Fun

I don't know if you know this about us, but we are the Griswolds incarnate. Bible. Perfectly planned trips get plagued with strange disasters and weird situations that turn us all into hot messes losing our shit everywhere, which is probably why Clay and I have never attempted a real family vacation before this week.

And truth be told, we wouldn't have done this vacation, this amazing perfect life-changing trip, if it wasn't for the urging of Clay's brother, Scott, and his wife, Kelly. They convinced us to join them at their vacation home in Orlando, Florida, and they never let us say no, and it turned out to be the best thing ever.

So we packed our suitcases, loaded up the kiddos, and the four of us flew like it was no big deal. The kids handled the long drive to the airport and airport crowds and TSA like tiny bosses.  The flight was a breeze and we landed in Orlando at midnight on Saturday.

We woke up on Easter morning to blue skies and sunshine in the most amazing villa right on the golf course at a gorgeous resort which is exactly how I picture Heaven to be. Our villa had 3 bedrooms - each with its own bathroom and flatscreen TV, a fully stocked kitchen, a dining room, and a livingroom. I'm not kidding you guys, paradise.

Aunt Kelly had plastic Easter eggs filled with candy hidden throughout our villa's backyard so Narls and Em had a hunt that morning, and then the resort had a Easter scavenger hunt and a build-a-bunny event later in the afternoon.

I drank wine all day, and we all went out for Chinese for dinner. I couldn't have asked for a better Easter or a better start to the week.

 

Monday morning I woke up and had my coffee on the patio. I think that alone might be the highlight of my entire trip- it was so perfect and serene. All of Monday was pretty chill and relaxed in fact, with us spending the entire day at the resort's waterpark.

Later that evening Kelly made an amazing chicken dinner and I drank another bottle of wine and we all stayed up late talking and laughing.

 

We got up bright and early Tuesday and headed to SeaWorld where I think I cried no less than seven times. You really can't take me anywhere, but THERE IS SOMETHING SO MAGICAL ABOUT THE PLACE. The dolphins, the whales- they're nothing short of amazing. I did have a mini freak out when we first got there because I don't do well in crowds, especially with my kids, and calling this place busy was a complete and utter understatement, and I pretty much said there was no way I could do Disney, but Scott and Kelly helped us a ton, they even took the kids so Clay and I could ride a roller coaster, and before I knew it I wasn't even bothered by the crowd and then it was 10pm and the park was closing and I just had one of the best days ever. Like in my entire life. It was that good.

My absolute favorite part of the day was Scott playing a basketball hoop shoot game to win Kelly a stuffed turtle, and after three attempts finally winning it only to have Emerson's face light up like he just climbed to the moon and brought her back a star. Seeing Scott hand that turtle to Em was classic. So then Clay had to play to win one for Narls, and Scott had to play again for Kelly and he ended up winning her the biggest dolphin ever and I know I'm babbling here, but perfect- everything was just perfect.

 

Kelly and Scott kept the kids for a bit on Wednesday so Clay and I could explore the resort.  We ended up on the rooftop pool, which overlooked the entire place, and I literally could have spent the whole damn day up there.

But I couldn't, because Scott and Clay were super excited about going on an airboat ride through the Florida everglades and scoutin' out some alligators. Personally, I wasn't excited about this. At all. I'm a bit clumsy and if anyone is going to fall overboat, it'd be me. Plus, swamps and mosquitoes don't quite compare to having poolside cocktails on the rooftop, but I went because I'm a trooper, and actually had a lot of fun. And I didn't fall out of the boat! Narls and Em even got their own sharktooth necklaces.

 

Ok, so I thought SeaWorld was magical, right? And I cried there, remember? Well that was nothing compared to being at Disney with my husband and our children. I was a mess. In a good way! I looked at my kids so many times throughout the day and saw their happiness and their perma-grins and died over and over.

The only bad part of this day was that it was supposed to rain allllll day. A couple tornadoes were even predicted. Clay and I didn't let that stop us; we're not scared of tornadoes. Ok we totally are, but we had already bought our tickets so it was a now or never kind of deal. The weather actually worked out in our favor because the morning was beautiful but the crowds were super thin which warmed my anti-people heart.

Then the rain came. There was a moment during the afternoon where it had been pouring for an hour, we just left the Country Bears Jamboree (lame, but it had a roof), the kids were whiny and Clay was losing his cool, and I pretty much thought that was the end of our Disney trip. We got in line to meet Tink mainly because it was in doors, and once we met her, I don't know, it was like instant happiness. I get that she's not the real Tinkerbelle, even Narls commented that she's just a person dressed up, but I cannot explain how easy it is to get wrapped up in the magic of the whole thing. Of every thing. So, yes, she was awesome, and we were happy, and we went outside and found that the rain had stopped and the sky was a gorgeous blue, and we got some Dole pineapple whip, and all was well.

I was immensely proud of us for turning the day around, something we're not always good at. Only  we didn't just turn it around, we made it awesome. We rode more rides (the crowds were even thinner after the rain), we ate, we met up with Scott & Kelly for the fireworks and I cried. Because I'm a crier and that's what I do, but also because I watched Narls face lit up at seeing Tinkerbelle zip across the castle at the start of the fireworks and because I heard him shout "now that's the real Tink!" and because Em fell asleep snuggled in my arms and because I was just so. damn. happy.

Friday was bittersweet because Scott and Kelly left that afternoon and we knew it was our last full day in Florida. We spent most of the morning being lazy and packing and doing laundry, and then after our family left, the four of us headed to the mall four for some shopping and to get our Florida Starbucks mug and a bit of froyo.

Afterward it was back to the villa for takeout pizza and some cuddling on the couch all while watching TMNT. After the kiddos fell asleep, Clay and I had some much needed quality time and then we were in bed by midnight so we could get some sleep before our 5am trip to the airport.

So now we're home and our cat made it through the week without us and our dog did great at the doggy daycare and the kids are happy and Clay and I are happy and this vacation was just what we needed. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but it fed my soul. I came back home even more in love with my husband and children, which I didn't even think was possible.

And we didn't have even a single Griswold-esque mishap.