Vacation 2014, Part II

The contents of our week at home on vacation were quite different than a normal week here. Our fancy shmancy hotel vacation and our trip to Orlando transformed into a "STAYcation," over night. So not only was it a vacation for Ryan away from work it was absolutely grand having Ryan home all week helping me with the stay at home mom stuff (this also means sleeping in advantages).

We switched off mornings being able to stay snug in bed while the other did all the morning stuff with Lola. 

^ A perfect example of our Staycation. Sleep, Sleep, and lots of sleep!

This also worked wonders because Sims 4 just released the Tuesday of our vacation and I was getting antsy about staying up late some nights building mansions and becoming a master chef via Sim world. So it totally worked out and we got to pretend we were kids again, feeling like rebels staying up as late as possible AND sleeping in till' noon.

We also took a trip to SAM's to get some bulk shopping done. We went a little crazy, but our house needed re-stocking in stuff we use daily, so it was nice to get it all done in one shot and (bonus) it will last us for quite a while (green tea and cereal heaven). 

So the rest of the week we vegged and vegged some more, and prepared ourselves for the weekend ahead. We were taking our first overnight trip as a family! A while back we scooped up Frozen on Ice tickets because even at a very young age Lola adored the movie and Ryan and I had just visited our first Disney on ice event and loved it. So bringing Lola was a nessecity. We incorporated our vacation around that time and decided that getting a hotel the night before would be the best option for our busy baby schedule (and because we still think it's super cool to stay in a hotel, it also gave us an excuse to spend all of Saturday roaming Orlando.)

Which we did. We explored Seuss landing and went on the few measly rides that were 1 year old accessible, it was still a blast. We took Lola on the Hogwarts express and brought her to Diagon Alley because we just couldn't get enough, but Lola had enough. And after like 3 hours she was pooped, starving and ready to crash. Too be expected bring a 1 year old to an amusement park, how do you pro parents do it?!

Our hotel was smack dab in downtown Orlando which was pretty nifty since the Amway center was right down the street. Our hotel was super nice, and Lola had a blast (minus Ryan dropping us off to get dinner and Lola and I being hotel-less because I forgot the hotel number). Oh boy...that was a story and don't get me started on burger 21 burgers with a hefty scoop of guacamole....ew and our exhausted attempts of pulling out the futon from the couch... AND forgetting our frozen tickets all the way back at home and not realizing it till the night before....our evening wasn't the best, but it's pretty hilarious to think about now. 

The next morning we found a small place for breakfast, ate our bellies full, and arrived in the parking lot really early to let Lola nap before the show. I was so nervous that she was going to be a typical one year old...and she was. But luckily we purchased club seating which meant we had our own little zone and swivel comfy chairs. It made the whole process a gazillion times easier. We were able to stand up and bounce Lola when she got antsy and fussy, and the chairs kind of enclosed her in when she was actively watching the performance and enjoying it. So worth it, and she adored watching her favorite movie unfold with real life characters and real ice! (Well sort of real...). 

Vacation 2014 Part I

Our 8 day vacation came to an end last night and I'm a mixture of feelings about it. I was begging the time to stand still in the middle of last week, but I was also longing for our lives to get back on track again, but mostly begging the clock.

It's been about 2 years since we had a "real" vacation. I'm not counting last years vacation because Ryan and I were sleep deprived zombies and learning how to be parents. I barely recall anything from that week and relaxation was the last thing on our minds.

So that is why we made sure to fill this week with everything a vacation recipe calls for. 

Our week started last Sunday, after dropping little hunny off at my parents house. We have been anticipating the new expansion to Harry Potter World since the commericials started airing on TV. The last time we explored Universal Studios, Harry Potter World was in an itty bitty corner of the park, but it was still just like walking into pages themselves, so we started planning immediately and next thing you know we became annual pass holders to both parks. Now we can jump into the book whenever we feel like it. 

So we made the short 2ish hour drive and spent the whole day, just the two of us forgetting about all the responsibilities of our lives, sipping on butter beer, and exploring Diagon alley and the rest of the worlds in both parks. Since we wanted to go a little crazy since we were on vacation, we got a super fancy shmancy hotel (I hardly knew the real name of it so fancy shmancy hotel was a great substitute). This hotel put any hotel I've ever stayed into shame, it had a gigantic kitchen, the nicest balcony and view, a bed that slept probably the seven dwarves and a jacuzzi tub.....WITH JETS. 

Home was a distant memory at this point. Park Place who? what? where?
And then we quite literally sunk our heads into pillow heaven and slept like champions. In the morning we made our way to the cafe connected to our hotel, got Starbucks, and tip toed back to our room and enjoyed the sunrise and breakfast on our balcony.

It was the life.
We spent the next few hours back at the 2 parks until our feet were bubbling with blisters and we couldn't take the heat anymore.
We arrived home probably limping toward the door, but it was all totally worth it, if only we could bring home our own personal butter beer keg, I think our lives would have been completely complete.

A Pocket of Parts + A See You Later

It's been exactly 2 weeks since my brother left our steamy swamp to go live with his friends in a place where the air is cooler and mountains exist. A place that is acquires a different time zone than the one we are in. A place that is the total opposite of old people seeking a place to retire.

Seattle.

Yep, that place in Washington. You know the state that is on the polar opposite corner of the United States. 

I suppose he really did hate it here. I don't blame him though, he needed this more than anyone I know and I am so overly proud of the courage he mustered up to hop a plane and leave. It was time.

I've known for about a year now that he was leaving. I never really came to terms with it, I just kind of laughed it off and thought it would never happen. Until the drive home from the airport last Saturday. 

The bridge home is 10 miles, and I cried every mile of it. Silent tears, ones that don't make noise...ones that trickle down and cling to your cheek before they drip into nothingness.

The tears dried the second we reached the end of the bridge and I gathered myself. It symbolic in a way, he was always the bridge that got me to where I was going. I didn't expect to take this as hard as I did, but I think when a sibling parts ways with you, a part of you goes with them. 

I hope that he carries parts of me with him in his heart's pocket every day. 

The part where I used to sneak into his room on Saturday mornings as a kid (with psychedelic bean bag in hand) and watch cartoons. The part where we would have marble races on the floor and I always named mine. The part where I would watch intently while he played video games, and make the audio for the characters which usually annoyed the crap out of him. The part where he would mediate the pointless teenage angst between my mom and I. The parts when he would straighten me up, when things were a bit crooked and I lost my way. The part when he held his niece for the first time and bonded with her and ended up being the best of buddies. 

The part where we hugged in the airport and he approached his new life, the one where he can be happy and do what he was made to do. 

And he better do just that, so I can add one more thing to my list of reasons why I have always looked up to him, and not because he is significantly taller than I am. 

The Knights at the Rectangular Table

Why is sitting around a table of people you love so heartwarming?

Ever since I can remember, I sat at the table for dinner with my family. As I got a little older though I always wanted to branch out and go finish my dinner in my bedroom, in front of the TV or laptop. And when Ryan and I moved into together typically the place to dine was seated on the couch or our bed (back in the real old days, when we lived with roommates eek).

Not until becoming a parent did I realize how essential it is to have this time together. Sharing a dinner behind a table was such a huge staple in my childhood and I never understood why it was such a big deal. I think it may be because the action of sharing food with the people you love will always be the number one thing that brings you closer to them. It's also a break from the world for a bit. Everything is so fast pace most days and this small endeavor slows the clock a bit and forces us to rewind with one another.

When Ryan and I moved into our very first apartment together, we collected A LOT of odds and ends. Mostly from garage sales and big thrifting adventures. We even found a table in the midst of everything and we thought, "well, we have a dining room...so why not?" It was a decently sturdy piece of work with a coat of solid black paint (not stain, mind you) with iron black poles from legs. It was a stunner. It did come with two chairs though, so that was a score. I got super crafty and reupholstered the stained cushions and was quite proud of us for even having a dining room table to begin with.
Until, we never used it. Well, no...we DID use it just not for the food eating part. It was a catch all for groceries and bills, a table for doing late night homework, an extra counter top (have I mentioned how tiny Park Place's kitchens really are?), and my sewing and cutting table when I taught myself how to sew, OH and we must not forget, it was the cats favorite napping spot.

That table followed us to the apartment we are currently in, and I despised the thing and ONCE again never used it. We were ready for an improvement, and just in time because Lola was beginning to eat table foods, which would in turn mean she must eat the food from the table!
Ryan set to work and crafted my dream table, and I might have fallen in love with him a little bit more because of it. I love when my pinterest fantasties actually come true.

So it took a while of adjusting to, and I sure did miss watching HGTV and chowing down on some grub, but the first night we sat down, all three of us at the table it was bliss. The TV was muted, our phones were somewhere else in the abyss and all we had was each other and our food, laughs, and empty bellies. We have made it a part of our week, every week to sit down at the table together at least 3 nights out of the week. This has also forced us to get back into a cooking routine, which is amazing because home cooked food will always win over take out.
 This table also brings back frequent memories of the last table. It still is a place that I use as a desk every once in a while when I don't feel like blogging in the bedroom, and the cats are in paradise since all three can basically fit on top for nap time now, and the catch all thing is pretty much a given....but it's wonderful and it's lovely how a piece of furniture can accomplish so many things.
Three cheers to conquering the mainstream routines of the folks in this day and age. I'm okay with living in a half old fashioned way once in a while :)

A Little Scorching Hot Mermaid Birthday Party

We decided to celebrate Lola's birthday on the Sunday before her actual birthday because we like to live our lives rebelliously. No, but really we did it because we were trying to escape the crazy Fourth of July freaks on the weekend of her real birthday.
Ultimately this means that we got to celebrate her birthday twice, which turned out being the best part of all.

I was super overly prepared for this day. I had like four big reusable bags filled with decorations that were packed a week in advance, we got the food and cake ordered on time and got all the drinks and food nicely set up in the car the night before so there would be no mishaps. My parents watched Lola while Ryan and I headed to Phillipee park to start the decorating process like 2 and a half hours in advance. I WAS READY.


But not really.
After an hour of being out there I was drenched in sweat (it was 11 AM people). My forever hatred of Florida remains deep deep in my soul. Also, after an hour of decorating, getting it all cute and super decked out the ferocious wind starts gusting through blowing all our hard work to hell. Literal hell, because it was 100 million degrees outside. sigh.
And to top off all that lovely excitement I go to take pictures and forgot my memory card at home, lost in the wilderness. Instead of having a mental breakdown, I sat down with my best friend and stuck a super fancy paper straw in a cup of Hawaiian Punch and let it all happen.

Guests start arriving and so does Lola with my parents. Everything is going peachy until all our guy friends start trying to wish her a Happy Birthday and the world probably ended just right then. She cried...and cried...and cried some more. And if any guy (yes only men) of any sort looked in her direction she started crying alligator tears. We scooted the guys off, with all their dreams of being Lola's favorite, to go play some sort of sport so Lola could actually some what enjoy her birthday party. And that she did, with sweat running through her wisps of hair and being held by Mommy or Daddy the majority of the time.

The last half of the party ended up being a whole lot better, thanks to melted cake smashing and icing face painting. She went to town on that cake and the world kept on spinning even with all the men spinning with it, and she started to be somewhat okay with that.
I was so happy to throw her a party and get all her family and friends together to watch her turn One (kind of). All the people that have been there for us this whole year and supported us through it all. You guys are truly the greatest and I can't wait for Lola to grow up knowing such wonderful people.
^ yep we got a play kitchen for a 1 year old. I couldn't contain myself.



Now as far as next year goes...I'm not too sure yet, but I have eternally vowed to never allow an outdoor party involving Lola's birthday ever ever ever again. Unless a pool is thrown in the mix. Time to get creative from hear on out.

Renaissance Festival

This past weekend the usual crew and I set out for the Renaissance festival! Every year people dress up in medieval wear and take themselves back to a different time and place. A place where kings and queens ruled, things were only made by hand, and people spoke in a different way. The times now are so hustle bustle and less in the moment. People lived in the moment back then. Things came unexpectedly because there was no such thing as phones and internet to prepare them for just about anything. Although the festival is...well just a festival it still acts as a time machine for me.
I like to bring myself back into that time every once in a while to be free for a few hours and live simply.



If only I owned an actual time machine...