Last weekend we celebrated Mickey's and my birthdays with a little weekend getaway to Islamorada. We're so lucky to have our birthdays one right after the other. It sure does make for easy celebrations.
Our trip got off to a rainy start...
There's nothing like a rainy day in the key to make you want a bloody mary...
While we waited out the weather with breakfast, a few cocktails and some window shopping, the boys had a blast back in Stuart with Aunt Abigail and Uncle Scott...
...obviously the weather cooperated for them better than it did for us.
Thankfully the rain ended up clearing and we got out and did some exploring on kayaks....
...and on our bikes.
The boys continued to have a blast with the best babysitters ever...
We are incredibly blessed by Abigail and Scott who for three years in a row now have flown down on our birthday weekend. The last two they've watched the boys for us and let us have a little getaway. We are indeed spoiled by them!!
We had lots of delicious food in Islamorada, most of which I didn't even bother to document, but I couldn't resist photos of the paella and carrot cake that were delivered to us by our neighbors at the hotel late Saturday night...
....they definitely know how to help their neighbors put up with their crazy family reunion at the same hotel we were staying at. :-) I'm remembering that move for the future for sure.
We finished up our Sunday morning with one last breakfast at Robbie's before heading back home to our kiddos and their wonderful caretakers...
...breakfast with the birds never gets old. It's always hard to leave.
Abigail and I kept the fun rolling with the boys while the men headed back to work on Monday. I talked Abigail into a 16 mile cruise around Stuart and Jensen via the bridges and island..
...thank goodness she's in shape and the boys are troopers. It was much longer than I remembered.
We made sure to stop at the beach...
...and the park...
...we had one climber and one swinger thanks to a broken clavicle. Hopefully Mason gets the all clear for all activities next week.
After all that exercise, we were ready for some AC and books...
...as well as a mellow evening at home with some burgers and family time.
Tuesday, we soaked up our last bit of Abigail time with a trip to Stuart ceramics...
...and some other downtown Stuart fun...
...which ended with a stop at Kilwins to cool off...
...we discovered some new favorite flavors we all had to share...
....I'm sure it was all chemical and dye free ;-)...
...haha.
It was incredibly fun to get some alone time with my man as well as some sister time with Abigail. Now we're counting down the days til we get to see them again.
We finally got a "relaxing" weekend here in Plankerville and I have to say I'm feeling quite refreshed as I type this on Sunday night.
Yesterday morning kicked off with a fantastic run with my running buddy who is moving to Texas this week. I'm so sad that I'll be losing her but I'm looking forward to our virtual running dates and can't wait to hear what her future has in store for her.
With my workout out of the way, it was time to feed the boys love meter a little with a trip to Lowes for one of our favorite Saturday morning activities...
...they made some pretty cute alien robot puppets.
We ran some errands, had some downtime at the house, and tackled some chores with the rest of day and then got to spend our evening out on the town having a blast with some great friends...
...nights like this one don't happen nearly often enough...
...and Jen, it was a great idea to split up the guys and gals...
It was so much fun to catch up, eat some yummy food, drink some yummy drinks...
...and spend time with great friends...
...I'll spare you the dance floor photos...haha....but I'll let you know it was a fun time.
We had a lazy start to our day today and spent the entire day around the house which was completely fine with me. Our entertainment included some sidewalk painting...
...bike rides, pool time, a movie, a great Piyo workout, some delicious BBQ ribs, and quality time with my kiddos and husband...pretty much perfection if you ask me. Now I'm feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the week. Bring it on!
I woke up to the tunes of some songbirds this morning and for the first time I can remember, I just laid there to enjoy it for a bit. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Mickey came in to kiss me goodbye before he headed off for the day and I pointed their music out to him (and suggested we get some songbird bird food for the feeder :-) ) He was less than enthused but I countered with my delight at taking the time to be present in the moment this morning, thanks to those fabulous birds. It's the little things. Something as simple as stopping to listen to the birds had such a positive impact on my mood and I laid there thanking God for the reminder to slow down, be present, and enjoy the journey. I reminded Mickey it might not be such a bad idea for him to try it out as well...haha. It was simple advice coming from the girl who's NOT rushing off to work before daylight on a Sunday morning :-) Whether he'll take my advice or not, I'm grateful for the reminder and am going to try to work harder on being present this week. In my busyness, I'm pretty sure I'm missing out on a lot of other fabulous things.
Anyways...enough of that little tangent. We finished out our week in our typical busy fashion.
Wednesday night's story time was a success, even as the rain drizzled on all of us in the courtyard. That puddle sure was a big hit :-) The featured stories were...
...do you sense a bunny theme? The Bunnies are Not in Their Beds reminds me of my kiddos and I'm sure many other families can relate. Song of Night is a sweet rhyme, perfect for calming down for bed.
Thursday morning, I was jonesin' for some cardio and since I am nursing a sore hip that's not loving running too much these days, I opted for some TurboFire. I seriously laughed out loud when Colton ran to get his fire truck to put out the "fire" on the screen...
...love him!!
They're getting really good at entertaining themselves while I get my 30 minutes of exercise in...
...they can make some fabulous messes too. Creativity at it's finest, right??!!
Thursday was our "paper-signing-ceremony" anniversary...aka our legal wedding anniversary. Here's the throwback picture I posted that day on Instagram...
We celebrated with some zucchini noodles...
...which also double as fun accessories if your name is Mason...
...and some wine, popcorn, and tv once the boys were in bed...
...maybe we'll go out on our other anniversary, August 8. Five years deserves a date, don't you think??
I decided to test out my hip on a little run to the park Friday morning with my usual running buddies...
...it's definitely on the mend and I made the 3 mile round trip with little pain. That made me VERY happy!
On our way home, we made friends with a man with a mango tree...
...lucky us. Speaking of local fruit, check out the beauty we just picked from our own yard...
...it's our second of the season so far. They are insanely good, better than any you could buy at the store.
We spent the rest of our morning poolside. I had some help cleaning the pool, thanks to Mason, the cutest pool boy ever...
...and Colton treated us to some skinny dipping silliness...
...do it while you can, dude :-)
We met up with some of our favorite people for lunch and indulged in a little post-lunch ice cream...
....we've got a chocolate convert on our hands, folks. YUM!!!
We took advantage of the lack of rain to enjoy a walk by the river...
...and the boys finally suckered me into a ride on the courtesy shuttle...
...I seriously think the boys thought it was better than an amusement park ride. They were the hit downtown, waving to everyone we passed. I'm so glad I caved in and let them have their way, even if it meant we missed our nap that day. We just made it a lazy night with movies and pizza...fine by me.
Saturday morning, I had the brilliant idea of a quick run at 8:30 am...
...lesson learned = all summer running must be completed by 8:30 am. It was INSANELY hot out there. Still good results with the hip though on my 3.5 mile run though, so that made for one happy momma.
We spent the rest of our Saturday morning building...
...of course we had to test our Turbos with a race...
...those Lowe's builds never get old. We followed up our building with a trip to the mall for some returns and couldn't resist a little Starbucks pick-me-up...
...cake pops for the boys and espresso for mommy. Hit the spot!!
I stumbled accross a killer candle sale while we were there and restocked our supply. Impulse buy #1...
...with a coupon and the sale, I got three candles for $1 more than the retail price of one. Score!!
We made a couple of other stops on the way home. Impulse buy #2...
...I have a hard time getting out of the Fresh Market without something that's not on my list. Hard to resist BOGO flavored ketchup. We're testing it out tonight. Yum!!
The Fresh Market is right next door to the Dollar Tree aka the boys' favorite store. Therefore, impulse buy #3...
...new puzzles. I love that I let them each get a dollar and from everything in the store, they pick MORE puzzles. They love their puzzles.
This bad boys was waiting for us when we got home...
...Mickey and I will be doing a little diet refresh soon. Details to come... Needless to say, I'm just a little bit excited!
I spent a glorious naptime poolside trying out a new to me workout...
...I might need to find more of these workouts. It was totally different from my norm but a glorious change of pace..but hopefully not the reason my shoulder blade is KILLING me today. Good thing I've got a chiropractor appointment tomrrow, huh??
We had a quiet evening at home which was just what the doctor ordered.
After my glorious wake-up this morning, we had a lazy morning doing puzzles, reading books, and enjoying breakfast before heading off to spend our morning at the water park....
...the boys get a little more adventurous every time we go. Love that! And am incredibly glad we've got those season passes...10:00 entry when the park opens to the public at 10:30 is awesome. Those 30 minutes with hardly anyone there are pure BLISS!!
Today I spent naptime with my good friend Chalene Johnson doing some PiYo, hoping the gentle movement will help my back/shoulder blade feel better. It didn't make it worse so I'm hopeful it was the right choice.
Looking forward to another quiet night at home with my family to recharge for the coming week...a week of focusing on being present. Bring it on!!
