When we all met in Virginia

Oh heeeeey! After an intentional week long break from the ol' blog, two weeks have passed and here we are.

Last week, Liam and I flew to Virginia to visit my brother and sister-in-law and FINALLY meet my niece. Just for the heck of it! My sister was flying out there and when I researched flights for that same week, I could not pass up the flight deal. And a mini sibling reunion (minus one, Jen we missed you so!). These things don't just happen with us kids. It's usually a family vacation where there's a total of 20 people at my parents cabin or we only have a day or two. But we had a whole seven days! Seven!

It was a glorious week despite the fact that my two year old went into crazy mode. As told to husband after I was home, it was literally the hardest week mothering him since he was born. Sleepless nights seemed more manageable than this. Newborn cries are so much more pleasant than toddler cries screams. Also, this new human who emerged the second we touched down at Reagan Airport was nothing I'd ever seen. He was suddenly hitting, throwing, running, all in complete defiance. WHO IS THIS PERSON? I thought this every day. No day was easy with him and he is the most easy going little kid.

Aside from that, he did say my SIL's name for the first time while we were there. Chrissssin! Since being home, he says his auntie's and uncle's names no less than five times a day.

There was lots of down time, LOTS of naps (it's a blessed feeling when not one person in the house is awake at 2PM), lots of blooming trees and petals on the ground, humid days and cool nights, dinners on the deck, some DC tourism, competitive games (Stratego is my biggest burden), trainos, Gracie hugs and kisses, jealousy cries from said hugs and kisses, and early bedtimes. This is what vacations are made of. I loved every second of it and am missing it so much. Oh, how I long to live near those people again.

dreaming of palm trees and desert

palm springs is still on the brain.

i want to stay here at casa cody.

perhaps take a hummer tour but for sure take a balloon flight.

eat here.

go to the zoo.

and for cocktails too.

i just wanna get away. 

A 12 Hour Trip To Heaven

Yesterday was... 

Blissful. Heaven. Restful. Fun. Freeing. Put it an adjective...it was it.

I had high expectations for the day, to be honest. It was my only day off in eleven days. I was tired and wanted to take advantage of my time away from work.

We threw out several ideas. Perhaps go to the casino or the zoo? The zoo sounded fun so we hopped in the car. Half way there, Husband looks at me and says, "Why don't we just got to LA?" I shut it down pretty quickly and then thought about it and said, "YES!"

So we turned around and headed South. We didn't really know what we were gonna do. Eat? I mean, who doesn't travel two and a half hours for lunch?

We got there around 3pm and saw the Hollywood sign, million dollar shacks in Beverley Hills, and too many puffed up lips. 

Husband had never really seen LA other than really driving through it so I directed us to Rodeo Drive. 

We parked and walked the drive, all the while he couldn't stop staring at cars. 

We saw Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant, the guy from the Backstreet Boys who's name I can't think of, and were just so happy to be together. Corny? I don't care.

We stopped for a cocktail and cheesecake on Rodeo and enjoyed the view looking at the Beverley Wilshire Hotel. It was pretty romantic.

Hopped in the car again and drove toward Santa Monica Pier. It was beautiful driving towards the ocean watching the sun go down. 

We walked the pier a while and then ate at Bubba Gump's. 

Delish. And fattening. And the perfect icing on the cake.

It was a magical day. So needed for us. We forgot any stress. Erased work, money, and time from our minds and just were. It's days like these that make us love our life choices. Our choice to wait in having kids. Our choice to live where we do. Our choice in partner.