Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Jackson Hole 2014

In an effort to get caught up, I have another vacation post for you.  Every summer I (now we) go to my parents cabin up in Idaho, just across the pass from Jackson Hole. 
It really is one of my favorite places in the world, and I am so glad J will be able to experience this as he grows up.  The thing that I love most about going is how relaxed it is.  Now, having J living out a suitcase and in a hotel room on a vacation just isn't as easy.  It is so great to be able to go to this home away from home and be able to spread out with a baby/toddler.

J and I left on a Tuesday afternoon.  This was J's fifth airplane ride in his short life, but the first one he has had in a year.  He has changed so much since this time last year, so I was a little nervous as to how he would do.  Why do I worry?  He did great!!!  As my mom says, he is the perfect little traveler.  He is so portable and really adapts to his surrounding so well.



 


 
I honestly didn't take that many pictures.  We go every year and we don't do a whole lot, especially since J is still little.  The main thing we did with J was swim lessons.  Because I wasn't that impressed with the ones I got him at the beginning of the summer, my mom arranged for J to get some private ones at the resort swimming pool.  J had one swim lesson with Ms. Ruth last year, but this year we were able to get in 5 private lessons. 
 






As you can see, my dad went in with J during his first lesson.  However, the last three lessons J was getting in just with Ms. Ruth.  He loved her!!!  She really has the sweetest way about her.  It helps that she has three of her own under 5, so I think she knows a thing or two about working with toddlers!!!  J really is a water baby.  He has no fear of it!!! He was going under the water no problem.  Ruth told us at the last lesson that if she could work with him for one more week he would be swimming by himself.

 
J LOVED the splash pad at the pool!!!
 
 
One night we drove into town (Victor, ID) and went to the weekly outdoor concert.  They have it every Thursday night during the summer.  It is the coolest thing because everyone from town and surrounding areas bring their kids and set up chairs and blankets and hang out.  They have food trucks lined up.  It really is so much fun!!!  The best part is that the nights get chilly up there so you aren't sweating at 7 pm like you would be here in Texas.  I looked at my phone while were sitting there, and it was 67 degrees!!!  Needless to say, we all had to put on sweatshirts!!!
 




Another day we drove back into JH to go to the new children's museum.  The funny thing is that the museum is where the original church of Christ was until they relocated about 3 years ago. 







J had the BEST time!!!  He played and played and wanted to play some more.  In fact, we broke for lunch, and the GPa and J went back to play for another hour, so we could go shop the square.
We met at the park with a picnic.  Jeane, a lady and friend of my parents from the local church, met us for lunch.  She is the sweetest!!!


Like I said, the girls went and shopped for a bit and GPa took J back to play.  Then, we went back to get them and played another 30 minutes because J didn't want to leave.
 
I really wish we had something so small and fun in Texas.  Yes, there is the FW museum, which is great, but it's big and crowded.  The great thing about the one in JH is you can tell it's mainly the locals that take their kids because it's so relaxed and not crazy busy.
 
 
Another afternoon J went on the last 7 holes of the golf course with my dad.  I have a feeling my dad will be teaching him golf before too long.  From what I hear, J had the best time riding in the cart and getting out at each hole.
 




 
Another evening we met Jeane and Charlie for dinner at Warbirds Café in Driggs.  This is a little restaurant inside an airplane hanger, and it is probably the best food in the Teton Valley.  It never disappoints.  We ate on the patio.  As luck would have it THREE small planes landed during dinner.  J loved seeing the planes!!! 
 
 
And here are some more swimming pics from later on in the trip.  We LOVE Ruth!!!
 



 
 
And J in 2013 at swim lessons-
 
 
 
 
 
One day after swim lessons, we stayed and had lunch.  Can I just say that I love pool food!!!!  Maybe not all pool food, but resort pool is really good!
 


 
And look at J in 2013 eating his lunch-
 

 
 
 
And every year, we take a picture by this sign.  I think it will be a great marker to see J growing and changing over the years.  Unfortunately, the sign was not up J's first year because it was being repaired.  Here are this year's pics.
 

 
And last year (2013)-
 
 
 
 

 This is us at the airport heading home.  It was 6:45 am and J was delirious having been woken up at 5 am!!!



I took this last pic on the plane ride home.  He was sitting there looking so old watching a Mickey Mouse episode on my Kindle Fire.
 
We had another amazing trip to the cabin!!!  We are so blessed to have opportunity to go to the mountains every summer.  I hope it's a tradition J looks forward to every summer. 
 
 
 
 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Beach Vacay 2014

It's been a while since I sat down and did a post.  If you hadn't noticed, I took kind of an unintentional break for the summer.  Most of you that read this know why, but I will get to more of that later this week.  For now, I want to get caught up because I haven't done the best job of documenting this summer. 

First up- Our Florida Beach Vacation- Only 8 weeks in the making!!!

As we did last summer, we went to Seaside/Watercolor Florida with my parents. 
Here are last year's posts of our trip-- here and here.

The major difference this year was we made it a road trip instead of flying. 

I was incredibly nervous about taking a road trip with a two year old but with a bag of tricks we survived it.  Honestly, J was great!!!  I don't know why I was so worried.   I will say that I think anybody can make a road trip with a toddler if you have a DVD player and a favorite movie or in our case a DVD of Mickey Mouse.  I was reluctant to plug it in too soon on the trip because I didn't want him watching it the whole time.  So about two hours in we turned Mickey on and like I thought it played the rest of the day and the majority of the next.  But who's counting...

We left on Saturday morning and stopped for the night in Slidell, LA.  Then, we picked it up again on Sunday morning and drove for about 5 more hours to arrive at the condo around 2 pm.  I definitely think breaking it into chunks was a good idea!!!

Last year, I took the trip day by day but this year I am just going to show you some of the highlights.  Let's be honest our days looked very much the same.  We got up every morning ate breakfast, were at the beach between 10 and 11.  Sometimes we ate on the beach, sometimes we left and came back to the condo and ate lunch.  Then, we had nap time or sometimes pool time then nap time.  Then, dinner out.  Then, home to bed. 
I have grown to love the beach, but I will never be an all day at the beach girl.  Have you seen my lily white skin?  And luckily, my parents and Aaron are totally fine with us going to beach for 2 or 3 hours a day and then calling it a day.  I don't and probably never will understand people that spend 6 and 7 hours at the beach.  No wonder people end up lobsters by the end of the day!!!



 

One of the mornings we got up and after breakfast took J to an art class across the street from the condo.  This adorable children's boutique has daily activities for children of all ages.  My mom found out about a toddler art class, so we took J.  J wasn't all that interested in the project, but my mom and I taking turns we got him to stick with it long enough to see his sea turtle complete.


Another morning we headed to the pool before lunch at Pickles for hamburgers.  Then, we went to the beach for a few hours in the afternoon before naptime.  J LOVES the water!!!  As you can see GPa and Daddy enjoyed a game of water Frisbee!!!!




 
J LOVED playing the sand almost as much as playing in the waves and water.  Daddy introduced J to the wonderful world of drip castles.  I was also thankful that I picked up this amazing bucket of sand toys at Costco back in May. 


AND TONS of beach pics----




 



 


 
 
I know he's mine, but have you ever seen a 2 year old rock a pair of sunglasses better than this kid!!!









^^^^^^^^^^^  I LOVE his beachy hair coming over the sunglasses ^^^^^


          We had our own private DJ on the trip, too!!!  J was rocking the songs!!!


 
 Headed home after a morning at the beach.   All my favorite people in the world in one picture!!! My dad's in there, too.  He was rocking the flip flops or like he calls them "thongs" to the beach each day.  He HATES them!!!  He had blisters between his toes, so he was always about 20 steps behind us!!! LOL

 
We were on the third floor of the condo like last year.  And J LOVED pushing the button of the elevator!!!  He ran and squealed each time!!!  Oh to be two and find joy in the little things!!!
 
 
One night we walked into Seaside and ate at The Southern.  Aaron and my mom raved about the shrimp and grits they got when we went there last year.  So this year all of us ordered shrimp and grits.  Oh my!!!  Now, I understand why they wanted to go back so much.  Probably the best meal on the trip!!!  Delish!!!
 
 
After, we strolled around the area behind our condo.  Watercolor is absolutely beautiful and peaceful!!!  Just look at the pics!!!






 
 
 And because I am going to make this the longest post EVER.
Here are some more---
 





 

 

 
 

 
 
When we weren't at the beach, we did some of this, too!
 





And our last night at the beach!!!  And the only picture with all of us in it!!!
 
 
 
If you made it this far, you must really love us!!! Because this is one long post!!!
 
 
 
A big thanks to my fabulous parents who offer and want us to join them on their beach vacation!!!  Trust me we get the better end of the deal!!!
 
And because we were having such a good time, we extended our trip by a day.  Instead of leaving on Friday and breaking the trip into two chunks like on the way down, we left on Saturday with my parents and drove the entire 12 hours in ONE day!!!  All I can say is J was a trooper and Mickey Mouse was a life saver!!!
 

 
Until hopefully... next year!!! Good bye Florida beach!!!