travel :: santa monica

A week ago, Lane and I went on a little kid-free vacation to Santa Monica, CA. We love short getaways to explore an area we have never been before, and three nights was the perfect amount of time to do just that with out missing the babies too much!

I arrived on Thursday and Lane taxied up from Long Beach where he had been at a conference. We checked into our airbnb, ate some tacos, and explored the area.

The area we stayed in was known as "the canyon" in Santa Monica, with tiered neighborhoods rising steeply on the North and South side. We immediately fell in love with the area to the South, specifically the neighborhoods of beautiful old houses and one street in particular, Montana Ave, that was so quaint and had the best restaurants and coffee that we experienced.

The next day, at the recommendation of some locals, we rented bikes and rode along the beach south to Venice beach. We explored the beautiful canals and then walked over to Abbot-Kinney Blvd, which we were told was rated "the most fun street in the US". We truly don't understand that status. However, we had a yummy lunch at Neighbor, and then returned back to the canyon and spent the rest of the day on Montana once again.

On Saturday we biked to the farmer's market in downtown Santa Monica, which was not much to speak of, and then explored around downtown. Again, it could not compare with the charming area of the canyon/Montana Ave.

Saturday afternoon we grabbed an Uber ride up to the hills of Pacific Palisades and hiked the Los Leones trail, which was a nice easy (and very popular) walk with beautiful views.
That night we ate at Art's Table (on our beloved Montana Ave.). I am still dreaming about the vegan bowl of rice and roasted veggies I had along with a glass of JuneShine hard kombucha- SO good! After dinner, we went next door to check out the impressive tap selection at Father's Office. Lane had a couple tasty beers, and we turned in early (yet again. nerds.).

Before we flew out on Sunday we had coffee for a second time at the best coffee shop we had found in the area- Primo Passo, then strolled the neighborhoods one last time.

I would have loved to go up to Malibu for a day, but aside from that, I think our quick getaway was the perfect amount of time to spend in the little area that we fell in love with in Santa Monica. As always, though, it was just so sweet to come home!

riviera maya part 2: what we did, a photo dump story

Our trip to the Riviera Maya was such a whirlwind that I feel like I already don't remember half of what happened... so I figured I should write down the half I do remember so that, well, I'll have some memories of the trip...

The first night we arrived at the hotel and ordered room service, because we could.

        

Above: me, extremely excited to be there, so I took my form of selfie in the giant mirror + our room service food, which I was also extremely excited about.

Then we went to the party at Heaven where everyone was meeting up. We didn't actually go to Heaven, just the bar/club called Heaven. So we really went to that heaven, although it wasn't really heaven. Don't get me wrong, it was really nice! Just not the real heaven. The real heaven club and bar, but not the real place..... oh, never mind...

The next day we had a big group mixer/salsa dance/scavenger hunt, followed by a big group lunch. Then we hung out by the pool and later there was a massive karaoke competition/dance-off/dress-up like rock stars/dance party that led to us all being super hungry and having a leisurely, long dinner at the Japanese restaurant.

     

 

 Top photos: me trying to be artsy with the wall/mirrors. 

Middle and bottom photos: the night club Heaven, complete with pools.

Thursday was the group outing to Xel-ha (or something like that) where we literally walked around laughing in our swim suits all day. It wasn't super warm out, but we did float the lazy river and zip line once. I managed to face plant in the water from the zip line. As Katie put it "Well, that was graceful." Or not so much.

Thursday night we all ate at the Italian restaurant. It was a three hour meal with a LOT of laughing.

 Top: the girls, looking slightly blurry. 

Bottom: the guys, looking very coordinated. (why so confused, Ted?)

Friday morning we had a couple's massage, then hung out on the beach with our friends Zach and Stephanie who we had met there. They are from Louisiana and the sweetest couple! We are hoping to visit them at some point in life.

    

Above: the tile on our balcony was so pretty, and I couldn't get over that blue color on the walls in the hallways and outside of the building. This is me ready to go hang out by the ocean, white wine in hand. 

Below: the paper that came on our tray when we ordered room service... I thought it captured the trip well, so I used it as room decor.

On Friday evening we went to the Brazilian restaurant with Zach and Steph, then headed over to the big group beach party that the company had set up, complete with twinkle light strands stretched over head, a fire dance/drumming show, then fireworks over the ocean. Then a wild dance party in the gazebo (is that the correct term?) you see below:



After that we headed over to Heaven (do you see now how confusing it is?) and danced the night away, as well as some of the early morning hours.

There are so many little details I want to remember, like the fact that our company did "room drops" every day while we were out, leaving an itinerary for the next day with a bunch of goodies.
Also, every morning I sprang out of bed around 7:30 (4:30 our time) so excited to head down to the lobby to get an espresso and grab some bottles of water. Then I would climb up to our private rooftop terrace (overlooking the ocean) and read my Bible with my shake and coffee.
We each had money to spend on various services, so Lane and I received a couple's massage and spent time in the beautiful spa.
The weather was cooler than we had anticipated, but we saw sunshine and aqua ocean every day. The people at the hotel were all so kind, our company spoiled us like crazy, and the other people we met in this business were all so wonderful and fun.

I missed our kids so badly, but it was such an epic trip and I am forever grateful.

PS one year ago- a cute spring centerpiece/ kid craft

riviera maya part 1

Side note: So, it's been a while since my last post... like, seven months. Long story short, Lane and I started this nutrition program at the beginning of August, and it morphed into a home business by the end of August. When we started doing it as a business, sacrifices had to be made. I refused to sacrifice the quality of my day job as a full time mom, so instead I quit blogging. I also quit housework... Just kidding! (sort of)...
These past few days, for the first time in seven months, I have had time to come up for air. I finally have a few free minutes, so I decided to blog. Because honestly, I really enjoy it. Also, I want this blog to be a place for my kids to come back to one day and read about what went on while they were kids because, according to my mother-in-law, if you have a good childhood, you don't remember it, and I like to think my kids are enjoying a pretty sweet time of their lives.

I finally have this time to blog because we are away from daily life. From work and home and kids. We have been given an incredible gift of an all-expenses paid trip to the Hard Rock hotel in beautiful Riviera Maya, Mexico.

 

This is all so unreal to me. I am shocked that we won this trip, that we are here in this world of aqua blue water, private rooftop terraces, and unlimited tacos... I am shocked that this blessing has been given to us.

 

I have not told many people this, but here is the truth about this trip: I prayed for it long before it was ever a reasonable possibility. I prayed for it long before God had given us this little home business, long before we had met most of the amazing people on our team, long before the opportunity was presented to us.

Last year, my mother-in-law won the Downton Abbey sweepstakes. The SWEEPSTAKES. She was flown to England with a guest (her sister) and they were whined and dined and whooped it up with the cast of Downton Abbey and had a fabulous time. She had prayed for that trip.
Another dear friend of mine went to Hawaii last year. She surfed, soaked up the sun, and developed a deep love for coconut rum. The travel of the trip was completely paid for. Years earlier, she had prayed for that trip.

Inspired by these stories, I mentioned (more like mumbled) to the Lord in passing how a free trip to a tropical location for Lane and I would be nice. "I understand if it doesn't happen, Lord. I don't deserve it. But... it would be nice."
And truthfully, I didn't really believe it would happen. I believed it for other people, but I didn't believe it was possible for me.

But my God is in the business of lavishing undeserved gifts on undeserving people.
My God is in the Grace business.

 

So here we are, by the grace of God, in an incredible resort in an unbelievable place, being outrageously spoiled.
I have learned so much from this experience, but here is the key take-away: never underestimate the goodness of a God who wants to bless your socks off.

PS: one year ago, a kitchen tour, and Judah looking SO little!

lately: water play, road trips, photo loss, and teeth gain

 Ah! So many things to catch up on! In no particular order (although I will fake it by attempting to put it into a neat outline), here is what has been happening lately:

1. The kids and I went to Corvallis for a couple days while Lane went backpacking with a group (large group, there were like eight of them) of guys from our church. Then we came home for forty eight hours and we all left for Bend for five days. Then we came home for forty eight hours and left for north-of-Seattle-area to accompany Lane on a business trip and visit some family and friends in the area. We arrived home yesterday evening and I am going NO WHERE in the car today, not even for groceries which we desperately need, especially because Lane and I are doing the whole 30 (ugh, more on that later).
(and when I say we are going no where, I really only mean until tomorrow, when we all have to get in the car to go to a birthday party. I'm just a little dramatic sometimes.)

 a. Corvallis was good, as usual.. stayed with Lane's parents, ran through the sprinklers, ate popsicles, visited family, had a play date with friends at "diggy park". Standard Corvallis trip.

  b. Bend was great as well- visited breweries (Lane and I even escaped by ourselves one evening and went to Crux Fermentation Project. deliciousness.), biked, and stayed at a beautiful and ridiculously nice home on the golf course that is owned by my mom and step-dad's friends. It was SO nice and such a blessing to stay there for free, but it will never happen again because I was sure my sweet children would completely destroy it. We also visited friends who own a fro-yo shop (convenient) and went to a lake to swim and paddle board with them. Also took the kids out to Mirror Pond (the body of water, not brewery) to kayak and play in the water. 

They all really love the water, even Judah who kicks his feet hard and laughs and plays in it.

All the adventuring in Bend was good, but overall, it was just really nice to spend time with my mom and step-dad.

 c. North-of-Seattle-area was the insane trip for so many reasons: I drove up by myself  (in traffic, of course) with the kids, and we were go-go-going the whole time we were there.
It was the first time the kids have ever stayed in a hotel, and they thought it was the best thing (although they didn't understand why they had to keep quiet and not bounce off the walls).
We swam in the pool each day, went out to eat, and hiked the trails near the hotel.
The first full day we were there, the kids and i met up with my friend Katie (remember her? she used to blog here?) at a beach in Edmonds to meet her new baby and play in the water and sand and collect three hundred shells that are now scattered all over our car in little pieces.
The next day (being yesterday, also the day we drove home), we met up with my cousin (who is getting married in October and i get to be in her wedding!!!) at a beach in Kirkland where we pretty much did the same things, although thankfully no more shells.
Then a co-worker of Lane's dropped him off- along with his rolly suitcase- at the beach and he was able to drive home with us, which was great.
We arrived home yesterday evening and the kids were all so pooped that they are still asleep right now, at 9:25 am, which is why I am able to frantically type all this.

Whew.

(Kid awake. Will continue later...)

(...continued...)

2. As soon as we arrived home from Bend, Lane and James went to buy some little fireworks (it happened to be the fourth) and Eleanor got a hold of my camera and promptly deleted ALL the pictures. From, like, the last three months. Which reminded me how important this little blog is. (Also important: regularly downloading photos onto the computer.)

3. Among the chaos which has been our lives for the last couple weeks, Judah has cut six (yes, six) more teeth. Whereby quadrupling his amount of teeth. (is that right? he had two, now eight... Math is not my strong suit.) He has had a slight fever the last couple days, and has been a bit more needy than normal, but overall is still a happy little guy.

 4. Lane and I decided to start the Whole 30 last Sunday. I will do a full post, hopefully tomorrow, on how it is going so far. It isn't terrible, but I feel like my brain needs bread and my taste buds need chocolate.

5. We have a lot to accomplish this weekend, but I am going to try to be at home as much as possible this next week. If you'll excuse me, I have to go start another load of laundry, eat a handful of almonds, and nurse my poor little teether...

Happy Friday, friends!

mother's day 2015 :: in da hood

Warning: these photos taken with our tiny orange camera that is literally being held together with tape and is used more often by the kids than the adults. But, it fits in the front pocket of the Ergo, so for outings that I just can't carry around my nice camera, this is it. Also, the lens is irreversibly cloudy.

This year we spent Mother's Day (remember that? from almost a month ago) in Hood River.

 

We drove there after church, got coffee, and headed to the awesome playground near the river, where we ran into our friends and their three kiddos.

First attempt at a family photo with all five of us = unsuccessful. 

It was extremely windy, but we played for a few hours, then went across the street to the amazing brewery/restaurant, pFriem, and ate every ounce of delicious food they brought to our table.

After dinner we played a bit longer, then headed home and passed out into bed.

 

Hood River is so enjoyable, and there is a chance we may get to stay there again (in our favorite vacation home ever) for my birthday/Father's Day. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works out!

One year ago: what we ate this month, last year