Family Vacations

I know lot of people that are able to just drop about $1000 or more on a weekend trip somewhere several times a year, but we are not one of them.
Never have been. EVER. But this year we filed taxes early and when we got our return we decided we should go somewhere. Take a family vacation. Enjoy life.

We went to Savannah, GA. And it was soo great!! The only things we will do differently next time is: bring a babysitter-so Justin and I can go out on our own; and stay longer-2 days and 2 nights was NOT long enough at all.

We got there around 7pm-I think. And we hadn't booked a room anywhere so we had to find a vacancy. We found one at the second hotel we stopped at-so that was pretty easy. That night we ordered pizza from a local place and had it delivered to our room. I must say that it was amazing pizza-BUT I do not advice ordering pizza like that when you are in a hotel room with 3 little children. It was kinda difficult to eat-and messy. The kids ate on the bed. And Emily got some pizza on the bedspread. Ugh!!


The next morning we got up and got ready to go explore. The kids were up way early! We walked over to River Street--and it was so cool. We took the camera-or course. But bc our other lens broke we only had a telephoto lens-which made it difficult to capture the images we wanted. So I said we had to find a camera place and go ahead and buy a new body and lens. We did! :)
We also went to Target and spent way too much money on a lot of clothes (and Emily a Jesse doll). haha.
The plan had been to go back to River Street. But honestly we were all soo tired from the shopping we went back to the hotel room. For dinner we got ready adn walked down to Five Guys.
We fell in love with Five Guys while living in FL. It is the bext burger place we have ever encountered! I definitely suggest trying them out if you are near one. Homemade fries!!









Savannah is soo beautiful--and at night it takes on a whole new feel. But I don't really think that downtown Savannah is a place for small children at night. Especially not River Street (we were there in the morning before the shops opened-but there are a good bit of bars and even puke on the sidewalk fromt he night before). We would have loved to hang out more downtown and go to River Street during the evening, but not with the kids. So after we ate to the hotel room we went.

Sunday was our last day there. I took the kids to eat breakfast, while Justin checked us out.


Then we all headed to Tybee Island. Our last day was probably the most productive. haha. We had so much fun! We can't wait to go back!

Week 5/52

Taking naps is something I hated as a child, but in highschool--I grew very fond of them. I still enjoy a nap every once in a while, but even more so I enjoy it when my children nap.
Unfortunately they are getting to the ages where naps are no longer important. Emily and Trent will still become sleepy in the early afternoon, but if they take a nap they stay up very late. So I have decided not to make naptime important around ehre anymore. If they do fall asleep though-I do not wake them. :)

Even though Emily should probably still be taking naps, it is easier for everyone if they are not enforced. She doesn't get whiny at the end of the day like Trent always has. But she will often fall asleep on the way to pick Brenna up from school. When this happens she almost always stays asleep when I bring her inside.

Yesterday she fell asleep on the way to get Brenna and like always I brought her to her bed to finish off her nap. And lastnight she was up very late!

5 People 12 Times: January

No plans were made. No reservations were set. We just packed our bags and loaded up in the Expedition for a weekend family getaway to Savannah, GA.

Tuesday we thought about just maybe taking a trip to the good old city of Savannah. A place where we have been wanting to visit. And the place where we said we would move once I finish school (in a bout 2 years). When Friday rolled around, we got up and got ready, packed out bags, and headed northeast.

When we got there we had to find a hotel with vacancies--and we did downtown. Justin paid the extra few bucks for valet parking--which was well worth it! Will definitely always stay where they offer valet! This was soo convenient not having to worry about finding a parking space, and having the car brought to the front if we wanted to drive somewhere. It was weird that they had to carry our bags to our room for us though! Not something we are used to. We are people that do things on our own. And I felt so strange having someone do something for me that I am perfectly capable of doing myself.

Our first night was difficult. Trent cried for a long while about wanting to go home. The next morning the kids were all up well before 7am! And ready to go. I was super exhausted (especially from driving 4.5 hours the day before).

We had such an amazing trip. And while it would have been a ton easier if the kids wouldn't have gone, we would have missed them terribly! And I don't think I could be that far away from them and for that long. Maybe when they are a little older.

Justin says he definitely wants to move to Savannah now. I would like to visit a few more times first. I did love it! But I want to make sure that it's somewhere that I would love to live and not just visit often.

Sunday morning we took out first 5 people 12 times photo. It's not perfect, but I love it. Trent's sleepy eyes with blanky in hand, Emily is actually smiling, and Brenna always ready for a picture. This is our little family. We are truly blessed!

Week 4/52

This week while working on schoolwork the kids were all playing as usual. I started watching them. And Emily was wearing high heel. Trent was wearing Brenna's old Georgia boots with fake spurs. And Brenna was wearing tap shoes.

The high heels are my younger sisters. She left them behind when she moved north. So I borrowed them for the girls to play with.

The Georgia boots were Brenna's. But she has outgrown them. Trent LOVES them! He wears them almost everyday. They are too big, but he doesn't care. And for Christmas he got a sheriff playset, that include some plastic spurs. So cute!!

The tap shoes are from a friend's daughter. Brenna has never been in tap or ballet. She wears these tap shoes everyday. She loves the clanking sound they make on the floors. (I remember loving that about high heels when I was little--but now I hate the sound. haha.)

These are things I want to remember. I want to remember the laughter and the pretend play. The little things they thought were cool.

Week 3/52

I know this is LATE! But atleast I got it up. Since I hate taking pictures of myself and I hate looking at pictures of myself--doing a self-portrait for my group 52 challenge was difficult. Not to mention I had to pull out the old kodak easyshare. We bought that camera 6 years ago. When Brenna was a baby. We spent about $350 on that 4 megapixel camera. YES, PEOPLE!! That was not a typo. How far we have come with technology!

I took a lot of photos in our bathroom by the window. And then just before we were leaving I snapped one in front of the window in the dining room. And that was my keeper for the group project 52. but among all the rejects there was one of me with no glasses and my eyes closed. A me I never see (well because of the obvious-haha). I liked it. I am dreaming. I am escaping. Calming.




I can't wait to show you what I have planned for my 4th week!! :)

Overwhelmed

I have this awful anxious feeling constantly. And I knwo I have a lot to take care of, but my goodness! I made a list lastnight thinking that would help ease off this weird feeling of anxiety, but it didn't. I am going to try to accomplish everything on the list today in hopes of not feeling so overwhelmed. Wwe will see...

I don't know if it is that I am being pulled in so many different directions and my mind can't focus? I just know that I can't do all of this alone. Justin working out of town is really starting to take its toll on me. I need him here, we are partners in this life we are creating, and I need his support.

Trying to start a business if no easy task. And while I still love it, I have other things waiting to be taken care of. Like school. Unfortunately, school starts to take a back sseat to everything else in my life. And I need to start setting aside a slice of each day just for school.

It's just hard when the kids are constantly needing and wanting something. And the house is screaming to be cleaned. And on and on....

I better get off to school now, I don't want to be late.

1/52: Self Portrait

I am doing a project 52 with a group of photographers from The Bloom Forum. Each week we will have a different theme. I am so excited about this project (along with the other 2 I am doing). This is our first week and the theme was Self Portrait.

I had a few things in my mind for how I wanted to approach this week's project. BUT Justin took the camera with him to Tallahassee. He was supposed to be back today, but now isn't coming home until Tuesday. SOO I had to improvise. I charged the battery on our 6 year old Kodak Easyshare. And then snapped away. The last image was the one I liked best. I took it in front our dining room window. Great afternoon window light.



I will be posting some of these here. But all of them will be posted over at the Hill Art & Photography blog.That is our temporary blog for now. We will be working with Breeze from Trust the Air on a custom blogsite in a week or two. SOOO excited about that!