Ocean front camping...

You know the great thing about having a "vacation home on wheels?"  It means you all of a sudden own beach front property.  No really, it's true.  Check out these views from our vacation home that sits 20 yards from the beach. 

Pretty cool huh?  It also means we can have beach front camp fires and surf side happy hours with friends and family. 

If Adam wants to take a quick dip in the ocean or play in the sand, no worries!  He just has to grab his toys and an adults' hand (prefereably one attached to a friend or family member) and voile, sand magically appears in his diaper. 

The best part is that next week we could have a vacation home at the lake...and you know what, we just might!

Kayoga...

While the dancing, lounging, sunning, cocktail drinking, and laughing were all great highlights of our SaraghanMegapaLiza celebration, I'd say the number one seed for me was our Kayoga adventure.

Kayoga is a combination of kayaking and yoga---clever right?  It's just about the coolest thing I've ever done and to have been able to experience it with our big group of Greeley gals made it all the more special. 

Yeah, we all had the same bathing suit. Gotta love Target!

Basically you kayak for about 45-60 minutes to an island where you then do yoga for about 45 minutes and then kayak back to land.  Along the way you might see dolphins, sting rays, a jumping fish, or in our case, you might see sharks and manatee.  Yeah, I said the "s" word and I'm not going to lie, while I didn't see it for myself, I'm certain it was huge (not the 2 feet our instructor said it was) and I'm sure it was hungry.  I'm also sure my arms sprouted engines.  Fortunately, our time on the island splashing our feet in the gulf and doing yoga on the sand calmed me down, otherwise I might still be living on that island.

For the trip back, since I had a hybrid kayak/paddle board I decided to give paddle boarding a try.  It was definitely harder, just keeping your balance made for quite a leg workout, but I really enjoyed it.  The bonus, though at the time I'm not sure I saw it that way, was that I had a great view of a huge manatee that I paddled right over.  Amazing.

I'll always remember that adventure and while it wasn't a race, I'd just like to remind my competitve family that I did make it to the island first.  I'm just sayin.  ;)

SaraghanMegapaLiza

It all started with an engagement...and then another engagement and now by the end of this year, all the Greeley girls will be married!  Which was cause for celebration, and what better place to celebrate than the glorious Post Card Inn (site of Greeley girl, Melissa's, wedding!) 

With our aunts, mother's of the brides, brides, cousins (and soon to be cousins, if not by marriage by adoption--psst, Brendan, hurry up already, we love Amy!) swim suits and dancing shoes in tow, we all made the voyage to the PCI on St. Pete Beach for one memorable weekend. 

We laughed, we sang, we danced, oh boy did we dance!  We walked on the beach, catching up on each other's lives, we sat by the pool, catching up on each other's lives, and we created memories that will surely last a lifetime. 

Did I mention the dancing? 

Did I mention how lucky I am to have such an amazing, fun, hilarious, caring, and smart family? 

Here's to Meghan and Rob and Liza and Sarah, to a lifetime of love, laughter and dancing!

Loooovvvvvvveeeeee You!

Family time at Pohick Bay...

We couldn't let Adam miss out on all of the fun, so after our morning at the farm I brought Adam out to the campground.  I have to say, there is something so nice about the quiet yet energetic feel of a campground.  On the one hand you can walk around, without holding hands, and not have to worry about traffic and yet on a weekend like this one, you're still surrounded by lots of other families enjoying time together and making memories, just like us. 

We took advantage of the opportunity to really let Adam explore and while we had to encourage him to move it along a bit from time to time, it was nice to just slow down and let him walk on his own time--finding sticks, randomly stopping to jump in a pile of leaves, or stopping to say hi to a fellow camper and of course telling them about the fun morning we'd had at the farm!

We spent some time at the park, spent some time in front of the fire, and even found some time to settle down and watch "Winnie the Pooh." 

I'm not sure Adam could have asked for a better day...I'm not sure I could have either.

Frying Pan Park

I remember going to Frying Pan Park when I was a kid, in fact my memories are mostly of GG (the lady who would stay with us when my parents would go on trips) taking me, and somehow that seems to make the memories that much more special.  Anyhow, I figured it was time for Adam to check it out so with Kathleen and Olivia in tow, we headed over on a beautiful and sunny morning.

Spring is definitely a great time to visit, I couldn't believe how many baby animals we got to see.  The kids were mesmerized, pointing from one animal to another.  It's really great how close up you can get. 

While all the animals were fun to see, I'd say a highlight for Adam was getting to test out the various tractors.  It's clear he takes his tractor driving very seriously...as any good farmer would. 

To top off our morning at the farm we took the kids on a carousel ride.  This was Olivia's first ride on a carousel and Adam loved having his cousin along for the ride. 

It was a great (free!) morning for the cousins, for the mommies, for the aunties and for the sisters! :)

Date night...in the woods...

Last Friday we sent Adam off to Grandma and Grandpa's while Andy, Liddy and I headed out to the woods for a night of camping at Pohick Bay Regional Park.  Our main goal was to map out our spring break trip and put together our packing/grocery list for next week's trip to Myrtle Beach.  Of course, that didn't take quite as long as we thought, so mostly we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and relaxed. 

Pohick Bay is another place that makes you feel like you must be hours away from home, and yet it's a 15 minute drive from our house.  With awesome views of the water and great hiking trails, it's a wonderful campground and the clear starry night didn't hurt!

We had a great assortment of cheese and crackers for happy hour and then grilled up some shrimp to put on salad for dinner.  We snuck in a post-dinner walk around the campground and then settled in by the fire.  It was a great evening and I'm sure I'll find that grocery list somewhere! ;)