Traverse City - Summer 2015

For those of you who don't follow me on social Media... MOM... here are some of the photos from our recent summer vacation to the beautiful Traverse City, Michigan! How lucky are we that Matt's hometown is a top vacation spot in the U.S. and it's easy to see why when you see how much fun we had!

Here is our car packed up and ready to go... I was literally only home for 12 hours after my Europe trip before we hit the road on vacation! and I got A LOT done in those 12 hours... Sleep, laundry, packing, and cleaning out the fridge.

the kids didn't get much sleep in the car but they did great...

and after 15 hours we were there!

 

 

We did a ton of eating on this trip... like always. Here is a full post about some of my favorite TC Restaurants.

 

Here is Hunter at our favorite Breakfast Burrito location, Cuppa Joe!  

 

Kids loved looking at the water and finding minnows

 

You see that backpack on Hunter... it is full of toys to help make sure that we make it through dinner out at a restaurant without a meltdown!

 

Photo outside of City Hall after Dinner

 

We are always sure to stop by the Great Lakes Children's Museum!

 

Both boys loved this little bridge right off of the Main Street.

 

Emma and Uncle Mitch at lunch on day...

 

Hunter went bowling for the first time... and didn't do too shabby

 We went to Sutton's Bay and wineries on Old Mission... Full post and photos HERE

Had a blast out at the North Bar Lakes and Dunes!

 

Gibson fell asleep on the raft!

 

Grilling and smores at Matt's Dad's

 

Boys did some great bonding

 

We went down to the Cherry Festival but the kids had a MELTDOWN so we didn't stay long

 

Our last full day was the 4th of July and the airshow so we went to Matt's Aunt and Uncle's... they have an AMAZING view of the bay and a pool. It doesn't get any better!

Now back to reality and HOME!

Favorite Things Friday: Small town shopping

I love all of the small shops that you find in a small town! Here are a few things that caught my eye while we were walking around in Sutton's Bay yesterday.

First of all, if you are ever in Sutton's Bay I would really recommend that you visit Enerne Nature store. Emma and Matt could be in this store for HOURS!

Hunter had a good time in there but wanted to touch EVERYTHING so lucky for us they had this fun magnetic face game that he could play with for a little while. I would highly recommend getting one of these for kiddos,

A few other things that caught my eye...

These super cute pjs!

An umbrella with a hard case that looks like a wine bottle... interesting concept... but why?

LOVE this Michigan chair! What a fun idea!

Scout bags are AWAY great. Super sturdy and I would recommend to ANYONE!

And who doesn't love butt magnets

 Like all of the colors in this tumbler. Matt and I both have "our own" tervis tumblers and we love them!

This sign that I spotted is giving me some great ideas for a DIY project! I want one!!!

Favorite Things Friday: Sutton's Bay & MI Wines

So yesterday was just about the best day EVER... It started with a trip to Sutton's Bay, Michigan which is just a 15 minute drive from downtown Traverse.

The little town is so beautiful and I love walking up and down the main street and getting pizza at my favorite spot, the Roman Wheel.

We also took a little walk down to the water, while we were waiting on our pizza, and Hunter was in heaven!

After that we put the boys down for a nap at Matt's Dad's house and we went to a few of the wineries on Old Mission Peninsula. Love 2 Lads... I mean just look at this view!

and Bower's Harbor is hands down our favorite winery...

at our wedding we only had Michigan Wines, as a nod to Matt's home state, and a majority came from there. To include their award winning 2896 wine that is only made in small batches. For our wedding we had the 2008 and it was our favorite wine... about two years ago they sold their last batch of the 2008... but we did see that they still had this ONE 3L bottle...

We decided to splurge and get it! We are going to save it for our 10 year anniversary! Don't worry we do not plan to drink 4 whole bottles on our own! We will celebrate with friends!

What a great day!!!

June Re-Cap & July Goals - 2015

I think that with all the traveling I've been doing lately I need to re-evaluate my monthly goals... I'm just finding it hard to check all those boxes on my to-do list AND spend quality time with the family... and my family will win every time. So there are always going to be items that aren't crossed off.... and I'm okay with that!

As a reminder these were my goals for the month of June...

 and here is how I did:

• Managed to make a super cute personalized clock for Matt for Father's Day. I plan to share a full blog post on it next week. but here is a preview
  

•  Failed on the blogging 15 times... so close though at 14 posts in the month of June... I totally could have squeezed in a post over the last two days but I was "busy" having fun on vacation and spending time with family... Plus the kids have NOT been napping... Well until today... hence why you even get a post today! 
• Didn't start another full cycle in 21 day fix but I have continued to workout 3-4 times a week. I do plan to start back up for a full 21 DAYS on July 6th. 
• Nothing done in the boy's room for the month... and I'm okay with that 
• Emma didn't do her craft of the month
• I did get all of Emma's camp documents done and she is looking forward to going back to Camp Winshape in a few weeks. I'm bummed that I will not be able to take her OR pick her up from camp this year due to my travel schedule. But feel blessed that we have great family and friends that are willing to help get her to/from GA... 
• I updated all of my automatic credit card direct payments... having someone steal your card info SUCKS!!! 
• Family Vacation to Michigan... In progress! 
   
  
  
  
  
  Here is my list for July... most of these are Nice to dos... and factoring in that I will be gone for about 15 days out of the month I will need to stay flexible when it comes to this list
  
  
  

Favorite Things Friday

I love some NYC food and am drooling over this list of the Best NYC Brunch locations!

I've always drooled over the idea of a salad in a jar but I've never made one... with these great breakdowns maybe it is time to give it a try.

This outdoor space designed by One Kings Lane is drool worthy!

This buffet made out of IKEA stock cabinets is amazing!!!

Genus No-Sew Zipper cases made from recycled plastic bottles

I'm not usually a huge fan of a stone fireplace... but for some reason this one is calling out to me!

Not to be morbid... BUT... I just read an article in The Washington Post about a wife who didn't know all of her hubbies passwords for various accounts when he passed away and the struggle that she went through to get access to things. So I've decided that we need to keep track of these things. I found this great Password Log and I want for us to log EVERYTHING, even personal items, and I plan to have it in the safe... just in case.