Vegas, Baby! (Part 2)

(Note: I have resorted to blogging the "old school" way. BlogPress is dead to me and now I have to email pictures to myself, save the pictures to my computer, and then load them again on to Blogger. I tell you all this not for the pity but for the excuse so you know I truly am trying to keep this blog up to date but AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THIS.)

But anyways, back to Vegas. My most favorite day in Vegas was the day that my parents rented a cabana at the Excalibur pool, and the kids and I spent the WHOLE DAY out there. Family and friends stopped by between tournaments and around shopping trips, and we had an awesome taco lunch poolside.

Fresh air, slight breeze, warm sun, and even my very own cabana boy all day long.

Here are some pics of our fun day...

 

 

 

 

 

Missing Our Fast Eddie...

My Grandpa has been on my mind all day today. 5 years seems like both yesterday and a lifetime ago.

Jake never knew his Great Grandpa and was born a few months after he passed,but I know he and my grandfather would have entertained each other for hours had they had the chance to meet here on earth.


I know Grandpa was there to meet Larry in heaven. And I know without a doubt, they are cracking jokes, telling stories (over and over again), and winking at all the pretty girls.

Vegas, baby! (Part 1)

Somewhere among all of our Easter festivities, we snuck off to Las Vegas for the ultimate family/friends vacation in mid-April. From April 13-16, we flew across the country and celebrated my dad's 60th birthday, my sister-in-law's 30th birthday, my brother's 32nd birthday, and various other birthdays, anniversaries, and occasions with about 20 of our closest family and friends.

This was my 4th trip to Vegas (and 3rd with kids) so I know how to manuever my way around Sin City with kiddos.

The M&M store is a must.


Penny had to take pics with some of her grandchildren's favorite characters...

Our hotel, the Excalibur, has a great arcade downstairs that the kids loved. We would have spent much more time (and money) down there had they been open at 8am when we were all dressed, fed, and ready to roll on east coast time!


Three of our birthday babies....and the best community dessert ever!

That dessert didn't know what hit him.

Thankfully, the kids are such great travelers and are always pretty easy to please when we are on vacation.

More pictures to come....if BlogPress would let me load more than a handful each time. (I know I sound like a broken record, but geez....)

Randoms

Until I can get BlogPress to start playing nice and load my Easter and Vegas pics, you  are stuck with just some crazy photo dumps from my phone...

It's never a dull moment around here...

The kids have actually started being big helps in the kitchen, though....

Jake started playing with my mom's old nesting dolls a few weeks ago.

And flashed me back to about 16 years ago when his Uncle Drew had the same infatuation.

There is a slight family resemblance, don't you think?! :-)

The Start of Spring...

As spring rolled around, we rolled right along with it.

I participated in my first "Student-Led Conference" with Brooklyn. It was a great experience for us both, and she did a great job updating me on how she was doing in school.


Chad's been playing on the church's men's softball team.

I think we made it to two games....and watched about 4 innings. :-)



We seriously thought winter would never end around here, and a few mornings Jake was determined to wear his hat and gloves.

Uh, OK.

But that wasn't the oddest thing he insisted on wearing...

The weather has been crazy, and NC can't decide whether it wants to be spring, summer, or just rainy and gross. We are counting the days until Pappy's Paradise opens for summer, and I can get some SUN on these legs!

Baby Claire is 1!

Well, she's been 1 since April 1...but as you and I both know, BlogPress did not care that my only niece turned ONE and had a fabulous time opening presents.






Cutie Pie.
And did I mention the girl LOVED her some cake?

Takes after her Aunt Jaclyn.

Yep.

Baby Claire, one day you will be in your college dormroom on your smarter phone and/or 3D laptop and will be reading this blog (probably after your cousins warned you about it). I want you to know that from the moment I got that text from your Mommy and Daddy one August telling me I would be an Aunt, I have loved you. I loved you even more when they called and told me that November evening that you were going to be a girl. I loved you EVEN more that March Easter evening when we got the surprise call that you were coming 4 weeks early and we didn't have to wait any longer to meet you.

And boy, did I love you sooooo much more that April 1st afternoon when I met you for the first time in that Asheville hospital and declared us birthday twins and BFF's forever.

"Baby" Claire, I love you more and more every day. Each time I see you, it's like we are given a sign that life is precious, life is beautiful, and we are truly blessed.

May you always know how much you are loved.

It's not you, it's BlogPress...

I swear I have tried no less than three dozen times to publish various posts to this blog and my app has been totes crazy and uncooperative.

So...I deleted and re-loaded the app and now trying again.

Here's my test post to see if BlogPress and I can salvage our relationship.

I got Jake a bike this weekend and we took it for a good mile spin tonight. He LOVED it and was so excited to be riding free!









Love the little moments like this with my "baby" boy.

A Weekend Away...with a 10K thrown in there.

We are settling in to a "new normal." Honestly, it seems weird posting about anything "normal" or even "happy." But while my heart is still broken and I still hurt so much for my family and myself, that's not who I am. It's not who my family is. We are strong. We are believers. We are survivors.

So, while the last three weeks have been both a blur and a time warp, and time even before that seems like another world away, I will continue blogging. I'll continue to talk about what we do on the weekends, what makes me happy, what keeps me fit, and what's cooking from Pinterest.

For scrapbooking/journaling purposes, I may have to sneak in a February/March update later on, but for now, I am looking forward (well, actually semi-backward since I am posting about this past weekend). :-)

Chad and I decided to keep our plans that we had made about 6 months ago to spend the weekend in Charleston and run in the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K. It was a nice weekend away with friends from Heart in Sol, kid-less and essentially responsibility-less (is that even a word?).

We stayed in the Home2 suites by Hilton. About 2 years old, this hotel was not only super cute but also very conveniently located to the Race Expo, Shuttle Bus Station, and Outlets.




We arrived Friday afternoon and ate dinner with friends at Edmund's Oast Brew Pub, where I ate pretty much everything on the menu and enjoyed a Peanut Butter and Jelly beer. (Though it was only 4 oz, those who know me should be impressed that I even had a beer. But come on, folks. Peanut Butter and Jelly? Why not?!)

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early at 5:15am (and wondering why on earth I would PAY someone to have to get up this early). Several of us met in the hotel lobby to catch the bus together to Mt. Pleasant where the race started.

All smiles....I think at this point we had been up about 2.5 hours and already walked about 2 miles, but excited nonethelesso get the race started.

It was a fairly easy run for us. We had trained somewhat before the race so the distance was not an issue. The addition of a 2 mile bridge was definitely different, plus the bobbing and weaving around 31,000 other people was a bit challenging, but I was pretty happy with our results.


We were home by around 10:30am, showered, and then headed back out to downtown Charleston where we walked down the Riverfront, ate lunch at Southend Brewery and Smokehouse, walked through the Market, and then wound up at Holy City Brewing, (see a theme here?) where the guys had more beer, and I just enjoyed sitting and relaxing in the breezy 70 degree weather.

Holy City was so neat. It was a converted garage turned tasting room/bar. In 106 degree July, it may  not be quite as pleasant, but on this April Saturday, it was perfect.

I snuck in a 20 minute power nap back at the hotel and we ended the evening at Charleston Crab House in James Island for dinner.

It truly was a great weekend. We laughed and relaxed. We ran and walked. We ate and drank. Oh, did we eat and drink...

The race itself was amazing. I can't say enough how well organized it all was and how the city of Charleston really prepares itself for the crowds.

We will definitely be going back and doing it again.

March 28, 2015 to be exact.

Here are a few pictures I snagged from the race's Facebook page. Simply amazing.