Catching Up: August

Last month of the "catch up" then I have to actually come up with things to write about haha.

August was another fun month!

We kicked off the month by celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. We had dinner at Bru Burger I had just eaten there 2 days before but had to have their nachos again. We stopped at my mom's on the way home to visit and pick up our awesome anniversary gift.  She had a similar sign made for my brother's wedding with their song on it and had one made for Danny and I with one of our songs.

Tucker started looking like a 5 year old.

We got to see Baby Goofy for the first time!

We also started potty training. Right in the middle of the house.

He has done really well with it! He had peeing in the potty down in about a week. Poop is a different story, but that's always been a hot mess for him.

I turned 27! I spent the day in the rain keeping score at a softball tournament benefiting an old teammate's mom. I had a lot of fun and loved every minute of it. When it was over, it was time for cake. Danny special ordered an apple cake from a lady in town and it was delicious and so rich. I couldn't even eat dinner.

On my actual birthday, Tucker and I went to Target where we had our first public pee accident. We happened to be there to pick up his reward for doing so well with potty training. We still got the toy so he didn't think he was being punished for having an accident.  Thankfully we had just arrived so I didn't have to abandon my cart. We got it cleaned up, changed clothes and went on our way. I now know that "I want to go home" really means "I need to pee right now" Tucker stayed all night at my moms and I ate my weight in (cooked) sushi for dinner.

Tucker stayed with my mom since Danny and I were leaving the next day for our adults only camping trip with my BFF and her hubby. We went to the Indiana Dunes for 3 nights. 

The first night we visited the beach and climbed up a dune and it was then I realized how out of shape I had gotten over the summer. 

 

The next day we took the train into Chicago. 

We walked. Visited popular landmarks.

Walked to Dylan's Candy Bar. They had champagne gummies and I could have spent a fortune in there.

We ate at Giordano's for lunch. So freaking good. We have one in Indy but it just seems to taste better when you're actually eating it in Chicago.

We walked some more.

Visited the Navy Pier.

 

And walked back to the train. In case you didn't catch that, we walked a lot. 10 miles to be exact. I was noticeably wore out at the end of the day!

We walked a lot less the next day and went shopping at the nearby outlet mall since it was raining and we couldn't spend the day at the beach. Danny did what any man should do while his wife is in Coach.

We had a great trip with our friends! They have a little boy who is about 18 months younger than Tucker. Hopefully we can bring the kids one day!

That was August!

Weekend Recap - Garth Brooks

I had the Best. Weekend. Ever!

Saturday was such a good day that I think I've blocked Friday out.

After a workout, packing and 4H pig buying, Danny and I headed south for our trip to Louisville to see Garth Brooks. I was so excited for this concert. Thursday I listened to his biggest hits and at the start of each song I found myself saying "I can't wait to hear this one!" And not a single song disappointed.

Let's start with our food first. When I was discussing the trip with a client, he and his wife recommended that we go to Stoney River. They said it was pricey and worth every penny. Awesome. And we could wear jeans. Even better. I made reservations before our trip and looked forward to this meal for 3 weeks. Now I'm trying to figure out how to go back. Here's what we ate:

App: crab cake with mango salsa and the best little rolls.
Drinks: Danny loves Johnny Walker so he had a Black Label and Diet, I had a Honey Duchess. Not sure what all was in it. I read Sparkling Wine and was sold.
Entrée: Danny got a Ribeye with French fries and a house salad. I got the Coffee Cured Filet Mignon with au gratin potatoes and a house salad. *Fail: I only have a picture of the salad. 

Oh. My. Goodness. The best meal of my whole entire 26.5 years of life. If you're ever in Louisville, do yourself a favor and eat there.

Concert time. We drove back to the hotel to park and so Danny could take his medicine since he was on the tail end of an ear infection and walked to the concert. 

That place was a madhouse, as to be expected.

We used the bathroom, got some beverages and walked to our seats. Almost at the very top of the KFC Yum Center. By almost I mean the second to last row. My husband that runs into burning buildings for a living was fearful of his life. I ended up not drinking my second beverage not only because I didn't want to miss a second of this concert, but because I was certain I would fall if I tried to get out and come back in. 

But it was still the best concert I've ever attended. I've seen a lot of great artists, including Reba and George Strait in very close seats, but this was fantastic. Garth Brooks puts everything he has into every single song. He played 4 shows in 2 days, starting at 7:30 both nights and I don't doubt for a second that the last show was as good as the first. Sidenote: Garth is on the big ball in the middle.

He played all of the favorites, ran laps around the stage and gave me a night I'll always remember. It was worth sitting so high up I was nervous. Next time though I'll be splurging for the good seats. I almost did this time but wasn't sure how big the Yum Center was. Its pretty big, go ahead and get the more expensive tickets on Stub Hub.

Sunday was a productive day. We picked Tucker up from my mom's house. He had a pretty good weekend too.

Danny and Tucker went to go look at more pigs when we got back. While they were gone I was able to go to the grocery, go for a run, prep some food and make dinner.

It was a weekend for the books.

Orange Beach Vacation: The Drive Home

We are at the final part of our vacation recap, which would be our epic drive home. In case you missed the first two parts from earlier this week, you can read them HERE and HERE.

Let's start with Wednesday night, just 12 hours before we left to set the stage. My mom, Danny and I (brother and his girlfriend left that afternoon) decide on Mexican food for dinner. It dawns on me that Tucker hadn't pooped that day yet and it could mean bad things for us on the drive home. I worry about his poop schedule and weight way more than I should. So, we decide it would be a good idea for him to eat some of my refried beans for dinner. He ate half of what came on my plate.

We leave the condo at 6 am Thursday and we stop at Krispy Kreme like I demanded we do earlier in the week. I've only ever had Krispy Kreme from a gas station, so I needed the real deal. Worth the belly ache and every calorie in case you are wondering.

 

9am rolls around and Danny decides he needs a pee and stretch break. We pull off, do our things and hit the road again... for another 45 minutes. At approximately 10:00 am, my mom starts smelling poop. We pull off at the next exit and find that Tucker did in fact poop. That's fine.. until its in his shorts. (He peed on his going home pants Wednesday night. I should have known what we were in for). Take him in the bathroom, strip him down, use every wipe we have, get shit on my own shirt and we are done. I threw his clothes away. 1 outfit down and Tucker is now in the back up outfit of shorts and a short sleeve onesie from my purse heading back to 50 degree weather and we are equipped with cheap gas station wipes.

In approximately another 45 minutes, a wave of shit smell hits us all again. Yes, again, not even an hour later. And yes, it is out of his diaper again. Strip him down, use half of the cheap wipes, wrap Tucker in my jacket to take him to the car to find another outfit since I threw the second one away too. 2 outfits down and Tucker is now in shorts and t-shirt jammies. At this point, the Shit Storm of 2014 has to be over, right? I mean usually when he skips a day pooping, he poops twice the next day and its over with.

I have never been more wrong. We pull over for a late lunch and I start driving so Danny can get a little nap in. About an hour later, my mom notices something in Tucker's hand. Initial thought was oatmeal pouch, but once she realized that was in the cooler, it could only be one thing. Poop. More freaking shit. In between dry-heaving, my walks through pig shit husband is handing my mom wipes, I'm rolling windows down, my mom is laughing so hard you can't hear her and I'm trying to find an exit through my tears from laughing at my mom. I find a truck stop and pull over safely and we all get out and just stare at Tucker. It. Is. Everywhere! On his legs, in his seat, in his hands. It took a good 3 minutes to figure out how to get him out without getting shit all over us. About 10 minutes later, my 10 month old was laying butt ass naked on a beach towel on the grass of a truck stop in the middle of Kentucky where it was 50 degrees. While Danny dealt with the car seat, my mom and I wrapped Tucker in a towel and took him in to rinse him off in the sink. The shitty ass wipes from gas station #1 were not cut out of episode 3 of the shit storm.

Luckily, poop #3 was it for the day and we were back at my mom's house after 15 hours of driving.

It's a good thing he's cute

Orange Beach Vacation: The Food

On Tuesday I talked about our drive down and the beach parts of our Orange Beach vacation. Today, I'm talking about my favorite part of vacation.

One of the parts I love most about vacation is the food. (My 6th grade math teacher held a "Restaurant Report" every Monday, and his favorite one was the one after Spring Break. This is kind of like that for me) I really need to change that about myself since I practically cried on Monday when I had to put jeans on. Anyways, I especially love vacationing near water because I LOVE seafood. I am my Daddy's daughter in that regard. He loved seafood, and I do too. Danny was excited about this part of vacation too. Our first dinner out we ate at Bubba's Seafood House. My mom, Drew and I went there when we were in OB in 2011. The food was pretty good and also pretty quick. Danny got all you can eat shrimp and made it through 2 1/2 servings before throwing in the towel. I helped him on the 3rd and it was pretty good. Tucker had more than his fair share of green beans (which was the case all week). Everyone was satisfied with their meals!

Sunday night was the most anticipated meal of the entire trip, which is also the reason I chose to run that morning: Lambert's Café. We ate like it was the only way into heaven! Once you sit your butt in the booth, food starts landing in front of you. I think I ate my weight in fried okra before I even ordered my meal. My carb loving baby enjoyed half of a roll(which is a huge roll) and some more green beans. I think Danny's favorite thing from the whole place was the macaroni and tomatoes. That's all it was. It was really good though. I'm normally not one to order country fried steak for myself, I usually bum a bite or two from someone else. I decided to get it for myself this time and I don't regret it a single bit! So delicious! We rolled out of there and immediately went to bed I think. 

Our last meal was at Sea-N-Suds. It gave me a "hole in the wall" kind of vibe, which normally means one thing: Delicious food! And delicious it was! As we were walking in we ran into an elderly couple who said they had been there 3 times in the past week. Its that good! Its located on the beach and if you get there at the right time you can sit on the patio and watch the sunset. That was our goal, but things happen and we didn't make it. Its okay though.

We went out for breakfast a couple of times. Hazels Seafood had a breakfast buffet (my favorite kind of buffet) and Another Broken Egg Café was super delicious. And also super friendly about the screaming baby who was throwing eggs and toast on the floor after he had woken his parents up at 4:30, refused to go back to sleep, then shit up his back on their first attempt to eat there that morning.

In between feasting, the girls and Tucker made a trip to the outlet mall (my mom and I went back with Danny one day) while the big boys went on a field trip to the USS Alabama in Mobile. Tucker was a champ shopping with the girls. I got some really good deals on some work shirts, some motivation jeans from Loft ($20!) a fossil purse and wallet, some workout clothes and I got some Ray Bans. I'm officially cool.  I also ran. One time. Danny and I went on a dolphin cruise with my brother and his girlfriend. I had never been on one before and it was actually really cool. I can't wait to take Tucker when he's older!

Tomorrow I will tell the epic story of our last night there and how it made for a terrible, no good, very bad drive home!

Orange Beach Vacation: Driving Down and the Beach

That long awaited and highly anticipated Orange Beach family vacation happened last week. And it was wonderful! Everything I hoped for. Well, I did hope that I would magically come back without gaining single pound but I knew that was a long shot. I'm going to break this up into groups because it just seems easier that way right now.

The Drive Down: Danny, Tucker and I left town around 4pm on Wednesday. We got 20 minutes from home and Danny realized he forgot his glasses. Back home we go to grab the glasses. I think he forgot them on purpose so he could tell Diesel bye one more time. On attempt number 2 to leave town, we ran into a minor car accident that had JUST happened. Being that there was a paramedic in the car and we were still in his departments territory, he stopped, called it in and made sure no one was in really bad shape (which everyone was fine except for some shock). Finally got on the road and I was hoping those were the only 2 hiccups we'd have. After dinner with my mom (She was riding down with us), we all slept for a few hours before hitting the road. At 12:30am we loaded in the car and off we went. We met up with my brother and his girlfriend somewhere in Kentucky and stopped at Waffle House for breakfast. Uncle Drew learned quickly that if you eat in front of Tucker, you share with Tucker.

I ended up driving for a couple of hours after breakfast. Through Birmingham at rush hour with no coffee. I would almost classify that as dangerous. About 2 hours away from our final destination, we ran into an accident. A milk truck had overturned and traffic was backed up like you wouldn't believe.

And so was my bladder. Travel Lesson: Always have something in your car that you can pee in. Thankfully, when my mom and I stopped to get coffee, she changed her mind and got a large iced tea. Because I peed in the cup in our car. Our brand new to us car that we bought on Monday. We finally got to Orange Beach around 3 or 4.

The Beach & Pool: Growing up I was never a huge beach fan, but as an adult I love the idea of the beach. Sitting, relaxing, people watching and having a beverage.

Yeah, no. As an adult with a baby that just doesn't work out. Tucker wasn't a huge beach fan the first 2 beach days. The sand felt weird, tasted weird and he just wasn't a fan. Travel Lesson: The baby powder sand trick on Pinterest is not a joke and does work! He LOVED the pool though! Finally, on the 3rd beach day, I figured out how to combine the beach and the pool. A bucket of water for him to splash in. Travel Lesson: Never attempt the beach without beach toys. We didn't have toys until the second day so the first day was a hot mess.

WTF is this?!

Like I said, he LOVED the pool. Even though it was like ice water. Much, much colder than the pool at the Y.

That's all I've got time for today! My to-do list at work isn't going to finish itself. Tomorrow I'm jumping back into Weigh-In Wednesday, then Thursday I'll talk about the food we ate, other vacation fun and the wonderful drive home. Stay tuned!

Michigan Babymoon: South Haven

Yesterday I recapped the first part of our Babymoon that we spent in Frankenmuth. Today is all about the second half of our trip, which we spent in South Haven.  South Haven is a little lake town on Lake Michigan. And it's just about adorable.

Thursday in South Haven was pretty quiet and relaxing.  We got to the town about 3 hours before we could check into our hotel so we drove around to explore and grabbed lunch at Wendys (which I wasn't impressed with). Once we could finally check in, it was nap/relax time for a couple hours. Napping and relaxing is what vacation is about. At least thats how it was for me growing up and I don't see a point in changing it. I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." After we relaxed for a little bit, we headed towards the water to find a place to eat downtown.  We decided on a place called Black River Tavern and I had the most amazing fish tacos. Danny had the fish dinner and hardly even put any sauce on the fish because it was that good. After dinner we walked down to the water to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. We also saw people kite surfing(?) which was pretty cool. I put the ? because I have no idea if thats what it was called. Oh, and it was freezing.

Friday was more exploring. We went to a couple little parks to be one with nature for a few hours.It was also freezing this day. Thank God I suck at cleaning out my car and my North Face pullover was in there from the winter. And I'd also like to thank God that it barely fit me. We went back to civilization to check out the little shops and have lunch. We got Diesel some bully sticks at a dog store. (Pet owner PSA: Bully sticks = crack for dogs) Then we happened to mosey over to a health foods store where I purchased a Diet Coke only. NO WHERE in Michigan (by no where I mean restaurants that have fountain pop) has Diet Coke. It's unreal. So as soon as I saw it it was mine. Again, after lunch and shopping, it was time for my daily nap before dinner.  Dinner was at what I would consider a dive bar on a boat. They had the best soup I've basically ever had, it was Sweet Pepper Crab and it was the bomb. My calamari ceasar salad was ok. I ordered it for the calamari so I got what I wanted out of it. After dinner we got ice cream and my pumpkin ice cream was delish.
 

 

Before heading home, we stopped by an orchard/winery.  Danny tried some hard cider from there at one of the local restaurants and we decided we needed some (I may have had a small sip). They were pretty rude, but we still bought a couple bottles. Mama can't waaait to enjoy a glass in a few months. 

After that we hustled home to our puppy dog. Upon arriving home, we unloaded the car and had this conversation...
Me: Are we doing anything else?
Danny: Together? NO!
Me: I was just asking so I could change into my comfy clothes
Danny: Ohhh

So even though my husband got tired of spending every waking second with me for 4 days straight, we had a wonderful time and are ready to get things ready for our little bundle of joy.

Michigan Babymoon: Frankenmuth

Our Michigan vacation was wonderful and exactly what this lady needed!

Tuesday morning we took off and headed up north to Shipshewana, IN. Flashback to April when we made the trip up there only to find out it was closed. Stopping on our way up to Michigan only put us an hour out of our way so we felt it was worth it. Danny was extremely excited about the flea market. I, however, was pumped about the food. The flea market was nice. A lot of repeat vendors which made me feel like we were walking in circles. The only thing we purchased were wine and sangria slushie mixes though. Can't waaaait to try those in a few months!

Next we visited a meat and cheese shop where we left with rolls and Amish peanut butter, which we snacked on all week.  After a yummy lunch, we kept heading north!

After about 3 and a half hours and 3 potty breaks, we made it to Frankenmuth. You're probably wondering what the F Frankenmuth is. I know I did the first time Danny's mom told me about it. Frankenmuth is home to Bronners, the largest Christmas store (probably) in the world. The town has a Bavarian theme to it as far as the restaurants, building styles and even some of the shops. Tuesday night we had dinner at the brewery across from the hotel then just went back to the hotel to relax for the night. Wednesday was our shopping day. We hit Bronners first and Danny was excited.  He somewhat pouts every year when I go with the women in his family. We got the little guy an ornament for the tree, Danny a couple for himself, I got a wine themed one and a couple Christmas themed wine glasses (I miss wine can ya tell?) and a couple decorations for the  house. It was a successful Bronner's trip. All of the Christmas spirit got me extremely excited for this Christmas, especially since there's a chance Tucker will be here by then!

 After Bronners it was time to explore the other shops and eat lunch, then I needed a nap! It was soooo stinkin hot there Tuesday and Wednesday. After our nap we freshened up and hit the outlet mall.  I walked out with a cute new Coach wristlet that I can easily transfer from the diaper bag to our purse and about 5 shirts and a pair of leggings from a maternity outlet. I also couldn't pass up the Carter's outlet :) We had dinner at the Bavarian Inn. I had fried chicken and Danny has a sausage. My dinner came with about 4 sides that we served family style. Cole slaw, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes and cranberry salad. This was after they had brought us soup, pasta salad and cucumber salad upon ordering. Yes, we rolled out of there.

That was the first part of our trip. I'm glad Danny finally got to go to Frankenmuth. Maybe this will keep him from whining for the next few years :)

Wednesday marked 25 weeks, so I snapped a bump picture before we left for the next stop Thursday morning.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next part of our trip!