Hello Paradise!

Josh and I had not taken a vacation alone in almost 3 years! I know there are probably many people who think thats not that long but I was ready to have some relaxation time. :) 

This wasn't the first time we had left Brett (We had left him for a night here and there a few times) but this was the longest for sure- 3 nights and 4 days! Fortunately I think he is a lot easier for the Grandparents to handle now that he is a full fledged toddler. GULP!  He eats regular food, goes to sleep like a champ and as long as he is outside, this kid is a breeze. So, knowing this, we boarded our flight and headed to Islamorada, Florida Keys and a little place called the Cheeca Lodge and Spa.

I found an AMAZING deal for this swanky spot on LuxuryLink.com. If you have never visited this site I highly reccomend doing so. It is kind of like ebay for vacations, you can bid on great vacation packages all over the world or you can choose to  "buy it now" if you are in a hurry. We saved a lot of money doing this instead of booking thru the hotel site.

Needless to say, the Cheeca lodge met and exceeded our expectations! We were greeted with free champagne in complimentary take home glasses, and our room had a fruit bowl and bottle of wine. I felt like we were on a 2nd honeymoon!

Its nice to know that a place so tropical is only a short flight away! Seriously its a 1 1/2 hr flight and we rented a car and drove about an hour and 20 minutes from Miami to Islamorada.

Room View- thru the screen porch

We ate lots of great fish and sipped on many high caolorie frozen drinks....and of course Corona!

Thanks again to my parents and Josh's parents for watching are baby boy. I know he had fun! It was so nice to get away and stay seated for more than 5 minutes! :)

Spring (Cleaning)Fever!!

So I am totally a warm weather gal. I live for summer time, shorts, tanning, and the lake/beach!  I'm extra excited about this spring/summer since it will be the first in 2 years that I won't be pregnant or nursing.  I will be free to sport cute shorts and sun dresses, and my boobs will actually fit into normal sized swim wear haha! Seriously.

BUT- before summer comes there is Spring and this momma has been bitten by a serious organizing bug! Maybe I can blame it on Pinterest- or maybe its the fact that I am constantly triping over bikes, trikes and balls in the garage. Maybe its the fact that I can't step more than one foot in my closet due to all of the shoes on the floor! Not to mention my husband has far too many hats stacked on top of the hall tree in our mudroom. So here is my list of To Do's (complete with inspirational pics) for Spring Cleaning 2012.

1. Organize the garage. I actually already started this and I thought the husband would love it! But, he wasn't too thrilled that I was messing with his "space".  I added some bins to the messy shelf and I think its an improvement! He said he would take care of the other stuff out there :)

(Its a start!)

2. Organize the mudroom. We have a great hall tree in our mudroom but instead of looking like this:

Our mudroom looks like this: :(

I just need to hang all of the jackets up in the closet that is in there....but that needs some help too.

I think with a few baskets on top it can look like this!

 

3. My Closet. This one is a doozie. My closet is a good size ( 5 x 6 I think) But the shape is a weird L and my closet system makes it hard to see the other side of the closet. I do have 2 shoe shelves, but I still have shoes all on the floor because the shelves are too hard to see. Ok, so Im a little lazy, but Im going to try to do better. Here is the mess as it stands today:

See what I mean about not seeing anything?  Something like this would be nice:

Ha! A girl can dream right?

Im going to work on this one- starting by giving some stuff away. Being a work from home mom, I dont wear much more than jeans or yoga pants :)

Anyone else doing Spring Cleaing??

Ski Trip Re-Cap

At the beginning of February, we took Brett in his first flight to see snow for the first time! I was a little nervous about traveling with a 15 month old who is VERY active, but with a lot of planning and a few a whole box of Nilla Wafers, it was a success!

One time in the airport I saw a mom pulling her child around in one of these:

I immediately knew this was a great idea for the following reasons:

1. You dont have to bring a stroller

2. My child needs a car seat so he wont try to climb out of his seat mid flight. ;)

3. My child almost always falls asleep in his carseat- which would make a stree free flight for all involved

4. You have a carseat for the other cars/buses along the trip!

So of course we got one and every reason listed above was true! We actually got lucky that the flight on the way to Steamboat was prett much empty so there was a lot of Brett running up and down the aisle and climbing in all of the seats.

Playing in the snow with uncle Davey

We put Brett on skis and Josh took him down the bunny slope between his legs. We got him a little harness that has a handle so we could hold him! He did so well! Next year he will  be ready for ski school!