The Boat

I'd like to introduce you to a very very special friend of mine.  

Meet...

The Boat:

My parents bought this beauty right after they were married.  I don't think when they towed it home they had any idea that 38 years later they would be taking her out for a ride with their two grandsons!  My dad has done an amazing job at keeping her going.

My parents have had different cars through the years, even different houses.  

But only one trusty boat.  

We love this old bird. 

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of lazy days on the lake...swimming, tubing, waterskiing, falling asleep on the shore...

I remember spending the night on the boat, anchored in the middle of the lake.  I remember earning my very own "cool" life jacket when I finally mastered waterskiing.  I remember taking her camping with us.  I remember spending many of my birthdays with her.

And I remember the dreadful day our boat died in the middle of the lake.  My dad swears he would have pulled the plug and sunk her that day if he hadn't had me and Courtney with him; he had to sit on the front and paddle her all the way back across the lake to the boat launch.  Not so fun for him but Courtney and I thought it was a great adventure.  :)

We have so so SO many fun memories involving the boat.

So this summer, with everyone home in Vermont, Courtney and I were very excited to introduce our boys to the boat.  

They must felt pretty comfortable with her, because as soon as my dad started up the motor they fell right asleep. :)

Knox, 11 months old

Max, 2 weeks old

Knox woke up after a little while, though, and he loved the boat.

Getting sleepy again. :)

I'm so thankful we all got to have another beautiful day together creating more fun memories on the lake with the boat.♥

 And I'm looking forward to many more! :)

Leavin' on a Jet Plane!

Yesterday I showed you one sure cure I discovered 

for beating the Texas summer heat blues.

The other sure cure I have found is to  

go back to Vermont!

Yessir, Knox and I are boarding a plane today, 

and Josh will follow this weekend.

We were just there, but we have to go back because 

we have a very important person to meet.

Max, taking a nap in the little cradle my Dad made
for me and Courtney when WE were babies! :)

There he is, dreaming of his Aunt Leah.

(I can tell from his happy face.)

:)

This is a VERY exciting trip to Vermont.  

Hurray for Max!

We'll see you when we get back!! 

The Land Flowing with Milk & Maple Syrup

TOMORROW we're going to VERMONT!  

The land flowing with milk and maple syrup!!

And I am completely out of maple syrup, so that means a trip to VT is officially overdue!  :)

Vermont is a dreamworld for outdoorsmen who like to pitch their tents in the pines and sleep under the stars...

 

And for babies who like to sleep inside the house in their tents...

...all night long!

Yes, this is Knox's handy dandy new baby travel bed, which we're hoping against hope will help him (and us) sleep a little better from now on while we're traveling.  ???

Because last time we took a trip we came home looking like this.

We've been practicing sleeping in the tent this week and so far it's gone pretty well...

So I have a glimmer of hope for more sleep this vacation.

Here's to hoping!

Yes, Monkey and Giraffe will also be making the trip with us to Vermont.

I'm always excited to go home to Vermont, but this visit is especially exciting because Knox gets to meet his Aunt Courtney and Uncle Justin for the very first time. 

They left for Indonesia right before he was born so the only interaction they've had with him has been over Skype, which is great, but you know...not the same.

We can't wait to see them...and my parents...and everyone else we love in Vermont!♥

Knox and I fly out tomorrow and Josh will join us there next week for a very special wedding...

My sweet cousin Kimberly and cousin-to-be Thomas!

which is going to be a blast.

Hurray!!!!!

So will I be blogging from Vermont?  

That's a good question.  I don't know.  I guess it depends mostly on how patient I am with the (long amount of) time it takes to upload photos to the internet from the middle of the woods. :)

And I'm afraid I am not usually very patient with that sort of thing...


So we may just have lots to talk about when we get back.


Either way, we'll see y'all later, y'all!!!

:)

My Top 11. #1.

My Top 11.

Characteristics of an Awesome City
(continued)

#1:  Coffee Shops! 

The number one, most important thing I have to consider when I am sizing up a new city is this:  its coffee shops.  You may think this falls under the same category as #3 (Great Food) but it doesn't.  It is its own special, #1 category. 

If a city doesn't have any novel, distinctive coffee shops, it's not worth going there.  End of discussion. 

I'm not talking about Starbucks, although I love Starbucks to death.  I'm talking about those special coffee shops that have their own special atmosphere...hippie, quaint, earthy, upscale...it doesn't matter to me.  What matters is just that they have a vibe.  And of course really good coffee.  Freshly baked muffins and scones. (If they bring in their muffins from Costco they're out.)  A couch.  And, hopefully, a broad selection of loose leaf tea.

The first morning we woke up in San Diego we discovered Brickyard Coffee & Tea.  

I knew, the moment I saw it, that San Diego and I were going to be friends.

 

On a scale of 1 to 10 San Diego gets a 10 for this coffee shop alone.

And thus ends my account of our awesome vacation.  

Thankfully the leftover sand we're still finding in our pockets (and in Knox's diaper bag) won't let us quickly forget our adventures. :)

Happy Saturday, Everyone!

My Top 11. #3 and #2

My Top 11.

Characteristics of an Awesome City
(continued)

#3:  GREAT Food

If you haven't noticed by now, I love food. 

Restaurants are the third most important thing to me when it comes to judging cities.  Or towns.  Or anywhere. :)  When I go to a new place I want to find some really unique restaurants with amazing food.  Here were our favorites:

Pelly's Fish Market & Cafe.  One day we were craving seafood and we found this place.  It was in a strip mall so we weren't sure how it would turn out, but it was amazing.  A little place...not too fancy, not too expensive.  Perfect for lunch.  I had salmon and Josh had red snapper...both with a salad and rice.  YUM.  We wanted to go back for their fish tacos but had too many other places to try. :)

Karl Strauss Brewing Company.  We visited it the first time because it was the closest restaurant to our hotel.  And then we had to go back a second time because it was SO GOOD!  It's hard to make a burger and salad joint unique but this place pulled it off.  Everything was PRETTY and tasted AMAZING.  Chili lime sweet potato fries...need I say more? 

I will anyway. 

They had FIVE choices of mac & cheese!  We skipped the bacon, ham and sausage and bbq chicken versions and went with the "Tree Hugger" Mac which was loaded with broccoli, spinach and red peppers.  Wow.  Crunchy BBQ Chicken Salad?  Winner.  And the Cojita Avocado Turkey Burger?  Polar opposite of bland old turkey burger.  We SO wanted to try one of their desserts but couldn't either time.  Stuffed.

Our other favorite find was Taco Express.  A dive.  Downtown.  That had really good tacos and sopes and everything Mexican.  Loved it.

We hardly had time in a week to scratch the surface of all the fun looking restaurants in San Diego.  We didn't even make it to Little Italy, or any of the restaurants in the Gas Lamp Quarter!!  Next time. :)

On a scale of 1 to 10 San Diego gets a perfect 10 for its restaurants.


#2:  Waterfront

This is even more important to me than good food.  I LOVE the water.  

Awesome cities have awesome waterfronts.  

That's just the way it is.

San Diego?  On a scale of 1 to 10 it gets a 55 for its waterfront! :)


Check back tomorrow for my #1, most important, and FINAL characteristic of an awesome city.

My Top 11. #5 and #4

My Top 11.

Characteristics of an Awesome City
(continued)

#5: Fun Stuff to Do Downtown

The best cities have FUN stuff to do downtown!  San Diego didn't let us down.  The whole Gas Lamp Quarter is hopping.  Restaurants, shops, the mall.  Then you've got the bay right there...beautiful boardwalks and ships...a carousel, fudge shops...yeah.

On a Scale of 1 to 10 we give San Diego a 9 for fun stuff to do downtown.

#4: Culture 

After you live in a foreign country you become hyper-aware of culture.  In a week we could hardly get a real taste of Southern California's "culture" but we did get a glimpse.  The city dress code seemed casual, the attitudes were friendly and laid back.  We saw business people, hippies, farmers, fishermen & surfers.

 
One of our favorite mornings in San Diego was spent on Coronado Island.  We drove over the beautiful Coronado Bay Bridge to get there and continued through the quaint downtown area.  We kept driving...and ended up on the other side of the island.  We pulled over to get out at Imperial Beach.  We were going to walk the boardwalk, but instead we discovered this pier:

It was lined with local folks...mostly older Asian people...fishing for sardines!  One cute old lady told us she comes here every day to fish and hang out with her friends and neighbors.  "It beats being bedridden alone in my house," she said.

Catch of the Day: Sardines!

We hung out on the pier for quite a while.  We loved it!  We watched people surfing along the shore, folks reeling in their sardines, pelicans diving for breakfast, and seals popping up everywhere to say hello.

San Diego culture gets a big 1-0 in our book! 

My Top 11. #7 and #6

My Top 11.

Characteristics of an Awesome City
(continued)

#7: Trees Trees Trees

No one likes concrete jungles.  We need greenery...trees, flowers, plants.  San Diego is one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen as far as trees go.  There were palm trees everywhere...and more than that.  Often when we were driving around we didn't even feel like we were in a city...there were so many trees everywhere!  Beautiful!

On a scale of 1 to 10 San Diego definitely gets a 10 for its trees!


#6: Shopping

A drizzly day on vacation can mean only one thing.  SHOPPING!
 

On a scale of 1 to 10 San Diego only gets a 6.75 for shopping.  They had a cool open air mall downtown, and another larger one  about 10 minutes away.  We loved those outdoor malls (although they kind of confused our strategy of saving shopping for a rainy day) and they had some great stores. 

But we were disappointed when we went to the Outlet Center in nearby Carlsbad.  Outlet Centers are a big deal to me.  And this one was very small.  No J.Crew outlet.  Boo.  I have to knock off some points for that.

We didn't take any shopping pictures so here's Knox chillin' in the hotel room! :)

Someone hit his 7 month birthday in San Diego!

 Tomorrow I'll give you #5 and #4!