Fathers Day

What a fantastic Fathers Day that Todd had. We spent the evening downtown going to yummy Urban Stack for burgers. Their pimento cheese appetizer is so delicious too and the kids love it. It's totally what they request for dinner. We then walked over to the Chattanooga Choo Choo to look at the trains. Across from the Choo Choo is the delicious Hot Chocolatier. They have such delicious treats behind the glass display and a wide variety hot chocolate.

Boat Days

We bought a boat about 6 weeks ago and the kids are loving it. We've had so much fun going out on the TN River when Todd is not flying.

Connor zonks out if we've been on the boat all day. He sits up front and let's the air hit him. He's so precious.

My parents came in town this past weekend to enjoy the fun. My dad was a wild man. He did cannon balls off the boat and tubes with Connor. 

I'm so crazy about this blonde beauty. She wants to go on the boat every single day.

I'm the biggest chicken on the planet. I will not swim in the water at all. If I can't see the bottom, I'm not swimming. I will tube but only if Todd drives in a straight line.

At least they have one parent that will swim :)

Beautiful Fort Walton Beach

We migrated down to the beautiful coast to Fort Walton Beach last month. There's just something about those beautiful beaches in that area of Florida. The white sand, crystal water, and wonderful condos. We just love it and hope to own a place in the area within the next few years. I would just love to spend our summers there. We have visited so many beaches but we still keep coming down to the Florida panhandle. The water is close in color to the beautiful Caribbean beaches yet we are only 6 hours away.

Details:

Waterscape Condos (lazy river, multiple pools, not in busy Destin)

Unit B604. I recommend staying in an even number condo as they face the interior of the complex. The 00, 02, and 04 numbers are the closest to the beach so your view will be fantastic.

June 6-13, 2015

Beautiful Caribbean

We debated and debated on where to go this Spring. We finally settled on a cruise but deciding on what cruise line took me sweet forever. I'm the vacation planner in the family. Todd could care less where we go, for how long, etc. I just plan it and he goes with it. We normally stick with Disney Cruise Line but decided to try Carnival this time. Carnival had an insanely good deal with Todd's discount so we totally took advantage of it. 

Deets:

Carnival Sunshine

8 nights

St. Thomas, Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten

This girl has been on so many cruises in her short life. She loves it.

 We convinced my sweet Grandma to go with us this time. She enjoys cruising and loves being with the littles.

 One of my favorite activities was tea time during the day. This cute girl enjoyed it. Being the way way picky eater she is, she wanted nothing to do with the food or tea really but she enjoyed pretending.

 Dress up night

 One of my favorite ports was Grand Turk. The boat docks right at a public beach. If you get off the boat early, you can snag the free beach chairs. I could have stayed there for days.

 Carnival did have fantastic kids activities. You totally can't compare it to Disney Cruise Line but our kids really enjoyed it. They spent at least 4 hours a day in the kids area, Camp Carnival, by choice. It was a super small space but jam packed with scheduled activities. Lauren and I would look at the activity list the night before and highlight all of the ones that she and Connor would enjoy.

 Connor had Camp Carnival activities one day so this cutie wanted to play putt putt. She loves it. I need to enroll her in golf lessons.

 Oh St. Thomas. How I loved this shopping area. Beautiful stores like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and great boutiques line this area of town. After doing some damage shopping, we stopped for some yummy gelato. I would totally go back and stay in this area. 

 Taking a break from shopping. Todd is a good sport. 

 My Cubs kiddos ready to take on San Juan.

  In St. Maarten we took a taxi to a pretty resort area, Little Bay. It was only $5/person each way so around $40 and we got to enjoy a beautiful beach for the day. I was a little terrified that the taxi driver would kidnap us. When we get off the boat, there were 8 bazillion cab drivers with some sort of agreement with the cruise lines. They wanted to charge a dang fortune to take us to Little Bay. We were told by a security guard to walk outside the gates and get a normal taxi and it would be cheaper. That's what we did and it worked out well. St. Maarten is known as the "friendly island" and that's totally true. 

 I've never seen water so beautiful in all my life. You could see the bottom of the ocean and just float for hours. It was amazing and so worth the trip over from the cruise terminal. 

 "Special drinks" were a highlight for the kids. They thought it was so fun to go to the bar and order a fun fruity drink.

 On the last morning of the cruise, we got tickets for the Dr. Suess breakfast. Lauren and Connor are so into Dr. Suess. 

Verdict:

We had a great time. I would definitely go on a bigger Carnival ship next time. The kids activities were great but it was pretty boring for adults. If you don't feel like drinking and gambling every single night, there really wasn't much to do. If you've experienced Disney Cruise Line before, you just can't compare the two. We went into the trip just not even comparing and truly had an open mind. We had a great great time. The ports were my absolute favorite on this trip and it gave us an idea of where we'd like to spend a whole week on our next vacation. 

Chicago with Little L

 Before Christmas, Todd and I took Lauren to Chicago for a very quick trip. We left on a very very early flight and spent the whole day in the city. We then flew home the next day. It's so nice having Todd fly for a major airline. It makes it so much easier for us to take quick trips.

 

The funny thing with our kids is that we don't really fly with them during the toddler years. We wait until they are about 4 and can behave well and then we fly. Lauren is 6 and at such a perfect age to take anywhere. Connor isn't quite old enough at 3 but we are excited for him to get to visit the fun airplanes soon.

 

This tree was so so beautiful. We change where we stay depending on what we are doing. On this trip, we stayed at our favorite beautiful hotel near the Airport. It's so nice taking the hotel shuttle to the hotel and not have to take all of our bags on the train or cab. We departed very early the next morning too so it's nice being close to O'Hare.

This girl is a pro on airplanes. I've lost count on how many times she has flown. She has it down pat. Isabelle, her American Girl doll, flies with us. She knows she gets her fancy Sprite and gets to use her fun tray.

Our favorite store to visit when traveling with Lauren is the American Girl store. This store blows the Atlanta one out of the water. The Chicago store is amazing! It's huge and so beautiful. We like to stop for a fun little treat near the Bistro.

We took our sweet girl ice skating again.  We love the Millennium Park rink. This was her second visit there and she loved it just as much as she did the first time. We did wait over an hour for our turn to skate but it's so worth it. She giggles the whole time and has so much fun.

 

 

One of her favorite things is simply riding the train. She loves it! It's a good thing Todd lived in Chicago because he knows the train down pat. I get easily confused ;) 

Baby It's Cold Outside