Monterey Get Away!

Yeah, my Cool Summer Day posts should be kid oriented, but when you’re celebrating your anniversary, it’s allowed to be sans kids! =)

Before I brag on my husband a bit, I’d like to share a life lesson. After all, my motto here at “Rookie to Rock Star” is that I will share the JOURNEY…that means the transition from bad to good good to fantastic! =)

Every marriage is going to have, what my husband and I like to refer to them as “marital moments”. Feel free to steal the phrase, it helps make light of those otherwise, uncomfortable times in marriage. Without going into too much detail, a LIFE LESSON (life lessons in red throughout the post) we learned about a year back is this:

**Never make a financial decision without consulting your spouse.**

and secondly…

**Decide with your spouse, what monetary value requires consultation ahead of time.**

Also, and this is for women, TELL YOUR HUSBAND WHAT YOU WANT!! Seriously ladies, they can’t read our minds! If you want something, you need to tell them. In my case? I needed to tell my husband that I want to get away. To be honest, I didn’t care who planned the trip, where we went…I just wanted to go somewhere without my hubby complaining.

Let the Bragging begin!

To celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary, my husband planned the following:

1. Arranged for 2 days and nights at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa (on the California coast).

2. Made reservations for dinner at the Sardine Factory**.

**Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’d recommend it. =( While the food was delicious, I got food poisoning and was up for 4 hours in the middle of the night. Boo!!! I was soo looking forward to a night of uninterrupted sleep (you know, with having a 3 month old and all).

3. Gave in and let me buy this smokin’ hot dress for our dinner out (courtesy of Ross, gotta love ‘em!):4. Purchased tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was where we initially really got to know one another, and learned to appreciate one another’s sense of humor. (on a college field trip waaay back when!)

We’re definitely going back with the kids. They will love it! Jellyfish, sea otters…so much eye candy!

5.  Made arrangements to go kayaking in the bay through Adventures in the Sea. Lastly, set time aside for just you and your spouse. It may feel like a hassle, but you need it! A relationship this close is going to require work, and work takes time. If you don’t take the time to appreciate your spouse, you will lose that relationship.

We had to make a lot of arrangements in order for this get away to work, but it was worth every tiny effort! Thank you to both sets of grandparents who (although they loved every second with the grandkids) made lots of sacrifices to help us out! Here’s Cooper having a blast while we were away:

June 13th, 2010

Tip for Packing

We were supposed to attend a River Cats game today for our Cool Summer Days calendar (our local baseball team), however…after a crazy busy weekend, and the fact that we are to hit the road tomorrow morning, with our household traveling to 4 different places. Talk about a mom’s packing nightmare.

Here’s the scenario…(if you want to skip to the tip, scroll down to the EEK!) =)

**FANTASTIC husband is surprising me with an anniversary get away to an unknown location (on the coast somewhere) for 2 days.

**Cooper is staying with Grandma & Grandpa, and Grammy & Papa are driving up to watch Allie. Our reasoning was, we had no idea how Allie would do away from me. I mean, the girl is only 3 months old!! She could be quite a handful. So, splitting up the kids seemed like a good idea.

**After our trip to the coast, we are meeting Grammy & Papa down south for an LA vacation.

So…what does this mean for mom? I must pack…

**For myself to travel to the coast and to LA for a week.

**For my son, to travel to Grandma & Grandpa’s, then LA.

**For my daughter, clothes for Grammy & Papa, then to travel to LA.

EEEEEK!

Here was my solution. A bit over the top, I admit, but it worked! I put each outfit in a ziplock and labeled it for the day. That way, I didn’t forget the proper amount of clothes, and it helped in knowing what would be appropriate for the given weather. The weather in our town vs. LA was different. Lastly, not that my parents need help in this area, but…I was assured he’d look cute! Set outfits, ready to go! Oh, and last but CERTAINLY not least!!! I had ziplocks ready for use. You know, damp or dirty clothes, or in my case…infant poop blow outs! Niiice! Don’t forget extras! Seriously…a 2 year old boy? You THINK he’s gonna dirty some clothes? You bet! The packing turned out perfectly. He wore everything but one outfit. And of course, in a cute little suitcase just for him (toothbrush & toothpaste went in the top pouch): I did the same for Allie and threw it in a Tinkerbell bag. I also had Cooper’s outfits for his overnight stay with Grandma and Grandpa in a separate bag. All the other gear was set out ready to go for Grammy and Papa to load the car. How blessed am I that they would be willing to drive both my children down to LA?! God blessed them in return, the trip went quite smoothly.

June 12th, 2010 (when we did actually celebrate the invention of baseball)

Dog Treat Scavenger Hunt

I found this fun idea to hide dog treats in your backyard and create a “scavenger hunt” for your dog! So, Cooper and I put on our “poo boots”* and headed out to hide said dog treats. Cooper was very specific about where he put the treats, adorable!

*Poo boots: Boots that are reserved for tromping around in our backyard in case we should run into Pele’s yard bombs. =)

Pele saw us get out the treats, so he was ready to search! He didn’t really get the hang of it at first, so Cooper showed him the ropes!

He eventually found 3 by himself!

Things to know if you’re considering doing this yourself:

A: We sat down to make a map of where we were going to hide them, it helped get us started, but Cooper’s not quite old enough yet.

B: Be sure you choose treats that are okay for your dog to have many of. So far so good, but as we got going, I grabbed the package and read, “6 in one day”. Oops, we went about 4 over! Fingers crossed it’ll be okay. =)

Definitely a fun activity that will be repeated! June 11, 2010

Oh yes, and our follow up trip to the train from yesterday ended up being a fun treat! Man am I thankful for the conductor who kept my wallet I had left behind! He even took a fun picture of us riding the train…AND we saw peacocks up close and personal, courtesy of the Folsom Zoo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 11th, 2010

I Hope You Dance…

Oh my…I just surprised myself! I sat down after, well…a rather long day, to post this blog, and almost had to blot my eyes. Am I tearing up? What in the world? I am NOT that type of girl, trust me!!

Our summer activity today was to attend a local Concert at the Park. Cooper and I were both very much looking forward to this outing following our busy day. Let’s see if I can break it down (in hopes it doesn’t end up looking like no big deal, I’m quite sure it won’t):

5:40 – Feed Allie

6:15 – P90X Workout

7:30 – Shower

8:30 – Get family breakfast Get spoiled by a delicious breakfast made by my husband! He has the day off! Glee! 8:50 – Feed Allie again

9:30 – Pack diaper bag for the day. Put son in time out 3 times for misbehaving. Make googly eyes at my daughter. Get Cooper dressed for storytime. Put away laundry that has been piling up on my dresser for 4 days.

10:10 – Out the door for storytime

10:30 – Storytime. LOVE every moment with my son, and get filled up with warm fuzzies when he sings tickle rhymes to his baby sister.

11:25 – Make lunch for Cooper

11:35 – Feed Allie again

12:00 – Make myself lunch!

12:30 – Make my husband lunch (Hmm…I’m noticing a long, drawn out theme here…are you? hehe)

1:00 – Out the door to drop off Cooper at Grandma and Grandpa’s

1:45 – Leave with hubby to go to an eye appointment

2:05 – Feed Allie again

2:30 – *sigh* Find myself COVERED in baby poop. Am thankful that hubby is at least willing to clean up poor Allie while I get my eyes checked. Who knew I needed to carry a change of clothes for myself, not just my infant daughter?!

3:30 – Drag my kicking and screaming husband to Joann’s because my coupon expires tomorrow and the closest one is almost 40 minutes away, and we’re only 15 minutes away!! (actually, hubby was quite sweet in coming)

3:45 – Scratch my head as to why Allie will not sleep and is screaming in the car

4:15 – Pick up Cooper

4:30 – On our way home, STILL scratching our heads as to why poor Allie will not sleep and is still screaming

4:45 – RUN into the house to change clothes because I have a boxing class at 5

4:50 – Nearly break down in tears because my husband and I had our second miscommunication of the day and LEFT OUR DAUGHTER IN THE CAR!!! (it was only like 1 minute, but STILL!!)

4:55 – Recover, head out the door to boxing

5:00 – Pretend to know how to Box

5:50 – Pack a Martha Stewart inspired picnic

    - Spend 20 minutes trying to find clean clothes that fit my post-delivery body since my first outfit of the day is covered in baby poop

    - Pick up my son and swing through the In-N-Out drive through before hitting the Concert in the Park. (Daddy and Allie stayed home due to the nature of our chaotic day!)

7:00 – Arrive at Concert in the Park and completely forget the worries of my day and have an absolute blast with my son!!

We rode the train together with wonderful, loving friends… Cooper was in heaven running around with all his friends… and here comes the part that almost made me tear up. After all our friends had left, I told Cooper we could stay for just one more song. They announced it was a “dancing” song. I knelt down and asked Cooper if he wanted to dance. He responded, “Yes, that’d be good!”

In summing up my blog in my head, the song “I Hope You Dance” came to mind (link inserted in case you really do need a good cry). Cue…life lesson…

Even though today was crazy hectic and less than perfect, I chose to dance, and was blessed because of it! So, my encouragement to you today, is….DANCE!! 9:55 – Receive a phone call from the train conductor saying that he found my wallet on the train.

10:00 – Thank God for my lucky stars and plan on taking my son for a second train ride tomorrow (and pick up my wallet, or pocketbook as the adorable conductor referred to it)

June 10, 2011 (as I reviewed this post from last year, also “one of those days”. Hmm…might it be something to do with 6/10? ;)

Chicken & Spinach Salad

Easiest, tastiest salad…EVER! If I ever need a “fall-back” recipe..this is one of them. So delicious and so few ingredients. Here it is:

Chicken and Spinach Salad

2 chicken breasts

4 cups raw spinach

¾ cup salsa

2 cups lettuce

½ cup red onion, chopped

½ cup avocado, cubes

Directions: Place spinach and lettuce in a bowl. Throw in diced chicken, onions, avocado and salsa, toss and consume! =)

Feeding the Ducks!

We did this exact same thing last year in honor of Donald Duck’s birthday, went to a local pond to feed the ducks. This year, Cooper actually knows who Donald Duck is, so that makes it even more fun! The ducks were slightly hungrier and/or friendly this year, almost to the point of it being frightening! They were swarming our car before we even got out! Check it out: Cooper kept saying, “There are ducks everywhere!!”

A fun bonus I did this year was sent out an e-mail inviting some local mommy friends to join us in some of the activities we were planning. It’s been fun to see what friends show up each time! Cooper, my little social bug, is always curious to see what friends may join us.

One friend even printed out cute little Donald Duck coloring sheets for her girls, so fun! Cooper ended up doing the exact same thing as last year, chowing down on some of the bread after feeding the ducks.We keep joking that this little friend is Cooper’s first girlfriend…they’re just so stinkin’ cute around each other! Look!  Seriously? My son the romantic already!! NOT READY!

Anyway, we had a blast and even Allie joined in on the fun! =)

Thanks Donald Duck for giving us an excuse to feed the ducks! Check out how much Cooper has grown since last year here! IF my son is well behaved after nap, I may let him watch a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, too. Who knows, though…he’s been a bit crabby today. Here’s to hoping! =)