We needed a great weekend and after a really long week work (as in more hours than I have worked since prior to having kids and having to put work ahead of the girls in the evenings), when 5:00 p.m. came Friday, I made up my mind that I was going to be intentional, loving, and slow down.

Emerson received a kid’s baking cookbook for Christmas.  She had showed me a few of the recipes she flagged.  I thought to myself what good was giving her a cookbook if I never had the time to make anything with her!  I set out four eggs before she came home from school…once they got to room temperature, I called her downstairs so we could spend time together in the kitchen making a cake.  She made the zebra cake from scratch….I was so proud of her and she cherished the quality one-on-one time.

The cake was done just in time for me to put dinner in the oven.  We had a great meal (southwestern chicken balls with roasted red pepper sauce) and dinner conversation.  In fact, we had “homerun” dinners four nights last week…food was superb and conversation great, which was pretty amazing considering I worked late hours all last week.  A lot of prep work on Sunday and Justin’s help during the week still made it possible.

Fast forward to dessert time, the girls were so excited to eat Emerson’s creation!

Saturday morning was Harper and Daddy’s one-on-one date.  She had filled her marble jar the week prior and picked her “best bud” for their date.  She had known she wanted to go mini golfing when the time came since her first date night which was intended to be mini golfing in the summer got cut short on the fourth hole due to severe thunderstorms.  Saturday was bitter cold and windy…and I mean bone chilling winds and temperatures.  They golfed anyway in the frigid temperatures.  Their date also included breakfast at the Vienna Inn, a pit-stop at home to warm-up after golf which included some T.V watching and candy eating, and lunch at CAVA.  Harper loved her date with her “best bud”.

Meanwhile, Saturday morning, I got to spend some time with Avery and Emerson.  My nails were in desperate need of getting done.  I took them with me to the salon but didn’t make appointments for them.  They were disappointed at first but used the time wisely and did their reading and multiplication tables.  They knew that if they completed their work, we would have time to buy some quick drying nail polish and stop at Michaels for some clay.  We did both and even ran into Papa in the shopping center….he may have been stalking us as he knew where we were from a phone call earlier!

I then treated the girls to lunch out…something we do not do frequently on the weekends.  It felt amazing to be able to go to SweetLeaf and have the girls both be able to find something to order on the menu which they actually liked!  A mouthwatering brussel and pear salad for me that also included bacon, goat cheese, kale, lime pepitas, and sweet potato. 

A quesadilla with a side of bacon for Emerson and a turkey and bacon sandwich for Avery.

All five of us met at home at 1:00, just in time to make our way to our 2:00 home renovation related appointment.  We took the girls with us and they each had workbooks and spelling words to complete. Imagine their delight when we were told they had a theatre room for kids.  A deal was made to work for 25 minutes and then it could be theatre time.  Our appointment was close to two hours, so these girls were in heaven watching Sam and Kat on the big screen in the middle of the day.

When we got home, all five of us spent an hour cleaning and organizing piles of our own papers, schoolwork, bins, desk, etc.  It is amazing how staying on top of organizing and doing a little bit here and there keeps the situation from becoming overwhelming.  The girls were very cooperative despite not being too into it.

A quick dinner was in order Saturday night and we made do with what we had in the house so that we could be in and out of the kitchen in a reasonable time. It was movie night and that was the priority.  Often the girls fight about which movie to watch.  Emerson would like to watch adult movies all day long and Avery would like a cartoon or pretend movie.  I intervened and found a mermaid movie that I thought would suit all….Scales was the name.  It was rated PG and there were definitely some references to a period and a girl coming of age!  It was weird, and had some scary parts, but it was also good.  I know they liked it as they have already spent their 30 minutes of Netflix time a day that they earn watching portions of it and even last night watched it at my parents’ house (they slept over last night since no school today for Super Tuesday).

Sunday morning, we were planning on going to Church.  I knew it was critical for me to go since I haven’t been going much recently.  Kids learn by actions.  I also knew it was important for me to have my me time before Church.  So rise and shine 6:15 a.m. on a Sunday….something I never thought I would do in a million years.  I woke up, did my affirmations, gratitude journal, 15-minute jog, and yoga.  I even showered and put on some make-up before leaving for church at 8:45.  I even sat through church…well all but the last three minutes!  I dressed down so that the second hour when their girls were in the 10:00 class, I could go for a walk to finish my workout.  I had a great walk exploring some new streets around Vienna that I hadn’t been on before listening to a combination of the book Languages of Love and some country music during my 40-minute walk.  I ended my walk at Whole Foods so I could get a jump start on the grocery shopping.  I moved quickly around the perimeter of the store and only had about five minutes of shopping left when Justin and the girls arrived at 11:15!  A quick trip home to drop off the groceries and then we were back out.

Lunch at home is our norm, but we end up spending so much time in the kitchen so I decided we would eat lunch out again before heading to some open houses. I wanted to check out a few open houses, so we were really thinking through the right approach with our home reno process…do we truly want to do a home reno?  Is it better to move?  So much to think about!  Anyway, lunch was so good at SweetLeaf that we went back Sunday.  The girls thought I was crazy!  I had the same delicious salad, Justin had the same, and the girls all were very satisfied with their choices!

Then it was open house time.  The girls had a blast and love sharing their opinions of what they think we should do and shouldn’t do to our house.  We had to cut the last open house short as we had promised the girls that with good behavior, we would take them ice-skating.  Skatequest in Reston had public skating for two hours from 3:10 to 5:10.  We made it on the ice about 3:45 and after the first five minutes, I thought to myself this is going to be a long 90 minutes!  The girls had a great time.  Emerson and Harper grateful for us finally taking them (it was their first time) and Avery grateful for going again (it was her third time).  There were some falls but they all had a great time and were very appreciative of us taking them. They were all pretty impressed with their skills too!

Dinner….I had quickly prepped some boneless pork loin chops earlier in the day and Justin grilled them along with orange cauliflower and brussels.  I even made mashed potatoes as Emerson has been asking for awhile.  A basil avocado sauce to top it all off…and wowzers…it was phenomenal.

A truly bitterly cold glorious weekend.

Presenting Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt….

and Ms. Nadia Comaneci…

These two worked really hard this past month on identifying their famous historical figure to research and become.  They read books, researched facts, and made a report.  On the day of the actual museum, parents and students came and the kids presented their three facts.  Avery and Emerson memorized their facts…Emerson even changed hers up when she was getting bored of repeating the same ones over and over.

They spoke clearly and confidently.  I am so proud of my old Eleanor and young Nadia.

Since starting this blog, I have committed to this space at least twice a month. Yet here it is February 22 and I have yet to visit this month.  Life has been busy and stressful.  Avery and Harper have still had some sick days, Justin and I have many appointments related to our home renovation, we’ve have had quarterly teacher meetings, we sold and distributed Girl Scout Cookies, Justin has been busy trying to figure out care for his dad relating to his dementia, my dad had surgery for early stage kidney cancer, the girls have had a few weekend play dates, and on top of that Justin and I have been working very demanding full time jobs and somehow juggling the girls extra-curricular activities.

So while I have been MIA some from this space and we have been running around like crazy people, we are trying to start each day right by being grateful, positive, and mindful!

January 1 Avery came down with the flu.  It’s January 24 and this is what our January has looked like to date:

• Flu – Avery, Mommy, Emerson, Harper
• Ear infection and throat infection – Mommy
• Stomach Bug – Avery and Emerson

The girls have missed school, I have missed work.  We have stayed in doors and been taking it easy.  We have ordered a lot of takeout and done a lot of laundry.

Truly, it could be a lot worse though…so we’ll get through this long four day weekend and keep our fingers crossed that we go into next school week healthy and renewed!

We chose Philly for our surprise winter break vacation due to it being a city in close proximity to D.C. with a ton of our nation’s history coupled with great food.

Thursday:

With the drive being only three hours in comparison to the eight hour drive we had to Charleston two years prior, three hours seemed like a breeze.  It also allowed us to not leave first thing in the morning since our check-in time wasn’t until 3:00 p.m.  Our goal to leave was 11:00 and we made it out of Vienna at 12:30…pretty typical for us.

We arrived just before 4:00 in our Airbnb located in Society Hill (the intersection of 2^nd and South Street).  We leisurely unpacked and went to The Twisted Tail, across the street for dinner.

The Twisted Tail – The food and the service were absolutely superb.  Our waiter honestly was one of the best that I have had to date…very personable and in tune with expectations of good customer service.  While they didn’t have a kid’s menu, they said they could make chicken tenders and fries, mac and cheese, and a burger.  The portions were big so at the suggestion of the waiter, Avery and Harper split the chicken and fries….a wise decision considering not only was it huge, but also Avery didn’t like it.  Justin and I decided to get a mix of small plates and one entrée to share.  We assumed the small plates were on the smaller side…..they were NOT and as soon as we received the first one (the heirloom beets in a yogurt sauce), I knew we had overordered. They were mouthwatering.  Next came the crispy cauliflower flatbread and the spicy big eye tuna tacos).  Both were excellent as well, although I had thought the flatbread was made from cauliflower and it was actually the flatbread heaping topping.  Justin and I were stuffed by then so we didn’t mention that our entrée (the beef short ribs) and the last small plate (the spareribs) were taking significantly longer to come out of the kitchen than the other meals….so much so that our waiter actually started clearing our plates thinking we were done with everything.  I think he was pretty embarrassed when we told him that they hadn’t come out, so he ended up bringing us this huge delicious Bibb lettuce and parmesan salad.  More food was the last thing we needed but the salad was so amazing, we devoured it. We weren’t even hungry by the time the rest of the food came out, but we ate it anyway.  While both were excellent, we promised ourselves we would never order short ribs out again, as I make the most amazing short ribs and we don’t feel like we are eating something special when we order them when we go out.  We had actually ordered the seabass entrée but switched to the short ribs when they were out of the seabass.  Overall though, it was a great start to our culinary experience.

Friday

Friday morning, we got a little bit of a later start than we anticipated not getting out of the apartment until close to 11:00.  Justin had somehow slammed his foot into the bedroom railing Christmas Eve and destroyed his foot.  It was all black and blue and he was in a lot of pain.  Realizing he should probably get it checked out, I found an urgent care a half mile away, and Justin walked there (yes, he walked) to get it X-rayed.  Good news is that it wasn’t broken so they wrapped it and told him to rest.  I am guessing that the 28,000 steps we ended up walking that day in total wasn’t exactly what the doctor meant by rest.  While Justin was at urgent care, I managed to burn a waffle, make oatmeal that crystalized to the point that I wasn’t sure if the pan coating was coming off, and then almost start a fire in the microwave when I microwaved a non-microwavable safe dish for two minutes.  Ironically, I had asked Justin how to open the apartment windows the night before and had every one of them open to air out the apartment.

Anyway, we finally left the apartment walking via Second Street through Washington Square and then to the Liberty Bell.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather was nearly 50 degrees.  Avery took the time to read some of the signs and seemed to truly be interested in the history.  I can’t believe this was the first time Justin and I actually saw The Liberty Bell. 

We decided to hit up Franklin Square next only to realize that it really was a nighttime place to visit.  With two hours before we were meeting our friends, the McBrides, we decided to check out the The Redding Terminal Market as we figured we could do some browsing and eat lunch there.  It was so insanely busy there…WAY busier than I was expecting and much more hot ready-made food than purchase and make/eat at home type food.  I saw a sign for a dollar hot dogs and asked the girls if they wanted hot dogs, which they did. They ended up eating two each while Justin and I settled on a middle eastern place…Greek salad with gyro meat for me.  It did the job…was healthy and good, but I hated settling on that option without being able to explore the hundreds of other food counters.

After lunch we were scheduled to meet the McBrides at Franklin Fountain, an ice cream soda shop.  Since they were running a little late, we ended up going to The Betsy Ross House for a tour.  It was great.  We splurged and bought the girls the kids audio device, which was the way to go…it really kept their interest.  While I knew Betsy Ross made the Star-Spangled Banner, I didn’t know how that came to be or anything else about her life.  A quick fun education tour.

Then it was back to Franklin Fountain, the ice cream shops of ice cream shops.  Justin and the girls splurged on milkshakes and me on the chocolate cake cone.  It was worth every calorie!

We walked towards the waterfront and the kids got a kick out of watching people ice-skate.  Avery had a crush on Winslow just like she did when we saw him earlier in April.

It was a little after 5:00 when we said our goodbyes and since we weren’t terribly far from Franklin Square, we headed back.  We all rode the merry-go-round, enjoyed the lights show, and playing on the playground.  The walk home was about a half hour so by the time we had walked home, Justin and I had both walked over 12 miles, 28,000 steps that day.

For dinner we went to Pizzeria Stella , right outside our apartment.

Pizzeria Stella – Justin and I shared the spinach pizza and the crab and apple salad.  The salad had way more dressing on it than I would have preferred, but it was excellent as was the pizza.  The girls each had their own bowl of pasta…Emerson with tomato sauce, Avery plain, and Harper with parmesan cheese. We also shared the calamari for appetizer, which was delicious.

After dinner, we fake lit the menorah as we did every night in Philly.  By fake lighting it, Harper actually participated.

Saturday

Saturday morning, we headed to Independence Hall.  We were hopeful that arriving by 11:00 there would still be tickets available for the day. There were not to the girl’s disappointment. Buying the tickets online in advance would have been the route to go.  We were still able to go into two other buildings and see many compasses, maps, pendulums, constellations, globes, and copies of the Declaration of Independence.

It was another beautiful day and we headed towards City Hall.  The architecture of the building was absolutely amazing.

Next we headed to LOVE Park, the original.

Lunch was next on our agenda and we headed to Monk Café.   The place was small, so we were told we had about a 45-minute wait.  Justin and I ordered an IPA at the bar and then we got lucky and got seated after about 20 minutes.  We got seated in a bright spot by the window and we were giddy (probably the beer). Justin welcomed sitting as his foot was in severe pain.

Monk Café – Another excellent find!  Justin had a burger.  I had the pork sandwich with a side salad.  The girls shared mac and cheese, chicken fingers, and fries.  And the beer selection was excellent.  Justin and I may have had several beers each!

The Philadelphia Magic Gardens were next on our list. To our surprise, we weren’t able to walk right in due to it being so busy and since it was 3:00, we didn’t want to wait another two hours until the time we could get tickets.  We changed our plans and found a nearby park where we let the girls play for about 20 minutes before heading to The Italian Market section.  We roamed the streets, browsed the vendors and shops, and purchased salamis, cheeses, and fruits so I could make a charcuterie board at home that evening.

Sunday

The forecast was calling for a rainy day, so we intentionally saved The Franklin Institute for Sunday.  We purchased our tickets online the night prior and arrived at 9:15, before the museum even opened…a first for us!  The exhibits were interactive and great. We did The Brain, Worst Case Survival Experience, The Giant Heart, The Train Factory, Live Science Show, The Planetarium, Electricity, The Sports Zone, and The Amazing Machine.  It was a pricey museum, but it was well worth the cost and going on a rainy day made it that much better.

Since we drove to the museum and 5:30, we thought we may have a chance of getting into a popular Mexican restaurant El Vez, in the heart of downtown. It was a 45-minute wait, so we waited in an Irish pub next door, and Justin and I had a drink. Our waitress was very personable and talked us into getting the kids virgin margaritas.  We figured why not!  Dinner was delicious and a great time with our little family of five.

El Vez – El Vez was a great restaurant.  Even on Sunday at 5:45, it was packed.  The chips and guac were extra; however, they were well worth it.  While they didn’t have a kid’s menu, they were accommodating – Emerson had a chicken quesadilla and Avery had a plain steak taco.  Harper had some of both.  I had the sea bass tacos – they had a sweet potato puree and were scrumptious.  Justin had the steak tacos and they were equally good.

The girls watched a movie that evening, and we did face masks that we got from Santa. Since we didn’t carve out a meal for a cheesesteak and time was ticking, Justin went to Jim’s Steaks South Street, which was one block over.  Since it was 10:00 p.m. and raining out, there was no line.

Jim Steaks South Street – While I don’t know that I have ever had a whole cheesesteak anywhere, I have certainly tried one before…not sure where, but I know I have.  And I know I have heard people over the years say that there is nothing like a Philly cheesesteak.  Well I took a bite of Justin’s cheesesteak (maybe two) and let me tell you if I never had another bite of a Philly cheesesteak again in my life, I would be quite okay.  It’s just not the type of food that I enjoy eating.

Monday

Our last morning.  Check-out was at 11:00 so we figured we would have a good brunch before heading off.  I found Sabrinas in The Italian Market section; being a 20-minute walk there and back was perfect as it gave us some exercise before sitting in the car for three hours.  Not only was it raining, but also it was so windy the umbrella was hard to control. It was the cutest little café and a great pick!

Sabrinas – Sabrinas was our fifth and final restaurant that we went to in Philly.  Every restaurant we went to was a stellar pick.  And our menu selections were equally on par….that is until I went to Sabrina’s.  Somehow I overlooked their specialities and ordered the omelette.  It was good, but when have I ever walked out of a restaurant saying an omelette was too die for!  I even forgot to substitute the potatoes with fresh fruit.  Justin had one of the specials and it was mouth watering.  Avery got the buttermilk pancakes, which were fluffy and delicious and Emerson and Harper both had a bagel with cream cheese.  Great place, rookie ordering mistake on my part though!

All in all, we had a great trip.  Excellent eats.  A ton of walking.  Great weather.  Fun family time!

Sidenote:  While we didn’t take a ton of pictures, many of the pictures we did take won’t upload properly to this site for some reason…oh well!

This year Hanukkah started the Sunday before Christmas so the holidays overlapped.  Not my preference, but clearly I have no say in the matter.  For the first night of Hanukkah, we went to my parents where we celebrated and ate latkes.Harper is still deathly afraid of fire so she goes in another room when we are lighting the menorah.

Monday night we took our annual family pajama pictures in front of the tree, which were the girls Hanukkah presents from the prior night.I had just come home from a haircut after having gone 10 months without one. I had intended to go darker in color for a change…the cut was not meant to be so layered!  I’m not the biggest fan…but it will grow back.  Granted it is hard to notice my hair color when I have a triangle reflecting in the middle of my forehead! Someone whose name starts with E decided she wasn’t in the mood for silly family pictures.  We told her we would do a serious one next, but she had quickly escaped as she was not feeling our crazy antics. Tuesday was Christmas Eve. We captured pictures in front of the tree in less than a rushed fashion than usual.  I can’t believe how old and grown up they are becoming! Not sure what was so funny, but apparently something had these girls giggling! The self timer normally does the trick, not this year…Justin was scalped! We somehow made it to the 5:00 VPC Church service at 4:30, a record for us for sure!  We indulged at PF Chang’s for dinner for the 5^th year in a row!  We debated switching it up due to the not so great experience we had last year, but the $25 gift card we had (from the less than stellar customer service) coupled with the fact that it really is a special night out since we only go there on Christmas Eve led us back to try one more time before we were ready to call it quits.  Fortunately, dinner and service were good so we will likely be back next year.

Tuesday night we all stayed up a little too late before getting to bed.  Let’s be funny. No, let’s be serious. Emerson was the first to get up at 7:20 the following morning and wanted nothing more to wake her sisters up.  She patiently waited…a little Netflix time helped her patience!  By 8:05, both Avery and Harper had woken up and we made our way downstairs!Santa was especially generous this year with his stockings!  At least for the girls….Mommy and Daddy’s stockings could have been a little plumper, but I guess Santa had priorities.

Santa also brought the girls some great presents.  Nothing too extravagant, but a combination of things that were on their list and things he thought they would enjoy. Breakfast was healthy chocolate muffins, healthy lemon muffins, scrambled eggs, fresh berries, and lots of bacon!   Justin and I prepared some of the food Christmas Eve after the girls went to bed so we could enjoy Christmas morning with the girls over spending tons of time in the kitchen.  Breakfast was delicious.  It was small though in terms of people.  This is the first year since we have been in our new house where Christmas has been just the five of us.  Karolin joined our family before Harper even turned one and since then we have had Mila and Larissa join our family and spend multiple Christmases with us.  It was weird truthfully in a way….kind of realizing that we are truly in the next phase our journey.

After breakfast, we sat around the tree and opened family presents.  The absolute best part of family presents were the girls gifts to me and Justin and to one another.  Justin and I debated taking the girls to get presents for one another; we decided not to primarily because Justin and I would need to carve out the time to do so, and sadly it wasn’t something we wanted to add to our plate.  We didn’t tell the girls we weren’t going to not do this, we just didn’t do it.  THEY took it upon themselves to make their own gifts by regifting, making coupon books, making cards, and giving their own money.  I could not have been prouder of them.  They made individual gifts and teamed up to make joint gifts. They fight more often than I like and sometimes I wonder if they really love one another.  Their gifts to one another were so caring and filled with love.  Emerson made coupon books for both Avery and Harper which consisted of helping them with their homework, taking their dishes over to the sink, and making their beds. Avery gave everyone in the family $5 cash. Avery also bought a stuffed animal for Harper and Emerson the day before Christmas, when she happened to be the only kid home and have the opportunity to go to the drugstore with Justin.  She knew Emerson and Harper may not have had the opportunity to do the same, and she was okay with that.  Avery and Harper regifted some of their toys, bracelets, and made some new bracelets for one another.  Harper made a card demonstrating her love to the entire family. Honestly, my heart was so happy that they secretly took it upon themselves to be creative and make gifts for one another for Christmas because they cared!

The girls big Christmas present from Justin and I was a trip to Philadelphia. We gave the girls a card that said “pack your bags, we are going to Philly” tomorrow!

The afternoon was spent going for a family walk in the neighborhood, playing with gifts, preparing a delicious dinner of pork chimichurri where Grandma and Grandpa joined us, and packing for our trip.  It really was a great Christmas…M-unit was small this year, but our love big.

After eight years of patching, Dr. Seidman gave Avery the okay to stop!  This day seemed so far away when she was a baby knowing that statistics often indicated kids who wore a patch, often wore it until around age eight as vision often continued to improve up until this age.

Avery’s vision was relatively similar in both eyes over the year so she alternated patching eyes. When she was a baby she patched for two hours per day, alternating eyes every other day.  Once she entered kindergarten and was in school for eight hours per day, patching for two hours a day became a little trickier.  Wiith Dr. Seidman’s approval, we reduced patching time and on average patched each eye for a total of four to five hours a week.  At some point during her years of patching (pre-k perhaps), we switched from Ortopad one-time use patches to felt patches that went directly on her glasses.

There were times where Avery didn’t want to wear her patch and her negotiation tactics were in full force (i.e. wanting to put it on when she was done with breakfast, after she finished her homework or reading, not when she was riding her bike, not when she was watching T.V, not when she was tired, etc…you get the point!), but overall she obliged and wore it knowing that it was making her eyes stronger.

Avery’s vision has in fact improved over the years.  When Avery was a toddler and up until kindergarten, her vision was in the 20/250 or 20/200 range depending on the doctor visit.  That was actually in the legally blind range.  In the past few years her vision has improved and her most recent visit, her vision measured 20/100.  We’ll never know if the improvement was due to age, her patching, her ability to compensate, or other factors.  Likely it was a combination of many factors, and in the end the result is more important than the why.

Avery knows she sees differently than others.  She accepts it, never questions why her and not someone else, she ironically sees more details than many people with normal vision such as myself.  She choses to see the glass as half full.   Stopping her patch was a day that she has been anticipating for years!!  

She certainly has come a long way!

Thanksgiving 2019 was quieter then it has been in the last few years.  With no au pairs, my grandma and Justin’s family not joining us, coupled with Thanksgiving being at my parents and bringing appetizers with little prep ahead work, it was a quiet and relaxed morning.  The girls had planned on watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  While watching the parade, they realized they had no skit for this year.  They went into action and together created costumes and a play. The mess that they were making in the den made me proud.  Emerson really took the lead and directed both the costume design and the play.

We ate.  We had enough food for twice the number of us.

Bacon wrapped dates…delicious by the way!

We played a thankful game, that Avery took the lead on putting together.

The girls performed their skit.  Emerson a pilgrim.  Harper a turkey.  Avery Squanto.

Friday afternoon we met my high school girl friends, Allison, Sarah, and Lauren and their families at Vanish Brewery.  As always, it is like no time has passed when I talk to these ladies.  Twenty-four years of friendship still going strong.  Seeing our kids together – conversating, playing and having a great time makes my heart so incredibly happy.

Thankful for this life, for this family, for these friendships.

I’ll be honest.  I look forward to yet somewhat dread our every other year family pictures at the same time. Is that even possible?  I’m sure it is and I’m sure I am not alone.  I do love having our family photographed, but the decisions leading up to the day from deciding on the photographer to deciding on the date and the location to picking out coordinating outfits for the family is way more time consuming than it should be.  Not to mention the stress involved on the day of the pictures….limiting the jumping around in the morning so no kid scratches up their face and then of course there is me…I’ve gotten my hair done the past two family photo sessions so for three hours before our session actually starts, I like to stay as still as possible so as not to have a hair get misplaced!

And then during the session….it was cold this year…as in 40 degrees.  My outfit selections were not intended for 40 degree weather as that forecast was a good 10 degrees below normal temperatures for that time of year.

Sounds fun huh!  Perhaps this is the real reason we opt to get our family pictures professionally taken every other year instead of each year!

One week after our session, our photographer Allison provided us with our pictures…close to 70 of them…and honestly there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch.  They were amazing.  She captured giggles, stubbornness, the unique personalities, the giggles, our shivers, and most of all she captured our love.   One look at those pictures and I forgot every stress I had leading up to the actual session…well sort of.  But more importantly those pictures made me realize I shouldn’t stress so much about the perfect location, the perfect outfit, the perfect hair placement.  There truly is no wrong decision when it comes to capturing our love and personalities.  

I am so in love with these pictures and my little family.

Approaching 40 was hard!  Life has passed by so quickly that trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was going to be turning 40 this year was so hard to fathom. I must admit I wasn’t looking forward to it.  In terms of celebrating, I’m not one for a big party.  I am generally a low-key type of girl so until late July just figured we would do something together fun that weekend as a family and of course go out to dinner on my actual birthday.  But then I kept thinking 40.  40 is big, right!  I didn’t want to look back and regret that I did nothing “big” for my 40^th.  The wheels started churning and for anyone who knows me, knows that my brain was thinking all over the place…France, Spain, Italy, Colorado, Charleston, the Shenandoah, were all contenders….and ironically they run the spectrum of types of places and cost. After deciding on the Amalfi Coast, after questioning my decision (but not enough to change the trip), after ordering and returning an insane amount of sweaters, shawls, and ponchos from Anthropologie in search of the perfect layering, and after creating a massive list of the girls daily activities for Grandma and Grandpa, Justin and I left for the Amalfi Coast on September 26 – three nights in Capri and two nights in the town of Amalfi.

I had turned 40 ten days earlier so this trip actually turned into a little bit of an 11-year anniversary celebration as well.  We had a 4:15 p.m. flight from Dulles.  Justin and I both tried to sleep; however, our attempts were futile. My Fitbit registered one hour of sleep and that seemed about right.  We flew into Rome and then had our next flight to Naples a few hours later.  We ate breakfast at the airport.  While the breakfast sandwiches on baguettes with prosciutto, salami, and cheese and the croissants all looked amazing, I knew eating that amount of bread would make me feel icky and that was not how I wanted to start the trip.  We found a little place to sit down that served eggs.  I wasn’t expecting my eggs to be served cold, but they were.  Were they good?  No, but they were protein.

Our flight from Rome to Naples was short.  We had hired a private transfer to take us from the airport to our hotel – while it was not cheap, Justin and I realized it was worth the investment so we would start our trip off not being upset with one another for getting lost and delaying our arrival time.  The ferry ride from the port in Naples to the port in Capri (Marina Grande) was when our lack of sleep finally set in and we both dosed.  Upon getting off the boat away from the cigarette smoke, and getting some fresh air, we perked up quickly as our convertible taxi was waiting for us.  I was full of laughs as we rode up.

Our room wasn’t ready upon our early arrival, so after having some fresh lemonade while checking in, we made our way to the Water Zone of our hotel.  There Justin and I enjoyed some time in the steam room and sauna followed by some time at the hotel pool.

We checked into our beautiful modern deco room at Capri Tiberio Place and then had a much needed shower in our spa inspired bathroom. A quick toast with the mini-bar beer and we were off exploring the local area.

The walk away from the busy city center was exactly what we were needing.  We stopped and took it all in.

We ended up coming across the Arco Natural, another beautiful serene site.

For dinner we opted for a place suggested by our travel agent, Jim, with good reviews and within feet of our hotel, Capannina Ristorante.  I had the salmon.  Dinner was good, but I wanted mouth-watering.  The wine was good and went down easy, something that became a common theme through our entire trip.

Saturday morning, we were up early.  We wanted to explore the town of Anacapri on the other side of the island.  Monte Solero was in Anacapri and we wanted to hike it, but we also wanted to enjoy some leisurely time exploring the town, without wasting time changing from hiking clothes to regular clothes.  SO…hiking in a jumpsuit with sneakers was the solution.  We asked the hotel if we could walk to Anacapri.   They thought we were crazy and we took the hint to take the bus.  On our way to the bus station.

Once we rode the standing room only bus up the mountain to Anacapri, we realized how walking up was not possible unless we wanted to risk getting run over by cars and buses for twenty minutes straight.  We did some exploring of the town first.

Then we started our hike.  Nice look, huh!

This just cracks me up.  Fortunately, we didn’t encounter too many people hiking up.  Most made their way up via this route.

We made a few wrong turns, but thankfully we persisted.

We passed goats along the way.

Thankfully Justin carried my sandals for me for a quick change after our hike.  And once we got to the top!  Wow…just amazing!

Justin had a beer to quench his thirst.

After our hike, we ate a delicious lunch at Ristorante La Zagara under the lemon trees.

I had tuna and Justin had risotto.  Both were excellent.

We even had wine with lunch.  We laughed.

We took the bus back but instead of getting on the bus with the exit in the town of Capri, we got on the bus with the exit at Porte Grande, down by the port.  Next, we explored the port for a few minutes.

Then we took the funicular back up into town.  We chose to have a little down time by the pool before showering and getting dressed for the evening.  Since we ate a late big lunch, I wasn’t feeling a big dinner.  But I was feeling gelato.  I searched and searched online for the best gelato place and I found it, Gelateria Buonocore, according to various reviews anyway.  It was good, but it wasn’t the to-die for gelato I was seeking.

Justin still wanted dinner, so we went to a local spot that Justin found, Lo Sfizio.  It was indeed a great local spot.  The menu was expansive.  Justin got the pizza and I just a small side salad.  And like other nights, we shared a bottle of wine.

Saturday morning, we started out as we did every morning with breakfast at the hotel.  I love a great breakfast included in the rate.  The breakfast at Hotel Capri Tiberia was amazing.

Station after station of food to chose from!

We headed to Marina Grande to take a boat trip around the island of Capri.

We chose a public one and we opted to not see the Blue Grotto, largely in part due to it not even being open at the time we wanted to depart. When it did open up later in the day, it was a couple hour wait to even get in!  It really was amazing and throughout the boat ride, I kept saying, we are on a boat ride in Italy!  I had to keep saying it aloud to remind myself this moment was real!  The Faraglioni Rocks.

The water was so green and so blue in various places…just beautiful.

We were exhausted after the boat ride.  It wasn’t like we did much, but the sun on the water clearly wiped us out!  Back in town, we grabbed some pizza and gelato.  We took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens.

Then we took a nap at the hotel.  We sat outside in our regular clothes on this super comfy dual lounge in the shade at the pool and we fell asleep close to an hour.  It was glorious.  Despite being groggy from not being active enough that day, we realized being active was exactly what we needed.

We put on our workout clothes and hiked up to Villa Jovis  Holy hike!

It was the workout we needed.  And I totally was not expecting what we saw when we got to the top!

It amazes me that in the year AD 27 THIS fortress was completed.  I’m seriously in constant awe of what people who lived generations ago were capable of.  I can’t even imagine being at the top of this fortress having a view of the entire island to scope out enemies.  It totally revived us.  Such a great afternoon hike!

We went to another local spot for dinner that was recommended by Jim, Ristorante Le Gratelle and we had passed by a few times.  Dinner was good, but I was hoping for spectacular this meal, and it was good, but not spectacular.  I think my expectations were too high because I was expecting the food to be way better than something I can make.  We again enjoyed a bottle of wine with our meal.  We definitely enjoyed the vibe of the place and don’t get me wrong, dinner was good. I had the fish…which I did almost every night….some sort of local white fish this time.

After dinner, we walked to the city center and danced in the piazza, an experience I will always remember.

Monday morning, we awoke early as usual and had our last breakfast at the hotel before catching the 9:30 a.m. ferry to Amalfi.  I made the most of my time waiting for the ferry.

The ferry ride was delightful.  Again, I was just taking it all in constantly reminding myself that I was in Italy.  I continued doing the same upon our arrival in Amalfi!

Our hotel was literally stories and stories high and at the bottom of the hotel was a beachfront property.

We lounged for a little more than an hour.  I wanted to remember this moment forever!

We even got in the water for a few!  It was cold and refreshing!  I can say that I have swam in the Tyrennian Sea!

We then walked into the city center of Amalfi.

We checked out some stores.  There were tons of souvenir shops!

I saw the biggest lemons I have ever seen before.  I touched the, got yelled out, and then clearly saw the sign that said no touching.

We explored the church.  Again, old churches simple amaze me.  The fact that hundreds and hundreds of years ago people could build such beautiful intricate works of art amazes me.

We also ate some gelato.  There was seriously a gelato place every 20 feet.  Which one to go to was a touch decision!  We picked one though, Il Pianeta Del Gelato, and holy slam dunk….it was the gelato I had been waiting for the whole trip.  It was absolutely amazing.

I was then convinced we could hike to Ravello, a neighboring town from the city center of Amalfi.  I had read the reviews on hiking from Amalfi to Ravello and I knew it would be a workout!  But I knew it was possible and would take a few hours.  Holy stairs!  Holy legs!  I knew the hike would be long and I had read that while there were “bathrooms”, one should bring their own toilet paper.  I came prepared!

According to the online discussions I found on the hike, the hike was supposed to be fool proof.  Well Justin and I were fooled.  We took a few wrong turns and were able to get back on track once, but we got to one part, where we honestly couldn’t find the next location.  It was so frustrating because we had hiked for a little over an hour and were probably less than a half hour away at this point.  Justin was feeling like we could get murdered though, so we finally decided to turn back around.  The way down was much easier than the way up!

Monday night we ate at Sensi, an up and coming Michelin Star restaurant.  It was the only restaurant that we ate at that’s menu was truly different than every other restaurant we ate it.  It was very similar to Clarity in Vienna.  It was good, but they forgot one of the amush bouche’s that I saw them give to the table next to us and the portions were even smaller than one would expect for even this type of restaurant…so very good but I had higher expectations for this type of rated restaurant.  The bread though….phenomenal!  We took a nice stroll through town home, which was a must after the two entire loaves of bread that I ate!

Tuesday our last day, we opted to hire a private driver to take us along the coast from our hotel in Amalfi to Positano and then Ravello. Our driver, Salvadore, was excellent!  We made a few stops along the way.

Positano!

Hello wallets!  Seriously so many shops!  I wanted to get the girls something and with so little time to price shop, I found myself just buying without much consideration if I could find something I liked more at another shop or for a better price.

I’m so glad we were able to make it to Positano.  How I would have loved to have been more leisurely.  Next time Positano. We made a few more stops along the way as we made our way towards Ravello!

Ravello!  Ravello was totally up our alley.  Quieter, more artsy, not as touristy.  We were also short on time in Ravello, but we made the most of it.  We walked around town.  We took in all the simplicities and the details.  We ate a delicious lunch.

We explored Villa Rufolo.  Absolutely breathtaking.

And we topped it off with gelato, which was just as amazing as it was the prior day.  We got back to our hotel at 5:15 giving us about a half hour to relax at the beach club before it closed.

We decided to eat at the hotel since we had a voucher. Dinner was not bad, certainly overpriced.  We were on our way back up to the room and decided we needed to walk more.  We walked outside and the next thing you know, we walked into town.  The wine we had at dinner may have swayed that decision some.

We laughed, we had fun, Justin had a drink, we decided to have gelato yet again, which made it my fifth time having gelato in four days.

It was five days of pure bliss and joy. A vacation that was rather spontaneous.  A bucket-list vacation that was made possible by working hard, making good financial decisions, and having two grandparents who were happy to watch the girls for a week.  Grateful!