I was surfing around Pinterest the other day, and I kept seeing all these beautiful beaches and locations that I could only dream about visiting. Then I reminded myself that maybe someday I really could go a fantastic beach getaway. It would be MARVELOUS! Then I thought about it a little more….would I ever REALLY get to enjoy a “relaxing” vacation again? As a mom can I ever really “get away”? Will a vacation every feel like it used to ever again?

I am not ready to leave our son for a period of time longer than 1 night at this point. I’ve only done it one time, and I am not rushing to do it again right now. The Captain and I really need some “us” time, so I am mentally preparing myself for a two night trip I am planning in early summer. I have signed my parents up as babysitters, and I am booking it. We really need some time away. I am hoping by then I will feel ready to get away. Even if not, then I am sure once I get there all will be good. But I know that my son will always be on my mind. What is he doing? Is he fine with out me? Most of all I will miss him. Heck I even miss him after I put him to bed at night!

Then I begin to think about our future trips. The bigger ones. The ones that include a plane flight. If it’s just Captain Awesome and I lounging on the beach will I ever be able to fully relax? Will my mind ever truly be able to drift away into margaritaville like it used to? Even if I am dying to get away, I have a sinking feeling the answer is no. I never will be able to truly forget my life back home like I used to.

I am looking forward to taking vacations with my son also, but again I am fully aware that it will never actually be a vacation. Even if it is at the beach I can’t get lost in a book, or sip cocktails till I fall asleep. Not any more. My son will need my full attention. Sure, maybe The Captain and I will get a nice dinner out if we are lucky enough to travel with the Grandparents, but it will never be the same.

I am so thankful that I got to travel so much pre having kids. The Captain and I went away many times and enjoyed every second of it. It’s just weird to think how different it will all be from now on.

Do you agree? Will my vacations forever be changed?

Before you think…”OMG Jen is holding a gun!”….I will tell you that it’s a bee bee gun and I am shooting at cans (not very well might I add!). ANYWHO! Last weekend The Captain, our little man, our little Tinkerbell and myself hopped in the car and traveled to the Poconos to spend the weekend with my family. As a matter of fact Captain Awesome and I visited this house before two years ago when we went on a bit of a “weekend retreat” to heal after I had the miscarriage. It felt great to return this time with our son, and the rest of my family to spend some quality time together.

I’d like to give a shout out to my brother in law and sister for setting it all up. The house is owned by his family, and it was EXTREMELY cool of them to allow us to spend the weekend there. I love when we get to do things such as this with my family because I am a true believer that good memories are so important for a family and getaways such as this allows for many great memories to be created. Although we didn’t do much in terms of activities, just being together took us all out of our mundane daily activities to do and be somewhere different.

It’s funny that if you sit on your couch in your home it’s called being lazy, but if you sit around when you are away it’s called “vacation”. When my family gets together we do alot of sitting, but one thing that doesn’t lack is the laughter. Just give us a couple bottles of wine, a lot of beer and you get a recipe for silliness! Even when our night time bonfire got disrupted by 2 pesky skunks!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend away in the woods with my family. I was happy they got to love and play with our little man, and I always enjoy spending time with them. Maybe we can make this an annual thing!?

I have always loved the ocean. I grew up taking family vacations at the beach, and to this day my family spends a week at the beach each year. I have to say I love almost everything about my beach vacations, and this year it’s gotten even better. This year I get to share one of my favorite things with my son. My little man gets to join me, The Captain, my parents, my brother, sister and her husband at the Jersey shore for the first time!

The shore life is made for me and my little man. It fits his schedule perfectly! And what fits his schedule certainly makes for a happy me. Not to mention that traveling with so many people who enjoy taking care of my son certainly gives mommy a much needed break.

We have many stations to entertain Christian. We have a blow up baby pool, the KidCo Go-Pod, the KidCo Pea Pod,  and a towel with lots of toys. Each spot gets about 7 minutes of attention if we are lucky. I decided to go with the Coolibar umbrella because it got the highest rating in Good Housekeeping’s umbrella reviews. It didn’t let me down! It really is 10 degrees cooler underneath!

I love to go to sleep listening to the sound of the ocean, and I love to sit on the deck and watch the waves crash. Each night we take a nice walk on the boardwalk, and for some reason no matter how much I hate to walk at home, at the beach it’s a perfect end to a great day.

Christian has adapted well to his new surroundings. He’s such a good little boy! With the rest of the week ahead of us we have a lot to look forward to. I certainly could get used to this!

Back to life…Back to reality!! Booo that’s all I have to say! Some people find that after a while they get bored on vacation, but I am not one of those people. I think I’d do very well on a permanent vacation, but since that only happens in my dreams, it’s time to get back to the real world. That’s right folks, my stay at the Ritz in Sarasota Florida is over, and we had a marvolous time!

As I mentioned in my previous post about going on vacation, Captain Awesome and I decided we wanted to stay in the US since I was pregnant, and didn’t want to risk any issues with the water in other foreign countries like Mexico. Just wasn’t worth the risk in my book, and after speaking with our travel agent we decided to go to a place we’ve both never been…Sarasota Florida. The flight there on Jet Blue was surprisingly effortless and we arrived in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad at all! We were even upgraded to the “more leg room” seats since it turns out Jet Blue doesn’t have first class (yes I felt like an idiot when I asked if we could be upgraded to first class and got a “maam, Jet Blue doesn’t have first class”.  We got a great deal at The Ritz Carlton Sarasota, and we couldn’t wait to get there.

Sarasota was SUPER HOT and HUMID! I guess that’s why people asked us why we’d go there in June. It was about 97 degrees with 100% humidity. I love the heat, but this was a bit much. It wasn’t so so bad when we were by the pool, but during the times we wanted to sight see a bit it was unbearable. Luckily this girls body, who doesn’t know how to sweat, figured out it was necesary. Especially for little Pooh Bear. Don’t worry, I was sure to be careful.

The Room Upgrade Incident

Yes, it’s an incident. Being that it was our anniversary and we were also there to celebrate my 30th birthday we decided to try for an upgrade. Why not? The Captain spoke to someone before our arrival who said they were booked and to ask on Monday. I was told the same thing on check in. Now when you think of an upgrade what do you picture? I personally picture an upgrade being a regular room to more of a suite. So on Monday I go down to the reception desk and the woman is proud to tell me that we have been upgraded. Woo hoo! I ran upstairs to our room to tell the Captain and quickly began repacking all of our stuff (which by the way was all over the room). We slapped high five for being upgraded at the Ritz and proceeded 1 floor above to floor 6…..turns out the room was right across the hall from our previous room. When I saw that I laughed and said “wouldn’t it be funny if it was the same?” I laughed too soon…we entered the same room. What was the upgrade?? A better view..Here are the two views..

We went from city views, to pool/bay views. Definitely nicer, but not worth packing up my whole room for. I kind of went downstairs and threw a hormonal pregnat fit..lol (ok not really a fit, but I did express my unhappiness) Luckily the manager was very sweet and later sent up a bottle of wine (which I could not enjoy) for the confusion. We then laughed about the “incident” for the rest of the week.

Our Anniversary

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary on our actual anniversary. Monday June 14th. We made reservations at the hotels restaurant, because we figured that the Ritz had to have good dining. That evening chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to our room complements of the hotel, and every person we encountered that day wished us a happy anniversary. The hotel is definitely good at the small things. (through our stay we got welcome cookies, anniversary chocolate covered strawberries, extra dessert at our anniversary dinner, I got a birthday cake, and a 2nd birthday cake with a candle at dinner that night) The restuarant offered a price fixe menu which we love since we get 3 full courses, and they were great at spreading out each course so we could fully enjoy our evening together. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary!

Sarasota in General

Sarasota was perfect for what we were looking for. We wanted a very low key relaxing vacation and that is what we got. I felt like the town was pretty dead, and was told that June is the low season there. You could definitely tell. I wasn’t very impressed with downtown Sarasota, but St. Armands Circle was such a cute little town. My only complaint there is how early the stores closed? I was baffeled! We went out around 7 to eat dinner (normal time) and alot of them were closed? It was way too hot to be out and browsing the stores in the heat. The evenings would’ve been perfect. Our days went like this. Captain Awesome likes to sleep in more than me, so I would get up and go to the pool at the hotel. I would wake him up and around 11 we would go over to the Ritz beach club where we would spend our days till about 3:30. Then we would go back, I would nap then we would shower and get ready for our evening. And since this girl is preggers I was ready for bed around 11! (ok so maybe before 11 but I tried!) Bottom line? I’m not sure June is the best month to visit Sarasota…but it’s still a very cute town, but certainly not cheap! We had to hunt down a McDonalds (which of course we did).

I really enjoy every vacation with Captain Awesome. We have the best time when we are away together. I love that when we are gone nothing else really matters, and we only focus on the stuff around us. But now we are back, and with us came a bunch of great memories. I’m glad we got to take this trip before little Pooh Bear comes. It definitely was a much CALMER vacation than we are used to, but I guess that is what happens when you are preggers! No alcohol for this girl! (definitely very different! lol)

We made sure to take pictures to show Pooh Bear someday that he or she was with us on this vacation!

We started our weekend on Friday afternoon with a drive to Vermont that on a good day would take about 4 hours. How long did it take us??? 6 Hours!! I guess that is what we get for deciding to start our trip at 12:30 on the Friday of Columbus Day weekend. It was the four of us plus both of our dogs. Tinkerbell and their Pug Lupita decided they wanted the chance to see Vermont too!

The house itself was great. It was situated about 2600 feet up in the mountains. It was warm and cozy and we even built a nice wood fire each night. The first full day was spent outlet shopping in Manchester which is a big town close by. This day probably was my husbands nightmare…a day of SHOPPING! I must admit he took it pretty well until about 3:00 when he decided he was done and it was time to go home. He held out for a while though without being too crabby so I was thankful. Saturday evening we had reservations at a local Inn which we were told had amazing food. Boy were we not disappointed. The place was set up with a 4 course price fix menu. The food and service was amazing and we left completely full and satisfied!

Sunday we ventured into a really quaint town that we were told had a great General Store we had to see. It was so cute there! They had Christmas shops (which was heaven for me) and hot apple cider, and vermont cheese and candy…I could go on and on! It was just the thing I pictured when I thought of a cute Vermont town. Later in the day once we got home we took our cute little dogs for a nice long walk to enjoy the scenery. It just really proved what non hikers the four of us really are….ok…the other three weren’t too bad…me and Tinky were the bad hikers! But the scenery was worth it.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with a good house, good scenery, good weather, good wine and most of all good friends. With a little luck we will be able to visit again in the future and enjoy Vermont during another season.

Our Beach House

My family has always taken family vacations to the beach, we have done so for as long as I can remember. Some of my favorite memories of my family are from our vacations. This week we are in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. What a wonderful little town. If you are driving through New Jersey from New York, it’s just South of Atlantic City. I love our beach house here. It is right on the beach, has enough space for the whole family, and even though we don’t own it, it feels like “our place” every year we go.

When I was little we used to go to Bethany Beach Delaware. We would stay at a place called Sea Colony. This place was perfect for our family and little kids. It was all condos, and through out the week they had tons of activities for us kids..kind of like camp. From bonfires, to swim meets, to pizza and pool nights. I used to love going there every year. Once I went to college in New York it was more difficult for me to get down to Delaware. The summer of 2002 was our last year going there. I remember because I just graduated college and was devastated that I could not find a job. I was waitressing and they told me I couldn’t take off to go, and I just quit and told them I was going to the beach. It took me 5 hours to get there…and I think I cried alot down there because I was so lost on what I was going to do. The next year after that we decided since we were all older that we’d try Ocean City, Maryland. My parents rented a house right on the beach and it was great. Ocean City was great for our age since we could go to the bars and have fun. The problem was that it was still so far away from where we lived.

When my sister graduated college my parents decided that it would be best to take our vacation in New Jersey. That way, my sister would be able to commute from her new job 1 hour from her new place in Philadelphia, and it would take me about 3 hours. Much better than 5! This is when we found “our house” in Sea Isle. The house is the best. It’s right on the beach/boardwalk. Has more than enough bedrooms to hold our family and is close to the little town. We are spoiled in that we have always had a place right on the beach. When we have to go to the bathroom we just go inside, when it’s lunchtime we leave our stuff on the beach and go eat. We don’t worry about it because we can see it from our deck!

One of my favorite things is falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. I have one of those sound machines, but it certainly isn’t the same. So each night I open my window just a little (don’t want to let out the air conditioning) and listen to the waves crash. It is the best! One downfall is that they don’t allow dogs . That means my little Tinkerbell has to stay in NY. It breaks my heart to leave her…yes I know it’s a dog, but it still makes me sad to leave her.

I am always thankful that my parents take us on this trip each year. I love that our whole family gets together for one whole week. My husband will only be there for a few days because of work…but at least he gets to be a part of it. My family has such a great time when we get together. We laugh and talk and it’s perfect.

This year more then others I am so relieved that we are going. With the loss of my pregnancy I am ready to go and check out for the entire week. I think there is something about the salty sea air that just makes it all ok. And I think that sitting in my beach chair for hours on end…listening to the ocean will make everything just that…OK!

We made it a three day weekend and went on Friday. We got to Newport and since it was too early to check in we wandered around the town. It was a yucky and gloomy day but luckily no rain. The stores were quaint down by the harbor. After walking around we checked in to our room at the Adele Turner Inn. The Innkeeper was nice and brought us to our room. There, we were surprised with champagne, roses and some chocolates. It was a gift from some friends and it was great to be welcomed to the hotel with such gifts! (Thanks guys!) We stayed in the Benedict Arnold room. It was on the 3rd floor and considered one of their classic rooms. We didn’t upgrade there because we figured we’d be site seeing alot and didn’t need the added amenities.

In the afternoons they have what they call a “high tea” meaning they serve tea in the dining area and offer an aray of treats such as Scones, and cookies and quiche. It was really cute! I don’t love tea all that much, but it was included so we decided to take advantage of it. That night we decided to go down to the marina area to walk around and grab dinner. I was shocked to find that at 7 pm on a Friday night many of the shops were closed! I was bummed about that but we wandered a bit anyway. This evening we decided to eat at the Red Parrot. It was more of a pub, but since the weather wasn’t so great we decided outside dining wasn’t the best idea. The food was great! We were very pleased. After some ice cream we called it an early night. We were just happy to relax!

The next morning we took advantage of the breakfast that was included in our stay. They had a great menu with Pomagranet and pear french toast,  banana nut pancakes, and eggs as well as fresh fruit and cereal. It was a nice way to start the day. Everyone we spoke to recommended we do the mansion tour and that is what we did! We decided on two of the most popular mansions and visited Marble house and the Breakers. They were AMAZING! It is a shame they aren’t used for functions today, but we each got a headset and was free to wander the tour at our own pace. They were spectacular! No pictures were allowed inside so I only have outdoor photos. (the first is the back of Marble House and the 2nd two are the Breakers) I can only imagine the events that went on in these houses!

After our long siteseeing day we went back to our room and enjoyed our afternoon tea, and that evening we went down to the marina for dinner. We enjoyed a nice dinner and had another early night.

As for Newport as a whole, we had a great time but it wasn’t what I expected. I had a great time with my husband. We always have the best time when we travel together. Now our 1 year anniversary has come and gone…where did the time go? We finished off the weekend by watching our wedding video at our house. It was great to relive the memories.