Florida | Treasure Island | May 2022

Headed south for some beach time and a surprise trip to Disney. I found a cute little motel called The Molloy on Treasure Island, Florida. The motel was hidden between a row of towering vacation stays but even being short The Molloy stands out because somehow once in the premise its a cute little white space with private beach access and a pool. It served our needs perfectly although I will warn parking is limited and I can image would be tricky in peak season.

We also did a day trip to Disney which was really special because none of the kids had been before. We went with Magic kingdom and I totally splurged and hired a Florida photographer to spend the day with us and document. This ended up being a great idea, if you find yourself busy on your phone trying to capture everything, or in my case on my camera, and end up loosing out on actually enjoying the moment OR never ended up in photos yourself. I can’t recommend Brittany The Photographer enough for spending a hot May Day with us at Disney.

Spring Break 2021- Captiva Island, Florida

We moved back in with my parents at the end of the year last year after selling our home in Columbus. Ryan starts grad school in May and our income with be split in half. Also we have been warned the program he will be attending is very time demandind and I can count on him not being around often to help, so we also moved in hoping for some extra help with the kids. One of the best parts of moving “back home” was the girls started in a pre-school that is five days a week. They are picked up and dropped off by a school bus and its just all of our favorite adjustment since moving from the city. Since we now were following a school schedule, that meant we had a Spring Break to plan for. We decided to head to Captiva Island in Florida. I have been there years ago with my bestie and her family but really didn’t remember much about it other than the famous restaurant, The Bubble Room. The location is also not far from where my dad lives in Florida so we were also able to meet up with him and spend an afternoon together.

Captiva is honestly a dream. Its beautifully nestled on the gulf side of Florida. We booked an apartment/villa on Airbnb and it was by no means the prettiest place on the island but it served its purpose just fine. IT was a one bedroom- (where me and Ryan slept and set up a pack-n-play for Knox) and the living room couch was a pull out sofa (where the kids slept). We were in walking distance to a Starbucks, a public beach access and one of the many community pools. It just so happened we had friends who overlapped our stay by a couple days so we were able to hang out at the pools, do some photos at the beach and eat at the whimsical Bubble Room. It was the first vacation with all the kids that I thought to myself, “man, I could stay another day or two.” Usually we are all ready to get home and back to our normal routines, but this trip will forever be remembered as the one we could have stayed.

Boho Box with the Family

Last minute the Boho Box down in Hocking Hills had a cancellation and this is a big deal because its booked out for a year and half. I checked our calendars and quickly made the arrangements when I realized it worked out for our schedules. Ryan and myself stayed here back in February and had taken Knox with us, which was pretty easy to accommodate. This time we brought all the kids and wondered if we would regret it. There is one king size bed in the upstairs container and enough of a landing to set up a pack & play for the baby to sleep… the other option for sleeping is a sofa bed on the first floor hidden inside the banquet seating. We weren’t sure how the girls would do but honestly it was perfect. We all started out on the sofa bed winding down watching some TV, after enjoying the hot tub. The next morning everyone was up at their usual early time so I was able to take the twins outside to try and grab some sunrise photos of the boho container and let the girls play in the woods and try out the hammock right off the back porch.

Northern Michigan | Lake Leelanau | Oct 2020

If you follow along you’ll know we made our way up to northern michigan back in the spring and it was an easy get away during the hype of COVID. We didn’t plan on going back up for a second time but I had an old co-worker friend ask me to photograph her wedding in East Jordan, MI which is about 1.5 hours away from our retreat house on Lake Michigan/Lake Leelanau area. I reached out to the owner of the home and checked if it was open and it was! So we made repeat plans to head north as a family and asked a couple friends and their families to join us this time. We had never come up in the fall and I think we got it at the right time fortunately. It was cool but just enough to need a light jacket or cardigan. One our friends even jumped in the lake.. a few times. The kids were able to enjoy the beach area each day and by the end were always wiped out. I had to use one of our days to go meet the bride and see the venue so I took along all the moms and we made a small day of it. We stopped at The Farm Club for a mid day snack/drink and enjoyed the scene (without kids for a couple hours). We hiked The Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes for the first time and we stayed up late enjoying whiskey smashes, thanks Noah, played cards, ventured out for a meal at the Hop Lot Brewing Co and used the homes paddle boards for some Lake Michigan time. Michigan has proven to be the best escape and we have big dreams to someday have a getaway up there, only time will tell but for now, we are so grateful for our friends big hearts to share their home and allow us to get away.

Holden Beach, North Carolina | Extended Family Vaca 2020

Growing up we always went to Holden Beach every two years with all of my step dads family… like all the aunts, uncles and cousins. As we got older this phased out as the kids grew older. We went a long stretch of not going at all and picked the tradition back up two years ago, which you can see here. Two years ago the twins were 2 years old, we didn’t have a private pool and Knox wasn't even in our thoughts yet. This year, we were happy to have everyones growing families and a house with a pool. Holden Beach is a perfect family friendly private beach where you have rows of homes to rent and a few public access spots, but otherwise you really feel like you have rented your own oceanfront private beach area. Holden Beach is technically an island, so you go over a tall long bridge where you get that first glimpse of the sea and all the quaint colorful houses lined up to go stay and enjoy. This year we upgraded for a pool house and it was totally worth it. The house this year had a longer walk out to the beach, plus the kids and all their various nap schedules worked out really nicely being close to the house for all their needs. We arrived on the 4th of July, so we started the week watching fireworks going off all along the coastline and playing with sparklers and chasing waves in the sunset. The rest of the weeks highlights that I don’t ever want to loose include:

1. Hattie in love with jumping into the pool (first time going under with goggles she came back up and yelled “IM A FISH”

1. Hazel deciding she’d rather float around and not get her head wet

2. Knoxs loudest “witching” hour of baby chatter, when everyone is ready for bed

3. Playing the card game, Sevens…. everyday (thanks Daltyn)

4. Amelia & Daltyns fashionably late dinner but oh so worth it, fresh crab legs

5. “Volleying” high count- 105

6. Double rainbow

7. Amelias birthday- silly string attack gone wrong

8. Two story watermelon caught in the mouth- ESPN replay style

Lake Michigan | 2020

In a surprisingly good turn of events amidst these stay home/quarantine times during covid-19, Ryan and myself found we had a long weekend off together after his scheduled drill weekend was canceled. Originally, we had plans to go stay at my favorite interior designer/nursing school bestie’s lake house in Michigan a few weeks ago and had to cancel due to Michigans strict rules of no travel at the time. Now with this new time off together, I checked with her if the lake house was open; AND IT WAS, cue the happy dance. With Michigan lifting their strict travel ban, we headed north to go spend some quality isolation/stay home time but with a change of scenery…(one with a view). Brittanys lake house sits right on Lake Michigan in an area called Lake Leelanau on Michigans famous Highway 22. We really enjoyed lounging around and cozying up by the wood burning fire while also supporting locally and ordering some of the areas best take out food. For two days in a row we went about 30 minutes north just past Northport and hiked a really easy 1 mile hike to the shoreline to go play on the sand dunes. The first day was pretty foggy with little visibility and the next day was bright sun, which made for two completely different experiences despite “doing” the same thing. We are home now and so glad we took the leap to take the long drive north.

We can’t express how thankful we are to have had the opportunity to get away while still feeling safely socially distanced. If the house catches your attention, check out Brittanys interior design services over at Will+Blu, she has always been my go to inspiration on styling my home and can’t recommend her enough.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee | 2020

It’s a new year. Some people shun new year resolutions and some kill it. I personally love the excuse to chat with my husband Ryan about what our goals are individually, as a couple and as a family. One thing we miss as a couple is the ability to run off somewhere new. So we decided to attempt more family vacations and maybe a couple kid free, when possible. We are not ashamed to admit we are home bodies and don’t need long stretches away from home. Every once in awhile we get itchy for a change of scenery. Earlier this week, we were driving to pick up our girls from pre-school and talked about our week plans. Somehow it hadn’t been on my radar we had the whole week off together?!? Generally I’m very on top of our schedules but the shuffle of the holidays had me living more day by day lately. So... we decided to head south and figure it out on the way. We landed on a family trip to Gatlinburg, TN and it was perfect. Warm cozy cabin in the Smokey mountains was the perfect setting for our first getaway as a family of 5.

Holden Beach | North Carolina

I grew up going to Holden Beach in North Carolina with my family. We would go every other year and aunts, uncles, cousins and our grandma would all go. The last time I went was 10 years ago. So my mom inquired last winter about trying to go back to HB this summer. We found a house and made it happen. This was also the first time that Ryan and myself took a whole full week off for a vacation. As nurses we tend to try to work a couple shifts at the beginning of the week and take off for a "long weekend" somewhere. I was excited to go and start our own traditions as a family at the beach I grew up going to. Hattie and Hazel loved the beach. Hazel would sit in the shallows and let the waves hit her while Hattie took off exploring up and down the beach. Spending this much uninterrupted time was a nice break from the day to day hustle and I hope to make this a repeated trip in the years to come.