Florida Revisited!

As you all know, L and I were lucky enough to venture back to Orlando again this year. We went last year and had an amazing time (well, on the first part of our trip;), and it was so great to have the chance to go again. We each got a $300 flight voucher last year for taking a one hour later flight, so we used those vouchers to cover our tickets for this trip. Amazingly, our tickets were $299 a piece, so the entire flight was covered. Does that really happen?! ;) Yep, it does, and it happened to us. Honestly, we probably wouldn't have thought about going back again so soon, but the vouchers had to be used within a year, and use 'em we did!

As you may recall, we stayed at the Blue Heron Beach Resort in Orlando for the first part of our trip last year. It was a condo style place where we had full amenities, and it was suuuuuuuuper cheap! We absolutely loved it. We decided to go back to the same place again this year, and since L didn't have a conference to go to this time, we made it our sole mission to relax and enjoy. Thankfully, we did just that, and it was perfect! We also aimed to make it a relatively cheap trip, so we cooked in our room a lot and took advantage of a couple happy hours when we could. Our room, which was pretty huge, was only $118/night. We came home under budget (not like we were that concerned about it), so that was exciting too. Overall, it was an amazing trip with an amazing person, and I hope we can go back! I took tons of photos and thought I'd share a bunch with you here. Hope you enjoy taking a peek at our adventures!

Excited to hit the road to the airport bright and early!

We parked in the Super Saver lot for only $6.50/day!! This is us waiting to be shuttled to the airport.

This sign after you go through airport security cracks me up every time!

No joke, we packed rice and fried chicken in ziploc bags and ate it in the airport at 8:00am. To say we got some strange looks (and even a few questions) would be an understatement! I felt weird at first, but I kinda loved that we were so smart. And it was tasty, ha!

Excited to be on the plane. ;)

Adios, Milwaukee!

 We made it! Here come a series of photos from our huge two bedroom condo room!

(The view when you walk in the door.)

Set of bunk beds off to the right when you walk in the room.

 Kitchen (above and below)

Walking into the 'small' bedroom.

Beds in the small bedroom.

Spare bathroom.

Master bedroom, eeeeeee!

Master bathroom! It had a whirlpool tub too! I used it. :)

Balcony views!

Enjoying a drink on the patio:).

Cheers with our beers we bought from Linda in the Tiki Hut! She even remembered us from last year!

Pool time!

Beautiful lake views from our balcony on day two! It looks like the sky beyond the trees, but it's actually the lake reflecting the sky. What a pretty sight! 

Sorry for so many early morning pics. I just couldn't stop myself from capturing the beauty!

The life:).

We had a fun day drinking with a new friend by the pool. And we built a pyramid like we're 21 again;)

 Stud:).

A little tipsy, wearing L's hat and sunglasses!

One of many lizard friends we saw! :)

View from the other side of our hotel. I'm obsessed with that balloon and WILL ride it someday!

Another cool view!

Another fun pool day!

Pretty much stayed outside all day just because I could! Yes, my legs were a little red;).

We did get one HUGE rainfall spurt that day, but other than that, the weather was perfect in the upper 80s and low 90s. Loved it!

Same view from the balcony. Could hardly see the lake!

Like I said, we dined on the cheap. Nothing like a little Tuna Helper from the dollar store! :)

I was up really early one morning and got this beautiful sunrise pic!

We got ourselves a little Starbucks treat with a gift card L had. Yum!

On the first full day of our trip, we met an awesome woman named Kelly. She's from Ohio, and we spent the whole day chatting with her by the pool. Well, on the day she left, we got a call from her as they were checking out and she said she had all this stuff they were going to leave behind in their room, but she wanted to give it to us if we were interested. Here it all is! What a damn sweetheart! Love meeting cool strangers!

 L taking in the view! 

Love this pic!

The one place we really wanted to try was Landry's Seafood. We went there for happy hour (they have an amazing happy hour menu, by the way), and it was SUCH a great deal. The food was excellent and we had a great time! We'll definitely go back!

Enjoying my drink called Captain's Punch. I may or may not have had 3 of them! ;)

Cutie:). <3

We got all this AMAZING food (shrimp and crawfish queso, shrimp po boy, fish tacos, and fried crab balls) for $20! What a friggin' steal.

Here come some fun views from the area surrounding our hotel. Seriously gorgeous!

The above picture is probably one of my favorite pictures of the trip!

Another date night! This time we went to Bahama Breeze for another happy hour. So good!

Another cheap happy hour meal that stuffed us to the max and was delicious! Beef empanadas, firecracker shrimp (my fave!), and shrimp and lobster quesadillas. SO good!!

L loves pina coladas! :)

Last day at the pool! We spent lots of time out there. :)

Lore likes to let all his air out and sink to the bottom. 

 

My phone got too hot outside and I got this message. I've never seen it before!

 Last morning in Florida! :(

 Cool views from the shuttle that took us from one part of the Orlando airport to the next!

 

We got on the plane, and then the sky looked like this. Ahhhhh! Fortunately, the flight was perfect. :)

 That face! ;)

Not sure why, but I felt compelled to get a Corona on the plane. I unexpectedly got it for free too. A fun way to end our trip home.

Seriously, people. One of the best trips I've ever been on! We were not committed to anything and we did exactly what we wanted, when we wanted. That's what I call heaven. :)

Mother's Day Weekend!

Why do I even blog? Seriously. Half the time I'm too busy to keep up, and half the time I feel like my life is so boring that I have nothing to blog about. Ha. I'll try to see what I can muster up this summer so you can keep up to speed on my wild happenings! ;) Actually, tomorrow, I head out with L for Florida (OMG!!), so it'll be fun to share some fun stuff from our trip with you on here once we venture back. Until then, I figured I'd post a few fun things from Mother's Day (and Smith Bros. open house) weekend!

It worked out really well. I actually had a conference in Schofield on Friday, so I drove up to Colby on Thursday night and went to my conference from there on Friday morning. It was a great conference! I really enjoyed it and actually felt like it wasn't a waste of my time, ha. L didn't come with me for a couple reasons, namely because he had to speak at UW-La Crosse's graduation that Sunday, so that was a bummer. BUT......... I was talking to him on the phone on my drive home from the conference and asking him all sorts of questions about his weekend plans and such, and then when I pulled into my parent's driveway, I'm like, "Wait?!? Are you here?!?!" Here the little stinker surprised me and drove up separately! I don't get genuinely surprised that often, but I seriously almost cried. It was exactly what I needed after a rough couple weeks at work. He still had to leave at the crack of dawn on Sunday, but at least he got to enjoy the Open House with us and stuff.

Anyway, we kept it pretty lowkey on Friday and had a great seafood buffet dinner at Allison's Steakhouse. It's L's fave. :) Saturday morning, I had to get fitted for a bridesmaid dress for my friend Becca's wedding, and then I soaked in all the craziness of the Smith Bros. open house. It's basically a customer appreciation event hosted by Smith Bros. and Colby Chrysler, the car dealership next door. There's tons of free food, monster truck rides, etc. Always pure and utter insanity, and it usually tests my ability to handle rude people, but overall, it's a wonderful event every year! That night, L and I spent some time at the Colby VFW with some college friends who happened to be up in Spencer visiting one of their parents for the weekend. It was a lot of fun! L had to go to La Crosse on Sunday, and I stayed in Colby that day to celebrate Mother's Day. Then it was back to Madison on Monday. It's sure been nice to get home a few more times lately! I miss my fam. Below are some random pictures from the adventures of the weekend!

 This little man turned TWO!:)

 The kiddos got their faces painted at the customer appreciation event! Here's A. :)

 And Drew.

 No smiles from Nash. ;)

 Bear is Superwoman!:)

 Goofy girl, goofy face!:)

 Jake and Homer!

 Me and Nasher on the Monster Truck!

 

 L wanted to test drive his dream Jeep, so we did! I had fun with pictures too;).

I really crack myself up. ;)

 Peyton sneaking in a creepy face at the end of our ride!;)

 Friends at the VFW!

 <3

 Mama had to work on Mother's Day morning, so Dad and I coped by having bloody's. ;)

  Then I hung out with family and had a delicious wine cooler:).

Here's me and mama on Mother's Day! Love you! :)

While I wasn't there, here's a pic of L doing his speech at UW-L's graduation! Stud. ;)

Weekend Full of Family!

Two weeks ago, I got the amazing chance to go home and do nothing but visit with family. 99.9% of the time, I am going home for an event or something, so it's rare that my entire weekend is spent soaking up time with all the fam. This was such a fantastic change of pace, I can't even describe it. Unfortunately, L was out of town so he wasn't able to join, but hopefully we'll get back there soon. I came into town on Friday night and went straight to my brother and Court's house to celebrate some birthdays! My nephew Nash had just turned 5, and my nephew Peyton was turning 14. Ahhhhh! Court's sister's son also had a birthday, there was tons of family and children everywhere. Always a blast! Probably the most exciting thing was meeting my new niece Theo Daisy and my new nephew Will David. My sister-in-laws had their new babies just days apart from each other, so there is so much baby excitement going on these days. Spending that much time with them pretty much convinced me it's time to have a baby...NOW. ;) That was a crazy night just catching up and enjoying time with everyone. The next day, my niece Lia had a volleyball tournament, so my mom and I spent a good chunk watching three of the younger kiddos that day. McDonald's adventures and all! :) Dave and Court both had to leave for a bit at one point, so believe it or not, I was in charge of all EIGHT kiddos on my own for a period of time. Thankfully, the older ones are super helpful at keeping the younger ones occupied, and I was able to mostly just hold baby Will the whole time. I couldn't get enough! Just stayed in that night, and then I bummed around on Sunday with my mom a bit before heading to a school play of some of the kiddos. Ended the weekend by popping over to Wausau and seeing my best friend Erin (long overdue) and going back to Madison. It was seriously a perfect weekend. Loved every minute of it and can't wait until I can go back again! Enjoy some photos from my family adventures:).

 Me and Theo! (Above and below.)

 So many kiddos!

 Me with 9 out of 10 of my nieces and nephews. Eeeee! (Theo was eating;).

 

 Me and Will!

 Me and Drew!

 I can't quite tell if Meg likes cake or not... ;)

 Me and Lia!

 Me and Nash!

 Me and T (and his big wad of gum;).

 Me and P! Can't believe he just turned 14!

 Cracks me up every time! Theo and Will sporting birthday hats:).

 Me and crazy Meg!

 Me and Austyn!

 Me and Homer! So sad it's blurry. :(

 More accurate representation of what it's like to try and get normal photos;).

 Day two with Rowdy (Drew)!

 Add Nasher into the mix!

 So serious;).

 That hat!

 Nasher seemed to enjoy the finger puppets I got him!:)

 Couldn't get enough of holding baby Will. Such a doll!

 

 

 Homer rockin' a sweet sweatshirt!:)

 The kids in their school play!