We went on vacation…and we didn’t hate it.

We’re home!

This year my handsome husband turned 26 and I crossed over into the dreaded 30s.  We wanted to celebrate a little more special this year so…

We had an epic week away! It was THE best.  And to top it all off Brett has a bonus day off today, so we get to rest from all of our rest.

Let me start out by saying, when you havent had time away with out your kiddo for a while, it takes a moment.  Brett and I were laughing in our hotel room, joking about how the freedom to choose whatever we wanted to do stunned us into submission to the laziness.  The first day on our vacation was spent laying in bed talking about all of the things we could do, getting overwhelmed by it, and then napping.  Luckily that wore off by day 2.

We’ll start at the beginning.  Last Wednesday we loaded up the car and headed to seal beach, where we spent a lovely little beach day as a family.  Man, Penny could seriously be there all day and never get hungry or tired.  We have to force her to take a break and eat the pb&j.  All the while, between bites, saying “Waves? Beach? Go to the water?”.

After that we had a little family time and celebrated my birthday while the cousins ran amuck screaming and chasing each other.  Those kids are wild and love each other like mad.  It makes my heart so happy.

The next morning we had a long leisurely birthday breakfast with more family and then spent the rest of the day laying around chit chatting and trying to get Penny to sleep.  I got some birthday blonde put into my hair and we ended the day with a birthday dinner with some great friends and some tasty brew.

Then it happened.  Friday came and vacation was on!

Penny spent the day with my dear friend Samantha and her little girl Melody.  Can I just say how amazing it is to have best friends who love your little.  I’m pretty sure Penny had the best day of her life running around with a big girl and being best friends.  I would get little snap shots sent to me through out the day and I loved seeing Penny having fun.  She’s totally growing up and it made me excited for future slumber parties and talks with her best friends.  I love this age.  It’s the cutest!

So Pen was officially covered for the weekend and we were off!

We went to the mall and spent our birthday money, we held hands everywhere, and drank coffee.  We hit the road and pulled into our desert retreat.  We swam, we laid out, we drank lots of beer, we did whatever we wanted.  Which really involved a lot of relaxing and watching hgtv marathons.  We snuggled and watched entire movies, we were barely on our phones.  It. Was. Amazing.

I think my favorite part of the trip was when we were in the pool having a night swim.  We laid on the steps and watched the sky.  I told Brett “If we wait here long enough we will totally see a shooting star…just wait.”  After about 5 minutes or so of staring silently I saw a huge shooting star go across the sky.  “I told you!!!”.  After this we went in our room and watched a movie, then decided to get in the car around midnight and drive to the middle of nowhere.  We put a blanket on the hood of our car and looked at the stars.  I have NEVER seen a sky like that.  It was amazing.  It was a great way to bring in Bretts birthday, and end mine.

We didn’t do anything spectacular, we didn’t stay at a super ritzy hotel (it was a super cheap groupon we couldn’t pass up), but it was THE best weekend ever.  We really don’t need much, just each other, some corona with limes (our vacation beer), a pool, and oh the laughter.

We have officially decided to turn this into a yearly trip.  Maybe not the desert again, because it was definitely 120 on saturday and we felt like we were being suffocated by the heat.  But getting a way just me and him for a little trip once a year is something we need.  And it’s kind of fun to get rid of the idea of buying gifts for each other and just getting away.  That in itself was the best gift for us.

I think the time with papa and tutu was good for Penny too.  It’s fun to have your parents out of your hair for a few days.  We all needed it and we sure are happy to be home with each other again.

Thanks Mojave Resort.  You were sorta the best and exactly what this tired mama and daddy needed.  It’s back to life we go…with a little more pep in these steps.