Catching up on October

I never really planned on not posting for the past month. It certainly wasn't due to having nothing to write about but more because October was incredibly busy for me. Right now is our busy season at work and we also have a coworker out on maternity leave (this is her third maternity leave during the busy season...we are all a bit bitter about the situation), and I've had to once again cover a majority of her projects. My boss was also on a business trip for a week so I had to cover a number of his projects and of course my own work. Did I mention it's our busy season? Things will continue to be nuts until December but then I can relax again just in time for the holidays.

Our weekends have been busy with fall activities and family stuff. Kristian is now in full hunting mode so for the next couple weekends we won't see much of him, between that and the cold weather we will be doing a lot of movie watching.

So here's my photo dump for the month of October.

We went to the pumpkin patch three times but these photos are from when we went to the BIG one over at Cox farm. This place is awesome (and expensive) but Hunter had an absolute blast going down all the slides, checking out the animals, going on his first hayride and running around. Great family day!

 

He also has his school pictures again. He gets them twice a year at preschool (spring and fall) and this year I really thought he would do well. He's used to having his photo taken and typically will sit still and smile for me. Well he apparently HATES the photographer they use because he had a total meltdown. See evidence below:

 

Our local fire department had an open house one Saturday and my mom and I took Hunter to check out all the trucks and activities. It was a great time. He LOVES fire trucks and despite the bad weather it was a great event. His BFF Jordynn also stopped by. 

We celebrated Kristian's birthday with a small party at our house. We had my brother and sister-in-law over along with two of his best friends and their kids. It was very low-key but a lot of fun. My type of party!

Then of course was Halloween. Hunter was PUMPED for Halloween this year. He finally understood what it was about and could remember trick or treating last year. For months I had asked him what he wanted to be and every time he said "SPIDER-MAN"!! Not sure why he's so obsessed with spider-man but it was easy enough so I didn't care. He LOVED his costume, even the face mask. He got to wear his costume for a birthday party the weekend before, then again at school for "trunk or treat' and then of course for trick or treating. We went with his two little buddies that live on our street, just like last year. Hunter did awesome. Went up to every house and said "trick or treat" or "happy halloween" and usually remembered to say thank you. We even got to go to my brother's house for candy. We have SOOO much leftover between what we bought (my mom came over to pass out candy while Kristian and I took Hunter out) and what Hunter brought home. Oh and Moxie was a spider. Everyone LOVED her costume.

Oh and one other thing I wasn't able to mention until very recently is that my brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby!! They just got married back in June and brought home an extra special souvenir from their honeymoon!! :) I've known since right after they found out (she needed the phone number for my OB) but they didn't make it "Facebook official" until September. They are not finding out the sex and are due at the end of February. I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew and have them living so close by. Hunter and his new cousin will hopefully be the best of friends.

Truckin Along

Like a lot of little boys Hunter is and has been pretty much obsessed with all things trucks, buses, cars for a while now. I honestly couldn't even tell you how many toys he has that are one of the above. He can spot a truck or bus from a mile away when driving down the road, so when I found out there was a Touch-A-Truck event at the local community college I knew we had to take him. Being able to get up close and personal with all of his favorite vehicles was pretty much his dream come true and we loved watching how excited he got over everything.

We got there as soon as it opened at 10am to avoid any lines and stayed about 2 hours. The weather was perfect and it never got overly crowded. Hunter insisted that his favorite was the excavator though I would argue his actual favorite was jumping in the bounce houses they also had setup. Kid loves a bounce house. He was also excited when his buddy/our neighbor Zachary showed up. It was like Wrestlemania with the two of them in the bounce house together.

It was such a fun day for all of us and we definitely plan to take him back again next year.

Fall Weekends are the Best Weekends

I haven't posted any updates for a while because for the most part nothing terribly exciting or post worthy was going on. Our summer was pretty relaxed and we spent most of our weekends at the pool or running errands. But now that it's fall and the weather is gorgeous I've been trying to plan more outdoor activities so that we can enjoy the fresh air before the dreaded never-ending winter arrives and keeps us locked inside for months.

This past weekend was one of my favorites that we've had in a while. On Saturday we had the annual "house divided" football game where Kristian's Virginia Tech Hokies play my East Carolina Pirates. And for the first time since 2008 MY Pirates WON!! And better yet they beat those turkeys at their own school. It was glorious and I had no problem rubbing it in my sweet pouting husbands face. After 5 years of having to suffer through defeats this win was fantastic.

On Sunday we took Hunter for his first train ride at a park about 15 minutes from our house. Because the weather was perfect the park was packed and though the train runs every 20 minutes or so every ride was filled. We got there right as it was about to leave and Hunter was SO excited. We couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was a short 10 minute ride but he loved every second, especially when we went through the tunnel.

After the train ride we walked over to the Carousel so that Hunter could once again mark off another box on his list of firsts. I rode with him and once again he loved every second of "riding his horsey". This is probably one of the only amusement park-type ride I will ever get on with him.

 

He then ran over to the playground where he went down the curly slide about a dozen times. The only way we could get him off of it was to mention going to the ice cream parlor that was also in the park. He lead the way despite having never been there before, it was like a dog that could smell food. He ate 2 big scoops of chocolate ice cream before we headed home and he crashed for a 3 hour nap. 

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After watching the Redskins (finally) win a game! We headed to my in-laws house for dinner. Once again Hunter had a blast, as he always does at Grandma and PaPa's house, spending time with his aunt, uncle and cousins. By the time we got home we were all pretty wiped out but agreed it was one of the best days we had had in a while. 

 

 

Bermuda

Last week Kristian and I went on a fantastic vacation in Bermuda. We went with another couple, one of Kristian's best friends from childhood and one of my friends/coworkers who are now dating thanks to my wonderful matchmaking abilities.

I will admit Bermuda was never really on my radar as a place I wanted to travel too. Not for any particular reason other than it's not a place that I hear much about, but our friend Josh has been there several times and suggested it when we were trying to figure out where to go. What I didn't realize was that Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, it's actually just off the coast of South Carolina (geography is not my strong suit), making it only a 2 hour direct flight from DC.

My mother agreed to come and watch Hunter for the week so that we could have a nice relaxing trip and focus on being husband and wife rather than mommy and daddy. And let's face it, Hunter LOVES his time with nana.

We left on Saturday at 10:30am out of Reagan National. It was our first time flying first class which was pretty exciting. Since it was such a short flight we didn't have too much time to enjoy it however, in my opinion the best part was being some of the first people off the plane and in line getting through customs. 

 

 We were able to get two rooms next to each other with an ocean view at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort. It was only about a 5 minute drive from the airport and about a 20 minute drive from the city of Hamilton, so very conveniently located. 

The resort was great, there was a pool with a swim-up bar, private beach area, two indoor restaurants and an outdoor restaurant and the best part (and why we choose it) there are caves...that you can swim in...and get spa treatments in. It was pretty awesome. There were actually a lot of families there with young kids and a lot of Europeans. Everyone including the locals that we met and the other tourists were incredibly friendly.

Anytime we go anywhere tropical Kristian becomes obsessed with lizards and trying to catch them. Well he did end up catching one on the second day. The rest of them were a bit too quick for him.

We spent most days on the beach or by the pool. The first day the weather wasn't great, cloudy and rainy on and off but after that it was gorgeous and would just typically rain at night. It was warm without being super hot or humid and the water was great.

The caves were really cool, they were only open from 9am-5pm and you were allowed to go down and swim (at your own risk, no lifeguard). The water was REALLY cold, so I only got in once...briefly, but Kristian got in everyday and would swim around. He loved it.

 

Our view was pretty amazing everyday.

We ate dinner together as a group three nights and two of the nights we did our own thing to have private couple time. We got the all inclusive food/drink package at the resort which I HIGHLY recommend. The cost of food and drinks down there is VERY expensive. The all inclusive was $100/per person per day which was a bargain. For example had we not been on the package then one of our lunches, just the two of us, of chicken tenders/fries and a fish sandwich with two diet cokes would have cost $60. Yeah. 

The food was pretty good and they had a nice selection to choose from so overall we were very happy with that.

Our traveling buddies- Josh and Cathie. We all had a blast together. 

Spinach and lobster ravioli.

Some Duck dish (it was my husbands)

Definitely one of the highlights was getting a couples massage down in the caves. They have a separate section of the caves just for spa treatments and Kristian and I did two different couples massages down there. Very cool and relaxing. Cathie and I also got facials together but those were done in their spa room.

One of the nights the resort hosted a BBQ dinner out by the pool which included some Bermudian dancers and music. It was a great night. 

On our last full day we all went into the city of Hamilton together to get lunch and do some shopping. Bermuda is a very clean, safe and beautiful island. I always felt very comfortable off of the resort and just walking around the streets unlike some other overseas destinations (i.e. Jamaica). In fact I felt safer walking around Hamilton than I do certain parts of DC. 

There are many high end shops right by the water and this is where the cruise ships let off. After a couple of hours of shopping (including my husband buying me a GORGEOUS David Yurman ring) we headed back to the resort to change and relax a bit.

That night we headed back to Hamilton for dinner and drinks and to check out the Harbor Nights that they do every Wednesday. They shut down the main street and set up little booths where vendors sell various items. We had a blast and stayed out until the bar closed.

While we were out at the bar hanging out with one of the locals we made friends with we ended up meeting the guy below (I don't remember his name) but he's basically one of the most famous guys on the island. Back in the 70/80's he was a world famous Cricket player on the Bermuda team, from what I gathered he was sort of like the Michael Jordan of Bermuda Cricket. Nowadays he owns a lot of restaurants/bars and apparently is co-owner of the resort we stayed at. He was super nice and we talked to him for a while.

This is Jamie, one of the locals we met and became friends with. We hung out with him and his wife and they were both the sweetest people. Jamie seemed to know everyone, perks of living on a small island I guess.

We flew back on Thursday and had a very long travel day including a 5 hour layover in Philly, all so we could wait for a flight that took less than an hour back to DC. We seriously considered just renting a car and driving back from Philly but we would have had to sit in rush hour traffic shich none of us felt very motivated to do so we just hung around the airport and finally got home around midnight.

Overall, we loved Bermuda. Of the four places we've gone together - Jamaica, St. Lucia, Grand Cayman and Bermuda it was our second favorite with St. Lucia being our favorite because well...honeymoon. I highly recommend a trip there but just make sure to go in the summer months, since it's not in the Caribbean it can get a bit chilly and not very beach-like in the off season. We would definitely go back again.