G Beach Vacation 2014!

On Saturday, August 9th we headed to Carolina Beach for a 6 day beach vacation with just our family!  I am so grateful we made this trip a priority this year as it was so relaxing and we made such wonderful memories with our fam.  We stayed in a friends beach condo that overlooks the yacht basin and was two blocks from the beach!  We were a little unsure how the weather would be (upon arriving it said rain in the forecast all week) but we had blue skies and gorgeous weather everyday.  Just perfect!

This was our view from the condo!  We headed to the beach everyday around 10:30 staying until 2:30 then heading home for the kids to take naps.  Then every afternoon one of us would take Em down to the pool while Will continued to sleep and the other made dinner.  It worked out perfectly-- having a pool was clutch!  We only went out to dinner in Carolina Beach once, and the rest of the time enjoyed dinner at the condo out on the back deck overlooking the yacht basin.  So relaxing!  

First day arrived in late afternoon, went for a short walk on the beach, unpacked and went grocery shopping for the week!

This is how we rolled to the beach everyday:

Kyle was a trooper setting up all our gear every time we went to the beach.  I would definitely recommend having a beach shade, it's a must with a baby who is too young to wear sunscreen!  

Will took great morning naps underneath our beach shade while we played with Emery.  

Family time on the beach!

We were all soaking in this quality time with Kyle, as he was truly able to relax on this vacation and not have to be working!  Em had the best time skateboarding, swimming in the pool and boogie boarding with Daddy!

Love this video!

It was so nice to see Kyle be in relaxation mode--- as if you know him well he is constantly working on something and doesn't take much time to sit :)

Back porch time!

Em and Kyle picked up the famous Britt's donuts for us one morning... oh man they are the most amazing donuts on the planet!

A beautiful sunset on our last night!  I love that we didn't eat one meal inside.... every meal was on their back porch with this view! 

After cleaning the condo and packing up our stuff Thursday morning, we decided to take the ferry over to Southport before heading home!  We were the last car allowed on the ferry, which was total luck or else we would have had to wait over an hour for the next ride.  We love Southport!

We went to the same restaurant we did last year, Yacht Basin Provision company, and then treated ourselves to ice-cream afterwards!

I love comparison shots.... here is a picture from last year:

And one fro this year-- our little girl is growing up!

So thankful for our family and the quality time we had together at the beach this summer!  Already looking forward to next year :)

Vegas Vacation!

After visiting the Hoover Dam, Kyle and I drove into Vegas and timed driving down the strip at sunset, perfectly.  Let me just say I LOVE VEGAS and it wasn't nearly as dirty and provocative as I had imagined. (I do realize the sign below says "sensual" hahaha)  

Everything is SO over the top, and so fancy... it truly feels like a Disney World for adults.  It's so apparent how much money the city has from all the casinos... sky is the limit!

We stayed at The Four Seasons, which consists of the top 4 floors of the Mandalay Bay (floors 35-39).  Kyle's conference for work was held in the Mandalay Bay, so we really lucked out getting to stay at the Four Seasons!  Our room was beautiful and so so nice.

Once we unpacked, we headed back out to walk the strip and find somewhere to eat dinner.  I couldn't get over the decorations in all the hotels, I mean seriously over the top!!

Here is a view from outside the Venetian showing the outdoor gondolas they have in front of the hotel:

And inside the ceilings are covered in beautiful murals!

We walked up to the second floor in the hotel and voila you are all of a sudden in an "outdoor" shopping area surrounding the streets of Venice.  I mean look at that sky, doesn't it look real?  Oh and they have rivers with gondolas all throughout too... ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF A HOTEL.  INSANE!  We found a delicious Italian restaurant, split a couple appetizers and headed out.

We then walked down the street to the Belagio fountains!  Over the weekends they show every 15 minutes so we stayed and watched 2 shows, so incredible and all different depending on the music they play.

Once back in our hotel I stopped at the bathroom quickly and walked out to Kyle's guilty face gambling haha:

And took a couple silly pics along the way too that night!

The next morning, Kyle had to head into work so I spent the day being a tourist and relaxing by the pool.  I wished he could have joined me for some of it, but I still had a blast exploring the city, shopping, taking naps and finally reading a book!  Our hotel had a free tram attached to it that brings you more into the strip so I took that out and explored a little more. 

Here is another crazy hotel -- New York, New York which actually has a roller coaster that runs through the casino and then all outside of it.  Kyle rode it one night after I left with his work team... crazy!

Around lunchtime I came back to relax at the pool.  The Four Seasons had it's own pool with people who set up your chairs, provide pitchers of water and free sunscreen... I tell you what FANCY!  I chose to hang out there the rest of the afternoon!

I walked over to Mandalay Bay's pool as well just to check it out.  They have a huge wave pool and lazy river going around it.  Em would have loved it!

Kyle was done with work around 5:00, so we headed out soon after to go eat a quick appetizer before heading to the Cirque de Soile Michael Jackson ONE show!  The theatre was actually in the Mandalay Bay so once again we didn't have to walk far which worked out perfectly!

So pumped to be heading into the show!  It was AMAZING and our favorite show that we've seen yet.  There was so much dancing and cool tricks, the music was so great, and the special effects were unbelievable. 

 

There were parts where you really thought you were watching Michael Jackson dance on stage-- makes you sad to think he's not around anymore as he really was a great performer.  

After the show we headed to the casino to try our luck at gambling.  We only played Roulette, and only lasted a couple rounds.  HA needless to say I take way too long to pick out numbers!

Oh well still really fun!

The next morning, we ate breakfast with my cousin, Ben, as he was in town for the conference as well with his company.

Then Kyle and I relaxed by the pool for a couple hours before I had to pack up and head to the airport.  

But we stopped at the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign for a couple pics!  We always have a jump shot at signs like this but this time I just held the belly since jumping isn't the most comfortable option these days!

And we picked up lunch from In-N-Out before the airport.  It was delicious, and a necessity since we don't have these on the east coast!

A really quick but fun trip to Vegas with my sweetie.  Thanks again Kyle for letting me tag along, and for Mom and Gigi for taking such great care of Emery while I was gone.  Perfect get away before we add another kiddo to our fam and the chaos begins!