Coffee Talk {9.25.18}

Good Morning friends & happy Tuesday! The big kiddos have picture day today so my morning will be spent perfecting their hair and hopefully not arguing too much about what they are wearing 😉

I do plan on starting this link up in a couple weeks and am happy that a few people showed some interested in co-hosting! So be on the looks for that soon!

So over the weekend, Rick and I headed out on an adults only weekend with 2 couple friends. This was the first time we've ever left our kids for that long! Yep, you read that right. We have each gone away for girls/guys getaways but never both of us at the same time, for longer than 15 hours. So this was a big deal people! I was a little nervous but they are getting older so that totally helped. What didn't help was hearing Avery got sick the first night we were gone, I immediately wanted to come home but then realized she was fine and I was overreacting #crazyparentrighthere

We headed to New Buffalo, MI which we've actually never been to. The town itself isn't huge or anything but it is known for a couple of good food places and there are tons of breweries/wineries in the area as well as a popular casino - all of which we took full advantage of!

Friday we started at a brewery and had a drink before check in at the house we rented. Renting a house was a much better option than a hotel and not to mention much cheaper! #winwin - When we arrived at the house the girls started getting ready while the guys hung out and had some drinks. We decided before this trip we would all wear matching Hawaiian shirts on our casino night, which was this night. Let me tell you, this was such a fun idea! Oh and our one friend ordered us all green visors too, we were so obnoxious! We headed out for dinner at Stray Dogs and of course got some looks but we didn't care at all - we were kid free baby!

After the best reuben EVER, we hopped in a taxi and were on the way to the casino! The girls and guys split up to play different games and I'm happy to say I played at a blackjack table for 3 hours without losing any money. We had the best time but around midnight we headed back to the house. I couldn't hang much longer so I went to bed shortly after coming home

The next day was our brewery/wine tour day and we got picked up at 11. We were all moving pretty slow this day but managed to pull together and get ready to go. Our first stop was a winery and it was so pretty! Next stop was Round Barn which was a super fun place and it was a gorgeous day so we sat outside for hours, got some food off the food trucks, then headed to our last destination, a brewery. We hung outside for a while again then decided our day drinking needed to come to an end. We headed back home with our driver and managed to play the funniest round of adult charades ever (yes, that's a real game I found at Spencers), ordered some dinner, then relaxed and watched the Cubs game. I was in bed by 9:30 LOL. 

The next morning we got up, cleaned and were out the door by 9am, but with the time change and gaining an hour, we got home at 9:30am and I was so happy to see the kids!! It was such a fun little getaway and I see more of them in our future! 

Coffee Talk Tuesday 9.18.18

Oh look, I'm blogging on a Tuesday! I think I'm going to try a new schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Friday and once a month Thursdays for our Girl Chat link up - I hope this works out! I also think I'm going to start a new link up on Tuesdays, called you guessed it, Coffee Talk Tuesday - if anyone is interesting in co-hosting, let me know!

Anyways, today I'm talking about our upcoming vacation - some of you may remember months ago I shared that we booked our 10yr wedding anniversary trip to Anna Maria Island in Florida. My brother in law and sister in law went there over spring break and when I heard how amazing it was we decided that's where we would go. I've spent the last several months doing tons of research on what to do, where to eat, etc. I booked a gorgeous oceanfront resort and found great prices on flights. Well, not sure if any of you have heard of this awful Red Tide that is affecting most of the gulf coast beaches, but it hit Anna Maria beginning of August. Once I realized it was where we were going, I started to really pay attention and continued to watch every day, every week what was happening.

Fast forward to now, almost 2 months later and the red tide is still going SO STRONG. I feel completely terrible for the marine life that is dying by the millions and the residents and business owners of all these gorgeous beach towns. I needed to decide what to do 30 days before our trip to get our deposit back so at that time we decided to cancel since it wasn't getting better.

So now, just weeks away from what should have been our beautiful beach vacation, we have no clue what we're doing. I am hoping and praying that the Clearwater area is ok and if that's the case we will book something days before we leave, otherwise we are going to have to drive from Tampa to the east coast - I have looked into some beaches over there - Cocoa Beach & New Smyrna Beach - has anyone been to these?? Does anyone have any recommendations on east coast beaches? We really want to keep our drive under 3 hours because after flying all afternoon it really is the last thing we want to do, but we may have no choice.

I am not comfortable knowingly going to a place where red tide is present. It causes respiratory issues and there is enough bacteria that you can't even walk on the beach barefoot.

I know things could be worse, I really do, but when you have an idea in your head of how something will go and it all comes crashing down, it really stinks.  In the end, whatever we decide to do will be great, because I'll be with my most favorite people in the world.


Here's some pics from the news about the red tide - it's just terrible what is happening










So if we were having coffee today, this is what I would pour out - I really would love any recommendations on anything near Tampa!! Oh and Disney is out, I need way more time to plan one of those trips LOL