Team Flats, Team Rally, Team Moms

When Dominick was first born my (in real life) friend added me to a September 11 momma's group. Dominick is a September 12 baby, but it was nice to have someplace to go for advice from real life moms. It turned out to be so much more...they talked about everything from babies to marriage to everything in between. About a year or so ago they started talking about a really big meet up and they decided on Las Vegas. During the time I just never really thought that much about going, but about a month ago I was all in. I randomly bought my tickets, found some girls to room with and not so patiently waited for July 17th. Normally Vegas in the middle of the summer is HOT, but it was surprisingly "cool" for the desert in July and even rained on Saturday.

My trip consisted of:

Staying awake for over 24 hours

A cabana at the pool in Treasure Island (that closed early due to the rain)

Playing flip cup in a suite

Winning $30 by telling a random to choose red over black in roulette

Hitting up Tao and closing down a country bar

Fremont St - a favorite place of mine

Zoomlining down Fremont (do it!)

Sexy momma friends 

Hot dresses

Riding in a convertible with 4 other girls

Internet friends turned in real life friends. Yup, remember that time we all met for the first time in Las Vegas?

I loved it and hope it's an annual event! I took pretty much zero pictures, not even joking, this is from a friend of the view from our room. 

Pentwater 2015 pt 2

The second week of vacation was a lot more relaxing. Everyone except my aunt and uncle left on Sunday and they followed on Monday. My parents, Dominick and I enjoyed the rest of the week relaxing and living the lake life. I even squeezed in a massage. The whole week was exactly what we needed.

family selfie before Ryan left that morning

we grabbed lunch (fresh fish and clams) and then let Dominick play for a few minutes. Then it was naptime and Ryan had to hit the road.

There's a huge sand hill that you can climb up. There's 200 some stairs and then you can run down. Dom climbed every single one of them and then RAN down. He loved this

last nap at the cottage

we also fed the duckies and he thought that was a big time.

right before we left we grabbed lunch. This "game" immediately caught Dominick's attention and a sweet older man brought over at least $5 in quarters and let him play. They didn't win anything, but it was extremely generous of him. 

Early July

How are we already on the downhill slope of July? The days sure are going by quick! I'm on my way for a girls long weekend. I'm super excited. Dominick and Ryan will be holding down the fort. They're pretty excited for guy's weekend! Here's what happened the first part of July. Hopefully I take a few more pictures the last half of the month.

July 1: We went to watch the sunset. It was another cold day.

July 2: It was finally a beach day and boy did we enjoy it.

July 3: Ryan came up and at the lake town we stay in they have fireworks on the 3rd. 

July 4: And on the 4th they have a bike parade in the state park. He didn't win, but he sure looked adorable! 

July 5: Ryan was leaving so we took a family selfie on the rocks by the pier.

July 6: we went to the lake in the morning and the water was COLD. There was a little boy who was around 10 who played with Dominick nearly the entire morning. It was VERY sweet of him.

July 8: It wasn't warm enough for the beach, but we did go outside on the little sand dune and pretend it was warm enough to sun bathe. Dominick just enjoyed playing in the sand.

July 10: Our last day on vacation and at the beach. We enjoyed every minute. We went in the morning and then came back again after nap.

July 11: Our last walk to the pier before we hopped in the car and vacation ended.

July 12: This night started on the 11th and ended on the 12th. We closed down the bars and let me just tell you I'm far too old for these kind of shenanigans.

July 13: On our way back to Ohio Dominick got stung by a mosquito and obviously was very distraught over it all. 

Pentwater 2015 part 1

In our family it's a tradition to go to Pentwater, a small lake town near Lake Michigan. We go every summer for 2 weeks during the 4th of July. It's changed a bunch because now that we're all older we go for the holiday weekend and then will go home. My parents still stay for the 2 weeks. It's always my parents' family (our spouses and kids) and my aunt and uncles' family (their spouses and kids too). Ryan and I hadn't been since we moved to California and Dominick had never got to join in on the festivities. This year was a little different and Dominick and I were able to go for the whole two weeks and Ryan came up for the weekend. We were there Saturday, June 27-July 11th.

Saturday the 27th, we loaded up my parents' SUV and my SUV and them, Dom, my niece Kyla and I made our way. The first week we were there my niece was able to spend with us which was a lot of fun. My brothers (and their families) came in Wednesday and Thursday and Ry got in Friday morning. That first week consisted of fish fries, ice cream, cold weather, warm weather, beach days, bike rides, 4th festivities and a lot of fun. It was BUSY, but fun. There was a lot of family time which is kind of rare considering my brother and his family lived in Singapore and Ryan, Dom and I lived in California. We all came back this past winter so it's a real treat when we get all of us together and then add in my Aunt and Uncle's family and it's just a fun time.

first day and Dom's first time seeing the lake

beach selfie with the selfie stick!

running back to the cottage after ice cream

he LOVES her...I mean, seriously!

There is so much beauty in Michigan. Also, for a side note the waves were crazy high and going all the way over the pier

it was SO cold this day, but we still had ice cream.

Thursday nights are for band concerts

he's a sparkler professional

waiting for fireworks

my patriotic cutie

love them!

The Rest Of June

I'll be all caught up soon. It seems like I get there and then BAM I'm behind again.

June 16: He needed a hair cut something fierce, but he sure is so cute

June 18: My best friend had boy girl twins on the 17th so I went to visit them. This is Clayton

Sweet little Carrie

June 19: There was karaoke and fireworks in my town so we went and this is where Dom's love for fireworks began. 

June 21: He was climbing the rock pile at my parents' new house.

June 22: Post workout snuggles

June 23: I let him ride this little ride in the middle of the mall. After he was done he wanted to ride all the others and I told him no. So he threw himself on the floor. I picked him up to carry him out (we were done shopping) and he started screaming, "OW! OW! MOMMMMMMA!!!" It was one of the more embarrassing moments as a momma. It's not all happy times over here

June 24: Watching my niece's softball game

June 26: we were sorting out the 4th of July goodies preparing for Pentwater

June 27: We finally made it to Pentwater. We also went and had fresh fish for dinner this night.

June 28: first beach day

June 28: on the pier in Pentwater

June 29: Our cottage neighbor has always gave me oreos. When I was little I used to call him Oreo Mike and he used to always bring me a package for as long as I can remember. We hadn't been there in 4 years and this is the first year Dominick was born so he kept the tradition alive. It meant the world to me.

June 30: It was COLD this day...only 55*!!! The waves were going over the pier. It sure was beautiful to look at though.