My Other Best Friend's Wedding

2012 was the summer for weddings.  My other college BFF, Brianna, tied the knot with her high school prom date!  Her wedding was at the same church where her parents were wed, and the reception at a country club.  My sister-in-law bravely made the trek with Olivia and I.  Sadly, I ended up with no pictures of the bride in her dress and I didn't have the luxury of my "big camera", but here are a few others of things that happened over the weekend!

Trying on her new hat from Aunt SeeBee.

Just in case I lost the most important thing...

This girl has spent the majority of her little life traveling somewhere,
and it is safe to say it runs in her blood!

Because Peter Rabbit makes everything a little more fun.

More fascinated with the sticker than the view.

Sleeping beauty!

Liv having the best morning with her Auntie!

Plane hit the ground, we headed for G&M.
The BEST restaurant crabcakes in Maryland.
Literally the size of her head.

Aunt Anna literally feeding Olivia's face.  ha

After our crab binge, we headed up to Atlantic City for Bri's rehearsal dinner!
We stayed at the lovely Borgata Hotel & Casino.

Little girl loves some fancy hotel sheets!

                 

Baby and Auntie Bry-Bry before her big day!!!

                 

The morning of the wedding we woke up to this view.
 Bri's husband Tony works at the Water Club, so swanky!

Olivia in the portacrib at her Great Pop-Pop's.
Who couldn't tell me where it came from or who slept in it...ha!

He loves his greats!

I also took the opportunity to show Sarabeth around downtown Annapolis!
This is the house my dad grew up in, right across the street from the Navy Stadium!

We went down and saw the house we lived in while I was in high school,
and showed her all the old stomping grounds...

We capped the too-short weekend off with a get
together hosted by Aunt Amy and Uncle Bill!
Olivia was tuckered out by all the attention from her marvelous
Great Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and Pop-Pop, but Uncle Bob
 did a nice job of finally lulling her to sleep :)

Some Mistletoe For Ya

We went camping at Mistletoe State Park for my Dad's 60th Birthday.  Everybody was there but Mark!  It was so, so wonderful to be together.  The babies had a blast together, and it just makes it even harder to say goodbye.  The campsites were awesome, most were on the water or very close to it.  Great bike riding, and not too far off the beaten path.  It is exactly halfway between my sister's house in Georgia and all of us here in South Carolina.  Poor Nae had a 10 hour drive, but she was a champ!

So happy to be re-united!

Eli was kind enough to transport all of our bikes...

"Cupcakes for Breakfast"

Miss thing was pretty zonked by the middle of day 1.
It may have something to do with the fact that she was up until 3:30 AM the night we got there.

Dinner by headlamp.

Mom always wears this shirt camping...it was mine in middle school.  That says a lot.

Daddy's girl.

Dinner by headlamp, again.  And no, she was not eating Chick-fil-A sauce.

One of our campsites at dawn. 

Time Flies : Week 22

We had our first plane ride during week 22, caught up with family, and went to another best friend's wedding!  Olivia definitely loves the weather up North.  Either that or her mother does....

More pictures from this week can be found here.

Always looking for her feet.

Safety first!  Too bad she hates it.

Time Flies: Week 17

Olivia's seventeenth week felt like total chaos.  Ben worked super long hours all week, which meant she got to spend extra time with her grandparents.  We were blessed to be able to close the week with a weekend trip to Aunt Sally's condo in North Myrtle Beach.  We did a whole lot of lounging, seafood eating, and generally being thankful for the rest.

Heading to the pool.

Had this to celebrate on my 26th birthday!

Left her float and hat at home so we had to buy them all over again in Myrtle Beach...

Doesn't it look like a riding helmet?

"When can I have a Krispy Kreme ma?"

The sweetest girl.

Taking a temporary leave from Minnie.

Oh the Places We'll Go...

Remember our vacation plans?  A few weekends ago, we took our first trip out to Beachwalker Park, sort of.

Kiawah and Seabrook Islands are fancy schmancy islands off the edge of the Lowcountry.  One of my favorite things about this destination is the 45 minute drive, lined with gorgeous oak trees which drip with spanish moss over the two-laned road.  Ben was a worship leader at a church out there when we first met, so there were lots of Sunday morning sunrises taken in down that road.

There is a really fantastic retail center between the two islands called Freshfields Village, with lots of fun shops and a great little green space in the center where they hold concerts and what not.  

We milled around in a fabulous little toy store called Wonderworks.  I think it is a local chain.

We had so much fun just walking around and seeing what was there, you know, by some off chance that we will ever have money to burn.

We found these very expensive ice cream cone nick-nacks.  If my husband didn't despise clutter I could imagine them placed prominently in my kitchen.  (Sidenote: I am actually very thankful he hates clutter.  It keeps me in check...)

Seriously diggin' this bedroom set.  See the walls full of fabric swatches?  Custom = PRICEY.

We left the home store since we were both getting twitchy, and headed to where else but the grocery store.  You can always afford something at the supermarket!

We decided to grab lunch there, and we were so glad we did.

Total spent: around ten bucks.  We split that HUGE sub and got lots of refills on our drink.

And then got ice cream because breastfeeding women need dairy to produce milk like to eat.

Look at my little five week old sleeping beauty.  Stop this train.

Needless to say, we barely made it out to the actual beach.  I don't even have a picture to prove that we drove in and drove out.  Oh well.  The weather was kind of jankety anyways.  Next time!

Oh, and thank you Rebecca P. for your suggestion to hit up Freshfields!

Vacation...All I Ever Wanted.

Hi.  I'm Maribeth, and I'm addicted to vacations.  


They don't need to be extravagant, or lengthy, or too far from home.  They just need to be a time out from the daily grind.


At the risk of sounding like a total snob, I never realized how blessed we were as kids, and even as adults, to be able to see so much of the world.  This was before car repairs set us back a year's salary (it feels like!) and babygirl came to be.  Now I completely understand how precious and incredible each second of those vacations were!  Naturally, having acclimated to such lovely traditions, I have a built-in radar that lets me know when I am overdue.  It works quite nicely.


Unless you're living on a budget.  Like, an extreme budget. You see, we are trying hard to kick our debt.  And every sacrifice is worth it to us; rinsing off aluminum foil and using cloth napkins instead of paper, not buying new clothes or shoes, and even switching Hank to the cheap dog food (I know, I know!) are little things that are adding up to help us conquer what we owe.  WE CAN'T WAIT TO BE OUT OF DEBT!!!!  Okay.


Keeping all of that in mind, lets add a new baby to the equation.  Easy math.


And....I have a secret. 


We aren't going on vacation.


But I am trying to trick myself into thinking that the packing lunch for roadtrips and the strolling through antiquated junk shops and the carefree feeling of just being on vacation, can be mine for one easy payment of $65!


That's right!


We had some more leftover Christmas money from Grandma that we had stashed away for our vacation fund, crossing our fingers that "our ship would come in," as Ben loves to say.  We didn't actually play or win the lotto, and Ben didn't get picked up by Justin Beiber to drum for his world tour, so sadly, that money made up our vacation fund in its entirety. 


I'm pretty sure this idea was God-inspired.  We are going to buy a County Park Pass!  Our county offers three parks at the beach, which translates into free parking, bathrooms, etc., as well as three other great parks in the area.  They also include free admission to six big festivals.  It's not Tahiti or anything, but I am determined to make the best of it.  Rest assured, I am planning on getting my money's worth, and you guys will hear all about it!


I am going to transport myself to another world during the 15 minute car-ride to the beach or park.  I am going to pack a bag so I feel like it is a real trip.  I am going to take snacks in case we get stranded on the side of the road (which will probably happen--ha!).  I am going to enjoy every second of relaxation, even if it isn't a "real vacation".


For now, I am reminiscing our trip to Disney last fall for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  Ran my first half at 13 weeks pregnant, and then sludged around Disney for the next three days like a dummy.  

Ben's most favorite part of Epcot.  He immediately regretted it.

We used VRBO.com to find an awesome condo for the week.  Major savings!

This is also when we announced our pregnancy to the whole wide world via this awkward pose.

This isn't from the same trip but I just think it is cute that Hank travels like a human.

Have fantastic weekend everybody!  What are ya'll doing to save money on vacation this year?