Virginia Vacation 2019

Good morning!

Last week, Justin, LJ, and I loaded up our minivan and headed east to visit his family in Virginia. His parents have a timeshare at a resort there and we were excited to get to spend lots of time with Justin’s parents, his sister, brother, sister-in-law, and our nephew and nieces. It was a wonderful week full of lots of fun: swimming, fireworks, games, and just spending lots of time together. Rather than a full recap, I thought I’d just share a few pictures that give a glimpse into our week. I honestly didn’t take a ton of pictures because I was absorbed in family time but these at least give you a little look at our week. Enjoy!

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LJ absolutely loved getting to hang out with his six-year-old cousin. They are the only two boy cousins (for now – we’ll see in August if another one is joining!) and their bond is just so so sweet. Our nephew dotes on LJ and LJ wanted to do everything that he did. Look at how cute this little reading moment was! ❤

We spent a LOT of time swimming and hanging out with the kiddos at the pool. There are currently 4 cousins ages 6 and under so it was fun to see them interact and play.

One day we spent the morning at a little children’s museum and even though there were SO many cool activities for little ones, LJ mostly just wanted to hang out at the train and plane tables. He knows what he likes! I honestly think he could have stayed there all day and happily played. 😉

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We stopped for ice cream after the museum – LJ loves ice cream just like his mama!

No missed workouts on this trip. I’m thankful for Expecting and Empowered which kept me on track with a couple workouts in the gym and a few cardio stroller walks in the morning.

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Another day, another pool. 🙂 LJ loved this pool because it had a nice big shallow place for littles and he loved running in and out of the water. I just love how he’s perched here on his little sibling – nothing like a 32 week baby bump to use as a seat!

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This is a side note, but I gave this stuff a try last week and loved it! It gives just a hint of a bronzy glow, which is nice because I never wear makeup to the pool, it goes on smooth, doesn’t feel greasy, and it doesn’t have lots of yucky ingredients. Win win!

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Pool time with my babies. I’m so thankful that I’ve had a pretty enjoyable third trimester so far and felt great during the vacation.

We spent a day at the waterpark, which LJ absolutely LOVED. He had so much fun sliding, splashing, floating the lazy river, and just playing. It was such a great day!

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Mommy and baby spent lots of time floating the lazy river and it was wonderful!

LJ is super into exploring right now and he loved finding little treasures (aka rocks) outside and point me in the most interesting direction. I can just hear his little mind going “come on mama!”

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Reading material for the week. This was an excellent read that I’m excited to review in my monthly post!

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At dinner one night, the restaurant had a little fish pond and our nephew was so sweet to hold LJ up so he could see. Melts my heart!

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We loved our time away with family – it was such a great week of memory making!

Valentine’s + Roanoke Trip

Hi there!

I have been off the grid lately and it’s been great! Between Wednesday and Thursday of last week we got over a foot of snow so I had no school Thursday and Friday. I spent the whole time unplugged — just hanging out with the hubby and pups! It was great! I also did quite a bit of crafting for a Valentine’s Dinner I’m helping put on tonight (more details to come in a later post!) which was lots of fun.

Valentine’s Day

Justin and I tend to keep it fun and simple for Valentine’s Day.  We don’t like to spend a lot of money so we always try to find something to do that is inexpensive and involves spending a lot of time together.

Our V-Day date night involved a trip to the store to buy our favorite candies from childhood that we never allow ourselves to splurge on (cotton candy for him, cookie dough bites for me!) and we also got a “game.” Technically, we bought a bunch of dice but we ended up playing Yahtzee for hours with the dice. It was the perfect, fun way to celebrate with each other! (And cost less than $10–whoohoo!)

Inexpensive Valentine's Date NightIn addition, one night last week I came home from school to this awesome display:

Valentine's TableJustin had volunteered at a local nursing home to help make Valentines with the residents and he made one for me (in addition to cutting out a ton of paper hearts). He also had the table all set and ready to go! I loved it!

Roanoke: Center in the Square

After Justin was finished with classes on Friday we took off on a road trip to Roanoke, VA to visit a college buddy of J’s. We spent the weekend hanging out at a local dog park (our friends have a puppy named Charlie and all the dogs got along SO well!), checking out local restaurants, and exploring downtown Roanoke.

My favorite part of our downtown exploration was a science museum called Center in the Square. There was quite a long wait for our lunch spot so we decided to kill some time by walking across the street and checking out the museum. We didn’t have time to see every exhibit (they had TONS) but we made the most of the time we had!

We first checked out the seahorses. These creatures are so cool!

Seahorse Tank Seahorses have a difficult time navigating water and it was fun to watch them swim around!

SeahorseNext up were jellyfish. These are absolutely fascinating to see up close! The tank had lights that changed color, which made the jellyfish change looks — super awesome!

Jellyfish TankPossibly my favorite part of the aquarium was the giant fish tank. It had plenty of different fish, including “Dory” and “Nemo” (I just love that movie!) and was so beautiful.

Fish tankFish TankI could’ve sat and watched these fish all day! (PS- Did I mention all this aquarium viewing was FREE!? There is no charge for this part of the museum!!)

Next up, we bought admission tickets and went upstairs to the butterfly exhibit.

Center in the SquareCheck out this staircase leading upstairs! Sweet, huh?

Walking into the butterfly garden was like walking into a tropical paradise. It was super warm and humid and I felt like I was in the middle of the rainforest. It was awesome!

Butterfly GardenThere were over 300 butterflies fluttering about in the garden and it was so amazing to see all the different types! So many colors! It was difficult to snap pictures of them but I got a few good ones.

Butterfly Garden Butterfly Garden Butterfly GardenThe last one was my favorite!

There were small plates of fruit around the garden for the butterflies to eat in addition to the nectar from all the flowers.

Butterfly GardenThe whole experience was super fun and I wish we would have had more time to explore the museum. Just peeking in at all the other exhibits showed me that the museum has a LOT more to offer! All in all, I would highly recommend checking Center in the Square out if you are ever in Roanoke!

Have a wonderful Monday!

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Shades of black and gray for today’s outfit! Links to available pieces on the wear page.

teacher outfit blog :: simplifythechaos.comCardigan: Maurices

Blouse: New York & Company

Skirt: Via Ross

Tights: Express

Pumps: Maurices

Necklace: Purple Peridot