July 28, 2015

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: VIRGINIA

Chillin' out in Virginia

HEYA everyone! 
It's Travelin' Tuesday here at Travelin' Cousins and as you know, I'm still travelin'!

So far, it's been an EPIC Summer Trip 
(well they all pretty much are!) And as for the past 2 days I have just been chillin' out here in Virginia.

The kids are so into unwinding and relaxing with their cousins that they weren't even interested in me taking them to the pool yesterday!

They were still playing the SAME Monopoly game that they had started the night before..

I finally encouraged them to give it a break, while we went on a short outing to a vegan bakery and to Whole Foods.

When we arrived at the bakery, Dominic had noted that this has been the trip of vegan bakeries!!!
We went to one in Columbus, Ohio, one in Cincinnati, Ohio, two in Toronto, Ontario, and now one here is Virginia Beach, Virginia! And that's not counting the donut shoppes that we've visited!

Next stop was Whole Foods, where we had to stock up on some supplies and where we had been looking forward to indulging in a certain vegan ice cream sandwich treat (that we can only find at THIS location, and that we haven't had since last year).

Well guess what...they were SOLD OUT! 
Bummer. Ugh (insert sad face here).

So we figured out another treat to take its place and found these little coconut milk Java mini pops by SO DELICIOUS, and guess what...
They were SO DELICIOUS!

And then back "home" we went, and the kids got back to their game!

After a while we got a call from Lynn (the kids Aunt), and she had asked if we could come by and baby-sit. Of course we said YES! 
That meant that we could go and spend more time with baby Aiden. 
Look at THOSE CHEEKS!

Later on we had all headed back and the kids were eager to not only continue their game, but to start a new one with their uncle Jack!

Well, I'm not sure if you know how crazy Cosette can get while playing certain games, but now she had some competition and poor Dominic and Kali were just pawns. 
They were gonna be collateral damage in what was to become a war zone! 
Cosette and Jack were so loud and obnoxious as they played, and I am pretty sure that all they cared about was busting the other's game plan - no focus on anything else!

Well that was enough for me, I went to bed.
I couldn't believe how sleepy I was on a day I hardly did anything! I can go and go and go when I'm busy, but on a boring kick back day I get sleepy. GO FIGURE!

One thing that I also want to just touch on is although the kids are having a most wonderful vacation and visit, and that these memories and time spent with family is much more important - but then I feel like I am only justifying. 
Because I feel quite terrible that they are gonna miss singing with their choir at the Special Olympics in Los Angeles, CA - performances taking place today and tomorrow.

Had we known about the performance and schedule been in place before I booked the tickets for this trip that we are on right now; I would've adjusted the dates and made sure that they were up on that stage. 
I know that Cosette kinda feels bad about it, and I'm not sure how Dominic feels. 
But I feel pretty darn awful. 
For such a HUGE event you would think that the Special Olympics would have their ducks in order for months beforehand. Not put together a schedule at (what I consider) the last minute! 
With a heavy heart, I am just so sad. 

I am the type of person who wants to do EVERYTHING and go EVERYWHERE. 
I hate missing out on things. But from time to time, schedules overlap and I have to face the fact that 
I CAN'T Do EVERYTHING all of the time.

Anyhow on a happier note, one thing I did yesterday was BOOK our round trip FLIGHTS to MAUI and reserved our car! 
YAY (insert happy dance here)
All I need to do is book the inter-island flights and we are all set!

I have slightly adjusted the trip to a Friday to Friday, rather than a Saturday to Saturday.
While I know that traveling on Saturdays is generally cheaper, I needed to secure the fact that Dominic and I would be back in time to pick up our Race packets and do our ride in the Long Beach Marathon which takes place on October 11th, 2015!

More Travel News...
Did you know that I leave in 10 Days to go to the Caribbean??? Click HERE for more about this trip.
And what you probably didn't know, is that we STILL NEED TO BOOK OUR FLIGHTS!!!

The rest of 2015 will be fairly mellow IMO, after Hawaii we will only weekender trips to speak of. 

I am on schedule for 20 weeks of vacations this year and I have already hit 15 weeks so far!  Not too SHABBY.

Alrighty, time to get on with my day...

Have a good one,
-T

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: SEPTEMBER

Moving Right Along

Good morning my peeps!! How are you doing on this lovely Tuesday? 

Love, Love, Love Tuesdays!  As you know, I love talking about upcoming trips.  

Before I get into upcoming travel chat, let me tell you where things are with my house - you know, I'm dealing with all kinds of nonsense with my bathroom leaks and air conditioning repairs.

The guy from the remediation company was supposed to come by today to apprise the situation in our attic and determine what has to be done to clean up the mess left by the raccoons before the A/C company can fix the duct work.

So, we're all up and ready by 8:45, since this is when the guy was supposed to arrive.  No guy.  Well, it turns out, he "overslept."  Really?  Ok, so now he has to come later.  I have lots of things going on today, so now, Tedd has to come home and deal with this mommaluke.  

I was out the door early today with the kids.  They will be spending the entire day at their friends house.  (Did you notice, I didn't use the word "Playdate?"  I hate that word and refuse to give credence to it by even using it.)

Anyway, Gianna and Kelsey are friends with another sister duo (in the same grades as my girls respectively), so the day works out great for all four kids!!

Me, on the other hand will be doing a variety of things today. First, after picking up Dunkin' Donuts for the kids and driving my two girls to their friends' house, I'll be headed to the book store, to do some research on some destinations for an upcoming article I'm working on.

Then, I have the pleasure of going on my marble tile search to see if I can locate the same white and green marble that is in my master bath.  

In the worse case, I can survive with the just the white, because even though the floor of the shower was a greenish-teal marble color (the same as the bathroom floor), I could, in the worst case, just do the floor of the shower the white and have it blend with the walls.  I'll see what I can come up with.

Need to pick the girls up at 5 and from there, we will head to the mall, where Kelsey needs sneakers, which she outgrew since I bought them in April - ugh!! Why do these kids have to grow so quickly?

Me and my girlies will then just grab some dinner at the mall - not sure where - Houston's, the Food Court or maybe Grand Luxe Cafe.  So many great food choices!!

The kids joined me at Starbucks this morning while I cranked out my blog.  (Yes, folks, I still have crappy internet with a bum router in my house).  

They enjoyed eating and hanging, and I made progress.  I did however, get sidetracked -- as I went to send an email, I noticed an email from Nederlander about an upcoming broadway show - China Doll starring Al Pacino for a limited engagement in the Fall!!!! 

Last time I saw Pacino was in American Buffalo years ago!!!  I will not miss this engagement!!

Of course, I began to order tickets, until I got all confused with what was going on in October and what dates I was actually available.  

I was so frustrated because I know if I wait till this afternoon or this evening, the choices will be even less!  As it was, Orchestra was practically gone (for a few of the dates I slugged in) and front Mezzanine was not available.  Ok - A.D.D. girl - get back to the blog...

So.. as I was saying, today is Travelin' Tuesday.  It's time to think about up and coming trips!!!  I am in the process of trying to figure out my schedule for the next year.  

I soooo want to join Tanya in Hawaii in late September through early October.  The girls are bugging me that they want to join their cousins.  And I would just love to go, since this is a place I've never been!!

My issue once again is that the girls will miss like a week and a half of school.  You all know, in the end, what I'm going to do...but i have to go through the gyrations of torturing myself for a few days before I actually commit.  

Tanya keeps asking me what I'm doing and I know, she will be telling you all about how she booked her air fights for Hawaii yesterday (Sorry, Cuz, I let the cat out of the bag!!). 

In any case, that is what I have on my mind today about future travel.  I am also beginning to put my plan together for next Summer.  

I'm strongly considering joining Tanya and her gang for an amazing trip to Portugal and Spain.  There may be some other options, however, so I'm weighing all of them during the coming weeks, at which time, I will lock into a final decision.

Well, folks, as I said, I need to get going - lots to do and my concentration is waning! 

See ya back here tomorrow!!!
REMEMBER - NEXT MONDAY WE LAUNCH TRAVELIN' COUSIN KIDS BLOG!!!! STAY TUNED!!

-E
xoxo