Friday Find: Kid's Bathroom Ideas

I left you last time with the sneak peak of what has been consuming our time the last two days.  Well, I'm happy to report that we are done tiling and grouting.  Unfortunately, the really "fun stuff" is yet to come.  You know, putting baseboards back up, painting the walls, changing out the exhaust fan, lights, faucets....

Martha Stewart suggested sewing a loop of ribbon to a towel to help kids hang them up.  This could be a great idea for the long wall in our bathroom?!

Sneak Peak: Tile Job

I promised a sneak peak of what has been keeping us so busy the last two days (while my mom is hanging out with the kiddos! You are the best, Gigi!)

Running a half marathon today (to train for the full marathon in October!):

Power tools & a way to stay "hydrated":

Crock Pot Cooking on Vacation

When we're on vacation, one of the biggest aspects for us is finding great local places to eat.  However, when you add two kids to the mix, sometimes a simple dinner out can be exhausting.  Getting everyone back to the hotel room at a reasonable time, showered, dressed, then just sitting through the average wait time to get into a restaurant as well as just waiting to get food to get to the table.

Our solution isn't the most popular with many families that are on vacation (because, hello!?  Don't I cook enough at home?)

Well, when we were packing for our vacation, we tossed our trusty crock pot in the car.  Back when we were just a family of three, we spent nearly 6 months together in a hotel room in Oklahoma (Air Force training) so we got pretty creative with a crock pot!

Our favorite crock pot meal that is super easy for a hotel is our "Chipotle Chicken Meal":

Another family favorite that we ate on another night of our vacation is our Easiest Ever Beef Sandwiches.  We ate this all too easy meal after dragging ourselves back to the hotel after 8 hours in the great outdoors visiting Cumberland Island.  It was so nice to come "home" to a hot and ready meal instead of having to drag everyone back out to look for food.

Amelia & Cumberland Island Vacation

I mentioned last week how we had just gotten home from a family vacation .  Well, let me explain how we ended up on Amelia Island, first...

We had been planning a vacation with our very good friends for a while.  Since he is also in the Air Force, it was kind of a long shot to get all of our schedules to line up.  Well, it looked like everything was a go! So we were going to all meet in Charleston at his parent's home.  Shortly before the trip, they found out they would be going to England (thanks, Air Force!) So, Bryan and I scrambled to come up with an alternate vacation plan for just the four of us.  In order to save money, I was looking at any military base on the East coast that we could stay.  I found one called King's Bay which is a Naval Submarine Base.  I knew nothing of the area or what was around it but I knew a beach was close and that was really all we needed.  Then, I found a Hampton Inn for $5 more a night which would provide a free hot breakfast.  To us, the logical choice was to "jump ship" with the Naval Base and go to a Hampton.

The day after I booked our hotel room, I decided to see if there was any good food or things to do near the hotel besides the beach (our biggest selling point)!  That's when I realized we were going to an Island!  hah, really?!  And it's called Amelia Island?  Well, that's a cute name!  AND Southern Living Magazine rated it as The Best Small-Town Getaway!?!

Well, after visiting, we can truly agree that it was a perfect place to vacation.

It is very rich in history... It is claimed that 8 flags have flown over Amelia Island: French, Spanish, British, Patriot, Green Cross, Mexican, Confederate, and United States.  A must-see park is Fort Clinch State Park.  No battles were ever fought here, but it was occupied by soldiers during the Spanish-American War as well as the Civil War.  It was a very entertaining piece of history to visit.  The architecture and masonry alone was well worth the visit!

Fort Clinch

Chocolate S'more Fondue for Two

My husband and I had our fourth wedding anniversary yesterday.  Most of it was spent catching up on laundry from vacation, putting away stuff and trying to get our lives re-organzized and back on schedule.  Especially with the two little ones and their sleeping!

But, when everyone was finally in bed, we were able to sneak downstairs, make some chocolate s'more fondue and share a bottle of Valley Vineyards Champagne while watching Couples Retreat.  It gave us a few good laughs which, after driving 14 hours the day before, we needed something where we didn't have to think.