I'm back: An update & our vacation via Instagram! (super image-heavy)

Hiii, I'm back! Did you miss me? ;) I have to admit that it was so incredibly nice to take a full three weeks off from blogging, and I need to send a huge thank you out one more time to all of my fabulous guest posters. I really appreciate all of them, and I also appreciate all of you who made them feel right at home.

I took a million photos over the past few weeks, and sorting through them will take a bit, so I thought I would quickly post an overview of our East Coast vacation via Instagram!  As much as I loved bringing our Nikon out and about, there's something about these quick little snapshots that make me smile. I'm definitely going to be utilizing Blurb's Instagram book option to make a fun keepsake from our trip.

Overall it was a great time, and I have so many things I'm looking forward to sharing! From what I learned flying and traveling with an 8 month old to my new favorite beauty product discovered on this trip, I feel like I have a huge list of upcoming posts. I'm feeling really inspired, which I'm thankful for, because to be honest I actually really loved being free of all things computer on my trip, and I was curious how I would feel when I got home. I enjoyed not blogging so much that I was actually thinking I wouldn't want to do it in the same capacity when I got home. But now that I'm here, typing away in this little box, any thoughts of being disinterested in this space has totally gone away. I'm beyond happy to be here sharing my words and day to day, and if I learned anything not blogging, it's that I need to continue to keep this blog true to me. What that means is less of the things I don't really enjoy and more of what I do. Having this space enhance my life rather than play too large of a role. Exactly what I've been thinking anyway, but I was only reminded of it during my break. Awesome.

And to give you some quick background on our trip, my parents, sister, Henry and I flew into Boston where we spent a short time (Salem, Rockport, etc.), then headed up to our family's house on Lake Champlain. From there we picked up my brother in law Abe and Hank, and headed to the Jersey Shore for beach time, then up north for a family wedding. It was a whirlwind, but so much fun and went by far too quickly.  So with that said, here is our vacation via Instagram!  Actual photos from my camera to follow in the next week or so, and I'll be breaking them up so the posts aren't as image-heavy as this one! ;)

Las Vegas & the 4th of July

This past weekend my little family and I took a mini-roadtrip to Las Vegas. This was our first official family vacation since Henry was born, and it was definitely eye-opening as to what is needed (and what isn't) in regards to traveling with a little one. We have lots of vacations coming up in the next couple of months so this was definitely good practice.  Overall the trip was really fun - as fun as Las Vegas can be with a 7.5 month old - but Hank and I switched off having "baby duty" so each of us could have a good time with his family. We swam at Mandalay Beach (real sand and a wave pool, love it), worked out in the hotel's gym, ate such good food (and way too many sweets), and shopped a bit too. This time we stayed at THEhotel, which is an all-suite boutique hotel and part of Mandalay Bay.  It was gorgeous, and one of my favorite places we've stayed at in Vegas. Our room had a living room/sitting area, two bathrooms, and a gorgeous bedroom that overlooked the pool. We were able to watch fireworks all around Las Vegas from the comfort of our room, and it was really and truly magical to celebrate the 4th like that.  I wasn't sure how Henry would feel about it, but he ended up being mesmerized, face and hands pressed to the glass. It was definitely a happy 4th of July.

Here are just a few photos from our trip -


































and some photos from my iphone, too!