Show & Tell – Favorite Vacations

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So clearly, I am NOT a travel blogger!  This was such a fun post to pull together for me because the majority of our vacations happened before I started blogging so it was a little trip down memory lane. Be sure to head over and see who else is linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday!

Destin, Florida

My very favorite family vacation was in June of 2009.  We rented a condo for a week when Jordan graduated from high school and it was the BEST!  It is the last time all six of us have been away together just relaxing and having fun.  You can read all about it here.

Omaha, Nebraska

The majority of our vacations have revolved around baseball the pat few years!  Last year we road tripped to Omaha for the 3rd summer in a row and I knew it would most likely be the last for awhile. We made sure to do everything we could find to do.  You can read all about it in part 1 and part 2.

Orlando, Florida

And this year we traveled to see Riley in Orlando for spring training and managed to pack in Disney World, some fishing, and the Kennedy Space Center.  My complete review can be found here.   For a few tips on a Disney World vacation visit my Do’s & Don’ts for Disney!

Nashville, Tennessee

One of my very favorite trips was a business trip to Nashville when I was able to take my mom along. I love country music but my mom is like the biggest country music follower ever.  We stayed at the Opryland hotel and had some drinks at the spinning bar.  I was super stoked to see both Jewel and Blake Shelton at the Grand Ole Opry.  We also went thru the Country Music Hall of Fame which is a must.  Walking through the bars downtown was also so much fun.  To see all the hopeful artist performing from the heart hoping to be discovered in little dives like Tootsies was so much fun.  I would also totally recommend a drive out to Franklin, TN.  One of my besties from high school lives in Nashville and took us over for dinner in the quaint little town.  The drive was so beautiful.

Southern California

Go figure I have vacationed in California more than any other state and all due to baseball!  We traveled to Long Beach two years in a row for Riley to play baseball.  The first year we left the littles at home and my mom joined the fun.   I researched the best places to view the Hollywood sign and it was so worth the winding drive up the mountain.  Here is a link to a post outlining a few spots.  We also took in a Dodgers game and of course had some hotdogs.
The next summer Riley was invited back again and this time I took the littles and my mom.  We hung out at the beach, went to the Madame Tussauds wax museum, walked the star walk and hung out in both Newport and Malibu for dinner and treats.  We also successfully mastered a day at Disneyland that was so much fun!  I still crack up at Dillon with Pluto.  For some reason he thought it would be funny to bop Pluto on the nose and for a bit Pluto followed him around harassing him.  I really miss this little girl who loved princesses!
And finally last March, Keith and I went to Marina del Ray once again to follow some baseball but also to have some down time.  You can read California Dreamin to see the sites we visited and how far we rode on these bikes!

New York City!!

This was the most amazing trip!  My friend Holly turned 40 on New Years Eve and where else should you celebrate your 40th on NYE than NYC?!!  She’s an amazing planner and we have a similar travel style….see it all and sleep when you get back home!!  We had all been to NYC before but we found a few gems that are highly rated in our book!  A BLT at the Carnegie Deli but go late to avoid the crowd.  The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall was amazing and we actually took a tour before hand.  Of course you must not miss Times Square!  We took the subway and then a Taxi to Grimaldis but know you will wait in line to get in but the pizza is worth it.  It is just over the Brooklyn bridge on the Brooklyn side and once we were done eating we walked back across and the views of the city were the best.  Bonus…it started snowing…but take off points since we could never master the jumping picture!  Ha!
We took a chance on tickets to a NYE party (oddly enough “hosted” by Sean & Catherine Lowe) and decided we would take a chance and try to get to Times Square at midnight.  All worked in our favor and we seriously made it just in time to here Miley Cyrus sing Wrecking Ball before watching the ball drop and singing New York, New York and Auld Lang Syne.  Hustled back to the subway and were back in our room before 1am!

Other fun sites including the 911 Memorial and you can see more pictures of that here and of course lady liberty and wall street while we were there.  We ate at the Original Vincents in Little Italy before heading to this super cool little speakeasy bar that you had to use a secret phone booth to enter through a hidden door.  I’d love to give you the deets but they asked us to PLEASE DONT TELL about the bar.  🙂  The tator tots were amazing!  Then we finished off the night at Sweet Revenge where they suggest pairings for your cupcake and wine.

We took a tv/movie tour which was super fun and interesting and of course took a picture outside the building used for the opening of the Friends episodes.  Wicked was the show of choice and I was super excited to see it for the first time in NYC.  It started snowing just as we went into the show and I couldn’t resist dropping on the street and making a snow angel as we departed.

Seeing Central Park covered in snow the next day was so breathtaking!  We really did feel like we had hit the jackpot!  Right up until we were eating pizza in SOHO and received our first plane delay message.  We finally headed to JFK early evening and our flights continued to be delayed.  I kid you not we were finally on a plane and on the runway when the flight was cancelled.  It was 3am and we were in the airport with no idea what was going to happen.  It was Ca-RAZY!  But we were blessed by some amazing experiences that we felt God threw right into our paths and very blessed to make it onto a flight at 9am the next morning.  Last flight to leave for several more days!

I love vacation!  Hopefully there will come a time when planning outings for all 6 of us will become easy again.  Totally looking for some couple trip ideas too so I can’t wait to read everyone else’s faves!

If Show and Tell is your thing….here are more post from this series!

19 Comments

  5. You have had some pretty fantastic trips friend. This makes me even more excited for our summer trip to. We also rented a condo on the beach. I can't wait for my babies to see the ocean for the very first time :).

    Reply

  8. Wow what great trips! Next time you are out in Cali give me a holler! 🙂 I work just down the street from Marinia Del Rey and I pass through Long Beach everyday on my way to and from work 🙂 Your NYC trip sounds absolutely amazing and a once in a lifetime type of thing! Off to check out your Disney World Trip.

    Reply

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