a few things I'm thankful for...

I'm back!

My love came home from yet another trip a little over a week ago and took some leave. We didn't really go on a vacation, in part because my love is craving to be in our own home since he's rarely here to do so. But we did take some time for ourselves as a family and we went on a few day trips, my love and I had a few dates, and we just enjoyed being together as a family. It was awesome and so very needed--for all of us. As a result of that, this little blog suffered a little bit of neglect. Since so much occurred, I'm going to condense and cover some highlights while also focusing on a little "thankful" theme in honor of Thanksgiving.

Just before my love came home, the kiddo, who I often refer to as Sweet P, started pre-school at a local school/church. (As a side note, let's just say I'm in a bit of denial or something as I am really really not wanting to refer to it as pre-school. I just want it to be termed as Mother's Day Out or something...but not pre-school. But it really is a pre-school.) Whatever I end up referring to it as, I'm thankful that she is really enjoying this time away from me and that she adjusted quickly and took to it so well.

First day...and we're excited!

My love and I have been able to enjoy some time to ourselves as a result of the kiddo being at school and my love being off on leave. We had one of our old-fashioned "study dates" at a local coffee shop followed by lunch at one of our favorite places that just so happened to open a restaurant here in our current hometown in September...Chipotle!!! This worked super well for us as Sweet P still hasn't accepted Chipotle as totally awesome food.


Sweet P's creative side. She has really taken to the camera and loves to take pictures. As soon as she sees the camera, she says "chiis? chiis?"

Not a bad "chii" (picture), huh?

We've recently added a couple of new children's CDs back into the CD player in the car. Its nothing new but they haven't been in the car since July. Now that the kiddo is older and really getting into music, she's starting to sing a little bit. At the end of each song she says "more?"

The kiddo has somehow come up with the "Ta-Da!!!" with her hands held high above her head like she just nailed a perfect landing after dismounting from the balance beam. Totally cute. I just hope we don't hear the "ta-da" and the sound of the toilet flushing.

Sweet P's Elmo t-shirt. We had to make a little trip to the doctor the other day to get a nagging cough checked out. The kiddo has never taken well to the little ear scope during any exam, but with a little run-through with her daddy and then the doctor "checking" Elmo's ears before checking Sweet P's, it made a HUGE difference.

Enjoying the outdoors and fall colors. We explored a local beach, took a drive down south and saw some gorgeous fall colors, and discovered a new park.

Speaking of fall colors on the trees, we had a new tree planted in our yard. Okay, so it wasn't really anything we planned on but it turns out our neighborhood was supposed to get trees put in all throughout the neighborhood by the builder. Once we heard this was going to happen, we figured we'd get piddly little twigs. Nope, these trees are quite large and we're absolutely thrilled with the drastic change our neighborhood has taken. Hearing the sound of dried leaves blowing down the street was such a neat sound that I never really realized was missing until I heard it after they put the trees in.

Hats on the kiddo. Seriously, she's just too cute.

...and she knows it too.

Our fire pit. We finally purchased one. It's been on our wish list for nearly the entire 7+ years we've been married. We set it up one night after the kiddo went to bed and enjoyed roasting marshmallows while looking up at the stars and watching the airplanes flying around. It was beautiful and quite memorable but after living in Colorado, I totally felt like I was doing something illegal since fire bans were in full force the year we moved from there.

A fun trip to Annapolis.

We headed out to Annapolis for a day and checked out the Naval Academy along with bits and pieces of the historic downtown. We had the pleasure of enjoying a cute little coffee/book shop that I have no idea what the name of it was. It was a visit more out of necessity as my love and I both dearly needed to use the restroom. But like all the shops posted on their front windows, you needed to be customer. I had to go so bad, I had a difficult time even entertaining the idea of buying a cup of coffee. Thankfully, my love was able...and it was good.

The Naval Academy was beautiful and I wish we had had just a little bit more time to walk around. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The colors were gorgeous, the sun was shining, and there was just a bit of coolness in the air requiring jackets. I wish we had had the ability to tour the inside of the chapel, but it was closed for a funeral. But the outside of it was still a nice bit of eye candy.

After our quick tour of the Naval Academy (I just can't bring myself to refer to it as "THE Academy" because that brings only one place to mind), we met up with my love's mom. Using Travel Advisor, we chose this old historic restaurant right off of Church Circle called Reynold's Tavern. It was a charming little English tea room and restaurant.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Earl Grey tea but was surprised that it actually tasted a bit different than what I've had in the past. I've had a fair share of Earl Grey in various forms, so it surprised me that it would taste so different. If it hadn't smelled the same as Earl Grey I would've sworn I had been served something else.

As for the food, most was quite yummy. However, I seriously cemented my dislike of Shepherd's Pie. I still have no idea what prompted me to order it, since I haven't been fond of it in the past. I think I was craving a bit of comfort food and the mashed potatoes swung me over...either that or trying to keep Sweet P entertained led to a hasty decision. She was definitely not her normal easy to keep satisfied self in that restaurant. For anybody that does try it out, I highly recommend the sweet potato fries that are drizzled with a honey butter sauce. Sooo good!


I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to spend some time as a family. The week went by in a blur but we really had a great time reconnecting. Now its back to the real world.

Oh, and one last thing. The other night, after a nice family run on the track on base (which the kiddo...on her own accord...ran about 1/4 of a mile--in bits and pieces of course) I was cleaning off her hands and face from dinner. She noticed my adidas pants and amazingly started saying "a-d-d-i...a-d-d-i" while pointing at the word printed on my pocket. Needless to say, my love and I had to pick up our jaws from the floor as we were quite shocked.


P.S. One more last thing...remember those light fixtures I bought after snagging that super amazing deal during the summer? Guess what?!? They're up! (Yet another thing I'm thankful for.) I'll post pics about that soon!