Mid-Week Jaunt

Oh, last week. What a crazy week that was! Having two toddlers in diapers means we are the most routine of all the routine people on earth you will ever find, but last week was a little different. That's what summer is for, right? Our Summer Nanny, also known as Gaga F., went on vacation for the week, which meant we were without childcare. Since we were going to have to take off work to stay home with the kids anyway, we decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and we took off to meet up with Gaga and Pop at Ocean City, Maryland for two days. Thus, Tuesday and Wednesday found the Wheelers back at the beach! As expected, Brady and Brynne had a ton of fun spending time with their grandparents in the waves and surf. We even got to go on a big boat to see some horsies...

Brynne's First Boat Ride
First where she wasn't an infant.
It totally counts.

OBX 2014, the rest of it!

The rest of our OBX trip went like this: beach, North Carolina Aquarium , rainy day, beach, home. Due to the extreme heat and humidity, I'm feeling a bit lousy today, so I'll keep the wordy part of this short and sweet and get right to the pics.

One gigantic photo dump coming up, brace yourself!

Day 2
The Tods were surprisingly unimpressed by the sand.
We actually had to convince them that this giant wet mess was "fun" to play with.

OBX 2014 - Day 1

We spent last week in the Outer Banks vacationing with the Lewis-Hess clan. We had a great time, but Jase and I learned how truly exhausting it is to be the parents of two toddlers at the beach! The 10-hour drive down there alone was enough to put us in desperate need of some relaxation. Combined with all the STUFF you have to cart everywhere with you when you have two very little ones (and a lot of sand), in addition to the 24/7 watching-them-like-a-hawk-because-there's-a-pool-outside-and-they-fear-nothing, makes for two very tired parents (and likely two very tired grandparents!).

In any event, we had a blast and were very grateful for the opportunity to get away and spend some time out of the house with Brady and Brynne. The Tods had so much fun playing at the beach and the pool every day, and they even got a chance to go to an aquarium and see some fish!

Day 1 started at 3:30am, when we got up, showered, and ushered two confused, groggy children into carseats to begin the trek to Corolla, NC. The drive was, to say the least, nothing short of CHALLENGING for this momma! Someone was usually upset about something, and I spent the majority of 10+ hours wedged in the backseat of the SUV between the carseats (with a seatbelt buckle where no seatbelt buckle ever should've been positioned, yes I am talking to YOU Chevrolet) trying to put out the many tantrums arising from sitting in the car too long and not understanding why. By the end of the ride, Brady was shouting "I'm stuck! Car done! Go home!" over and over again. (We showed him that we were "stuck" in our seats too.) Eventually though, we finally ARRIVED, and The Tods were unleashed to the sand and sea, Brynnie for the first time. See for yourself...

Coming soon...

No posts last week, because we were away....

More on that to come.

Stay tuned!

#TBT - Sibling Day

Happy Sibling Day! We are throwing back some sibling goodies to celebrate. Jason and I love our siblings more than they will probably ever know. They are our other halves, and without them, we wouldn't be ourselves. There are some things in life that only your sibling can understand, and I for one am super thankful to have a handsome, smart and successful brother with whom to share that bond (even though I spent my childhood pining for a sister :), hehe). I am lucky enough to have a wonderful sister in-law as well who is always there for us no matter what! Garrett and Courtney are about to have a BIG year getting married to awesome people, and we couldn't be more excited to be part of their weddings!

PSU vs. UMD Men's Basketball, December 2010

#TBT - Our Honeymoon - October 2010

After our beautiful wedding on October 16, 2010, we departed for an even more beautiful honeymoon in Paris, Burgundy and London. We stayed 3 nights in Paris, 2 nights in Burgundy, and 3 nights in London. In Paris, we stayed at the Hotel Raphael in a junior suite. We went to the Louvre, the Lido Caberet, up the Tour Eiffel, through the Cathedrale Notre Dame, walked all over the city, took a cab out to the Palace of Versailles and ate cheese and drank wine. Then we rented a car and drove through the Bourgogne Region in the heart of France for 2 days where we visited the medieval palace of Fountainbleau, some little towns and medieval churches, and stayed in a very romantic and secluded chateau. Finally, we flew to London for the remainder where we stayed at the Hazlitt's Hotel.  While we there we visited the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Harrod's, took tours, walked everywhere and ate meat pies and drank ale. It was a glorious, amazing 8 days that I will never forget. We had so much fun! We can't wait to go back to London someday, it is a city that has it "all" for us. We didn't even scratch the surface of everything we wanted to do while we were there! Bunch of pics, coming right up...

First day in Paris. Our hotel was right around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe! It was awesome.

Meandered down the Champs Elysees to Le Louvre

Notre Dame. You almost wish you were Catholic in a place like that!

On a bridge over the Seine at dusk

Paris at night is one of the most breathtaking sights the world has to offer.

Versailles. Simply gorgeous.

In front of Marie Antionette's chateau (Petit Trianon) on Versaille.

We stopped at some towns and visited some old churches on our drive through Bourgogne. This was one of them.

Fountainbleau, the medieval royal hunting lodge in Bourgogne. Pretty sure I was a French royal in a former life! Driving through the French countryside was so much fun.

At our Chateau in Bourgogne.

To the Tower! London.

I could not wait to visit this place again. I'm a huge medieval history nerd, can you tell?

Tower Bridge

Aaannd Jason with his ale at "our pub", the Dog and Duck in Soho. This is what "Happy Jason" looks like!

It was the vacation of our dreams. If I could rewind 3 years to these moments right now, I definitely would. Hope to make it back someday!

#TBT - Semester Abroad - Fall 2004

This week's Throwback Thursday is to a defining time in my life--my semester abroad in Florence, Italy in the fall of 2004. To that point, I had never been out of North America, so it was a huge deal for me. I chose a study abroad program with the American Institute for Foreign Study, Florence, Italy campus. We spent the first 3 days in London, followed by a stop at a beach resort in Lido di Camaiore (off the coast near Pisa) for the first 3 weeks to learn Italian (I had already taken Italian in college so it was advanced). Then we travelled to Florence. Our "campus" was inside a medieval Florentine castle, and the apartment I lived in was in the center of the historic district of Florence, just steps away from the Ponte Vecchio, which I crossed every day several times to get to classes. It was nothing short of AMAZING. I took classes in advanced Italian, Renaissance literature and art, and modern Italian art. There was only internet access at the school, Facebook had not yet been invented, and I had to "rent" a very old-school cell phone to use while I was there (it did not get text messages!). While many others traveled with friends, I knew nobody else when I enrolled. I ended up learning fluent Italian, making lifelong friends, and coming home much more aware of the world. I visited endless museums, medieval buildings and churches, and cities all over Italy (as well as Paris and London). I ate amazing food but lost a lot of weight on that trip (due to an emotional upheaval involving an ex-boyfriend, don't ask) and returned to the USA a different person in only 4 short months! Someday, perhaps I will tell you what the personal changes that occurred on this trip turned into. Some of you reading this already know, of course!

Here a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. I can't believe it was almost 10 years ago!! So much has changed since then, I barely recognize the "Brooke" in these photos.

Wow.

Cheesy, but necessary in Pisa. Wish that dude wasn't in the background, but what can you do? Late August.

Me with my roommates in front of the Ponte Vecchio on our first day in Florence. They were amazing girls who became very good friends! I loved each of them.

The breathtaking "citta di Firenze." Early September.



Il Vaticano in late September (?). Pope John Paull II was still presiding. How old do you (I) feel now?

My first trip to Paris with my roommate Erika in October. A typical Parisian fall--it was wet, windy and cold. However, the city of Paris was still love at first sight for me!



Spanish Steps, second trip to Rome. Early November (?).

Il Colosseo with a 14 year old Garrett Lewis, third trip to Rome in late November. My family came to visit for a week!

Visiting Pompeii with my family. November.



Throwing a coin into La Fontana di Trevi in Roma. This was in December during my dad's visit right before I went home. I did indeed return to Rome as the legend said! Incidentally, the baggy jeans from this pic were the snug ones from the Pisa picture.



Vacay on Lake Seneca

It's been over a week since I blogged, sorry about that. I had every intention of dutifully uploading pictures while I was on vacation--I even took my laptop along with that goal in mind. However, as the week progressed and I began to relax, I took fewer glances at my phone and iPad and didn't even pick up the camera much. I just enjoyed my family, the lake, and the wine as much as I could before it was all over and the craziness resumed. I did manage to take a bunch of pictures, although they are not as organized as I would like and I surely missed out many things. Taking two babies on vacation is no mean fete--there isn't much time for picture-taking, that's for sure!

I was worried the drives up and back would be horrible, but they weren't too bad. The drive there was the hardest, we left in the afternoon hoping to hit the kids' naptimes, but it didn't work out that way. Brady was awake much of the trip and he woke his sister, so I spent 4.5 hours in the backseat trying to keep them both happy at the same time. The iPad helped with Brady, but Baby Brynne had just about enough after 3 hours so our ears were ringing when we arrived! We made it in one piece, however, and the fun began after that. We spent the next 5 days playing in the lake, taking boat rides (Brady LOVED those), wine and beer tasting (Mommy and Daddy loved THAT), and we even attended a garlic festival on the last day. All in all, it was a fun way to spend a week, and I hope we get the chance to do it again someday!

Photo dump in 3...2...1....

Daddy and Brynniedoll sittin' on the dock, day 1.

Trying to rip off his hat. The grabbing phase has begun!

"This is pretty fun!"

Pop joined the fun...

Her own seat on the dock.

Time to go swimmin!

The only evidence I was actually on this trip. Ha! That's what happens when you're the photog...

Miss B watches with Grandma from the dock.

So much fun!

Daddy was having a good time too...

Red wine purchased for dinner from the winery down the road, Ventosa Vineyards

Dinnertime on day 2. Sauteeing the onions for the Cabernet-Balsamic Burgers...

Cabernet-Balsamic Burger. It was YUM!

After dinner boat ride to put the kiddos to sleep. Miss B got a new life-jacket...

She actually loved wearing that thing!

Having fun on the boat...

Brady, a little pouty because he had to sit with Daddy while Brynne got to sit with Grandma.

About 5 minutes after this was taken, she was fast asleep!

Day 3, just Daddy and his girl on the dock...

Judging by the smile, she must've been having a good time!

Meanwhile, Big Bro played in the yard above.

Day 4. Just the boys out for some early morning fishing on Pop's boat. Brady loved it!

Meanwhile, Miss Brynne was trying to wake up from her morning nap.

Day 5. 2013 Garlic Festival at Fox Run Vineyards

So much garlic!

And SO many people!

Miss B had a great time hanging out with Dad. We never heard a peep out of her, she was happy as clam in that carrier.

I'm not a huge white wine fan, but when in the Finger Lakes, do as they do. The Riesling is a dryer white, and was very refreshing.

Bubba had fun too. No strollers for him, he wanted to walk by himself!

This "cheese board" was only $8 and was loaded with 3 cheeses, roasted garlic, nuts, grapes, bread, pepperoni, prosciutto and salami! It was delish!

 

Jason and I have been up to the Finger Lakes 3 times now, and we always have a great time! As I said above, neither of us are huge white wine fans, but their award-winning whites (Riesling and Gewurtzraminer are their specialties) are really crisp and refreshing on a summer day. The reds are coming along too, we tried some really good ones. I've been to wineries in some of the best wine-making regions in the world--France, Italy and Napa Valley, and the Finger Lakes are no less enjoyable than those experiences. The whites hold their own against some of the best I've ever tasted, and while the reds have a way to go, they are coming along quickly. I've noticed a marked improvement in them since the first time we visited in 2009. Plus, who wouldn't love a day filled with wine-tasting for under $20 a person? The fact that a lot of the wineries are adding craft breweries now too was an added bonus as well. We hope to go back up there again soon!

That was our vacation in a nutshell. Now it's back to the grind!