First time...

This Friday marks a few first milestones...

First time that I will ever take a vacation during tax season. So thankful for my work letting me go with my husband to Mexico to celebrate the love of some great friends!

Celebrating the marriage of Matt & Randi Rae!!

First time I will be in a swimsuit since having Turner. Wish me luck as I will be hanging with a bunch of ladies that have never been pregnant and will be rocking there 20 something bodies that I once had! Granted I did work my butt off to get back into shape for this trip, I just wish I my stomach was more toned. Yes, I am so critical of myself...aren't we all?!! I've decided to be proud of how far I have come and that I am very lucky to be back into shape as most women have a difficult time with this.

First time I will be away from Turner for longer than 10 hours...including our first overnight away from him! I know he will be fine as my mom and sister will be @ our house taking care of him, but that doesn't mean I am going to miss him like CRAZY!!

 
Thank gosh for technology...we will be Facetiming twice a day to see this precious face!!

First time we are going on a vacation together since our honeymoon to Cabo in October 2011. It is much needed!!! I look forward to relaxing with my toes in the sand and with a drink in my hand (yes I know I rhymed) ;)

First time I will be drinking more than 2 drinks since finding out I was pregnant in September 2012. I am probably going to be a hot mess more talkative and tell everyone that I love them ;) but this mama plans to take full advantage of the all inclusive resort and that I don't have to wake and take care of Turner!!!

I have big plans to do a recap of our trip on here..so stay tuned. At the rate I am going...I should have it up by this fall considering I have posts yet from last July still in draft form that I haven't posted!

Happy HUMP day my friends :)

Windy City

Last weekend Tate and I took a mini-vacation to Chicago for a friends wedding! The wedding was Friday, so it was a nice excuse to take the day off of work and leave on Thursday evening for an extra long weekend.

We left MN around 4 and got into the Chicago area a bit after 10. We met up with our friends for a few beers and then headed to bed after a long day of work and then driving 6+ hours.

The wedding was an evening wedding so Tate and I decided to explore Chicago during the day. We were in north west suburb of Chicago, so we decided to take the train downtown for a few hours. This was my first ever train ride...and I loved it.

We new we didn't have much time to spend downtown since the train ride there took an hour and the one back would also take an hour and we still had to get ready for the wedding.

We rode the train downtown and then walked to Millennium Park. We strolled along the streets and took pictures of different 'cool' looking things. It was about a mile walk to the park..so there was many things to see on our way.

 After a nice 40 minute hike walk, we made it to the park and I loved everything it about it. It was very peaceful, even though there were kids running around everywhere!

It was actually a chilly day, so I was surprised to see all the kids playing in the water...but then again, I wasn't...kids love water!

Then..we finally came upon, 'THE BEAN'. I had seen so many people with pictures of this and had never heard of it, so I really wanted to see it in person. It's really neat and very popular!

 And here is a cool shot of what it looks like under the bean looking up

After exploring the park, we ate lunch at this really cute cafe right off Michigan Ave. I had the soup and sandwich combo and it was super delicious.

After lunch, we had to head back to catch the 3 pm train so we would have enough time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was nice and short (only about 12 minutes). They were married...then it was time to party!

The wedding was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see and party with friends we hadn't seen in some time. We stayed up until 3 am...the latest I have stayed up in sooo long!

Even though I didn't go to bed until 3, I still woke up at 9 and couldn't fall back asleep. We had plans on Saturday to have lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousin who live in the Chicago area. We went to a winery/restaurant called Cooper's Hawk. It was wine haven in there and my mom would have just loved it.

Just one of the 'wine' walls.

After a super yummy lunch with my family, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with our friends and take a little nap. The new Mr. & Mrs. had planned a fun day at a local bar for everyone that had stayed the day after. They rented a room and had some appetizers for a 'Derby' party. We enjoyed drinks, company and betting on horse races. The horse that Tate and I bid on did not win...but it made the race more enjoyable. I also had to have a margarita since it was Cinco De Mayo.

The weekend went by way to fast and soon enough, it was Sunday and time to drive back to MN. We had such a great time and really enjoyed our little vacation. This was our first wedding of this season and we look forward to our next one in July.

Honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas - Day 7

Day 7 was our last day in Cabo. It went by so fast. We decided that on our last day we were going to hang out by the pool and relax all day. Relaxing we did. We were by the pool by 9 am and didn't leave until 5.

Tate had been asking all week if we could go jet skiing. I didn't want to for 2 reasons...it was really expensive for a limited amount of fun and I was so scared to jet ski in the ocean. Well...on our last day, I finally said I would go with him jet skiing. He probably wishes I didn't go because I was pretty much screaming the whole time and I can't imagine it was much fun for him.

Here a few pictures of our view of lovers beach and the arch from the jet ski

Our resort from the water

After a really fun day in the sun...we decided to have 2 dinners on our last night :) We had reservation at the super fancy restaurant but not until 9:15. So we went and ate @ the buffet around 6:30 and I am so happy we did. It was 'Asian' theme night so they had sushi, sushi and more sushi. Loved it!!!

We had the best honeymoon ever. I am so glad we picked Cabo for our location and I am glad we stayed @ the Riu Palace. I can't wait to go again!!!

XOXO

Honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas - Day 6

Day 6 didn't consist much besides hanging by the pool all day. Our resort had 2 pools. One pool was considered more of the low key pool and the other pool was the 'fun' pool. The 'fun' pool was where all the entertainment was. We decided on this day to go to the 'fun' pool to check it out and possibly participate in some of the entertainment.

We shot air rifle guns

I didn't get a chance to take many pictures on day 6 because we were partaking in so many activities and meeting some great people. We met this great couple from NYC that totally had the New York accent...I loved it.

We played lots of water volleyball, did an underwater swimming contest and played bingo.

After a super fun day of games and pool...we got ready for dinner. We decided to eat at the Japanese restaurant again because we liked it so much the first time we ate there.

We were seated @ table 21...loved it

Honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas - Day 5

This whole blogging about the honeymoon and doing the 30 day challenge make my blog seem messy and I don't like it...I like things need and organized...my blog doesn't seem that way. Oh well...at least I am keeping up with blogging :)

On day 5, we decided to take a water taxi and go downtown Cabo San Lucas for some good authentic mexican food and do some shopping. It was lots of fun...

They charged $25 to take a picture with this ADORABLE cub...we just watched him play and took our own picture of the little guy.

We hit up Cabo Wabo for some chips & salsa and drinks

After Cabo Wabo...we went shopping and then wanted lunch. We had heard great things about an authentic Mexican restaurant called 'Mi Casa' so we had to find it and check it out. There wasn't very many people there for lunch...but it was so yummy!!!!

After a very fun day downtown, we head back to the hotel and hung out by the pool. We met a really nice couple from Boston. They are both doctors. We decided to go to dinner that night with them @ the steakhouse @ our resort.

Fire show

That night @ the resort...they had a 'Grease' show. It was pretty good. My favorite part was when Robbie came out as cupid. Robbie is part of Riu Entertainment. He is so funny and has a great personality. He loved hitting on Tate ;)

If you haven't caught on yet...no we didn't go 'clubbing' @ all during our HM. We did hit up the dance club @ our resort...but we really never left the resort @ night. We felt if we were to go downtown @ night, we wanted to go with other people and not just ourselves...this was for safety reason. We also didn't go because we kind of grew out of 'clubbing' awhile ago. We had the best time just watching the shows and going to bed before midnight :)