what life was like at mile marker 0!

Finally, a little alone time to sit down and gush about my Key West trip! I know it has been long awaited.... Forgive me for the delay, but adjusting back in the saddle of mommylife has taken it's toll on me! :)

I woke up early on Thursday morning with a slight hint of excitement, and a HUGE anxiety about leaving my kids and the hubby. It was an emotional morning, but by the time we were nearing the airport and the kids had been dropped off, I was ready for my vacation! My morning at the airport started off as every morning should, in my opinion, -with a delicious dark chocolate mocha from caribou coffee. My coffee was delicious, the people watching was phenomenal, life was good. However, that was the beginning of what later would be known as one of the longest days of my life. Let me just say it. I hate airlines, and the crabby agents that work at them, at least the ones I had to deal with! Anyway... Long story short, because of millions of delays, I ended up shackin' up in Miami for the night. Not really a huge deal since my flight to Key West was taking off at 8am the next morning anyway, but still-- I was over it.

So the next morning after approximately 3 hours of sleep for the night, I finally made my appearance in Key West and was rejoined once again with my bestie, Kristin :) Due to my extreme exhaustion, the first stop we made was this cute little coffee shop. This is where I learned my first piece of valuable key west information: they love their chickens! Kristin and I were peacefully sipping on our iced coffees catching up on any and everything when all of a sudden this little chicken decided to walk on through the coffee shop and join us on the patio. Um, excuse me? I'm at a coffee shop and there is a chicken parked next to me on the ground. Then I looked down the street and realized that chickens are probably like the state mascot, because they kind of roam around wherever they want....love it. The rest of my day involved a shower, some shopping, a spin/pedal & pump class (I was convinced that I was either going to die, fall off, or lose my virginity (again) while on that damn bike, but no worries, friends-- I made it alive (and in tact!) ! :)) That night we ate a fancy little italian restuarant in order to 'carb up' for our 5k the followin morning. The food was fabulous (although my plate could have easily fed the entire population of Darwin) but we were all exhausted so we decided to call it an early night... After a little skype action with Max and Piper :) (Ryder was at his grandmas)

Saturday was race day, so up an at'em we were! I'm so proud of my best friend for beginning this running/getting healthy journey, and more than anything, for having a goal, and accomplishing it! So happy to have been able to be a part of that accomplishment with her! We ran along the beach, which is about enough motivation for me- It was absolutely beautiful and believe it or not, the weather was perfect. Not chilly at all, but not too hot either. Just great! After our run we lounged around for a while, made some lunch, skyped with the fam back home (who I missed dearly!!) and then decided we wanted to go Kayaking. We packed a few beers in a cooler, put our suits on, and away we went! Kristin and I took a double kayak and we thought we were pretty cool, although we just couldn't keep up with Eric. Apparently we aren't the speediest kayaker's but we made our own way! We saw starfish and jellyfish, mangroves (whatever the hell they are??) and multi-million dollar homes along the channel that we were in. Amazing. :) After this little excersion, was naptime.... Ahhhhh the joys of being on vacation and being able to take a nap. Uninterrupted. Alone. No Kids....  After we woke up we decided to shower up and get pretty for the night. We went to Santiagos Bodega for dinner, soooo yummy. The food was great, but the Sangrias were even better! ;) Following multiple glasses of the sangria was a wise (??) decision to hit up Duval Street "for a couple".

My oh my. There were people EVERYWHERE, and at least like 50 bars just hopping with people. It was here that I discovered another little key west secret: strawberry beer :) -YUM! After a nice classy bar serving the strawberry beer, we made our way up to another bar. A slightly different bar. A clothing optional bar. I actually saw the sign that said "Clothing option beyond this point" and kind of thought it was cute, just for decoration. WRONG. I walked in and my poor little innocent eyes were not prepared for what they were about to take in. The term, "partying naked" in Key West, is actually meant quite literally! Now, if you know me, then you would know that I was like "trying-not-to-pee-in-my-pants-laughing-so-hard" mode as we people watched in this bar. To be fair, most people in the bar were dressed. And most of them seemed quite normal, many of them were young like us, in fact. However, the people hangin' out with their goods out for the world to see were all probably over the age of at least 50 and this just added to my amusement.  I'm actually laughing out loud as I type this.... The next bar we went to was much more normal--although I did end up stealing a pink tiara off of some guy's head and wearing it around the rest of the night, and although I'm pretty sure that sort of thing doesn't happen in Darwin, you never know...

Sunday morning brought with it only a slight hangover (thank goodness!) and to remedy this, Kristin and I decided to bike down and get some breakfast... After enjoying that, we hit up the beach for the day. I'm talking teal-crystal clear blue water kind of beach. It was soooo pretty! I probably could have laid there all damn day... On our little bike cruise on the way home we picked up groceries and made homemade fish tacos for dinner. Then we went out to the Sunset Festival where I discovered love for a man who's job is to hide behind some palm tree branches and jump out and scare people. If you have gotten so busy with your life that you forgot how funny it is to see people get absolutely terrified/pranked, you are missing out. I highly recommend it. (And yes, I donated to his tip jar!) Some sinful ice cream followed the sunset festival and a little more shopping.

Monday morning was an early one, because I was determined to wake up for a sunrise run to the beach. Well worth it! Then we hit the streets with some serious shopping to do, and before I knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes! Although I was sad to be leaving, I was so anxious to get home to my babies!!! (All three of them). I said goodbye to my bestie and boarded the plane (after ANOTHER 2 hr delay) to Tampa Bay... It was here that my husband proved to be my night and shining armor (again) and got the airlines to switch me from having 2 stops left in my journey, to having a non-stop flight from tampa to minneapolis..... Do you love him or what? I do :) Around 8:30 pm that night I arrived safe and sound (thank God!) back in good ol' Minny and take my word for it,  I have never been so damn excited to see that damn ball of twine before in my life because it meant my kids were just a minute away! .... Only in darwin, friends! :)

what have we been doing?

If you are wondering this question, it means that I have once again been slacking on this poor little blog. Oh well, I've had better things to do, and lucky for you-- now you get to hear about all those 'better things!' :)

Spring break was a few weeks ago. We had a great time just hanging out with family and friends. We did take a little adventure to Airmaxx Trampoline Park in St.Cloud with Ryder's cousins and they had a blast, while this momma was sweating bullets. It is a workout! Other than that, we just enjoyed being home, and being together - and really, what is better than that? 

Then of course came Easter and all those little Easter festivities. We died 'koolaid' easter eggs, went on easter egg hunts, and that silly bunny made it's way out to darwin and left some goodies for Piper and Ryder. We praised 'the big guy' at church, hung out with our families, and as always, ate. (And then ate some more.)

Somewhere right around this time, my little peeps celebrated her 1/2 year of life.... 6 months old already?? I'm still trying to figure out just where all that time went, but I'll save that for another post - turning ".5" gets you your own blog post around here ;) 

Next came Key West. And yes, there will be a separate post for this also. Way too much excitement to combine it all into this one.... more to come!

Along with all of these celebrations is a bit of sadness as well. This household has been 'Fighting for Gage" and sending our prayers up for him and his family since day one. If you don't know about Gage, you probably aren't from around these parts. Gage is a young boy who was diagnosed back in October with an inoperable brain tumor, and his fight ended this past Sunday. Although I know he was so young and had so much life yet to live, I know in my heart that Jesus is taking care of him now, and I know he is free of all the pain. I don't know all the details of heaven and earth, but my faith is strong, and I know for a fact that Jesus loves his children!  I haven't been able to formulate words on how all of this has made me feel up until now because as a parent, I just can't wrap my head around what the Drivers and all of their family and friends have been going through. Even if you have no idea who these people are....please say a prayer for them to find comfort and peace, a prayer for Gage up in heaven, and if you can, donate to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation :) I realize that money doesn't solve problems such as heartache and grieving, but it can fund research to find cures for all these malicious diseases. We have some really smart and talented people in this world, and with the right tools and resources, they will figure this stuff out eventually, I'm sure of it! 

And on that note, this mommy is heading to bed. Yes, it is 9:30 --don't judge :)