Travels

Fall Tennessee Trip!

March 13, 2019 by Jensey Leave a Comment

Personal photo week continues!! <3

Now, on to our fall family vacation : Home sweet home Tennessee. :)

We started off with a visit to our best friends in Nashville for a few days! 3 days in Nashville means two visits to the Nashville Zoo for this little Junior Zookeeper! <3

The petting zoo was a BIG hit!

It’s not Tennessee without some creepy decorations!

My favorite thing about the Nashville Zoo : The Kangaroo Kickabout! It’s the coolest exhibit ever where you walk through a fence-less exhibit and can pet kangaroos! :)

My boys <3 <3

Then it was off to a Gatlinburg cabin weekend with the bests, and this little gent in sweaters!

Revisiting the most special table in the whole entire world at the Dollywood DreamMore Resort. Because three years before this photo was taken…

… This photo was. It was during a mini vacation to this special place that I started filling out our adoption paperwork. <3

Cabin weekends used to be so fun! Now they’re filled with constantly freaking out about different ways for Ollie to hurt himself in an un-babyproofed home!

Y’all- Dollywood in October. I cannot wait to go back!!

Don’t judge his faces in this or the last photo… I promise he had a good time, lol!

HE FOUND HIS SHADOW! And wouldn’t step on it! It was the cutest thing ever!!

Ollie burrito! A sight we never get to see in Orlando! :)

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Disney anymore…

I bought this little outfit before Ollie was even born! It warmed my heart to see it on my walking dream come true! <3

Until next time, Rocky Top! <3

2018 Disneyland Trip!

March 12, 2019 by Jensey Leave a Comment

DIDNEYLAND! Our favorite place!!! I can’t believe this was Ollie’s second time in 15 months!! This trip was vastly different from our last, but I so loved watching him experience everything. Just like at our home park, Disney days look a *little* different than they used to- Less rides and more “Hey, let’s run around this random trash can for an hour.” Less character meets and more, “Hey, I’m gonna go flirt with this random custodial cast member for a few minutes.” I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even though photos are a *little* harder to get than they used to be!

And we were lucky enough to make this trip with our friends, so it was double the fun having the kids in matching outfits and watching them play. Of course they play at Disney all the time back home, but it really is different when you’re on vacation! :)

The epitome of Disney Ollie in the next two frames : Thrilled to be waiting in line and climbing on the rails…

… Kiiiiiinda hates the actual ride, lol.

LOOK AT THE EXCITEMENT ON THIS FACE I CANNOT STAND IT.

I. MEAN. <3

Just a little best friend hand holding during dinner. :)

The last time this photo was taken!!!!!! I knew this was the one I wanted to recreate!

Ok, as much as I love Disneyland, I’m also going to say we got blown off by *every* character we encountered. Like, it sort of became this depressing joke. I’d be heartbroken if this were my only time to interact with my favorite characters!!

One last spin on our beloved Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train! :(

The Pearly Band!! One of my favorite impromptu moments of our trip, and the only characters he wasn’t immediately terrified of! <3

See this? The thrill in his eyes and size of that smile? THIS was his favorite part of the entire vacation- Playing with and knocking on White Rabbit’s door! I think we clocked about 40 minutes in this little spot!

Do. You. See. His. Shirt!!! He was so so close to taking those first steps and I was willing it a little too much- I took my first steps in Disneyland and wanted the same for him!! (Alas, it ended up happening in Nashville a week later!)

Back on the first ride he ever did- Casey Jr. Circus Train! :)

That omg-I’m-up-three-hours-past-my-bedtime-smile!

2018 San Francisco Trip!

March 10, 2019 by Jensey 1 Comment

It’s our birthweek!!! What!!! Nate and I were born one year and 5 days apart, so we look forward to “birthweek” celebration all year round! :)

I wanted to blog something fun this week, so I thought I’d write about our favorite vacation last year!

Before Ollie, I was *determined* to do a monthly personal post about him and what we’ve been up to and well… We are 22 months into parenthood and I don’t even think I blogged about his birth. Instead of starting from the beginning and trying to somehow catch up, I’m just gonna jump right in. :) Last August, work brought us to San Francisco! This also meant we got to do a road trip with Ollie’s bestie from there to Disneyland for his first friend vacation! :)

This was Ollie’s 2nd trip out to California, and boy, flying with a 15 month old couldn’t have been more different than flying with a 4 month old!! I told Nate that for the rest of my life, any flight without a squirmy toddler will forever feel like I’m flying first class, lol! :) He really did well and only lost it a couple of times, but was I glad we were road tripping down to Anaheim and not having to make another flight!

We started our trip at my personal Disneyland, my favorite place in the world- My Aunt Cami’s home. <3 I think, no.. I *know* he loved it there more than Disneyland!

We had lunch with my godmother! :)

We also took Ollie to my mom’s childhood home. So many memories playing on this street! <3

He met some new sea lion friends…

And saw an invisible bridge! <3

My cousins are incredibly talented photographers (If you got our holiday card, you know this!) Even just sitting across from them at dinner meant we got really good photos of Ollie! :) He loved them as much as we did and agrees that California is just too far away- We should start a petition to move Florida.

One thing I never fully internalized before becoming a mom: When people love on your kids, that love feels tenfold to you. Ollie took to these guys right away, and I just love how much they loved on him!! :)

I’m gonna do a whole separate post on the photos they took of us and what they meant to me!

We said goodbye to northern California and drove here to meet up with our friends! Ollie was so surprised to see his bestie! <3

Stopped to see some freaky elephant seals on the way down!

See that nose?!

Tried taking a cute photo of these two but Ollie was not having it!!

We stopped again at Solvang, California, this adorable little Danish town!

We “booped” each other’s noses! :)

And obviously, we stopped at In-N-Out! But let’s just remember what he looked like last time we were here:

Next up : D I S N E Y L A N D !