Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Hawaii, Part 2

Since I am pretty far behind, I will first say this: Kauai was gorgeous.

Breakfast view at the resort
I was really afraid of what our hotel might look like, but it really couldn’t have been much nicer.  I give the Kauai Beach Resort two thumbs up. Our room was lovely, we had a nice little porch, the hotel grounds were beautiful, and the property was right on the beach so we didn’t even have to leave if we didn’t want to.

Of course we did though J

The first day we left and explored the South and West shores.  We visited the Spouting Horn, Poipu beach (Breneke’s burgers for lunch), had our first “shave ice,” stopped at the Kauai Coffee Company and then went on to the Waimea Canyon area.

Kauai Coffee Company and my IPhone’s GPS led us on the adventure of a lifetime. On the way out of the parking lot my GPS told us to go a different way, which led us back around the coffee company and not out onto the main road.  I thought, my GPS must know a short cut, so we went with it. Guess what? It DID NOT know a short cut. It literally took us into the coffee bean plant fields.  Rows upon rows of coffee bean bushes (yes, that’s the technical term) and red dirt.  Because I clearly rely on technology too much, we kept following it.  I mean the thing had street names for every little dirt aisle between plant rows. I thought for sure we would hit a real street ‘any second now.’  Nope!  We passed farmers tilling the land, giant machinery, and hundreds of rows of coffee bean plants. We drove our bright red Dodge Charger up and down the rows, down into ravines and over huge bumps. If you haven’t already guessed, we got completely lost in that darn field.  We decided to start choosing our own turns instead of listening to the GPS and that certainly didn’t help.  We were lost. L-O-S-T.  I think that was the hardest I have laughed in a really long time.  I was crying and could barely breathe. It was so worth it.  Eventually we back tracked enough to make our way out of the fields (I’d say after a solid 30 minutes of driving around in them) and back to the Coffee store. On the way out, there were two trucks following us.  I firmly believe they sent workers into the fields to help get us out (or to yell at us, which is more likely).  That will always be one of my best memories of the trip.

After that adventure, we headed to Waimea Canyon, which is called the “Grand Canyon” of Hawaii. It was simply breathtaking.  We traveled up the mountain to the tourist spot for taking pictures and such which was very pretty, but we kept traveling up the mountain. In all we went over 20 miles up the mountain and I am so glad we did!  It was even prettier up there.  We were at the highest point of the island, even above the clouds. 


















C and I stopped at every lookout point along the way up and once we got to the top we hiked along the rim of the mountain for about an hour.  I am glad we left when we did because it got really dark, really fast!  After a day of adventures and hiking we had a gourmet meal…..at McDonalds J

The next day we spent a lot of time at the beach at our hotel and at the hotel pool.  I have to say, we went to probably half a dozen beaches on the island of Kauai and the one at our hotel was probably my favorite.  The beaches there don’t really have much width to them.  There is really not a ton of space to lay out a blanket and lounge around because it’s so close to the water!

 

















The pool at our hotel had several water falls, a volleyball net, an area that was covered with sand (so it felt like you were at the beach but it was much safer for kids) and even a giant water slide.  C and I spent a lot of time on that slide.  I had to giggle when I saw the weight limit sign (250lbs). I asked the attendant if it was ok if we went on the slide and he said of course.  I guess C doesn’t look like the 300lbs he really is! 

After spending half the day at the beach and pool we explored the area near our hotel.  We went to two waterfalls (pretty underwhelming) and visited a few more beaches (also a little underwhelming) and then went to the grocery store for some steaks and such since C had seen a grill (his favorite activity) at the resort earlier in the day.  Apparently this was not for resort guests, just condo guests, but oh well.   C can’t stay away from the grill!

The final day we spent wandering around the North side of the island. Boy was it beautiful!  We visited the Kileuea light house and the Hanalei Bay pier and several caves.  We stopped for lunch at an awesome burger place and had ice cream at a little shop in upscale Princeville. It was a wonderful leisure day full of sightseeing.
Kileuea light house in the distance

Before we headed back to the airport though, we made sure to stop at Poipu beach one last time for a sunset.  It was beautiful J

Funny story:  The car that drove the rental car shuttle bus also worked at our hotel.  We saw him every single day of our trip!  He picked us up in the shuttle bus, we saw him the next morning at breakfast, he was working at the pool the following day and the final day we saw him at breakfast again.  Guess who picked us up at the car rental place to go to the terminal? Yep.  It was him.  We got a nice laugh out of that one!

We flew back to Honolulu that night and spent a lot of time roaming around the beach that night.  So pretty.  If it didn’t come with all of that hustle and bustle, I would say that it would be beautiful.  But there is really too much going to there to actually relax.

The next day we decided to just be lazy and we rented movies from the free redbox type machine at our hotel.  We stayed in bed until it was time for our late checkout.  It was awesome.  After that, we had a late lunch at Duke’s (one of my favorite restaurants in Malibu, CA) and roamed some more.  Then we headed to our final activity, a sunset cruise.  I was prepared with the Dramamine this time and didn’t get sick. Phew!!

After the cruise and a yummy dinner at Buca di Beppo (another one of my favs) we headed back to the airport for our flight home.  Man was I ready to go home! I think I actually got some sleep on the plane and then I slept half the day when we got home!

All in all it was a great trip.  If I could do it over again though, I would fly straight to Kauai (or probably Maui next time) instead of dealing with Oahu and Honolulu!








Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Hawaii, Part 1

Is it wrong to say that my trip to Hawaii wasn’t what I wanted it to be?  It wasn’t as great as I was expecting?  I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I might?  (How many others ways can I say the same thing?)
I was a little disappointed at the end of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun. But it wasn’t the magical tropical island I had built it up to be in my head. In fact if I didn’t get to go there ever again, I’m not sure I would be too upset with that. I rather spend my money to go to other places.  I guess maybe you could convince me to go to Maui, but I’d never pay money to go back to Honolulu and Waikiki Beach!
I think another reason I didn’t enjoy it was…..well….I was hoping C had a question to ask me.  He’s been telling me this since July (me and anyone who would listen sometimes) so I thought, we are going to one of the most romantic places in the world, why would he not ask there?  Guess he had a reason.  It’s hard not to be disappointed though.
Anywho, we still had a lot of fun. I was complete exhausted when I got home. By the last day we were more than ready to go home! 

The flight from Phoenix was 7 hours long.  That was about my limit.  The last hour of the flight I was getting very antsy!  I'm very thankful we had a laptop with us so we could watch movies. When we arrived the first thing C did was buy me a lei, which I loved because I had always wanted one.  It smelled wonderful!  Really, I couldn't believe how great it smelled.  Too bad that thing lasted less than 24 hours!
Lei's after a 7 hour flight

The night we arrived was Halloween.  We roamed the city and saw probably thousands of people roaming the streets of Waikiki for the city’s annual block party.  I am going to go out on a limb and guess that “bumble bee” was one of 2012’s most popular costumes.  I started counting after I saw a few and I know we saw 20+ girls dressed that way in the hour we spent walking around!
The next morning we had a snorkel trip planned. Which sounded awesome, except that somehow I managed to completely forget to pack contacts AND glasses. Seriously.  Who does that?  I was panicking and crying on the first day of our trip. It was awesome.  Amazingly, we found a fantastic , life-saving eye doctor who gave me two packs of sample contacts….for FREE!  I can’t thank that man enough. He saved our trip.
We hopped in a cab from the eye doctor and high-tailed it to the dock where our snorkel cruise was departing.  We made it just in time.  The problem was, in all the fuss over my eyesight, I completely forgot to take my motion sickness meds.  Wanna guess what happened?  One minute I was snorkeling next to 300 pound sea turtles and huge schools of fish and the next I was, well, feeding them. Besides that, the cruise was awesome. I would highly recommend Island Magic Catamaran.  The price was extremely reasonable and they take pictures of you underwater with all the creatures that you can tag yourself in if you “like” them on facebook.  I think that is a great way to do business!
Setting sail for our snorkel cruise

From the snorkel cruise we hopped off the boat and right on to a parasailing boat that was docked right next to it.  Probably not the best idea since I was already seasick, but we had found a groupon and couldn’t pass it up.  C had never been parasailing, so I was excited to get to go with him. 
When we got out there on the water, they asked me to join another girl who was a single rider.  Two rides for the price of one? Sure! The only problem was that she was Japanese and we couldn’t understand each other, so it was just awkward smiles 750 feet in the air.  We we landed, she got out of the harness and they hooked C in.  Up and away we went again! C loved it.  It’s so freeing and calm way up there.  It’s a bummer we didn’t see any cool creatures like I did the last time (I saw a huge manta ray). The only picture I have is to the left, C got that while I was up with that girl. They wanted $30 from us for pictures!
After the boat rides we roamed the town for the afternoon.  We stopped to have some drinks at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville before our shuttle back to the airport too.  We couldn’t pass that up because that’s the first place C and I ever went when we met J

















                Waikiki Beach                                                                 I take this pick on every beach trip!

                                                         Next up….the island of Kauai!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Dear mother nature....

I think you forgot to send this cloud the memo that it is now night time :)


Friday, November 2, 2012

Grand Canyon

(I am in Hawaii...but thought I'd post some pictures from this trip!)

A few weeks ago my brother came into town (he is in the Navy and stationed in NY) for a few weeks.  During that time C and I took him to the Grand Canyon.  It was fun....but after about 45 minutes you had seen all you needed to see. I can't imagine how people spend whole vacations there!

Along Route 66 in Williams, AZ



I love this picture! 

My brother :)

My two favorite boys!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hawaii!!!!!

If you couldn't tell already, C and I are going to Hawaii!

We leave in 2 hours and I could not be more excited. We are spending a day in Honolulu, flying to the island of Kauai for a few days and then flying back to Honolulu for one more day.

We've planned several activities like a snorkeling cruise, a sunset cruise, parasailing and a rafting trip through the mountains and sugar plantations in Kauai. I hope to sneak in some kayaking and hiking as well.  We just visited the Grand Canyon (oops...I guess I should upload some of those pics) and Kauai is supposed to have the "Grand Canyon of Hawaii" so that will be fun to see....as well as the many waterfalls!

Most of all though, I just can't wait to put my toes in the sand on those gorgeous beaches.

I'm sure I will have tons of pictures when we return...we are taking two regular cameras and two underwater cameras :)

Aloha!

(Yes, that was a lot of exclaimation points....but I'm just so excited!)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Things about "Us" I couldn't make up (Part 2)

1.  Our dads have the same middle name - Joseph

2. His Sister-in-Law shares a birthday with my brother. And my grandpa. And my Uncle.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Michigan Trip, Part IV

I have never tailgated for a college football game, but I had a lot of fun.  
The weather was gorgeous out and it was absolutely perfect in the shade.  We had prime tailgating spots as we were with the football crew so we were parked right next to the facility.  You know what else that meant?  Potty pass!  I am so grateful we got to go inside the building and not to a lovely port-o-john!
Tailgating with my love

After we had been there for an hour or so, C left with his friend to get some beer.  So C’s son and I stuck around are played a lot of Bag-O (or corn hole) and kicked around the soccer ball for a while.  It was then that he started called me his stepmom. Huh?  That was a shock! I certainly wasn’t expecting that.  Either C or N must have put that thought into his head because it certainly wasn’t something I had said!  I guess he does understand the idea of step parents because he has a step dad that lives with him….but still. It felt really odd.
Go Spartans!

We had a great time at the game….minus the fact that C had to trek all the way back to our car because they wouldn’t let me take anything in.  I had a little backpack with our water bottles, my wallet and the camera (among other things) and they refused to let me take it in.  Ok fine, I get it.  So I pulled my camera out so I could take it in, which was still in the case. Guess what?  Can’t take a camera case in either!  Geez people.  Just in case you are wondering, jackets weren’t allowed either.  Um what?
It was the first game of the season and they were playing Boise State.  Everyone had said the atmosphere would be electric and that there was nothing like it.  Being a NFL season ticket holder, I couldn’t imagine anything better so I was really excited.  It was kind of a letdown though….it didn’t feel any different than any other football game I’ve been to.  Even C said it felt so much different when he was in college. The game was still fun and the weather was fantastic.  If we didn’t have K with us we could have spent the game on the sidelines. Bummer.  Oh well, at least they won J 
The next day we went to C’s son’s grandma’s house to pick him up to hang out.  Talk about intimidating.  First I have to meet his son’s mother….now his grandmother?!?  We went over to her house and spent a good hour (at least) hanging out and chatting.  I was trying so hard to act like this was totally normal, I hope I fooled them!  At one point we got on the subject of step-parents (again) and either C’s mom or his grandma said something I will never forget. She said, “If Justine and Cliff get married then she will be your step-mom.” Holy cow! I was so shocked….who just outright says that?  I mean, I loved hearing it but that’s a pretty bold statement unless C has really been discussing all of that with them! I just I could remember which one said it, but I was too shocked to remember.
We spent the rest of the time hanging out with K doing various kid things. Chuckie Cheese pizza and Cold Stone Creamery were some of the highlights J
All in all I think it was a great trip.  I was so happy to be able to meet C’s son and get to know him a little bit.  It wasn’t nearly as awkward as I thought it was going to be meeting the rest of the family.   When we got home I did need a bit of a break though.  I can be very introverted and shy and meeting all of those new people and spending time in unknown places was tough for me.  I was happy to be home and comfortable in my surroundings!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Michigan Trip, Part III

Whoops....time has gotten away from me! On to part three.

After visiting the new Michigan State football facility we plugged in the address for C’s sons mothers house. Man, that’s a mouthful. Let’s just called her N.   I was so incredibly nervous for this meeting, as I am sure C was also.  The plan was to just show up unannounced. At least to C’s son K, N knew we were coming.  K had been begging C to come for his birthday for quite a while but C kept telling him he just couldn’t make it. 
So we pulled up and knocked on the door.  K answered.  It was honestly a little bit uncomfortable, because he didn’t seem excited at all.  Maybe he was in shock?  We went in the house and K went right back to the couch and started playing his video game. Huh?  Is this what you do when your dad travels across the country to see you on your birthday?  Granted, he is 8, but still. 
I said hi to N and gave her a hug.  It wasn’t nearly as awkward as I thought it was going to be.  I’m pretty sure I know why too.  Full disclosure?  It’s because she wasn’t as pretty as I thought she would be.  I know that sounds so terrible, but I had completely built her up in my head.  She was a total supermodel in my mind and when I found out that she wasn’t……..I felt relieved. I know, I’m horrible.
C thought it would be fun to take K somewhere, but when we asked, his really seemed disinterested.  I guess I could understand that. Your dad who you rarely see and a stranger show up and want to take you away from your mom?  I wouldn’t want to go either!  Finally we were able to convince him to go to the Burger King playland with us J After an hour or so he warmed up and we were able to have some fun.  He opened all of his Star Wars presents that we have so conveniently carried on the plane with us and spent a lot of time in the play place.
After a little stop at Wal-Mart for some necessities (our luggage STILL hadn’t arrived) and a big Hershey’s bar for K (how proceeded to get it all over his face), we dropped him back off and went to C’s friend’s house where we were staying for the evening. 
The night we went out for dinner with their crew, where we made sure to get some rather large margaritas.  I think we deserved it.  Then we went to a mini birthday gathering for one of the MSU staff.  The head coach was there again….and I was still in the same clothes he saw me in last haha. We were still in the same clothes we had left Phoenix in over 30 hours ago.  I was feeling pretty gross!  Our luggage was supposed to arrive a few hours earlier….but of course it still hadn’t. It was a nice evening, but I was exhausted and really just wanted to sleep.

Giant margarita's and what feels like week old clothes...

The next morning I awoke to the most beautiful sight ever….C bringing in my luggage!  Finally I could wear clean clothes!  We got up and got ready (I used my own makeup!) and then headed over to campus again to see what kind of MSU gear we could find for me.  C said they had all sorts of shirts and clothes that would be really cheap.  I think times have changed though because they weren’t nearly as cheap as he thought they would be!
After lunch at C’s favorite old hang out, Georgio’s pizza, we headed out to the hotel we’d be staying in for the rest of the trip.  We got ready for the game, picked up K and then we were off to tailgate!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Michigan Trip, Part II

The next morning we were up bright and early for our final flight to Detroit, which they had so kindly scheduled at 7am after we had landed at 11pm the night before.  Let me tell you, that was tough.  I was pretty miserable.

When we finally landed, we headed to the baggage claim office where we were informed our bags had not even made it onto the plane in Phoenix the day before.  Southwest Airlines had just left them there at home.  So now they were on their way to the Detroit airport, but not before they stopped in Tampa and Denver (??).  Awesome.  They wouldn’t be getting into the city until almost 4pm. We had a carry-on sized suitcase with us, but we were really smart and filled it with all the essentials like star wars toys for C’s son. No clothes for me and only a white t-shirt and gym shorts for Cliff. Oh and several pairs of men’s white socks haha.

Normally, they deliver your bags to you when they arrive late, but if you are outside the radius of 80 miles, they overnight them to you by Fed-Ex.  Since we had been through so much trouble and only had the clothes on our backs (no makeup, no toiletries, no nothing) the customer service rep promised us she would override the computer and approve our bags to be driven to East Lansing, which was about an hour and a half away. Yay!  Small victories.  I left that office content. 

Next we headed to the rental car office.  I had booked a car with a great deal and was quite proud of myself.  That is, until we got there and they wouldn’t let us rent the car because the driver name (his) didn’t match a credit card.  Which we didn’t have….because it was stolen (see part 1).  We walked away and I calmly called Hotwire to see what we could do.  She said the only thing we could do is to cancel the booking (which is normally non-refundable) and re-book.  When she quoted me the price to re-book,  I lost it.  It was almost $100 more than the first time.  I started crying.  I had held it together so well until that point.  At that moment, I just couldn’t keep a happy face anymore. I told her we would call back.

We went back up to the car rental desk (we hadn’t even left the building) and asked what their cost would be.  She quoted us $2 more than the first car rental I had booked.  That was the moment I professed my love for the poor woman at the Hertz desk.  I was so happy.  I couldn’t give her enough compliments.

We finally got into the car and on our way.  On the way to East Lansing I stopped at an Ulta and told them I was meeting C’s family for the first time (which was true, just not his parents like I’m sure they assumed) and I had no makeup or anything.  I asked if someone could do it for me and I was in luck because the Too Faced rep was actually in the store.  She did my full face and I bought some lipstick.  It was actually pretty great makeup.  When I get money I am going back to buy the mascara, which comes off in tubes instead of running down you face.

I am so glad we did that because we went directly to the Michigan State football building. I was wearing short yoga black pants, a faded black spaghetti strap tank (complete with a hole) and a black zip up (very thin) sweater.  All various shades of black, which is totally fine for traveling. It’s not so great for meeting all of your boyfriends old friends and the staff he had grown to love over the years.  Or the head coach for the Michigan State football team.  Bet many people don’t meet him wearing an outfit like that.

I loved taking a tour of the facility.  It’s so neat to me to see an ‘insider’s view’ of that kind of operation.  We saw the gigantic weight room, the practice field, the trainer’s room, the equipment room and the player’s lounge, among other places. My favorite was definitely the equipment room.  It was really cool to see hundreds of boxes of brand new Nike shoes all piled up, racks of helmets shelves upon shelves of pads.  The trainer’s was pretty cool too.  A lot of the guys were in there getting massages (must be nice) and sitting in either the hot tub or the ice tub. Ice tub, now there’s something you couldn’t pay me to sit in! C was quite jealous when he saw the players lounge.  I guess they didn’t have multiple pool tables, gaming systems and 6 + giant flat screen TV’s when he was on the team….

After the tour of the facility and meeting pretty much every person who was working that day (we even intruded on a defensive coaches strategy meeting) we headed out again.  But not before they loaded me up with some pretty sweet Michigan State gear.  I guess I am going to have to represent now J  C was a little miffed because they only had girl’s clothes.  Too bad, so sad!

Next up…heading to meet C’s son and his mother!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Michigan Trip, Part 1

Oh man,  what a doozy of a trip!

I was worried so much about meeting C’s son and his mother than I didn’t even think about what else could go wrong…and boy did it!

The morning of the trip C went to the bank to get some cash out for the trip.  He had lost his debit card earlier in the week (and reported it lost so there was a hold placed on the account) and we were just going to have to use cash the whole trip.  Well…the hold apparently didn’t “hold” and someone found his account and drained it.  Seriously.  He had $8 to his name.  I am so angry at this bank that I don’t really even know what to say.  I work for a bank….I don’t know how in the world a hold can be placed on an account and it still gets drained.  Ugh. Still makes me mad. 

So ten minutes before we left for our trip we had to call my parents to see if they could loan us some money.  Which is perfect, because they were on a week-long trip celebrating their anniversary.  Nothing like one of your adult kids calling you with a crisis on your actual anniversary date.  I had to keep them on their toes J

So we get that covered and make our way to the airport.  Where we sit. And sit. And sit some more.  The first announcement tells us our plane has a little issue and they need to fix it and then we will be on our way shortly.  Next, they are still trying to figure out the issue.  Ok, now they’ve solved it and they are getting the part.  Still waiting on the part to get here.  Got the part, but it did nothing.  Ordering you a new plane.  OH BY THE WAY, YOU”VE MISSED YOUR CONNECTING FLIGHT IN CHICAGO AND ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT TO DETRIOT TONIGHT.

Awesome.  They were telling passengers they would just reschedule their entire flight and they could leave Phoenix in the morning.  C and I decided to just hop on this flight and spend the night in Chicago, because that way the longest leg of our trip would already be completed and we would only have a one hour flight in the morning to Detroit.  Which would have worked out great had the airline put our bags on the flight. 

C hopped on the plane to save us seats and I stayed back to ask some questions.  Because I was nice and not extremely rude like I am guessing others were, the airline paid for our hotel in Chicago.  Woo hoo! I don’t think many others got this deal…they had to pay for theirs. Everyone also got a $300 travel credit voucher each, which I have to say made it much more palatable!

When we landed in Chicago Southwest gave us the details of our hotel and we headed there by airport shuttle.  Too bad they gave us the WRONG hotel info!  We had to take the shuttle BACK to the airport and get the correct hotel information.  The customer service rep was so chipper about it too. “Oops sorry!  You are staying at the Hampton Inn not the Residence Inn!” I stayed nice and positive, but by this point it was 11:30pm and I had no clothes and we hadn’t eaten anything but airplane snacks since 11am so that lady was lucky. 

When we finally got to the hotel we ordered an authentic Chicago deep dish pizza, took showers, used up all the mini toiletries the hotel had to offer and crashed out.  Three hours later we were up again for our flight to Detroit....


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

It's Time

This is it.

Hopping on a plane today to go to Michigan with C.

I’m so excited….and so nervous.

Time to meet his son K…..and baby momma.

Eeek!

Wish me luck!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Home Again, Home Again

So I’m back.  New Orleans was awesome and Ohio was, well, less so.

(Also, this is a LONG post…sorry)

Over the course of my trip I got to spend some quality time with my momma and her family and even got to see C several times. 

But best of all…..I got to see C win an Arena Bow Championship!!!  He got his ring!  I am so incredibly proud of him and also so happy to see him realize his dream.

My mom and I got in around 10pm and rushed to get our bags and into the cab to the hotel.  C had a strict deadline to be in his room (which coincidently was right under mine) by 11pm and I wanted a goodnight kiss before we had to go.  We made it with about ten minutes to spare.

After we said goodnight and I freshened up, momma and I headed to Bourbon Street with one of C’s teammates girlfriends and his mom.  Honestly, Bourbon Street is just not my cup of tea.  Or really the whole atmosphere of New Orleans.  I am just not a partier.  We grabbed an adult beverage and walked up and down the street for a few hours.   It was so funny to see my mom out there.  She is even more innocent than me!

Bourbon Street with momma

8 am came pretty quickly, but I didn’t care because I was excited to get to spend a little bit of time with C.  The three of us went to the Ruby Slipper for some breakfast and then it was time to say goodbye to C again.  

But not before he took a picture with a rare sighting of a payphone....

After breakfast my mom and roamed around the city for a little while. We walked down to the waterfront and through the French Quarters.  We were on a hunt for beignets and found the ever famous Café Du Monde, but I wasn’t about to wait in that line!  We finally found another place called Café Beignet and I experienced my first real New Orleans beignets (basically little puff pastry donut type things covered in powdered sugar).  I have to say, the ones at Grand Luxe Café here in AZ are sooooo much better.  I was really disappointed.
New Orlean's beignet's

After beignets and some shopping (I found some awesome “red solo cup wine glasses” for my brother and C) we were headed back to the hotel and bumped into C. He was looking for us to see if we wanted to join him for an unexpected lunch, which was awesome.  Any little bit of time I got with him I would take!

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest our feet.  After laying down, we decided to go for some massages.  Can I just say how much I love traveling with my momma?!? I did some research and found a place within walking distance that had some open slots.  It looked a little sketch going in, but I have to say it was a pretty darn good massage and I really learned a lot from the masseuse!  Thank goodness we choose the place we did too…..I guess the other two massage places on the street were of the “happy ending” variety.  Ew.

After the massage, we took naps and then got ready.  I got to get one more quick kiss from C before he left for the arena and then my mom and I headed to dinner.  We wandered next door and found Shula’s steakhouse, which I thought was fitting for our evening plans. 

Shula's menu

After dinner we headed to the arena.  I was so incredibly nervous! I knew this moment was such a big deal for C and I felt so blessed to be able to be there to witness it. 

The game was awesome.  I think the team was ahead by at least two scores the entire time!  It was almost comical.  After the half, it was almost old news when they got a touchdown.  So completely different than the stressful playoff games they played to get to this game.

I really love the intimacy of arena football. It was so great to be able to walk down near the teams bench and get a kiss from C during the half.  That’s definitely not possible in the NFL!


With tears in my eyes I watched C and his team count down the final seconds of the game.  As soon as it was over, C marched right on over to me for a kiss, then took off to celebrate with his teammates.  It was great to be a part of everything!  As they were setting up the trophy ceremony, the guys families and well, girlfriends (and their mothers) all got to hop the railings and go onto the field. It was surreal to experience it all!

Aftermath of the game

After the game we met up on Bourbon Street at an Arena Bowl after party spot to celebrate some more.  C told me he was so happy after the game that he almost proposed….but he didn’t have a ring.  Oh my goodness that would have been cute, but I’m honestly glad he didn’t do that in that city.

After a bit of partying mom and I were off to Ohio.  Our flight left at 5:20am, which means we had to leave for the airport around 3:30am.  That was terrible!  I was miserable on our flights. I was so exhausted!  Once we got there we took an hour nap and had to get up and go again.  Next up was my cousins wedding!

The wedding was small, but fun.  It was nice to see family that I don’t see very often.  The best part though (which I feel bad about) was getting to leave and get the 14 hours of sleep that I got!

The next day we headed out to my Aunts farm in Lancaster, Ohio.  Pretty much the middle of nowhere.  I wish I could say the next three days were awesome….but I can’t.  That’s because I ended up getting strep throat!  Let me just say, traveling with strep throat is horrible.

My "sick" nightstand

Getting sick was worth it though. I got to witness C realize his dream. I got to be with him every step of the way J

At home with the trophy

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