Our First Travels With Les Deux

Hey ya'll! I know it's been pretty quiet around here, but we just stepped off of a little vacation with les deux. We went to Virginia for a wedding then spent two nights in Washington D.C.. Our itinerary was jam-packed  and I barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. This was the first plane ride for the littles and all I can say is we are glad to be home :) As much work as it was to take this trip, I really am glad we were able to make memories while traveling. 
Stay tuned for some posts about our trip, but here are some sneak peeks for now...

I did a stroller shot of les deux along the National Mall :)

Some post wedding ceremony adventures at the beautiful barn and winery!

and of course a little cupcake love (please excuse the rainy day hair)

Little Bookworms

Lately the kids having been loving going to the library. I have been making an effort to take them to story time every week since my local library offers a lot of different day and time options! After story time we take some time to read or checkout books and of course chase the kiddos down the aisles...
It really makes me happy how excited Sienna gets when we are going or when it's time to read our library books! There's nothing better than hearing her say, "Mommy get the library book bag and let's go!"

This week we checked out the perfect book for Father's Day called I Love My Daddy  by Sebastien Braun. Sienna picked it and loves it since she is such a daddy's girls.   

Have you checked out the reading programs for children at your library?

We Heart Hotel Tonight

About a year ago I stumbled across an app called Hotel Tonight, downloaded it, then paid it no attention until about six months later. Little did I know what a gem of an app it was! Here's the skinny on it: Every day at noon the app populates all of the current hotels that are available to book for that same night at an exceptional rate. The catch is you have to book it for the same night, hence the name, Hotel Tonight. There are certain hotels that allow you to book multiple nights if you would like to stay somewhere for a longer period of time. The hotels also change daily so you can't really plan to book a hotel that was on the app the day before because it's a mystery if it's going to be there the next day. 

Basically this app is for someone who loves to live a little on the wild side. Perfect for a family with two babies two and under, right? Right! We have used this app close to ten times since we discovered it and love every minute of it. We usually use the app to book a room at the beach so it's like a mini vacation. We've also used it in Orlando where Danny had a work conference and we switched hotels the second night to be closer to Downtown Disney. 

This past week we booked a stay at the Tradewinds Guy Harvey Outpost (our favorite local getaway)  through Hotel Tonight:

Traveling spontaneously with the littles really can be fun and all of this Hotel Tonighting has prepped us for all our big travel plans :) 

Click here to see some more photos from our stay.

Please Don't Grow...

Danny happened to get two consecutive days off this week so we did what any Floridian would do and went to the beach! It's days like these that we are so grateful to have the beach as our backyard :) Before dinner we let the kids run around in a grassy area and I of course went picture happy.

They are so flippin' cute at this age and I am really trying to soak in every.single.moment. Sienna is already a little person and every day I'm amazed at what comes out of her mouth. Daniel is still a little baby and is quickly turning into a little man. Every day I squeeze him because I know it's the last day he will be that small...

Days like these make me want to have more babies (because I literally go back and forth every day of my life)...then we took them to a late dinner and had a double baby meltdown and had to take both of our dinners to go. I mean what were we really thinking letting them run around and wear themselves out before dinner?

Here are some special moments I captured...

 

Dont ask me what she's doing...^^

And but of course...how could we not try for the self timer shot?  I think we are starting to get the hang of it compared to this one.  Love our life with les deux :) Daniel: Shirt and shoes are from H&M//Shorts from Target Sienna: Shirt from H&M//Salt Water Sandals//Skirt: Unknown-was a gift

Mommy & Me Time

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Giving birth to Daniel was one of the most bittersweet times in my life. It was and is truly a blessing to have such an amazing little boy brought into my life, but the beginning of life with les deux was a difficult time because I was forced to give up the alone time spent with my little Sienna. I chose to nurse Daniel as I had done with Sienna which was wonderful, but the downside to that was that I had to be the one to give Daniel most of his primary care. Danny definitely took control and helped with Sienna and now their father-daughter bond is stronger than ever and needless to say, Daniel is attached to my hip :)

This past week Sienna and I were fortunate to have not one, but two mommy and me dates. This was the first time since Daniel was born where we actually were able to go and do something fun, just the two of us. Of course we occasionally will get to run an errand together or we have our weekly baby ballerina class, but this was quality time spent together.

First Thursday morning, we went to see the new Madagascar Live show at Busch Gardens which was a great time! Then on Sunday I took her to see our first Disney on Ice show which was absolutely magical. I am so grateful to have my two beautiful babies, but this past week made me realize how important it is to spend some quality one on one time with each child.

Love you baby girl!

    

Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation

  Sienna and I were singing and dancing all morning while we attended a preview for the new Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation show at Busch Gardens in the newly renovated Stanleyville Theater! As a Tampa native, Busch Gardens has always been my playground growing up and I couldn't be more excited to spend time there with the kiddos. My family has annual passes so to say that we frequent the park is an understatement.     Before the show started we enjoyed some breakfast...  

  and waited to hang out with Alex, Gloria, and friends...  

   then lights...camera...action!  

 

  The show was spectactular! It was full of energy with singing, dancing, and even a live band!! It kept us moving the whole time.  

 

  Of course a Madagascar Live show couldn't be complete without the hit song from the movie, I Like to Move It!  

 And bubbles poured down over the crowd as we said goodbye...

  Until next time Madagascar friends! We now have a new stop on our weekly Busch Gardens trip!   The show starts this weekend, May 18th, at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL! They are having special events going on all weekend including shows with animal expert, Jack Hanna! Click here for more information on Madagascar Live!   Thank you Busch Gardens for hosting a great event!                        *We were not compensated by Busch Gardens to write this feature*

Best Week Ever!!!

This week has been soo amazing in soo many ways!! Let me start out by saying that Monday was my birthday and I turned the big 2-8!! This year was actually a freebie for me because I kept thinking all year that I was twenty-eight when I clearly wasn't...ha! (mom brain) But anywho, those who know me know that my birthday is usually a week long celebration and this year was none the less!

We started it off celebrating my birthday at an intimate dinner with good friends at the new Cooper's Hawk Winery. There's nothing better than great friends, great food, and great wine all jam packed into one night :)

Then on Wednesday morning we had an amazing opportunity to be featured on Fox 13's Good Day Tampa Bay to do a Mother's Day gift segment! Since I am a Tampa native it was truly an honor to be part of such a respected morning show! And what a great time we had doing the segment! 

Click here to view the clip! 

(Best if you watch from a computer and not a mobile device)

As if the day couldn't have gotten any better, Danny topped it as he accepted a job offer with a wonderful new company!! Needless to say, Wednesday was a day full of celebration. 

Now if we can rewind a little bit I have been dancing in my head (and in real life) all week because I will be attending my first blog conference next week and it's called ALT SUMMIT!!!! (in Oprah's screaming voice) haha!

source

Well, I won't actually be going to an Alt Summit blog conference, but they have created their first completely-online conference called Alt For Everyone <----yes that includes me!! This is absolutely perfect because I'm not in any shape to leave the kiddos behind just yet so virtual sounds fantastic! And to top it off one of my fav blogger Joy Cho will be the keynote speaker so I can only imagine how informative this experience will be!!

And now we are finishing off this fabulous week celebrating why we do what we do everyday! For our babies of course! I love my babies and am incredibly blessed to live the life I live with them.

Happy Mother's Day!!