travel – Page 8

Just because you speak the words…

Published on June 10, 2013June 7, 2013 by Mae @ RainydayinmayLeave a comment

Genny (finally) lived a big life lesson while we were on vacation, but before I get to that I thought I would share a little about our trip…

Wisconsin is helping our Amanda embrace her inner outdoor sportsman. The upside of this for the three of us, who believe camping is experienced best in a plush hotel room complete with a mini fridge and air conditioning, was that we had the opportunity to just sit in the quiet and be. That was lovely.

Gen tagged along with Amanda and her BFF (of ten incredibly full years! I Am so in awe of their friendship!) and went fishing out on the lake.

I took advantage of the quiet to spend some quality time with my dear friends Canon and Kindle.

Eventually Chw grew bored and joined the crew on the boat, but not before attempting to throw Genny into the murky great beyond… She was so unsuspecting…

She is just SO DRAMATIC that even her sister had to try to help. Everyone torments Gen because she secretly loves it… I’m sure we all know someone like that!

The girls caught fish, I sipped my sweet tea and finished my book {While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax} and we convened in nature long enough for the gnats to fry my last nerve, and for the moral of our life lesson to reveal itself…

Somewhere New… {the dairy edition}

Published on June 9, 2013June 7, 2013 by Mae @ RainydayinmayLeave a comment

We love seeing new places and experiencing new things…

Over the past few years though, we’ve been operating on minimum adventures, and personally I think that’s a little sad for the spirit.

Our Amanda’s birthday was the inspiration behind our road trip to Wisconsin. Chw had been there on business once or twice, but we’d never been there for fun. We threw ourselves into the adventure. Even our road trip snacks had to be Wisconsin themed. We had a 180 Spotify playlist, complete with Amanda by Boston.

We meant business, even if the proof is only in our road trip food…

We squeaked their curds and ate their cheeses, we suffered through their ice creams and frozen yogurts. (As if…) We watched black and white movies, and new movies and movie theater movies. We perused their book stores, explored their neighborhoods and discovered fabulous eateries. We played games and laughed, we talked and a few of us cried. It was the best sort of vacation…

Amanda’s birthday dinner was here, at Ha Long Bay. If you ever find yourself in Madison- I couldn’t recommend it enough. Delicious!

In the same neighborhood, but on a different day, we brunched at Lazy Jane’s Cafe. The best scones on the planet… Seriously. Combined with the best atmosphere it is the place we will return to again, and again, whenever we are in Wisconsin.

My last Madison link is a frozen yogurt chain. I try to spotlight local places, but back in Idaho we had a plethora of self serve frozen yogurt options and here, we have ZERO. We miss it a lot, so we were really excited to see Menchies in the mall. It was amazing- AND they had buttered popcorn flavored frozen yogurt- which was INCREDIBLE! Seriously, A-MAZING! Then, the most amazing thing happened… We learned we have a Menchies here and knew nothing about it’s existence at all. It was a good day, indeed.

I have a few real vacation shots I’ll share later, as long as an important life lesson that you don’t want to miss.

P.S> Happy Birthday, Amanda!

All crammed in to one tiny little post…

Published on June 6, 2013June 6, 2013 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay29 Comments

Hello!

I never intended to leave for vacation without having blogged for an entire week. In fact, I am a little shocked that happened at all.

It was also a last minute decision to not even take my macbook on vacation. That was very unlike me, and a good decision for sure!

So, what have you guys been up to in the past couple of weeks?

As for me, I did some work. My fourteen year old graduated the 8th grade and became the proud owner of an iPhone. We saw the best movie we’ve seen all year (Now You See Me). The three of us traveled to Wisconsin to see our older daughter Amanda and celebrate her 23rd birthday. We rushed home yesterday because my fourteen year old, iPhone toting, 8th grade graduate started a summer volunteer job and Chw had to do a whirlwind pack and rest trip as he headed out on a business trip today.

He was the only one of us, who had been to Wisconsin before. It was mine and Gen’s first time. Amanda moved there last fall to be closer to her BFF (of 10 years) while she went to school and was in the Reserves. It was a huge move and getting to see her town, apartment and glimpse her life was pretty awesome. (We are also glad we live here and NOT Idaho- as we wouldn’t get to see her very often otherwise.)

Wisconsin was gorgeous, you guys. Not what I expected. Very beautiful, very peaceful and serene. By day four we were really missing city though, which makes it seem like we live in a metropolis. I guess it might seem like it in comparison to the serene Wisconsin quiet.

Added bonus- every where we went, people were the NICEST people. It caught us off guard, which probably proved there was a little city in us.

Now we are home, and we have a few weeks before our Lucas is home for a tiny bit. I feel like we parents blink, and life just speeds by. In the middle of that there are carnivals and birthdays and father’s day and summer movies… My head spinned a little bit when I opened my planner, after we got home last night.

SPEAKING OF SUMMER MOVIES… My husband Chw, is an avid lover of comic book movies. Some of them, I’m all “woo hoo” about, and some of them I’m like “meh” about. His absolute favorite superhero is Superman. Because CK/SM is his favorite, I’m more on the “WOO HOO” side, with the release of Man of Steel next week! (side note: it’s funny that the last few father’s days we have done Superman themed father’s days for him and then suddenly Superman comes out right before Father’s Day this year.)

Anyway, in all of the Super-excitement here at Chez Wagner, I am going to do a Man of Steel giveaway!

The prize package will include quite a few Superman items to get you ready for the movie, (think t-shirt, etc.) OR if your man is also a Superman lover- to help you shower him with love and memorabilia on Father’s Day.

To Enter:

Leave a comment talking about your the summer movie you are excited about OR which Superman is your favorite.

Tweet the giveaway, and link back your tweet in a separate comment.

Facebook share the giveaway, and link back in a separate comment.

Giveaway runs through midnight June 12th. (US entrys only)

Escape…

Published on January 18, 2013January 18, 2013 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay6 Comments

That last photo?

That’s totally me.

I am exhausted. I need a vacation… We were in the process of planning a weekend with friends, in a beach house, for my birthday. The opportunity had come up and my soul screamed “YES!!!” {of course, whenever the ocean is involved, my soul screams yes.}

Unfortunately, my birthday (this year) had the nerve of planting itself around Easter weekend and so, alas, the beach plans {at least for 9 weeks from now} are dead and gone.

My amazing husband dreams of sending me on a day at the spa, getting pampered and such. It’s a sweet thought though, truth be told, I’d fall asleep and miss it all and then hate myself all the more when I knew what he’d spent on such a luxury. Truthfully, I just want to pack my kindle, my Teavana pot and head to the coast. I’d love a few days of peace, where no one needed me to be anything for them. I’d love to read other people’s stories and face plant myself in the ocean every few hours, or so. On the way home i would stop in a stationary store to pick out a new set of note cards to make my weekend, and drop in to IKEA to pick out some new curtains.

THAT sounds perfect…

Someday! I’ll call it a writing sabbatical, when really it will be a major mental health moment mixed with the longest nap I’ve ever taken. For now, I’ll pop a melatonin and cross my fingers for 8 solid hours of ocean side dreams and baby elephant like face plants in the sea. :)

the not-so-incredible…

Published on October 25, 2012 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments

I guess 36 is a little too old to sit in a car for close to ten hours and not move. Weird right?

Apparently I thought I could just hop out of that car, at the end of the trip and go about my normal agenda…

In all fairness, the reason I attempted not to move was because I was on day four of a killer migraine and hadn’t slept in equally as long. Suddenly, in the car, I couldn’t stay away and when I did wake up, (at opportune times to get out and stretch) my head was pounding so hard that I chose to continue trying to sleep and killing the headache.

SOMEONE should have smacked some sense into me…

Aside from the headache, which continue to wreak havoc, I was pretty ok UNTIL I got into my husband’s tiny little hybrid (Which is what we made our ginormous long road trip to NM (and back) in. Now, it appears something as harmless as simply sitting in that seat again, after a few days out of it, has thrown my back out.

It’s ridiculous.

It’s ludicrous.

It’s one hundred percent true.

It has been one heck of a hard week, (and is exactly why I don’t have photos up yet of this) but the good news is that my chiropractor will be back in the office tomorrow, after a long trip over seas…

so maybe this is pretty incredible after all!