Good to be HOME

I love to travel and have a deep desire to experience different parts of this big world with this family of mine.  I love immersing myself in airport culture for a day or two, planning packing lists, making a home in a hotel for a few days, and taking on the role of tourist as we parade through new cities and make new memories against different backdrops.  I love the anticipation of a vacation, and I love the memories recounted afterwards.  But most of all, I love coming home.  Especially when there's a baby you can't wait to get your hands on. :)

After a whirlwind week of preparing and packing for a wedding, ten hours of driving to and from Lincoln, and a five-day trip to Orlando with one day to unpack, repack, and recover sandwiched in between, we were exhausted!  We got home mid afternoon last Friday and I think we were all in bed before the sun went down Friday night!  Saturday, we woke up refreshed and ready to spend the rest of our summer doing our favorite things in our favorite place of all.

Friday afternoon.  Cruz had never seemed so excited to just sit and watch a few cartoons and Mila seemed content to just sit by her brother.  They had missed each other.  

  
Boy did I miss that happy smile of hers.

  

We spent the majority of Saturday outside, feeling very thankful for an Iowa summer after baking in the Florida heat all week.  We laughed later when we realized we ate all three meals outside - our favorite breakfast burritos at the Farmer's Market (seriously people, if you haven't tried one yet...), tacos at Pablos, of course, and a dinner of grilled burgers and sweet corn (yes, sweet corn) on the deck.  While in Florida, we had some of the best shrimp we had ever had and we laughed that Midwesterners have no idea what good seafood tastes like.  After eating that sweet corn, we decided coastal dwellers have no idea what good corn tastes like either. :)

We perused the Farmer's Market, stocked up on lots of fresh veggies for baby food and kabobs, bought a new iced tea pitcher from Miss Wonderful, and spent the afternoon taking naps and playing at the pool.  It felt so good to be home - back to the place where the little things matter.  Where there's no Cinderella castle or Mickey shaped shrubs, or million-dollar fireworks, but our favorite tacos on Main Street, little hands that discover the joy in eating rice off of chips, and a barefoot baby, blowing bubbles at passerbys and sucking face with her mommy while she tries to eat a taco.