Random Thoughts From Last Week

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Loving yourself doesn’t mean giving into your every desire. Somewhere along the way I feel many have decided that’s the case. Love = never disappointing and never saying no. That's not true though. Indulgence without sacrifice is not self love.

Nikon Z6, ISO 100, 25mm, f/16, 1/6 sec [McKinney Falls State Park, Austin, Texas]

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Why do so many parents just take the easy way out when it comes to their kids? I’m guilty in some instances, but hopefully not where it counts. See below… and maybe also above.

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Effort up front saves you time and heartache in the end. Trust me. Why are we so hesitant to give it?

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I haven’t had a pimple in over 6 months because I use a cleansing brush twice a week. I just feel like everyone should know that and get one to help clear out your pores and keep your face nice and smooth. I use this one from Amazon.

That’s an affiliate link and I may earn a tiny commission, but your price doesn’t change.

Facial Cleansing Brush by Olay Regenerist, Face Exfoliator with 2 Brush Heads Buy on Amazon

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“I ate that growing up and I turned out fine.” - Literally everyone with a chronic health problem

…But did you though?

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Soooooo is there a certain age women become bird watchers? Because I feel like it’s 38.

….It’s definitely 38.

Nikon Z6, ISO 1000, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/640 sec [Airport Park, Waco, Texas}]

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What possessed me to buy completely white shoes? That was dumb. I blame Instagram.

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Why even say anything at all if the message in a nutshell is…

“The plan was always to eliminate your position, but know that people are fighting for your position.”

Just stop talking because you’re just making yourself look like an ass. I’d rather be takin pictures.

Nikon Z6, ISO 1000, Lensbaby Edge 35, 1/4000 sec [Austin, Texas]

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Family Vacation in Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole

Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you where/when to find that herd of Bison somewhere in this blog post. It’s kind of unreal.

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Here’s a super quick run down of our trip itinerary

Monday: Fly out of Austin to Bozeman, rent a car, hit up Walmart, drive to Canyon Village in Yellowstone via the West Yellowstone Entrance because flooded took out the North Entrance, check in and eat dinner with the extended fam.

Tuesday: Back toward the west side of the park to see Old Faithful and and everything in between Old Faithful and Canyon Village that caught our attention, ate dinner as an extended family again.

Wednesday: North from Canyon Village around the Grand Loop to Mammoth Hot Springs and everywhere in between, out to West Yellowstone for decent food and ice cream, and back to Canyon Village and a little beyond where we finally found those Bison.

Thursday: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone South Rim, Drive to the Lake, Wildlife, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone North Rim, and our last dinner in the park and the first somewhat decent food in the park.

Friday: Drive to Jackson Hole from Yellowstone, go whitewater rafting, eat at two Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives restaurants, explore the square.

Saturday: Jackson Hole back to Bozeman via Idaho, fly back to Austin, but not without plane issues.

Sunday: Drive home from Austin airport. There wasn’t supposed to be a Sunday.

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Austin > Denver > Bozeman

Our flights are always way too early. I actually booked a decent flight, but it got cancelled and we got moved to an earlier one so we had the kids up and ready to leave the house at 4AM. Sorry kids, it’s worth it, I promise.

Austin Airport

The Austin Airport is decent by comparison from what I can tell. I love how our eateries are set up. It’s so Austin (in a good way) and it just seems like more of an experience than other airports. The downside is when you leave that early, not a lot of things are open. You can always count on Salt Lick at that time for breakfast tacos though.

TSA has a bad reputation in Austin for taking way too much time, but we got through security pretty quick so I personally can’t complain about that.

Denver Airport

Our view of nothing in Denver

Only one of my children has ever done a layover and she wasn’t even 1 year old yet so she doesn’t remember. This was kind of their first. Luckily it was just enough time to do lunch, play a few games on Kindles and then we were on our way again. The sucky thing is we had a view of flat land from our gate. I was hoping for something a little more Colorado-ish. We could have been anywhere based on the view. We stayed in the same terminal, but I hear it’s kind of a pain to get around if you have to switch. Our terminal seemed nice other than the view.

The Flight from Denver to Bozeman

I prefer the window seat for trips like this, but for the sake of happy children (which is priority number 1 when flying) I didn’t have it. Saida did and once we started seeing some things, she was impressed. We flew over Yellowstone at one point. I pointed out the lake and the Grand Tetons off in the distance. I had no idea we’d see this so well from the plane. She hugged me and thanked me for bringing here there before we could even get back on land. This was the perfect hype flight. I may or may not have been holding back big emotions.

The Bozeman airport is small, but beautiful. It’s got a lodge feel complete with a beautiful gas fire pit. The view didn’t suck either. It’s so small that there are only about 3 options for food. I want to say it’s 14 gates and Southwest only has 2 of them. Things seem to run a little behind here in general, but our baggage claim experience and rental car experience were some of the smoothest we’ve ever had.

Rental Car Tip

Costco. I love Costco for all of the things, but 9 times out of 10 they are my best deal on a rental car. Also be super kind to the counter person so you can casually ask what your options are on cars. They had 3 in our category and we got to choose which one we wanted.

Here’s our rental car at the top of Mount Washburn

How we did Food and Groceries

So the thing about staying at a hotel in Yellowstone National Park is the refrigerator fits almost nothing and there is no microwave. You’re prohibited from cooking anything so as you might imagine, things can get pretty expensive in terms of food, if you let it.

Tips

• Check a cooler (or rent one when you get there, but that’s expensive and checking my RTIC soft side {affiliate link} was free on Southwest)

• Hit up Walmart or another grocery store before getting to Yellowstone

• Buy mostly things that don’t require refrigeration

We weren’t the healthiest on this trip. I’m sure we could have done better, but it’s vacation and we embraced it. I intermittent fast so my lack of breakfast and lunch wasn’t effected.

Also, is that not the nicest looking Walmart you’ve ever seen? It just blends right in with the mountains.

Breakfast: Premade muffins and donut holes from the Walmart Bakery

Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and room temp spaghettios out of the can

Snacks: Chips, beef jerky, squeeze apple sauce and yogurts, mandarin oranges, granola bars, nuts

Other things: Water, wine, wine opener because the screw top red wines were a higher price point and the opener was less than dollar, Gatorade packets, plastic cups, plastic cutlery, ziplock bags, paper towels, trash bags, and other things of that nature.

Dinner: We ate all dinners out.

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Bozeman > Yellowstone

Ok, so that once in 500 year flood happened less than 2 months before our trip. Typically when you fly into Bozeman and you’re staying in Canyon Village, you would enter the park via the North Entrance. It was a no go. The road along the Yellowstone River at the North Entrance was destroyed and likely can’t be rebuilt in the same place due to the river now having moved as part of this whole flood process. I have a feeling it’ll be years before that entrance is right.

This meant we would enter though the West Entrance in West Yellowstone and honestly I was excited for the drive. A little research told me we’d be taking Hwy 191 along the Gallatin River through a canyon where the movie A River Runs Through It was filmed. It’s considered a scenic highway and I’m always down for a canyon drive along a beautiful river dotted with fly fisherman and whitewater rafts. It didn’t disappoint. The kids however were exhausted and missed all my favorite parts along the way. I don’t remember exactly how long it took us to get to Canyon Village from Bozeman, but I would say somewhere between 2 and 2 and a half hours. Not bad.

Basically your route is Bozeman to Big Sky to West Yellowstone and then on in to the National Park. I bought our entrance pass for Yellowstone online before we entered the canyon because cell/internet service is pretty spotty once you leave Bozeman. I also saved the pass to my photos because it’s not a whole lot better at the entrance to Yellowstone.

They didn’t even make it out of Bozeman. I guess that’s what happens when you wake up at 4AM.

Gallatin River somewhere along the way

We may have technically been in a corner of Yellowstone at this point

Favorite picture from day one. Somewhere between the West Entrance and Canyon Village.

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Yellowstone National Park

I’m not sure how to break this down in a way that makes the most sense. I think I’ll go day by day and tell you which direction we went from Canyon Village and what we saw. Keep in mind we only had 3 full days so we hit some highlights and felt like we saw what we needed to see, but we could have spent way more time. Let’s start with Canyon Village info first though.

Canyon Village

We stayed in Canyon Village. It’s the largest of all the lodging areas in all of Yellowstone. The lodges we stayed in were built in 2016 so semi new. There is also a campground across the street from where we stayed, a gas station at the corner, and a dining/shopping area adjacent.

Canyon Lodge and Cabins

We booked a Deluxe Porch New Lodge Room. It’s not as fancy as it sounds, trust me, but it did come with a price tag to match the title. It’s not cheap to stay here, but you are in the park. Everything seemed clean, but we slept terrible because there is no A/C. Also as previously mentioned there is no microwave and the mini fridge really is the tiniest kind of mini fridge. There is also no TV, if that’s your thing, but I didn’t miss it. As long as you’re prepared, the only thing that is really an issue is that lack of A/C at night.

In front of Moran Lodge (our lodge)

From our porch

Canyon Carl in front of Hayden Lodge

Watch out for Canyon Carl. He’s a bison that likes to hang out along the path over to the shopping/dining area and also seems to prefer chilling in the shade of Hayden Lodge in the afternoons.

Let’s talk about the Shopping/Dining situation at Canyon Village. There are a few gift shops, a couple restaurants, a general store, and outdoor store, a visitor center, and a hut for renting bear spray. It’s a great little area. The problem is the food isn’t great.

Canyon Eatery

Let me preface this by saying we were in the park shortly after the flood and they did have supply issues. Canyon Eatery sucks. They have some grab and go options that are just okay and then two different lines you can stand in for food. The first night I had a chili dog which I’m convinced is the best thing on their menu. It’s just hard to mess up a chili dog. Everyone else was super put off by their meal. They next day we tried the other line which leans more Asian in flavors and it was just lacking in flavor and most had beef that was tough and hard to chew. We weren’t expected amazing food in the park, but this one was just not good at all. If you don’t have to eat here, I wouldn’t.

Canyon Fountain and Grill

We would have eaten here every night, but they close at 5pm and we only made it back to Canyon Village on time one night. They have burgers and typical American food including a bison burger. It was actually decent. Turns out it’s ran by a different company than the other and it’s obvious. You won’t be blown away, but you won’t feel like you totally wasted your money and your calories either.

Shops

Each area has it’s own General Store and gift shops. Most of the stuff is the same, but there is a slight variation at each one. I think we went to most of them while we were there.

Day 1 Things including old faithful and grand prismatic spring

Full day number 1 felt like a good day to get in the things we most wanted/felt like we needed to see when in Yellowstone. Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring are pretty close to each other on the west side of the park so we woke up and headed back west for the day.

We felt so lucky to see our first bison of the trip as we got closer to Old Faithful. He was just chilling on the side of the road and little did I know this would not be the highlight of my bison seeing. Not even close. More on where to find the herds later.

Old Faithful

We learned that Yellowstone has over 500 geysers in the park (that’s more than half of the geysers in the entire world), however only 6 of them are predictable. Old Faithful got it’s name because they can predict this one down to about 10 minutes based on stats from the previous eruption. Who knew? There’s a visitor’s center / museum at Old Faithful that gives some interactive information and lets you know when to expect the next eruption. You just walk out the back door of the visitor’s center and there she is. People line the boardwalk surrounding the geyser as the predicted time get closer and then they all ooh and awe as it starts to do it’s thing. It’s weird. I find the entire thermal feature aspect of Yellowstone to just be very weird. I guess that’s what happens when you’re standing on a super volcano.

Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring

How is this place even real? Grand Prismatic Spring just doesn’t seem natural at all. In that first picture you can even see the aqua colored steam rising up. It’s nuts. The best part is watching the light change. As the sun gets brighter, the colors get more vibrant and saturated. Grand Prismatic Spring is a bit mind blowing.

There’s a parking lot on the Old Faithful side of Grand Prismatic Spring. That’s is where you take the trail for the overlook, if you’re wanting to do the overlook. We just did the boardwalk along Grand Prismatic Spring.

Looking across the Firehole River up towards Midway Geyser Basin. You can see aqua colored steam rising from Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Opal Pool. This one is actually an unfaithful geyser. Not sure when it last erupted though.

Fountain Paint Pots and Norris Geyser Basin

If we were to start a list of things I never need to see again in Yellowstone, put both Norris Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pots on it. For real. You got this place that’s amazingly beautiful and then there’s this spot (or couple of spots) that just kind of looks like the end of the world. I tried to take some cool pictures of the things that did catch my eye, but basically unless you’re into bubbling pits of mud, it’s just a no. I’m not upset I saw it, I just didn’t need to hang out for more than a quick look.

Fountain Paint Pots Trail Head

Norris Geyser Basin

Day 2 Things including Mount Washburn, Tower Fall, Mammoth Hot Spring. and West Yellowstone

Canyon Village to Mount Washburn

From Canyon Village we headed north on day two. We reached the highest drivable elevation in all of Yellowstone and saw a totally different side of the park (literally and figuratively). The drive north in the early morning light was quite breathtaking. You don’t make it real far before you find awe inspiring overlooks and you kind of want to stop for every single one between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn. I think we stopped at most.

Just a few minutes up the road from Canyon Village

Overlook between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn

Overlook between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn

Overlook between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn

Mount Washburn

Tower Fall

Tower Fall flows into the Yellowstone River. The trail from the fall says there is no river access, but what they really mean is the trail is not maintained all the way to the river. You can absolutely get down there and we did. The walk to the Tower Fall overlook is very accessible. The walk down to the river is steep and a bit more challenging.

The Petrified Tree

I did not photograph this. In fact I was pretty unimpressed with this stop and it was quick because nobody in our group was that interested. We didn’t even get out of the car. After this though, Saida asked me what petrified means. I gave her a quick explanation that was probably terrible and we agreed to look up more information about this tree when we had internet access again. We had lots of time in Las Vegas on the way home due to one of our planes engines experiencing some issues so we looked it up. I learned that this tree was entombed over 50 million years ago. 50 MILLION YEARS! I had a little more respect for that damn tree after reading that. Makes 37 years seem quite small.

Mammoth Hot Springs

The town of Mammoth Hot Springs is interesting. Next to it is an old Army fort which now is used as staff housing and then there are more private residences mixed in with the Mammoth Hot Springs parking areas. I’m pretty sure I’d be pissed if I ended up with the house next to the bathroom parking lot, but that’s just me.

The hot springs themselves have different terraces and we kind of wished we started walking from the upper terrace parking area instead of from down below. We were more interested in the areas where water currently flows and we less impressed with the cooled areas where water flowed in the past.

The kids hit up the General store and gift shop when we were done for some ice cream and on our way we went.

West Yellowstone

THE FOOD IN THE PARK IS TERRIBLE! At this point we felt we were far enough away from Canyon Village and close enough to West Yellowstone (just outside the park) that maybe we could get a decent dinner. West Yellowstone has it’s own section after day 3 things so skip ahead if you want that now or just wait.

Back to Canyon Village and Where we Found That Bison Herd

Our hope on the way back from West Yellowstone was that it would be late enough in the day for wildlife to be moving around a bit more. We stopped for a couple wildlife sightings between West Yellowstone and Canyon Village including this (now unimpressive) Elk sighting turned adorable duck family sighting.

Hayden Valley

From there we made it all the way back to Canyon Village with no wildlife sightings. How disappointing. It was starting to get dark, but we got a tip that if we head south towards the lake a little bit, people often see elk and bison in Hayden Valley. This tip did not disappoint. Actually Hayden Valley needs it’s own section of blog post for all the bison pictures I ended up getting there over the remainder of the trip. But here are a couple from that night until you get there.

Day 3 Things including Yellowstone Lake, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and the Upper and Lower Falls

If you skipped ahead to West Yellowstone then you know we paid to see bears in captivity on day 2. Turns out you just have to pay to see bears in order to actually see one in the wild. Almost as soon as we left our hotel on day three we spotted this little bear on the side of the road. It’s actually a black bear even though it’s not black. They refer to them as cinnamon bears and I think that’s adorable.

I actually had a better angle set up for this shot, but some really horrible man stepped in front of me nearly knocking my camera out of my hands to steal my shot. He was a real gem of a guy. Probably the same kind of dude you’d see blocking himself from danger using a child.

South Rim Upper Falls View

South Rim Artist Point

It’s hard to believe these next two pictures are at the same location at the same time of day, but they are. Look one way and you get the first photo. Look the other way and you get the second. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is gorgeous.

There’s also a trail at Artist Point that goes to Ribbon Lake, but we only walked it for a few minutes. Our agenda for the day felt big and it was time to move on.

Mud Volcano

Add Mud Volcano to the list of places I also never need to see or smell again. The one good thing that came from there was this interesting picture of something beautiful just beyond the awfulness that is Mud Volcano.

Elk Sighting at Bridge Bay Marina

We found two bull elks at a Marina off of Bridge Bay. I got a little adventurous for this shot meaning I got closer than I probably should have, but he’s a beauty.

Lunch at Steamboat Point Picnic Area on Yellowstone Lake

Hell of a picnic spot, don’t you think? This is off of East Entrance Road and it was beautiful. We stopped here for lunch and then headed back to explore the North Rim .

North Rim Brink of Upper Falls

North Rim Lookout Point to Inspiration Point

Wildlife Drive

We did a little more driving around to try to find wildlife after dinner on day three and it was mostly disappointing. Just before we got back to Canyon Village though I got what is probably a once in a lifetime shot of not only one, but two bull elk on top of a hill. We held up traffic and I shot these from the car. At first I only saw the one and the moment Tyler told me there were two and I got them in my frame, I nearly died. I won’t ever forget that moment.

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West Yellowstone

I’m really not kidding when I say the food really is terrible in the park. We kind of wanted to do West Yellowstone during the planning phase, but it wasn’t an absolute must. At this point we were like let’s go see if we can find some decent food and maybe guarantee a bear sighting by seeing them in captivity. Also we had a birthday just before vacation and one just after so West Yellowstone was kind of our celebration moment.

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center

My mother in law really wanted to take the kids to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. It’s pretty small, but nice and they’re currently working on a new bear enclosure. I’m hoping this means future guests will get to see more bears. Currently their bears take turns in the bear enclosure. We had a ton of fun watching them play and maybe one of my favorite things was the ground squirrels. They’re so full of energy and personality and they’re super cute.

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is pretty much at the park entrance. Once you hit the light heading out of the park, it’s just to your left. I would definitely recommend it for young kids.

Three Bear Restaurant

Honestly I think I probably ordered the wrong thing, but it wasn’t bad. Everyone seemed to like their meal, but at this point it didn’t take much to improve upon what we’d had for the two nights prior.

My favorite thing is when there is a decent kids menu because I can enjoy almost anything as long as those kids are happy. They were happy. One had the Bison Burger and the other had been dying for pasta that didn’t come out of a can.

Espresso West (Coffee and Ice Cream)

Espresso West is a little coffee and ice cream trailer we found walking around West Yellowstone. The ice cream looked legit and the prices were more than reasonable (probably nearly half the price compared to what they sell if for in the park and it’s the same ice cream). They serve Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream and as someone who is partial to Bluebell, I really really liked it. I’d buy it, if they sold it in Texas next to Bluebell. My Texan card might get suspended for this review actually.

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Hayden Valley

The not so secret secret spot we found the bison herd. Turns out the bison come to Hayden Valley for mating season so I think I read that’s July through September maybe. That one bison is definitely putting out the vibe in the first picture. Hayden Valley used to actually be part of the Yellowstone Lake forever ago, but now it’s just prime wildlife viewing ground and I think we were the only ones who didn’t know. Photographers and tourists are lined up at each pull out taking photos and getting entirely too close to the largest native mammal in all of North America. I now understand how all of the bison attacks happen every year. This place is wild.

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Jackson Hole

This was not part of our original plan. When Yellowstone flooded we started to get a little more creative with how we wanted to do things. My brother in law and sister in law really wanted to go white water rafting and we kinda did too. We decided to nix our last night in Yellowstone in exchange for a night in Jackson Hole with a little white water rafting and a couple of Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives restaurants because, let’s face it, we needed some good food.

Where we stayed

The Parkway Inn is just a few blocks from the square in Jackson Hole. It’s was quaint and adorable and I’d definitely stay there again. It’s not cheap, but nothing is in Jackson Hole and it was only a few more dollars than what we were paying in the park. We just had a standard room and my only complaint was the bathroom is a bit small and awkward.

Jackson Hole White Water

Honestly we chose Jackson Hole White Water because we didn’t have to pay adult price for the kids and the rafts were big enough that they wouldn’t have to row. We had a great experience. Our Guide was Eric and he was entertaining and, more importantly, knowledgeable about rafting.

We did the 8 Mile Whitewater trip on the Snake River and we’d definitely do it again. The kids LOVED it.

And let’s take a moment to appreciate the moment we’ll NEVER stop talking about. I don’t know those people, but man I’m so glad there were photographers on the side of the river to capture that one rapid. Thank you Snake River Photo.

Where we ate

From what I can tell Guy Fieri is a big fan of Jackson Hole and we’re kind of fans of Guy Fieri and the Food Network in general. The kids think it’s cool to eat at some of the places they’ve seen on TV and so do I. We did two different Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives Restaurants while in Jackson Hole.

Pinky G’s Pizzeria

Pinky G’s is near the square so it was a super quick walk from our hotel. It has a super cool garage vibe going on and you just kind of feel cool while you’re there. Guy had The Funky Chicken and even created his own pie during the recording of the show. We stuck with The Funky Chicken since we’re not blue cheese fans though. It was a solid pizza. I can’t complain, but I will say it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever had.

Sidewinders

Sidewinders was super convenient because it was directly across the street from my in-law’s hotel and next-door to where we got on the bus for white water rafting. Guy ate the French onion soup, chicken pot pie, and a pretzel. I ate the chicken pot pie. It was good. Again, maybe not the best pot pie I’ve ever had, but solid.

My Brother-in-law had the pizza at Sidewinders. He’s a pizza guy. He preferred the pizza at Sidewinders to the pizza he had at Pinky G’s.

On the square

I’m guessing no trip to Jackson Hole is complete without a little stroll around the square. We ate, we shopped, and then we stopped for ice cream. We wanted to get ice cream at Moo’s Gourmet Ice Cream, but the line was out the door and we were pushing it on getting the kids to bed. We just did the Haagen Dazs instead. Corbin found a bison he could actually touch and hug (because we kept thinking those poor misunderstood bison could probably use a hug). It was a great evening and the perfect way to end out trip.

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Jackson Hole > Bozeman

I’m not real sure actually, but I think that’s Jackson Hole down there in this first picture. Driving back to Bozeman from Jackson Hole to catch a plane isn’t ideal (I mean it’s 4 hours in addition to your airport/plane time), but I don’t regret this decision. We didn’t drive back through the park. We opted to go the Idaho route instead. It’s faster and we were curious.

Idaho is a mixed bag though. It’s like one minute it just looks like Wyoming or Montana and the next minute you are fairly certain the Teletubbies are popping out around the next bend.

We never saw any Teletubbies, but I’m pretty sure that show was based on Idaho.

We also drove through a town called Driggs and it really got us thinking about what people do for a living there. I still don’t know the answer to that question, but we looked at the MLS and I was ready to move (but I don’t have enough money). Anyway, if you’re bored and want to go down a rabbit hole of looking at random properties for sale in a place you are never buying a house, look at Driggs, Idaho. It’s impressive.

Rehashing the rest of the trip probably isn’t helpful to anyone really so I’ll gloss over it.

Bozeman > Vegas > Austin

Bozeman to Vegas was fine. Got to see Salt Lake and The Strip. I’ve never been to Las Vegas so I didn’t know The Strip and the Airport are basically on top of each other. Unfortunately our next plane had engine issues that we found out about before we took off so we were de-boarded… eventually… and then caught a different plane back home. That part was a bit stressful, but the kids handled it well.

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Takeaways from this trip

• It’s worth taking

• My kids’ ages are good ages for Yellowstone and Jackson Hole (Ages 6 and nearly 9)

• Rent/Bring a cooler

• Rent a big enough car to carry that cooler, luggage, and groceries

• Don’t forget a wine opener

• Definitely do Hayden Valley

• July is a good time to go whitewater rafting

• Buy the whitewater rafting photo because it’s hilarious

• The restaurants Guy goes to on Diner Drive-ins, and Dives are good, but maybe not as good as you think

• Definitely borrow your friend’s long lens if you don’t have one

• Eat ice cream every chance you get

• Try not to eat at Canyon Eatery if you don’t have to

• Always try local beer

• Don’t pet (or hug) the fluffy cows

• Let you kid have the window seat

Silver Linings

Have I ever talked about why I love black and white photography?

I know you hear us photographers talk about how they love black and white photography all the time, but it always feels so surface level and, honestly, scripted. It sounds like more of a sales pitch than anything. I too am guilty of usually only scratching the surface. It’s more comfortable that way sometimes and sometimes we haven’t actually figured out what that thing is yet that draws us to something, we just know we love it and we’re searching for the why.

It’s that place where the dark meets the light for me.

Sometimes is gradual, sometimes it’s a hard line, sometimes it’s barely there at all. It’s beauty in dark places. There’s always light and beauty to be found in dark places, even when that doesn’t seem like it could even be possible.

It’s only over the past year (mostly) that I’ve started to look for the light in more than just photos. I’ve found it in every situation that felt dark and impossible, be the situations my own or someone else’s to bare. I’ve seen the way people rally around those facing their darkest days. I’ve seen overwhelming joy and love surround pain of the worst kind. I’ve seen just glimmers of hope that need more time to illuminate, but it’s there at least still a little bit.

It’s the simplicity of stripping away the color and seeing only the light. Sometimes color distracts us from seeing what actually matters the most.

I’m usually more of a spiritual person and less of a religious person, but if you’d take a moment today and pray for those needing a little light in the face of what feels horribly dark, I’d appreciate that very much.

I Lost Over 30 Pounds with Intermittent Fasting

Disclaimers: I’m not selling you anything unless you opt to purchase Gin Stephens’ book. Actually I’m hoping I’m saving you money. If you use the link I provide, I might get a few cents for you order, but it’ll cost you no more than it would if you just went to Amazon or Target on your own. Using my links means I get to keep posting content so thanks in advance for choosing to purchase using the link I provide in this post. Also I’m not a doctor and am in no way qualified to give you medical advice. I’m just sharing my story in hopes that it gives you a place to start a conversation with your medical professionals and maybe change your life too.

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I’ve lost over 30 pounds in the last year and 20 pounds of it was in the first 2 months.

I’m the smallest I’ve ever been in my adult life and my body feels like I’ve done it the biggest favor. I sleep better than before children, my gut health is 1000 times better than it used to be, my body is way less inflamed, and I’m more productive because I have more time. It kind of sounds too good to be true for a mom of two, right? How, you ask?

intermittent fasting. Yes, I know you like to eat. Me too, which is why this works so hear me out.

I really do like to eat and I like to eat yummy food (carbs and cheese and things). The great thing about Intermittent Fasting is you’re changing your eating window, not what you’re eating (I mean, you can change what you’re eating, but one thing at a time). This means you can see real change and not have to give up all the yummy stuff. Diets didn’t work for me because they all required me to eliminate what I love to a level of it just not being realistic for me personally. Also figuring out intermittent fasting has given me a much healthier relationship with food. You won’t starve (even if you feel like it in the beginning) and once your body adjusts, it’ll thank you.

Oh and no supplements, memberships, or special food required!

Finally something that’ll actually save your money or at least allow you a budget for a new wardrobe because if you’re like me, you’ll need it. I do currently take Magnesium and Collagen, but I wasn’t taking those things during my weight loss phase and they are in no way required to live an intermittent fasting lifestyle.

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My Story

It all started with this picture (the one on the left below) and a number on the scale I’d never seen before (except for when I was pregnant). I took this pic because it was July 2020 (deep in the thick of Covid) and my hair and make up were actually done. It was a rare 2020 moment.

July 2020 vs. May 2021 (Over 30 pounds gone and way less puffy)

I almost deleted it, but something in me said not to right before hitting the little trash can button on my phone. I mean, it was a nice picture of me and my daughter. The problem was I didn’t really recognize myself in it and I didn’t like seeing it in my phone. This puffy version of me was newish. This wasn’t the same face in every other selfie photo on my phone because I’d been avoiding them, but I kept it anyway because I was tired of not being in photos with my kids. In some ways it felt like me giving up and being okay with the version of me that didn’t feel like me, but instead I used it as the jumping off point for choosing the version of me that I wanted to see in pictures with my kids.

I kept seeing different sponsored posts talking about intermittent fasting in my social media feeds. I’d never really given them the time of day and just brushed them off. After this picture I paid more attention. I googled it. I read what information was readily available and decided it probably wasn’t bad for me and I jumped right in. What did I have to lose besides the weight anyway? I started with 16 hours of fasting with an 8 hour eating window (16:8) and quickly worked my way into one meal a day or 20 hours of fasting and a 4 hour eating window depending on the day.

I had a goal to not have to buy new jeans for an upcoming trip (our trip to Tennessee last October). I just wanted to fit back into the ones I already had. Even 5 or 10 pounds would get the job done.

Spoiler Alert: I still had to buy new jeans because my old ones were suddenly too big.

June 2012 (pre motherhood) vs. November 2, 2020 (PS those green shorts are too big now)

I started listening to podcasts by Gin Stephens (the author of several intermittent fasting books) and constantly watching everyone’s progress in her Facebook group. I gave in pretty quickly to reading Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens, which was truly life changing and I highly recommend it. The more I learned, the more powerful I felt and the more I tweaked what I was doing to make fasting more effective for my body.

I don’t cook anything special. I don’t order a salad at a restaurant unless it’s a place I already did that at because I just so happened to love that salad (the ones that include bacon and cheese and buttery delicious croutons or sour cream and guacamole). I don’t exercise like I should. I literally changed nothing except the hours in which I eat and made sure I was fasting clean when my window was closed (black coffee, tea, and water only). Well that’s not totally true. I really like a glass or two of wine each night, but it’s the thing I chose to drastically cut back on during the beginning part of the process to get me closer to where I wanted to be. Gin says delay, don’t deny so that was my delay thing.

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The Science from not a scientist

I’m not a scientist or a health professional, but when you intermittent fast you are depleting your glycogen stores. Sometimes is takes a bit to get through this stage and some people won’t actually see weight loss in the first month or two (that was not my experience). Once they’re depleted, your body can now enter into Ketosis (without being on a Keto diet) and this thing called autophagy (cell self eating) happens. The Ketosis allows you to burn fat and the autophagy starts healing your body from the inside out (dark spots on my face are now lighter because of this process). Your goal is to not spike your insulin during your fast so that all of this can actually happen. You’d be amazed at what all can spike insulin. This is a super simplified explanation of what is happening and I suggest reading Gin’s book for a more in depth description (and it’s in layman’s terms). I just wanted to include something that would maybe help some of this make sense. Gin calls it a health plan with a side effect of weight loss. Based on how much better my body feels, I agree.

Oct 2017 vs. January 2019 vs. July 2021

The one downside for me is it can kind of mess with your hormone levels.

This wasn’t so awful in my case except I did lose hair for a bit in the same way I lost hair after birthing my children. It’s growing back now, but I have that awkward regrowth thing going on like I did after having kids. For me it’s still totally worth it. In my case, the pros outweigh the cons without question, but don’t say I didn’t tell you to consult your doctor, if you have health things to consider. Definitely do that.

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Literally the only thing you need to change your life is this book right here

No membership required. No supplements required. No special food required. A new wardrobe might be required.

These are affiliate links. If you use them I do make a few cents. Like just a few, but you pay what you would have anyway. My life is changed because of this book. I wouldn’t recommend it to you otherwise.

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So some takeaways…

• You have to read Gin’s book (or books). I recommend Fast, Feast, Repeat.

• If you’ve tried everything to lose weight and nothing seems to have been your thing, maybe this is worth a shot.

• This is a lifestyle, not a diet so change your mindset and settle in.

• You can be a better version of you without diet pills or even a diet really and you can save money doing it.

• Intermittent Fasting is actually really good for your body. Don’t believe those who haven’t done the research or tried it. In fact, tell them to read Fast, Feast, Repeat and then come talk to you about it. The conversation will look way different, I’m sure.

• If you can get through the first couple of weeks, it’s actually really easy. Those first couple weeks really suck though so expect it and embrace it.

• I have more shorts than jeans for the first time ever in my whole life and I wear them confidently.

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I could honestly keep talking about this forever. Just ask my husband who is probably tired of hearing it (although I’m sure he appreciates the view). This seems like a good bit of information to start with, but feel free to ask me more about my journey and definitely read Gin’s book. I wish I would have known what this intermittent fasting could do for me years ago.

-Monica

An Unposed Session at Padre Island National Seashore

It’s been a quiet year in terms of photography for me.

Probably none of this seems immediately related to these photos so sorry about that.

I’ve been over here playing around with different ideas (not photography related), trying to figure out what my path is. I still don’t know what that path is, if I’m being honest and I’m still over here dabbling in it all.

I didn’t want to put pressure on this thing that I loved. I was afraid it would turn into something I didn’t want, if I kept doing that this year and that thought terrified me. I already saw my spark fading as I got caught up in the drama and BS related to social media and I retreated hard and fast and with that I backed off from everything photography related including photographing my own kids. I’m hoping all of that was necessary and is fulfilling some purpose for my furture self.

Social media is hard. It’s funny because I probably fall into the same category I always have in everything in life. Not quite cool enough for the mainstream kids, but not outcast enough for the outcasts. I’m just stuck somewhere in the middle without belonging anywhere. This is probably a little bit my fault because it’s no secret to myself that I don’t commit enough to people to really belong in a community. I hold myself back for fear of judgement. It’s rare anyone actually gets to see me all the way, which is why Tyler is probably pretty much the only person who sees it all.

What if I’m not who they thought I was? What if I disappoint them? It’s less stress (or so it sometimes seems) to just do it all on my own. This thinking is wrong, right? Is it imposter syndrome that makes me feel this way maybe? Why do I even care what “they” think to begin with? I know better, but I’m still here in this place.

I don’t really know what the purpose of all of this is other than it just feels good to talk about it. Maybe others feel the same and now they know they’re not alone. Maybe it just makes me make more sense to people. I don’t know.

I know this session is the first time I picked up my camera to do this kind of thing in a long time. I had a vision and I was nervous it was going to just bomb and I’d come away with nothing. The first probably 30 minutes felt like that actually. I had to let go in a lot of ways. Once I just decided to let my kids be free and occasionally prompt them into things that would bring joy, it got good. I let Saida get in the waves fully clothed because it felt like freedom and we needed that. Mostly this is just them and me there to see it for what it was and document it the way I knew I could.

A Week At Padre Balli RV Park in Corpus Christi Texas

I cannot express to you how good it actually felt to be in our camper again. It had definitely been way too long since we’d made a trip (3 months). I let it slide though because I knew we’d be staying for a week this time and I have a certain amount of nights I insist we spend in the camper each year to make paying the price worth our while.

This wasn’t really a traditional camping trip for us. It was one of those situations where the camper is basically a condo on wheels and an affordable way for us spend an entire week at the beach. We showered regularly, went souvenir shopping, ate some dinners out at restraunts, and civilization was at our doorstep… or close enough (Thank goodness because we needed it to be on Thursday night).

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Why We Chose Padre Balli Park For This Trip

Morning walk on the beach before the crowds showed up

The main reason we chose Padre Balli Park was for the proximity to people we were going to the beach with. Yes there are nicer RV parks within 30 minutes of where we stayed, but those parks weren’t a 5 minute car ride to the family we were spending time with at the beach. Also we knew we weren’t going to spend a lot of time at the park so paying a higher price for one of those other nicer parks just didn’t make any sense. My parents ended up tagging on to the end of this vacation so we did end up driving 15-20 minutes each way to hang at the beach in front of their beach rental too, but we still weren’t hanging out at the RV Park so paying the price for a “nicer” one just didn’t make sense. In this way Padre Balli Park definitely seemed like a good choice.

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My Thoughts on Padre Balli Park

Pros:

• Park is on the Beach

• There is a restaurant and gift shop on the fishing pier at the park

• Easy drive to Dollar General, Gas Stations, and Restaurants

• 50 Amp area is new

• Shower Houses and Laundry onsite

• Full Hookups in 50 AMP area

• Concrete pads in new section

• Friendly staff

• Affordable (we paid $275 for an entire week in the 50 AMP area with full hookups and it’s on the beach. The 30 AMP area is $150 a week and doesn’t have sewer. There is a dump station.)

Cons:

• No pool

• Basic sites (not too close together, but not too far and zero landscaping)

• Quiet hours not enforced and people like to party. Thank goodness for AC units being so loud.

• Old 30 AMP area is run down and cramped (pot hole parking lot with hookups)

• The beach at the park is very crowded

• Lots of trash left behind on beach and at the campsites and the park doesn’t seem to prioritize cleaning it up.

Notes:

They do things a little differently than most. They don’t actually take any payments from you until you show up. When you call to book, you get a reservation confirmation number and that’s basically it. Write it down and hang on to it. You don’t hear from them again until about a week before your trip when they call to confirm your stay. It was my first time experiencing this and it honestly made me a little nervous that we might not have somewhere to stay when it was time to show up. Fortunately that wasn’t the case. They seemed to have it together in this department.

Would I stay at Padre Balli Park again?

Yes, absolutely. We definitely want to try out Gulf Waters sometime in the future too, but we want to do that when we plan to stay there and not rush off each day to go see other people staying in other places. When we pay the price to stay at Gulf Waters, we want to take advantage of their scenery, pool, and easy access to a beach that’s clean and beautiful. Padre Balli Park is absolutely a great go to for situations similar to this trip we just had. And honestly, if you’re not a little beach spoiled like me and you want to save a few dollars, Padre Balli Park is really a great choice even if you plan on taking advantage of the beach without driving elsewhere.

The highlighted site is site 16 which is the site we stayed in.

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What I Learned on This Trip

More than I was prepared to learn, that’s what. But seriously though, Tyler had to go back to work for a couple days so we spent night 2 with just me and the kids in the camper. I was laying in bed about 10 PM that night thinking it had all gone so smoothly without him when the power goes out in the camper. It’s July in Texas and I like AC. Saida is already passed out and Corbin is making every excuse to stay up just a little longer, but I finally have him laying down in Tyler’s spot in my bed when this all goes down. I check to make sure we didn’t trip the breaker, but the entire Park is out. Turns out a transformer blew and the estimated time of restoration is 3 AM. YES 3 AM. If we don’t get the generator going, we’re going to be hot as hell and lose the food in the fridge and we’re one of the lucky ones with a generator. Unfortunately there isn’t any gas in it so that means I’m hauling kids out of bed at 10:30 at night to go buy gas cans and gas so we can get through these next few hours in comfort. All of these things were new for me, but a momma’s gotta do what a momma’s got to do and I wanted AC for my kids and to save the milk I just bought for them that evening.

Once the transformer was fixed, they blew another one and the new estimated time of restoration was 5 AM. I didn’t buy that much gas so I dropped us down to 1 of 3 ACs and everyone still managed to sleep comfortably. Power was back on by 3 AM anyway and we still had enough gas to get us through another power outage (this time for the entire island) that happend a couple days later.

We’re buying a nice gas can and taking some with us on every trip going forward for situations like this. The other option is our camper does have a fuel station and we could keep some gas in there with a stabilizer to make it last a little longer. And I’m happy to say I now know how to start the generator and keep things going when things don’t go as expected.

I really hate to wake sleeping kids, but they did an awesome job hanging with me and holding the flashlight while I filled the generator.

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Places We Ate

Snoopy’s

13313 South Padre Island Drive

Corpus Christi, TX78418

A family favorite on Padre Island at the JFK Causeway. We’ve been going here for years and fish is always fried to perfection and the view is great. The secret is out though so go early or be prepared to wait in line to order.

A La Mode Gelateria

14254 S Padre Island Dr Ste 101

Corpus Christi, Texas 78418

Our friends introduced us to this place. It’s also on Padre Island and Saida and Tyler are obsessed with the banana pudding gelato. The staff is super friendly and welcoming and it’s definitely a new tradition for us.

La Playa Mexican grille

222 Beach Ave.

Port Aransas, TX 78373

Cash only in Port Aransas and this one isn’t a secret anymore either. The restaurant itself is super tiny so there is almost always a wait and then we show up with 16 people. I love it here because they actually know how to make a fish taco. I love cheese, but you don’t put cheese on fish tacos, you don’t put fruit salsa on fish tacos (IMO), and you don’t use flour tortillas on fish tacos. They do none of those things, thank goodness.

Brooklyn Pie Co.

15326 S Padre Island

Corpus Christi, TX 78418

We were first timers here. I wanted to just walk over to Mikel Mays on the pier at Padre Balli Park the night it was just me and the kids, but Saida insisted on Pizza and we had seen this place just up the road at the next stop light. We ordered their large cheese pizza, went and roamed around at ACE Hardware for about 15 minutes and then came back to pick up our pizza to go. The kids loved it and it came with one of those little plastic barbie tables… I mean pizza savers… which the kids have never seen before and Saida is excited to use it as a barbie table (as it was obviously meant to be).

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Favorite Camping Hack of the Trip

I stole this hack idea from one of the RV Camping Facebook pages I’m on. As soon as I saw it I was on Amazon ordering these suction cup hooks to hang our beach towels and swimsuits on the outside of the camper. It was a great solution for not having to bring our wet and sandy towels into the camper.

Disclaimer: The link to Amazon below is an affiliate link. If you purhase from Amazon after clicking this link, I will receive a super teeny tiny commission at no additional cost to you. Also if you purchase these after clicking this link, THANK YOU! You doing this allows me to keep creating quality content for my readers and I think that’s pretty awesome.

Buy on Amazon

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Drink of the Trip

Overall this trip was a family success, just not without drama because who would even know what that looks like. Lots of margaritas were had; spicy grapefruit ones. Click below to see the recipe I found on Pinterest. They were delicious. and I used lime juice from a bottle, HEB’s Rio Red Grapefruit juice, Espolon Silver tequila, and didn’t bother with garnish because we were taking it out to the beach.

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Pictures From Our Trip Because I’m a Photographer

On Mustang Island near my parents’ beach rental

Mustang Island

Mustang Island near my parents’ beach rental

That’s how I feel about ice cream too. Shout out HEB.

Iphone Picture edited with Lightroom Mobile @ Padre Balli Park

Iphone photo unedited @ Port Aransas, Texas

Iphone Photo edited with Lightroom Mobile @ DQ in Pleasanton on the way home

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Share with Me

As usual I have no idea how to wrap all of this up. That was all kind of random, but that’s just kind of our life right now so… it is what it is.

Feel free to share your favorite restaurants in the area in the comments, tell me where you’ve found fish tacos that don’t suck, or let me know if you tried that margarita recipe. Seriously they are so delicious, especially if you’re into spicy alcoholic beverages.

Happy Camping,

Monica

Weekend Wrap Up: Lots of Sanding and A Little Bit of Crawfish

This weekend was a weekend of I’m not really sure where the time went or what all got done. I guess technically we did lose an hour, but even still…

I’d hoped to finish up some projects this weekend that just weren’t moving along as expected. Lots of lots of sanding went down and I think the sanding part might finally be done. And let’s be real, kids need things so it’s not like these things ever get my full attention for too long. Here’s a visual of what we’re working on. I’m sanding and staining multiple projects at a time because they’ll all get stained the same color and it seems like the easiest way to control having them all look the same. Sometimes I just eyeball the stain mixture and don’t actually measure so… yeah. The picture ledge will get painted the same white as the shiplap, but the rest of these are getting stained.

I feel like the frames for the mirrors are going to take our bathrooms to a whole new level and I’m really excited about it. Our master bathroom especially is in major need of a transformation and paint and framing the mirrors seem like the biggest bang for our buck. We’ve also got some inexpensive light fixtures from Lowe’s that will be mounted into the header portion of the frame. The top of the frame is a 1x10 and the rest of the frame is going to be made out of 1x4s.

I painted a couple of accent walls black (one in our bathroom and one in the office). I don’t regret it, but admittedly I do regret the sheen. Before we can finish and install the floating shelves, I have to head back to Home Depot for more paint. I went with an eggshell by mistake thinking that was what we used for our outdoor kitchen, but the outdoor kitchen is a satin. I think I may purchase a matte this go around. I did try to sand down the sheen because I saw something on the internet that said I could, but our texture is too heavy for this idea to work so back to painting I go.

Saturday evening we attended a random crawfish boil at our home builder’s house. Two years later he and Tyler still keep in touch even though we were a tough customer. The picture below is all the kids (except Corbin) and their big hearts letting the last two crawfish go. Saida is there on the left cautiously watching the release go down. She was curious, but not interested in getting anywhere near those pinchers.

Parabo Press For The Win + Free Square Prints + $10 Off

I don’t have quite as much control over things when it comes to Saida anymore. She has her own style, her own likes, wants to decorate her room according to her own taste, and all that good business. I’m hanging on to as much control as I can, but I’m also kind of a believer in letting her explore and letting her take charge of some of those things within reason.

Putting up these super cute (AND FREE because we got the smaller ones which are always free) square prints from Parabo Press is a fun way for me to let her make her own decisions while winning the battle over her room decor. She got to pick each photo she wanted to display. Nevermind that we’re still wearing Christmas pajamas with unbrushed hair (and it’s the afternoon). Scroll down for a coupon code at the bottom of this post for $10 off your first order from Parabo Press. Or if you’d rather, just order the free prints and just pay shipping. Such a fun way to have your kids interact with photographs.

Code for $10 off your first order from Parabo Press: MNEHAE

Galveston Island Camping Trip: More of My Happy

If you’ve known me for more than 5 minutes, you probably know that the beach/bay is the place my soul craves. Our latest camping trip to Galveston Island State Park was gloomy, windy, and cold. I didn’t care. It rained all weekend at home so gloomy, windy, and cold with a bay view seemed just fine to me. The sun came out on our last morning just as it was about time to start packing up. We decided to spend just 30 more minutes exploring before we had to leave and the dunes on the beach side of the island is where we ended up. They called it their mountain. They were in thier own kind of heaven and I can’t even explain to you how overwhelmingly happy and at peace I was in this moment. It’s the kind of happy and peaceful you forget exists until it sneaks up on you. There isn’t a worry or a care in the world because in that moment nothing else matters except being present and completely soaking it in and storing it in a place to keep you content until that feeling sneaks up on you again.

Beachside at Galveston Island State Park

Leaving was the hardest thing. Nobody wanted to go.

More of my favorites from our trip below.

Galveston Island State Park Hiking Trail

Lensbaby detail in the camper

Saki Monkeys inside the Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens

Outside Moody Gardens Rainforest Pryramid

Inside Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid

Walkways over the intercoastal at Galveston Island State Park

Hiking at Galveston Island State Park

Camper window light with a lensbaby

We stayed with our RV at Galveston Island State Park on the bayside in site 55. I feel like sites 58-64 would be ideal in terms of a killer view of the bay. That’s my goal for next time. I think I acutally prefer the bayside to the beachside. The bay has a sense of calm that is totally my jam so I think I’d do that again.

We try to keep things simple. This was a quick trip so Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid is the only attraction we spent money on. We did things like drive by port on Saturday while two ships were in and the kids thought that was cool. We didn’t take the ferry this time, but kids also love that and it’s free. Just do it when it’s not crowded. In the past we’ve done the offshore oil rig museum which is pretty cool and affordable and just right there by the cruise ships, just with the wind we skipped it this time. I think Corbin would love it though so I want to take him to do that someday. What I really wanted to do was the oil rig museum at 4pm when the ships left so we could wave to the cruisers on deck as it passed by. That would have been cool, but our go with the flow attitude meant we weren’t around for that. Exploring the park and connecting with nature was priority for me even though we made time for fun in town too.

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The Picture That Sums up Why we Bought a Camper / Our Trip to McKinney Falls State Park

I promised myself I’d start blogging about our camping trips once we actually started taking them. I wasn’t sure what these blog posts would be exactly. I’m pretty sure I was thinking at some point I would become some sort of camping expert and people would flock to my blog to hear about our trips and what cool things I did/cooked that they too need to be doing, but I’m not sure this is where that is going. Big dreams, huh? I feel inspired for like 5 minutes and then it’s gone so…. Also, like, I’m never going to be that person. EVER. I don’t have my shit nearly enough together for that.

This morning I edited a picture from our trip that basically sums up our reason for buying a camper and trying to take a camping trip every month. Do you want to see it? Not that your answer matters because I’m going to show it to you whether you want to or not.

Here it is…

You: But Monica, that’s just a blurry photo of your child swinging on her hammock. How could that possibly sum up your reasons for buying a camper?

Me: Um no, it’s not. That photo right there is a feeling.

But for real, the out of focus element of this image is giving me this out of body experience where time has slowed significantly and I’m just exactly where I’m supposed to be. It’s that thing I was reaching for when we bought our camper. It’s that thing I’ve wasted the past 6 months or so of my life anxiously awaiting. It’s that thing we’ve been missing in this life that doesn’t ever seem to slow down. It just goes faster and faster and faster and we were afraid that before we knew it we’d wake up and our kids would be grown and we would have let the opportunity for these kinds of experiences pass us up.

It’s easy to skip these things over. It’s easy to say, “Well, life is just to damn busy to stop right now.” We live in a world where we have to intentionally schedule time to slow down and so that’s what we’re doing.

Me: You wanna see more of my favorites from this trip to McKinney Falls State Park?

You: Yes, Monica. I can’t think of anything I’d love more.

Where we stayed: McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas

Campsite: 18, (1 of 12 50 amp sites with water and electric). Very large pull through campsite with one site very close by (worked out fine because they never came out of their camper) and next to the bathrooms which turned out to not be a big deal at all. In fact when Corbin pooped in his pull up we were just thankful there was a dumpster nearby.

Just a Little Personal Work

So what do I do when I’m not photographing lifestyle family and newborn sessions for all of these amazing Central Texas and Austin area families?

I have impromptu mini sessions with my kids in sweet light and then swoon over them for a bit and oh my goodness does it make my heart happy.

Think of Someplace Warm

So I love yoga partly because I sometimes get to have these day dreamy moments at the instruction of my yoga teacher and nobody gets to ruin them by asking for fruit snacks or milk. It’s not every time I go, but I hadn’t actually been in over two weeks and my body and mind were screaming for some me time on the mat.

It was 90 degrees yesterday. It’s 45 degrees today so during a pre-class child’s pose Maria (my yoga instructor) asked us to think of someplace warm. 10 times out of 10 when you ask me to think of someplace warm, I’m going to think of my toes in the sand, the sun on my face, and gentle waves slowly lulling me to sleep. It’s my go to. I tried to go there today and you know what? I didn’t want to be there.

Who am I? Why do I not want to be at the beach? What other warm place could I possibly want to go?

And then I had my most favorite day dream of someplace warm to date. It was cold outside in this day dream (much like today), but I was snuggled in close on the couch in our new to us camper in front of the TV and space heater fireplace with the three people who mean the most to me in all the world. Wrapped in blankets we’re happy and warm and just soaking in all the goodness that is family confined to a small space. We’re drinking hot chocolate, the kids are laughing (I can actually hear Corbin laughing in my head and it makes me smile), Tyler and I are beaming with pride for the family we created, and I literally can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.

I can’t wait to start sharing our camping adventures with you. I love that we’re calling them adventures. I was showing Saida all the places we’d go and instead of asking where we’d camp next, she asked me to tell her what the next adventure would be. It was painful actually signing the paperwork for the second most expensive thing we currently own, but hearing her put it that way makes me realize I would have gladly paid even more to make these adventures her reality. These are the moments we were absolutely meant to live together and I’m glad we get to start sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned.

- Monica

Why We Invested In Memories Over Real Estate

There was this brief moment a few weeks ago where Tyler and I seriously considered buying a house. As seriously as we’ve done anything we were planning renovations for each room and really trying to understand the layout and falling in love with the sweet lot the house sat on. We’d only seen it in pictures and it just hit the market and literally every single room was going to need renovations. I’m down for renovations, don’t get me wrong, but there wasn’t going to be any money left for renovations.

That morning we’d been camper shopping so we were thrown for a loop when we saw this property pop up. Our options were camper or house, but not both. We already have a house so it’s not like we don’t have a place to be, but real estate is always a good investment, right? Campers just depreciate over time and all that.

Sooooo, we passed up a super awesome real estate opportunity and decided to buy a camper. It wasn’t quite that simple, but it’s what we did. Here is what it came down to for me.

Real Estate vs. Memories

We got stuck in one of those time share presentations back in April in Sedona. We had no intention of buying, but there we were trying to collect the $100 promised to us for sitting through it. Side note: Don’t ever sit through one of these things for only $100. Ask them for the world before you show up and negotiate something much better than $100. Anyway, they ask you all these questions trying to guilt you into buying a timeshare because if you don’t, you obvioulsy don’t love your kids or your mother-in-law. Legit this is what the dude working for Diamond Resorts more or less told me. I wish I was kidding. The thing that made sense from that presentation was investing in memories. We’re not timeshare people, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to start making the kinds of memories I cherish from my childhood with my own children. So we bought a camper and invested in moments and memories for our family. We can buy an new house with more land later after we handle some more things financially, but I’d prefer to start making the memories now. Each day is a gift and it would sure be a shame if we let these years pass us by with regret. Something tells me we’ll never regret a single day spent with our kiddos exploring nature and making s’mores.

First Day of Kindergarten

I only have to survive 40 more minutes before I get the oldest child back from her very first day of Kindergarten!!!

Y'all I made it a whole day with her in the care of someone she isn't related to and I didn't even cry once.  I got close like two times, but it was because I was so proud of her and because her teacher added photos to the class Facebook page.  

I talked about this on Facebook and Instagram this morning.  I love watching my kids reach these milestones. I try not to rush things, but I genuinely love watching them them grow and learn and do the things kids are supposed to do.  I don't want my babies to be babies forever.  There are definitely some ages and stages I miss, but I also wouldn't trade them for the stages we're in now.  We've been there, we've done that and now we're going to do this other thing and it too is going to be awesome (and maybe awful all at the same time, idk).  

We tried to do the obligatory first day of school sign photos this morning.  I'm not sure we're cut out for this.  I could have spent more time forcing them into standing still and things, but somehow this one seems to fit the day and the attitudes of the day perfectly.  Plus also of course my kid is the one that managed to bust up her face two days before the first day of school.  I feel like we're being judged already.

I'm so anxious to see if she's as excited this afternoon as she was this morning and I pretty sure I need a hug.  Time to go find my shoes and walk the couple blocks to school.

When Your Home Builder Doesn't Want to Do the Right Thing: Texas Residential Construction Liability Act

Let me preface this entire thing by saying that I'm not a lawyer.  This blog post is not intended to be legal advice.  This blog post is intended to make you aware of the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act (even though your builder probably provided you with a hint of information about it in that packet you probably never looked at) and share my journey to getting reimbursed for failures in my wood floor due to poor installation after the builder denied our original requests to replace it.

I'm going to try to make a really long story short.  From the day we moved into our brand new home, we had issues with our upgraded engineered hardwood floors.  Boards were popping, delaminating, and chipping.  The builder kept sending the contractor out to repair more and more and more and more and finally my husband was just done.  We wanted it all replaced.  These issue were happening because of poor prep and installation and after some research we were convinced the actual product may have also been faulty.  Our builder want to keep polishing a turd and told us they would not be replacing the floor.  They said it was normal to replace 50+ boards in a 900 square ft. area.  

Guess what home builder, not buying it.  We called in a certified wood floor inspector at our expense.  He identified more issues than we originally knew about.  We still had a builder that didn't want to work with use to replace the floor and they made it very clear that they would not be reimbursing me for the cost of the inspector ($300). 

The Texas Residential Contruction Liability Act (RCLA)

I got out my home warranty manual and found this very small and limited section referring to the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act and decided I needed to google it.  It's confusing at first, but what I found out is that if I ever wanted to take them to court, I needed to first send them a certified letter referencing the RCLA.  This is how you say attorney without actually saying attorney.  When they get this letter from you they know you are getting your ducks in a row to take them to court or you're at least thinking about it.  

The RCLA outlines statutory deadlines for responding, inspecting the home, the builder making some sort of offer and you either accepting or denying the offer.  You have to go through this process before you can take them to court.  Hopefully you never make it that far.  The purpose of the RCLA is to resolve issues without a lawsuit.  

In our letter I mentioned the Texas RCLA, gave a quick run down of all of the issues with our floor, and attached the report from the certified wood floor inspector.  I also listed a few scenarios we would be willing to accept for resolution.  

Did we want to sue our builder?  Not really.  I'm not sure anyone wins when that happens, but we were at the point where we would do what we needed to do and we were tired of being taken advantage of.  I totally would have done it purely on principle. 

All of the sudden these folks who had been legit ignoring our phone calls and emails for at least a month, if not two, were quick to respond.  Or at least as quick as they can be because when you send one of these letters, it immediately goes to an attorney working for the builder.  

It still took us months of negotiation to get what we wanted, but we got it.  Referencing the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act was the key to getting our builder to stop pushing us off and actually work with us to come to a resolution that was fair.  They're still going to try to get away with giving as little as possible, but as long as you have a legitimate issue with your home (which we made damn sure of before sending this letter) you have the upper hand.  They don't want to go to court.  They're trying to get out as cheap as possible and writing me a check for the amount it would cost me to replace my floor (including removal and a $300 reimbursement for hiring that wood floor inspector) is still cheaper than going to court.  

I did all of this without hiring an attorney.  You could definitely hire one if you wanted to, but I just want to tell you it's possible to resolve your issues without one.  

Below are some of the resources I found that were helpful when researching the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act.

http://www.jtexconsumerlaw.com/V7N1pdf/V7N1construction.pdf

https://www.krcl.com/news/importance-notice-texas-residential-construction-liability-act/

If you are dealing with this issue, I'm so sorry.  I feel your pain.  I'm sending you all the positive vibes and wishing your the best of luck in getting your issue resolved.  Don't give up.

Galveston 2018

Just sitting here pushing refresh from time to time of the parent portal for your school district.  In just under 20 minutes we find out who Saida's Kindergarten teacher is.  Back to school night is tonight and I'm just hoping I'm not a hot mess of tears for the whole thing.  So to distract me from constantly checking the damn thing for the next 20 minutes or so, I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos from our Galveston beach trip because I still haven't done that.  

Wordless Wednesday

Instagram Round Up June 13 - 19, 2018

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Mom Brain: It's a Legit Thing

I feel like there are endless ways I could start this blog post.  For example:

Does anyone spend most of their day doing all the little things they'd never remember?

The term "pregnancy brain" is bullshit.  It insinuates that maybe you'll get your brain back after the baby is born and obviously that couldn't be any farther from the truth.  

Or my personal favorite...

So this one time my husband was late to work after he spent an hour looking for his keys.  Hell, I even helped and it just so happens I was the one who misplaced them.  Any guesses on where we found them?  

That last one was this morning.  

But for real though, please tell me I'm not the only one.  We moms go through our entire day automatically doing so many things without even realizing it.  Just last week I was getting ready to go somewhere (I can't even remember where) and was in my bathroom working on hair and makeup.  Saida was talking to me and periodically Corbin would come into the bathroom needing something.  I looked down and at him on one of these quick visits and he had an applesauce squeezie in his hands.  I remembered giving him a yogurt squeezie at some point, but not an applesauce squeezie.  How did he get this thing open on his own? I looked in front of me and lo and behold, there is the damn cap to the applesauce squeezie on my bathroom counter.  I opened that thing at some point and handed it over and had absolutely no memory of it.  I was in the middle of something and just did it without thinking. No big deal really, but he was totally taking advantage of me and on his third squeezie in like 10 minutes.  I wonder what else he could have gotten away with.  "Yeah sure honey, let me open this bag of flour.  Go ahead now, move along."

Or sometimes people will ask me where a small bruise came from that I don't remember getting.  I walk into furniture, walls, doorways on the regular, but could never even begin to tell you which incident a bruise came from.  Likely I don't even remember the incident ever happening, but I have some sort of vague recollection of saying ow at some point... I think.  Sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day to really take note of these things and my head is already filled with too much other stuff.  

So anyway, when Tyler came to me this morning and asked if I'd seen his keys, obviously I said no.  I asked him twenty questions about what was happening the last time he had his keys and blamed the children for maybe moving them (honestly I still blame the children).  We even looked in their playroom and I texted the neighbor to see if we had lost them there a couple nights before.  In a last ditch effort I checked my purse.  There they were.  For about two seconds I tried to come up with places I could hide them that we hadn't looked yet, but I hadn't had coffee yet and Tyler was 5 feet away so I just handed them over.

Someone please tell me how they got in there.  All I can figure is one of the kids handed them to me yesterday when we were on our way out the door and I just opened my purse and slid them in without thinking and I never really figured it out because we were taking my car with push button start and not Tyler's truck.  I don't really know, but this is at least how I imagine it all going down in my head.  

This is my life.  I really don't know what to say.  Sorry Tyler.  For the record, I still think it's the kids' fault.  Good thing they're cute.

Why We Gave Up On Potty Training After Half a Day

I started wondering if I should be potty training Corbin more than 6 months ago when he started removing his diaper on his own.  This ended up not lasting long and I never did anything.  He wasn’t even two at the time.  

He turned two in January. This is June and next month he’ll be two and half.  Seems like as good a time as any to try to knock this potty training thing out.  I was hoping to get it done before we go to the beach in August anyway.  It was super easy with my daughter and she was basically trained in 2 days when she was barely two.  

Honestly I tried to do all the things other people suggest doing beforehand with Corbin.  We got all excited over a potty seat he now refuses to use (it sits on the big potty), we read a super hero potty book that he has zero interest in, and I keep talking about all the yummy treats he’ll get for peeing in the potty because treats would definitely motivate him on a regular day.

The only problem is we are full on in that stage where you fight about ever last thing or it’s a game. And I'm not talking about the stuff that doesn't matter.  I'm talking about things like diaper changes.  Yes, if you have poop, you do not have a choice, I'm changing you.  Of course he'll kick uncontrollably through the entire thing.  Getting into the car seat is a fight and a game.  He wants to do it himself, but if you give him an inch to do it, he's everywhere except the place he's supposed to be and I literally have to climb through the car after him.  Getting out of the car is also a game.  He wants to go out sister's door which is fine by me except when I get over to sister's door we're all over the car again and now we want to go out this other door.  I've gotten to the point where if he told me he wants to go out a door, that's the one he's coming out one way or another.  Otherwise I'd chase him from door to door for a good 10 minutes before he'd actually get out of the car.  All of it is a fight.  I literally have to man handle the kid to get him to do anything.  

So I’m actually not feeling very confident about this potty training thing, but we’re going to give it a go anyway for the next two days.  If day 2 shows zero progress, I’ll scrap it and try again later.  If we make even the slightest progress, I’ll keep going.

Here we go….

Potty Training Day 1

7:00am: Wrangled Corbin on to the potty after he decided potty training wasn’t part of his plan for today.  Doesn’t care if he gets to wear big boy pants and couldn’t care less about the marshmallows I promised.  If he’s going to wear the big boy pants, he insists on also wearing shorts.  This wasn’t part of my plan, but beggars can’t be choosers so oh well.  I’m planning a load of laundry for the end of the day anyway.

7:50am:  Seems okay with sitting on the potty for .75 seconds assuming I also give him the marshmallow while he’s on the potty. Still no pee so followed this up with a cup of water.  Probably should have done that first thing this morning.

8:30am: Sat on the potty again.  Sat longer, but still no pee.  Stepped up my bribe with chocolate chips for actual pee in the potty.  

8:39am: Accident #1 happens, not even 10 minutes after sitting on the potty. Go figure.  He’s content to just sit in it.

9:05am: Sat on the potty again because he wanted a yogurt squeezie and I was like sure, as long as you go pee in the potty.  He didn’t. No second squeezie was given. He’s drinking more water so we shall see.  In the meantime I’m looking at little potties on Amazon, because I’m not sure we’re going to make any progress today on the big potty, but honestly I’m not sure a little potty would make a difference either.

9:35am:  Sat on the potty again.  He seems to be more excited about chocolate chips than marshmallows. Unfortunately no pee this time either.

10:02am:  Accident #2.  Lord help me.  So if they don’t go in the potty a single time on day one, do you just scrap it completely?  

10:33am:  Sat on the potty again because he really wanted that yogurt squeezie.  He wasn’t able to squeezie anything out though, lol.  

11:00am:  It’s been over an hour since the last accident so I thought now was a good time to go sit on the potty again.  I had to chase Corbin around the house and onto his bed where I was just sure he’d pee.  In my efforts to get him off the bed so we could go potty (or at least not pee on the bed) he fought so hard that I ended up bumping him in the mouth and hurting him. 

For real though

This is a child who is clearly not ready to potty train.  I don’t think it’s healthy to put either one of us through anymore of this at this time.  Who are we kidding?  We didn’t even make it half a day.  After potty training one kid, this is definitely not moving in a promising direction at all.  I think if either of us are going to do this and stay sane, it’s got to come after the fighting and game playing stage is over or at least not as much of a thing.

Send all your boy potty training tips my way, pretty please.  We’ll try this again another day.

Actually, send all your getting over this fighting stage tips my way.  We give him choices when appropriate and I pick my battles with things that don't matter, but how do you get over it with things that matter?  I've taken on a no tolerance policy with the things that matter so I'm confused about why we're still trying it.  He knows he's not getting his way and 9 times out of 10 it ends in tears.  It can't possibly seem fun for him anymore.

P.S. This is not at all where I thought this would end up.  I actually thought we'd make it through the day before we made a decision to continue or give up and I was totally ready to see it though.  Bummer.

Things My Kids Pretended This Weekend

I always find it funny the things kids pretend to be doing.  Sometimes it's something they've seen on TV and sometimes they're totally imitating me, which is generally pretty hilarious and sometimes embarrassing.  This weekend it made me laugh so that's not too bad.

Our tiny trampoline was an American Ninja Warrior course.  

Saida took the task very seriously as she maneuvered around the outside.  Fortunately she let me take a few other photos too and we snuck one in of Corbin.

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Like they were helping... (because we all know they weren't really "helping".)

But it's cute and they think they are so you just let them do it anyway and then document it.  Unfortunately I missed focus on my favorite photo, but I'll include it anyway.

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And my personal favorite which I have no pictures of...

That it was Amazon Delivery Day

Saida kept putting things in boxes and opening them and saying, "Oh Corbin, look at the boots I ordered for you!"  I asked her where she ordered them from and was incredibly proud when she said Amazon.  That's my girl.  Plus isn't Amazon where everything comes from?  She asked me where babies come from the other day.  I'm wondering if Amazon.com would have been a believable answer.  

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