Cape Cod – August 2017

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

So.. our August trip down the Cape has come and gone. Wow, this trip absolutely flew by… super womp. We tried our best to soak up as much fun as possible, seeing as this is the last big Summer trip. For me that means to sunbath and drink by the ocean… ahh yeas, my vacation style is pretty simple.

Our time together was great; the kids had a lot of fun being kids swimming, collecting fish and shells, and we had a lot of fun relaxing, laughing and being on vacation mode. My parents came down for the day, which was fun and a nice way to end our trip. On that same day my in laws, who were staying close by, came to visit too. The kids were super happy about them all together to see them swim and do their pool tricks. I was sort of nervous, cause we have never had anyone visit us over the past 6 years of going to that resort. They are pretty strict about that stuff, but it was pretty great. My parents loved it and talked about renting a room next year… which would be a lot of fun. I love my family so much, you can see it on my face in the below pics.

The one snag this trip is that we had to change rooms..TWICE. I know, it sounds like a huge pain but it wasn’t a huge issue because the rooms we ended up in were dreamy. I honestly have no idea what happened, but the short of it is that our original room (ocean view) was booked that Sunday, so they hooked us up with beachfront view that first night. Sick right? Then for some reason that last night they contacted us to say they were moving us to a beach/river side view because someone had a complaint and wanted their old room,which is where we were staying (when? I have no idea). Uhm, a free upgrade again? Sure I am game! We don’t spend that much time in the rooms anyways, and they moved our stuff for us while we were at the beach, so that didn’t hurt much either. I loved everything about each move, so none of us were complaining. (Ok, I may have bitched a tiny bit till I got to that sick room that last day haha)

So here is our trip in photos.. each one is captioned.

Thanks for reading!

First Day

OOTD: elec blue romper

Trying out my last faux tattoo.. eh not a big fan, idk if it was the artwork or placement, but meh.

Driving down to the cape..my husband made me a new snow white for my phone case.. she is so cute.

Our first resort room

Super awesome view

ah, this view was bananas how beautiful it was.

bathing suit OOTD

so I bought this cover up at the Loft 6 years ago in a smaller size, and found it while going through bathing suits and brought it.. it fit PHEW

They had a live animal show that we caught the tail end of.. get it? tail? ugh nvm

Waiting on the rest of the crew to hit the beach!

AND WHAT A BEACH DAY!!

It was awesome

Then we hit the pool before going out.

Ready for dinner

We had to go to my fave place to see the sun set and drink… The Summer Shanty

Aw, we are so cute. 🙂

We aren’t so shabs either

The camera never captures it right…it’s like the sky is on fire.

Have I mentioned I love tequila? cuz they made the best margaritas

I love these two girls.

They are such good kids.

Then after we got home we hit some hang out time by the fire pit outside. which was right outside the room

in my fav things…yoga pants and a sweatshirt

View from room.

Day two

OOTD: white denim skirt and blue tank

In our second room..OOTD shot

off to breakfast

Beach OOD; red haute

we spent most day at the beach, but before dinner we swam at the pool a bit.

Our last visit was so great, I had to go back.

OOTD: latin inspired romper…

Dinner ready

I made up all the gals with flowers in their hair.. where is my baby girl? she wasn’t having photos. she takes after her father.

she takes after me. :)))

Day Three

OOTD; black strappy romper

So I really like this outfit cause it is so soft and easy to just throw on with any shoe/accessory.

Bathing suit OOTD; my blue steel

So I am infatuated with this bathing suit. Most of my suits come from JCREW. They are great pieces, solid and hold up everything I need held up hahah

And I mean everything.

they are so cute. swimming all day and night

Started off sunny…

but soon that came to become cloudy

then windy…

On the riverside collecting shells

then the rain came, and we ended up in hell. I mean the indoor pool.. I read a book and the kids had a blast.

Then it was dinner time…

ooh fancy for the kream n kone.. haha

She loves her mom.

And they are kindred spirits too

THEN…cause no trip for my children is set till we get blizzrds

blizzards

driving back to the resort we saw the best sunsets..

the resort had that game bus again, so the kids went in there

and we caught the rest of the sunset out by the river.. amazing

Sunset is the best time to take pics..and makeout. jussayin. good advice here.

Day four

OOTD: magenta tank and white denim mini

(front door view) So, we had to change rooms…again. what a weird trip.

but the view this time was somehow even more magical than that other side.

like a million times cooler. (backdoor view)

Bathing suit OOTD: black beauty

Look who trekked to the cape to see me?

MY MOMZ!

she is so cute.

My in laws were near by and came to hang out too. notice the men are not here? they were under shade at the pavillion like two chickens hahah

Climbing the rocks w Nonna

My mom and the girls

My mom is cute, i know.

The wind was something else this afternoon.

We hung out beach side for most of their stay.

Beach love. 🙂 this guy is pretty special

So tequila… 🙂

Salute!

Photobomber

Then we got some awesome take out, enjoyed music and prosecco. There is my dad..cause it’s dinner haha jk jk

Then it was time to show Nonna and Nonno all their cool tricks.

After my parents left, it was roasting marshmallows time

and enjoy the sunset from our back courtyard

we watched schools of fish, bioluminescent fish, and cun things floating along the water

The the kids wanted to play with the light up helicopter sling shots .. which was hilarious till my oldest shot one on the roof. haha still prob blinkin up there.

Then back up in the room the kids and i caught some unexpected fireworks

Last Day

Good Morning! Last day

Parker River

this view… i could look at it all day

Bathing suit n cover of the day…

Unfort,I only wore it to breakfast cause our day plans changed.

So I am obsessed w waffles with strawberries n cream.. i ate one every day this trip 0.0

blueberries anyone?

My last black tea of the trip

a little parker river selfie before we pack up the room

OOTD; lime green dress

A late morning coffee with my fam on the balcony before we leave

Cheers!

ahhhhrrrhggg i will miss this beach

in the cart, leaving .

But first Taffy

I just always like this cat sign clever.

25Jul2017

Weekend Getaway

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

What a great weekend!

We took a drive up North to see friends who invited us up for the weekend; Well, we left after my husband’s job Saturday night and returned home last night around 7PM. This friend is my husband’s bestie from HS, and his family house is up in Weld, Maine, about 3.5 hours away, which isn’t such a bad ride. This was our third time together up there, once when our kids were 3yr and 1yr, and then last year. We had such a great time last year, our kids especially. So much so, that we had to make this trip this Summer for the kids.

This trip was great. I never relaxed so much in such a short amount of time ever. Never. My only goal this weekend was to enjoy some downtime with friends, eat and drink like I was 26, and maybe, maybe, get a tan. We spent one full day there flanked by the two nights, and that one full day was literally the best Summer day! It started off cool but then progressively got warmer and sunnier, till it felt like 85 by 11 AM(though it was only 76~). Their house is right on Webb Lake, literally. You walk out the back porch to a ten foot patch of grass then boom there is the sandy beach overlooking this massively beautiful lake and mountains-scape. There were times Sunday that I was alone on the beach, just getting lost looking at the view; watching an eagle fly by or listening to a family of loons squawking in the distance. I’d then realize where I was and just get lost again looking at the sun glimmering off the water. JUST PERFECT

Here is a slide show of the weekend. You can click through or let it stream, that is up to you! 🙂

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Next time you hear from me here I will be back to the Cape for one last Summer week away, ending the week with my husband’s big 40th bday party! Wooo! Then it is our last Summer weekend with Labor Day and then IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL! The girls go back September 7 this year. We haven’t had an after Labor Day start since my oldest started Kindergarten. Which is great! Except it’s my baby’s big tenth birthday on the first day, which she keeps groaning about. So I am going to try my best to make it the greatest first day of school ever for her. On the flip side, my oldest is going into her first year at the middle school, and she can’t contain her excitement. We literally haven’t had a day go by where she hasn’t talked about starting school- I had to take her supply shopping already!! (She is an academically inclined kid, very smart, so she keeps telling me in a sweet way how much she likes Summer, but can’t wait for school to start cause she LOOOOOOOVES school. Yes, she is my child!! tyvm).

I can’t believe I just talked about back to school, it’s still Summer here!! No more jumping ahead.

And.. Yup, I married a young one. :)~

Ok, tty all real soon! xxoxoxoxo

15Jul2017

Cape Cod July 2017 (in photos)

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

Back from our Cape vacation, sadly. :(((((

We had a blast even though the weather wasn’t totally cooperative the whole time. We started off great, with a super beach day… then the clouds settled in a bit. Our one rainy day opened up to sunshine, though! Which was great for go kart racing, arcades, ice cream for lunch and then a last minute beach day! But not for my hair.. my god the humidity and my hair do not mix. (You know I am Sicilian when the humidity comes around…holy white girl afro!)

This vacation, however, we tried to disconnect to unwind. Since my husband owns a business he can’t totally go off grid, people are always messaging him about stuff, but he did way better than me outside of his work. Me? Welllll, I didn’t fair toooooo well, but I tried a whole lot! haha Damn you snapchat!!

We did get very lucky to come home with toasty brown tans though (first time!), and lots of fun memories to boot.

So here is my pix rundown from this trip! Each one is captioned for your pleasure. hahah

We left Sunday… ootd: Boden beach dress with Old Navy suede tassel sandals

Had to add a sweater for the car ride… I am always chilly 🙂

This dress is so cute.

And we are finally off! our two girls are the cutest!

OOTD when we got to the resort! Bathing suit/Swim cover

Aqua one piece from JCrew…they have the best bathing suits. This was my first strapless one piece.

Super cute right? and not to be a loser, but i love how my shoulders looked this whole trip. working out def changed how i felt this whole week.

My new spf / beach bag!

With my new swim cover, which matches! This was from Macy’s

Ahh yassss, the beach.

the best beach accessories around… wine bottle and glass! haha

Then we headed to the pool to get some swimming in

We always get take out the first night, and we tried the Jerk Cafe

Jerk Cafe

The food was AMAZING.. this was my oldest dish, shrimp

my dish was the jerk chicken and shrimp

my husband got the jerk chicken and pork, and our youngest wanted nothing to do with it, but ended up eating all of ours!

Sunset cutie

The moon was spectacular, no phone could capture it right…a bright orange/copper moon. never saw anything like this before.

Summer Lovin’

Our baby girl

They are so cute

The goofball

Fam photo

DAY TWO! and I love how my arms look, something I never would’ve said a year ago. so happy with my progress

JCrew bathing suit, my newest addition this year..

I LOVED THIS SUIT!

Breakfast w my fam

Finally made it to the beach!

Catching up on a book I have wanted to check out.

Beach sweethearts

So glad we brought inflatables..

They swam for hours!

Ketchup for a stadium? holy huge!Dinner was at the Cone, cuz my kids love it there…

Krista K’s for ice cream… eh I didnt care for this place..

Night Night!

DAY 3 OOTD; my gym tank and shorts.. we had other plans but changed them to go out for the day…

It was drizzly, so we opted to ride go karts, arcade, and ice cream

This place was so much fun! not the arcade tho …so we went somewhere else for that

My loves 🙂

Uhm, so i love two games more than anything… skee ball and air hockey.. i will play anyone and CRUSH THEM. haha seriously, I will beat you and Monica Gellar dance in yo face!

Lunch… i love ice cream for lunch!

Sun’s out!

OOTD: jcrew purple one piece and swim cover, which I did not wear cuz i ended up hating it on hahah I changed to my old anchor one

I did gt burned the night before.. ehhh oh well!

Grabbing ice was my youngest’s fav thing to do each day. haha

So I look so stupid but I covered myself head to toe for the beach..idk why… hahah

then I obv didnt care! sun me sun me!

We hit the pool and i got to read a lot!

And snap you guys hahah

THEN DINNER!

Skippers

His and her cocktails to start.

They have the best clam chowder… hands down.

My dinner… so i realllllly love broiled haddock, simple.

A lil prosecco to top off the night.

Came back to the resort to play in the mobile game truck.

DAY 4! Bathing suit OOTD, jcrew last year.

I LOOoooVE this suit..so womanly

OOTD: jean shorts and a tank with my bathingsuit

breakfast ready… Voila

SUMMER LOVE 🙂

margarita time y’all

she was happy to get a milk shake

Dinner OOTD:

This dress is great, but chilly for this night…

my hair for dinner..just couldnt handle the waves of hair

$This place is so fracken good. Personal pizzas, but they are so crush into my face worthy..$

This place is so fracken good. Personal pizzas, but they are so crush into my face worthy..

hee hee their logo

My girls!

potato bacon pizza above and the sausage w ricotta pizza below… yummmmm

“I want to be Jackie Onassis” ooh yeahhhhhh ok I will stop singing.. So Four Seas is the place in Hyannis for ice cream. My fam loves it here but I hadta skip it this night… too much ice cream for me man!

zzzz’s time… did i mention i love my summer pjs?

LAST FULL DAY: Welp, bikini, not the best beach body but I love this top toooo much! top from target last year and Jcrew bottoms

Bfast buddies

Wicked cloudy day but still beachable!

Cloudy days actually render the best photos…

it was actually a perfect beach day, sunny, warm and not terribly windy.

Chips on the beach… perfection haha yes I am that simple.

Toes in the sand. I want to relish this feeling!

right after this the weather got bleak and chilly.

OOTD Dinner time! (and it was raining now)

Peruvian Italian?

The place was adorable, and filled up so fast!

The craziest color drink ever.. so yellow! Inca Kola tastes like bubblegum and cream soda. the girls gave it a thumbs up but didnt finish them..soooo i dont know if they actually liked it the whole meal.

THE FOOD WAS TDF. we got empanadas, calamari, crab cakes to share… so good. the kids got risotto and pasta..my husband got the halibut over risotto…so good. i am planning to come back next month haha i wish i was kidding.

And quite possibly the best sangria!

My loves 🙂

Cant tell but I was feeling so under the weather

We have a few other trips penciled in for this Summer…but … we will see you in August again my dear, Cape!

xoxoxoxo

25Apr2017

Philadelphia and New Haven 2017 (Part 2)

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

I am only posting photos in this post as each picture is pretty self explanatory if you click on them, and it was just an overnight in PA and a dinner stop in CT.

We did do a lot of history walking in Philadelphia. We really love this city, and I hope I can make it back again soon. New Haven was new to me, and I hope to make it back there again soon too to eat more pizza haha. 🙂

xoxoxox!

OOTD to leave DC

Klimpton- Monaco Hotel

I love these boutique hotels so much!!!

Independence Hall!

The actual ones!

The original Liberty Bell!

And we see a school mate away AGAIN! This is like four trips in a row!

The oldest Post Office in the country

Betsy Ross’s house

Betsy Ross’s Burial site

The oldest neighborhood

Hidden garden

At happy hour, the girls (who are whips at chess) are helping this cute girl beat her bf at chess.. they loved the kids so much. 🙂

Dinner at the Little Lion

Blood Orange Cosmos

I dont normally eat burgers out, but I was glad I did this night! so good!

Day 2!

We went to the Franklin Institute and then headed for New Haven, CT, for dinner on the way home.

OOTD to leave PA!

These lamps just made me smile every time I walked by them

Good Bye PA!

One work related stop for the mister…Franklin Institute

This exhibit was pretty fun.

Jurassic Park Exhibit

Our youngest loves the Jurassic Park series… uhm Chris Pratt’s in it, so I am willing to watch .. ahem I love him. ahem.

Walking through the brain

New Haven

Wooster St, New Haven

The line here was ridiculous but we made it in within thirty min.

I love old school sodas!

So as you may tell, I watch Vice’s show, Pizza…

ANND someone always passes out.. hah it was about 11PM here.

24Apr2017

Washington DC 2017 (part 1)

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone,

Just got back from our vacation Saturday night around midnight. It was such a great school vacation week away! Let me slide right into our trip here on my blog.

Ooooh yeah! First, I have a new blog name! I upgraded here on wordpress to valeriaoutloud.blog. I think it’s just a fun easy name to remember (for ME to remember!) and I needed more photo space, so why not? Right.

We left home around 9:30AM, had the best ride together and got to DC right in time for our dinner reservations at the Old Ebbett’s Grill. This is the oldest restaurant in DC, right next to the Treasury Building/White House. The restaurant was hopping! So glad we made all our dinner reservations ahead of time. This place was old man’s club type of swank with original gas dim lighting, dark blue velvet seating, large stone bar, wood paneling, and all the waiters/waitresses decked out in their long apron whites buzzing around. Super fun, really great menu and drinks list. I am one of those indecisive food people at times, and when menus are really thoughtful it makes it hard, and this place’s menu was packed with a lot of great choices. We dined on some fabulous cocktails and dishes; like some of the things we had were the calamari, crab cakes, and brick chicken.

DAY 1 Photos:

We took off bright and early… ok, early for us! hahah

Wore my latest wordy shirt… I Lift A Latte…now I need to find one that says Coffee, Metal and Barbells I’d be ecstatic. Anyone find one lemme know! kk

Our oldest made a lot of fun handmade car games.. super cute

We made it! Old Ebbitt’s Grill

CHEERS TO A GREAT VACATION!

Capitol Building

Washington Monument

White House

Pennsylvania Ave’s Resident Protestor

We stayed at the Hyatt on K Street, and it was real convenient. The location was about 5 blocks from the White House area. We walked everywhere throughout our trip, which was great for us and thankfully we had beautiful weather 95% of the week.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day we decided to spend the day going around to some museums and the archives. We started off at the National Museum of American History, then hopped to the National American History Museum and then the National Archives… Can you say HOLY WALKING!? We hit some major walking step milestones on this trip. The amount of history and information in these three buildings alone would normally take us a day at each place. Just impressive, amazing and inspiring. After all this we took an uber to our dinner reservation at MXCD, a Todd English Mexican restaurant. I highly recommend it if you like Mexican food. The sangria was so delicious and each dish we ordered was so good I could’ve stayed there all night noshing! (seriously, Mexican food done right is my fav and their tomatillo salsa is something I am still dreaming about!! Yes I love Mexican food this much haha. )

Then we decided last-minute during dinner that it was the best time for us to surprise the girls with a stop for dessert. They have been insane for DC Cupcakes for years; a reality show based on the owners of and shop Georgetown Cupcakes. So, we took an uber right over to Georgetown, and they were so giddy! We arrived to a monster line, which went by fairly quick, but I was nervous we wouldn’t make it inside before they closed … but we got in!

…six cupcakes later, and we were all real glad we made the visit. Ok, I only ate half one but they disappeared right fast with this crew! Their cupcakes are actually good! I only make this statement because we went to Carlo’s Bakery in NJ a few years ago and their bakery stunk..sad looking and the pastries were boring. So this was a relief and a memorable stop for our girls.

DAY 2 Photos:

OOTD – blue maxi dress w sneaks

With our youngest girl

In front of the White House

National Museum of American History

So..apparently, I wasn’t supposed to take a photo of this.. OHHH WELLL!!

Aww my Dad. hahah

George Washington’s actual uniform

THE UNIFORM IN THIS PHOTO!

Dorothy’s Shoes

Julia Child’s kitchen!!

Penny Machine…everywhere we go!

Walking outside on the Mall

Stopped to finally sit in a sculpture garden

National Museum of American History Museum

The Hope Diamond… ohh lala!

This was just a cool exhibit inside the gems area, where they created an excavation site with how the gems really look.

With our oldest gal!

National Archives

MXDC

It was super fun

So we uber a lot..and you should too.

Georgetown Cupcakes

A little hangout on the hotel’s rooftop

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Our third day was an unusual one… So my husband’s high school friend works for the, uhm, CIA in DC. Anytime we mentioned going down, he has always told us to take him up on a quick tour of his old stomping grounds… THE TREASURY BUILDING!! So we took him up on it, met right outside the White House and walked over to this obscure building nearby where he got us some credentials to take this tour. He then took us underground to a tunnel that goes under Pennsylvania Ave! One part goes to the Treasury Building (which is where we went) and another goes to the White House! Super cool. From there he took us all over the Treasury, wherever he could. The building is definitely impressive, so much money was spent on this interior, it’s quite sick. After our two hours together, we took off to the Renwick Gallery across the street. What a beautiful museum! As we were there the Patriot’s showed up to the White House. We got a text of Bill Belichick walking in with a few people from our friend who was in the lobby across from their entrance. SO LUCKY!!!

After this gallery, we walked a ways to the USDA building for lunch… weird right!? Well, not really since it is the only food spot near the Holocaust Museum where we were headed. So, I was skeptical, even reading reviews, but the food was insanely good and the place was so clean. AND BUSY! I have never had a burrito from a non-Mexican place that was as good..seriously. After we got all stuffed full of food we made our way across the street to the Holocaust Museum.

I really can’t express how important this museum is, especially after talking to my children and all their questions while walking through. Even though we had prepped the girls beforehand, at home, with some Holocaust and war information, especially all the things that pertained to our families..like how my great uncles all perished fighting Russia, and how my father’s family (there were 11 children) was displaced through the war, and, how both of my husband’s grandfathers were part of the war, one the bombing of Japan and the other the reconstruction of the occupation of Japan. I wasn’t all that big on this time of our history, until 2011, when I went to Normandy for a personal WWII tour with my husband.

My God.

I left France with such a different perspective, and when we figured to go to DC this year, I was the first to say we needed to go to the Holocaust Museum, no matter the kids age. We are both connected in some way to the war with our families, but the holocaust is a totally different aspect of that and I wanted to make sure our children understood real racist bigotry/just down right hate, so they understood that this is not normal behavior, and never to accept it as it is ok. EVER. I had to fight back a lot of tears explaining things to them, which was hard. Especially when we entered the ovens room and then the shoes room. I was with my oldest daughter, and well, ugh, my soul just wanted to melt into the floors with my tears.

So powerful.

We followed this visit with a rest back at the hotel for a bit before dinner. We all needed it, especially me.

We then grabbed an uber to go to dinner, my husband was very excited to keep this one to himself. We showed up to Jaleo!!! So, a lil back story, I have a huge, well, IMMENSE, chef crush on Jose Andres. I love this guy, he reminds me of my dad when I was younger..how he talks, expresses himself and just everything, and his cooking skills are right up my alley. He is so talented. So when we showed up I was so excited! I have been wanting to go to DC to check out his restaurants.

Wow, just wow. What a talented guy! The cocktail choices were great and the list of tapas was overwhelming. First, we had to try the Ferran Adrià liquid olives. TO DIE FOR! Then we noshed on endives with oranges, hanger steak with piquillo, salted cod fritters, Iberico ham and chicken croquettes, sausage and white beans, and I can’t remember more, but it was a sea of food and drinks. OOO speaking of drinks! My husband got a Clara in a porron, which is this funky glass blown decanter you decant IN YO MOUTH!

After dinner we took a walk to get gelato at Pitango, which was real good! The girls got a Matcha green tea, a stracciatela (choc chip) and we split a nocciola (hazelnut), and I wouldn’t mind going back sometime. haha

DAY 3 Photos:

This was my breakfast for four days! haha Nutella is the bestest.

The creds

The tablet inside the weird bldg

Seriously funky space underground

A giant vault that held the nation’s gold

Couldn’t even budge it!

An old school elevator

The columns all throughout

stairs

Our friend took us to this cool old office that had fun views of the city. but this desk had some history and i dont remember right now hhaha

View from the office

The attic…uhm yea.

Conference room they actually use for tv!

A few shots before heading further on.

The Renwick Gallery

Laying on the ground looking up at the Janet Echleman installation

Our kids loved this stop! hahah

USDA cafeteria

Last image from the Holocaust Museum

JALEO!

!!JALEO!!

Sangria!

A Clara in a Porron (sp)

This was not only fun to drink from but TASTED AMAZING!

Jaleo’s flooring

So, I have a HUGE celeb chef crush on Jose Andres…and my husband surprised me with a dinner here. :))))))))))

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Our last day in DC we spent it at the National Museum of African-American History and then a walk to the memorials along the Mall. This museum was as powerful as you would think, and just as lingering as the Holocaust Museum. My husband’s former colleague works for the museum and gave us one tip…START FROM THE BOTTOM. So that is what we did. This area was the most eloquent space I have been in, with regards to museums…and believe me folks, I am a museum expert at this stage of my life with my husband.!; if I had to list all the museums I have been to, you’d be exhausted. Like I am. hahah

Ok, so this museum was similar in sense to the Holocaust museum, the only difference I felt in this museum was the exuberant resilience of the Africans/African-Americans/Black Americans. They start you off in an elevator taking you down to the lower depths of the floor, going down through time. As you made your way back up on foot, you go through the decades/centuries up the levels..like walking through time; starting with their first encounters with becoming slaves all the way to modern day. They over came so much hate, hate that I couldn’t even bear to read on the labels through the earliest times in the exhibit. I was happy to see that they weren’t shy to say things out loud there either, like the words whipped, lynched, hung, beaten, raped, fathered children with a slave, abused, looked over, ignored, etc, they were there as clear as day…they weren’t dismissed.

As you went outside this exhibit and throughout the museum you saw their dark times turned into a way of life …their music, food, fashion, point of view..just everything. It’s def a must see in DC!!!

After this we made our way across the Mall to the Washington Memorial, and then to the Lincoln Memorial. It’s weird how overcome with emotions I was walking up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a place I had always wanted to go visit. Lincoln is a man I highly admire from America’s history. He made powerful statements and wanted to see a just country. The sight was not only beautiful but the vibe is also quite impressive. So many gatherings of people there. Really top notch. After we hung out at the memorial for an hour or so, we took a stroll through the Vietnam War Memorial. It is quaintly tucked away so I almost missed it!

We then ran to grab an uber to take us to the hotel for a rest. We walked something insane at this point, like 7 miles and on our feet, without much rest. Then after that good rest we took a walk down to Central, Michel Richard’s restaurant..he passed away recently. So as you might tell, I am a bit of a foodie by all these places we hit up in DC. Central was so much fun! We got so many cocktails and appetizers that I still am full! We started off with a blueberry white wine sangria and a pink Negroni for me…holy tipsy off one. Seriously, I am no light weight, but that drink was holy moly good! After this we went to Milk, a special spot my kids love in NYC. Then it started pouring, so we took an uber back to pack up the room.

DAY 4 Photos:

Ok todays OOTD is a black maxi!

My girls

Images are so powerful

View from the building

The top floor looking down

Walk to the Washington Memorial

View of where we headed next…

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Central!

Milkbar! Milk store

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Ok, so this is part one! The second part (one night) we hit up Philadelphia, PA, for a quick history stop and then on the way home we stopped in New Haven, CT.

Hope this wasn’t terribly wordy…as I wasn’t planning to say much! haha

xoxoxoxoxo

28Feb2017

Costa Rica 2017- Our last Full Day and departing!

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

On this last day of February, it seemed like a good reason to share our last full day in La Fortuna and our departure the next day.

We woke up to another grey start, a light drizzle, but you could see the sun was trying its best to shine for us. Even so, a little rain won’t stop us! We headed to our last big breakfast up at the Tres Cascadas. So bittersweet, because we ended up having the sun shine during breakfast like it was meant solely for us. We were the only people there on the patio for a while, so it felt like a personal send off. All these different type of birds flew by and stopped at neighboring trees, like it was a parade. So special. We hung out at breakfast again for a long while, just no need to rush anywhere, felt so good. This day we decided to spend the whole day at the resort, to see everything and have a real fun lazy last day swimming.

Afterward breakfast we went down to the Perdido Springs area, where we played on the slide with the kids, then did our thing by letting them play on their own so we could escape up to the hotter pools. When we got up there I noticed that some type of wildlife, a monkey or something, had just foraged a meal and placed it on the edge of the hottest pool (where the vegetation was thick and out of the way). I saw little bite marks along with split open fruits/berries. It was awesome. We ended up staying in the pools for a long time, just chilling out, talking to some other guests and enjoying a drink. It was a beautiful day relaxing.

We had only made one plan for the day, to enjoy the resort, and we had yet to explore Club Rio. Club Rio is an outdoor adventure area, on The Springs property, about 2 miles south of reception. They offer kayaking, tubing, horseback riding, rock wall climbing, wildlife sanctuary, hiking, bird watching, etc. etc. A funky green bus picks you up outside of the main reception area to take you down to Club Rio. When you arrive, you are greeted by the main thatched check in desk, but the views beyond to the right are the coolest. There is this green lush lawn overlooking a raging river scurrying by. First we saw a team of tubers floating, then a bit later a handful of kayakers, super cool! Then to the left there was an open floor plan restaurant, and then beyond that were trails going in every direction then to the left of that were the lockers/bathrooms adjacent to this massive rock wall. This place was AMAZING!

The girls really wanted to go on the Wildlife Sanctuary Tour, cause they remembered seeing it on their website. This was a fantastic tour, and our guide made it special for my girls. So off we went hiking up this massive stair case that gave way to the grounds above. There was a natural styled habitat for each rescued animal, some like animals could be together, but there were many that just couldn’t be together. There were a lot of jungle cats, like ocelots, pumas, and margays. They had a float of crocodiles, too! HUGE ONES! They had rescued a lot of tropical birds, and a slew of monkeys. This place, sadly, was created to rescue animals that are either illegally taken on as pets, in zoos or used as performers with traveling shows and neglected or in unfit conditions. The weird part was the largest jungle cat, the puma, acted like a house cat because it was conditioned by its previous owner. So this giant cat would come up to the window wanting to be pet. Super crazy, and sad. Yet I wanted to take him home. smh. A few of their animals were rescued from the wild too, because they were ousted in their packs from injuries. They were all so beautiful, and happy there.

We were talking to our guide while we were inside the two-toed sloth’s home, yes inside!, that the girls really wanted to see the toucans cause they had both done projects on them at school, our 9yr old this year and our 11yr old two years ago. Well, that got him excited for our next leg of the tour. He told us we were about to go to their enclosure, but if we wanted, and for nothing, he would let us inside to feed them…lemme think…UHM YES!!

The girls went nuts, and we had the most insane adventure with these toucans. There were three in total, one more beautiful than the other. Their beaks are a marvel really. Perfectly colored. Huge. Their contrasting feathers were just amazing. The blackness of the base feathers compared to the brilliance of the yellow and greens, seamless and plush. Beautiful animals. The guide gave us a few pellets of food in our hands, and told us to open our hands a certain way so the toucan knew we had the food. First, our youngest tried it. The bird flew right to her. She was happy at first, but then when she looked at the creature she just freaked out! Hahah She held one bird only. Second, our oldest was given pellets, puts her hand out and a bird flew to her. She was in heaven and this bird was so happy to be with her. She was hooked, and got to feed all the birds multiple times. Third, I was given a handful of pellets. Gently this beautiful bird lands on my arm and eats. I figured that their talons would be sharp, but not even a little. They had the coolest blue colored feet. So, as one bird is on my arm, another bird perched himself on my SHOULDER! I was covered in birds. Haha Snow White strikes again! Then lastly, but not least, my husband was given pellets and fed two birds. He looked adorable holding them. Then we were able to take pictures with the birds as a group and alone, it was so awesome.

Best part was NOT ONE BIRD POOPED ON ME! Woo!

After the toucans, the tour was basically coming to a close. We got to check out the crocodile pit. They had five or six crocodiles that were rescued from a home. HUGE crocs! They built them a pit with fresh running water, and those guys were content beyond content. We were too, safely above! After the tour, we headed to our room to change and wash up for dinner. We had heard about another local restaurant that was supposed to be great, ironically the name of the place is The Rainforest Café haha, so we decided that is where we wanted to go. This place was locally owned and everything was made to order and super fresh. It was right off the main street, quaint, and soooo busy. So it had to be good right?

RIGHT!

We ended up being seated right by the front window, so we could see all the passersby and feel the cool breezes. We ended up having such a great dinner there! The girls were happy because they had milkshakes (they are exactly my version of Venezuelan milk shakes, which is basically lots of ice, a cup of milk and a scoop of Nesquik topped with whipped cream!). I was happy because they had tamales, and good sauvignon blanc. We ordered a bunch of delicious dishes.. an empanada, a tamale, a chicken burrito, arroz con pollo e arroz con camarones. My oldest daughter and I lived off the rice dishes of the area; she loves shrimp, so she would be ecstatic to see that dish everywhere. I am drooling just remembering. No food eaten was salty or greasy, everywhere we went it was fresh, clean food. So ooOOOo good.

We hung out at this place till real late, the latest we stayed out our whole trip. Might have been a mistake since we had to leave the next day to meet our guide by 8AM back in La Fortuna. haha Oh well! We got back to the hotel, and I decided to pack up the room and let the kids go play in the game room with my husband. They were dying to be in there all the time, so I figured that left me free to make a big repacking mess getting everything in order. I am so glad I did that. I got everything packed, talked to a lot of my friends online and got myself showered all by the time my family got back. Boom. We enjoyed a drink when they got back, all cozied in the room, then crashed hardcore after that.

Ready for breakfast!

I SWEAR I DIDNT WEAR THIS DRESS ALL THE TIME!!

Bus to Club Rio!

There is a large river when you arrive

Waiting for our tour

Rescued

Toucans!

He was so handsome!

Look at that beak!

Our youngest seems ok

But then she gets freaked out

Not our oldest! She was psyched!!

Me too..

Even if I got the Snow White treatment…why do birds love me!?!?

How cute!!

Crocodiles!

RESCUED!?

Ready for dinner!

This is a lemon…it is green with a rich orange interior…

Chocolate milkshakes

Arroz con pollo! I miss that rice!

TAMALES

Departing is such sweet sorrow…

We woke up at the crack of frack on our last day! That sunshine came too early.

YES, SUNSHINE!

We woke up to a bright blue sky that had wafting fluffy clouds. We got ourselves ready and out the door by 7:35AM. Said our last goodbyes to our resort guide, Dixon, before checking out. I was so sad. I just didn’t want to accept the fact that we were leaving yet. hah After we departed with Dixon, we stuck around a bit looking for that volcano to shed her grey exterior to show us her goods! C’mon, mamacita, show me what ya got! She teased me not only the four days there, but that entire morning, too. The breezes off the mountains were blowing the clouds in a pretty good clip off the volcano. The second you’d think the tip of the volcano would appear, another cloud swept over. I was tracking her the whole drive from our hotel to the restaurant where we grabbed coffee and breakfast to go.. uhm, from The Rainforest Café! haha We loved it so much there the night before, that when the owner told us they’d be open, we gave each other the eye and planned to be back! The best part of us stopping for coffee and food there was that when we left to go back to the car, we saw the Arenal Volcano in FULL!

She did not disappoint, and that cloudy tease was worth the wait! She was glorious in every facet imaginable, and the best way to say goodbye to us. 🙂 This made me so happy.

We got to the car dealership where Geiner, pronounced hey-ner, was waiting for us from Maleku Tours. We got packed in his van to make our way back to Liberia for the airport. Now all week back home was getting hit with snow, and a storm hit the night before, but we never got word about the flight until we were a few minutes into this drive back to the airport. The flight was delayed 2 hours, Boston had a delayed departure. Not the worst place to be stranded, I guess, but our tour guide had another group to pick up after our departure so he wasn’t available after a certain time. BUT. He was so great to us, because he changed up our drive with a view of some local sights; drove through some neighborhoods, stopped at a cool church and then brought us to the local super market so we could grab some food to eat at the airport. The supermarket might have been our favorite part of this drive back. First of all, it was clean and beautiful, but they had Latin music pumping loudly; you couldn’t help but dance and smile while picking out food. We happened to see a live recording of some local show in the bakery, which was funny to watch. It was all a fun experience!

We got to the airport, Geiner got our bags out of the van that last time, but before he left I made sure we got a picture together. I mean, we spent three days together on this trip, he was an intrical part of it! The airport, thankfully, was clean and had tables set up outside for us to hang out an hour or so before we went to the gate for take-off. We sat there playing games, enjoying our last 90F day in Costa Rica. It was sad but also comforting by this point to know we would be home soon. We did all miss home, too, even though this trip was tops. Well, that is it. We had a pretty basic plane ride home filled with blue chips and movies. We got to Logan by midnight, had a fun time maneuvering through immigration, then a talkative Uber ride home, and passed out by 2AM. Perfect. haha

At the resort…the volcano wanted to show off

I swear she will show herself

Ugh c’mon!

ooo almost!

Yea?

Outside on the highway…she is gonna show right?

RIGHT???

Almost!!

HOLY CRAP!

And as we are getting into the tour van to go back to the airport..she shows herself!

Back on the bus!

We saw a cashew tree

Geiner! You were the bomb my friend!

Adios Costa Rica!

On the plane my husband drew the choc farmers dad!

That was Costa Rica. 🙂

Hope you loved following along my diary as much as I loved reliving it. We had so much fun learning about this rich country, and to see all the beauty it had to offer. I would love to go back one day.

Thanks for reading along on this trip!

Hasta la proxima!

Xoxoxoxo!

27Feb2017

Costa Rica- Chocolate Farm

Posted in My Travels by Sunshine76

Hey Everyone!

Onto our second day in La Fortuna..

This day we woke up later than normal, at 8:30AM, to a super cloudy day. As soon as we hit up breakfast at the Tres Cascadas the sun started to shine. We hung out at breakfast a long while, just soaking in all the beautiful surroundings. As we were joking around together, we decided that this was the perfect day to take advantage of the grounds of the resort then take an adventure in our car to find a chocolate farm we had researched before hand. We contacted the farm to make a reservation for 3PM. All was set.

The resort had the most awe-inspiring descending landscaping of pools along this mountain. The grounds were lush, the landscaping tranquil and the waterfalls a delight. The surroundings were meticulous in design, to say the least, keeping the natural feel of the rainforest. The part that was spectacular were the pools, they are fed directly from the thermal river of the Arenal Volcano, so they are naturally hot and mineralized. To keep integrity of the water, each night at closing the pools are drained, scrubbed, then refilled for 6AM, and they only offer one pool (the swim up bar one) chlorinated. The pools are situated in connecting trails, as I mentioned before, and they spill into one another to create varying degrees of waters. I just thought it was the coolest thing to notice, how they designed the pools to naturally be used and mixed with other waters to create these different temp pools. Functional beauty.

We spent most of our day swimming; watching the kids going up and down on the slide, trying out different stunts along with my husband. My husband might have loved it more than they did..ahem. But once we decided to relax together, which we did a lot this part of the trip, we spent time in the hot pools of the Perdido Springs area. This was the perfect spot because we could still watch the kids as we swam, cuddled and relaxed in the 99F waters. Utter paradise. But after about two hours of relaxing, we started to experience rain. Rain, hah..it was a deluge! We started feeling a light drizzle, that stopped. Then we felt a light rain, that stopped. Then we felt large drops of rain, that didn’t stop, but turned into a huge rainstorm! The girls ran up to us in the pools, then we took some shelter in the tiki bar, but that didn’t last long.. duh we were swimming! haha We all got into the hot pool and then the rain stopped just as fast as it started. Super cool.

Side note .. The warmth and minerals of the pools are not only therapeutic and relaxing, but to me, they had such a beautiful scent, too. My husband smelled it too, but I don’t know if this is a thing. The scent of the waters were dreamy; like a clean cologne. It made me so happy swimming around smelling so good. I am smiling just thinking about the scent..gah I miss this place!! 😦

Ok, so back to the trip!

Then we dragged ourselves out of the pools to get ready for the afternoon. I wasn’t really sure what we had in store so I made sure everyone dressed as comfortable as possible.. sneakers, shorts, and bring a rain poncho in case! The farm was located about 25 minutes away from our resort, not a bad drive at all since most everything is one straight shot through the center of La Fortuna. We found the residential area to be totally different from the downtown area. Lots of dirt roads, houses congregated together in a pod like formation with roads surrounding them. We found the chocolate farm, Don Olivo Chocolate Farm.

I LOVED IT!

This was a family farm, not a commercialized place. Super rustic with the drive way flanked with colorful carved trees and a quaint flat yellow house centrally located. This place was full of fruiting trees and wildlife.

Quickly we were greeted by the abuelo of the family. He greeted us so enthusiastically, telling us his son would be right with us. Super cute older man. We got to looking around a few minutes, and met the family German shepherds. The grounds reminded me of a version of campagna (the countryside) in Sicily, not the look but the vibe. Almost everyone in Sicily owns a family farm, a second countryside home. Some small. Some large. They grow so many things on their farms for their day to day lives, and they use the farms during vacations, holiday weekends, and some like to live there all Summer long to get out of the city.

The farm owner came out to greet us, all smiles, beaming in English. Very sweet guy. As he is talking to us about his farm, cutting down fruits from the trees to have us eat them ripe, another family shows up, unexpectedly, to take a tour, too! So we went on to the tour together. The farmer takes us on a tour of his fruiting trees, and like I said, he was literally talking and cutting stuff down for us to try them. Then a minute later, his father would come over with a machete slicing more fruit for us. It was awesome. We got to try star fruit, papaya, soursop, mango, green coconut water, peppercorns, spearmint, and so much more I can’t think straight. After we toured the front part of the grounds, he took us to his house’s porch to talk about sugar cane. He showed us how you take the stalk, beat it to loosen the fibers, then squeeze it to extract the juice. We tried it over ice, and it was yummy. Then because my husband loves rum, the conversation of rum came up and the father went into his private stash to let us adults take a shot of rum.

WOAH. I mixed mine with the sugar cane juice cause it was potent. haha

From here, the group was guided to the cocoa tree grove. A grove with a thousand trees! We learned so much about the history of the cocoa trees, amazing and ugly cocoa! hah We were then taken along the stages of the cocoa pods to cocoa beans to chocolate. As we were walking the rain came, but it wasn’t a big deal. It lasted a few minutes then the sun came out. Didn’t stop us from seeing all the trees full of cocoa pods. The pods grow in a few colors, brown, purple and yellow, but the pods inside are the same. The farmer grabbed one right off the tree, a yellow one, and smashed it open. We were allowed to try a piece of the interior fruit, which were white gelatinous blobs (to me, tasted floral and bland), these were raw cocoa beans. The cool part was the bite of one showed this vibrant purple color inside. The farmer then walked us over to his backyard covered patio, it was the coolest spot, where he showed us the process going forward

After the pods were opened, the beans are taken out and fermented for 5 days in a barrel. From this fermentation the pods turn brown, and they smell horrible! haha Then they need to be dried out in the sun/dry place for 15-20 days. He had a greenhouse full of drying beans we got to walk into, touch them and smell them. The beans are then husked by hand here. He had a large wooden mortar and pestle he uses to bang up the skins, then the breezes of the area naturally whisks the husks away. Then there is only the bean left, which is then ground by hand, which we all had a crack at doing. Then this ground cocoa is at the stage to be made into chocolate however you like!

It was so fun!!

The farmer had set up two large farm tables for us to enjoy some chocolate inside the patio. There were mugs, spoons, homemade sugar in the raw and cookies. His father cooked up hot cocoa for everyone with the grounds we all participated in grinding, and let us sample fresh 90% dark cocoa chocolates he made. YUM! The hot cocoa was delicious. Soooo rich and good! I could only take a few sips. Then afterwards his daughter came out with his wife, and we got to hang out together, talk and get to know what the culture of Costa Rica was really like. I LOVE TALKING TO LOCAL PEOPLE! The farmer’s daughter was so sweet. My gosh. She wouldn’t leave me alone, it was so cute. She pulled up her bunny chair next to me, talking and talking and talking. We exchanged a lot of Spanish together, and her mom. She was almost 3, but her personality was beyond her years. What a funny kid. She was so upset I had to leave. Good people there. So glad we went.

Then after we left there, we traveled to go eat in the center of La Fortuna at a chicken rotisserie place we researched, Pollo Fortuneno. We were happy to see it was right smack dab in the middle of the town as we drove in. We parked the car, went a little souvenir shopping, then made a bee line right to eat. The restaurant didn’t have a lot of tables, about 10 in total. We grabbed one of the large, grass thatched tables out front, and so glad for that luck! Because in minutes the place was chock full and a line started to form… I overheard one woman say that there was over an hour wait!!

AND THEN THE HEAVENS OPENED UP, ANOTHER DELUGE!! HOLY MOTHER OF WATER! Then again, as soon as it started it was over!

Thank goodness for the umbrella over the table!

The restaurant was a lot of fun. It is situated on a corner, with their large stacked rotisserie facing the street on a platform for show. It was the coolest thing to watch, all engulfed in flames, mesmerizing. The staff going up there to grab chickens was like some show. We ordered a few fun items, like chalupas, patacones, rosemary oil papas fritas, rotisserie chicken and pork ribs….can we say DeLiCiOuS!?! We had such a great time dining there. The wait for food was long, but that isn’t a complaint, more of a FYI. I personally love hanging out for a long time, no rush here! Bonus, we were allowed to bring our own beer and sangria, which was great. We left there happy and full.

Another great day spent in paradise. 🙂

Next up…our last full day in La Fortuna!