Notre Dame 20th Reunion Day1

Kevin got the invitation for his 20th reunion from University of Notre Dame back in the Spring and we started talking seriously about going.  We have managed to skip every single reunion opportunity for the both of us for the last 20 years.  Neither of us had any interest in going until year 20.  We both gradulated from undergrad + got married 20 years ago this Summer.  That felt like a big milestone.  They had tons of events for families, kids and alums.  It was the first week of Summer so we decided to make reservations.  It's just about 5 hours north of us now so we planned a quick weekend roadtrip.

We had the best time!

We visited all of the famous landmarks on campus.

We got to spend the night in a dorm!  Super exciting very basic accomodations.  We might have decided taht we're too old to live in dorms again, but the kids LOVED every second of dorm life.

We visited our favorite spots around Southbend and just generally loved an entire weekend filled with Notre Dame festivities.

We felt nostalgic and sentimental about sharing a place that we love so much with the kids.  The big kids are ready to head back for a football game this Fall.

There was an exciting buzz on campus with alums everywhere you looked.  This group of guys offered to take a family picture for us and I appreciated it so much.  

Classic Leo.

We hardly ever use our stroller anymore, but we threw it in the car last minute.  I'm so thankful we did because we did a ton of walking all weekend long.

Fletcher looks so good in ND colors.

The weather was perfection!  And we had so much fun snapping pictures all over campus.

We got invited to a vow renewal ceremony in the Basilica.  It was a sweet group vow renewal and perfect for us celebrating our 20th anniversary next month.

It's a beautiful place.  I've been in the Basilica several times, but this was my first service here.  The kids did mostly great and the marriage service was sweet.  I'm glad Kevin signed us up for this special event.

After the service we explored campus.  The kids loved all the giant trees and pretty flowers.  Let's not forget the squirrel chasing.

Every single detail of the campus is beautiful.

We made several trips to the bookstore to update our ND gear for the season.  Olive found the cutest sweatshirt and belt bag.  They have a great bookstore on campus and a really fun one on the edge of campus.  Both are filled with the cutest gear.

All checked in and official for the Forever Irish weekend.

Then we headed to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner - Salsa's Mexican Grill.

They have a "Guac Girl" who comes to your table, a spicy ranch, delicious salsa and such good food!  We were here when Fletcher was little so it was fun to come back.  The portions are huge so we did a lot of sharing.

We went to bed so excited for another fun day on campus tomorrow!

10 Road Trip Tips

Is anyone else taking summer road trips this year?

We have been on a couple road trips (5 hours and 16 hours) and have a few tips to share with you.  I do a lot less for the 5 hour trips than the 16 hour trips.  Five hour trips means one fun surprise and some good snacks.  A lot more work goes into planning 16 hour road trips especially when it's 16 hours to AND 16 hours from your destination.  

1. Figure out your favorite food stops and try to find them along the way.

I love Dunkin iced coffee and Kevin loves a Starbucks run.  We're always excited to see Jimmy Johns, Chick-Fil-A or Culvers.  Make sure to use your rewards apps for all your favorite restaurants.  I cashed in some CFA points for free items, earned points for coffees and used Culvers rewards for kids meals.

2. Search Amazon for some fun new toys surprises for the drive.  

The kids loved these Gokeey Transformable fidget spinners.  They were very sturdy, the kids played with them a ton and they really were albe to transform into the coolest robots/creatures/inventions.  We have played with them for a couple of weeks and they area lls till in perfect condition.  The kids and adults had fun making different creatures and playing with these fidget spinners.  10/10 recommend them for summer travel or for birthday party gifts.

GoKeey Transformable Fidget Spinners 4 Pack - with a coupon to clip!

3. Post-It Note count down.

My kids (ages 4-11) all appreciate this visual count down.  I set a timer on my phone and for every hour we do of driving, we take down a post it note.  I prepped these ahead of time and wrote out 1-16 twice.  That way I was ready for the trip down and the trip back.

4. Make a fun Spotify playlist or two.  Olive made one for the kids.  I always have a current playlist ready and Kevin wished we'd made him a playlist of his favorite songs to put in the rotation.  We listen through the car bluetooth and it was really helpful when we hit dead spots of not great radio reception.

5. Car crafts!  My kids enjoy these wax wiki sticks, busy books, marker crafts, sticker books and more.  I don't usually like things like slime in the car because it is so messy.

6. Fun Pit Stops!

If you have time, fun pit stops are an instant mood boost!  Bucees is something else.  We've skipped them before when they are too crowded, but this trip we visited twice.  It's quite a spectacle and the food is oustanding.

7. Dine in.

Another instant mood boost is getting everyone out of the car and dining inside.  We all needed a break when we got to Macon, GA.  This Chick-Fil-A dine in gave us the energy to drive a few more hours.  We never dine in for long, but the change of scenery is good for everyone.

8. Reserve your hotels in advance.  We have made the mistake of not doing this and had to sleep for a few hours in a van at a rest stop or drive way far out of the way for a hotel room.  Kevin handles all of this.  He'll map our the hours he'd like to drive and then pick a hotel in that city.  We split up the drives where we did 9 or 10 hours on day 1 and then had a shorter day of about 6 hours for day 2.

9. Gas station snack grab.

Nothing perks the kids up more than telling them to grab any snack of their choice at a bathroom break.  It's so fun to see them strolling through the giant aisles of salty and sweet snacks to pick out something that sounds good to them.

10. Collect trash as you eat and snack and then throw away a bag of trash every time you stop for restroom/gas breaks.  That way your car will stay clean and clutter free!

11. If you have a long drive and are spending the night in a hotel half way, pack a small bag with pjs/outfits for everyone for that night.  That way you just have to take that small bag into the hotel room for night and not have everyone drag in all of their suitcases and bags.  It makes it a really quick sleep and go night if you have everything you need for everyone in one bag. 

12. Find things to get excited about - landmarks, fun stops along the way, a new movie to watch, make a vacation to do list as you travel or anything happy and positive to pass the time.  The silliest thing we got excited about on this drive was our stops at Bucees.  I think we passed 3 of them each drive and it was fun to monitor the billboards.  And after we stopped for the first time we came up with a list of things to try on our next visit.

The Banana Pudding is amazing.

Skip all the hot food options and go straigth for the BBQ.  Kevin and I will be dreaming of these pulled pork sandwiches for a while.  Skip the BLT and the chicken strips/fries.  They take forever to prepare and aren't very good.

And then grab a snack to enjoy later.  Kevin loves fudge so this sampler pack caught his eye.  The kids of course picked out Bucees stuffed animals or key chains.  We all have wish list items for our next visit to Bucees.

Good luck planning and enjoying your summer road trips!!

Friday Five

Happy Friday, Friends!  It's been BUSY overe here so I am doing a quick Friday 5 post today.  

Five highlights from our week and a lot of blog catch up work coming soon!

1. Florida Fun.  We just got back from the best trip to Naples, FL.  It's one of our favorite places.  The weather was rainier than usual (record breaking rain the first two days!) BUT we got to swim every day, tried some new things, hit our favorite spots and enjoyed a week of extra family time.

2. My pots of flowers are bursting with blooms!  I learned the best tip recently.  If you are leaving on a trip and having someone water plants for you (thanks, Dad!), move your full sun plants out of the full sun for the week.  I pulled all my patio pots into a line right up against our house.  They still got sun, but weren't being roasted when I wasn't home to water them daily.

I am really proud because I planted these from seeds and I can't wait for them to bloom!  Kristen, Your Zinnia seeds seem so happy here!  Along with some wildflowers.

3. Surprise centerpiece.  We hosted some friends for dinner this week and Kevin surprised me with fresh flowers for the table.  He knows the table looks nice with a small bouquet and he guessed red flowers since I tend to do red, white and blue all Summer long.  I asked him how he knew that I hadn't already bought flowers for the table.  He said that since I did grocery pick up for the meal, he knew I wouldn't order flowers for the table that way.  He was right.  And so thoughtful!  It helped pull together a perfectly pretty table.

4. It's good to be home!  Any time Leo sees something with writing on it, he says "This says Leo on it!" claiming it as his.  These binoculars had a product label on them and he was sure that it said LEO marking them his.

Our Midwest sunsets have been extra pretty this week!

5. Bucee's Banana Pudding.  We visited Bucees a couple of times on our trip to Florida and I'm here to tell you: Get the Banana Pudding for dessert after you finish a pulled pork sandwich.  They're both delicious.  And you won't find a cleaner bathroom and gas stop.  It's not the easiest or fastest stop to navigate with all the people, but it's an iconic travel must do if you're heading anywhere in the South.

Happy weekend!  I hope you have a fabulous one.  See you back here next week!

Lifetime Playset

I have wanted a playset for our backyard sinced we moved in two years ago, but they're expensive and a huge project to build.  We had a wooden playset at our last house and I was hoping this metal one would be easier to assemble.  

I was WRONG.  The online reviews said it would take 2 people around 8 hours to build.  That was also WRONG.  It took Kevin and my Dad and a little help from me and my mom an entire week of working on it for good chunks of time.  It probably took us 24 solid hours with a team to build.  They may never let me live this project down, BUT the kids love it and I think we're all happy to get to enjoy it now that the assembly part is out of the way.

We started on a chilly Saturday in May and finished the following Saturday.

Some serious eye rolls and WHITNEY comments were made when they saw the table full of hardware that needed to be organized.

SO HAPPY.

There is a city map on floorboard of the tower and Leo loves driving his cars up there.  Then he sends his cars down the slide for some extra fun.

Sweet memories.

100% worth all the hard work.  The kids play on the playset every single day.

We found this set on sale at Sams in April.  It's a beast to assemble, but we've been really happy with it so far.  And Kevin says I was right - the kids love it - but it was a tough project even for guys who are familiar with building and assembling.