ALS Ice Bucket Challenge 2014

2014 Ice Bucket Challenge from Courtney on Vimeo.

A Day in the Life - My 40th Birthday

For my birthday, we spent a week at the beach in a house that belonged to a friend of OJ's. Bill, Elyse and I were there for half of the time, then Bill left and the girls came. The home had a bedroom downstairs and the loft upstairs had three more queen beds. It was perfect!

Here is what happened that Wednesday of my birthday - such a good day.

6:00 a.m. Happy Birthday text message from my Dad. Bill is already up and downstairs. Elyse is still sleeping in bed around the corner. I roll over and go back to sleep.

7:30 a.m. Feels good to sleep in. Get up when hear the girl.

8:06 a.m. Cuddling with Libs and Elyse and a cup of coffee. And yes, I brought a Keurig!

8:24 a.m. Time to eat. Yummy breakfast. 

8:59 a.m. Coffee #2 and sit down to eat with my favorite girl. Love that our girl loves fried eggs over easy.

9:12 a.m. Time for a puzzle. Do you not love the "old-school"ness of this house? Everything was Great Grandma old, but sparkling clean. I was impressed by how well this house and everything inside has been cared for! Brings back memories of growing up!

10:00 a.m. Bath/shower time and slow get ready time!

11:15 a.m. Failed family pic. Keeping it real - don't you love these faces? The camera was propped on Bill's shoe on a chair outside. Bill was coming over to be in the pic just as the camera toppled over. And yes, it was my big camera. Dumb. (all was okay fortunately)

And a little better one before the camera fell. Just sad no Bill. Will remedy later with cell phone!

11:34 a.m. Head into town to the carousel and ladybug ride! Elyse got to ride these each day of the trip! PS: Does the carousel worker not look like Axl's roommate on The Middle?! 

11:50 a.m. Elyse's first time on a big horse! I cannot tell you how awesome this was for me! The best $10 spent of the trip. Her name was Bea and she was awesome!

12:49 p.m. Time for lunch. Can you say - teeny tiny place with an amazing chef and tasty menu? That is - Great Day Cafe! I took the girls back a couple days later - it was that good!

Family selfie.

These two!

2:00 p.m. Head into town to Scoopers - yummiest ice cream in town. Elyse picked the grossest flavor with some name like Bears in a Barrel - green apple with blueberry swirl and gummi bears. Disgusting, but she loved it. Do you like my SINGLE scoop of chocolate peanut butter. It was gigantic and yes, I did eat it all.

2:35 p.m. Our daily stop at the grocery store. This time for more eggs and bottled water and a package of bacon for when the girls arrive.

2:51 p.m. Back to house to drop off groceries and load up truck.

3:10 p.m. Left the house to head to the beach. Saw a dragonfly! Thank you for the visit, Mom!

3:15 p.m. Beach time. It was beautiful weather in the 70s and it was only supposed to barely hit 60. Happy birthday to me! We got all of our kites in the air. 

3:20 p.m. Some goofballs were driving a huge truck, pulling a utility trailer driving very slowly in the soft sand. Bill and another fellow helped get them un-stuck. It was actually all quite entertaining!

3:30 p.m. We spent another couple hours at the beach.

Serious kite flyer.

Man and his dog.

5:30 p.m. After leaving the beach, we weren't real hungry, but we headed to town to pick up a sandwich for later. We didn't want to get cake, but wanted something birthday-like at least for Elyse's sake. She picked out her own cupcake and I got coconut/chocolate chip bar.

6:10 p.m. Back to the house and bath time for the little girl!

6:30 Happy Birthday and cupcake time!

Happy 40th! from Courtney on Vimeo.

6:39 p.m. Laundry and dinner - Bill and I share a turkey gobbler from the Cottage Bakery. Yum.

8:15 pm Elyse goes to bed easy - tired girl.

8:20 p.m. Bill and I have good talks - play with Libs.

9:45 p.m. - Our makeshift bed for Libs next to my bed. Such a good day. Thankful. Goodnight!

Turning 40

Last week I turned 40. Normally, I don't care a whole lot about what I do for my birthday. But, this was a milestone - I wanted to do something special. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to find a house near the beach - have some time with just my husband and daughter and also time with just the girls. I got it all.

I got this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

My heart is full. It was an amazing week. I love all of these people. I am good with being 40. I have so much to be thankful for. These people I love helped affirm that.

I have so many more pictures and stories to share with you. But, I've been gone for a week and it's good to be home.

More to come.