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- Well – last weekend, at this time, we were riding roller coasters – and it was the best ever. Last Friday night, we drove out to New Jersey to visit the brand new American Dream Mall, which is a massive complex (seriously, words can not adequately describe how huge this place is). Not only is it a mall, with all the traditional mall-stores, but it houses an indoor ice skating rink, indoor ski slopes, an indoor waterpark, and an indoor amusement park! Everything isn’t quite open yet, but the indoor amusement park is & that’s where we went. It’s called Nickelodeon Universe – so yes, everything is themed to Nickelodeon characters. In case you aren’t 100% caught up on your current kids Nick shows – yes, Blue’s Clues & Dora the Explorer are still around, but the PAW Patrol are also Nickelodeon characters (insert silent squeal of delight here). This place is so new, we weren’t exactly sure what it would be like, so we didn’t exactly have super high hopes – but it actually turned out to be really cool! Derrick & I will both be reviewing the park in-depth in the coming weeks, but until then, go check out his latest YouTube video – which is cinematic 4K footage of the park! It’s super fun (and entirely shot with his new camera, which is super sweet!) Oh, and in case you’re wondering: YES, Braelynn got to meet both Chase & Skye – PAW Patrol characters that were in the park. Those moments are easily some of our top highlights of the trip!
- After spending the day in Nickelodeon Universe, we stopped at The Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos on the way back home & spent a night there. We’ve never been to a Great Wolf Lodge – but we have been to other indoor water parks that are very similar. We had things we liked & didn’t like (again, full reviews coming soon!) What matters most is that the kids had a blast & Braelynn was actually tall enough to ride almost every single waterslide! We had so much fun! It was the perfect little trip to open up our 2020 amusement park season, but now, we’re itching to go somewhere else! We have a trip planned at the beginning of April & then just a few weeks later, Kennywood will open – so not too much longer to wait before it will be roller coaster riding season once again!
- We have some really funny stories from our trip, and I’ll save most of them for when I post an overview with photos (coming next week!) but I have to tell one story: we’re still laughing about it! On Friday night, at our hotel – both Braelynn & Leander found the telephone to be absolutely fascinating. Derrick & I unplugged it so that they could play with it freely (without worrying that they’d call every room in the hotel) and they had a blast “making calls”. Well, on Saturday morning, as we were packing up to leave, Braelynn picked up the phone & dialed a number – not realizing that the phone was plugged back into the wall. The look of absolute horror on her face when someone actually said, “Hello?” on the other end of the line was hilarious!! She instantly hung up & melted into a puddle of tears – typical millennial kid right there!
- We had a little bit of time to kill before we could get into the Great Wolf Lodge, so we ended up walking around the Outlets that are right next door. Derrick & I both got brand new Adidas tennis shoes – for less than the cost of one pair at any shoe store back home! SCORE!
- We came back on Monday, to head right back out to celebrate my sister’s 21st birthday! My sister Emma is now officially, all-around, legal. We had dinner, and then my Mom planned for us girls to all go to a place called The Crafty Shack, where we were able to sit down with a piece of pottery & paint it. It was such a fun night & the perfect activity for my artist sister!
- Leander is still teething like a madman. He has been pleasant, for the most part, but yesterday was a sit-on-the-couch-snuggling-Mommy day. The good news is: I can actually see his molars beginning to poke thru! So, hopefully not too much longer & we’ll move out of this stage!
- We officially returned our Nectar mattress! It simply wasn’t what we were hoping for – and not different enough from our old mattress to warrant keeping. We purchased it, hoping that it would help Derrick’s chronic back/hip pain, but it did absolutely nothing for him. He has finally found relief & healing though! It’s so exciting – Derrick has been struggling with back/hip pain for years, he went to see a chiropractor on a regular basis, but nothing seemed to truly help. My Mom actually suggested a newer practice that she’d heard about – they’re chiropractors but also physical therapists – so Derrick checked them out & started going there. It has changed his life. He now wakes up in the morning with little to no pain, he can go about his day without pain – it is so so so good!! He is a new person & I’m so happy for him. (Oh, in case you’re wondering? They diagnosed him with “tall-person-syndrome” – meaning, Derrick is just a super-tall guy who needs a stronger core.)
- Speaking of back pain though, I woke up with the worst back/neck pain I have ever had in my entire life yesterday morning. I couldn’t move – it was horrendous. I made it thru the day yesterday & it seemed to be getting a little bit better – and then after the kids went to bed, Derrick & I did our normal, nightly yoga routine & I instantly felt a million times better. Not completely 100% healed, but sooooooo much better!
- Wait, Derrick & I do yoga every night? Yes, we do. It’s something I haven’t really shared about – we started at the beginning of the year, and out of fear that sharing about it would jinx it, I just haven’t said anything. We started out doing the 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene & after the 30 days were up, we just kept going. It’s been fantastic for both of our mental & physical health, and it’s given us something to do together every night (other than just watching TV). We love it.
- Do you love Amazon finds? I’m kind of obsessed when people share the things they’re loving off of Amazon, so here’s what I’m loving this week: (full disclosure, I haven’t ordered any of the things, but I really really want to!) The Biggest Story, Zenna Over-The-Shower Caddy, 100 Words of Affirmation Your Husband Needs to Hear, & Bliss Eye Mask. (Also, not affiliate links – maybe someday, but as of right now, I’m not cool enough for that yet.)
- Have you ever known you have a digital file somewhere but can’t find it for the life of you? UGH, it’s so frustrating!! I keep my photos very organized & backed up, but I’m looking for a Word document & I just can’t find it!
- FURTHER: have you ever known you had a physical item somewhere but you can’t find it either?! I have a very specific white box with red hearts on it that I know is somewhere in my house, but I can’t find it!! I’ve hunted everywhere & it continues to elude me!!
- I published “Chapter 24” of Derrick & I’s love story this week! I’m getting so close to the end! Derrick was making fun of me because I’ve been writing this story for so long (and in reality, I doubt anyone has read the entire thing), but I told him: I don’t care. I wrote it for me and us and our family and not for anyone else. So, if no one decides to sit down & read the entire thing – that’s fine!
- So, I had 2 really huge goals for the month of February (these goals were massive you guys, like way huge). I even created a new desktop image for my computer with these 2 goals listed in big bold letters (so I would see them every single day). I’m thrilled to announce that I accomplished one of those goals – but I didn’t quite make it thru the second one. That’s okay though! It’s about 60% completed & it will roll on over to March – stay tuned – it’s a good one!
(Want to know what incredible goal I accomplished? I went thru every . single . image I took in 2019 & pulled my favorites. That’s wedding images, engagement images, roller coaster images, and iPhone images – I literally combed through tens of thousands of photos & I now have the best of the best images from the entire year pulled. What do I plan to do with these images? I use my business images for social media posts, blogs, promotional stuff – and all of the personal images I pulled? I plan to create a “2019 Family Yearbook” with those images! It’s something I’ve been wanting to do forever, but the process of pulling images has always been too overwhelming. Well, not anymore! I successfully made it thru my 2019 images & now have a “pool” to work from. Talk about a massive task! And I’ve learned my lesson – I don’t really want to do that ever again, so I plan to sit down every single month & pull my favorite images so that next year, I don’t have this month-long, insanely overwhelming task ahead of me!)
[…] It’s so crazy to think that it’s been just a week shy of a whole year since our first trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos (you’ve got to go back & see last year’s version of today’s Abby’s Saturday photo!) […]