Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

A Pony Tail on the Trail November 27, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Healthy Train,Hiking,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 4:24 am
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As mentioned in my ‘anti-vegas‘ post, we hiked in Red Rock Canyon one day while we were there. Jake and Janie had never been, and we had been twice before (here and here) and decided it would be a fun way to get in some exercise.
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First we checked out the visitor’s center and got another stamp in Adele’s National Park passport! This was her second time to Red Rock!
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Adele was fascinated by the lizard who was being served carrots and celery for lunch.
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Maybe it was a coincidence, but Adele walked over to the “E” below and shouted “EEEEEeee!!”20131119_110724
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Soon enough, we headed out on our hike!
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A Pony Tail on the Trail!
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Not a day passes that I don’t get knocked in the face by something Adele is holding.
(Public Service Announcement: Don’t ever let Adele try to ‘brush’ your hair. It’s more like ‘whack-your-head’).P1010063

Not long into our hike, our happy traveler fell fast asleep!

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Climbing high above the desert floor!

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Oh yea… um. WE SAW A TARANTULA!!!!!!
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I debated not even posting those pictures because just looking at them I get the creeps. Luckily Adele was brave and didn’t get scared at all… because she was still sleeping 1.5 hours later.
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She only woke up when we got back to the car and tried to transfer her to her carseat. Lucky for me, I got to enjoy some post-nap snuggles. I take ’em when I can get ’em!

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Here’s our hike stats (courtesy of my fitbit!)
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The Anti-Vegas November 25, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 9:48 pm
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We recently got back from a week in Las Vegas! I know, I know… Las Vegas…with a baby… for a week. But before you give me that judgy side-eye (and believe me, we got lots of that while we were there)… let me show you scenes from the week.

Without further ado, here is how we did ‘Vegas’ as the  ‘Anti-Vegas‘:

WE WATCHED THE LAS VEGAS MARATHON
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WE WENT TO COSTCO AND THE GROCERY STORE
We had a full kitchen, so we took advantage and bought most of our meals for the week. That worked out well for us in Hawaii, so we tried it again this time. Works great to have food handy with a toddler in tow!
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Photo taken outside of Costco!

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WE WATCHED ‘AMAZING RACE’
Our hotel room had SEVEN TVs!! One of the TV’s is actually a full wall projector screen. (More on the hotel in a different post!)
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WE TOOK POOL NAPS
Ok, maybe pool naps aren’t the ‘anti-vegas’, but with a baby sleeping on your chest, it did feel a little different than usual =)
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WE WENT TO CHUCK-E-CHEESE
We met up with my college friend, Melissa, and her two kids!
(Fun Fact: I worked at Chuck-E-Cheese for two weeks in high school. I quit when I found out I had to DANCE in front of the kids. yea. no.)
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WE WENT OUTLET SHOPPING
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WE HAD TO DODGE RAIN!
Rain! In the desert! That’s SO ‘anti-vegas’!
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WE WENT TO A CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW
We all know Vegas is full of bright lights and glitter… but this took it to a whole new level! And tune your radio to a certain station and you’ll be singing Christmas Carols and sipping Hot Cocoa in NO time!

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IMG_2142Truthfully, Adele was more excited that she didn’t have to stay in her car seat than actually looking at the lights, but the adults had fun! It was the biggest display I’ve ever seen! It’s 2.5 miles long!
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WE HIKED IN A NATIONAL PARK
We all visited Red Rock Canyon for a great hike in the park! More pictures coming in a future post! It was a fun day!
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WE WENT TO A CHILDREN’S MUSEUM!
Las Vegas just opened a newly renovated Children’s Museum that we were dying to check out! Adele was a little too young to fully appreciate all the incredible things they offer there, but she did LOVE the water play area and the giant life-sized Lightbrite!
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So as you can see, Vegas CAN be done with a toddler in tow. During the entire week we were there, we didn’t even push one stroller wheel into a casino (ok, wait, that’s a lie, I did take Adele into the Bellagio once to see the flowers, but we went straight in bypassing the casino). The smoke is a big concern for us (yuck!) but we avoided it by mostly staying out of those hotels and off the busy sidewalks.

And let’s be honest, when you have a hotel room like this, who wants to leave?
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Irving and I LOVE vegas. We’ve been more times than I can count. We’ve been visiting 2-3 times a year since we moved to the west coast. But Vegas as we know it has definitely changed since having a baby. We were never drinkers or gamblers, but we love the scene. We love the restaurants, the sports book and the Cirque shows… and all of that is tough to do with a baby.

We were SO lucky to have built in baby sitters while we were there this time though. (Irving’s grandmother and Aunt and Uncle were with us too!) So we took advantage one night and headed out for dinner and a show. (No pictures since it was POURING out and we had to literally RUN down the street!)

We ate at the Sugar Factory at the Paris Casino. Two words: Reeces Martini. The glass was rimmed with gobs of peanut butter!!!
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We went to see Veronic Voices (pronounced “Vey-ron-eek”), also at the Paris Casino. It is a one-woman show where Veronic impersonates 50 different artists. Her range was unbelievable. The show was really good, and even better because we only paid $2.50 a ticket (Those prices are VERRRRY Anti-Vegas, right!) It was no ‘Cirque’ show, but it was a fun night out nonetheless. (Thank you Jake and Janie!!!!)

Lots more pictures to come! It was a great, relaxing week!

 

Adventures in New England October 24, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family — Kelocity @ 9:10 pm
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Here’s a smorgasbord of pictures from our trip back east a few weeks ago. We had awesome New England Fall weather. It makes sense why Bostonians talk about the weather all the time. After brutal winters and scorching summers, you learn to really appreciate those perfect fall days like we had!
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The bride to be and I!
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A few family pictures too:
DSCN0758In the words of Adele: Bubble, Bubble, Bubbles, BUBBLES!!!!

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She also enjoyed a helicopter ride with Grandpa too! Lucky girl!
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Hi Gizmo (or as Adele says: Mo Mo)
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Dress up!
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Fun Fact: When Mikaela was little, all she wanted was a ‘boy doll’ and a ‘double baby stroller’. So for Christmas one year, she got “Brian” (who is actually the same size as Adele haha) and a purple double stroller. Now 25 years later, Adele and Brian have become BFFs.
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Adele takes good care of Brian. Eat your peas, Brian!
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Oh… and just for fun… here’s a pictures of my Friendly’s Ice Cream we got one night. Yes please and thank you!
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And no, I didn’t share a single bite with Adele. Or Brian.

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Wish I could come back and visit in the fall every year! What a great trip!! See you next in the 18* snow storm, Boston! I’m cold already.

 

2013 Fall Festival of Love October 23, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Friends — Kelocity @ 4:34 am
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It’s that time again! The Fall Festival of Love! Irving and I started this fun little fall tradition back in 2005!

A look back:
2005-2010 | 2011 | 2012

This year we carpooled with some friends and met up with a few more people there! Adele’s friend Claudia sat next to her in the car… and even brought toy remotes for them to play with. She thought that was awesome.
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We checked out the animals for a while. The goats were a hit. We didn’t go into the petting zoo section, but that’s something I’d like to do with Adele soon!
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Then we found the hay bale pyramid. I didn’t think they’d be too into it, but they wanted to climb to the top, so we indulged them.
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Um… where did my baby go?
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Up and down, up and down…
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Even though it was a million degrees out, we headed to the pumpkin patch for some more photos.
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That tongue!
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Little miss independent over there!
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Hee hee, that tongue again!
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Can’t believe last year, she couldn’t even sit up without propping her up with pumpkins!
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And this year, she’s walking around!
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Miraculously, we got one great family photo! Not easy these days with a curious squirmy toddler!
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Some more photos from the day!
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Oh hey, new haircut!
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And my absolute favorite photo from the day! Love this girl.
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We came home with two cute sugar pumpkins and one mini baby pumpkin (half the size of the one she’s holding above). She’s been carrying the baby pumpkin around with her everywhere lately. It came with us in the car on the way to daycare this week. She’s a fan of fall too! Just like her mama!
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M&C: The Wedding October 21, 2013

Filed under: Family,Wedding — Kelocity @ 9:15 pm
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My sister, Mikaela married her soul mate last week. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Every detail was accounted for. They both worked so hard to create a day they (and us!) would never forget. There was so much love in the air on October 4th! ❤

The girls had a great time getting ready in the morning. We had some food and some champagne and we just relaxed while we got ready. The bride was very excited and her energy was contagious!
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We had awesome hair stylists. I loved my updo! Here’s some closeups!
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Sister Laurie!
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And my mom… wow. Gorgeous!
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It’s so fun getting all dressed up. I loved the dresses!
(PS got to reuse my bridesmaid shoes from my friend Erika’s wedding!)
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Mikaela was just stunning. Her dress had a beautiful lace overlay. The most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.
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Irving, my dad and Laurie’s boyfriend were on ‘baby duty’ while the girls got ready. They took good care of the world’s cutest flower girl.

Oh, Hi, Irving!
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Soon enough, it was go time! I wasn’t sure if Adele would walk down the aisle or not… but at the last minute, I decided just to carry her. It was a long way to walk  and I didn’t want her to hold up the parade. She did great!
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Here comes the Bride!!!! Seems like just yesterday my dad was walking ME down the aisle! You did great, dad!
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I think she was very excited to see Chris waiting at the end of the aisle. The two of them just seemed SO happy. They are perfect for each other. They had a nice wine blending ceremony, which was perfect since the venue is a winery.
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But my favorite part of the ceremony was when Chris was doing his vows. Mikaela had snuck in an extra line without him knowing that required him to ‘vow to love and protect Gizmo’ (their dog). He was taken off guard and everyone laughed, it was very funny.
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Gizmo was actually waiting for them after the ceremony to take some pictures!
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The setting was unbelievable. Fall was the perfect time for a vineyard wedding. These belong in a magazine!
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The whole gang!
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Stealing this from the photographer. It belongs in a magazine!
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Got some great family pictures after the ceremony too!
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So cute!
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Soon it was time to head inside to get our dancing on!

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Mikaela was really proud of her wine rack program display because she “didn’t even get the idea from Pinterest!” So… happy pinning folks!
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They did all their centerpieces on their own too. Gorgeous!!! That’s a lot of wine to drink to get that many corks! haha
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Laurie and I wrote a poem as our ‘toast’ to the new couple. It was pretty epic.  We had fun with it. My favorite part was when Adele yelled “YAYYY” and clapped at the end of it. It was awesome. Everyone laughed.

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The first dance!
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Cutting of the cake! They had AMAZING cupcakes. And you know me and cupcakes. AWESOME!
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Me and my dad…. and ahem… Jim. HAHA
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haha let’s try again!
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My little girl was SO good during the wedding! She sat at the table with us and chatted along with everyone. She was so happy to be there. We had a blast.
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And when in doubt, bring raisins. =)
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Then we let the dancing begin!!!
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Adele danced until the lights came back on at 10:30p! She literally danced. In a circle, around the circle and inside the circle…. all night long. I couldn’t believe it. She was having the time of her life.
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I was laughing because occasionally, we take baby music classes where one teacher sings some mild songs and the kids dance for a half hour or so. By comparison, this party was loud, the lights were flashing, the beats were pumping, people were jumping… i can’t even imagine how much her brain was overstimulated and she was loving it! Eventually we changed her into her jammies but that didn’t cramp her style one bit! She was still jamming with the best of them!
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And just for fun, I love this picture of my grandparents. I think everyone had an absolute blast. It was an incredible night.
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Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs!!! We love you both so much!! And now the real fun begins!!! Happy wedding, happy marriage!!!! xoxoxo
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Hopefully the photographer doesn’t mind I posted a few of these. They were too gorgeous not to! I had to!