2018 Newport Vacation!

Wow. I am seriously so behind... This Newport vacation seemed like forever ago... Like always this vacation was absolutely perfect. It was so much fun being able to spend time with family, even though we were missing some very important people. Brayden could not go because of school..of course. Logan left for his mission just a few weeks before this...but on the bright side he only has one more family vacation to miss until he is back! And Tanner and Rylee weren't able to stay the whole time.. because they had to move to Alaska to get ready for their sweet little baby to come and for Tanner to start his new job! 

I always love this vacation. We have our traditions we do every year like Grammy and Pa take all the kids to the balboa candy store and they go wild, an adult night out to dinner, balboa bars, treasure hunt for the kiddos, shopping, bbqs, nightly games once the kids go to bed, etc. It is the best time being surrounded by our family. This vacation is always one of the highlights of the year! It consisted of a lot of pool time, beach time, morning beach runs, the zoo, candy, homemade ice cream, lots and lots of play-doh, food, tattoos, acai bowls, and so much more! I am so thankful for my parents and the time and preparation that the take in order to get our family all together every year. The only thing that could make next year's vacation even better is having Brayden be able to come!! One can only hope... 

Chicago!

A few weeks ago we were able to take a quick weekend trip to Chicago to visit some of our friends from college! Ben and Megan are living in Chicago while Ben goes to medical school. We haven't seen them since they left for school about 3 years ago, so it was really fun to be able to hang out with them! 

After we landed in Chicago we got on the train and headed to downtown to their apartment. Of course the first thing we did when we got there was plan out what we were going to have for dinner. We obviously needed to go get some deep dish pizza, so we went to Giordano's. It was delicious! After pizza we walked around downtown exploring the sights, we saw the bean and even watched a little bit of a gospel music group at Millennium Park. After all of the walking around and touring, we obviously deserved to go get some donuts, cause if there is anything I have learned from being married to Brayden, is that there is always room for some donuts but only if he has some milk to go with it! The rest of the night was spent relaxing and catching up with Ben and Megan!

The next morning as soon as we woke up we headed to Wildberry Pancakes. This place did not disappoint. It was so so good! The rest of the day we walked around exploring some more of Chicago. We walked down Michigan Avenue going in and out of all of their shops and of course that worked up a bit of an appetite but we were all still in a food coma from breakfast that we just decided on a little snack. We stopped at Garrett's Popcorn and got some of their "Garret Mix", which is a mix of caramel and cheese popcorn. It was a perfect snack to have while walking around and shopping. Unfortunately there was not a Cubs games while we were there but we still wanted to at least go see the field. We were so bummed when we found out that there wasn't a game, but it was still fun to go see it! We went to dinner later that night at Butcher & the Burger. Then after dinner we went to a little bakery, I can't remember what it was called... but we got the best rice krispie treats! Once we got back to their apartment after a busy day we all got comfy and turned on the Cubs game and played some Settler's of Catan.

Sunday morning, we obviously went to go get some donuts before church. And naturally Brayden wanted to try two different places to see which donut he liked best! So we went to Stan's Donuts and then went down a block and got some Do-Rite donuts. I personally liked the Do-Rite donuts better, because I am more simple when it comes to donuts, I don't need a ton of random fancy toppings on my donuts. Give me a chocolate or maple glaze and I am good to go. Once we got back from donuts, Brayden and I walked down to the Navy Pier and explored a bit. Chicago is so clean and pretty! After getting back from our walk we got ready for church. On our way to church we stopped to see a beautiful, FREE! view of the skyline. It always helps to be staying with some locals because they teach you all the tricks, so instead of paying to go see the exact same view from the SkyDeck, Ben and Megan took us to another tower to get a beautiful view. After church we decided it was time to compare some chicago deep dish pizza by going to another restaurant. So we headed to Lou Malnatis. Obviously, it was so good! That was a theme with chicago..we loved it!

It was so much fun to be able to visit some friends and catch up with them. They are about to have a baby in a few days and we are so excited for them! Megan was such a trooper walking around everywhere being our tour guide while 8 months pregnant. We loved being able to see them in their city!

** After writing this whole thing out, I am kind of embarrassed of how much I talk about food...ha! But we seriously loved the food in Chicago, everything we had was delicious! **

Newport Vacation

I am a little sad to be writing this blog post because this means the vacation I wait all year for has already come and gone... And sorry for the overload of pictures...but it was too good of a time not to document it all!We always have the best time together and this vacation wasn't any different! Unfortunately, we were missing Brock, Sarah, Soph, and Liv as they welcomed their cute mew little baby boy! We did facetime with them and made sure they sent A LOT of pictures!! We definitely did miss having everyone there, but for the past 3 years at least one person has had to miss vacation because of dental school or having a baby. I can't wait until we can have a vacation with everyone again!

Newport was perfect this year. Brayden and I were able to go to La Verne for a few days early before we actually started the family vacation. We hit up some of our favorite spots with part of the family before we headed to Newport. Brayden's two places that we must go to while in LaVerne are Red Devil and Tastee's, so of course we went! We also went to In-N-Out(obviously) and Cheesecake Factory. South Carolina doesn't have any of those food places so we always make sure to go on a food tour when we go home! 

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then headed to Newport! When we got to our rooms we each had Caramel M&M's waiting on our beds compliments of Maximus and Davie Crocket. Once we got settled in the hotel we headed outside to the Magic Show. We have gone to this magic show for the past few years. This year Brayden and Whitney were part of the show!! The little kids always love to go and it is so fun to see their faces throughout the whole show. After the show we had a BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs, with yummy J Dawg's sauce Whitney and Brian picked up for us in Utah! 

The following days were spent with the family by the pool, beach, shopping, eating,multiple trips to Ruby's shake shake, card games, Kubb, tennis, and basketball. I could not ask for a better time! Since we live so far away, I really appreciate the quality time when we are able to get together with everyone!

Every year my mom puts on a scavenger hunt for my nieces and nephews with a prize at the end. You would literally think that this scavenger hunt was like Christmas morning for them. They ask about it from the second we arrive in Newport until it actually happens. And this year we were able to listen to them as about it for four whole days before we had it. My mom always thinks of new, creative things to add to the scavenger hunt. This year after they went through all the clues and got to the final place, there was a pinata waiting for them to hit open with a puzzle to put together. They loved being able to whack at the hamburger pinata. They were even more excited when they put the puzzle pieces together that fell out of the pinata and said that Grammy and Pa were taking them to Build-A-Bear! They were beyond excited and ready to leave at that exact moment. So we all piled into the car and were off to Build-A-Bear! 

Another highlight for the kids is going to the Balboa Candy store with Grammy and Pa. They love all of the traditions that my parents have started on these trips and look forward to them all week! My nieces and nephews are so lucky to have such awesome grandparents, that love to spoil them!!

This week in Newport was just the perfect vacation Brayden and I needed away from school and work! We are so grateful for all my parents do to make this vacation amazing each year! Thank you mom and dad for everything!!! We love you guys!

Leaving is never fun, but luckily we will be back soon for Whitney and Brian's wedding in October!

Also...I am attempting to make a video of the vacation, so depending on how it turns out I might share it...but I don't have high hopes for it.  

Here are a few pictures of little Harvey Matthew Zylstra who was born during our family vacation. I am so in love already and I haven't even met him yet!! I can't wait to snuggle him!!

A week later, Brayden's sister had a baby boy as well! Kade Robert Moeller! He is such a little cutie, I can't wait to meet him!