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!

Maximus & Davie Come to Charleston

After Brayden finished up his last final of his first year (yay!), my parents visited us in Charleston! It was the perfect way to kick off Brayden being done with school for the summer! This trip was a lot more relaxing and we got to explore a lot, since last time they were here was all about moving us in and getting us settled.

The first night they were here we went to this cute little theater downtown called 34 West Theater. My mom found tickets to this a couple weeks before they came and thought it would be fun to go! It is a really small venue and there are only a couple people that work there, the actors run the whole show, they even sell the refreshments before the show starts. It was fun being able to do something that we haven't tried in Charleston yet!

The week was filled with walking around downtown, shopping, going to the Morris Island Lighthouse, and just hanging out! We ate TONS of delicious food! A few of our favorite places that we were able to go to while they were here were Five Loaves, Graze, Lewis Barbecue, 82 Queen, Husk, Jeni's etc.

My birthday was just a week after we left so we spent Monday, the day before they left acting like it was my birthday. I wasn't complaining at all! :) Monday morning we went on a dolphin tour and saw a bunch of dolphins swimming around Morris Island Lighthouse. Luckily, we were the only ones on the tour that morning, so we had a private little tour. After the tour we went to Callie's Hot Little Biscuit. I have heard that their biscuits were so good, so I thought we should go try some! They were so delicious, I loved all of the different kinds we got! The rest of the day we relaxed and sat around the pool. For dinner we made reservations at Halls Chophouse. Their food was so so so good! Brayden and I aren't really seafood people, but of course Davie Crocket made us try the shrimp that he ordered for an appetizer. It actually wasn't that bad, but I am definitely not converted to the fish life yet. The steak I ordered was hands down the best steak I have ever had. Then for dessert we got a caramel cake, that was also phenomenal. Basically everything we ordered was great! After dinner we walked around downtown to try and walk off all the food we ate... When we got back to our apartment it was time to open my presents! It was a perfect pre-birthday celebration!

I loved having my parents come visit us! We were so spoiled the whole entire time they were here. I am really so lucky to have such amazing parents! I am always so sad when they have to leave.. but luckily we will see them in less than two weeks for our family vacation!!