Let the Traveling Season Begin!

Image by Anirudh Koul via Flickr

Today my parents will be flying in from NY, and this kicks off our exciting year of travel and so much more, I am waaaay excited! Mom and Dad will be here until Sunday morning, and we have some fun plans. We will be taking a trip to the Hoover Dam (esp. for my dad), and maybe take a picnic lunch too. We are also taking them to see Phantom of the Opera (esp for my mom), and out to one of our favorite dives for dinner, a little tapas place called Firefly. Hopefully we will have some extra time for some other fun little activities. It will be great to have house guests....I LOVE having house guests! My parents chose this time to come out so they can be with Marin and have her feel comfortable with them as she will be staying a full 10 days at their place when we head off to Paris. I am sure they are very excited to have that time with her, they certainly don't get to see her as often as they would like being 2,000 miles away. So, this week will be fun!

In 8 weeks, Kris and I pack our bags and fly to one of the most romantic cities in the world.....Paris! I....cannot.....WAIT! I have dreamed of Paris since I was young and we have been saving as much as possible. Even though we may not be 100% financially as prepped as we would like, I told Kris we need to go now before we have more kids, otherwise we won't get there until retirement! We have chosen one of our hotels already, which makes me even more excited. No chain hotel for us, we want a simple, French hotel to really get the most out of our time there. Flowery linen, windows that open up to the street or garden area, Provencal style furniture. Ahh, getting excited just talking about it! Our good friend BJ is coming with us, and seeing as he spent some significant time in Paris, he will be the perfect tour guide/interpreter, although, I will be trying out my old and very rusty French-speaking skills myself too!

JUNE=GRADUATION! OMG, what a RELIEF! I know Kris is ready for sure to be done with school, and I am going to be even more grateful for him to be done. He has been doubling up on his classes so he could finish sooner rather than in October, and poor guy has done a great job. I have the most amazing hardworking husband and I love him for being so dedicated to making a better life for his family, what a guy! June is also affording us a trip to Portland, Oregon. We are feeling that our time here in Las Vegas is coming to a close, and while we are sad about that, we are excited for a new opportunity. Our trip to Portland will be a ....well, meet-and-greet, for lack of a better term, and let us take in the city and see if maybe it might be the place for us. We will of course be going from the sunniest, driest place in the U.S., to one of the rainiest and wettest (aren't we silly!), but hey, my husband loves change! Nothing is set in stone, we are just browsing!

July is Kris's birthday, the BIG 3-0! WOW! My husband is going to be thirty! When did THIS happen?! I am sure we will be throwing a moderately (haha!) sized bash for him with all of his favorite things: golf, wings, spaghetti, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, so stay tuned!

August is of course of little Monkey's birthday, and she will be TWO? What?! Once again I am baffled at how quickly we are getting old in this house! I don't remember growing up myself, let alone when someone gave me permission to get married and make babies and let THEM grow up. What is going on around here?! August also marks our 4 year anniversary, what a TRIP, literally! What a trip it has been. Who knew 4 years could come and go so fast, I am not a newlywed anymore I guess :(

After August, who knows what our next step will be, but I am excited to have started this literal and metaphorical journey to places and events, and it all starts....TODAY!

I am momentarily missing the camera, but I have fun pictures of Marin to post soon!