You may say I'm a dreamer...

...but I'm not! Now, I'm not saying I literally don't have dreams when I sleep (I actually have very, very strange ones) or have hopes for my future....our family's future. But sitting around and daydreaming is just something I don't do. I was never that young girl who had her dream wedding planned out and a whole list of baby names written out. I don't dream about our future grow old together house and how I would like it to be....although a first or second floor laundry would be nice. It's just not who I am. I am a practicalist. I like to plan. I live in the now, and the short foreseen future. I don't like to spend my time wishing for something grand to happen when there are things to be done today. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I love Pinterest. I think it is a fantastic tool for creative inspiration. For some people it can be very addicting, I am sure. Seeing all these cool ideas and pretty things and dreaming to have them. But unless I am looking to be inspired for something now, I find it a bit frustrating.

Now, I'm not saying that being a dreamer is a bad thing; that they're all just wishful thinkers living in la la land. Without dreamers we wouldn't have much in this world. Oh, we'd have houses and fire and maybe even indoor plumbing (because lets be honest...there ain't anything more practical than a toilet and some running water.) But it would be a pretty plain little world. You see, not having that dreamer personality, it also means I am not very adventurous. Not a very spur of the moment kind of person.

My husband on the other hand, is a dreamer; a visionary. Like, you don't even know. His brain is constantly going. Always coming up with (sometimes crazy) ideas. He talks about traveling the world when we're rich, and the big house we're going to have. He is definitely an out of the box thinker where as I tend to be more in the box. And yes, I think we can drive each other crazy sometimes. He will want to do something fun very last minute, but then I come in with the practicalities of it all (usually having something to do with a little, eh, problem called the kids) and shut it down. But then if it weren't for me we would have a catapult in our backyard soooo....

But we work well together. Here is a perfect example of our two very different personalities working together in harmony...

This March, we are going on a Caribbean cruise! Yeah, I know. I still can't believe it either. I don't think I will believe it even after it's happened. Dean has been talking for months and months now about wanting to do a big vacation this Winter/early Spring. As much as a vacation would be nice, if it were completely up to me, it probably wouldn't happen. I would most likely blame it on the need to use the money on something more practical or just keep saving it or something boring and practical like that. But Dean was so stoked about the idea of a beachy vacation, I figured if we're going to do it I had better start planning. Researching. Comparing prices. Making sure everything lined up perfectly.

So, come March 6th we will be off to Florida to leave on 4 night cruise in the Caribbean, with a day on either side to hang out in (hopefully)warm and sunny Ft. Lauderdale. We are very excited about it! This is the perfect time to get away for a bit, just us two. The boys do wonderfully being left with the Grandma's and Grandpa's, and this will be the last chance for awhile to get away alone before baby comes in June. I plan on doing a lot of nothing, not eating too much food and hopefully not coming back burnt to a crisp. I have a feeling none of that will happen. Can't wait to be able to share some pictures!

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Back to the everyday

Dean and I had a great time on our trip! It was pretty short, but long enough to make me anxious to get back to our everyday routine (and normal eating!)

We left Sunday morning around 8:30am to meet up with others at a park and ride off of the thruway, and traveled in a big bus. We hit the road officially by 10:30am. It is usually a very nice, uneventful trip. Just relax and read a book or watch a movie they have playing. We stop once for lunch, and are able to stretch our legs and breath some fresh air.

Right around 1pm, we pulled off to a thruway stop. The driver noticed one of her warning lights was on, and saw that she was leaving a trail of something. Turns out there was a leak in the radiator. We ended up hanging for for 2 hours for someone to come fix it. It is a short trip as it is, so wasting 2 hours hanging there was quite the bummer!  Everyone stayed in great spirits though. We finally hit the road a little after 3pm. We started to smell something burning right away, but everyone assumed it was radiator fluid burning off. We had been on the road for about 10 minutes when BAM! We blew a tire! The driver handled the bus well, and pulled to the side of the road. Turns out the guy who fixed the radiator left something out of place that was dragging on the tire. At this point all we could do was shake our heads and laugh.

Thankfully it was a BEAUTIFUL day out, so we all just hung out in the grass on the side of the highway. We must have been quite a sight!

 That tractor trailer? Yeah. It wasn't just slowly passing by. It was going at least 65 mph, and swerving to avoid the bus!

 The whole side of the bus around the tires went flying off too! Thank the Lord it didn't cause any accidents!

We finally arrived at our destination, over 2.5 hrs later than we should have. We had dinner reservations we were late for, so we all had to rush to our rooms to freshen up. My shirt was a bit wrinkled, and dry shampoo saved my dreary travel hair.

Dinner was fantastic, as always, and afterwards everyone went their separate ways. Our first stop was the most awesome bowling alley you will ever see!  (Please excuse the grainy pictures. The dim lights set a wonderful mood, but made for crappy pictures.)

Monday morning we got to sleep in! We had a little breakfast, and then Dean had to walk around the convention doing whatever it is he had to do. The past 2 years we've gone I have always told myself I would get to the gym while Dean was busy, buuuuut I always ended up being a lazy butt and just lounging in the hotel room watching tv. But this year I finally hit up the gym. I was pretty proud of myself.

I met Dean for lunch, and then we had the afternoon free! We walked around a bit, played some pool and because we just had to...played some slots. This place is so huge with casino's everywhere. I couldn't imagine going there with the sole purpose of gambling (which is what most of the people were there for)! We were pretty lame getting super excited and dancing whenever we'd win, even if it was only $1.00, but it was a lot of fun to goof around.

 Picture taking wasn't allowed in the casinos or else I would have taken some!

We went up to the 25th floor of one of the towers, and got a picture of just part of the whole place.

Monday night there was a cocktail dinner for the convention goers. It's fun to dress up, drink some wine and eat some awesome food.

I brought my camera with us hoping to get some nice pictures, but it just never worked out to take it. We'd usually be away from our room for an extended period of time, and I didn't want to lug the thing around all day/night. Thank goodness for cellphones though! We at least got some pictures, even if they did look like this:

The trip home Tuesday was uneventful. We were very anxious to get home and see the boys, and they were happy to see us!

Our Anniversary Vacation

Dean and I celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary this past Sunday, the 17th. We were able to plan a little getaway and had the best time! We wanted to go somewhere we could drive to without being in the car for ten hours, so we decided to re-visit the place we went to for our 1 year anniversary. It is an all-inclusive resort in Poconos, PA called Cove Haven. It is one of those cheesy sounding places with the heart shaped everything, but it is so much fun! At least for us it was. It is very activity oriented which is right up our ally.

We got there Thursday afternoon, and while checking in we were told we could have a complementary upgrade to our choice of 2 different better suites; Score! We had originally booked their cheapest room. Then he told us we could also have their most expensive suite instead for a total of $60 more (both nights and taxes and fees included in that price, no strings attached. It was at least a savings of $300!). I told Dean the descision was his, and of course he quickly accepted. Our own pool? Champagne glass jacuzzi? Heck yeah!

Here are a few (bad quality) pictures of our room!

Yes, a round bed, and "stars" on the ceiling ;-)

View from our bed; Our own heated pool! It was great having our own pool, especially since their outdoor pools were still a bit chilly. (There was also a sauna and massage table down there too!)

Champagne jacuzzi tub and living room area that also had a fireplace.

They have so many activities you can do from indoor mini golf, ice skating, tennis and racketball, there is a driving range, paddle boating on Lake Wallenpaupack or just relaxing by the heart shaped pool.

Now, if you know Dean at all you know that everything we do is a competition, with bets on the line everytime. For the most part he beat me at everything; Mini golf, air hockey (I should win something just for playing against him; Scary!), basketball, and pool (although I did beat him once, and gave him a run for his money most games.)

I made this shot. You know. In case you were wondering.

So, it may come as a surprise, especially after seeing my bad form (which I had no idea I was doing, since Dean never corrected me on it. I believe, from fear that I would beat him even more soundly), but I was kicking his butt at archery!

Elbow down = Bad form.

Elbow up, arm in line with arrow = Good form.

In Deans defense though, he did get the hang of it by our last day there and did end up beating me. But in my defense, by then I was so stinkin tired!



I wish you could see the guy taking our picture. He was totally pulling an Asian!

At 4:15pm, 4 days a week, one of the staff members, who they call the Deer Whisperer, calls out the wild deer to come for a feeding. It's pretty crazy! He walks around yelling, "Here Bambi!" and the deer come running out of the woods. He said the most deer he's had come at once was 70+, and has had a 8 point buck come too!

Each night they have some sort of entertainment...bands, comedians, etc. and usually have an audience participation game that was always amusing! It was fun getting to dress up a bit and go out for some dancing and lots of laughs!

Who is to afraid to ask someone to take a picture for them, so instead becomes innovative and props up the camera on a trash can with her make up case holding it up underneath? That's right. This girl.

It was so great to get away, just us two. Everything was perfect. The food was great. There was never a dull moment (although Dean would say that laying by the pool was pretty dull.) We have lots of fun together, and after 6 years are still pretty crazy about each other!

Aww.

"Da" Day

In honor of Fathers Day Will learned the sign for "Daddy" this week, and shortly after finally started to say "Da"! We have been trying to get him to say mama or dada for so long now, and he just, all of a sudden, did it on his own. (The dada part at least. Still working on mama.) It's the cutest thing seeing and hearing him do it! The sign for "daddy" is putting your thumb to your forehead with all of your fingers out. He prefers to put his pointer finger on the side of his head. Good enough for me. It's pretty funny.

For Father's Day we went out to breakfast (after church), and after Will's nap we went the Red Wings baseball game. Dean's dad, sister, and our nephew were there too. We showed up at the 7th inning (they let you in for free then!), sat through a little baseball, and then after the game they opened up the field for the dad's to play catch with their kids. The little boys had lots of fun. Some ball throwing was done, but mostly wrestling....

Here are 3 generations of William Dean Eaton's

Happy Father's Day!

Anniversary

Dean and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday! My FIL asked, "Can you believe it's been 4 years already?" So, we were talking about it, and ya know what? Yes, we can. It fact, we can't believe it has only been 4 years. We have changed, our life has changed, so much in that short amount of time!

We have had our share of relationship ups and downs, and have definitely grown and learned from them.

Dean's business has gone from him only doing in-house repairs, to manning a store front, selling new and used appliances, for 1 1/2 years now, and having 1 employee (and 2 apprentices) while still doing all of the on the road repairs.
I got pregnant, and gave birth to our now 19 month old son. Now, am pregnant again.

We have moved once already in order to accommodate our growing family, and now look forward to taking a somewhat scary step, sometime in the hopefully near future, in buying our own home.

We have also changed in how we look! I can't believe how young we both look when we were first courting (@ 19 and 21 years old)!


We had a wonderful day together yesterday. It was such a beautiful day too! Dean surprised me by taking the day off. We spent the morning at home with Will. Took a walk to the park and went on a bike ride. My sister came over after lunch to watch Will, so we could spend the rest of the day just us two! I didn't want to do anything fancy. No dressing up. No expensive dinner. (Although, at times, I do enjoy doing just that). We saw a double feature at Movies 10, had some yummy diner food (I ordered meatloaf. At a diner. Can you tell I'm pregnant?), we got some Cheesecake Factory cheesecake to-go, and headed to a park where we had our dessert picnic style. Then we set up our, totally awesome best purchase ever, hammock and just.....relaxed. It was so wonderful. We were home by 9pm. No late night partying for this mama. Got to kiss my baby, and rock him to sleep. Then headed to bed with my hott and handsome husband. The perfect end, to a perfect day :)