Florida in February

You may remember last February I took a girls trip with 

my mom and sister to our favorite spot...Sanibel Island, Florida. 

(If not - let me refresh your memory here)

The beaches of Southwest Florida are really unbeatable. 

So, it was kind of a no brainer when they invited me along 

again (as a little birthday treat!). However, 

I think we had so much fun last year that my

dad was having some FOMO (fear of missing out)

so along he came too. 

And to be honest - it was really fun to just 

be the OG Cloud gang again if only for a few days. 

We flew in really early Saturday morning ...which 

meant we had some extra time to shell in Bonita..and. 

capped it off with lunch at the Beached Whale 

in Fort Myers.  (We later found out it's the sister

restaurant to our beloved Doc Ford's). The upper

deck views were really nice...and the grouper

tacos delicious!

In the afternoon - i took the longest most

luxurious two hour (maybe more?!) nap...woke up

just in time to grocery shop at Jerry's...and finish with

dinner at Grandma Dot's. 

Some other highlights of our trip...included a shelling

trip to the 10,000 islands! The boat left out of
Marco Island and essentially shuttled us to 

Kice Island. 

Picture Stacy and I whispering about how many 

shells we were going to scoop up....

And it did not disappoint....

whelks, tulip shells, a rose murex, 

angel wings, olives, Florida cones, 

and even an alphabet cone! 

The really cool part of Kice Island -- it's full

of mangrove trees and their roots make up the 

shoreline. So, essentially you just wander

around these trees, look high and low up

on the waterline, and hope to find some treasures!

About an hour in Dad came to my rescue

with bottled water (though sadly my mom

and sister had eaten the granola bars!)

If you want to be really cool...get yourself

some "Fit Kicks" (or borrow your mom's 

like me because she has four pairs!)

They protect your feet from painful shell

piles. Ouch! 

Miles and miles of untouched beach...

and only a few other people!

On our way back we spotted lots of fun 

wildlife - lots of pelicans...but the playful dolphins

were the BEST!

We ended the morning with lunch in Marco Island....

coffee at Dunkin Donuts...and forced family birding as 

I really wanted to see the burrowing owls native to the island. 

And - WE FOUND THEM!!!

Moment of internet silence for these 

magical creatures. 

(This is not an actual photo I took - because my

iphone camera is not so great....but I just needed

you to see how adorable they are!!!)

Sunday evening found us gathered around for the 

Super Bowl Justin Timberlake concert. 

The rest of our days were filled with beach walks,

sunrises, sunsets, uninterrupted reading, 

delicious dining, and Facetiming sweet Max and Rob

for updates :)  

My favorite shelling sister. 

My favorite walk to the beach...where the sun

was casting crazy palm tree shadows. 

Afternoon coffee date with my dad? 

Don't mind if I do! 

This coffee shop continues to be such 

a fun place for me to come back to and I 

actually considered buying their house mug

to get free refills! ha! 

My mom and I came to lighthouse beach on 

Tuesday morning to catch the sunrise and 

look for miniature shells! 

Look at all those bitty beauties fresh from my shell bag!

Hello Snowy Egret...we just eyed each

other as I slowly walked around him. 

His neon green/yellow feet are my favorite. 

I parked it under an umbrella most

of Tuesday afternoon and read my

trashy romance novel. It was glorious.

 

Also - late Tuesday afternoon I finally

convinced my mom that we should

rent from Billy's Bikes! 

We got two beach cruiser bikes and just 

pedaled down Periwinkle Way! 

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!

My mom would stop and hide

painted shells every once in awhile...and

we shopped at the Tahitian Gardens! 

We were hopping back on the bikes headed

home and I turned my head and yelled "this was

such a blast!" And, immediately - my mom's

bike was making weird noises and we discovered

it had a flat back tire. Ugh.  

The bike shop was closed (of course) so i pedaled

back solo to the rental shop and drove our

rental car to pick her up. What a hassle! 

But - i still maintain i would do it again in 

a heart beat! 

Honestly - I was so close to canceling last minute

on this trip because of illness (Max's not mine), 

feeling guilty over working so much leading up

to it (proven again when Max said he didn't want 

me, he wanted Daddy because I was too busy - ugh)...

but - in the end - I'm so glad I did it. 

This trip was almost cleanse like for me...

 I got to be totally vulnerable leading up to it 

with Rob...came clean with all my guilt and just

pressure I was putting upon myself and vulnerable

with my family while there.  Talked about my

job (and the hard parts), talked about Max (is he 

ready for Kindergarten? Does he really need

speech therapy? Should he be playing a sport?), 

ALL.OF.IT. 

That's the great thing about being with my sister

and parents as I age - I feel less judgement and more 

just genuine friendship. 

It was totally refreshing to be not needed every 

minute. I took long hot showers, walked for as

far and as much as I wanted, read 4 books (WHAT?!),

didn't get dressed in real clothes until dinner time, 

and it was refreshing with a capital R. 

In conclusion - I love Rob and Max. 

But, I also love the time away from them to 

readjust and recharge. 

And, I love Sanibel Island. 

xoxo

Taking Back Date Night

We are just going to pretend that I didn't fall off the 

face of Blogger for the last three(ish) months and dive right in

with a super fun post.  Apologies ahead for all the friends

and family that come here for posts about Max.  There are 

exactly zero pictures of Max...but the message here is good. 

So, stay with me. :) 

After Max was born - the general idea of date night around here 

changed quite a bit. Date nights used to be spontaneous (as much

as can be when you're married to me - planner extraordinaire)...and

most importantly the conversations didn't revolve around topics like

Paw Patrol, who's turn it was to make lunch, and 

what we were bringing for letter bag day. 

I've learned that it's incredibly easily to let your marriage

sink down to the bottom of the to-do list in terms of things

needing tending when you are raising a child. 

To be quite frank - year three/four of raising our child was not

altogether easy.  A three year old challenges you - forces you 

to actually decide things like how your parenting this child, 

is preschool really that important (and why does it cost so much),

and how many tantrums till you totally lose your sh*t. 

I was determined to change that for 2018 - for the better of 

our marriage, our parenting, and our individual selves too. 

Because I believe in date nights. 

I believe in setting aside time to focus on each other without

a child in tow. For child free conversations. For dressing up. 

For dinner that is not peanut butter and jelly.

For making room for each other. For laughing, and holding

hands and yeah, making out. 

I want Max to know that before it was #we3Haucks - 

we loved each other first. 

Enter - the year of dates!

(which was actually Rob's Christmas present). 

I made a big old list of things that sounded fun (and that we 

could do together) - arranged them into months -

actually registered and paid for them - and booked

babysitting. 

January was cooking class at Sur la Table at Easton. 

We ditched our Zoo uniforms for aprons and 

got cooking some Chinese take out (Rob's favorite)!

I

By the end of the night - we had worked on our knife 

skills, crushed garlic, sauteed, and served up dumplings, 

chicken lo mien stir fry, and broccolini.  

We got another night out the weekend Max

was with my parents -- so here is another cute 

picture of us! ha!

This time we opted for Vaqueros (and hats, apparently). 

And, we went to our Employee Recognition Dinner

at the Hollywood Casino!  Papa Rob wore 

a suit and I wore a jumpsuit. 

We didn't win at the black jack tables or even

any raffle prizes...but we did hit the photobooth

five times.  So who can really complain? 

February was a hot glass class at Glass Axis. 

Hottie alert below in those safety goggles :)

During this class we were going to be designing glass

flowers - from the color, to the size, molding the shape, 

clipping the petals, and forming it to our liking. 

Rob chose yellow with hints of purple and I chose 

the multi color! Rob went first...taking the hot glass

and swirling it around in the oven(?)

 

 

We couldn't take our finished products home with us because they 

had to go in another hot cooler looking thing....but the class was really fun!

And, because there were only 4 people in the class - it finished early so we 

had time for our favorite lunch at Dibella's subs! 

*also this is only the third time we have left Max with

an actual babysitter (one of his teacher's) and I have to say

a big shout out to all the grandparents out there babysitting

for FREE!  You are the real MVP's to date night. 

After paying $15 an hour (and I'm really not complaining...she was

entirely worth it) - i have come to appreciate all the money

my parents and Auntie Stacy are saving us! 

Speaking of grandparents - they came up for my birthday

so that Rob and I could go out again! Two dates in February say what?! 

We went to Pins Mechanical (super fun....bring lots of quarters!)

and then dinner later at Cap City (triple decker grill cheese for the win

on a Friday in Lent season). 

All this to say - I want Max to see us go on dates.  I want him

to see us leave...hand in hand...smiles on our faces. Putting

our marriage (as tired, hungry, whiny as we feel) FIRST. 

We're taking back date night!