Tag: vacation

activities, family, fitness, fun, motivation, north carolina, outer banks, vacation

Our Outer Banks, NC Vacation-Fun Things We Did

caffeinatedcarly

Hello, all! We are driving home from vacation and my toddler is FINALLY sleeping so I have a little time to write. She has not been loving the car unfortunately, but thankfully we are almost home.

Anyway…we spent a week in an oceanfront beach house (with a hot tub). Going this late in the year is nice because it is not crowded at all, plus the house was quite a bit less expensive! Win!! Our weather had a wide variety. Some hot days, some windy, and some just plain chilly!

We had a ton of good food, but I will save that for another post. This one is going to focus on activities!

BEACH PLAY: On the warm days, we played on the beach. We made sand castles, found shells, and chased around our cute little girl!

She is such a beach baby!

WILD HORSE BEACH: OBX has a beach where wild horses roam freely. It truly is an amazing sight to see. We rented a jeep and explored the beach and neighborhoods.

The horses were beautiful!

JOCKEYS RIDGE: These are huge sand dunes that overlook the ocean and the sound. The views are incredible.

Carrying K up the sand dunes really worked my legs! Haha.

KITE FLYING: Baby K loved watching her daddy and grandpa fly the kite. It definitely picked up a ton of air because they did it on a crazy windy day!

I love this picture of K and my husband!

BEACH RUNS: I ran each morning while the sun was coming up. It was so relaxing!

I miss this view already.

HOT TUB AND CARD GAMES: Once K went to bed each night we typically enjoyed the hot tub or family card games.

Me and the hubs!

SHOPPING AND WALKING THE PIER: We walked the pier to Duck Donuts (which are the best ever), saw the horse statues, and did a little shopping on a chilly day!

I could eat her up!

We enjoyed vacation so much!! I am not looking forward to all of the laundry when we get home, but am ready to get back to our routine.

That is all for today! Have a wonderful week!

With love,

Carly

family, fitness, food, foodie, Uncategorized, vacation

Our Lake Vacation

caffeinatedcarly

Hello, everyone! I hope all is well. We are home and settled from vacation. Every year, we spend a week at Gun Lake in Michigan with my husband’s family. We always have a blast, and K got to jetski and tube this year! The weather was hot, but luckily we had a lot of shade. The cabins don’t have air, but we had fans, and the evenings cooled down quite a bit. We all needed the vacation, and a break from reality for a bit.

WATER FUN:

K fell asleep on the tube, but woke up waving haha. It was so cute!

The baby pool was a hit, and K played with the other littles. They had a blast, and the giggles were the absolute cutest.

The jetski was definitely K’s favorite (just like her mamma).

We also went boating, and swam in the lake.

FOOD:

We literally had SO much food! My mother-in-law goes all out. Here’s just a couple meals out of many!

WORKOUTS:

Most days I ran around the lake. The road surrounding it has a lot of hills, so it doesn’t take long to get a good workout in.

The other days I did some excercises with my kettlebells.

OTHER:

*We played lots of games: cornhole, yard pong, texas horseshoes, etc.

*K went crazy for bubbles, and her new kids fishing pole.

*In the evenings, we sat outside and relaxed.

Overall, it was a wonderful week!

Now it is back to reality.

Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday!!

With love,

Carly

family, fitness, food, foodie, fun, healthy food, motivation, outer banks, seafood, vacation, workout

Our Outer Banks, NC Vacation (Baby’s First Time On The Beach)

caffeinatedcarly

Hello, all! I’m coming to you from the car on the way home from our wonderful vacation. I have gone to the Outer Banks, NC with my family since I was little. I brought my husband for the first time 5 years ago when we were dating, and this past week, we brought our daughter for her first visit. We had such a wonderful time, and made so many memories.

Here is the highlighted version..

TRAVELLING:

The drive from our house is around 11 hours. We broke it up into two days both ways. The baby did so well overall, but definitely had her moments where she wanted out of the car. We kept her busy with toys, music, and grandma (who sat in the backseat with her).

BABY’S SCHEDULE AND ROUTINE:

I thrive on routine, as does my little one. I never sway on bedtime, and try to keep consistent naps. I made sure to keep this up the whole vacation. Sure, it meant being at the house to have her in bed by 6 each night, but we had a blast going out in the day! It is SO worth it to me. Travel days were rough. She struggled going down, and since we had to share a room with her she wanted to play all hours of the night. She did amazing at the beach house though! I consider that a win.

BEACH FUN:

We had an oceanfront house, and the view was absolutely stunning. We drank coffee while watching the sun rise each morning. We even had a hot tub on the deck. Our weather was absolutely perfect! Sunny and breezy, which made for such pleasant beach days.

We had so much fun showing baby K the ocean! We either held her, or put her in the pack and play with toys while we were outside.

We walked the pier near us many times, visited a lighthouse, and a place called the Whalehead Club.

Kennedy also got to spend quality time with her grandparents. My mom was with us the whole time, and my husband’s parents came for a few days!

FOOD:

We ate so well!! I love love love seafood! Here is just a couple favorite meals from the trip, although we had many more delicious things!

This salad had fresh tuna, and all sorts of other tasty items! This was from a restaurant called Rundown Cafe. It is a staple when we visit!

Yes, another salad lol! This one had a delicious crabcake on it. I devoured the whole thing, along with my margarita!

Crabmeat stuffed mushrooms. These were so good!

FITNESS:

Most days, I did a 3 mile beach run! I love zoning out and taking in the sights and smells of the ocean. It is so peaceful!

Two of the days, I did barre videos and a long walk with my mom and baby K!

As always, the week flew by, and it is back to reality!

Have a wonderful week, all!

With love,

Carly

baby, cabin, health, healthy, lake, motivation, update, vacation, workout

Our First Vacation With Baby

caffeinatedcarly

Hello, all!! We are finally home and settling back into our routine from vacation. We actually got home Saturday evening, but between unpacking, loads of laundry, cleaning the house, and moving baby to her room, things have been crazy.

We spent a little over a week at the lake with my husband’s family. Here is the recap:

PACKING:

Oh my gosh, packing for baby K was so stressful. Our car was completely full! She needs SO much stuff!! It helped making a list. 3 adults, one child, and a BUNCH of stuff. Yikes!! We made it work though.

THE DRIVE:

Baby K did great overall! Minimal crying/screaming, lots of staring at trees. She barely slept on the way there, but napped more on the way home.

The drive was around 5 hours, and we stopped a few times to feed and change her.

THE CABIN AND SLEEP:

The cabins are small, but we did have our own room. We put the pack and play by our bed, and baby slept in the doc a tot inside of it (which she is now officially out of since we’ve been home).

There is no air conditioning in the cabins, so we used fans. I was super worried about the baby, but we had the fan directly on her at night. She slept amazing the whole week!! Being outside made her tired, and she napped well and slept through each night. Around 6:15pm-6/7 am!

FUN:

Making new family memories was a blast. Taking baby on her first boat ride and seeing her in the lake brought so much joy to our hearts.

With SO many people to play with the baby, my husband and I got to go out on the jetskis and have time with our friends.

After the baby went down in the evenings, we would eat and play games.

FOOD:

Food options are endless at the lake. I indulged, but still tried to be mindful of what I was eating.

FITNESS:

I took advantage of the endless babysitters to workout each day. The area surrounding the lake has hills to run, which I did often. I loved the time for myself.

I also did pure barre videos, and lifted weights that my brother-in-law’s brought.

OVERALL:

I definitely stressed way more than I needed to. We had a lot of fun! I was more than ready to be home by the end l though. There is nothing like home, and I love routine.

I hope you all enjoyed the update!

I’m going to sit here and continue to cuddle my baby because she is clingy right now haha.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

With love,

Carly

family, fitness, food, fun, getaway, health, lake, motivation

Our Mini Michigan Vacation

caffeinatedcarly

Hey there, everyone! Last night, I returned from a 2 night lake vacation with my mom, my oldest brother, and his family. It was so much fun spending time with them, as I don’t see them near as often as I would like.

Here is the recap!

SUNDAY:

My mom and I got in around 2pm on Sunday and immediately put on swimsuits. We spent the rest of the day rafting, boating, swimming, and relaxing.

My sweet niece!

After spending the day on the water, we decided to go into town for dinner.

They had lines of decorative bikes. I loved this one.

We had dinner at a little sports bar and I had a veggie burger, veggies, and applesauce. I also finished my nephew’s curly fries.

After dinner, we got back and crashed pretty hard.

MONDAY:

We woke up and went on a jog/walk with the family. The views were so beautiful. There were stunning homes and golf courses surrounding the lake.

We decided to head into another town this day, but the drive was pretty long. We went into the cutest town for shopping, coffee, and lunch.

Calamari!

Terriaki chicken over a spicy slaw. It was delicious!

The coffee shop was adorable! I got a decaf almond milk latte.

After shopping, we went to lake Michigan which was so beautiful!

My oldest nephew!

We got back to the lake house around 6, made some dinner, had showers, then played Monopoly until bed time.

TUESDAY:

We went for another jog and enjoyed the beautiful views again. Afterwards, we went on a boat ride while my niece and nephews skied and tubed. Mid day, we headed home.

The drive was kind of long and it felt good to get home and relax!

What a wonderful trip!

Have a great rest of your week, everyone!

With love,

Carly