Hi there. I have changed locations since you last heard from me on the Fourth of July. 🙂 More on that in a second but here’s a quick overview of my super low-key holiday.
After publishing my last blog post, I had my car washed, cleaned up around the house, did a driveway workout (details here, it was a GOOD one!) and took the dogs for a walk.
I got myself showered and into a blue dress and went over to Dorie’s for a very small cookout. I intended to take a photo to document that I got dressed and actually wore a dress but then I just took a picture of my food. Oh well. It was a lovely evening and REALLY great to get out of the house and to be around people that I love. We joked that it was actually nice that the fireworks shows were canceled because there’s always so much FOMO about missing them but we agreed that we never really love the process of going to them.
We had brats, tomatoes and mozzarella, Dorie’s seriously addictive best-ever artichoke dip and my lemon feta potato salad. Simple and perfect.
I headed home right around 9p as it was getting dark and thank goodness that I got home when I did. A downside of the fireworks shows being canceled was that it seemed like everyone decided to do their own show in their driveway. Poor Benji had a really hard time with the fireworks and was glued to me all night and shaking/panting. Zoey didn’t have a care in the world.
I stayed up until 12:30a packing to leave for Florida on Sunday. I originally planned to leave early Monday morning but figured why not get the drive out of the way on Sunday since I was picking up Finn at noon. This meant I had to kick it into high gear to get out of town earlier than planned but it went off without a hitch.
We arrived in Florida around 9p. The drive took us a little over 9.5 hours. It was long but Finn did really well in the car (bless you, Cocomelon). We’ll be here for a full week for my summer vacation time with Finn.
You guys, it was so hard for me to leave Benji. I feel like we have come so far with his training and he is super attached to me. I almost brought him with me but I felt so guilty leaving Zoey behind. Luckily, they are both in good hands with my dog sitter. She’s like their second mom and has spent countless nights in my home with my dogs over the years. I know she’ll give them both tons of love and attention. (She actually took this picture last week when she was helping with Finn one day.)
Finn was so excited to be reunited with Mema, Pee-Paw and Meme. I thought he’d fall asleep towards the end of our road trip but nope. He spent the last three hours saying, “Meme” and “Where are you Meme?” He was so ready to see everyone!
Finn was very anxious for Mema to get up this morning. He stood at her door saying “Wake up, Mema” and knocking. (I waited until 8a to let him do this, haha.)
He spent more time in Mema’s lap than mine today. <3
I got in a five mile run this morning and got so sunburnt on my chest and legs in just the 45 minutes that I was out there! It was 80 degrees and 90 percent humidity so it made for a very sweaty run.
Once Finn was up from his nap, we headed down to the beach so that Finn could get his running in! 🙂
We did lots of sand digging and wave jumping. The cutest thing was that after we’d been out there for about an hour, Finn kept trying to run up towards the boardwalk. When we asked him where he was going, he replied, “get Mema.”
The rest of the evening looked like shower and PJs, steak dinner with my parents, balcony time with Mema and an early bedtime for Finn. I’ll be joining him once I finish this post.
I am over the moon that we get to spend a whole week here with my family. I just wanted to take a quick moment to recognize that Florida is a crazy hot spot right now. Up until last Thursday I was on the fence about canceling our trip out of concern for the safety of my parents and grandmother. I shared my thoughts/worrries with my mom and they had a family talk and emphatically stated that they wanted us to stick with our plans to visit. We will be staying very close to my family’s condo and avoiding crowded pool areas, all restaurants and stores/shopping. Luckily, given the location of our condo on the island, it’s easy to distance on the beach.
QUESTIONS
How did your dogs do with the fireworks? Was your neighborhood crazy on July Fourth evening? We still had fireworks going off when I went to bed at 12:30a!
Are you making any summer beach trips? Are you making any changes/taking extra precautions with your travel and visit?
Enjoy your trip, your familiy, the sunshine, the hugging and laughing together!
It’s so lovely to see you so genuinely happy!
Would Dorie do a guest post and share the recipe for this magical dip??
Let me ask if she’s willing to share or if it’s a family secret 😉
I’ve commented on this before, but it bears repeating….the pics of Finn and your grandmother are the SWEETEST and literally make my day. Which a precious relationship!!! Enjoy your week with your family ❤️
Ack! “What” a precious relationship – not “which”
I love that Finn has such a special relationship with your grandma! That is so awesome! I have not seen my grandma in so long… I actually can’t remember the last time which is very sad but she lives in an assisted living center in ND and we don’t get up that way very often. I would typically see her at the lake in the summer or go visit her when we are at the lake, but they are not allowing visitors right now due to COVID. Which I understand.
We haven’t seen my parents since our FL trip in February which has been so hard on all of us. But our son is in daycare so we just don’t know what he is exposed to. Plus we had 3 cases of COVID in another classroom around Memorial Day weekend so we know it’s possible could contract it and/or be an asymptomatic carrier. So we did not go to my parents’ lake cabin for the 4th. 3 of my siblings were there so it was hard to see pictures of all the fun they were having but we knew the responsible decision was to stay home and keep to ourselves. We are going up to their lake home for a week in August, though. We will all get tested for COVID on a Friday morning, isolate until we get our results back, and then head up to their place. I’m really looking forward to it as I’ve taken very little time off since COVID hit in March and I could really use a change of scenery/time with my parents. My parents are obsessed with paul so I know they will help out a ton and let my husband and I sleep in/relax. So I am basically living for that week right now and am just praying we all test negative.
Hi Jen!
So glad you guys are able to visit family and enjoy a little vacation time!
We had fireworks all around our house on the 4th. I have 3 dogs and 2 of them could care less, but poor Busy Bones he was absolutely scared! Every time the big boomers would go off he would start shaking! He was so worn out by Sunday from being stressed out for 2 days. I feel so bad for Benji.
Have a great week!
CC
Finn and his mema’s relationship just melts my heart! They are so lucky to have each other!
Fireworks went off pretty late in our neighborhood, about 11. Thankfully my kids didn’t wake
Up! Our dog has never minded fireworks but I feel for
Others who do!
Enjoy your vacation and time with family!