Get Out Stay Out; Mommy’s Recap

The thing I love about weathermen is that they can “predict” the weather straight up, be 100% wrong and still get paid. No big deal. No harm no foul, they still maintain their reputation – it’s the silliest thing to me. But hey, I’m happy when it works out in my favor; meaning it’s sunny and warm versus cold, cloudy and rainy, especially on a weekend! No complaints here. On Saturday it was supposed to be cloudy, chance of rain, low 80’s but I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be bright, sunny and 90 degrees. A day made for us, perfect for yard work and back patio hangs as we refer to it over here at our casa. We weeded the front yard, back yard, mowed the lawns, laid down new mulch and pea stone and cleaned up our back patio area. So nice to have mommy, daddy, baby and doggy together outside all day — although Maxly was getting uncomfortable and wanted her A.C. and T.V. (ha who can blame her, she’s a smart cookie.) That worked for me too though so I could cool off and clean and organize inside of our house and such. It was a very productive day here at The House of Deeds. Our back patio is one of my absolute favor areas of our home. It’s so peaceful back there, my own little wonderland. Our back yard stretches rather far back and we just see the greenest grass, our dog running around amongst squirrels, bunnies and birds (although I’m pretty sure she’s chasing them around — and our neighbors doggy Pearl, Minnie’s best friend. I love being back there — I never thought anything could make the space better but to be honest it improves with each warm season that comes; especially with my daughter here. Miss Maxly the backyard is so much better with you in it my darling angel.  To see her beautiful little smile, her itty bitty feet and hands reaching for the sunlight. Ugh melts my heart to see her be so happy in my happy place as well. I’m looking forward to spending summer days back there with her. Reading, playing, watching our puppy run around, our tortoise play and feed on the weeds. Ugh so exciting. It’s like I wish she would stay small, I miss her tinyness so much but at the same time it is so cool to watch her grow and learn day by day and turn into a tiny human. My mini me. Anyways (sorry for the little rant there but my heart can’t help it) we pooped Maxly out along with the sunshine and she was in bed by 6:30pm– which actually typically is not out of the norm but this time she didn’t even need a bottle or her mobile on. She just laid down with her “white noise” on the sound machine and was out like a light. Good sweet girl, I know she slept sweet. Once she had eaten her dinner, was bathed and in bed — us adults ate too, showered and sat on the back patio once again with a well deserved beer. Nothing says ice cold brew like a 90 degree day spent outside especially working hard and getting dirty. Perfect ending to a hot yet nice day.  Once Nick and I were all clean, cooled down and relaxed I checked the weather. Why do I even bother??Once again the forecast was supposed to be cloudy/rainy and actually kind of chilly. Well at least we’d have an excuse to binge watch some Netflix or movies all day… have a lazy Sunday. With yucky weather and no chores to do around the house… not much else to really do. Well once again we were pleasantly surprised when we awoke to find pretty much clear skies, birds chirping, a nice breeze and sunshine. Nope. No television for us today! So we all packed into Momma’s SUV (dog included) and we headed to a quaint town nearby, Collinsville. The drive there alone is peaceful since half of it is what you’d call the scenic route. Winding roads, trees, bike paths, rivers, wildlife; no stop lights, no stop signs, hardly any other vehicles on the road — bliss. Plus the 45 minutes there and back also allowed me to trick the baby into taking two naps, since she’ll only ever nap in 30 minute increments. (HA FOOLED YOU MAX!) So front windows down, sunroof open, music blaring equaled mommy, daddy and Minnie jamming and getting pumped for our day ahead. Would we get ice cream? Would we go antiquing? Would we walk the bridge? Would we get a slice of pizza? The options are limitless in the gem of Collinsville. Guess we would just find out when we got there — do whatever felt right for our family upon arrival.  Ok so once we found a parking spot underneath a nice beautiful tree we started to unload. Minnie was a happy chihuahua to be getting some fresh air, as were we all. So happy that she just jumped right out of the car! But good girl hoped in the back of the hatchback so we could attach her leash. Fun fact; six years ago when Nick and I started seeing each other this is the place I took him. We hung out on the bridge, climbed under the bridge, smoked our cigarettes like the cool hooligans we were and got to know each other. (And we haven’t been back there together since, so it was pretty special to go back with our daughter and our dog; our little family!) We made our way to the wooden bridge, lead by me and Maxly (in her stroller)  followed by Daddy and Minnie right behind us. Maxly couldn’t stop gazing up at the beams and rods, or looking over trying to see the river that was filling her ears. Minnie was excited too but hated the noise and vibrations that the bikes were making when they’d clank over the metal beams on the ground, she’d jump every time…maybe it was mean but it was funny to see, we couldn’t help but laugh at her. Like us – she’s a dork so it’s fine. I’ve come to this spot millions of times growing up because it was so close to the town I grew up in. So many late summer evenings spent here, cold rainy days – really Collinsville is great for any occasion. To be here though with my family, with my daughter — it definitely did something to me, to my heart. It was really special. I was really proud. It was honestly just really cool. The bridge leads to a trail which I’m not too keen on because there’s nothing to “look at” while walking it. But if you go back over the bridge, towards the parking lot, and across the street you can walk the trail over there along the river; so that’s where we were headed next after reminiscing the arches. Carefully crossing the streets and walkways we had made it to the path of my desire. Heavenly. The path goes for a couple of miles and without hesitation or complaint we all walked the entire thing. Sometimes stopping so Minnie could drink out of her portable water dish. Or for me to take a few photos or just to simply enjoy the view of my family by the water. It was so nice. The weather has been so crummy the past few weeks so I was so grateful that today of all days, where Nick isn’t working, that the weatherman was wrong. That it was a true Sunday Fun-day! Now like I said before, I’ve been here loads of times but ironically enough had never walked this specific path before. Just have driven along side it on my way to Massachusetts or New York. At the end of this path is a beautiful hidden nursery right off of the road – again somewhere I’ve only driven by but have always wanted to go. So that’s where we went. Millions of flowers, rat tail cactus’s, baskets, bright lively colors and more filled my eyes – mmmmm what a beautiful sight to see. Really. I love it, it was my own slice of paradise I swear. Of course I wanted to buy so many plant babies to add to my collection at home but walking miles back with plants probably wouldn’t be the easiest….although I guess I could have driven back over? Oh well. After making chit chat with other consumers regarding the beautiful greenery, our pup and our cute little baby we decided it was time to turn around and take the path back. It was just as breathtaking as the journey there. Sweaty and tired we made it back to our SUV. Disposed of the pups poop bags and recycled our empty water bottles and hit the road home. That was a fantastic way to spend four hours of our beautiful afternoon – and the baby was awake the entire time to enjoy it too. I am looking so forward to this warm summer weather now that it’s here for more adventures. So we can get out and stay out. Always explore more while you can, even if you’ve been there before. Adventures never get old and you can always give an old place a new meaning. I hope everyone also had a fantastic weekend and is looking forward to their summer as well. Much love all XxOO.