Hello Monday

Hi friends! It feels so good to be back, linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday after such a long break. I missed you guys and am excited to catch up with everyone again!

We just returned from our amazing Cousin Connect Adventure last Tuesday. Since then, I’ve been busy doing laundry, restocking the fridge, packing things away, and cooking meals (I can’t believe how much I craved a simple home-cooked meal!!). I’ve also been doing a whole lot of reminiscing about our incredible trip.

A few memes about how long January feels have popped up on Facebook, but for me, it flew by. And I have to keep reminding myself that we are, in fact, already in February!

Gosh, where do I start? First, I just wanted to pop in and say a quick hello. Then, over the next few posts, I’ll be recapping our amazing adventures. This was our first big trip in over 10 years, and it was THE best! I caught up with family from L.A., visited so many incredible places, and conquered a ton of fears–like flying! I did cry, not hysterically—just big, fat, sad tears during every takeoff and gripped Steve and Sam’s hands as we landed. But hey, I did it, along with so many other things I never thought I could!

The best part was getting to experience it all with not just my husband and youngest son Sam but also some of my cousins from our cousin crew. They were so much fun to travel with—super organised, flexible, and always able to think outside the box in a heartbeat. These are the qualities you need when two families are on an adventure!

Oh, and they can also drive on both sides of the road—the right side like in the USA and the left side like we do here in Australia. Geez, I don’t know how they do it. During our trip, I had trouble crossing the road on foot because I couldn’t figure out which way to look! So Steve and I totally agree that they should go on The Amazing Race because they’d win for sure!

See this mess?

It’s my travel journal! Haha, I started my trip planning here, and I took it with me. I had every intention of writing down what we did each day. I even bought a glue stick in Walmart (holy cow, I went to Walmart, and it blew me away!!) to paste in every receipt, map, and booklet—everything. And nope, I only wrote in it once the whole time.

But I’ve taken a million photos. Don’t worry, I won’t be posting all of them here—only a few (hundred). Over the next few days and weeks, I’ll also be putting together a movie about our trip. I’d like to have it ready to share for our March Cousin Connect. I’m going to add some fun music, and we can enjoy it while we eat popcorn. I have big plans, and I can’t wait!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Now that I’m settling back into the real world again, I’ll be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Keep having a blessed day!

A lovely lady in Hawaii said that to me, and I loved hearing it so much that I want to make it part of what I say more often. Both here on the blog and in my day-to-day life.