Montego Bay, Jamaica {Part 1}

Jamaica Mon! Sorry...still thinking island life. :) A few weeks ago, we left for our annual family vacation. Each year we try to take a few big trips...one with kids and one without. This year's trip we planned with some of our best friends and headed to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Some friends in our group had been and loved it. After hearing some of the details we determined this is just what we were looking for in a relaxing family vacation. 

Our friends from out of town drove in late Friday with their little one, and bright and early Saturday morning we made our way to the airport. All three children were great sports and seemed so excited about everything the airport has to offer. 

Cute was so excited to get he and his "Ellie" a ticket of their very own from the check in agent. Ellie kept track of his ticket the entire trip. 

Because of our early arrival we didn't have time for breakfast. We planned for this and decided to eat in the airport. Mr. Cute shocked me when he came back with The Varsity as the breakfast of choice. Apparently the offerings in the International terminal lacked breakfast options. 

"What'll ya have?" Apparently, burgers and fries at 9:30a.m. :) 

This was Little Cute's first flight and I was slightly nervous. Sitting still is not her forte, and with all the things to see and do and touch, I had a feeling we were in for an entertaining flight. She was mesmerized by all things airport though and refused to move from her position by the window until it was time for boarding. 

There was no turning back now... here we go!

The kids actually did excellent on the three hour flight. I brought lots to entertain them and followed Carrie Beth's road trip tips and applied some of them to flying. There wasn't an unhappy peep out of either one of them, and I am very thankful for the invention of the headphone. 

About two hours and forty minutes into the flight Little Cute decided to finally take a nap. Just about that same time we were coming into Jamaican waters. 

We landed in Jamaica right around lunchtime. The Hilton Hotel that we made arrangements for was only about a 15 minute cab ride from the airport and after enjoying a quick lunch we hit the ground running and headed to the pool. 

I will share the ins and outs of our trip over the next couple of days, but the views and the atmosphere was nothing short of spectacular!

Where are your travels taking you this summer? 

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Father's Day Fun

Ah, home sweet home! We made it home late Saturday afternoon after being out of town for the last two weeks (more on this starting tomorrow). It felt good to be back, and we made it just in time to celebrate Father's Day.

The Cutes were all about daddy doing everything for them after a week apart, so I am not quite sure it was the relaxing day he had in mind, but a little poopy diaper change occasionally keeps you humble right? 

We celebrated dad the best way we know how...at the ballpark! 

As season ticket holders we usually have attended a ton of games by this point in the season, but due to various commitments and vacation, this was our first game together as a family. We were so excited!

We arrived at the ballpark and our car registered a cool 98 degrees. Yikes! It was going to be a hot one!

First order of business was feeding The Cutes. They know the routine by now, and have us trained to get the standard ballpark frank and the bottomless popcorn before we even hit our seats. Little Cute decided picking up her cup was just too difficult a task and created this little invention. Lazy, or complete genius? 

We made it to our seats, and true to form The Cutes were still all about daddy. Can't hate that!

Little Cute sat for about .2 seconds and then she wanted to stand up and cheer. She cracked us up as she participated in every chant, chop, and wave that came her way. That was in between her doing some serious toddler flirting with one of Cute's besties, W, whose family shares tickets with us. Oh man are we in for some big trouble come teenage years. 

The Cutes were into the game until about the 7th inning when all the littles started getting antsy. It was about this time that the sun started creeping into our direction so we happily called the sitting and "watching" portion of the game a success and made our way up to the top to let the kids run the base. 

When we reached the base, Cute was so excited to see the home depot tools from a contest he saw earlier in the game. He went right up and gave them hi-fives.  

Little Cute wanted no part in this and promptly re-buckled herself right back into her stroller. 

The base running is usually a big highlight of the night. The kids love it and can run back and forth for several innings. 

Cute LOVES running it as fast as he can and often wants to know how many "minutes" did it take for him to get to the end. We would correct him, but explaining to him seconds would probably blow his little mind. :) 

Little Cute seems to want to savor the moment and leisurely strolls and waves during her stride down the base line. 

Stroll might actually be too fast of a term. 

But we learned the hard way, girl is not to be hustled. (Not pictured...toddler meltdown.)

Just before the top of the 9th, Mr. Cute called the game and we made our way towards the car. Heat stroke must have inspired him because instead of rushing to the car he asked everyone if they wanted ice cream. So we sat at the front of the stadium and enjoyed some refreshing vanilla and birthday cake goodness. 

We were able to relax and hear that the Braves won the game 1-0 for a sweep over the Mets, and fathers were rejoicing everywhere. :) 

We had a fabulous family Father's Day, and am so glad The Cutes have an amazing daddy to spend days like this with them. 

Happy late Father's Day to all the amazing dads out there. We hope everyone had a special day with their loved ones! 

How did you celebrate dad? 

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P.S. - You know what dads love? Clean cars! Don't forget to enter our VersaLiving Car Seat cover giveaway. For details click HERE! 

Share Your Summer: Grill Skills

Happy Monday!  Today marks another day in our Share Your Summer link-up series and today we are talking all about the grill.

Grilling out just screams summer and we grill a lot in the summer.  Anything from burgers, chicken, steaks, seafood...you name it!  If it can go on the grill, it does.  We also grill a lot with our neighbors. They have quite a set up and always grill things we don't think.  Our last meal over there was chicken wings, sausage and shrimp.  It was so yummy!

A lot of times when we are grilling on the weekends, I'll have my hubby throw on some extra pieces of chicken that we can eat on into the week.  I'll warm it up and make a new side or cut it up and put it on a big salad to change things up a bit, but it makes for easy and quick dinners during the week.

Last night for Father's Day we had two of my very favorite things on the grill - corn on the cob and salmon.

I came across a marinade years ago that was so good and now it is still my favorite way to have salmon.

Salmon Marinade
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar

In a small bowl combine all ingredients until sugar is dissolved.  Place fish in a large zip-lock bag with the marinade.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours prior to grilling.

It's so delicious and the prefect summer meal from the grill!  We can't wait to read about your tips and recipes from the grill, so be sure to link up below!

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Savvy Sassy Sunday: Totspot

Sometimes when people ask if I have a hobby I often joke that dressing my kids is my hobby.  Seriously though, it is so fun for me to shop for them, coordinate their outfits, and dress them in cute and stylish clothes.  I know they are only going to go along with what I want them to wear for a short time (I'm already getting some push back from one curly haired little Blondie) so in recent years, I've been taking full advantage of them being little.

The truth is though, I like to buy really nice brands for my kids and paying full price for all of those nice brands is just not an option.  So, I have gotten resourceful and found lots of ways to get high end brand clothes for a fraction of the retail price.

You all might remember a few months back when I shared my love of children's consignment sales (HERE).  I seriously live for these sales and have so much fun hunting for a good deal.  My husband, on the other hand, feels like this: 

Ha!  He really should be thanking me for all the money I'm saving us though.  Another way I like to shop for kids clothing is online through Facebook resell pages.  It can get a little tricky jumping from page to page looking at various brands though so you can imagine how excited I was to learn about Totspot.  It is an app that allows you to shop for or sell gently used (or new) children's clothing and items.  Hello?!?!  Did someone just say a virtual online consignment sale because that is exactly what this is to me.  You know what else it is??? Brilliant.  The people who created this app are absolutely brilliant.  Now there is no more waiting around for the twice a year consignment sales. Instead I can shop from my phone, right in the comfort of my home.  This, my friends, could be dangerous.

After downloading the app and playing around with it a little more I became even more in love with it.  I realized that I could set up a Tot Profile for each of my kids including their gender, clothing size and shoe size so if I wanted to search for just one of them I could look on their profile and browse everything available in their sizes.  Because I also like to buy ahead, I found the app's searching preferences to be very handy.  I could enter specifics such as brand, size, and price to find all sorts of goodies that I bought and stashed away for next season.  The other thing I liked is that some sellers offered a discount if you bought more than one item from them.  Totspot calls this a "bundle" and I took advantage of the 10-20% off by bundling multiple items from one seller.

I choose to search for specific brands that I try to find at resell in one way or another. I'm a huge Matilda Jane Clothing fan and it's something my girls love wearing, too.  The only problem with that is their clothes can be super pricey.  However, using the Totspot searching features I was able to come across a ton of really awesome Matilda Jane pieces.  Because Little Mama has tons of clothes right now and because Blondie will actually wear ruffle pants without an argument, I decided to get her two new pairs for fall.  When they arrived, I was super impressed.  They were shipped right away, packaged very neatly, and in perfect condition.

Another thing I got was a new Gap Kids denim jacket for Little Mama.  My girls both have Gap denim jackets that I bought at consignment sales and they wear them almost daily in the spring and fall.  I feel like it looks cute with all of their outfits, is perfect for layering on those cool mornings, and easy to stick in their backpacks at school when it warms up later in the day.  It might just be the most worn thing in their closets.  I was going to just bite the bullet and purchase a brand new one for Little Mama when school starts because hers is getting a little small and I love the quality and fit of the Gap ones, but a $10 price from Totspot sounds so much better than $50 (or more!) for a brand new one so I was so happy to come across one when I did.

Lastly, I got Boo-Boo another pair of Gap Kids everyday play shorts.  Sometimes madras plaid shorts and a polo just aren't necessary and since we dress pretty casual in the summer after pool days and such, I knew he could use another pair of these soft and comfy shorts.

If I'm being honest, I found the selection to be just about like a real consignment sale.  Not everything is great.  There are a lot of just so-so items and some things are really over-priced.  You do have to hunt, but if you use the search tools they offer you can really find some wonderful things.  That is what makes it so much fun to me.  When you do come across a good find, it is totally worth weeding through the so-so stuff.  I will definitely keep using Totspot in the future to keep up with my "hobby" as long as my kids will let me!

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I received this credit for review as part of the Savvy Sassy Moms Product Scouts program. All opinions are my own.

Friday Favorites: Summer Beauty Products

Happy Friday friends!  First up a bit of business...we wanted to announce the winner of the How To Raise an Adult giveaway.  Congratulations to Erin!  Email us at themagnoliamamas@gmail.com to claim your book.

After reading all about Jen's Share Your Summer post on Monday about what's in her pool bag and seeing the specific sunscreens and things she likes most, it got me thinking about some of my favorites for summer.  Specifically, my favorites summer beauty products both in and out of my pool bag so today I'm linking up with Erika for Friday Favorites.

As much of a girly girl as I am, it's kind of surprising to me that I'm not a big product girl.  I think a lot of that stems from the fact that with young kids, you don't have the luxury of time and instead have to get ready as fast as possible. I used to budget an hour to shower, get dressed, do hair, make-up, etc. That was definitely pre-kids. Nowadays, I'm ready in 20 minutes flat.  Sometimes faster!

If I'm going to put something into my beauty routine, it has to be good!  I've noticed in the past few weeks that I have some favorite summer beauty products, so I thought I would share them with all of you!

Mary Kay CC Cream
This stuff is amazing. My friend and Mary Kay consultant, Lisa, suggested it to me when I told her I was looking for something a little more sheer and light-weight for summer.  There are a lot of days when I don't want to put on make-up because we are just going to the pool or the lake, but I would like some sort of coverage.  This does just that.  It is actually a tinted sunscreen and it gives just enough coverage to even out my skin-tone, but it isn't heavy or sticky feeling.  I love it and have been wearing it pretty much every day!  When I told Lisa I loved this stuff so much that I was going to feature it as one of my summer beauty favorites she offered to give a special discount to our readers.  Simply use the code MAGNOLIAMAMAS when you purchase from her website HERE to receive 20% off of the CC Cream and free shipping!  (Discount will be applied before your credit card is charged.)

Jergens BB Body Cream
I'm a big Jergen's girl. Leading up to shorts and tank top season I start with Jergen's Glow.  It's a gradual self-tanner that isn't really a self-tanner. It a moisturizer that gradually builds a little color over time so you don't have to worry about streaks or looking orange.

Since even more of my body is exposed now in swimsuit seasons I was excited to learn about this new Jergens BB Body Cream.  My mother-in-law actually told me about it and believe me, it does it all.  It evens skin tone, visibly firms skin, and helps reduce the appearance of imperfections.  In short, it's a miracle worker.  Trust me!

Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes
We travel a lot in the summer and most weekends we are at the lake. I bought these Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes as a way to try to avoid bringing my entire skincare regimen with me every single weekend.  I know I should keep up with my normal routine, but honestly, sometimes I just want a quick wipe down of my face to remove all the make up and sunscreen.  These towelettes do just that.  They even remove eye make-up and leave my skin feeling really clean.  After using them I slap on some moisturizer and call it done!

Nivea Shimmer Lip Balm
My lips are always super dry and I'm constantly applying chapstick.  On a whim, I picked up this Nivea Shimmer Lip Balm a few weeks ago and it is my new favorite! It has just a hint of shimmer to it so it looks really nice on, but my favorite part is the way it smells!  It's got a great scent to it and I just love it.  Plus, it doesn't melt when it sits out in the heat in my pool bag.

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen
We wear sunscreen almost daily around here in the summer.  Between the pool, lake, or outdoor camps, I try to keep us all protected from the sun.  The past few years I have been using the kids sunscreen just to make it easier and so that I would have to carry one less thing.  However, I had a sample bottle of this Neutrogena Ultra Sheer sunscreen that I happened to use one day and fell in love with it. I loved the light and sheer feeling of it on my skin and have since bought a few larger bottles that I use regularly now.

A big thanks to everyone that linked up with us this week.  Next Monday will bring another installment of our Share Your Summer series!  This time we'll be talking about Grill Skills.

So, if you are grilling out this weekend, be sure to snap a pic, write a quick post sharing your favorite recipes or grilling methods and tips and link up with us. :-)  Have a great weekend!

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