a little day trip

last week ryan and i took an impromptu day off work as one last hoorah before the spring semester begins.  we took a trip to new jersey to hit up several of our favorite stores that we don't have nearby where we live.  along the way we stopped at the cheesecake factory for lunch.  we had a gift certificate that we wanted to use and i had a reward for a free slice of cheesecake for my birthday as well.

it was a fun (and tasty) little trip to get out of town for a moment before the craziness began!

love, laurie

noah's first build-a-bear

back in august, our friends isabella and josh gave us a gift certificate to take noah to the build-a-bear workshop.  we were swamped all fall with work, so we were happy to be able to visit a build-a-bear over the christmas break.

we took an evening trip to new jersey to use a gift certificate to the cheesecake factory and to make our pilgrimage to trader joe's to stock up, and there was a build-a-bear there so we decided to check it out for noah.

even though we had to rush through because it was so late, he liked getting to stuff his own bear.  he put the heart inside and even a special message inside too.  now the bear says "i love you" when noah presses his paw.  what really made noah excited was finding out they had a blippi costume to put on the bear since he is blippi obsessed!  we also got a pair of shoes and a pair of pajamas for the bear too.  

he proudly carried that bear out of the store and didn't let go of it the whole way home in the car!

love, laurie

a little anniversary getaway to ocean grove - part two

there was a drastic change in the weather between monday and tuesday in ocean grove.  while monday was cool, overcast, and drizzling, tuesday was a scorcher with temperatures in the 90s and lots of humidity.  we woke up and enjoyed breakfast at the b&b where we were staying and then headed to the beach to cool off in the water.  

we took a little break in the afternoon to come back to town to grab some pizza for lunch before heading back to the beach to cool off again.  after soaking up lots of sun, sand, and surf, we showered off and headed out to find some dinner in nearby asbury park before calling it a night and crashing from exhaustion.

on wednesday morning, we had breakfast again at the b&b.  before heading out to drive back home, we walked the boardwalk a little bit to say goodbye to the ocean.  

it was a nice little outing.  here are a few photos from tuesday and wednesday . . . 

you can see more of our trip to ocean grove here 

love, laurie

a little anniversary getaway to ocean grove - part one

last week we took a little trip to ocean grove, new jersey to celebrate our anniversary.  we had a bit of free time monday through wednesday, so we decided to take advantage of it and escape somewhere not too far away before baby boy arrives in a couple of weeks.  

it's hard to believe that it has been 9 years since we last went to ocean grove.  we spent two nights at the inn at ocean grove which was a quaint little bed and breakfast just one block from the ocean.

we drove down on monday and arrived in the afternoon.  since it was cool, overcast, and drizzling, we couldn't go in the water, so instead we walked around the town and relaxed.  we found a nice little spot for lunch and a good restaurant for dinner, along with some ice cream for dessert.  here are some photos from our monday in ocean grove . . .  

love, laurie

cheesecake!

we took the day off work on friday to take a little day trip to rockaway, new jersey with our families.  we visited the buy buy baby store and then headed to the cheesecake factory for lunch!  you can't go wrong with a visit to the cheesecake factory!

love, laurie