Working on ME

Hi all of you sexy beasts! It's been a few weeks, and I really hate when I let time get away from me like that. Since I wrote last, a ton of BIG things have happened.

* My grandfather was allowed to return home from the hospital after his stroke!

* My family and I went on vacation to the Jersey Shore, Maryland, and Washington DC.

* I had my blood work done for my thyroid (right between trips).

* I traveled to Nashville, TN for a professional development conference.

* I received my results from my bloodwork - they weren't great. :( 

* I registered for next years work trip in New Orleans and committed myself to compete in my first "bodybuilding" competition.

It has been a really really crazy time and I'll try to tackle it piece by piece here and what I've learned while away. First part - my Poppop. As many of you may have previously read, my Poppop had a stroke while in the hospital for a stent replacement surgery. His sudden and scary hospitalization sent me into survival mode. I took my kids to see him in the hospital and even got to see my parents who came up north from Florida. My nutrition, workouts, and hydration plan all went out the window and I honestly haven't been on plan for very many days since then and it's been almost a month. Which leads me into....

We met the baby Pandas!

We went on vacation! My sister and her hubby joined my husband, the kids, and I on our annual vacation. We kept it low key at the shore, the National Aquarium and DC. It was nice seeing family in MD and catching up. The kids LOVED everywhere we went (TONS OF WALKING) and even had an amazing time in our DC hotel. We stayed at the Topaz and had the good fortune of having this awesome nook type couch thing where my little girl made herself her own personal space. It was amazing and hilarious.

Charlotte rocking out in her area. 

Raphael had the best time! Giving his peace sign!

I am already looking forward to our next family trip. We had such a blast unwinding and destressing from our day to day lives. Even though we didn't go too far, it was so nice to just BE!

More to come on my bloodwork and Nashville, but for now, enjoy this hilarious clip of us at the shore. My husband is a *spectacular* camera man and was going for "action shots."  xoxo