Adventures of the Happy Hineys

Monday, June 27, 2011

Viva Las Vegas! Celebrating 40 years of LOVE!

A few weekends ago we went to Las Vegas for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. It was so much fun to spend time with my parents and brother, and Tim and I got to experience Vegas for the first time.
After a late night arrival on Friday, we had a drink and some snacks with my parents at our hotel, The Mirage.
On Saturday, we had brunch and spent the day relaxing at the pool. For dinner, we went to Raos at Caesar's Palace. Raos has a Harlem,NY location that has only 10 tables and you can't ever get a table there, so they opened a Vegas location. The restaurant was really authentic feeling, and the waiter was hilarious. The highlight was the food though- we had an amazing antipasti with the best fresh mozzarella I have ever had, and then I followed with an amazing fresh pasta with ham and peas. Delish! After dinner, we headed to Criss Angel's Believe show - we do not recommend it. While it wasn't the worst show, the title was deceptive (it was promoted as a Cirque du Soleil show, which it wasn't) and he just wasn't very entertaining. After the show, we headed over to the Bellagio to see the fountain show and the flower display. It was a fun evening :)
On Sunday, my parent's anniversary and Father's Day, we had breakfast and hung out by the pool again. The afternoon was spent gambling, getting a massage, and having frozen yogurt. We met in my parent's room before dinner to toast with champagne sent up from my Uncle Jim and Auntie Cloi for my parent's anniversary (aren't they they sweetest?!), and then we headed to dinner at B&B at the Venetian hotel. B&B is Mario Batali's restaurant, and since I am obsessed with the Food Network I was pretty excited. We had a fantastic meal, complete with a calamari and pasta course, and then we had our dinners (I had the best pork chop I have ever had in my life!), complete with great wine and a special anniversary dessert. Then we headed to the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show called LOVE. IT WAS AMAZING! We all absolutely loved it, and it was the perfect end to our night!
On Monday, we had breakfast, said goodbye to my family and walked around the strip. Then we found out my family's flight was delayed so we headed to the airport to hang out with them for a few more hours.
Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful weekend with you all! We had a great time! :)

Dad and I in front of Beatles sign

Hubby and I chillin in the pool

Getting ready for Dinner # 1

Inside Caesar's Palace

Mom and Dad before dinner at Rao's

My delish dinner

Bellagio fountain

Bro and Dad in the Bellagio gardens

Mom and Dad on anniversary/father's day!

Cheers to 40 years!

Tim and I in the Venetian

Anniversary treats!

Heading into the Beatles Love Cirque Du Soleil

Bro and I

Moab

A few weeks ago, Tim and I decided to take a road trip after finding out I had a few unexpected days off. We have been wanting to get to Moab, Utah so we decided to take this opportunity to do so.
We left on a Thursday evening, and drove part way so we wouldn't have to set up camp at night.
On Friday, we found a cute little bagel shop in Grand Junction,CO (best bagels we have had in CO yet!) and then headed off to Moab. We set up camp in the Sand Flat Recreation Area, and then headed to Arches National Park. It was beautiful seeing the arch rock formations, and we took a beautiful trail run/hike.
On Saturday, Tim went on a mountain bike ride on the Porcupine Rim trail, and then we went wine tasting at a winery on the Colorado River. The rest of the afternoon we spent checking out the local shops and tried to stay out of the sweltering heat! That night we had an amazing dinner, sat by the fire, and roasted marshmallows :)
On Sunday, we went to Canyonlands National Park, and then drove back to Boulder. We ended the trip with a dinner at Mountain Sun - all in all, it was a fun trip with Tim seeing a new part of the country!
These pictures are some of my favorite we have had in awhile, enjoy! (All out of order again, silly computer keeps putting them in ABC order!)

Our awesome campsite

Canyonlands National Park

More canyons

Driving along the CO River

Double Oh Arch

Tim on top of Double Oh Arch

Just hanging around :)

Me and Tim

Landscape Arch

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands

Relaxing :)

Sunset at our campsite

Sunset again

Gorgeous

Tim on top of Mesa Arch

Tim became famous with this one - Love146 used it for their Tread on Trafficking email :)

Utah winery

Italy!

In December, M's mom came downstairs while I was nannying and said "You wouldn't want to go to Italy would you?", and I basically squealed "That is the ONE place I have ALWAYS wanted to go!"...within about a month, our trip was booked, and I was officially going to Italy with M and his family.To say I was excited would be an understatement!
May 13th finally rolled around and we had a 6:30 PM flight out of Denver. The plane ride to Frankfurt was long (9 1/2 hrs), especially with a 13 month old walker...however, M's parents had arranged for a bassinet which was awesome, we walked around a lot, and the iPad and books were entertainment...in Frankfurt we had a 4 1/2 hr layover (which turned into 5 1/2), and we finally arrived in Florence and waited forever for our bags. Once we hit the road though, and saw the amazing Tuscan countryside we all knew the long trip was worth it.
After a night of being extremely exhausted/a bit homesick, I woke up feeling great on Sunday and we spent the morning lounging at the villa, then went food shopping, and had a wonderful dinner with delicious wine...ahh Italy.
The next week was spent perusing the streets of Siena, Monteriggioni, Lucca, San Gimignano, and Florence. We ate delicious food, had wonderful wine, and I made it my personal goal to eat as much gelato as I could! I made my grandmother's ravioli for dinner one night, which was so amazing making a family recipe in Italy. It was such a beautiful place, with wonderful people. I loved it.(And oh yeah, in Florence, M's mom and I spotted the Jersey Shore crew getting haircuts...awesome...poor Florence).
The flight home was just as long, but we made it through, and I was exhausted and jetlagged, but so excited to see my hubby!
This trip was such a wonderful taste of what Tuscany is like. I can't wait to go back someday and explore it with Tim :)
And now for some pictures! These are all out of order, but that's ok :)

My first gelato, in Siena

Pistaschio and Hazelnut Gelato

Gnocci in Italy = Heaven

Main Piazza in Lucca

Making Grammy's ravioli in Italy

San Gimignano

Piazza Del Campo, Siena

Gorgeous view at the villa

Another beautiful view

The Villa

Thursday, May 12, 2011

New England Tough Mudder: Team Awesome!

Last weekend, Tim and I flew back to the East coast so he could participate in "probably the toughest event on the planet" AKA Tough Mudder. Tim and a bunch of friends signed up for it several months ago, and it had been a highly anticipated event with emails of training videos back and forth, crazy training schedules, finding a house for us all to stay in, etc.
With the weekend finally upon us, we headed up to Vermont on Friday afternoon with Tim's sis Sarah and her boyfriend John. Once at the house, we hung out and waited for friends to arrive, had dinner, and sewed Love146 patches on our clothes...then it was off to bed to rest up for the big day!
On Saturday morning, we had a delicious breakfast prepared by Nora & Joe, the Mudders got ready, and we were off to Mt. Snow to see the craziness.
Team Awesome consisted of Tim, his sis Sarah, her boyfriend John, and our friends Joe and Joe. They were amazing, and watching this event was such a blast. It was a very spectator friendly event, and we could basically watch from anywhere that we wanted to.
Some of the highlights of the race included: Gaining 7,000 feet in elevation, swimming through ice cold water, getting really muddy, climbing the glacier, running through fire, crazy monkey bars, electrical wires, and the Berlin Walls. Those crazy kids were champs, and we were so proud of them.
After the race and the complimentary finisher beers, we headed back to the house to shower and grill :) We spent the night relaxing with all of our favorite people.
On Sunday, we had a wonderful breakfast prepared by Peter and Katie, and we had Mother's Day lunch in North Hampton with my parents and brother, and Tim's parents and Li.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend with our families and friends, and we had such a great time! I can't wait to be a spectator when Tim does the Colorado Tough Mudder in June at Beaver Creek!
Here are a bunch of pictures - more on my facebook page!