It was over a year ago now, we were exploring and hiking in Iceland with our best friends. We had planned and saved and made our way there, excited to be experiencing a new place together. We had heard about this “hidden” hot pool in the middle of the mountains and were ready for our first little expedition to find it. Our online research said it would be an easy 15-minute walk there, a simple trail for all levels of hikers.
Read More
This last week has been really hard. We’ve been home sick with what feels like the plague (AKA hand foot & mouth disease). Eveleigh got it first, and even though adults don’t typically catch it — I am one of the lucky few who did. And then it spread to Cora as well, and well, it’s not been fun, to say the least. And since it’s super contagious we haven’t really left the house at all, and I am going stir crazy. It’s started triggering my wanderlust and making me crave a trip when we’re all feeling better.
But in the meantime, I thought I’d share some photos from our road trip this summer… these are all from our time in Big Sur, which is the most beautiful stretch of coastline I have ever seen. I love living in this beautiful state because there are so many amazing places to visit, most within driving distance (especially if you’re a road trip lover like myself!).
We drove up to Monterey first and spent two nights there, exploring the town and heading north up to Santa Cruz for a short visit. Then we started making our way South to Big Sur, driving through Carmel and stopping at several scenic overlooks to take in the view. We stopped for lunch at the River Inn and then stopped later for coffee at Big Sur Bakery. If we were sans kids I would’ve definitely stayed there a while longer enjoying coffee & dessert and taking it all in. Very charming & definitely worth a stop! Then we stopped off at McWay Falls and hiked the little trail there. Such amazing views & a great short walk with kiddos. We were also planning on stopping off at Pfieffer beach but we couldn’t find the path and the girls were sleeping, so we kept on going and just stopped off at a few more turnouts. We continued to make our way south towards San Simeon, and visited the Elephant Seal Rookery. Eveleigh loved seeing the Elephant Seals & the super friendly squirrels that were there too!
Big Sur was definitely the highlight of our summer road trip! Hoping to post & share some more photos from the rest of our trip soon. :)
Have you ever been to Big Sur? Would love to hear your favorite spots & places to stay, as we hope to visit again soon (I’m thinking like once every two years at minimum ;))
With love,
Monika
(^When both kids nap at the same time and it feels like you’re sorta kinda on a date! ?)
Lately we’ve been loving heading south to San Clemente after church. Last Sunday was a particularly beautiful day, and we wanted to soak it up! We had lunch at HH Cottons, which was yummy and surprisingly pretty kid-friendly. Afterwards we walked down to the pier and got some coffee from Bear Coast Coffee. Their lavender infused caramel latte is ridiculously delicious (just writing about it is making me crave one) – I definitely recommend going if you live in Orange County. Then we strolled along the pier and took in the view. I still pinch myself that we get to live here in Southern California. It is just so beautiful!
Hoping for more sunny days soon (we’re in the midst of what we call the “May Gray”) and looking forward to many summer beach days!
Hope you have a beautiful week <3
In December we were blessed to get to travel to Philadelphia & New York City. My sister was getting married in Philly, and then we decided to take the train to NYC for a few nights before heading home… to get to live out my dream of NYC at Christmastime! It was such a great little vacation, and I’m so grateful we were able to do it before welcoming this new little girl to our family!
The photos above are all from Philly (mostly Washington Square Park & hanging out by independence hall). The photos below are from our time in NYC. Lots of fun adventures…. I’ll share a little of what we did below in case you find yourself planning your own trip to the city!
Our first night we got settled into our hotel in the Theater District, then we walked to Rockefeller Center & Times Square to see the tree & the lights. It was beautiful, but so crowded! The next day we took the subway over to Chelsea Market, which I loved. We shopped & met a friend for coffee at Amy’s Bread. Then we walked towards the West Village (which was my favorite neighborhood to explore. Loved it.), stopped at a little park, and window shopped along Bleecker Street. Then we walked (so.much.walking.) over to Washington Square Park to see the beautiful arch, and let Evie run around and play with the birds & squirrels (her fave). We headed over towards the Flat Iron Building to check it out, and got some coffees from Toby’s Estate. We wanted to stop into Eataly, but ran out of time. Next time I definitely want to go though, as lots of friends recommended it. Then we headed back to our hotel to get ready to see Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular. I didn’t think we’d be able to see a show with Eveleigh being so young, but then I found out it was kid-friendly and we decided to go for it! So glad we did! It was a highlight of the trip, and Evie absolutely loved it too!
The following day we had brunch at The Smith (which was delicious) and spent the day exploring central park & The Upper West Side. We loved walking around Central Park, and Evie loved playing at one of the playgrounds. We also watched the horse & buggies go by, and stopped by Strawberry Fields. Then we walked over to Levain Bakery to try their famous cookies. Oh my word – best cookie I’ve EVER had. So so good. Then we just explored a little and window shopped before heading into Cafe Lalo for some cappuccinos. This is the cafe from “You’ve Got Mail” – one of my favorite movies. So, naturally, we had to go. It was actually really cute & charming, albeit they played really bad 90s music the whole time.
Then we took an Uber back to our hotel so that my poor pregnant self didn’t have to walk anymore. Big fan of Uber, as you can request car seats! We rested for a bit and later headed back towards Central Park to take a carriage ride (touristy & cheesy and probably a big waste of money…BUT I wanted to… just one of those things I wanted to do at least once in my life ;)) After that we went to The Plaza Hotel to see the tree & lights, and looked at the window displays along 5th avenue. We grabbed dinner to go from Pazza Notte and headed back towards the hotel to pack & rest up for our early morning flight. Overall, it was a great trip and definitely solidified my love of New York City!
I really love San Francisco. This was my second visit there, and it is just such a vibrant & beautiful city. I love the old row houses, the parks, the landscape, the restaurants and culture. We stayed in this beautiful old victorian townhouse that we booked through Air BnB. Seriously, amazing. I wish we could’ve stayed longer. The architecture and the details were so gorgeous. I really enjoyed pretending to live there.
^^She looks like a little baby buddha here haha! Cracks me up!^^
