• An insanely good weekend

    7月4日, アメリカ ☁️ 79 °F

    Spending extended time at the cabin is the best. I am so glad and lucky that the great grandparents bought this place so long ago. It’s my favorite place. We have such a good time doing all the cabin things. One night we went to grand view to see their fireworks show and it was really impressive. It’s been a few years since we went and got to watch them from right below where you can feel the vibrations and all you can see in your field of vision is the explosion and falling sparkles. Chris and I went on a kayak ride and explored some of the little channels - we saw a heron swoop right over our heads. We also had a picnic lunch where we brought all the food down by the lake! Why haven’t we done this before - it was awesome!もっと詳しく

  • Summer is the best

    7月5日, アメリカ ☀️ 81 °F

    It’s the 4th of July and we are gonna celebrate by having the most summer summer day ever! It’s perfect in like every way. It’s hot and sunny and we get to swim and float with a drink in hand and we get to jet ski and hang with family. We eat brats and hamburgers and go on boat rides and watch fireworks from the dock and from the middle of the lake on the boat. The house across the lake put on an insane show for just a personal home firework show! We could have just stayed right there all night! We kept doing our new family clap where someone counts down from three and then we all do one good crisp clap. Also to celebrate the 250th birthday of the USA we rang the Boeder’s bell 250 times, it was about 12 rings for each of us and it was surprisingly fun and got us all together!もっと詳しく

  • A long time coming!

    8月22日, アメリカ ☀️ 91 °F

    Anna, Micah, and I are going to Mexico City! It’s all of our first times in Mexico and our first trip all together for four years! We fly in together and get straight to our hostel. They check us into a room with just one other guy. They told us a place to eat that we can walk to for good tacos. And they were really good and very cheap! We even were serenaded as we ate. They have a Michelin star apparently?! It wasn’t giving the fancy nature that we expect from the words Michelin star but they were tasty. We walked around a bit to find ice cream and get a sense of Mexico City. This was the prettiest ice cream I have ever had (and would have been more pretty if any of us liked fruit flavors lol)!もっと詳しく

  • Water gun monkey hats?

    8月23日, メキシコ ☁️ 64 °F

    For our first full day we decide to visit the big Chapultepec Park, it’s like Central Park but bigger and more exciting! The main exciting thing is that multiple people (grownups and kids) have these money hats on. At first it seems like a weird random occurrence but as we walk through their huge market we realize a lot of people have one and lots of stalls are selling them. I didn’t think that we could leave Mexico or really experience the culture without buying ones for ourselves. And it’s a surprise water gun! Who why how? Idk but it’s seriously fun. We are also already back on our bullshit so the first statue we see we want to reenact but we can’t figure out how to all fit in a selfie BUT luckily some lady asks us if she can take the picture. She was not ready for Mike to keel over! She lowered the phone and I said no no no that’s what we want keep going. She was so confused!もっと詳しく

  • Comiiiiidaaaaa

    8月23日, メキシコ ☁️ 70 °F

    For the second half of the day (after our little nap time) we walked over to a main square in the historic center which is where our hostel, Apapacho, is located. They are having a festival which sounds fun but was mostly overwhelming. So we get out of there but walk nearby for some birria tacos and guacamole. A lot of these places Mike has heard of and recommends which helps us find food a lot better than four years ago. I also find that speaking to people in Spanish here is way less scary than in Guatemala. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m much better at Spanish or because the people here are so nice but it feels really good to practice my Spanish. Mike also says we have to go to this churro shop and she didn’t have to twist our arms. Very solid churro!もっと詳しく

  • Looking on the bright side

    8月24日, メキシコ ☁️ 55 °F

    Today started at 3:45 when we woke up blearly eyed and ready for a long day. We got picked up first for our hour and a half ride to do a hot air balloon ride. Sadly it’s a rainy cold morning and they cancelled our flight! So tragic! Why am I awake for 4 hours just to do nothing. Finally at 8am though we get to eat breakfast in a natural cave! This is part of the tour so at least we get to continue the day with some excitement. We get served traditional Mexican coffee and I ordered chilaquiles which is fast becoming a new favorite food! I don’t know anyone having brunch in a cave in Mexico so even though we are tired it’s turning into a great morning. After that we got a super quick tour about mezcal and the ancient uses of aloe and obsidian. Apparently you can pump gallons of water out of the plants, crazy!もっと詳しく

  • 2000 year old town!

    8月24日, メキシコ ☁️ 61 °F

    Teotihuacán is an ancient city built around 2000 years ago even before the Aztec people had their city. The empire survived 750 years which is crazy to think about when the US only just made it to 250 and we are falling apart. Our tour guide was amazing since he had so much energy and love for the place and its history. He made you really feel how special it was to stand in their old homes and temples. The main attractions are the Moon Temple and the Sun Temple which are both built perfectly in line with their respective namesakes. The best part is that we got to go up on top of the moon temple and see the design of the city from higher up. You could really see how the city was laid out and how some areas are still buried. The temples are solid but built of volcanic rock so it’s much lighter to build with. The red paint is all original and survived surprisingly well for being so old! I felt really intrigued by this place and I’m really glad we got to see it!もっと詳しく

  • Exploring the historic center

    8月25日, メキシコ ☁️ 66 °F

    We checked out of our hostel this morning and brought our bags to our condo for them to hold for the day. I’m surprised by how the people here really seem to understand our Spanish even when we barely form full sentences. It’s nice that they don’t just look at you like you’re crazy. We still have a lot to see in the historic center so we take the train back that way and see the basilica first. They started mass while we were in there so we got to hear their massive organ play! We then saw some of the beautiful old buildings they have in the area. One being their super fancy post office and the other the palacio de bellas artes which is their national theater. While we were outside a news anchor came up to me and asked me what my favorite song by Juan Gabriel was. To which I had to say I don’t know who that is - he was shocked and sang me one of his songs while supposedly we were on live tv!もっと詳しく

  • ¡Lucha libre!

    8月25日, メキシコ ☁️ 73 °F

    From there we took a bus to Biblioteca Vasconcelos. It’s a floating library which is such a strange concept but makes for some crazy pictures and definitely a cool spot to study if that’s why you’re there. We then head back to our hostel even though we checked out to do our Luche Libre tour. It starts on the rooftop with some drinks and trivia. It’s fun to actually talk to people from all over the world. We always laugh at ourselves because we book a hostel so we can socialize but then we just sit in our room and don’t go out at night. But we are trying some social activities tonight! Anna me and mike get third place in luche libre trivia (it was a kahoot! what a throwback) and so we get a free shot each! The tour takes us to a cool market style restaurant and we get more birria tacos. I was proud of my Spanish and helping others order. Then we see the show in the Árena México. It’s mostly just hilarious and showy but it’s entertaining and fun! They do have some cool moves they pull off and the crowd was into it so it’s hard not to have a good time. Everyone else goes out afterwards but we are like well we are in the old age bracket so we are heading to bed. The man holding our bags doesn’t realize we are staying at the condo and shoos us out the door with an enthusiastic “Bu-Bye!” And then laughs so hard when we tell him we have a room there!もっと詳しく

  • Cutest day

    8月26日, メキシコ ☁️ 66 °F

    Today we have a cute little morning walking to brunch and then taking a bus ride down to a new area of the city, Coyoacán. We find a pretty park to plot down in and we just people watch and chat on a perfect early summer weather kinda day. We get some Mexican coke to enjoy and listen to the violin player who’s nearby. Then we explore a really cute market and find some cute bracelets. Our tour for the Frida Kahlo museum, Casa Azul, is nearby. It’s the actual home she grew up in and lived with her husband. We got to see photos of her painting and that she took, actually pictures taken in those same gardens and rooms. We also saw some of her paintings and learned a lot about her life.もっと詳しく

  • Frida is the best

    8月26日, メキシコ ☁️ 77 °F

    For the Frida Kahlo museum we had an audio tour which was really great as it gave a lot of great stories about her life and experiences outside of just the art and decorations of her home. She had a very hard life and was bedridden a lot so she had special easels to paint from in bed. We saw the way her home and clothes were designed to allow her to live her fullest life despite everything she went through like polio and getting hit by a bus. I thought this was one of the best places I have visited. It was so beautiful and touching with so much personality and deep stories. The bed she died in was there and so were her ashes. She did a lot of self reflection about her body and its illnesses and disabilities and you could feel her powerful energy in the place still. My favorite painting was one she finished just days before she died and that she named Viva La Vida which means long live life!もっと詳しく

  • Holy beautiful blue water

    8月27日, メキシコ ☁️ 57 °F

    Today’s another 4am morning to take another amazing tour. For this one we had to walk to a pick up spot and then take a three hour car ride. Our tour consists of our guide and just two others. We luckily get to nap for the car ride and when we wake up we are in the mountains of Mexico! And through the mountains winds a naturally light blue milky warm river. So by 8am we are taking a swim in a magnificent natural hot springs all by ourselves. The area is by a campground which makes me think we could up our camping trip locations. After swimming we have breakfast and walk through the park. Everywhere we turn it’s another beautiful sight!もっと詳しく

  • Tolantongo

    8月27日, メキシコ ☁️ 72 °F

    The park is called Tolantongo and is co-owned by the people who live in the area. One of the most cool attractions is that there is a naturally formed cave tunnel that we got to walk through. It was raining very warm water down on our heads and we were up to our waist in water in some spots. Also we couldn’t see except for with the flashlights. I would never have thought walking through a water cave would be so fascinating but it just felt like such a unique experience! We also went under a waterfall into a larger cave room. There are so many crazy cave formations and the walls are just throwing up warm water on you from a bunch of different spots. Behind the large cave room we went into a dark bigger cave area where no one else was. We needed a guide to show us where to walk and to hold onto the ropes. But otherwise we just explored and took our warm showers in the nearly pitch black. To leave you took a surprise water slide down into a deep area and swam out. It’s interesting because the area is the start of the river so you can feel the current pulling on you as you just hangout in a natural hot tub.もっと詳しく

  • Spa spelunking

    8月27日, メキシコ ☁️ 73 °F

    The day continues with some less natural formations but still incredible and beautiful nonetheless. On the side of a mountain they have built over 100 pools which are naturally heated by the warm water river. We got to explore a ton of these different pools by just hopping from one to the next. Interestingly some pools had natural cave formations built up on them since the water is just free flowing from one to the next. So we got to be at the spa while also doing some cave spelunking. I’m not sure any hot springs can live up to this place going forward. Not only are the pools amazing but so is the view. It was really nice we got here so early because there was a lot of space to be in pools by ourselves and we had a lot of time to hang out and relax!もっと詳しく

  • Worth every 4AM morn

    8月28日, メキシコ ☁️ 54 °F

    Can you guess what time we woke up today? That’s right! 4am! We are doing our take 2 on making the hot air balloon flight. The weather seems promising as we drive but when we get there we know it’s a go, last time we didn’t see any balloons and were confused where they were, now we know they hadn’t even brought them out. The full moon is rising over the balloons as they start to get filled up. Around sunrise we get to hop in our balloon and before we know it we have left the ground and are floating along with a hundred other balloons over this little town and toward the temples we saw the other day. I actually like that we did the tour already because we know what we are looking at down there. This is one of the more cool things I have done in awhile!もっと詳しく

  • High above it all

    8月28日, メキシコ ☁️ 54 °F

    We spend a good amount of time fairly low to the ground with a great view of the sun temple and the other balloons over the mountains and valleys of Mexico. Then we start going up! I don’t know how high we were but it was high! What a cool view when you don’t have any windows to block the view. We can see a volcano peaking out from the clouds in the distance and we can see for miles in all directions! I can see why we wouldn’t want to do this on a rainy day. They slowly start to land us and the pilot has so much control he lands the big basket right onto the trailer to bring it back to the start. A group of workers has to fold up the balloon once it deflates. Which looks like the ultimate tent folding task and did not look fun. To commemorate our flight we cheers with some wine! Highly recommend that experience no matter how afraid of heights you are - the balloon is so so steady and how could you miss seeing the world from up that high. After we got back we had cinnamon roll croissants which were so yummy!もっと詳しく

  • Off to the palace

    8月28日, メキシコ ☁️ 75 °F

    Today I want to see the only palace in North America which actually housed royals. It’s up on a hill in the Chapultepec park so we head there to explore the palace and the history museum of Mexico. They had some very beautiful bridgerton type rooms and the carriage was my favorite piece. I took a pic of the biggest snow globe ever (the size of my torso) to show madre what she’s missing from her collection. We had some truly great pizza during a downpour and then head to bed early for once.もっと詳しく

  • Final days :(

    8月29日, メキシコ ☁️ 68 °F

    Today is our last day which is sad and it came too fast but I know we did so many cool things. To start the day we go get dirty horchata from a coffee chain here. It was a recommendation from Anna’s friend who we got to see the other night. One of our last plans includes going back to Chapultepec since the park is bigger than Central Park there’s a lot to see. First we witnessed an indigenous tradition of pole swinging which was crazy as they were just hanging by their legs from tiny ropes. Then we walked to the free zoo within the park. We wanted to see panda bears but the most exciting part was the giraffes. One wanted to fight the other so he was swinging his neck around like a clock hand but the big one wasn’t having it and put his leg on the neck of the other, he was basically doing the splits up into the air to keep the other one at bay! The last activity is to see a contemporary dance performance at the palacio de bellas artes. Sadly we missed the first half but we get to see their beautiful finale in a really cool theater. Our flight home turns into a full day affair with an 8 hour layover in Denver with another 4am wake up but it’s not gonna take away from another great trip for las chicas locas!もっと詳しく

  • A day at the zoo!!

    9月18日, アメリカ ⛅ 75 °F

    Chris and I are going to San Diego for a romantic weekend away. Chris planned this trip for me and surprised me because we had been talking for a while about going to the San Diego Zoo. So from the airport we basically head straight to the zoo. It’s a huge place with a lot of animals I haven’t seen before such as a giant panda who was so perfectly panda! Other favorites were the sweet lions and koala who woke up for about 1 minute right when we walked by, also the axolotl since I was just in Mexico and the giraffes who always entertain! It was very warm but we enjoyed spending the whole afternoon together hitting every corner of the zoo and even spending a lot of time playing iSpy for the different hiding reptiles. Our hotel is a funny but cute little studio with a swinging wall for the bathroom door! Good thing me and Chris are so close! We went to a cute spot near us for dinner and talked about life.もっと詳しく

  • A surprise sailboat ride

    9月19日, アメリカ ☁️ 68 °F

    We wake up to a lovely view of the city and bay then walk to brunch. They gave us the biggest plates I have ever seen - I bet you can guess if we finished off those meals. Nearby they are having a street fair so we head there for a bit and do a lot of people watching from different restaurants along the road where we can order drinks. Then Chris tells me that Madre’s friend Beth lives out here and has a sailboat they want to take us out on! I’m so excited! That’s a bucket list activity! It was such a beautiful afternoon and spending time with Beth and Tom, experiencing a sailboat ride and getting to swim in the ocean was all soooo nice. They basically were able to give us a tour of San Diego from on the ocean and we spent a few hours taking in the sights and then the sunset while chatting and having drinks. It was incredible of them!! Then we were exhausted so we ordered takeout ramen and ate in the hotel.もっと詳しく

  • Boating and beach life

    9月20日, アメリカ ☁️ 70 °F

    Today’s morning is another boat ride! We first have breakfast at the cute restaurant below our hotel which was really good! Then we head to the whale watching tour I booked. Before we even get on the boat we see a sea lion in the water! The boat ride is really pretty since it’s a sunny day but we aren’t seeing much. They tell us the water is a bit too warm so the whales and dolphins are probably in deeper waters. But we do see a lot of flying fish and I see a ray jump out of the water a ways away. Then we do see a Guadeloupe fur seal in the water near us which is rare for this area but no whales or dolphins. From the boat ride we go to an area to see more sea lions which were so cute and the baby took over the beach since you aren’t supposed to get close to them once it plopped down it cut off that whole side of the beach! We had a really nice lunch and then rested before dinner.もっと詳しく

  • WE’RE ENGAGED!!!!

    9月20日, アメリカ ☁️ 72 °F

    A truly special evening all planned by Christopher started by us going to a really nice restaurant on the bay which over looks the ocean and has an amazing view of the skyline. It was sunset as we ordered drinks and an appetizer so just as we finish the appetizer the city buildings are lit up orange from the sun across the water. Chris suggests we take a picture so he asks the waiter to take it for us. Instead of taking a picture the waiter is secretly filming and we get a beautiful video of Chris proposing to me!!!!! I immediately broke into happy tears I was so excited and even though I wanted and hoped it was happening tonight/on this trip I was still surprised by the way Chris set it all up. It was perfect and magical. I have never felt such uncontainable joy!! Chris told me his planned speech after we sat back down since I had been crying too much to really hear and he had been too excited to ask the big question to finish his planned words. We got free dessert and drinks and had a lovely time basking in the afterglow of the moment the rest of the night and next morning. We spent all day Monday sharing our news with people and making phone calls which was so fun and special! I can’t believe it! I’m so excited to marry the love of my life!もっと詳しく

  • Cute little girls trip

    9月25日, アメリカ ☁️ 61 °F

    This weekend is for the girls and wedding/engagement talk! We are at Syd’s land where she has an RV set up. We are close to Nisswa so we do some shopping and have lunch there. We spend a long time at Zaiser’s and I try to stick to buying presents but I find earrings that I think could be my wedding earrings! We play a lot of Yahtzee and Han somehow catches me in the moment of my second Yahtzee! How exciting! The first one was after I crossed off my Yahtzee spot so this one was extra special. It’s a rainy and chilly fall weekend but it feels cozy and sweet for a little girls weekend. We always have a lot of fun together and having some fall drinks (apple cider and champagne) and making our own meals is just a really nice way to start fall. P.s. we are obsessed with our ring stack!! The shapes all go together so well!もっと詳しく