Saturday, July 26, 2014

Vacation in Wales

We took our first family vacation last week! We were limited with destination choices since we are still waiting for the little one's passports (US & Italian!) so A found a cute cottage rental in the Brecon Beacons in Wales for a relaxing week off. I think Amélie also knew we were on vacation too because most nights she gave me a little break and slept for 6 hours straight. It was nice to have A around for the entire week since he never had any paternity leave. It gave me a little break during the day from diaper changes and keeping Amélie entertained plus it was just nice to spend time together as a family. 
 ^^Our cottage was called, "The Coach." I loved the stone exterior and the grounds of the cottage. 
 ^^The living room area. 
^^Upstairs bedroom.
 ^^First thing after we arrived - find a supermarket and get everything we needed to grill!
 ^^I need to get Amélie a pair of sunglasses :) 
 ^^Bouncy bouncy with dad. 
 ^^I was going to save the barbecued chicken for the next day, but we ate it all that night with the burgers, oops. 
 ^^I had been saving up the graham crackers my sister brought over from the US and the American marshmallows I found at a local shop plus bought a pack of Reese's from the candy store to finally finally make Reese's s'mores!!
 ^^They were incredible. I had s'mores almost every day. And I tried s'moreos too! 
 ^^The rest of the week we explored a couple of cute towns and mainly just took an easy. Here's baby and dad hanging out at a coffee shop. 
 ^^We grilled some more. 
 ^^Jim & Donna came to visit. Amélie hung out in Baby Bjorn, but she definitely wasn't happy in it at times. We were able to do a long walk with her in it - A and I alternating with carrying her, but I think she just needs to be a tad bigger to be more comfortable in it. 
 ^^We checked out an old castle and it's museum. 
 ^^We found a cute restaurant in Cardigan. 
 ^^Delish sweet potato and butternut squash quiche with some very light and fresh salads. 
 ^^Penryn beach, it was a mission to get to and I wasn't in the mood/prepared for sand so we didn't stay for long, but it's very pretty. 
 ^^We checked out Hay-on-Wye, a very cute town known as the town of books. Tons of cute boutiques, cafes and an ice cream parlour. 
 ^^The evenings were cooler so we made a cozy fire and caught up on Scandal.
 ^^We mainly cooked at the cottage, but this was one from lunch one of the days at a pub near the cottage. I couldn't decide on what to get and wanted to try everything so I ordered three of the starters! This is above is linguine with crab. 
 ^^Thai chicken meatballs with egg noodles. 
 ^^Pork belly, onion ring with slaw and applesauce. 
 ^^A's fish with vegetables.
 ^^I indulged that meal for sure. A did eat most of the pasta though! 
 ^^On one of the last days, we checked out a distillery and went on a tour. I was worried Amélie would be fussy, but she slept in my arms the whole time. 
^^Pretty view driving to the distillery. 

We ended the week by visiting A's parents who were so delighted to see their granddaughter. I took the opportunity to have a few more moments of "me" time even it was just to catch up on Pinterest :) Now we are back in the swing of things at home. I think I needed a vacation from the vacation when I got home because there was tons of laundry/ironing and admin to catch up on, but last night the little one slept for a 7 hour stretch! (that's the longest she's ever done!) I feel amazing after such a long period of uninterrupted sleep. I got so much done this morning and am looking forward to the rest of the weekend. A's sister and bf are in town, plus I finally made myself an appointment to get a haircut and the weather is looking good too! 

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