Jamaica

In 2019 Wes and Taylor got married at a destination wedding in Jamaica.  In true Murphy/McGrath family fashion a big group of family showed up - I'm guessing around 35 people in total.  We had such a fun time on that trip with the cousins that Erin started lobbying for Cuzzies All Inclusive 2020 to replace our annual cousin's camping trip.  It took a few years for us to get it together (COVID didn't help) but last summer I contacted the travel agent that helped plan Wes and Taylor's wedding and the wheels were in motion for a spring break trip - Cuzzies All Inclusive 2022!

Since I was doing the planning, I planned it for my birthday weekend - which, happened to nicely coincide with the kids spring break so we hit up Mom and Dad to take the kids for us and we boarded a plane for a Wednesday to Sunday trip which was the perfect amount of time.  In the end, the timing wasn't totally ideal for my work, I had a big, in person event the following week, but...with enough prep you can pull off just about anything!

Jamaica was beautiful and the resort was lovely.  We booked an all inclusive, which, at the time was exactly the amount of planning and effort I had in me, but in hindsight, I think I'll do the extra legwork next time and skip the all inclusive.  It was exactly the vibe we were going for (easy and not a lot of work) but the food and drinks were just ok, and I think for the same amount of money, plus a little more effort, we could have done it a little better.  Next time!

But, you can't argue with these views though!  We arrived Wednesday mid day and it took us a few hours to get the whole group together and on the same page (we basically ended up traveling in two groups, one from O'hare and one from Midway).  By dinner though we'd all been checked into our rooms, sat on the beach for a little bit and started to figure out the lay of the land (like, where exactly are the restaurants, what is the dress code at each, when do they open, do we need masks here...where is the water...how do we get more drinks...lol!  It takes a while to get it all figured out!).

(One of my favorite pictures from the trip!)

Thursday we had exactly zero things planned.  Erin, Sarah and I did a quick beachbody workout poolside (the gym was packed) and luckily grabbed chairs on the beach for the group before they got snatched up!  I should have known people would reserve chairs, I just didn't expect it to be before 8am!  LOL!

We had such a fun group along on the trip.  I wish all of the cousins had been able to make it.  Liz and Bobby and Brenna had plans to join but things changed...but there's always the next one!  I'm so glad we grabbed this group photo.  They always seem like a pain in the moment - a "we'll get it later" sort of thing....but, seriously, I've said it a million times.  Nobody is sad when we have them to look back on (especially me!).

(My other favorite photo from the weekend - taken on my birthday!)

Friday we managed to book ourselves a catamaran/snorkeling tour - which we nearly missed because we weren't paying attention when they said we needed to be at the lobby at 2:25....somehow one of us heard 2:45 and that just became the time we all said to be ready.  Thankfully the bus driver didn't leave without us - though, the group of other people from the hotel was less than pleased when we boarded the bus 30 minutes late.  I get it...I would have been annoyed too.  

I typically hate boat tours like this - they make me nauseous, even the snorkeling is bad for me....the roll of the waves just is NOT my friend.  But, thanks to a stupid Instagram ad a few years back, I had my trusty reliefband which worked pretty well.  The waves (and the wind) were CRAZY on the boat ride to the snorkeling....and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a moment where I swallowed some puke down (gross, sorry!) but, I made it through.  It's just really not my most favorite of activities but I wasn't going to miss out and I'm so glad that I can at least partially participate now.  I snorkeled for about 10 mins, long enough to see a few things before the waves started to get to me.

The boat crew included 2 photographers who went around staging groups together, grabbing photo after photo, documenting the trip.  It was funny and Erin and Sarah ended up buying the set of pictures so now we have a whole host of silly photos from the day.

HAHAHA!  I mean, how would we pass up on some of these gems!  I think this will be one we recreate in 20 years from now.

Saturday was our last full day of vacation (and my birthday!).  Our plan for the day was to sit on the beach...drink at the swim up pool bars, take a nap (that might have just been MY plan), and to have a big group dinner at the "fancy French restaurant" where the boys needed pants and closed toe shoes to be seated - the ONE time in life that the dress code for the boys was less comfortable than for women.  

It truly was a great way to spend a birthday weekend but also a wonderful chance to hang out, just us adults, and spend a long weekend together.  It was nice to get out of the Chicago winter (it snowed 5 inches in Marengo while we were gone), to spend some time away without the kids (we love them, but hanging with adults is fun too!), and to really vacation with Jenny/Jack was also very special.  Having lived in Nashville for so long - we're so lucky to have them local now (in Naperville), so we can do more trips together in the coming years.

And - just like when we ditched the kids for San Fran in my last post, I thought I'd share a little bit about what the kids did while we were gone.  This time we sent them with Mom and Dad (along with Copper AND Fern and Olive...two hamsters, two dogs, and two kids!).

There is never a lack of activities and adventures for the kids when we send them to Freeport with Grandma and Papa.  Dad has all sorts of jobs that he hauls the kids along for, like these photos where they went to the Misery to check the racoon traps.  Hazel found a shed antler and some other deer bones which she was VERY excited to take to school for show and tell.

They went to a butterfly sanctuary in Rockford (which!  I want to go next time!)....died Easter eggs, went to see a Sing 2 sign along (in the theater!  A first since COVID...) and even though the rest of us are sick of winter, they were excited to make a Snow Bunny with all the snow we got while we were gone.  

Again, we really are so very very lucky to have such a strong support structure around here to help make weekends and trips like these possible for us.  Without Dan and Erin and Grandma and Papa, I don't know how we'd make it all happen.  The last few months have been crazy with all the travel.  Between Disney, the spur of the moment San Fran trip, and Jamaica, this is the most Ryan and I have traveled together ever in such a short period of time.  

We're home now for a little bit, but this summer promises to be a busy one with our new camper, another trip to Cali, and a big group camping trip to the UP already on the books.  If you're wondering what exactly is wrong with us, just remember our family moto - "We're the McGrath's and we do all the things".  

A quick trip to San Fran

If you've seen or talked to us anytime over the last 2.5 years, you'd know that Ryan has been traveling for work (alot) - since basically the fall of 2019.  Fox River Millwork has been around long enough that I know that the really good jobs only come around every once in awhile, and while even though they are good, they can be exhausting...and, they don't stick around for forever.  Back in the fall of 2019 Ryan had the opportunity to go in on a job with another local company doing the finish trim work on a Restoration Hardware storefront in Columbus, Ohio.  That job led to more jobs (which during the early days of COVID was a blessing) and these RH stores have taken Ryan and a crew of 7 other guys all across the country and back, traveling nearly every week for the past two years.  It meant a LOT of solo parenting here on the home-front for me, but about a month ago I had the special opportunity to fly out and see one of the job sites in San Francisco, where the home office of RH is located.  

Being the flagship store means the crew put a LOT of love, sweat and maybe even tears into this specific jobsite.  Ryan once told me it is the most technically complex work he's ever done and he wanted to be sure to see this one through to the end.  The company was set to have a big pre-grand opening party on Thursday evening and Bobby (Ryan's boss) offered to fly me out for the weekend.  There was quite a bit of back and forth on if we'd be going to the party or not, but the morning of my flight I talked to Ryan and he told me it looked like we'd just be hanging out with the group that evening either at the hotel or getting dinner somewhere (a side-celebration of sorts).    

Then, just as I was about to board the plane I got another call saying "Scratch that!  We're going to the party tonight."  I'd already repacked my suitcase and had exactly zero clothes with me that I could wear to a formal party but Elise from RH (one of the top people at RH that the crew became very close friends with) was on a clothing run for not just me, but the 8 guys in the group.  It was seriously like a scene out of pretty woman.  She showed up with full outfits for each of the guys.  I'm talking shirts, shoes, belts, pants, the whole nine yards...plus 2 dress options for me, shoes, a blazer...everything I'd need to feel pretty at the event.  

The party started at 7 but the guys worked right up until about 6:45.  They came back to the hotel, showered quickly, we all got dressed and we went right back to the store.  It was so so fancy guys.  There were 1500 people all crammed into the 4 story building.  There was a Bellini bar and a mojito bar, there was champaign on tiered ice trays, tiny tiny appetizers, a DJ, people dressed to the nines and, while we were waiting in the line to get in, I kid you not, we stood 5 feet away from Ellen Degeneres and Portia (apparently Portia has a hardware line at RH and they flew one of the private jets to LA to pick them and a few other celebrities up for the evening).  What even is this life!?!  

We stayed for an hour and a half or so, I got to see all of the hard work the guys did, including this staircase that Ryan worked many many months on - other than the metal banisters the entire staircase is made of curved wood.  We sat on the $15K cloud couch, had coctails on the rooftop, walked through the designers floor (where the boys installed a lot of cabinets and hardware displays to show off the options available).  By the end of the night I had blisters on my feet from all the walking (I can't tell you the last time I wore heels because of COVID) but I'm so so glad I made the trip out.

Ryan and I are terrible about planning time for just the two of us.  Don't get me wrong, we have tons and tons of adventures, but if the kids aren't with us, then we're dragging other friends along on our trips.  It was really quite nice to be just the two of us for a few days.

Our trip didn't end on Thursday night though!  I worked for a few hours on Friday morning and then we headed out to explore!  It was really really fun to see all of the places that Ryan has been telling me about for the past few years.  And, I think it was fun for Ryan to play host and take me around - especially since the city was much more open that it had been in the past two years.  Chicago was pretty strict when it came to COVID protocols but Ryan says that San Fran was even more so - lots of people were still masking, even outside when I was there in late March. 

You guys know we're dorks and we love our National Park stamp book, right?  Well, guess what!  We got FIVE stamps over the 2 days we had to explore.  We visited:

• Golden Gate Bridge
• Fort Point
• Muir Woods
• The Maritime Museum 
• Rosie the Riveter National Park (my second favorite place after Muir Woods)

Of everything we did (including the fancy party) I was most excited to go to the Redwoods.  I've been to a lot of places, but I've never traveled west of Colorado so making it all the way to the Pacific coast was very cool.  Someday I want to see the sequoias, but the redwoods are pretty darn amazing!

We trapsed all over San Fran in the two days we were there.  We had lunch in Sausalito (so yummy...though I regret not going to the crab restaurant next door to where we ate), we hiked 4 miles (which I swear was straight up!) around Muir woods, we ate dinner at a fancy sushi restaurant where I drank Saki for the first time, we had cocktails at an amazing cocktail bar (I asked the bartender about 4,000 questions and learned a lot), we journeyed to Sanoma, went to 2 breweries, had a (strange) wine tasting at a little place right on the square, we rode electric scooters, and visited the 5 national park locations I listed above.  

Ryan says it best!  "We're the McGrath's and we do all the things".

 

It really truly was an amazing, once in a lifetime trip and I'm so very thankful I had the opportunity to have this experience.  I'm thankful for a job that is flexible enough to let me travel in this way, a family support structure that can help with the kids while we were gone (thanks Erin and Dan! - I'll write about the kids adventures a little further down), and for Trim Tech for flying me out to experience it all.

(Can you tell that the woods was my favorite part just by the number of photos?!) 

 Oh!  I forgot to tell you!  We also got upgraded to first class on the way home.  It was very very fancy - and I could get used to traveling like this!  Between the extra space and Ryan's 1K status on United right now I just might change my tune on my utter dislike for flying.

You might be wondering what exactly we did with the kids during all this - ha!  Well, I owe Dan a ton because he stepped up and took care of the kids for us for 4 full days.  I was able to get the kids on the bus Thursday morning before my flight, but he played parent for us Thursday night through Sunday when we got home.  He got them on and off the bus, dealt with lunches and homework and probably a squabble or two (though he didn't mention those).  

Then, on Saturday he hauled them downtown to hang out with Erin and play tourist in the city on a cold windy, rainy weekend in March.  The went to the Bean, went to the top of the Sears Tower (I haven't even done this myself!)...and ate Chicago style pizza with Auntie and Grandpa.  I think they tired the kids out - I heard Hazel fell asleep at the table at dinner.  

Oh!  And their first ever train ride.  The kids have been wanting to ride the train for years and this weekend Auntie finally made it happen.  I wonder if if still smelled like pee like how I remember it - lol!