The Common Thread No. 3

Hello! Happy Friday! Happy Fall! Happy last few days of fall break to all of those us who are enjoying a break from the rush! We just got back from the rainiest beach trip of our lives, but we made the most of it while we could!

The trip there was 12 hours! 12 HOURS! We were so proud of ourselves because we left early and on time (7am), and we did not arrive to the beach until 7:30pm that same day. We’re talking a normal 7 hour trip people. I don’t know what happened, but we were so very happy to be out of the car when we arrived to say the least.

It rained the majority of the first 2 days that were actually there at the beach, but we tried to make the most of the sand and ocean when it wasn’t raining. A major perk of not caring about the rain was that most people stayed indoors, so it wasn’t super crowded at the beach when we went out. The last full day was beautiful and sunny, so we made the most of it and stayed outdoors all but nap time that day!

We left on Wednesday to make the journey back home, and we said, “I hope that this won’t take us 12 hours to get home!” Well, we stopped at a Buc-ee’s just about an hour from Gulf Shores, and a million lights came on our dash in the van. We googled it, and realized we needed to get the codes read. Well, it was all of our spark plugs misfiring, so we found the nearest Honda dealership (thankfully only 12 mins away) and called them. They were so kind and took care of us and got the van looked at almost immediately. There was a Mellow Mushroom right across the street, so we headed there while they took a look. Apparently, when we bought the van they had replaced all of the spark plugs with the wrong size. The technician was surprised we had almost made it 2 years with them because she would have expected us to only make it like a month. So, they replaced all of our spark plugs and got us on the way home with only a 2-3 hour delay. We made it back home around 11:30pm, and we all fell in bed.

We had a great trip despite the rain and car troubles, and now we are looking forward to enjoying the last few days of our fall break. We have apple picking, Fall Fest, and maybe a nice hike on our to-do list!

I’ve been using this on my cheeks for a long time, but I recently saw someone say they used it as a lip color. So, color me intrigued, and now I’m obsessed with using it for my lips. It’s just the right amount of color and it’s very lightweight! I love the color fox for fall!

I finished this book, and I was in love with all the 90s throwbacks! If you are a kid from the 90s, you’ll love it. Also, who doesn’t love a single dad trope? I loved that the theme was even so strong as to have names that were popular in the 90s.

I purchased a few new books for the boys for our trip, and they both really enjoyed this book! It was a fun throwback for Bryson and me, too!

Maybe the best travel hack that I’ve ever seen and now can vouch for is to take painter’s tape. You will use it for everything. Just this past trip, we used it to baby proof cabinets, I taped the baby monitor to the wall, and covered up an annoying light that was blinding me in my sleep. I promise you will not regret it! You can use it for so many things, and then it won’t hurt any of the surfaces. We like this one when traveling.

This is my favorite facial sunscreen for every day. I haven’t been using it for a while and last week I got burnt at the pumpkin patch. So, I immediately ordered this one, and it was a lifesaver at the beach!

One extra this week, the boys’ portable sound machine died on night 1 at the beach, so I ran to Walmart and snagged this one. What I love about it is that it has a built-in nightlight which is a must with our boys.