Kenzie Blogs Life: Vacation

Shrimp Boil

7:30:00 AM

One thing that I love about family road trips is actually spending time with my family. One thing that we love doing on family trips where we rent a house to stay in, is cooking! Back in 2011 when we took a holiday to the OuterBanks in North Carolina, we had a crab bake.

This year, being in South Carolina, we set our hearts on a shrimp boil.

Luckily, my step-aunt lives in Florida and while visiting us she brought fresh caught shrimp. She and my step-sister teamed up to get the shrimp ready for dinner, while I wetn to the story with my parents for a few last minute meal add-ons! But here are some of the photos they took for this blog post!

All in all, it was a great meal and one of my favorite things to do on holiday with my family. I probably mentioned before, but this entire trip meant a lot to me because I realized this might be one of the last one's we take as a family where my parents pay for it.

What are some of your favorite things to do on holiday with family? Have you ever rented a vacation home before?

Charleston

Making Lemons from Lemonade

7:00:00 AM

Hello everyone! I'm officially back from holiday, while I soaked in as much vitamin D as I could, I let this blog take a back seat. I honestly loved being off the internet, it was freeing not to have it with me and just have my nice camera, not to worry about if my phone was left behind and not checking what was happening every 15 minutes on social media.

So, where was I? May 31st through June 14th I was gone, and I stayed near Charleston South Carolina on Kiawah Island. Near the end of our trip, we ended up getting into a bit of car trouble, extending our holiday and downsizing our wallets. While waiting for news on our vehicle that would take us home (Charleston is 17 hours from Wisconsin), we had no choice but to make Lemonade from our Lemons. And we did. I made up a list about Pros and Cons of being "stuck" in a vacation that will seemingly never end.

Pros:

Eating out at restaurants you said "We'll eat there next time" to
Seeing sights you would have had to come back to
Having more time off of work and school
Being in the sun longer
Finding new things to do

Cons:

Not knowing when the vehicle will be done (we waited a long time around the shop)
Spending more money than you thought you would
Running out of Data for your phone
Getting behind on classes and work
Having to go back to Charleston and get the car and drive it back
Not starting the drive back at a reasonable time

We eventually left Charleston on Monday at 6pm Eastern, drove about 6 hours and 15 minutes and then an entire 11 hours on Tuesday. Which is why there wasn't a post Tuesday.
Even though we ran into some trouble, I really enjoyed being in the south, having more time to eat shrimp and grits, see the sights and spend time with my family. It may have been an unfortunate situation but I definitely feel like we all helped each other make lemonade from our lemons! We survived and made it home at last!

I cannot wait to share all of the photos from the trip with you guys! It might take a while but I hope you'll love it! I hope you're all having a great month. Has there ever been a time where you have had to make a bad situation good? Have you ever been stuck on vacation?
Can't wait to hear from you in the comments!
x Kenzie

2010

Hawaiian Throwback

8:30:00 AM

Chances that you've been one of the lucky few that actually catch when airlines make an oops and accidentally set affordable prices that go to places like Hawaii? Maybe pretty low, but 6 years ago, my family did. I found these photos while saving mine on backup and thought I would do a little bit of a throwback post like I did with Italy.

It was one of those things that was just meant to be. Taking off of school for a week was definitely a plus. While we might have had a close call missing our connection to Maui, we still made it and it is still definitely one of my favorite trips by far. We spent a week in Maui and it was amazing. I got freckles on my nose from the sun, and ate amazing fresh fruit, and delicious homemade banana bread from a little green hut. I never wanted to leave.

We also visited Honolulu on our last leg of the trip and had to take photos on the beach.

Waking up to watch the sunrise on top of a crater on Maui? Yes worth it. Do it if you're ever there.

Because then you pretend like you're driving off the end of the world, but you're not.

We saw so many whales (we were there in late March/beginning of April and there was so much wildlife). Being a huge fan of animals, I was definitely loving life.

Of course experiencing a luau is also mandatory.

(takes typical 9th grader shadow pose on the beach)

We also had a convertible, and braids were definitely the go-to style.

I loved Hawaii so much, even though I haven't been there for 6 years (ugh that seems like so long yikes) I really would go back again! I mean, sun, fresh food, the beach, what else could you really need?

Have any of you ever been to Hawaii? Did you like it? Where has your favorite vacation spot been in your life so far? Anything exciting coming up? I've got one that I'm counting down to at the end of May! (can summer please hurry up?)

What's your favorite fruit?

Make sure to comment below!

x Kenzie

america

Arizona Photo Post

2:00:00 PM

After writing multiple posts about my recent trip to Arizona, I discovered that I still had a ton of pictures left. So that leads me to this picture filled post. I hope you don't mind and I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them!