A few months back I wrote my first post after going back to work (A not so Brief Hiatus) about the gap in blogging while I went back to work. I didn’t blog for eight months last time which was almost the entire length of my employment until I was laid off in October. Although this time around the break from blogging was shorter at seven months the long break did feel very long. I have had so many ideas floating around in my head about blogging that I wish I had really had the time to write everything out but the reality is that my week is packed and the weekends aren’t any better.

We have made a huge effort this year to go out and do things. I have always wanted to travel more and this year instead of always talking about traveling I decided we were just going to go ahead and do it. It has been a huge success! We have so far gone to San Francisco, Eastern Washington, checked out the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington and headed up north to the tulip fields. We have two family trips scheduled for June, a yet to be determined beach vacation penciled in this summer, a something else over Labor Day weekend and we are trying to figure out what to do towards the end of the year. Our family has had an awesome time and our kids love getting out of the house and exploring new areas. We are definitely going to try to hike a bit more this year now that our youngest is three and can keep up for almost a mile before getting tired so any family friendly hikes you know of in the PNW I would love to hear them!

I started back up at work right before Christmas and I absolutely love my new job. It is at a much larger company with room to grow. My schedule is flexible enough and most importantly of all it is pretty low stress. My biggest complaint is my commute but we are torn about moving closer into the big city with the market starting to be unstable so for now it will continue to be a huge chunk of my day. I am now driving a hybrid car and even though I drive 2-3 hours (yes it really is that bad) each weekday getting to and from work and picking up kids after school I am only filling up my gas tank once a month or so at $40 a tank which is so low I don’t ever worry any more about how much we are spending on gas every month.

I plan on blogging more now that our schedule has smoothed out a bit but in the meantime follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! Here are some of Oscoey’s most popular posts:

The Importance of Walking in the Wood With Kids

Dried Banana Chips

How we Avoid Birthday Present Overgiftingitus