Weekend Recap!

August 17, 2026 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

We had such a slow and restful weekend that I just had to document it because that is a rare occurrence. 😂

Saturday morning was spent huddled around daddy picking out bedroom furniture for the girls!🤪😂

After furniture shopping and Levi’s bestie’s 3 year old birthday party, we decompressed on the couch with a movie!

The rest of Saturday flew by with another pizza night with the left over dough from Friday followed by yet another family movie! 😆The following morning, I enjoyed this view from my new office, we went to church, had lunch with grandparents, swam for a bit, made chicken burgers, and went for a nice long walk!

We ended the weekend doing what we do best – lounging at home and building forts! 🥰

Xx,

Vincy 💕

Summer 2026 Kicks Off!

June 27, 2026June 27, 2026 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

Girls wrapped up an amazing school year end of May. We loved our teachers this year!

Aaliyah grew SO MUCH this year. At her awards ceremony she received the star student award recognizing how hard she works and how she always comes to class ready to learn. We are so proud of her!

Ava had a busy year! She got more involved with volleyball, dance, and piano. This was her first full year of volleyball and she has learned to really love the sport!

We wrapped up May filled with lots of activities including some fun ones like visiting a farmers market!

…and Ava’s Honor Society Induction Ceremony!

The girls had such a great school year this year filled with lots of fun and learning!

To celebrate the last day of school, we jumped in the pool and then grabbed pizza!

Of course, we ended the night with Jeremiah’s!

Xx,

Vincy💕

Portugal 2026

April 9, 2026April 11, 2026 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

The girls had a couple of days off over Valentine’s Day weekend. We decided to take an extra day off and take a trip to Portugal! After our Japan adventure, we felt very strongly that Levi should stay with Appacha and Ammachi this time. 🫣 Thankfully my sweet parents were more than happy to have him!

We flew out of IAH on Thursday afternoon, stopped in Amsterdam, and landed in Lisbon on Friday morning!

As soon as we landed, we headed straight to our beautiful historical hotel. We stayed here two nights and absolutely loved it!

We helped ourselves to some refreshments. Since it was raining on and off, we figured it’d be best to do a tuktuk tour so we’d have some shelter but also get a chance to explore!

We climbed on to the tuktuk and set off on a rainy, windy tour of Lisbon!

We secured the famous egg/custard tarts!

We visited the oldest operating bookstore in the world!

And stopped for hot chocolate and coffee!

My little tourists slurping up their hot chocolate! 🥰

And lastly, we visited the famous pink street!

We finished the night off with dinner at an amazing Indian restaurant – Swaagat! We ended up eating here twice – it was so good!

The next morning was our official first full day in Lisbon and we were up and at ‘em, bright and early! We took the famous Tram 28 to Alfama.

We hopped on and rode it for a few stops.

We stopped for lunch at the famous
pizzeria romana al tavolo in Alfama!

And of course, then we got gelato! It’s not a true family vacation unless we stop for gelato 50 times a day. 😂

We went back to the hotel and “rested” for a little while….

Then we bundled up and took an uber to see the famous Belem Tower and enjoy the sunset.

Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at Time Out Market which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel.

We walked around a bit within the market and got a few souvenirs and then headed back to our hotel to call it a night.

The next morning we took a bus to Porto. This was NOT part of the original plan. I hate buses but the trains were all shutdown due to a local dam breaking and flooding the railways. 🥴😵‍💫
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We boarded the bus and couple hours later we were in….

Our hotel was wonderful and located on a pedestrian only street (no cars allowed) and was in a great location!

We checked out the hotel and then hit the ground running!

We popped in and out of all the little shops as we walked all through Ribiera, Boavista, and Old town areas. We tried to stop by the Mercado do bolhao (open air food market) and the famous Gazela hot dog place but both were closed.

We bought tickets to visit Livraria Lello! It was STUNNING!

Of course, we got a few books to keep and some to take home as souvenirs!

Finally we ended the night with more pizza and walked home!

The next morning we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed straight to the bus station back to go back to Lisbon.

Waiting on our Uber in Lisbon to take us to our airport hotel. We had a very early flight the next morning so we chose to stay in a hotel that was just steps away from the terminal we were departing from. The hotel wasn’t anything fancy but was nice and served breakfast so win, win!

We dropped our bags off and set off again to find some lunch and headed to our next activity!

And then conveniently stumbled into a mall!😉

Of course we stopped for gelato in the mall, LOL!

Slowly making our way to our main attraction for the day….

This part of the trip really made us miss our sweet boy! Levi would’ve loved this!

After the oceanarium, we continued to stroll and explore our way through Lisbon.

Stopped for coffee in the cutest little shop!

Walked past a park that made us miss Levi SO MUCH!

We finished off the night with dinner at the yummy Indian restaurant and took an Uber back to the hotel!

The next morning, we packed up and headed back home to be reunite with my sweet boy!

xx,

Vincy💕

Fall Break 2025: JAPAN

March 31, 2026March 31, 2026 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

For fall break this school year we spent the week in visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka!

First stop: Tokyo to visit Disneyland!

We stayed in a hotel with train access to Disneyland and it worked out great!

We rode all the rides and had a great time! But by mid afternoon jet lag got the best of some of us and we napped hard!

Ava and Jacob rallied and finished strong! We met up with them after our naps for dinner at the park and then took the train home to call it a day!

Day TWO! We took a train to Kyoto for an overnight stay there.

Then made our way over to the famous orange gates of Fushimi Inari Temple!

Afterwards we called it an early night, grabbed dinner to go from the train station, and crashed!

Next morning we were up and ready to go to….OSAKA!

LOL! Levi is doing what we were all thinking!👀😂

Of course, we had to stop and get fuel! 😉

This Pear Caramel Latte from Starbucks will forever be a favorite! 🤤

And lastly, of course, we ended our time in Osaka with conveyor belt sushi!

This was a jam packed day! We made our way back to Tokyo for one final activity!

This was one of the highlights of our trip!

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted! 😴🥹

Levi really gave us a run for our money this trip! He packed ALL of his 3rd child + boy energy, LOL! This was him as we made our way back to our hotel later that day. We all crashed that night and headed home the following day!

And that’s a wrap on Fall Break 2025! ☺️

Xx,

Vincy💕

Switzerland part 3: INTERLAKEN

October 21, 2025 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and headed out to explore! we walked around the downtown area and stumbled into this delicious Italian spot.

Then we headed to Lauterbrunnen to see Staubbach Falls!

We hopped back on the train for a quick ride to Grindelwald!

Then took a gondola ride from grindelwald terminal to Mannlichen to visit the parks!

The playground was INSANE with the most wonderful views! I wished we could’ve come earlier so we could stay and enjoy it more.

Aaliyah and I starting to feel like we were getting sick so we went home to rest up. Jacob took Ava and Levi to yet another park and to get more ice cream – surprise, surprise! 😂

The next morning, our final full day in Switzerland, we had the delicious brekkie at the hotel and headed back to Zurich!

We booked a child cabin seat this time on the way back and it was fantastic!

We made a pit stop in Bern on our way to Zurich!

Beautiful Bern! We stored our luggage in the train lockers then walked around, shopped for souvenirs, and ate lunch.

We got back to Zurich later that day. We booked a hotel connecting to the airport since we had an early flight out the next morning. We enjoyed dinner at the nearby shopping center and called it a night!

It was truly one of our most favorite family vacations ever!

xx,

Vincy 💕

Switzerland Part 2: Lucerne

October 21, 2025 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

We landed in Zurich on Sunday morning and boarded a train straight to Lucerne. I wish I could say we got there and we hit the ground running but the opposite was true. We absolutely CRASHED. Everyone (even Levi!) took a long much needed nap. We stayed at a wonderful hotel that was centrally located. The only downside was that since we’re now a family of 5, we needed to get two separate rooms. Unfortunately, there were no connecting or family rooms when we booked.

We walked outside of the hotel and were just steps away from Chapel Bridge. This hotel was seriously in the best location.

We explored the quaint beautiful city of Lucerne. By “explored” I mean we headed straight to the chocolate store because we had to try Swiss chocolates!

Most chocolate stores in Switzerland had a cup of sweet strawberries that you could take to the counter and they’d pour melted hot chocolate of it.

After we consumed our weight in chocolate we walked around and took in the beautiful scenery.

After lots of walking and sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel and got changed for dinner at the hotel restaurant.

After dinner we CRASHED! The next morning marked the start of my very favorite day in all of time in Switzerland.

We booked tickets to visit Mt. Rigi this day! We ate a quick breakfast at the restaurant right next to the port.

I don’t even know why I bother trying to take pic with Levi🙃

We enjoyed taking in the views while eating lunch and drinking our afternoon coffee!

We returned to Lucerne via Weggis and explored Old Town, Chapel Bridge, and visited the lion monument.

The next morning was our final morning in Lucerne, sadly! We grabbed breakfast and headed to….beautiful INTERLAKEN!!!

xx,

Vincy💕

SWITZERLAND: The Best Family Vacation EVER!

August 26, 2025April 11, 2026 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

We finally crossed this bucket list destination off our list and it certainly did not disappoint! On my birthday, we set off on the first leg of our trip from Houston to Switzerland. We stayed one night in Amsterdam as an extended layover. We knew we wanted to keep this part of the trip short and sweet and we were glad we planned it like that.

This will forever be my favorite kind of view! My whole crew heading off to explore a new place just makes my heart so happy! 😍

We arrived in Amsterdam and headed straight to our hotel! We stayed at The Monet Garden Hotel and loved it!

We were only here for one night and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here! The staff were all so kind, warm, and helpful! They brought out coffee for us and kid treat boxes to keep the kids entertained while we waited for our room to be ready.🥹

After we were all checked in and rested for a bit, we set out to explore.

We ended up visiting Amsterdam the same time a parade was happening and the crowds were….interesting 🙃LOL here we are trying our best to distract the girls and Ava persevering! There were so many people swarming the streets, we sadly didn’t get a chance to visit any of the touristy places we had on our list. We called it an early night and headed home to bed so we could catch our early AM flight.

But we did manage to stop and grab a STROOPWAFEL, of course! 😆

The next morning, we were at the Amsterdam airport bright and early to board our flight to our much anticipated destination!

A short hour and a half later, we landed in Zurich and took a train straight to Lucerne (only 45 min away). The Zurich airport was connected to the train station, making this transition so seamless! For this trip, we only packed 4 carryons and 4 backpacks. This allowed for one of us to push the stroller and the rest of the crew grabbed the carryons. We took so many trains with our luggage and so we knew it was important pack light!

Side bar: When we landed in the Zurich Airport, we downloaded the SBB mobile app and visit the public train information office (located in the Zurich airport, just follow the signs!) The representatives were so friendly and helpful. We purchased half-fare travel cards for Jacob and I. With the purchase of these travel cards, the kids travelled for FREE! The half fare travel passes typically pay for themselves after the first few train rides.

NEXT STOP: LUCERNE!!!! This was one of my favorite cities and I am so excited to share!

xx,

Vincy💕

Summer Break 2025

August 25, 2025 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

This summer flew by and we had such a blast! We kicked off our summer with a trip to Chicago for a family wedding!

We hung back a few days after the wedding was over and played tourists! ☺️

After we returned, we spent the rest of the summer making lots of snack boards….

We spent lots of time playing in the driveway!

And having sister chats until the sunsets!

Last but not least, we did a lot of rough housing with dada! 😂

Summer 2025 was one for the books and we ended it with a bang by taking a trip to Switzerland! More on that to come!

xx,

Vincy💕

That’s a wrap for 2024-2025 school year!

August 25, 2025 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

The school year flew by and I still can’t believe we officially have a kindergarten graduate and 4th grader!

She had her graduation ceremony a few days before the last day of school and it was the sweetest program. I can’t believe how big she’s gotten!

I need time to just FREEEEEZE! 😭Can’t get over how old she looks here!

Ava finished up third grade like a champ, of course!

This year she grew so much and we are so proud of the little lady she’s becoming!

We kicked off summer with a YES Day right after the kindergarten graduation. The girls were thrilled and I was exhausted, so I guess MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! ☺️

xx,

Vincy 💕

Mexico City 🇲🇽🌮🫔

August 25, 2025August 25, 2025 ~ vincyzachariah ~ Leave a comment

Jacob and I snuck away to CDMX for a few days in May before Maycember set in! 😅 We had such a wonderful time enjoying the amazing food and beautiful weather!