Keep those entries for the Physique 57 giveaway coming! And hello to all the new faces I'm seeing in the comments. 🙂

I may have made up the word “fluboos”, but it fits really well with happenings going on yesterday. I mean - wouldn’t it figure that on one of the last days of our trip we faced storms? We missed out on any and all beach time because of rain and overcast yuckiness. Luckily, we had planned for such a rainy occasion and turned to Groupon to get us through.  We had a deal for two hours of unlimited bowling for up to 6 people to occupy us on a rainy day. We’ll just pretend the sun didn’t come out to play right when we decided to go, okay? That sun. What a jokester.

Even though we missed some extra beach time for an activity we very well could have done at home, all wasn’t lost. We got to have all the siblings together for our bowling fun. We have to take advantage of our time with my brother, since he returns to Arizona on Sunday night. We needed another occasion to nab as many Tommy-grabbing photos as possible. It’s our signature pose.

As for the actual bowling – I scored my best game ever!! A high score of 104! I even scored the first strike out of anyone. Go me.

We’ll just pretend we didn’t have the bumpers up for Makenzie.

Speaking of Makenzie, she enjoyed her first game of bowling so much!

Undoubtedly she is a child of the 21st century. Her statement on bowling? “Daddy, this is better than iPhone bowling”. I kid you not. She at least knows a real good time when she sees one though. And we had a great time.

After bowling, we knew we had to head back to the condo to quickly get ready for dinner. Upon arriving to our condo we quickly learned about vacation fluboo number two of the day. Our most favorite restaurant couldn’t fit our family in for dinner that night. Sad day!

We ended up at my G-Pa’s favorite place for round two of Stonewood.

Instead of feeling annoyed at having to hit up the same place just a few days after eating there, I decided to use it as an opportunity to try something new. I usually have favorites at each of the restaurants we visit and will never branch out on the menu for fear of ordering something that doesn’t live up to my favorites. I went the daring route tonight. And it paid off. Instead of a blueberry martini, bruschetta, and a filet dish…

…some cabernet to drink…

…some pretzel and cranberry bread to nibble…

…sharing an ahi tuna with asian slaw appetizer…

…and a steak salad as my entree.

The steak salad didn’t wow me. It tasted like any salad with mixed greens, blue cheese, walnuts, and meat I can find anywhere. The wine had no depth and tasted kind of cheap. The ahi tuna impressed me, though. I could have made that my meal with some of their creamed spinach I adore and called it a night. Even though I much prefer my typical choices, it felt nice to branch out.

Now, its time for me to live up my last day at the beach. Last day! Why do the good weeks always have to go so quickly?

• Do you have any “signature poses” for pictures?
• Do you have trouble ordering different things at restaurants?

One of the things I enjoy most about our annual beach trip comes with the chance to dress up for dinner a few nights out of the week. As a stay at home mom, who bums around in workout clothes all day long, I don’t often get myself all gussied up. I do enjoy doing so from time to time and vacation gives me just the opportunity.

Last night I pulled out one of my all time favorite dresses. I got it from J.Crew 4 or 5 years ago, but it has such a classic style that I still love it. I zipped it up and instantly felt a boost of confidence. Rocking a dress doesn’t happen often for me. Although, I must admit – as nice as it feels to dress up, it makes me appreciate dressing down all the more. I always can’t wait to get back home and into some comfortable digs!

I guess low-key suits my style better. In fact, I find myself choosing low-key over done-up quite often. Take Peter & my couples dinner from G-Pa this week. Every year G-Pa gives each married couple $100 to use how they want towards a dinner out together. Every year Peter and I go back and forth on how to use the money. Go all out one a dinner for two at a nice style restaurant we would not typically go on our own? Or hit up a favorite, albeit more casual, place and pocket the cash? What do you think we did?

We hit up the old favorite! We both love love love good pizza. Genovese’s Italian close to our condo delivers with good pizza, so we chose to go there for our dinner since we get a fix on nicer places during our family outings other times during the week.

We decided to start with an eggplant rollatini for an appetizer.  It had eggplant rolled with romano and ricotta cheeses, topped with a marinara.

It was just okay. We remembered after the fact that Genovese’s doesn’t have great Italian food - just great pizza. For our main dish, we ordered a pizza with light cheese, whole wheat crust, spinach, onions, olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni.

I gobbled up two large slices and saved the rest because I started feeling full. Yet we all know a separate compartment exists in the stomach for dessert. Despite both of us filling up decently on good pizza, we found ourselves hitting up a frozen yogurt joint to finish off the night.

I loaded up my cup. They know how to get you with those extra-large cups! I easily got suckered in to piling up my cup. I started with a reasonable portion of white chocolate and cheesecake yogurt flavors. Then, too many toppings appealed to me and I kept adding more and more on to my yogurt, leaving with a loaded bowl. I couldn’t leave behind brownie bits, cookie dough, peanut butter chips, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch toppings!

I have never seen any of those at a yogurt place before!! And they totally made my yogurt. I managed to eat the whole thing. It’s a gift. Our dressed down, low-key dinner date couldn’t have made me happier. Any date that includes frozen yogurt and chilling with my wonderful husband works for me – dressed down in all its glory.

• What is your style? Do you like going more high-end or low-key?