Meet Maria

Hi 'Young Mamma Tales' readers! Today is my turn to tell you a little about myself and about one of my favorite vacations, while Darlene and her family are enjoying theirs in Sweden.
Hope you're having a blast over there Darlene!

My name is Maria and I blog over at 'Micha and ME'. 

I live in a small-ish city in Holland, but I was born in Australia and spent a chunk of my childhood in Canada.

I've been happily married to my high school sweet heart, B. for almost eight (!!) years now. 

We have the cutest little boy, Micha, who's turning two this summer and another little boy on the way, due the end of June, I'm about to pop! 

I blog mostly about motherhood and our life here in Holland, but I also throw some recipes and fashion into the mix once in a while.

This April we made a big trip to Canada to visit my sister and her family, who live there, and also my best friend and her family. We survived two intercontinental flights with a toddler, you can read more about that here or here. 

Even though we loved our Canada trip, it's not the vacation I'm going to share with you today.

No, today I'm going to tell you about our last vacation as a childless couple. 

A little background story: My husband and I struggled with infertility and went though fertility treatments for a few years before we got pregnant with Micha. It was a hard and disappointing time and we were at a point that we felt like giving up fertility treatments to pursue other possibilities of becoming parents.

It was then that we decided to go on a fun vacation, just the two of us, to forget our struggles and to think things over. We usually vacationed with family or friends, but this time it would just be me and him.

We packed our tiny car to the brim with camping gear and set off towards French Bretange ( Brittany). 

We drove for almost ten hours until we reached the very tip of Brittany and found a campsite overlooking the ocean. We bought a Lonely Planet guide for the area and used that to explore beautiful Brittany, every recommendation and tip from that little book was a success.

We ate 'Moules Frites' (mussels and fries) on the boardwalk, 

visited pastry shops in every town to see which had the best 'Kouign Amman' (a buttery, caramely, croissant-like pastry) 

and crashed a 'Fez Noz', a traditional barn party, we were the only tourists, and yes it was a little awkward, but also a lot awesome. Especially after a few glasses of cider. 

I was a little nervous how things would go with just the two of us, would we get bored? 

But we loved every minute of our time together.

The 'Brittany' vacation made me realize that all I really needed to be happy was my husband, 

a baby added to the mix would be so welcome and such a blessing, 

but we were also so great with just the two of us. 

It made me so grateful to be married to my best friend. 

It was a summer to remember. And a vacation that was so much more than just a trip.

A few months later the fertility treatments finally paid off and I became pregnant with Micha, who was born the next summer. Another summer to never forget.

And now, I don't understand why we're so lucky, this summer will be unforgettable as well with the birth of our second miracle baby.

B. and I can't wait to bring our boys to Brittany some day, to the same campsite, and to the same beach. We'll dress them in little french striped shirts and treat them to crepes with caramel sauce, with big, crazy, lucky smiles on our faces.

Love, Maria