Chicago

 10/3/2024

We left the house at 3:00, stopped to pick Beckett up at school, swung by to get Norah and headed to the airport for our 6 PM flight to Chicago-midway.

The airport lounge had a two hour wait, so we grabbed Panera for dinner and hung out at the gate. We flew Southwest because we were able to use points and ended up only spending like $32 for all four of our flights AND hotel. This was the first time we haven’t had to fly with car seats since we’re not renting a car and planning on just taking the train and buses. 

The kids did great on the plane, the lady behind us and her family made friends with the kids, one of them was a former first grade teacher, and loved asking Beckett questions and even wrote him a sweet note to take home. We got their flight passports stamped, the attendant was shocked what frequent flyers they are. 

We had checked two suitcases and a stroller and brought the other stroller through the airport with us. Beckett doesn’t usually go in a stroller anymore, but we knew we’d be walking miles every day, so we purposely brought two strollers that were of adequate height to push for multiple days, non stop. Unfortunately, our stroller that we checked, didn’t make it to Chicago… they didn’t automatically offer Mike one so I went back in to ask if they had any we could borrow. She said “sure! But…they’re super basic umbrella strollers” she wasn’t joking, we had to bend down to push it. Not ideal, but the kids were exhausted and we had 2 suitcases, 4 backpacks and a diaper bag so carrying one of them wasn’t an option… they gave us the option to pick ours back up tomorrow to exchange for a $200 travel voucher or they’d deliver it to our hotel. We were 40 mins away so we opted for them to come to us. 

Well we headed to the train station and realized the elevator was broken…so we had to get all of our luggage AND the strollers and the kids down a good amount of stairs!  What a warm welcome, Chicago! lol

We got on the orange train towards the Loop and got off at the Washington/Wabash stop. The hotel was only a block or so away. The kids were a bit wired and wanted to hop around on the train.. We got to our hotel around 9:15 and Norah was exhausted. She saw the pnp and went right to it saying “night night! Night night” (put me to bed NOW!). She was up at 4am crying and didn’t go back to bed…so that was fun, thankfully Beckett slept right through it- even though we are all in one room. 

We stayed at The Chicago Athletic Association hotel, which is perfectly situated on Michigan Avenue at the heart of downtown Chicago. We are right across the street from Millennium Park and can see Lake Michigan.

Once Beckett was up, we slowly got ready for the day and stopped at Goddess and the Bakery for breakfast. We bought tickets to the Color Factory, but it didn’t open until 10, so we had quite some time to kill. We walked around the city and stumbled upon the public library. We went to the children’s library and read a couple of books about Rosh Hashanah since it was actually the start of the Jewish new year that day. The kids played and colored for a little while before we headed to Willis Tower. The color factory was actually a lot of fun, we tried different candies and had a blast, taking photos in each of the different colored rooms. At the end, you slide into a ball pit, which was really neat! We met my old friends from Japan, Jennelle and Gene, for lunch at Umai. It was only appropriate that we had sushi! I think it had been about 11 years since I had seen them last.  We picked up right where we left off and had such a fun time catching up. Unfortunately, Jennelle had to head back to work, but Gene walked with us a bit as we headed towards Shedd Aquarium. We said goodbye to him and walked with us through Grant Park. We had a great time at the aquarium, the kids had never been to one before. Mike loved the beluga whales the most. I think Norah and I liked the dolphins and Beckett the otters and penguins…and maybe the sharks. We got to see a dolphin show and then headed back to our hotel. It was about a mile and a half walk and we stopped at Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial fountain for a couple of pics. Beckett said he wasn’t feeling well and napped the whole way back. He had a bit of a fever and a sore throat, so we decided just to pick up some soup and dinner and eat in the room. We opted for Italian,  from Pisano. I had a chicken Parm sandwich, Mike had spaghetti. Beckett had tortellini in a chicken broth soup and Norah had a bit of everything. Early to bed for all.

Everyone slept great, thank goodness! Friday morning we got up and just grabbed breakfast to go and went across the street to see the Bean, there weren’t many people there so we got a great family photo. Our stroller got in late the night before, so we picked that up on our way out. We hopped on a bus and took it to the Navy pier . We had 10 AM tickets to the children’s museum. We played for a couple of hours and then grabbed Chicago style hotdogs at Americas Dog and Burger. We walked to the end of the pier for an incredible view of the city. When we left the children’s museum, Norah hopped in the stroller and immediately fell asleep. She woke up when we were finishing lunch and enjoyed the walk outside next to the water- she thought the wind was funny. We picked up our traditional Christmas ornament of the city as a souvenir and a sticker for the scrapbook and walked to the magnificent mile. (which eventually disappeared-must have fallen out of the stroller...thankfully my good friend Jen went to the same place the following month and replaced it for me <3)

We walked to the Chicago water tower, which survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, although the area around it burnt to the ground. We went into Bloomingdale’s and Mike entertained the kids while I did a bit of shopping! I was super excited to find a $280 dress marked down to $26! The kids were exhausted and losing their minds, so we decided to walk back and find dinner on the way. We stumbled upon a Giordano’s and ordered a deep dish pizza for me and Mike, spaghetti Alfredo for Beckett and a regular small cheese pizza for Norah – and they ended up switching. That was my first time having deep dish pizza and it was delicious! We got there around 4:30, it’s a good thing we did because it took about an hour to cook the pizza. We walked the mile back to the hotel,  stopped to grab some popcorn at Garrett’s. Everyone showered/took baths and relaxed in bed.

Norah had us all up by 5:30 once again, we grabbed coffee in the hotel, muffins for the kids and got ready for the day. We went back to the Goddess for breakfast, then headed to the playground in millennium Park. Bex had been asking to go up in a lighthouse the last couple of days, so he really enjoyed the fact that he got to go into a play lighthouse at the park . They had a super cool bridge and lots of fun slides for the kids to waste some time on. The flowers around Chicago are arranged beautifully, even big bunches of cabbage arranged into flowers. We hopped on the bus and headed to the Lincoln Park zoo

“Hey big fella!” was Beckett's greeting to some of the animals 

“Bye bye 'amil'!” was Norah's salutations to the all the animals

We all had a really fun time at the zoo, we saw so many animals! A beaver even played with us!!

We got home and changed and went up to the rooftop bar at our hotel called Cindy’s. We weren’t sure if kids were allowed and doubted there were any reservations available but glad we went up! They put us on a cancellation list, we grabbed a drink from the bar and went outside to check out the view. The kids sat down and played for a bit while we enjoyed our drinks, just as we were saying that we likely won’t get seated here and we should probably have a back up plan, they text us to say our table was ready! We were a bit unsure as we had the only children in the place, but they had a highchair and offered a couple kid options so we decided to stay. We split a chilled king, crab and lobster dish as well as a whole fried Bronzino. Beckett devoured a full hamburger and Norah snacked on all of ours.

By the time we left, there was another family with kids ! It was gorgeous up there, I’m glad we stayed and experienced it. The rooftop above us was all windows! 

It was getting late, but Beckett asked to go see the bean again, so we went to Amarino for some gelato to eat on the way. It was so good!! we got some fun, family pictures and headed back to pack and go to sleep. 

The kids did great traveling home, there was a baby behind us that Norah really enjoyed playing with. 

Puerto Rico

 Bryan invited us to PR with Meaghan's family to surprise her for her 40th birthday. Mom and Brett agreed to come watch our babies so we could go on our first ever kid free vacation (together) to celebrate Meaghan and do a trip together since we both turn(ed) 40 this year. 

We originally had a 1:30 flight out of Charlotte, getting us in around 4:20. Our plan was to get the rental then drive from San Juan to Aguada (Casa Aleeza), which was 2.5 hours, figureing we would eat on the way and get in around 8:30pm.

Due to a big storm coming we (Lindsay, Mike and myself) opted to hop on an earlier flight (currently free to fly standby on same day flights). LInds was able to get in from Charleston to Charlotte on time and all 3 of us got on the 9am flight to SJ (getting us in at 1:30)!! We were even able to switch one seat and all sit together. We knew it was too good to be true..after sitting on the runway for a while, we were told to disembark due to plane maintenance. We went to the lounge but they were full so we grabbed some drinks at the bar. We ended up getting into the lounge a bit later so we enjoyed some free food and hung out for a bit. We ended up on a different plane all together and left at 12:30..so we only ended up getting into PR an hour early than planned but at least we had some snacks to hold us over until we got to the house. Bryan told us there would be plenty of food and to just eat there.

Bryan asked Meaghan to change Hudson's diaper right when we were arriving so we were able to sneak in and sit at the table. She came in a few minutes later and seemed pretty surprised!

We were pretty beat from being up since 4:30 and travling for like 14 hours so we showered and headed to bed. 

The house was perfect. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, even had a pool! Linds shared a room with Kim, Mike and I had our own room-Meaghan's parents (Jeff/MaryAnne) and aunt/uncle (Liz/Paul) were there too!

The next morning we got up, had our coffee then headed to Cascada Gozalandia. Glad we brought water shoes! We headed down to the biggest one and unfortunately Paul slipped and fell very hard on his back and hit his head on a rock.Thankfully there was a doctor who saw the whole thing happen and immediately ran over to assess him. Linds ran up to get ice as we cleaned him up. MA/Liz and Paul went to the top to hang out at the restaurant once he was able to get up. The rest of us jumped off waterfalls and swam in a small cave. 

Bryan and Mike jumped off a pretty steep portion, which was terrifying to watch bc you could see how slippery it was. I thought I was going to vomit watching. Linds/Meaghan and I (Kim is pregnant, so she couldn't) climbed to a safe spot and jumped in but when we counted to 3, my foot slipped so they jumped and I didn't. LOL oops. So then we had to go back up to jump again-this time together haha. We climbed up to another waterfall and Bryan/Linds climbed up to sit underneath it.

We met up with the rest of the crew and ordered some tropical drinks and monfongo's (Chicken for Linds/Mahi for Mike and shrimp for me).

On the way home we stopped at the PR pyramid lol turns out it was just randomly constructed 20 years ago, nothing to see there lol. We stopped at a cute coffee shop/plant shop then headed to the house to get ready for dinner.

For dinner we went to Reina Mora which was a restaurant on the first floor and the owners family lived on the second floor. It seated 5-6 tables. The husband is a self taught chef and his wife was the hostess/told us all about the 4 course set menu. We started with a yogurt base mixed with avocado and fruits with a cashew butter-incredible. Next course was eggplant and plantain. Followed by pork belly and kale over sweet potato puree. Dessert was a pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin cake. Very cool experience. From there, we went to a bar called El Taller speakeasy, which used to be a mechanic shop.

The next morning, we packed sandwiches and headed to surfers beach for a great hike! Unfortunately, it was high tide so we couldn't make it down to the beach at that spot but we hiked back and went to the beach by where we parked. Took a walk, watched a surf tournatment and headed back to get ready for Meaghan's birthday luau! Linds and I brought a whole suitcase full of decor/grass skirts, leis etc.

We decorated then went in the pool while Bryan made us pina colada's. We had a private chef come to the house for dinner, who made pinapple fried rice and the best Wahu I've ever had!

After some more drinks, delish carrot cake and coconut guava cake (Bryan got two cakes-said one was for my birthday too, very sweet!) we played a couple rounds of Codenames and went to bed.

The next day, we went to Steps Beach in Rincon. Got to relax, take some great pics on a swing and the steps that floated up one day and gave tthe beach its name. Bryan took Hudson home to nap and the rest of us went to Calypso for lunch. Mike and I got the tuna poke wrap and the other gals had fish tacos. Meaghan, Mike and I got some oysters from a stand near the restaurant-So good! Then we finished up and went to shop. (I got a cute tie dye romper). We had leftovers for dinner and hopped in the car to drive and hour and 15 mins to La Parguera for a bioluminescence bay experience. When you move in the water, micro organisms called dinoflagellates emit a burst of light that reminded us of what fairy dust might look like. There are only 5 bioluminescence bays in the worls so that might be a once in a lifetime experience and it was absolutely incredible! We got back around 10:30 from our 7:30 tour.

Mike and I woke up and headd to old San Juan to spend the day exploring before our 5:55pm flight back home. 

We parked in a garage near where the cruise ships were docked and walked alongthe water overlooking San Juan bay. We stopped for a photo with the Boriqua sign which means Puerto Rican pride. Looking down as were walked we were stunned  by how cool the blue copplestones were! We stopped to admire the Raices or Roots fountain and walked onwards to the red gate or La Puerta de San Juan. We passed the bronze sculptures called Crecimiento which represent the affirmation of life. The shapes, rising from the ground, convey the idea that the fragility of growth is only an impression and what is truly important has to be eternal.

We continued on to El Morro and then went to take some pictures at various spots in the rain-in between hopping in some souvenir shops. Unfortunatly umbrella street didn't have umbrellas-had breast cancer flags hanging-but we enjoyed walking throught the colorful streets. We also came across La Casa Esrecha-the 2nd narrowest house in the world.

We dined at Cafe Manolin, where Mikke had the special-a sort of lasagna plantain/beef dish and I had another Shrimp Monfongo. We grabbed a pina colada at Barrachina before heading to the airport.

We changed clothes, checked our bags then relaxed and had an early dinner in the lounge.

My mom and Brett had to head back to Jax on Sunday so Cassie brought her kids and went to take over all day Sunday. Brian came to help (Beckett was so excited to tell me that he got to ride in Uncle Brian's car and he had one cupholder, but Norah had two-but no toys lol) and they went up to have quesadilla's at camp north end. (Mommy, I had a chicken quesadilla with cheese and it was folded like my magnatile-round at the top and then folded like this and like this" (it wasn't facetime but we could imagine him folding his hands over haha). Brian took their kids home and Cassie stayed the night with ours and took them to school the next morning. Sarah Burns picked them up and took them to her house for dinner and a "sleepover" until we scooped them up around 11:30pm. We couldn't wait to see our babies!!!

Yellowstone/Grand Teton

 8/12/2023

We were up at 3:30am for a 7:15am flight (Norahs very first one!). 2 strollers, 2 car seats, a hiking backpack, a medium rolling suitcase, 3 backpacks and a diaper bag later, we were on our way. Mike dropped Norah and I off with all the luggage and then he and Beckett went to park the car and ride the shuttle back to us. We kept one stroller out but checked everything else (minus the backpacks and diaper bag). I wore Norah and Beckett rode through the airport in the stroller (thank goodness he agreed because it was 10x faster)! The airport lounge that is associated with our Chase credit card opened at 5am so we were able to go in and get coffee/breakfast. The lounge had a tiny little family area with some cushions that Beckett played on. Our first leg from CLT to SLC was supposed to be 3.5 hours but we had to go around a storm so it ended up being almost 4.5 hours. The kids did great on the plane, Beckett was so excited! Norah slept for the majority and Beckett played, colored and watched a movie.

We got to SLC and Beckett had a little time to play on the moving sidewalks. This flight from SLC to JAC was only about an hour. Of course Bex waited until we were boarding to announce that he had to poop. He kept saying it the whole way to our seats. "Daddy, I gotta poop right now!" People were snickering and making "gotta go when ya gotta go!" comments haha. I joined a facebook Jackson Hole Moms group and a sweet lady actually lent us a pack and play and bear spray! It was great not having to bring the travel crib!! Dan and Kayla got in 2 hours before us so they picked up the rental car (Suburban) & groceries.

Everything somehow fit in the suburban. It felt like a clown car, it was hilarious to see us all pile in and out. We got more efficient at each stop! Beckett usually sat in the very back, the babies were in the middle row. I get super car sick so I mainly sat up front, but occasionally took Dramamine and took a turn in the back. Mike/Dan traded off driving. Kayla usually sat between the babies with a bottle in each hand. Sometimes, if we were just getting out for a quick stop or a potty break, if the babies were sleeping those in the backrow had to climb over the seat to avoid waking them up.

We loaded up and drove into Jackson Hole to grab some lunch. We went to Pearl St Bagels. The Town of Jackson is adorable and can't wait to explore it next week!

We drove 2 hours through the green rolling hills of idaho to get to our airbnb in Island Park. Beckett was pretty cranky that eve, tantrum after tantrum but it had been a long day.

We got to the house & unpacked While Dan and Kayla made Chicken burgers for dinner. Kayla planned all our meals so well, she opted to do the meal planning since I planned out the itinerary, it was much appreciated to have that taken care of! The babies had fun playing together on the ground while we got stuff ready for the next morning. Beckett was running around like a wild man but at one point, crouched down between the babies, and put his arms around them, squeezed them and said, "I love youguys!" it was adorable!

We broke our Yellowstone itinerary into 3 sections/days: Wonderland, The heart of Yellowstone/American Serengeti, and Geyser Gazing.

 8/13/2023-Wonderland

We made eggs and sausages for breakfast and made our way to Yellowstone.

Yellowstone was originally called Wonderland. In the early days of the park, there was only one entrance, which was in Gardner. Tourists arrived by train and took a  horse drawn carriage on a ceremonial entrance through Roosevelt Arch. They made their way around the Grand Loop Drive staying at camping or lodging establishments along the way.

We stopped at the Madison Visitor center to use the bathroom and take some teepee pictures then off to our real first stop:Gibbon Falls

Here you are standing at the Caldera - the edge of the volcano. The waterfall was beautiful

The next stop was Artist Paint pots. We unloaded, sunscreened up, loaded thebabies into the Ospreys and got our gear ready for a 1 mile hike around Artist Paint Pots (which was not as impressive as we hoped for, as the water was quite low).

We then walked a mile around Norris Geyser Basin (would def recommend over Paint pots). The Norris Basin is closest to the magma. The geyser basin was filled with blue and turquoise pools, as well as mud pots. Beckett was a bit wild and we had to keep apologizing as he ran into people. Most didn't seem to mind and laughed it off but one lady with a British accent rolled her eyes and mumbled "no worries" and it made me laugh the rest of the trip. Kayla would respond with her rendition of this.

 We walked around the porcelain basin for a bit before heading to Mammoth Terraces. On our way, we drove through the Golden Gate Canyon and bridge.

Next, we headed to Mammoth hot springs terraces. We had a picnic lunch and checked out the mammoth hot springs. Beckett was a force to be reckoned with at this point, so we couldn't do the hike, but we felt like we took enough in by walking around for a few minutes. 

We then drove up a bit more to Yellowstone Hot Springs and took turns watching the babies/soaking in the warm water for a bit. There were 3 separate pools, Beckett could go in the warm one. There was a cold one that Dan soaked in. I liked the hot one.

On our way back, we stopped in Gardiner to take pictures of the Roosevelt Arch then headed to the Mammoth general store.

We saw our first bison on the way to the buffalo bar. We ate dinner then headed back to the airbnb. There was a water advisory, so we put all the baby bottles through the dishwasher but then boiled them afterwards just to make sure they were safe. We brushed our teeth with bottled water as well.. Even though there was an entire extra room, we opted to put the kids in the same room because we only brought one monitor and seemed easier to keep our stuff together. Well Norah woke up at 2:30, so we put her in our bed so she didnt wake Beckett but then he was up at 5 wondering where she was. Mike went to lie with him but at that point no one fell back to sleep.

8/14

Ruby had Dan and Kayla up early too so it worked out to get on the road early to Lamar Valley, which was about 2.5 hours away. As we got closer we spotted a coyote, a few more bison and then an entire HERD of bison crossed the street right in front of us. That was incredible!! There were probably 50/60!

We drove a bit further and saw a grizzly bear as well! Glad we were in the car for that one! There was a tour bus a couple of cars ahead of us that stopped for 30+ minutes so we got to watch him for a while.

Once we finally started moving, we found a pit stop with some great mountain views and a couple bison in the distance, We stretched our legs a bit before piling back in and heading back towards the direction we came from.

On the way back we pulled over to see some more bison and at another point got out to see some Elk (from a distance).

The babies started losing it so we knew we needed to get out and walk with them for a bit. At this point we had become accustomed to bison just walking on by.

We got to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and hiked to the overlook (brink of the lower falls) which was a bit further/steeper than anticipated. Kayla and I were wearing the babies in the ergos. The switch backs had big drop offs so I was very anxious with Beckett not listening and running wild. We got incredible views of the waterfall and the canyon!

We went up to Artist point for more amazing waterfall and canyon views. we hiked another mile around mud volcanos. Beckett was getting tired so we had to make it fun. We had dance parties and I gave him bubbles to blow every time he saw the mud bubbling. I also had gummy worms as bribery which he kept calling "Jelly worms" On the way back to the house, we stopped in west yellowstone for some famous huckleberry ice cream. we had brats, hotdogs, fries (we had to have potatoes in idaho!) and peas for dinner. We did laundry and went to bed!

8/15-Geyser Gazing day

We got the kids their Jr Ranger badges and passed Fire Hole Falls on the way to Grand Prismatic. We got all 3 kids in strollers (SO thankful we ended up bringing one for Beckett!) and did the boardwalk loop. Grand Prismatic was beautiful, but we decided we wanted to see the beautiful vibrant colors from above, so we did the 1.6 mile Fairy Falls hike. The girls were in the backpacks and I ended up running/piggy backing with Beckett. It was gorgeous!!

We got lucky and old faithful was about to erupt so we didnt need to waste much time. After watching it, we walked the mile to Grand Geyser but must have just missed it. it wasn't set to go off again for another 8 hours, so we walked back and caught Old faithful again from the backside. The walk around was neat anyway (kids were in strollers), lots of little geysers along the way.

We had eaten lunch on the drive there but we were all hungry again so we went in the lodge, relaxed for a while and got some subs/snacks. Beckett told me,"I had super fun, with all these hikes!"

We drove to West Thumb, which had more beautiful basins, deep blue pools, geysers and a great view of Yellowstone Lake. Beckett has been calling Kayla "Aunt Alecia" the whole trip so far. He's been watching  Toy Story over and over even though he has other movies. Beckett asked me, "Mommy, can I go smile at my sister?" I love his love for her!!

We saw a herd of Pronghorn on the way back to the house! The babies were good all day but collectively cried for an hour on the drive home. Everyone was exhausted. Dan was convinced that they stopped crying every time he played "Sober up," so we played it on repeat.

8/16

We were all packed up and ready to load the car early, it was about a 3 hour drive to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton.We loaded up the babies in the Osprey's and took the shuttle across Jenny Lake.We did the half mile hike to Hidden Falls. Beckett had to poop in the woods lol-good thing we had wipes and poop bags for the diapers.

We hiked another half mile to Inspiration Point-gorgeous views of the lake! we were about a mile into our hike when someone told us that there was a moose in another 1/4 mile. The path had leveled out at this point so we continued hiking into the canyons. we kept going another half mile and there were 2 moose on the side of the trail eating lunch!! Very cool!! I only had to carry Beckett for a few minutes on the mile and a half back, he complained a lot but he did it! A 3 mile hike!!

We got the kids their Jr Ranger books at the visitor center, picked up pizza from Calico and went to our Airbnb, which was a nice spacious condo! We all quickly ate, showered and headed back out to the rodeo!! I made the kids cute matching "this actually IS my first rodeo" shirts and Kayla and I dusted off our cowboy boots. Whoolly Sheep! Beckett loved the entire thing! We didnt know what to expect but we saw bull riding, bronco riding, mutton busting (Beckett didnt want to participate but they let everyone 10 and under go down and chase sheep), roping and barrel racing.

8/17

We got up and decided the kids were done hiking so we would see the rest of the sites at roadside stops. First up was Colter Bay Village, then Oxbow Bend.

Mike and Beckett went down to feel the water while we got some pretty wildflower pics with the girls. We traded off taking some breathtaking family photos here too.

Next up was the JP Cunningham cabin. 

We went to Snake River Brewing for a drink then did a bit of shopping and photo ops. We stopped in Million Dollar Cowboy Bar for a saddle picture then headed next door to Local (because they couldnt do them there) for our traditional car bomb drink.

We picked up dinner at Sidewinders then packed up the house to leave at 4:45am since we all had 7am flights out and we had to return the rental car and shuttle to the airport.

8/18

We got up at 4 and saw that our flight was delayed for a couple of hours but we have a 3 hour lay over in SLC so we should still make that connection. We opted to just get up and go since we would need to either all go or drop the Polizzi's off anyway so we may as well get moving. We said our goodbyes in this tiny airport and got some breakfast and coffee. We found some super oversized comfy chairs to wait out the delay in but the delay was now pushed to 1230 so we were starting to look at other options on how to make it home before we ran out of baby formula since we would miss our connection. Norah napped (beckett pretended).

They ended up moving the delay BACK to 1030 so we all boarded and then they accidentally counted Norah as having a seat instead of a lap baby so they took another 30 mins counting and recounting each passenger until they realized their mistake. They did tell us that the reason for the original delay was extra maintenance checks since our plane had gotten struck by lightning! Eek I would have been ok not knowing that, even though apparently, its super common?!

There was a good amount of us going to Charlotte, so they held the plane and everyone let us off the first flight so we could literally run through the airport, but we made it!! We hopped right on a shuttle when we walked out of baggage claim and headed to our car. The kids did great on the planes (Norah napped on each and Beckett watched movies and closed his eyes for 5 seconds) and both passed out on our drive from the airport to home.

(Kemba stayed with our neighbor Meghan and thankfully got along well with their dog!)

San Diego/Joshua Tree/Palm Spring and LA

 5/25/2022

We left Charlotte on 5/25 at 9:07am, with the time change our 5 hour flight got us in to San Diego at 11am. 

We picked up our rental (got upgraded for free to a BMW) and headed to La Jolla.

Ryan and Amy recommended Don Bravos for lunch. It was so delish-highly recommend the lobster burrito! (I was only able to have a couple of bites due to awful morning sickness). From there we followed their next rec of going to 5757-5799 Chelsea Ave for a great overlook.

We then went to 6207 Camino De La Costa. This was a secluded secret beach in front of some amazing houses. There was a public walkway down to the beach. In CA, even the wealthiest can't own beaches in front of their houses. Definitely would rec stopping here for photos or even bringing beach towels and toys and making a day of it! It's tiny and quiet.

We went to Children's pool and La Jolla cove to see the seals/sea lions.

We met Matt and Jillian Kochan for dinner at Catania. I was too sick to eat anything but it was great to see them. We got icecream and poor Beckett could barely keep his eyes open. He did so well, considering it was 10pm our time! He passed out immediately in the car on the way to the hotel. We stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt (used our free night with one of our credit cards). We brought his toddler airmattress. He was so tired that he slept through us carrying him in and getting him dressed.

I packed our first night and day in packing pods-which was SO nice to just have to open those cubes and not mess up the whole suitcase.

5/26

Beckett woke up at 3am, confused where he was, since he slept through us getting to the hotel. I put him in our bed and after demanding to only sleep in undies and "short sleeves up" he finally fell back asleep.

We walked to Spill the Beans for bagels and coffee then walked along the water to see the yachts, before heading to pick up Dan and Kayla at the airport.

From the airport, we went right to Torrey Pines and did the 0.7 mile Guy Fleming loop for some great views. Beckett did about 0.25 mi in the hiking backpack then insisted on walking, of course.

We met Erin in Coronado and went to The Henry for lunch. The non preggo's had an afternoon car bomb in an Irish pub..which we will forever do to commemorate Anthony. Beckett loved having a "shot" like the big kids.

We played Duck Duck Goose at Hotel Del Coronado.  Beckett loved the garbage cans and fancy sandcastles, "I wanna go crush it!" We had gelato before cruising around the island then checking into our adorable Airbnb-which had a toddler bed, so perfect! We walked to a Thai restaurant for dinner then went home to bed!

5/27

We had so much fun at the zoo! Erin got a 9:27am margarita. We witnessed quite the elephant scuffle. We even saw a Koala named "Simba" which was ironic because Beckett has made up a name called "Simba Gungabee"

Beckett fell on soft ground then walked around with a fake limp for a bit.

We went to the Japanese gardens to have some tea but it was closed so we just enjoyed the grounds for a bit.

We met up with a college friend/sorority sister of mine (Ashley Spoto) and her partner Julie for pizza at Tavola Nostra then ice cream. We had a great time!

went back to the house, did some laundry then went to bed!

5/28

Erin met us for breakfast at Breakfast Republic before we drove to Joshua Tree (2 hr 45 min) - Beckett talked to Kayla, non-stop, the entire drive.

We met Kayla's brother and girlfriend for an early dinner at The Ground Squirrel and stayed at their airbnb.They have their very own roadrunner that stays by their front door - we named him Beanz.

We headed into the park before sunset and hiked about a mile at Skull Rock and around Jumbo rocks. Beckett had so much fun hiking, climbing and running around.

Kayla and I were taking a bump pic with our baby girls and then Beckett yelled "BOYS TURN!" and kept posing with his belly sticking out LOL

We got icecream as we waited for it to get dark before heading back into the park to see the stars. (I didn't take this picture.) B was starting to lose it, as he was exhausted, so we just went to a little pull off but it was absolutely incredible.

5/29

The next morning, we got up (I finally didn't feel as nauseous) and headed back into the park to hike Hidden Valley Loop (1m). We met Jelly the iguana, got some more fun pics with Joshua trees then got Becks his Jr Ranger badge.

Next we headed to Palm Springs (an hour drive), so we grabbed a quick lunch of grab and go sandwiches and headed to David and Thelene's house. We got there and felt like we were in a tropical paradise, their house is so nicely done! We went swimming and they treated us to a delicious meal of chicken/steak, palm salad and tomatoes, potato salad and broccoli salad!

We went for an evening walk around their neighborhood. The last time Michael visited was 2000.

We hung out in their outdoor oasis before calling it a day. They kindly let us have their bedroom/guest room and they slept in their motor coach.

5/30

We went to a golf course for breakfast, everyone's meals were delish and I'm happy to say that I was finally able to eat more things, as I had been eating bagels and cream cheese every day my entire pregnancy thus far!

It was so beatiful there, we enjoyed chatting while Beckett colored. After breakfast, we packed up and dropped D and K off at the airport on our way to LA.

We drove the 2.5 hours right to Echo Park and miraculously got an amazing VIP spot right at the playground, we did the swan boats, got a scruptious fruit cup for $8, filled with mango, watermelon and pineapple. Mike was almost bitten by a duck! B played on the playground for a while then we went to little Tokyo. (secret tip: park in Asai garage, super cheap!)

We debated between Daikokuya (ramen/gyoza) & Marugame (udon/tempora). Decided on Marugame and OMG the shrimp tempura udon was so good! Rec going early, we got there at 5 and still waited for about 30 minutes.

We got an upgraded room at the Andaz West Hollywood - right on Sunset Boulevard.

5/31

I repeated something Beckett said and he responded with, "you coffin me"

We had Rawberri Acai bowls for breakfast then walked around Hollywood squares and the Chinese Theatre. We drove around Beverly Hills and met my friend/sorority sister Jess for lunch at Soho House. Bex ate almost an entire pizza by himself, I had a heart of palm salad and Mike had shrimp tacos. We drove around Rodeo drive and Sunset Blvd before heading to Malibu.

We went to the Malibu pier then met Maren and Tom for dinner at Duke's. Mike and I split a seafood rice hotpot and got mac and cheese for Becks. While driving around B said he "needs the washing machine on" instead of the air conditioning. He continued confusing the two for a while haha.

6/1

We had bagels then walked around Abbot Kinney Blvd before heading to Santa Monica Pier. We had clam chowder bowls at The Albright (B had a hotdog). We drove by Venice beach and the Venice canals then went home to finish laundry and pack up...well we accidentally washed Beckett's pull up and omg that was SUCH a mess to clean up!!! We had dinner at Moto Azabu.

The Grand Circle of National Parks/ The Mighty 5(6)

 

9/5/2020

Packing for a two week RV trip was definitely a challenge. We decided on five hiking outfits and five regular (casual) outfits..as well as a couple of cold weather things.

We purchased an $85 annual park pass ahead of time (each park is $30), which we ended up forgetting..oops! Thankfully having the email confirmation was sufficient for each park.

We booked our RV through Outdoorsy.com, which was basically AirBnb for Rv’s. The RV was $2700 for 12 nights

Our original two-week trip to Japan was cancelled due to COVID, so we decided to use our well-earned PTO to travel around the national parks in Utah and Arizona. Thankfully, since we can check a car seat bag and a stroller bag free we got away with not spending a penny on checking bags. We also have the American Airlines credit card, which allows us to check two bags of 50 pounds free as well. Both bags were about 48 pounds. (We were able to fit the Osprey hiking bag in the stroller bag)

 

We caught an 8:00 AM Uber to the airport, with a 9:45 AM flight out of Charlotte. With the two-hour time difference, we arrived in Salt Lake City at noon. Beckett did amazingly on the four-hour flight. He played with his buckle bag, which is the greatest invention for toddlers ever and he watched an excessive amount of Little Baby Bum that I downloaded from Netflix.

 

Traveling during a pandemic is definitely strange, while the plane was still full; everybody had to wear masks the whole time. Thankfully, toddlers are exempt from that policy, because there was not a chance that Beckett would have worn one.

 

Beckett got to meet the pilot and take some photos in the front of the plane when we landed.

 

We ubered to the RV owners house, who were actually out of town. Their father met us there to show us the ropes. I was super disappointed with the cleanliness of the RV as they advertised it as very clean, we even paid a $75 cleaning fee. After we (well, Mike) felt comfortable learning the ins and outs of how to drive the monstrosity we headed to the grocery store where we spent $300 on meals and supplies. I was pleasantly surprised that they had an instant pot aboard as all of the Pinterest Rv meals recommended them lol. We finally got on the road around 5 PM, so we didn’t arrive in Moab until after nine. The drive was nothing short of spectacular, a beautiful scenic route, with a few deer and goats spotted along the way.

 

It’s currently 8 PM here, so 10 PM at home, Beckett has been dozing in and out in the car seat, he’s definitely ready for lay down in the pack and play.Unfortunately, I am anticipating a rough night for all of us, as I’m sure the time zone change and a long day of traveling will really disrupt his schedule.

 

Also not thrilled on the car seat situation, as they assured us there was a rear facing spot for the car seat, and while there is, it was definitely not a safe spot. We had to move Beckett to the seatbelt in the couch so he has to sit sideways which definitely has me on edge.

 

(We stayed 3 nights At Canyonlands RV Resort and Campground. Total was $223.45

 

9/6

With the time zone, Beckett was up quite early, we brought him into our bed and tried to go back to sleep for a little while, but we were all up by six. We made breakfast, had our coffee, and made our way from Canyonlands RV Park to Arches national Park. It’s about a 5 mile drive and it’s just breathtaking. Just miles and miles of red rocks and canyons. We are beginning our day doing a portion of the Devils Garden hike, we are going to go about a mile and a half in to see the landscape arch.

 

We are driving through Arches national Park, heading to the very end point first, we got lucky with the weather as it’s only 61° right now, perfect hiking weather… Although it will be 100° this afternoon.

 

Due to COVID, they gave us a junior badge right from the get-go at the visitor center; usually you get them at the end after the kids do some activities, aka scribbling for Beckett.

 

It was about a 2.3-mile round-trip hike to Landscape Arch then Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. Beckett slept in the hiking pack for most of it.

 

We stopped at the Fiery Furnace overlook for a few quick photos then did a quick half mile hike to the Delicate Arch viewpoint.

 

Chill pads are our best friend. We stopped at Double Arch and by the time we finished that half mile hike it was 96 degrees, So unfortunately we didn’t do the Windows hike but we felt like we saw everything we wanted to in the park. We stopped at Balance Rock for quick photo while Beckett snoozed in the car seat, then we found a new favorite shape, which we named The Angry Man in the Rock.

 

Double arch was our favorite, so not one to be missed. Was very cool to not only hike up to it, but you could hike into it and through it as well.

 

On our drive out of the park, we had fun pointing out shapes and animals in the rock formations (like clouds).

 

We exited the park at 2 PM and they were turning people around, saying “no entry, come back in three hours” because the park was completely full.

 

After exploring the campground, we walked right across the street to Moab brewery for a nice cold brewski.

 

We made stroganoff in the instant pot for dinner, had some issues with the shower. The water was not hot, and the shower wouldn’t drain. Turns out the gray water was already full, Mike emptied everything out like a champ and we got used to showering very quickly to preserve hot water for each other. After we put Beckett to bed, we sat outside and played a quick game of Qwixx.

 

9/7

We woke up at 4:45am to get going. We were an hour away from Mesa Arch, where we wanted to watch the sunrise.

 

Unfortunately, it was overcast and smoky (from the nearby fires), so we did not really get to see the sunrise. It was still an amazing arch and an incredible view.

 

We then drove to Grandview Point and did the 2 mile hike to the top, which was absolutely incredible. I would recommend it to anybody. Beckett slumbered on Mike’s back, while Mike did all the hard work of carrying him :-) we stopped at multiple points to get panoramic views and breathtaking photos.

 

We then drove to upheaval Dome and hiked a little over a mile for a couple different views.

 

We stopped at to the visitor center to get Beckett his junior badge, grabbed a few things from the grocery store and then headed back to the campground for lunch.

 

We walked a little less than a mile into town to do some shopping and pick up some souvenirs :-). We got an awesome mug with hiking paintings on it and a Moab plaque for our adventure wall. A few shirts and a hat later we called it a night and went back to make Chicken Cordon Bleu in the Instant Pot. After we showered and put Bex to bed, Mike and I sat outside playing a game of Monopoly cards and Qwixx.

 

9/8

We woke up this morning around 3 AM to rain and wind. We fell back asleep but took our time in the morning. We made cinnamon buns and once the rain started to subside, we headed to do the Corona Arch hike, which was fantastic! We loved the hike and found that arch to be the best out of them all! There are a couple spots you had to use a ladder and ropes to get yourself up, but was still safe enough with the baby on back.

 

We got back to the RV around noon, had some lunch and now we are headed to Lake Powell. Not exactly sure what we will do there since Navajo nation is closed, we were supposed to go to Monument Valley on the way, unfortunately will have to skip that.

 

It is a long drive from Moab to Page, but the entire drive is like taking the scenic route. The rock formations are very different here than they have been along the way. Tumbleweed legit blows across the road like you would see in a movie.

 

Two days ago was 106° and it’s currently snowing on our drive!!

 

We checked into Waheap Marina RV Campground (2 nights, totaled $68.18) around 6:30 PM. We purchased some firewood and s’more supplies. I cut up some squash and zucchini, peeled the corn and Mike started a campfire. It had a grate too, so we cooked our veggies and some sausages over the fire. We did laundry and after Becks went to sleep we had our dessert and a drink and went to bed ourselves.

 

9/9

We took our time this morning, as it was 50° outside, so we didn’t have to beat the heat. We went and hiked the mile and a half trip to Horseshoe Bend. On our way back we stopped to check out Glen Canyon Dam then went back to the campground so B could continue napping. We had leftovers for lunch then found a secret slot canyon called State Line Canyon. All other slot canyons are closed due to them being on Navajo nation. This one is a bit odd and hard to find, we read that we need to Park at marker 555.3, cross the road and head west. So hope we are going the right direction.

 

Barbed wire is optional right? There was no opening in the fence, so we had to go under a Barbwire fence and passed the baby over top. I guess it was neat to see part of a slot canyon, but not a very exciting one at that. Probably would have been more exciting if we were able to go into the narrow sections, but we couldn’t do that with baby on back. We saw a couple rabbits but thankfully no snakes or scorpions.

 

We headed back to camp and made gnocchi sausage in the instant pot. Toasted some s’more’s over the campfire then played a few games of Uno before calling it a night.

 

Super bummed that we didn’t get to see Antelope Canyon, I heard it’s really neat.

 

9/10

We left our campsite and headed down to put our feet in Lake Powell. I got a shirt as a souvenir and we headed to Kanab to do the Wire Pass slot canyon hike. Unfortunately, the road was not conducive for RV’s. We drove 45 minutes out of the way for it, but we figured it was worth a shot. We are a little bummed, but excited to trek on to our next place.

 

We are on our way to Kaibab Camper Village (1 night $40) near the Grand Canyon (N Rim). Russell and Alecia (and their dogs) will meet us there tonight. They have a pop-up camper in their truck.

 

We’re about 20 minutes from our campsite, and are driving through Kebab Forest. Everything is burned from recent fires. Trees on both sides of the road just charred and black. There is a very high Fire warning for today, which is a bit daunting.

 

Shockingly, we were still able to have a campfire at the site even with the fire warning so high. Obviously, there are designated fire pits. Russell and Alecia got there around 5:45. We made sausages in our RV for dinner and ate outside. After we put Beckett to bed we sat around the campfire for a while before going to sleep. The temperature got down to the mid-30s, I was freezing! (We had to stop at Walmart the previous day to get Mike a sweatshirt. He didn’t bring one, as this cold front was not in the original forecast!)

 

9/11/20

It feels appropriate to go to the Grand Canyon today on 9/11. Doesn’t get much more American than that.

 

Looking out at the GC, I prayed for all the lives lost and thought about where I was when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

 

We left the Dogs in the car and we all hiked the mile trail to Bright Angel Point.

 

Mike, Beckett and I did another mile and a half trail to the Coconino overlook. Russell and Alecia stayed back and did a dog-friendly trail.

 

It was strenuous coming back from the overlook, but definitely worth it to be inside the canyon, we passed multiple groups doing Rim to Rim. Some of them even doing all 44 miles in one day, crazy! Others mentioned they were just going the 22 miles one way but camping three nights en route and a bus would take them back from point B to point A.

 

I think Michael and I would enjoy doing something like that one day, sans kids.

 

We are now going to stop for a quick bite to eat then a trek onwards for two hours to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes where we will rent sleds and board down the dunes. We are camping the next few days in Zion. (Zion Canyon Campground, 3 nights, $201.12)

 

Sledding down the sand dunes was so much fun! I highly recommend it! You will get sand literally everywhere...We all took a quick shower before getting back on the road.

 

The dark drive, in the RV was kind of scary especially because we weren’t sure the height of it and we kept passing tunnel warnings. Russell stood on the ground and Mike on the ladder on the back to try to measure by their height haha. We cleared the tunnel fine but my goodness was it a long tunnel, on edge since we weren’t sure how much room we had above us!

 

Alecia made us all delicious Ramen for dinner, which was perfect since it was quite chilly out.

 

9/12

Getting tickets for the Zion shuttle is very difficult; you have to login right at 9 AM and tickets sell so quickly. We were able to login yesterday at the right time but were onlyl able to get 12 o’clock tickets for today, we’re going to login right at nine today to try to get earlier tickets for tomorrow.

 

We took the 12 o’clock shuttle in and had a picnic before doing just a short one and a half mile hike to the Lower Emerald Pools. It was pretty but I’m sure is absolutely beautiful when the water is flowing.

 

We explored Zion National Park and did a little shopping before heading back to the campground to meet R and A for dinner. Mike and I made Chicken Crack sandwiches for dinner in the crockpot for everyone.

 

9/13

We spent Beckett’s half birthday hiking the Narrows trail.

 

It was a bit scary thinking about doing this trail as there was a harmful bacteria present in it at the time, but research showed that as long as we didn’t drink it, it was fine.

 

We got tickets for the seven to 8 o’clock shuttle as well as the 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock shuttle. We slept in a little bit since we weren’t in any huge hurry and we had gotten our rental equipment the night before, so we ended up getting to the shuttle at 8:45.

 

I highly recommend renting equipment for this hike, we rented boots, neoprene socks and wooden hiking sticks.

 

We said goodbye to Russell and Alecia (who were heading out for their 9-10 hour drive home) and headed out towards the shuttle, I got halfway there and realized we forgot our facemasks. Mike had to run back to get them, (as if the day wasn’t going to be exhausting enough!)

 

We started down the Riverside Trail probably around 10, which leads to the beginning of the Narrows, We hiked over 6 1/2 miles, through the Virgin River in the Zion Canyon. It was just so incredible and so enjoyable. Mike said it best, he said, “my legs could be on fire but I’m having the time of my life so I wouldn’t know.”

 

He’s the real MVP, he carried Beckett for over five hours. Bex did great, was super content just saying “hi” to people who passed by. He took a short snooze while we waded through the water. The water got up my thighs a few times, so definitely recommend wearing shorts.

 

We made friends with 3 ladies on our hike as our day was quite parallel to them and we kept running into them. We ended up grabbing a beer with them afterwards at Zion Brewery.

 

9/14

 

Somehow, we really aren’t sore today, I guess we’re in better shape than we thought we were! haha

 

We contemplated doing the Canyon Overlook hike, but there’s no RV parking for it so we decided to trek on to Bryce, Which is a little less than two hours away.

 

We passed by herds of Buffalo grazing, lots of cows, horses, sheep and a few deer.

 

We got to Bryce Canyon around 2 o’clock and decided to do the viewpoints. We started at the furthest point. We went from Rainbow Point to Black Birch Canyon then Ponderosa Canyon to Agua Canyon. We saw the Natural Bridge which is very neat, then Far point viewpoint and Swamp Canyon. For the rest of the overlooks we had to hop onto a shuttle, as there is no parking for RVs.

 

We made ribs in the instant pot and did laundry at the campsite, then around 830 we let Beckett fall asleep in the car seat on the way into the park. We parked at Sunset Point and walked down the trail a bit to get the absolute perfect view of the stars. On a moonless night in Bryce you can see 7500 stars, the Milky Way was shining brightly from horizon to horizon. You could also see Mars, Venus and Saturn! Beckett slept through the entire process of taking him in and out of the car seat/the pack and play.

 

9/15

It was a chilly morning so we weren’t in much of a hurry, we started hiking around 10 this morning. We did the Navajo/Garden Loop Trail and included Wall Street, which was challenging yet amazing! Another hike that I would definitely recommend. There were hoodoos everywhere, which is Beckett’s new favorite word, except it comes out as “Doodoo”. While we waited for the shuttle he had a blast chasing around a cute little chipmunk.

 

On to our last stop, Capitol Reef (Thousand Lakes RV Park)

 

Driving the scenic route through CR at night it was very cool, it was so quiet that there were deer everywhere, and would come quite close to you without any fear.

 

We went to Sunset point to have dinner and watch the sunset

 

9/16

 

We took our time getting ready this morning, we had eggs and bacon for breakfast, then checked out of the RV park as we decided to get a little closer to Salt Lake City tonight.

 

We got to the park and went straight to the visitor center to obtain a junior ranger badge for Beckett. Due to Covid, all of the other parks gave us the pamphlet and the badge right from the get go, capitol reef junior ranger program is much stricter. The other places claimed “no one is too young to be a junior ranger!” in CR, they weren’t happy the badge was for a one-year-old and told us the entire pamphlet would need to be filled out in order for us to get a badge.

 

We did the Cohab Canyon hike, We really enjoyed this 3 mile hike, it showed the difference between capitol reef and all the other parks. The highlight of this hike was when a Mountain Goat hopped on the trail literally right in front of us. We also saw a snake, which I could have done without seeing. Beckett snoozed for at least 1 mile and missed the Mountain Goat completely.

 

We heated up leftovers for lunch in the RV and had a picnic near the Gifford house, there were Deer just lying leisurely around. We had apple pie and strawberry rhubarb pie from the Gifford house for dessert.

 

Beckett saw his first horse as he stared at them wordlessly in awe.

 

We headed back to the visitor center to obtain his badge, they were not happy that I only did a few of the activities, but they did handover his badge. We stopped to see the petroglyphs and capitol dome.

 

Now we are headed towards Salt Lake City for our flight home tomorrow morning.

 

9/17

Beckett did fantastic on the flight home and honestly the entire trip! He didn’t have a single melt down, he was so content in the backpack. We did 6 National parks, we had such an amazing time and would recommend this trip highly!!