Where we were Archives - Page 6 of 7

Our Beaches Turks & Caicos Babymoon

I can’t even count how many people asked if our recent trip to Beaches Turks & Caicos was a “Babymoon”. Although I had heard of the idea of a Babymoon before, I honestly had no idea that they were such a well-known thing. As it turns out, Babymoons are a very big thing for the travel industry and many parents are using the opportunity score special packages and discounts to take one last big trip before baby.

In our case, our Babymoon happened by accident as our Turks & Caicos trip was planned mere days before we saw the positive pregnancy test. But while the pregnancy didn’t play much into the planning of the trip other than getting the okay from the doctor that travel during the 3rd trimester was fine, I’m still calling this a Babymoon.

And, why not? Babymoons are a relaxing time to reconnect as a family before sleeping in and diaper-free travel are a thing of the past. Of course, there were a few things I couldn't do while pregnant, like indulge in their adult beverages or go scuba diving, but I honestly didn't miss them with all the other amenities I could enjoy. For us, Beaches Resorts was a great way to celebrate as well as holding numerous luxuries I couldn’t have even dreamt up on my own. Amenities at Beaches resorts that pregnant moms will love:

Where we were: an Urgent Care rite of passage

Yesterday my daughter wakes up and comes into my room saying, "What should you do if you have a rock in your ear?" as if it was hypothetical. I was all "DO YOU HAVE A ROCK IN YOUR EAR?"

Seattle getaway: La Conner, Washington in the fall

I was talking to a Seattle resident a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I was taking a roadtrip to La Conner, WA to sightsee. She admitted that she had never been further north than Lynnwood, and I don’t think I hid my shock very well. How could you possibly limit yourself to just … Read more

Where we were: the new See’s Candies in Woodinville, WA

This past week we took a break from our crazy busy summer schedules to hang out with some of our local blogging friends at the opening of See's Candies in Woodnville. While they had me at "candy", I was also excited to see behind the scenes, sample some treats, and let the little ones learn how to pack chocolate boxes like a pro.
See's Candies stores feature a candy counter where you can try a sample and create your very own custom mixed box of chocolates and candies. Along with the delicious candies that they are famous for like boxed chocolates, truffles, nuts and chews, lollypops, and sugar free candy, they also have seasonal favorites and new recipes to try.

We've been fans of See's Candies for as long as I remember, introduced to the brand at a very young age by an aunt who couldn't visit Washington without leaving with a sampler or two, but it's only been recently that the kids have fallen in love with the brand. It *may* have something to do with the fact that their Kidgit's Club membership gets them free lollypops.

Seattle getaway: Lake Chelan, Washington in spring

Lake Chelan is one of my absolute favorite places. You know when someone says to close your eyes and go to your happy place? For me, that’s Chelan. It’s got an average of 300 days of sunshine {!!}, a gorgeous lake, water sports galore, a fun downtown, and it’s one of the best sandy beaches in Washington. My family has been going to Lake Chelan since I was little, so I’ve been to the lake over 25 times in my lifetime, which includes 15 times with my husband. We’re now continuing the tradition with our own children by making Chelan our extended family vacation with cousins and grandparents. At this point it holds so many memories and good times that it truly feels like my home away from home.

Every year we go see the tulips with the kids, and every year I am suprised by how much they still love it. We’ve gotten our route down perfectly to avoid traffic {and no, sorry, I’m not telling you our secret}, we pack just enough snacks and hand sanitizer, we wear big rubber boots for the inevitable mud, and we plan for fun stops on the way home.

Here’s a few pictures of our trip up to Tulip Town this past weekend:

Where we were: Tips for Disneyland with young kids

This past week I got to do something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little girl. I got to go to Disneyland. Having never been to Disneyland before*, I knew I didn’t want to wait for the perfect Disneyland age with my own children and possibly miss the window of opportunity. I wanted to take my kids early and then try and get them back again once they were older and, presumably, more fun.

So, I began to save money. I socked away my year-end bonus, I hoarded birthday and Christmas money, and I started, literally, saving my pennies. The plan was that we could go as a family in July this year after BlogHer, and although it was going to be tricky timing-wise, crazy hot, and super crowded, we were going to get to Disneyland. Somehow, some way.

Seattle getaway: Tacoma, WA with kids

Any guesses where these Volkswagen-loving kids were?

I'll give you another hint:

Chicago event introduces new expanded Bitty Baby line from American Girl

At American Girl, the message is about celebrating oneself and all the things that make us unique and special. In fact, they have a whole line of customizable 18” My American Girl dolls that are a perfect example of this. For the past few years they have been offering the award-winning My American Girl customizable doll experience where you can choose from different skin, eye, and hair colors and styles to best match your child’s unique features.

But, until this August, the Bitty Baby line was far less customizable. With only 7 options available to choose from up until now, the line was not all-encompassing by any means. There were many children, my daughter included, that didn’t have a Bitty Baby option for them.

My daughter has light hair, light skin and brown eyes, which I have realized doesn’t really exist in the doll world. Dolls with brown eyes have dark hair and oftentimes darker skin as well, and blonde haired dolls almost always have blue eyes.

Or, at least they did. On August 27th, the new Bitty Baby dolls will come in 11 options with all sorts of combinations of light and dark skin and eyes, which makes it far more likely that you will find that perfect doll as unique as your child. Like their My American Girl line, now you can pick skin tone, eye color, and hair color to customize your child’s Bitty Baby experience.

Lee Jeans rocked at BlogHer ‘13 Chicago

If anyone out there has never been to BlogHer before, you’d probably think it was ridiculous how much people obsess about clothing beforehand. I am along the lines of “if it fits” and I’m definitely in the minority at a big blogging conference like BlogHer. It’s not that I think those that plan way ahead are silly {I mean, there are literally thousands of socially connected women with cameras at the ready}, but high fashion has never really been my forte.

Really, I’m just a jeans a t-shirt kind of gal… unless it’s scorching hot, and then I’m a skirt and tank top kind of gal. And, this year there was so much talk of how hot Chicago is in the summer that jeans seemed a little silly. In fact, I almost turned down the chance to try out a pair of new Lee Jeans thinking that they would just be taking up space in my bag and I would never get a chance to wear them.

Thank goodness I didn’t turn down a brand spanking new pair of Lee Jeans, because Chicago turned out to be freezing in comparison to our Seattle summer this year. I wore a dress exactly one day of my 7 day trip, and was freezing that entire day. As for the rest of the time? I was rocking my Lee jeans and loving it. I wore my Lees with flip flops, wore them with sneakers, and wore them with my favorite new accessory – my Tieks by Gavrieli foldable ballet flats with the bright blue soles. I wore Lee jeans to a wine tasting, a dinner with one of my favorite brands, a boat cruise, a BlogHer session, and a whole bunch of private parties.

This is me with Xenia from Thanks Mail Carrier {left} and Liz from A Nut In A Nutshell {right} at the Sheraton Social Hour that kicked off BlogHer. The strangers thing was a joke, I'm pretty sure we've been friends forever.