We've been taking car trips with our kids since birth. Mostly, that makes people question our sanity. Trust me, when we were in hour 36 of last summer's vacation from Texas to California and back, I thought the same thing. Sometimes we have banner days and sometimes we swear off ever doing another road trip again. All those hours on the highway have taught us a few life lessons, though. Our pain. Your gain. Here's your road warrior 10 commandments, y'all. 1. Lower your expectations. I'm serious. When you travel with kids, it's a trip. When you travel as a couple, it's a vacation. You have to know that traveling as a family is a teeny bit more like National Lampoons than some … [Read more...]
The 10-Year-Old Trip to Disney: Part Three
When our children turn ten, we treat them to a 10-year-old trip. To catch up on the full story with Clare, check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five. And, if you want to follow our escapade on Instagram, just search the hashtag #clarecelebrates10atdisney The last time we came, this was one of the surprise parks of the trip. We absolutely fell in love with it. This was one of two parks within walking distance of our hotel. Early on Wednesday morning, we strapped on our backpacks and enjoyed the leisurely, quiet, semi-cool walk in the shade, to Hollywood Studios. Perfect start to our day. Of course we ramped it RIGHT up with Aerosmith's Rock 'n Roller … [Read more...]
The 10-Year-Old Trip to Disney: Part Two
When our children turn ten, we treat them to a 10-year-old trip. To catch up on the full story with Clare, check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five. And, if you want to follow our escapade on Instagram, just search the hashtag #clarecelebrates10atdisney Today was all about the castle. We knew the earlier we arrived at Magic Kingdom, the shorter the lines and the smaller the crowds. Plus, we really wanted to be there for rope drop and the opening show. Add in Clare's "birthday button" and we had a banner day. Such. A. Blast. Those awesome sauce shirts we're sporting are from a company I adore, Celebration Shirts. They outfitted us on our family vacation … [Read more...]
The 10-Year-Old Trip to Disney: Part One
When our children turn ten, we treat them to a 10-year-old trip. To catch up on the full story with Clare, check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five. And, if you want to follow our escapade on Instagram, just search the hashtag #clarecelebrates10atdisney The 10-year-old trip is legendary at our house. It’s more than a milestone, or counting your age on two full hands. It’s an adventure. Because we have six children, uninterrupted one-on-one time with them is precious. We don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, this sharing with other siblings gig, but we do think a trip with just one is worth saving our pennies. And so we do whatever necessary to make it … [Read more...]
Aloha, Let’s Luau: A Hawaiian Birthday
The beauty of having a summer-ish birthday are all the fun, outdoor theme ideas. Because we postponed celebrating Anna-Laura's May birthday and hosted it in June, after school let out, we were really able to fully embrace summer. Read: pool time. Anna-Laura preferred a small crew of girls, so we ruled out the neighborhood pool. We couldn't reserve it and I wasn't interested in hosting a birthday party with a billion other people around. The sweetest friends - no really - let us borrow their pool and they were *the* most gracious hosts. Jackie and Robert, thank you for letting us crash your house the day before you headed out of the country! Anna-Laura and I hit up Pinterest and … [Read more...]
