San Francisco, Sonoma, and Lake Tahoe

California Trip (San Francisco, Sonoma, Lake Tahoe)
Days: 8
Flight time: 1.5 hours
Age: 3

Our big summer trip was to California. We went with our family friends who had three kids (ages 9, 5, 3). This trip could not have gone any better, we made some great memories. We also found a good balance between adult and kid activities. When we do a multi city vacation, we start with a city and end at the beach. Always a family friendly resort at the end of the trip. DMC also did well with sleeping, we dropped our schedule, and he adjusted very well. Our trip included alot of late night group dinners.

Here are some highlights and activities from each city:
San Francisco (2 days)
We were there over 4th of July so it was busy, we took it easy and did some exploring. The kids loved the ferry and ice cream stop in Sausalito.

• Fishermen's Wharf
• Ferry to Sausalito

Sonoma (3 days)
All of us agreed we could have spent another day there. We did alot of pool time and went to one winery. We planned to go to more...but being from Washington we live near over 60 tasting rooms so we opted family time and adult night out at a michelin star restaurant.

• Train Town
• Benzinger winery

Nanny Agency:

Restaurants:
Farm House Inn
Indian Food
Sunflower Caffe

Lake Tahoe (3 days)
Beach and Jet Skis
Boat Day
Pool and Firepit (smores)
This was the perfect family resort. The property was great. Plenty of restaurants, pools, and nice rooms. The kids had a blast. The last night we made smores at the giant fire pit.

Restaurant:

• Lone Eagle Grill
• Mofos Pizza

A Few Updates...

Its been almost a year since I posted. We still are traveling and I need to update posts about our third annual trip to Italy and visiting Denver, Montana, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe.  We also have our first road trip to Whistler coming in March. So far this year we have trips planned to Chicago and our annual Italy trip.

The other big news/side note I started a business with a fellow Momma friend of mine this past April and it took off faster than we thought. So my blog took a backseat. Here is a picture from our annual trip to Italy from our hotel room at sunset.

A Babysitter on the Plane With You....

I recently came across an ad on facebook for a service in the plane called 'Nanny in the clouds'.  The service is exactly as it sounds...a babysitter while you are on your flight to keep your baby/child busy. How does this work? Well parents and babysitters are connected via the website, essentially if sitter is on your flight you are paired for about $20 a hour. To assist with security, flight, and picking up your baggage.

It's a cool new idea, however after traveling on more than 30 flights and three international flights mostly by myself with DMC. I don't think a sitter would help much, considering you are still sitting with your child and naturally inclined to react to any type of cry or restlessness. Plus most families are only traveling 3-4 hours to destinations and if both parents are flying you trade off duty. The website is currently on hold for now.

Beach Vacation Travel Gear (collapsable sand pail, chilly towel, and more)

This was partly inspired due to a conversation Hubs and I had after Christmas vacation in Colorado. He looked at me when we finally got home that night, -8 when we flew out and an 1 hour delay "we are going somewhere warm next year with a beach". 

We typically tend to do vacations in warms places and DMC loves the beach, he will play by himself for quite a bit. Popular spots for Seattlelites include; Hawaii, Cabo San Lucas, Arizona, and California. With the exception to Hawaii, most of the flights are 2 hours.

So thinking back on our beach vacations, here are some of the items that I always bring;

DMC his own beach towel

Sun Smarties beach gear (clothing and hats are SPF50 and washable)

• Hat
• Swim Shirt
• Swim trunks

Native Beach Shoes (I keep these shoes on DMC at the pool and beach, waterproof and nonslip soles)

Babiators Toddler Sunglasses (100% UV protected, flexible frames, warranty for year, over 10 colors, and perfect fit for toddlers)

Toys
Collapse A Pail Sand Bucket

Beach Tent (I was able to pack this in my suitcase for Europe)

Kids Insulated Lunch Box and Ice Pack (depending on how remote your beach is, there may not be a food stand or restaurant)
* Target has a good selection

Frogg Togg Chilly Pad
This sounds like a great item, basically a towel that stays cool for you. We will be trying this out for upcoming beach vacations

Don't Forget Sunscreen! Resorts and stores on the beach sell sunscreen for about 50% more than the store and you may not find the organic baby sunscreen you are looking for

All the Small Things

So there's a lot of small stuff when you travel; laundry detergent (for sink washes), detergent for cleaning bottles, hand and face wipes, medicine, etc. I could write another post about minor injuries Dylan acquires on vacation. 

Here's a list of travel size items that I have carried:

Laundry Detergent

Bottle Detergent (Babyorganics has a great bottle cleaning product that I still use on DMC sippy cup and camelback)

Hand/Face Wipes

Travel Humidifer (we have needed this in cold dry temperatures)

Mini Medicine Cabinet (themonitor, children's ibprofen, *Doterra Correct X, bandaids, **Doterra Helichrysum oil)
* Correct X, similar to neosporin, but works faster and is natural.
**Helichrysum oil is similar to liquid bandaid, but natural. We used Helichrysum oil on DMC forehead instead of two stitches.

Motion Sickness Relief Bands (great reviews)

Nose Frida (toddlers get colds all the time, this is magic for clearing noses)

OXO Tot Small and Large bowl storage (in Europe 'to go' boxes are rare, plus we are out all day so these plastic storage bowls are the perfect kid portion)

Potty Training and Traveling (including app with potty spots)

I had a feeling this post was coming soon, but needed to wait until we had own our travel experience with a potty training toddler. Thank goodness our first flight was only 2 hours and 15 minutes. Even though we were delayed three hours.

We had been diaper free about two weeks before the flight and yes we had a few accidents after the training period. I try to be super proactive and convince DMC to go every 2-3 hours. Onto the products, so of course I researched every product and website I could find for advice. Here's what we used and my advice.

We brought our carseat due to the fact we needed to take a shuttle bus from airport to our rental in Colorado and it was a 35 min drive on snowy roads. So I purchased a waterproof pad for the carseat if we have any accidents. 

Any time you travel you always try to minimize the amount of stuff you bring, so here's what worked:


Carseat Protector Waterproof Pad

Travel Potty Lid & Gallon ziploc baggie (keep the travel potty lid in a ziploc baggie)
**this works so well and fits in your purse, it comes with us restaurants, errands, playdates, etc.

Extra change of clothes

Wipes

Arm & Hammer bags

App: Sit or Squat, an app that tells you where the closest bathroom is, with reviews and ratings.

Tip: I really wanted to like the disposable toliet seat covers, but my little guy would fall in if I didn't hold him so we used the travel potty seat lid instead

Winter Holiday Vacation with Friends: Steamboat Springs, CO

Steamboat Springs, CO
Flight Time: 2 hour, 15 minutes (delay 3 hours)
Vacation: 6 days
Age: 2.5 yrs old

DMC is technically old enough to be on ski's, Hubs and I enjoyed skiing and snowboarding before DMC. So naturally we want to share our love of the mountains with him. We are renting a home with my brother's family and our close family friends Team Brenan. We travel quite a bit with Team Brenan, way back in 2011 we drove from Seattle to Whistler for New Years vacation. A lot of memories were made on the trip and it was absolutely beautiful. So we convinced Team Brenan (hometown Texas) to join us back in the snow almost 5 years later.

Well the week we visited was one of the coldest weeks all year with negative temperatures and highs of 12 degrees. So we were limited on time spent outside with the kids, DMC had his ski lesson in -2 degrees.

Our flight was delayed arriving and departing from Steamboat, which sounded very common from staff and other passengers on our flight. We arrived around 10pm and realized its such a small airport that you have to walk from the plane inside the airport...it was -8. Everything in the airport in one large room, to my surprise there is even a small play area.

Overall it was a great trip very family friendly and laid back mountain vibe. The free bus makes it very easy to get around the ski resort area and town. We will be heading back for another ski vacation in the future.

Restaurants
Hazie's, after we took the kids on a gondola ride we stopped into the restaurant since it was not as crowded as the food court. The food was fast and good.

The Cabin (review posted on Trip Advisor), the dining experience did not go well. The restaurant is in the Steamboat Grand a nice hotel. However I would only suggest going to the bar for drinks.

The Shack Cafe, we stopped in for lunch while we were in downtown Steamboat. Good menu and fast food. The Cafe felt like a local diner, friendly staff.

Bistro CV (review posted on Trip Advisor), we went here for NYE dinner it was a 5 course menu. The food was really good and overall good dining experience.

Wild Plum, we ordered pizza one night and these pizzas are HUGE. Two pizzas fed 9 people with leftovers.

Activities

Gondola at Ski Resort, we took the a ride on the Gondola with the kids. They loved it and great views of mountains.

Kids Vacation Club, DMC was enrolled in the daycare with add on ski lesson for one day while we were there. It was a great experience, the staff were friendly and I received a sheet of what he ate, bathroom, moods, nap time, and what he did. I was even able to watch his ski lesson.

Howelsen Hill, we discovered this gem on accident. The ski area is a bit of hike via the free bus shuttle in town. They have a tubing area (open after 4:30pm), lodge, and J bar lifts. The best part the lift tickets were $25 vs $150 at Steamboat Ski Resort.

Steamboat Springs Main street, downtown Steamboat has a good variety of shops. Even a real Soda Fountain shop, for the kids there is a mini salon, and a Thomas Train table at one of the souvenir stores.