Travel

Chillicothe and the drive home.

Our last “church history” experience was a visit to the Hopewell Mound Visitor’s Center in Chillicothe, Ohio.  Tim has spent a good deal of time studying Book of Mormon geography and is partial to the North American view of it.  It seems logical to me, though I haven’t done the research he has.

What is notable about the mounds is that they represent a relatively advanced native American culture that existed from approximately 100 B.C. to 500 A.D. with similarities to what we read about the people in the Book of Mormon.  Though many questions surround the Hopewell culture, it’s interesting to speculate about their origins, their religion and their lifestyle.  I’m glad we could satisfy Tim’s itching to find out if this mound group was the city “Bountiful” mentioned in the Book of Mormon.  (It wasn’t.  According to Tim.)

After toying with the idea of driving straight through the night to get home the following night, we opted to drive as far as we could, find a hotel for the night, wake up and do so the next day.  We landed in Iowa City the first night, Kimball, NE the second night and made it home the third.  We even lost our iPad charger the second day and had to survive the third (over 11 hours in the car) without movies or games.  Quite a feat to manage a two-year-old in a car seat all day without being able to plug him in.  Somehow we managed.

As a side note, we realized as we were driving that we would pass through Tim’s birthplace in Urbana, Illinois.  Since he hadn’t returned since those early days (his parents were attending grad school), we quickly called them to get directions to their apartment.  They couldn’t remember, so they guided us to the married student housing and we stumbled to navigate the area, finally landing at the apartment where they lived (we might have mistakenly taken pictures in front of other apartments prior to that).

We arrived home to our house a complete wreck (we’re remodeling).  We had hoped our contractors would have much of it done before we arrived home.  As it turned out, only the framing, electrical, plumbing and HVAC was complete.  That meant no insulation, no walls, no hardwood or carpet, no doors…it was disappointing at best.  In fact, we later found out they had just put the windows on a few days earlier, leaving us to conclude that our house had been exposed to the elements (and critters, and who knows what else) for about two weeks.  Yikes.

It was insane – the house barely livable, and we tried to get a hotel for the night but by then it was almost 10 p.m. so there was little available.  We conked out in the two bedrooms that remained for our use and hunkered down the next day to clean up the disaster.  Not the best welcome home we’ve had, but somehow we survived.  Epic family road trip a success!

Pennsylvania in two days.

Tuesday began with another early morning of packing up and shipping out for our next destination: Philadelphia.  We’d booked a tour of Independence Hall (another genius move on my part, as they were all gone by 10 a.m. that day).  My memory of Philadelphia was sort of this run-down ghetto-looking city, which it was from the interstate.  Unlike my first experience there, we were actually going into the city this time, which proved perfectly lovely.

The downtown historic district was stunning, with it’s old world charm and rich history.  We jumped in line to see the Liberty Bell, since we had 45 minutes to spare before our tour.  We were lucky enough to be held up by an enormous group of Chinese students who simply HAD to get individual pictures in front of the old relic.  Consequently, we didn’t manage to get a similar prized shot, so we took one from the side, at which point one of the Chinese kids walked in front of our family.  Then another did it.  And another, but I was wise enough to anticipate him so I took the picture after he’d passed through the frame.  Jack wasn’t having it either.

Annoyed as all get out by now, we moved on to Independence Hall.  The tour was brief but reasonably informative.  The biggest impression came at the realization of the miracle that took place within those walls.  That those men, with starkly different backgrounds could construct a document that would inspire a nation, indeed the world, is a feat not to be underestimated.  Their foresight and commitment to freedom paved the way for a rugged individualism that has changed the world and afforded millions with a life beyond imagination.

Even though Jack was resistant to staying still throughout the tour so I missed the bulk of it, it was a thrill to be where our founders stood in the critical shaping of our nation.

Grandpa joined us for a token Philly Cheesesteak sandwich at Geno’s and drove us to take a peek at the Philadelphia Temple (our fifth and last church temple of the trip).  Exhausted from the weeks previous, we skipped the full Philly experience, satisfied with a lesser one, and drove to our hotel to take it easy.

We got up early (this became quite a pattern) to drive to Hershey for a chocolaty experience.  Before leaving, I asked the girls which of the attractions they wanted to experience while there.  To which they unanimously agreed to the “Make Your Own Chocolate Bar” tour.  Upon our arrival, we were informed that the machine had broken down and that they were offering either a full refund or an “alternate” experience where you pretend to create your own chocolate bar but then get your choice of three non-custom giant chocolate bars and a rain check to come back another time.  I laughed out loud.  “We’re from Idaho,” I said, “and it’s unlikely we will ever make it back out here.”

Still, we did the tour, got more chocolate than we could ever hope for, and have a reason to go back to Pennsylvania someday.

The girls had a great time because… chocolate, and off we were to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg was a singular experience.  Tim had purchased an excellent audio tour of the sites and it proved perfect for our crew.  We covered the Battle of Gettysburg in about 2 1/2 hours, including a bit of venturing out of our car.  The girls agreed that it made the history come alive to hear the play by play and visualize the events as they occurred in the very place we stood.

After departing Gettysburg, we drove another 6 hours to Chillicothe, OH, where we stayed the night.  That leg of driving encompassed some of the most picturesque country I’ve ever beheld.  Sadly, it was slightly obscured by the torrential downpours that dotted our drive.  Pennsylvania and West Virginia are simply breathtaking.

 

New York 2018.

Day One

We took our chances leaving Boston for New York at 8 a.m.  While trying to catch a 2 p.m. matinee on Broadway.  We pulled into the Bronx to catch a train to midtown just in the nick of time and made it to our seats with 15 minutes to spare.  Lucky.  Especially for those unfamiliar with NYC and its labyrinth of subway lines.

 

Wicked was everything and more than we had hoped.  I found myself sighing after each and every number at the knowledge that we were getting closer and closer to the end of the show.  Elphaba was amazing.  Glinda?  Captivating.  It was the perfect girls day in the city.

We emerged to see that the Starlight Diner, where our cousins would be eating for dinner was just a block away from the theatre.  So we killed a bit of time strolling to Times Square.  And back.  And then stumbled upon the fam already marking their spot in line outside the restaurant.

It took us an hour, but it was an experience, to say the least.  Anna and I split a meal because, whoa.  Kids meals cost $16 a plate.  I was shell-shocked by the price of an average burger in the Big Apple and braced myself to eat hot dogs for our few days in New York.

We bid goodbye to our cousins (for the last time this trip), and took the train back to our New Jersey hotel.  It was lovely to arrive home to an unpacked car, rested toddler, and clean sheets.

Day Two

We attended church in Staten Island and ran into a friend of my parents from when I was a baby.  That’s 40 years ago, folks.  What a trip.  Chatted a bit, took a picture, changed into something a bit more tourist-friendly and took off for a bit of Sabbath-friendly sight seeing.  We drove by the house my parents lived in when I was born, then we took the Staten Island Ferry (which my dad commuted on every single day when I was little) into Manhattan.

We parted with Grandma and Grandpa so they could wait for hours to see the Statue of Liberty.  We took a stroll up to the 9/11 Memorial.  It felt like hallowed ground.  Super sobering and a good opportunity to instruct our kids.  I feel like my kids’ generation lacks perspective on the horrors of war and the blessings of living in a free country.  I sometimes fall short in my gratitude.  9/11 is the only event in my lifetime that truly hits home and reminds me not to take the ease of my life for granted.  Visiting the 9/11 memorial brought back many of the horrors of that day.  I recommitted myself to showing thanks for those who sacrifice so that we can live in peace.

Then we hopped on the subway to see the Manhattan Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Lo, and behold, we met two couples just outside the temple, one of which was from Boise!  What are the odds?  They kindly took our family picture and we moved on the Central Park.  We covered a decent amount of ground, considering we had a toddler with us, who was skipping his nap.  The Bethesda Fountain, the Loeb Boathouse, the Great Lawn, one of the playgrounds.  We emerged on the other side of the park just in time for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to close its doors for the day.  Just in time for us to snag a picture.

After a total meltdown from our toddler, we safely made it back on a train to downtown, where we caught the ferry back to Staten Island, grabbed a cheap dinner at Denny’s and headed back to the hotel.

Day Three

So much to see, so little time.  Our day began with another ferry ride into the city where we split into two groups.  Tim went with the four girls to take the crown tour of the Statue of Liberty while Jack and I rode the train, as per his request.  We managed to fit in a visit to Grand Central Station, a walk on the High Line, and a hot dog and popsicle in Battery Park while we were at it.

Note: we booked our crown tour six months in advance.  As it turned out, all the crown tour tickets were gone for the day when we showed up at 10:30 a.m.  Wise is the man who plans ahead.  The kids enjoyed the crown tour, but the recommendation not to bring kids under 8 was sound.  Apparently, there was a kid on their tour who burst into tears at the spiral staircase (claustrophobia, perhaps?).  You also can’t take babes in arms (or in carriers) so there’s that.

At this point we were all starving so we booked it up to Chinatown for a late lunch.  Side note: Chinatown was swimming with stores whose fronts were adorned with t-shirts sporting the F-bomb.  Like ten times on each shirt.  At least ten shirts in every store.  Definitely not g-rated in those parts.  We couldn’t duck into the restaurant fast enough, having seen more swear words in less than ten minutes than my kids encounter at the junior high in a week.  Yowsers.

Food was great – bellies were full and we emerged, heads down, to make a beeline to Brooklyn so we could walk the bridge into Manhattan.  We were smart to go that direction – the views were stunning and we didn’t have to keep turning around to see them.  Jack fell asleep somewhere along the way and enjoyed a nap on the subway to South Station and across the harbor to Staten Island on the ferry.  Yay.  No meltdown that day.

And that’s a wrap for our whirlwind trip to NYC with five kids.  There’s way too much in that city to cram into a few days but I think we hit some of the highlights.  Kid-friendly ones.  And we managed to not spend an arm and a leg doing it.  At some point, I’ll write up a post of tips for traveling to New York with kids.  For now, that’s it.

Boston 2018

We traveled to Boston on a Monday morning.  I called ahead of time to check into our hotel a bit early but was given no such guarantee.  So we instead took a joy ride into downtown Boston to show the kids my early college stomping grounds.

Driving downtown was a beast (by that point, it was rush hour).  I knew Boston as a pedestrian and had trouble navigating it in a car.  Everything came up SO quickly!  I’d point out one landmark to my kids just as I’d realize we’d missed our turn and had to backtrack.  But the whole outing was kind a spur-of-the-moment idea since we couldn’t check into our hotel so we went with it.  We drove by Mike’s Pastry and waved because there was no parking.  Luckily Grandma and Grandpa found parking and snagged us a couple of treats to enjoy later that night.  Our driving tour of Boston was a great little teaser and validated my decision to use public transportation the remainder of our time there.

After checking into our hotel, we researched a reasonably-priced Indian restaurant a few minutes away in Lexington.  Much to our delight, it turned out to be right on the Battle Green – where the Revolutionary War began.  To top it off, there were kids playing drums and fifes in true colonial style right on the Green.  Such a step back in time and a splendid welcome to Massachusetts, in my opinion.  The food was pretty awesome, too.

Day two we woke up early to grab some T passes and park at the end of the line to take the subway into the city.  It took FOREVER, but it gave us the flexibility of getting around wherever we wanted whenever we wanted.  And since our afternoon ended in a torrential downpour, that was a blessing, to say the least.

Day three took us to the Public Garden for a ride on the swan boat.  Because you can’t go to Boston with kids and not relive a Make Way for Ducklings moment.  Then on to a Boston Harbor Cruise to the U.S.S. Constitution.  Old Ironsides was a hit with the littles.  Lots of places to hide from the parents.  We made it back in time to hit up the New England Aquarium for an hour before heading back to the hotel for a swim and visit with cousins.

Day four we stayed out of the city and ventured instead to Salem.  Our first stop was the House of Seven Gables – the basis of a Nathaniel Hawthorne book.  The kids declared it “the coolest house we toured on our trip” – which is saying A LOT, because we toured a ton of houses.  Pretty sure it was the secret passageway that sealed the deal.  We hopped over to the Salem Witch Museum – which was weird and we’ll leave it at that.

Our final day in Boston took us back downtown to tackle the Freedom Trail.  We fit it all in in less than 2 1/2 hours, including a stop at Walgreens for cold medicine and a Dunkin Donuts run.  Because who can survive a day in Boston without at least one trip to Dunkin Donuts?  Not us, apparently.  Then we met up for lunch in Harvard Square with my dear roommate from BU.  She was brave enough to join us on a tour of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s house near Harvard.  It is significant for a number of reasons, the least of which that it was directly across the street from the chapel where I attended church during my tenure in Boston.  It also was the headquarters for George Washington as he commandeered the war in Boston.  The kids were reasonably well-behaved and then I sent them all back to the hotel so Allison and I could spend a bit of time catching up over ice cream.

We ate dinner at Tim’s brother’s house and then went out for more ice cream at Kimball Farm.  Three treats in one day is totally legit on vacation.  Just so you know.

And that concludes our trip to Boston.  We packed it in.  Now on to New York!

Hong Kong is home.

In February, my brother Eric invited Tim and I to join him and his wife (and my mom and dad) on a trip to Hong Kong.  I jumped on it, despite the fact that it would be during May (brutal weather in Hong Kong and brutal end-of-school schedules back in Boise).  That, and we’d be knee-deep in our home remodel at that point.

We hired a family friend to hold down the fort while we were gone, assured our kids that we still loved them even though we were ditching out on their dance recitals and school presentations, and said sayonara to being mom and dad for six days.

Air travel is brutal.  But the fact that I didn’t have to meet any little people’s needs more than made up for the cramped quarters of economy class.  Tim and I caught up on a few movies and before we knew it, we were on the other side of the planet.

Eric timed our flights perfectly to land at 7:00 so we’d have just enough time to shuttle to the hotel and fall into our beds from exhaustion.  I woke up bright and early and met my dad to take the subway to the Hong Kong temple for an endowment session. Perfect way to start off the trip.

We got back in time to join the others for a light McDonald’s breakfast, and hit the subway again to see the temple with the rest of the clan.  We then headed to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum to see the temporary Bruce Lee exhibit before it closed this summer.  Fascinating person.  Good quotes.  And air conditioning.  Can’t forget the air conditioning.

Our schedule was flexible, accounting for Eric’s profuse sweating issues and my dad’s knees.  It was different from my typical cram-in-as-much-as-you-can style of traveling.  But because this trip was as much or more about the people than about the sights, I was more than okay with a less-frenzied pace.  Which seemed odd, considering that everyone else in HK was moving at a ridiculously fast pace.  While crammed together in small spaces. Like so.

So, while a few of the group took a nap from 4-7 pm (which soon became a habit for all of us), Tim and I explored the neighborhood surrounding our hotel (Tsim Sha Tsui) by visiting the harbor and Kowloon Park.  Tim kept commenting on the crowds(“THIS is where you grew up?”) and the heat/humidity (“you LIVED here?”).

We then met up for dinner with old family friends from our Hong Kong days and a trip to the top of the ICC (118 stories high) for a drink at the Ritz-Carlton that cost us as much as a ticket to the observatory would have been.  We had a good chuckle over it, but I’d say we made out pretty well. A drink AND a view.  For the price of one.

Sunday began with church in Wan Chai.  The church sold the building (Kom Tong Hall) that our family met in for Sunday services the entire time we lived there so it was strange to attend church in a souped up 14-story building in a neighborhood like this:

But, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints services vary little from location to location, we were uplifted by the meeting and the humble people who attend the ward there.  As a side note, Eric and Renee took an Uber to church and the driver was insistent that there was no church at the address he gave him.  I guess a 14-story high rise doesn’t exactly scream “church” but whatev.

Eric arranged for a 4 hour “nostalgia tour” of the island so we could visit various places that were personal to each of us.  We jumped in a car and spent the afternoon reliving the glory days in good old Hong Kong.

First stop: Adventist Hospital.  My baby sister Jill was born here but since we didn’t participate in that occasion, it was more memorable to Eric and I because of the countless ER visits our family of six kids generated in our years in Hong Kong.

From there, we drove to Shouson Hill, where we lived from 1985 to end of 1988.  The house we lived in, a four-story structure with green pagoda roof, had been torn down in the 90’s to make room for apartment buildings.  Typical Hong Kong.

Then on to the Hong Kong Country Club at the bottom of Shouson Hill, where we swam our lives away and charged food to our parents’ account.

Repulse Bay, where we swam out to stinky pontoons and dove off into warm, jellyfish infested waters.  They’ve made it look more luxurious than I remembered and the grocery store we frequented there – now gone.  As was the McDonalds where I spent my 5th birthday.

Further south on the island is HKIS, the elementary school I attended for grades 3-6.  Another buildling razed from the ground up and rebuilt.  Are we seeing a pattern here?

This place was exactly the same.  Chung Hom Kok was our second home in Hong Kong (after Hong Kong Garden in mid-levels).  I learned to ride a bike here, lost a few teeth here, explored to my heart’s content here.  The community was gated so the best we could get was a picture just outside (and barely inside) the gate.

Eric and I both attended Kellett school during our early school years.  Being a British school, we actually started at age four, which I’m sure was a shock to my mom to send her littles off at such a tender age.  On a bus, no less.

We enjoyed traveling roads we’d taken day after day after day, passing friends houses where we’d made cherished memories, and taking in sweeping vistas of green jungles and blue ocean around every turn.  Tim was stunned at the variety Hong Kong had to offer…until he nodded off for a nap in the back seat, that is.  I thoroughly loved taking this trip down memory lane.

Now that it’s months later, what we did on which day gets fuzzy from here on out.  I think we got really hungry and got our first dim sum of the trip (to go) and scarfed it down on the Star Ferry.  The ride took about 5 minutes tops, a far cry from what it used to be.  All that landfill has made the harbor much narrower, and the Star Ferry ride shorter, consequently.

Nap time became a regular thing, weirdly, from about 4-6 p.m.  That night we ordered pizza, and I screwed up by ordering the large.  When I got there and saw the size of it, I said, “I thought I ordered the large” (in genuine shock).  You can guess how they responded.  This ain’t a Pizza Hut “large” that’s for sure.  We had to hail a cab to get it back home.  Laughs all around

The next day, Tim got a bout of what the Chinese like to call La Duzi(“large” pizza, perhaps?) and spent an entire day and a half in our hotel room so he missed out on some of the best.  We hit up mid-levels for the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Museum (our former church building).  They don’t allow pictures, so all I got was a shot of the courtyard which served as our parking lot for Sunday meetings.  We’d pack it full, rim to rim, so that those who got there early and parked at the rear had to wait until everyone else had left in order to leave church.  Space is at a premium in Hong Kong.  We walked over to Hollywood Road for a bit of shopping and then began the remarkably difficult quest to fill our bellies.

Eric and Renee were uber-savvy, and Mom, Dad and I took the mid-levels escalator into downtown to meet up with them.  This is how Hong Kongers commute.  The escalator goes down into the Central (the downtown business) district from mid-levels (a residential area just above downtown) until 10:30 a.m. and then it travels up the rest of the day for commuters headed home.  Fascinating.  Being after 10:30 a.m., we got to take the stairs.

We tried Shake Shack for lunch, but the line was abominably long and, being midday, the heat was brutal, so we opted for the deli just inside our hotel (to which we became “regulars” over our days in Hong Kong).  What a view at Shake Shack, though.

That night we took a trip up to Victoria Peak on the famous “Peak Tram” for one of the best views in the city (there are many).  Then we made another attempt at Shake Shack.  The line was still long but the heat less oppressive so it worked.  It was 9:30 at night.  Lines are a fact of life in Hong Kong, I guess.  Well, that and Shake Shack had just opened its first HK location a week earlier so the novelty hadn’t yet worn off for the locals.

The next day we hit up Stanley market, a famous outdoor shopping area on the opposite side of the island.  We rode a double-decker bus out there, which was an experience itself, with windy roads and steep drop-offs on one side of the road.  It was pretty much like I remember it, despite being somewhat improved and built up.  We had Indian food for lunch and headed back for our traditional nap.

Eric had scheduled a harbor cruise, followed by a fancy shmancy dinner at Tang Court, a three-Michelin star restaurant right in our very hotel so we got dressed up for the event.  And it WAS an event.  Melt-in-your-mouth meat, if you can imagine that.  Each course boasted delicate flavors to satisfy each of our palates.  What a way to end our trip.

We flew out the next day, relationships enriched, memories relived and created, and travel bugs satisfied (for now).  Thanks to Eric for making it all happen!

 

 

 

 

Keeping a toddler entertained in the car for under $25 (screen-free).

My husband likes road trips.  They’re not my fave.  But I can get on board with the goal to keep family travel as inexpensive as possible.  So we do road trips.  Yes, even road trips with toddlers on board.

Despite the many benefits of traveling by car (cost being the most compelling for me), I find it difficult to balance my unyielding commitment to limited screen-time with the sheer amount of time spent in an enclosed space that accompanies car travel.  Especially when it comes to toddlers.  Let’s face it, those guys were not designed to be cooped up.  (Although, admittedly, the very WORST age for car travel is the recently potty-trained, in my opinion).

Our family recently drove to the Oregon Coast for spring break.  This summer, we will tackle a 3 1/2 weeklong adventure from sea to shining sea.  Almost.  The task of keeping the kids entertained will prove formidable, at best.  Especially when it comes to the terrible two-year-old.

So our drive to Oregon (totaling 20 hours in the car, roundtrip) served as a sort of practice run for the final test of my road-tripping savvy this upcoming summer.  Here’s what I put together to keep my son from bugging me entertained in the car:

  1.  Travel binder.  I resurrected an old school binder to house the multiple activities I came up with to keep Jack busy.  I kept them contained individually in several zipper pouches (purchased at none other than the dollar store).   $5

    If you would rather have the ease of purchasing them online, here are good alternatives you can buy on Amazon.    Three-Ring Zipper Pouches (I like these pouches because they are 8.5X11 inches) and Zipper Binder

  2. Sticker fun.  My son really loves letters, so he enjoyed attaching alphabet stickers to the corresponding letter on an alphabet printable I found online, printed out and laminated.  Kept him engaged for 45 minutes straight.  Pretty impressive. Your kid might like sorting by color, or shape, or he/she may just stick them to his/her face or carseat, as my son did after he had tired of the mental stimulation of sorting.  Either way, here are a few printables to choose from.  And here are some stickers to go with them.  $1 per sheet of stickers or $5 total Or, if you want to minimize prep time, feel free to buy this sticker book.  My daughters loved it for road trips when they were younger (ages 3-6, that is).
  3. Magnetic drawing board.  No mess.  No fuss.  I got mine at the dollar store, but the drawback to that is that the “pen” isn’t attached so you run the risk of it getting lost.   $1  You can always buy one like this, if you’d rather not chance it.
  4. I Spy bag.  You can buy these on Etsy for under $15 each.  I made my own for less than $10, but because buttons come in packs of 5-8, I ended up making five and giving the rest to friends.
     They’re pretty easy to whip up (here’s the tutorial I loosely referred to) except for the card listing the items to find.  I took actual pictures of the trinkets to put together the card and that turned a relatively simple project into a tedious one.  Having said that, I think using just text would make no sense if you’re making it for a toddler.  If you want to use mine, here’s a printable (it’s a jpg, so you can resize, as needed):

    I found all of my buttons at Joann Fabric and at Buttons Galore.

  5. Playdough.  Yes, that’s right.  Playdough.  If you have a nice car or you happen to have upholstered seats that you care about, playdough is probably not your best option.  But, for people like us, who buy really old cars with leather seats, we are willing to take our chances.  And, for the record, our trip to Oregon sustained minimal mess (From playdough at least.  The snack-eating kids in the back seat were an entirely different story).  If you want to throw in a few playdough mats to inspire creativity, you can find them all over Pinterest.  I simply grabbed an old sour cream container lid for Jack to use as his “table”, provided a few containers of the store-bought sort and let him have at it.  My nine-year-old was pleased as punch that she got in on the action, too.

    $3 tops.

    The grand total (dollar store prices) of this travel binder will set you back about $24 total.

Thanks to these simple activities, a few books, a toddler playlist, long naps and a bit of screen-time (limited to hours after dark), our little mister was pretty much an angel.

For our road trip this summer, I’ll be adding in a couple more activities so stay-tuned.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase any of the recommended products, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you)

 

Family trips – how to get the kids involved in planning.

Research shows that the planning portion of trips gives us as much or more joy than the actual trip (or the time following the trip).  That being the case, why on earth do we let the planning fall squarely on one person’s shoulders?  (In our family, this person is always me.)  I relish in it, in fact, because it means I get to create spreadsheets like this:

I get giddy over spreadsheets.  Still, let’s share the joy with our children for heaven’s sake!

They can participate in the planning so that they have something to look forward to.  That way, they refrain from the inevitable “what are we doing today, mom?” question that makes them seem oh, so entitled.

I feel like I’ve been hogging all the joy of anticipation and have begun including my kids in the trip prep in recent years.  They helped prep camping meals for last year’s vacation.  The year before, they researched places we could go, how much they cost, and then voted on their favorites.  We factored in their votes and considered the budget to decide on which attractions and sites we’d visit.

My husband even gets in on the action now.  He hits up his best friend Yelp to choose the best restaurants for our select few occasions dining out.  There’s nothing like dropping some good cash on a crappy restaurant when there’s so much to choose from.  He likes to eat so he does his homework.

This year’s family vacation is going to be epic.  Like three weeks epic.  I’m part ecstatic, part terrified.  I’ve done most of my research already and have mapped out where we’re going to stay, how long it takes to get from point A to point B, and crafted a basic budget (see above spreadsheet).

Now it’s time to get the kids involved.  Where to begin?

How to get the kids involved in planning family trips:

  1.  Give them a list of the places you are going.  Let them pick one or two locations on your list and research the best things to do in the area.  Make sure they record the cost and time required for each activity so you can factor that into a decision on whether or not you visit that particular attraction/site.
  2. Let them know who you will be visiting and/or famous people who lived in the places on your list.  Invite them to find out about those people so that they have a connection with them in advance.  Your kids will thank you when you drop in on Great Aunt Ida and they can actually strike up a meaningful conversation with her instead of watching the clock.  Alternatively, if you are in Cambridge, MA touring Longfellow’s house, it won’t hurt for them to have some stories shored up in their little brains so they can make meaningful connections.
  3. Give them a list of books that relate to the places you’re visiting.  They can choose a few from the list and read them during the months/weeks leading up to your trip.  Add a bit of interest by encouraging them to record some highlights from these books so that others can benefit from their reading.
  4. If food is an interest for them, let the kids know on which occasions you will be eating out and challenge them to find the highest-rated (within budget) restaurants within that location.  They’ll feel more satisfaction in a meal for which they played a decision-making role.
  5. Let them organize a playlist(or two) for your time on the road.  This is a big one for me.  I LOVE music but can’t seem to squeeze in the time to construct playlists.  The kids will totally dig this.  Especially since we’ll be spending close to eighty hours in the car so they’ll be particularly motivated to avoid having to listen to dad’s playlists on repeat.
  6. Let them pick out a few activities for the car ride (or airplane ride, as the case may be).  One of our family traditions is to take the kids to the bookstore before a road trip and let them pick out a new book to read (and add to our permanent collection).  The girls often swap books so this gives them a few good hours of entertainment in the car.  But since this particular trip ain’t no regular road trip, we’ll be adding a million other activities to our list.  Audiobooks for the whole fam, travel games, madlibs, coloring books and the like.  I’ll be outlining a budget and letting the kiddos run with it.

My hope is that by letting the littles have a hand in planning more of the details of our family trips, they will be feel more invested in the outcome.  They’ll also get to share more in the joy that comes in the anticipation.  Win for me, win for them.

Click here to access a printable (PDF) to get the kids involved in your next vacation.

Portland. It’s all about the food.

When Tim and I went to Portland for the OI Conference, we decided to make it a getaway.  After all, it had been over three years since the last time we left the kids overnight so it was high time.  We contacted a couple of friends who live in the area so we could pop in on them while in town.  We also asked them for tips on what to do in Portland.  Their answer: eat, eat and eat.

Done and done.

One friend gave us a list of close to thirty restaurants/food trucks that were worth trying.  We hit up a few hot spots and, in between all the grub we walked off the pounds.  I came home two pounds lighter, in fact.  Yay for walkable cities.  Here’s where we went:

First morning up we went to Waffle Window.  boasting Liege waffles with a Portland twist.  Well, we’ve both been to Liege and tasted their waffles and these suckers are the real deal.  So yum.  And, just as they claim, they serve them up in ways that excite the tastebuds in unique ways.  We shared a bacon jalapeno cheddar waffle topped with a fried egg and a banana nutella waffle.  Both were delightful.

After a hour-long hike in Forest Park, we hit up Grassa downtown.  We ordered the stuffed shells, as per our order-taker’s recommendation and shared the dish so we could save some room for dinner with friends.  It was yummy fresh pasta and not so heavy that we had to drag ourselves down the street for a visit to a Portland icon, Powell’s Books.  What a store!

We passed Blue Star Donuts on our way back to our car and satisfied our sweet tooth – Tim had a Valhrona Chocolate Crunch and I decided on a Buttermilk Old Fashioned.  We vowed to return to the Blue Star Store close to where we were staying so we could try a few more flavors.  I’m typically a chocolate girl all the way, but I’d have to say that where Blue Star gets it right is in their fruity donuts: the Meyer Lemon and Key Lime Curd was to die for, although the Raspberry Rosemary Buttermilk came in at a close second.

Tim and I met up with Sherri and Josh at their home with a few donuts in tow for them to hide from their kids.  Sherri and I have been friends since I moved to Texas in the sixth grade and I couldn’t be happier that we are still in touch.  And, that we live a mere 7 hour drive from one another.  (That’s close when you’re from a western state – I can just hear my New England friends balking at the distance).

We visited long and kept them up far too late but it was good for my soul.  Sherri and Josh are awesome peeps – I’m so pleased that my friends grow up to marry awesome guys that get along with my husband.  Lucky for us, we got to sleep in the next day.  They were not so lucky.

The next day our plan was to have breakfast at Screen Door at 9 o’clock-ish.  We trekked the mile and a half from our Airbnb to put ourselves on a waiting list that set us back an hour.  Rather than stand around in the rain getting hangry, we strolled a few blocks away to experience Voodoo Doughnut.  Voodoo was not originally on the list, though we had no doubt heard of the joint. Who hasn’t?

As it turned out, the lines were negligible and their original doughnut, the Voodoo doll, definitely worth the hype.  Rather than spoil our breakfast at Screen Door (which was rapidly turning into brunch), the little beauty was the perfect snack.

Screen Door was to die for.  It probably scored the highest on our Portland foodie experience.  We ordered the Buttermilk Chicken Biscuit Sandwich and the Bananas Foster French Toast.  We might’ve downed those suckers in 5 minutes flat.  I’m sure it had absolutely nothing to do with that fact that we were starving after walking a couple of miles on empty stomachs.  Truly, though, best down-home cooking I’ve had in a good long while at a fantastic price.  As an added bonus, the service was friendly and timely, to boot.

As a side note, Tim fit right in with his scruffy look and I went the no-makeup route on more than one occasion.  We could have been Portlanders, easy.

We met the Calverts for lunch at Elephant’s Deli – another local icon.  These friends were our tenants in Boise while Jacob was doing rotations in medical school.  They were the best tenants ever – helping Tim with projects and actually improving the property.  We became fast friends and hosted several game nights before they moved on to residency.  I personally believe that Abbey won Tim over with her homemade bruschetta.  In fact, it was on her recommendations that we ate ourselves into oblivion in Portland.

Jacob is now a perinatologist outside of Portland and they are raising an adorable family (that has grown slightly since we first met).  It was so great to catch up a bit.  Here’s to fine friendships and food.

Our final food stop of the night was Salt and Straw where we indulged in a bit of ice cream for dinner.  The wait was adequate and gave us ample time to toss and turn over the wide variety of options they offer.  The flavors sound weird but try a few samples and you’ll realize that it’s just a name.  The combination of flavors did not disappoint.  Dessert for dinner – best ever.

It rained pretty much our entire weekend in Portland.  No surprises there.  What did come as a surprise was the shocking number of delectable joints to delight the palate in Portland.  We barely scratched the surface.  Good thing we’re just a state away so we can come back for round two.  And three or more.

Camping at Ponderosa State Park

We’d been camping for six days by the time we ended up in McCall at Ponderosa State Park and were more than glad it was the last time we’d be setting up our tent.  We’d heard good things about Ponderosa State Park and it certainly met our expectations.  Our site was huge and the bathrooms were pretty stellar (our standards were probably compromised by a week in the sticks but still, give me some warm water on my filthy bod and I’m happy).  Probably our favorite feature of this campground were the walking paths.  Close proximity to a beautiful lake and a decent swimming beach were more than worth the sticker price of staying here.  If our kids hadn’t gotten into a gigantic argument on our second night in(sorry neighbors), putting themselves at great risk and forcing us to head home early we would have explored more.  Lucky for us, McCall is only a couple of hours away so we will be back for sure.  With a cane with which to discipline our unruly children.  😉