Why have I ever wasted a drop of summer traveling away from the northwest? It is so gorgeous here and we found this out with this year’s summer staycation. From Oregon beaches, To local Seattle sights, Vancouver sunrises and sunsets, and bakeries sprinkled gloriously in between. Dare I say we start school next week? How […]
Haleiwa town on the north shore of Oahu is such a fun place to visit with kids. There is good food, lovely beaches and the Turtle Bay Resort is about a 15 minute drive away and it’s such a gorgeous place to stay. The beach there is sandy and calm and we could just hang […]
Who am I kidding with that Lillikoi in the title? Our travels are usually full of food adventures of the bakery and dessert kind and while we did stop at a lovely roadside fruit stand near the Turtle Bay Resort (recommended by the Gypsy Guide app I bought that had a running commentary/tour of the […]
I’m often asked about how I book my travel plans. It usually starts with some kind of interest our family has in a place combined with the kids’ and hubby’s vacation schedules. Sometimes, I get a place in my head because of some animal adventure I’ve heard about, or a farm tour I’m curious about […]
I tend to book places when I get a good feeling about the place. Kihei had a pretty name, it was close to the airport (our flight arrived at 11pm) and I managed to find a condo on the beach for a reasonable rate. We like small hotels especially in Hawaii: the type that […]
On a trip to Hawaii a few years ago, we discovered a treat with a very odd name. Yes, it’s made of melons, but it just seems like an unfortunate sounding title for such a delicious ice pop (a friend recently told me it sounds like a skin disease.) But it must be popular in […]
Trip planning without kids can be a challenge when you’re going somewhere new and I vehemently believe there is never a ‘best time” to travel with kids so we try to embrace ALL The times as much as we can. Here are some of the places we’ve traveled with the duo and the sites and […]
We are a Seattle family. My kids’ blood is the requisite blue/green for Sounders, Seahawks, Mariners and our one day Seattle hockey team. I think when the hockey team finally gets here, I’ll be the one most torn about who to cheer for because I grew up in Vancouver and my childhood self would be […]
Years ago when we would travel with our family to one of the Hawaiian islands, it was just a matter of getting airfare, booking the hotel and off we would go. If we booked a hotel near the beach, we didn’t need to plan much because there was sure to be almost guaranteed sunshine and […]
I’m headed to Mom 2.0 in May and a dear friend of mine has promised to meet me in California after the conference in Pasadena so we can have an adventure like we used to in college pre-kids. For us from the Pacific Northwest, California means shopping, palm trees, beaches and yummy food. So now […]
The North Face Whistler run is becoming a bit of a family tradition; this is the 2nd time we’ve headed up north to run the 10km and the kid’ run and hang out with friends and once again we had a wonderful time. This time we stayed at the Sundial hotel, and it was perfectly […]
We hang out in Vancouver often since it is only about three hours north of Seattle and while it’s a city totally full of neat activities and food, some of our most glorious days have been made from simple and impromptu stops in the beautiful parks that are all over this city and its suburbs. […]
Every September, the whirlwind of real life catches us up to us after dreamy, long summer days playing at the beach. We get trapped in a spiral of school and sports, lessons and work and I start to feel spectacularly stuck. And this year with the cabin-building project and the kids starting kindergarten, we have […]
The hubby and I honeymooned through Oregon on a drive from British Columbia to California just over 12 years ago and we couldn’t believe that after all this time living in Seattle, we haven’t been back to the coast. And then my friend Jamie heard me whining at a mom’s night that I hadn’t seen […]