FAMILY TRAVELS

Did somebody pinch me? (Maui with kids)

February 12, 2013

How is that we’re already back? Weren’t we just at the top of a crater minutes ago? Or exploring caves? Paddle-boarding in an ocean teeming with whales. And driving gorgeous but treacherous roads along an incredible coastline. We even got chased by a cow. (All the while chugging Dayquil on the beach and trying to […]

Magic Carpet Ride (Seymour Ski Lessons)

February 8, 2013

If you sign your kids up for lessons at Mount Seymour (maybe 30 minutes from Vancouver, BC), you’ll see 3 little words that all parents dream about in their sleep. Parent Free Zone. What does this mean? It’s simple. When you drop your kid off in their ski wear, you don’t even have to fight […]

Travel Tips Tuesday: pack a bunch of samples

February 5, 2013

You know how I love me a good makeup subscription service (Hello Birchbox!) or Sephora because I get a bunch of samples with every order. Well there’s definitely a good reason for this. Every trip we go on, I grab a handful, stick it in a big zippy bag and stuff it in my suitcase. […]

When your kids are braver than you are

January 31, 2013

See the blur? That’s my guys jumping off the diving board for the first time. They just pranced across the thing and fearlessly bounced of the end. I’d be proud except I’m terrified that they’ve learned a new and ridiculous skill: I know this because later when we were at the Pacific Place mall on […]

potato painting

January 26, 2013

Ever since I bought this lovely cookbook:The Silver Spoon for Children: Favorite Italian Recipes I’ve been meaning to make gnocchi with my guys, but I keep forgetting, so I have a ton of potatoes just lying around. So the other day, when a package I ordered from Fancy Flours (don’t they have the sweetest wrapping?) […]

Number two dog poo incident of 2013

I meant it as a joke when I said I’d tally the dog-poos of the year, but now we’re actually at three. But the third poo is probably from another animal at the farm, maybe goat or sheep and not technically dog poo that made its way under my shoe so I’m not sure it […]

holding sloth in Costa Rica wearing bug-proof shirt

Bug-Proof Clothing

January 22, 2013

I’m not sure why, but bug-proof clothing is one search I get a lot on this site, and as someone who puffs up into one giant mosquito welt if I get bitten, I thought I better share some of my real faves: I love this shirt. That might even be an understatement. If I hear […]

We’re 6C and we know it (A travel tip)

I wish I could say I only do this when we travel, but I learned this trick when the boys were babies and I got so scatterbrained that I would lose the “Silver bus” everywhere we went. Thank you to my handy smartphone (I swear this is the most mom-friendly invention of all time), I […]

An unconventional breakfast (San Isidro, Costa Rica)

January 19, 2013

Years ago, my pregnant self would never have imagined anyone would ever be able say to my kids “so you know how to collect eggs?” and have them answer “yes!” but something about having two boys who love adventure changed everything. Thanks to Farmer Jayne at Kelsey Creek Farm in Bellevue (two years ago we […]

Lovely Place to Pack a Lunch (Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle WA)

January 13, 2013

Okay, in a perfect world we might have been nibbling on something a bit different, but today it was the guys’ choice and Big M won. I always dream about the day I can discuss art over cappuccinos with my kids-today we talked about waves while eating nuggets at the Olympic Sculpture Park. I […]

Dessert Thali (Poppy, Seattle Wa)

January 9, 2013

(PS. I’m so sad to say that Poppy is now closed in 2019….) Maybe 2013 is the year for food in this household, because we’ve been eating around Seattle the last week and a bit like we’re on vacation and it’s been lovely. Perhaps our best meal happened when we popped into Poppy, (aka best […]

Delightful food finds in Vancouver BC

January 3, 2013

A long time ago, I’d return to the motherland on a quest to find ketchup chips, Smarties and Mackintosh Toffee: grocery store treats from my childhood that just can’t find their way south of the border. But now, with kids in tow my time for food sleuthing is short and I have to be a […]

How I amuse myself while the kids learn to ski

December 30, 2012

I don’t know what I imagined when I signed the guys up for ski lessons. I think a little bit of me thought they’d be whisked up the chair-lift and zooming down the mountains in no time and I really wanted them to learn to ski. But the reality is that it takes a little […]

Raise a glass-making juice with kids

December 28, 2012

A couple weeks ago the Bean walked into Williams Sonoma and decided he wanted a juicer. I asked him why and he said he just really wanted to make juice. So I saved a couple hundred dollars and bought him this one at Ikea. […]

Kidsquest Museum and a little bit of shopping time (Factoria Mall, Bellevue)

December 21, 2012

A block of dry ice in our Amazon Fresh order this morning sparked something in my brain. Today’s question: If I take you to go to the truck museum (Kidsquest Museum in Bellevue for us grownups) for a little while, can I go to Target? They played in the water. They experimented. They drove the […]

Five books that will make your kids want to go to Australia

December 18, 2012

Thanks to some lovely friends, Australia is now on our radar for a future trip and they even sent us some books to help us get excited. Wouldn’t you know that reading about a place is our best way to get our kids prepped for a trip especially when a country is so different from […]

Two easy reindeer crafts

December 17, 2012

My kids love their teachers. They talk about them all the time like they’re the biggest heroes in the world. (Which I truly believe they are!) And when it comes to saying thank you I really want my kids to take some ownership in the things we do to say ‘thank you’ to the people […]

Sweetest Mini Donut Shop (The Outpost, Steveston BC)

December 14, 2012

The world can always use more happy, lovely places and The Outpost Mini Donut Company is one of the sweetest I’ve ever been. I never imagined that a donut store could be so adorable, but this is a MINI DONUT store and there are so many thoughtful touches in this store that make the already-yummy […]

Homemade Snowglobes

So everyone is making snowglobes apparently so I wanted to try and make them too. I had visions of making little ballerina ones like a scene out of the Nutcracker (we’re going to see it next week and I’m a little worried the guys might find the mice part scary so I’m playing up the […]

If your kids are scared of Santa

December 13, 2012

or maybe just obsessed with their Playmobil Advent Calendars, you might consider just going for a pose with a plastic Santa instead. (We found this one outside the Splash store in Steveston BC Canda, which by the way has a great play table and awesome toys if you need a place to stop in while […]