FAMILY TRAVELS

Homemade goo solves everything with kids

One of those afternoons where goo solves everything

October 18, 2012

The other day was one of those afternoons where we were all sleepy but not sleepy enough to nap. (Well, one of us was, but that would leave Thing 1 and Thing 2 to their own antics….) We had glued eyeballs on our ghost rocks and the guys began to eye other things in the […]

Haunting Season and a recipe for Candy Corn

October 17, 2012

Last year we were super sad we were away for Halloween, so this year we are savoring every little ghosty moment we can. We can’t get enough of Ghosts in the House, a book we picked up at Powells Books on the weekend. It has such a cute story that I’m so glad my guys […]

Yucky Things you Find in Hotel Rooms

October 16, 2012

Traveling with kids we’ve stayed in nicer places than we did before we had kids: no more hostels or little dives that we drive up to in the middle of the night thinking we just need a place to sleep. We try to stay as safe, clean and easy as possible when we go away […]

Dinosaur Ridge (Denver, CO)

October 11, 2012

The boys really love this book Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs even though it has surprisingly scary looking pictures but I think it’s because my guys are true Seattle-ites who just like to put a pirate on anything to make it a little cooler. (What could be cooler than pirate dinosaurs???!!) But I tried […]

Thankful pie

October 9, 2012

Some mornings start out with a sunrise drum-salute that thankfully goes awry. (thank you rock and roll gods….I’m so glad to put this drum to rest.) So we ended our concert early and made pie instead. We made our crust and put it in the fridge to chill for a while. (PS. that class I […]

Big Eraser (Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle) has a twin

October 5, 2012

Thank you artsy Seattle for cultivating my guys’ appreciation for sculptures. We can’t drive past this piece in the SAM Olympic Sculpture Park without both of them yelling “BIG ERASER!!!” at the top of their lungs. Imagine their delight when they found out the Big Eraser has a twin. Yes, a twin. We found it […]

Las Vegas Gluttony Perfected at the Bacchanal Buffet

October 3, 2012

Usually when we plan a trip, I love to think about where we’re going to eat long before we get there. For this past Vegas trip though, I planned our trip around the pool at Mandalay Bay and kind of ended any planning there. I knew there were fabulous restaurants everywhere but kids in Vegas […]

Parent and Tot Language Classes are a Plus for the Whole Family

October 2, 2012

In some dusty corner of our house a Spanish Rosetta Stone box is dying away slowly. By the time we actually remember to rescue it it’s technology will probably be obsolete. The hubby bought this expensive, awesome program with good intentions and I saw him practice a few times with the telemarketer-like headset, but to […]

seattle farmers market in ballard with kids

Beautiful Ballard Farmer’s Market

October 1, 2012

Nothing beats crisp, sunny fall Sundays at Ballard Farmer’s Market and it’s no secret, because I swear everyone else in Seattle was there this past weekend and beautiful Ballard is definitely the place to be. The only thing in Ballard that isn’t very beautiful is trying to find parking. It took us nearly 20 minutes […]

What happens on the way to Las Vegas…..

September 29, 2012

hopefully stays there. Before we get to the yes we took the kids to Las Vegas part, the buffets we decimated, the hotels we managed not to trash and the millions we might have made on the slots, let me remind you that for most trips the journey is just as important. On the way […]

How to make a Terrarium with Kids

September 26, 2012

A few nights ago, the hubby and I miraculously found ourselves in West Elm for a shopping trip without the kids. We found these cute little cacti (for 99 cents each, thank you very much!) and a lovely glass bowl and I got the brilliant idea that he needed a terrarium for his desk at […]

Coolest Ice Ceam in Denver

September 22, 2012

What is it about ice cream that just melts away all the cares in the world? I adored going with my sister and dad to a little ice cream shop in the mall near where I grew up. It had curved chairs and pictures of fancy scooped desserts on the wall and I have so […]

Rockstar Party

September 19, 2012

A couple months ago the guys celebrated their 4th birthday. They were very insistent that they have a rockstar party and the hubby was very insistent that we go with something easy. We chose to have it at the Seattle Children’s Museum where you can rent the museum after hours so you can have it […]

seattle kids visit costa rica for the first time

Where does chocolate come from? (Tirimbina Biological Reserve, Costa Rica with kids)

September 14, 2012

Ever since the Theo Chocolate Factory moved a twenty minute walk from our house in our old neighborhood, I’ve been dying to see where chocolate comes from. We went on many tours and each time the guide told us about cocoa pods and how they would just hang off trees and how the insides were […]

If your generous neighbor has a plum tree

September 8, 2012

this is the perfect recipe from Smitten Kitchen (a lovely food blog.) We tried it because of its adorable name: who couldn’t love a “dimply plum cake”? The boys helped by cutting up the plums. I gave them plastic takeout knives and the plastic ones from Ikea and we decided the takeout ones were a […]

If a tree falls on a car in Costa Rica…

August 31, 2012

Somewhere along our Costa Rica travels this summer, we saw this unfortunate incident right after it happened. Who would expect a tree branch to fall on your car when you park it in a parking lot? It hadn’t been especially rainy or windy and this was definitely a freak accident and thank goodness no one […]

Compost Krispies: a post-camping snack

August 29, 2012

After camping we always come home with a 3/4 full bag of marshmallows that are not fit to be used as actual marshmallows anymore. Unfortunately we had no actual crispy rice cereal in the cupboard and I wasn’t sure what else you can do with marshmallows. I’ve seen so many yummy compost cookies on the […]

how to travel safely in costa rica with young kids

Just close your eyes and jump; zip-lining with kids in Costa Rica

August 24, 2012

I told the hubby when we booked our trip to Costa Rica, that we wouldn’t go zip-lining with the kids. I even remember saying, “Whatever we do, we are NOT going zip-lining!!!” I was worried that it would be dangerous, that they were too young; that I would get stuck somewhere on a line in […]

Letter Adventures for Back to School

August 23, 2012

I remember watching Sesame Street and how important that letter and number of the day thing was and I wanted to incorporate more alphabet teaching into our daily activities. And then I saw these shaped sugars on dailycandy while i was cooking oatmeal: Like any sane person I googled how to make them, because I […]

Garden City Park (Steveston, BC)

August 22, 2012

On a sunny day if we’re up in Steveston (or Storybrooke as you might know it on tv from Once upon a Time) it’s nice to stop in at the Market at Papi’s for cheese, meats, focaccia and their key-lime cheesecake and head out to a nearby park for a picnic. Our last visit took […]