FAMILY TRAVELS

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 […]

Getting ready for September

August 21, 2012

The guys are finally old enough for small chores around the house, so one thing that I get them to do is help with making lunch to get ready for preschool. The other day I had them make the peanut butter/banana sandwiches we were going to take for a picnic and something about the smell […]

Trainforest (Monteverde, Costa Rica)

August 19, 2012

I don’t know why I showed the kids this video on youtube but I did and then going on the Monteverde Rain Forest train became a must do on the duo’s Costa Rica adventure list. I couldn’t find much information on what this tour would be like and after taking the guys on trains all […]

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO)

August 17, 2012

One of the greatest things about having memberships at local museums is that not only do they help support museums in your hometown, they often have reciprocal membership to other museums (free entry!) when you travel. We only had an hour to spend at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science but we probably wouldn’t […]

Toucan Rescue Ranch (San Isidro, Costa Rica)

August 15, 2012

Where do I begin to tell you about the most amazing, magical and enlightening place I’ve ever traveled to? The Toucan Rescue Ranch in San Isidro, Costa Rica is a place I want to go back to every year to watch as it grows. Leslie and Jorge, the owners of the ranch, are doing an […]

Global Kids Adventures: traveling to Costa Rica with kids

August 13, 2012

I convinced the hubby we were going to take the fam to vista Cost Rica but the question was how we were going to travel. We don’t like to sit still and the last time we went we went on a tour but wanted to adventure on our own. Our solution was to book half […]

visiting the sloth sanctuary where you can see sloths with kids in costa rica

Sloth Sanctuary (Cahuita, Costa Rica)

Trip planning is a joint decision in this household and one my husband and I make together. When I first started my “I want to visit Costa Rica” trip campaign to the hubby I reminded him of how wonderful a time we had when we went pre-kids and I told him that it would be […]