A Pirate's Life in Ocean Shores

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A Pirate's Life in Ocean Shores

What a crazy, surreal year this has been so far! So many things are different and so many plans changed. We had hoped to take some sort of family vacation this summer, but like many of you, our plans were canceled because of the coronavirus. We had also hoped my parents could come to visit at the end of August and we’d all go to the coast together, but then their doctor advised them not to fly. I was quite bummed not to see them and not to have some sort of family trip. This has been such a hard season for all of us. But we’re trying to make the most of it, and so we did a last-minute mini-trip out to the Washington coast.

I’m so glad we were able to squeeze a small trip in before fall officially arrives and we roll into a school routine. Trips, even small ones, really help me get through the humdrum of everyday life. Plus, my husband comes along, of course, so we get some great family bonding time. I live for family time just like Clark “Sparky” Griswold.

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Flying with Kids: A Few Tips

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Flying with Kids: A Few Tips

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty kids on airplanes stuff, did you hear about the Sea-Tac airport rebranding? Yup, they are rebranding Sea-Tac Airport as simply “SEA.” Read all about it here. Interesting, right?! I’m not sure how I feel about this change, although I’ll probably always call it Sea-Tac.

Now, to the kids talk. I recently took a flight with both boys on my own from Sea-Tac (hehe) to San Diego to visit my parents (grandparents trip!). While I’ve flown with just Caleb and me a bunch in the past, I was very anxious about flying on my own with two kids. Two would outnumber me and I honestly can’t remember what I did with Caleb - something I like to call parental amnesia. I knew Caleb (4 yrs old) would be relatively easy since I can basically just hand him an iPad and he’s occupied for a good while. However, Wesley was another story. He’s 14 months, so he’s not watching shows or playing games, yet. He’s also in that very awkward stage between crawling and walking and is very, VERY wiggly. In addition, I remember Caleb being a terrible airplane napper (so I do remember somethings), so I wasn’t banking on that for Wesley either (rightly so, apparently, as he did not nap).

The good news: All the planning paid off because both ways went incredibly smoothly. {insert cheering!} No meltdowns and really not a lot of fussing either. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

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Brick by Brick: RT's Guide to Legoland

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Brick by Brick: RT's Guide to Legoland

I had this plan to post at least once every month. And now I’m looking at the calendar and July has almost come and gone. I started this blog with just one toddler who napped and that gave me time to post. Now I have a toddler that doesn’t nap and an infant. Having two kids is a whole other ballpark, friends. I went to sit down to write this yesterday and popped right back up because I realized I had laundry. I think the time before I had to make dinner. Then before that, the baby woke early crying. So hang with me, I’m sure I’ll get to a time where I post more, but for now bear with me. I love writing and sharing but this phase in life is a busy one.

Speaking of busy, summer has been busy for us. We went down to Cali for almost two weeks during June for my sister’s wedding in Pasadena and then some time with my parents in San Diego area. Fun fact: I’m born and raised in North County San Diego. My home was in Encinitas and I loved living there. My parents have since moved to a neighboring town called San Marcos and we get to visit frequently, which is awesome. Yes yes, I know you might be wondering this very moment why I ever moved away. I agree it’s heavenly there, but that’s a story for another day. Right now I want to share how great a place San Diego is to visit with kids.

So yea, San Diego rocks for kids. There is just so much to do there - San Diego Zoo, Old Town, Sea World, Seaport Village, Safari Park (formerly, Wild Animal Park), Balboa Park, and….LEGOLAND. The only thing I will say, is that all these places are not necessary located close together. But no problem, who really can (and wants) to do everything everyday with kids. For instance, you could do Legoland and beaches and that would be a fabulous vacation. And that’s what we did. Spent time with the family, spent time at the beach, and then went to Legoland. Besides the scary stridor (croup) that landed us in an ambulance and ER for the night, it was an awesome trip.

Gosh, I might be boring you with all this jibber jabber. You probably just want me to get to the nitty gritty of Legoland. You saw the title, and just really want the deets. I get it. Let’s do it.

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