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Mar 3

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Aloha!

We left the snow and rain and grey behind for a vacation in the sunshine.  First time in three years. First flight for the girls. First success traveling as a five-ring circus (six with my mom for the first part).  It was amazing and wonderful and chaotic and tiring and relaxing and warm and sunny and at times a little painful … but mostly just awesome.

I learned a few things this trip – mostly thanks to amazing friends who also have multiple kids and were kind enough to bestow this knowledge on us – thought I’d share my top six…

1. For the six-hour flight and travel on either end: headphones by kidz gear (thanks Lucy! Awesome recommend) to go with our ipads and laptops so that everyone had their own viewing station for shows/movies, and apps.  We practiced in advance of the trip because the kids have never worn headphones before … needless to say it was successful

2. A borrowed maclarens double umbrella stroller for epic travel-day airport navigation evenings on vacation (thanks Lori!) – even if they didn’t always sit in it – it was a HUGE help on many occasionsairport home

3. On one not-so-awesome note: the friendly skies are really the fend for yourself skies these days.  We deliberately chose the airline that boasts friendly happy people – hoping for an awesome experience for our kids.  Super thankful we also planned in advance and have patient children because the service and attitudes of our crew both ways were horrendous. Granted we have three kids four and under so we must be every attendant’s (and passenger’s) nightmare – but we had people complementing us both ways on kids, while the crew complained openly about their working conditions (yes… on their way to Hawaii) Not super great for that brand.   Again – thankful for headphones and ipads (and Grammie on the way there!).

4. VRBO is fabulous. And what’s more, renting a place with a full kitchen and big deck were huge assets for the kids – it meant breakfasts and snacks could be breaks from the sunshine and breaks from restaurants and the deck meant we could spend nap-times evenings outside relaxing with a cold wine/beer.

5. Get floaty toys.  We went to the local mini-store a few days in and bought water wings and floating birds and it turned our some-what timid clingy splashers into full on swimming and jumping machines.  We even had to bring the floaty things home – the packing of them was supervised by one of our two-year olds.  They loved the water.swimming

6. Ask Questions.  We usually aren’t super social when we go away.  We have our hands full and never get enough time together alone so we tend to stay together as a little pack – but my friend and my sister both mentioned asking local hotels about music and activities so that we could plan when to go where. I did this on the first (very) early morning walk with the girls – and it was great!  We got to see sharks and stingrays, feed fish on the beach, watch an outdoor move, two live nights of great music, a Luau and more.  I got so into it that I started chatting up other people staying at the condos we were at – as a result we found turtles five minutes from our hotel, learned about the best local drinks and even got some grilling tips at the resident BBQs … people on vacation are friendly. It was great!

In my resolve to chat with the other guests I also discovered one other interesting tidbit:  I spoke with 14 guys who were on kid pool duty during the trip … about our respective kids, where we lived, local highlights, their jobs …  and not one of them asked what I did for a living.  If Cam was with me for the conversation – every single one asked him what he did.  I spoke with 4 women during that time and they all told me my ‘hands were full’ and I ‘must be done’.  None of them asked me if I worked either.  Don’t get me wrong – everyone was very friendly and very nice. I just found the perspectives, or maybe the societal expectations to be … interesting.

I’m super grateful we had the opportunity and ability to get away – we all really needed the quality time together, and some sunshine and I’m so glad it all worked out.  Can’t say enough about a sunny trip in the doldrums of winter.  Heavenly.  It was a wonderful way to reconnect with our amazing little kiddos and to spend time ‘relaxing’ together as a family.   Our only takeaway for next time was that we’d stay for even longer

family hawaii

Feb 11

2 Comments

dining in

I love eating out. Love the idea of making sure everyone is cleaned up and piling in the car for someone else to cook us a meal, for everyone to get what they want without me cooking 3 versions of that meal, and for said nice strangers to clean up after wards.  Then I love coming home, satisfied, to a clean kitchen.  Isn’t that a fun feeling?

Don’t get me wrong.  Love love love cooking and baking as well. But sometimes it’s just nice to go to restaurant and have it all taken care of.  It’s interesting – because one of my least favorite things is people cooking in my kitchen (other than you, mom).   And going to other peoples houses for dinner scares me a little (family of picky eaters).  But restaurants provide that satisfaction of having a menu of options to meet your mood, selecting your favorite meal, done the same way each time, with a nice person to give it to you and clean up afterwards who either 1. wont’ judge you overtly for your somewhat ill-behaved children (smart if he/she wants a good tip) or 2. will overtly judge you and will save you money on a good tip – either way – you’re going home and don’t need to face them again soon.

There are some nights when the restaurant outing isn’t possible – but you still crave that delish dish… I often find myself trolling through blogs and sites to find the recipes for some of our favorites. One of my favorites is copykatchat

I love pasta.  There is an amazing Italian Restaurant downtown; Zeffirellis that serves an amazing Penne Michelangelo.  A couple of weeks ago, when my partner in crime was away for a few days and I was alone with the kids – I was craving that divine pasta – and some wine.  So I created my own copy cat version – it was pretty fantastic, to copy this you’ll need:

-penne pasta, 1 chicken breast, fresh or canned peas, sun dried tomato, chicken stock, white wine, garlic, parmesan cheese, butter: about 20 min total cooking time

  • boil penne pasta to al dente (10 min)
  • cut chicken up into bite sized pieces, put a TBSP of butter in a pan and fry up 1 clove of minced garlic – add chicken and cook – browning slightly (about 4 min)
  • add 3 TBSP of white wine and sun dried tomatoes, simmmr for 2 mins then add 1 cup chicken stock – leave it to simmer for 5 min
  • add freshly grated parm cheese and throw in the peas last minute -pour drained pasta into the pan with the sauce.  toss it – serve with a little extra cheese on tip. YUMmichaelangelo

We are also frequent fliers at a place that serves amazing an teriyaki chicken rice bowl (can you guess where?)- this is my version, I’ve shared it with a bunch of friends and it’s a favorite:

Spicy Yogurt
1 Cup Plain yogurt (or 2/3 c Sour Cream instead)
1/4 Cup Mayo
2 tsp Powdered Ranch Dressing mix
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (or more to taste)

Mix this all together and let sit for an hour (or more) before serving.
The Cayenne will get hotter as the dip sits. It keeps in the refrigerator for 5 days.

for the teriyaki chicken rice bowl ….

1/4 Cup soy sauce
1 Cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
5 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 Cup cold water

Mix all but 1/4 C cold water & cornstarch in saucepan and begin to heat.
mix cornstarch and cold water in separate cup until it dissolves, then add to saucepan.
Heat until thick. add more water if it is too thick.

add chicken and veggies that are pre-cooked for about 2-3 min and serve over white rice (or brown if you’re a health nut). YUM again.

So? what are your favorite recipes borrowed from the restaurant greats?

Feb 10

brontosaurus love

Our biggest little one often starts a sentence with “now I’m a brontosaurus”.  It really makes whatever comes next a little more amusing. I might try it one day. 

 

He and his dad can often be found having dinosaur races around the kitchen and family room with whichever sister is willing to hop on for a wild ride that ends in laughter and sprawling limbs.  These might look like simple horsey rides – but they are actually very real dino-rides – complete with roaring and stops for munching on leaves.

brontosaurus races

This is a quick one –  just wanted to show you a fun little valentine shirt I made for our favorite dinosaur lover. I found the girls Valentines shirts very easy but boy love is harder to make and still have it look tough-ish.

 

dino shirt

 

A subtle hit of valentines day red mixed in with his favorite vegesaurus. love that kid.

 

 

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