CHEFCHAOUEN
The first stop on our trip was Chefchaouen, aka The Blue City. As soon as you look at pictures, you’ll understand how this city it got it’s name! We spent a day and half in this little town, exploring every nook and cranny we could find. While the entire place was stunning, we had two favorite highlights. The first was visiting the sweetest orange seller who produced the freshest juice any of us had ever had! And the second was our time at Dar Echchaouen Maison d’Hôtes & Riad, where we stayed. Chefchaouen was lovely first thing in the morning, but it has a small town square with skinny streets and gets busy quickly. Dar Echchaouen was our oasis — it sat high above the city, so we had total quiet and space to ourselves. The gardens were incredible and we had more dessert in the two nights we were there than the rest of our entire trip!

FES
Fes was just a short stopover for us before our next part of the trip — Morocco, as you can imagine, is a huge country, but with limited roads, so it can be a long journey from destination to destination. We arrived to Riad Laaroussa, another oasis in a VERY busy city. We were immediately intimated by the seeming maze we had walked into in Fes. Luckily, we had arranged for a food tour to guide us through the best of the best! We tried cactus, local bean soup, fried mashed potatoes (to die for), and so much more. Our guide also had us visit the tanneries (complete with a bit of mint, thankfully!), a hammam, a beauty parlor, and a mosque. Of all the places we visited, this was certainly the best to have a guide — I would not recommend exploring Fes alone unless you are very familiar with the place! The streets are tiny and most are totally covered to the sky, so we completely lost our sense of direction once inside!

SAHARA DESERT
Our stop in Fes was to get us one spot closer to our desert tour! As you can imagine, getting out to the desert isn’t easy and took a VERY long time. We arranged for a private transfer through out hotel, Desert Luxury Camp. The Sahara was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been — just sand as far as the eye can see… which might sound lame but was pretty magical. We did SO many fun activities… ATVs, camel rides, and sandboarding… and spent all of our free time in the pool to stay cool from the crazy mid-day heat. We loved listening to the live Berber music at night and staying up late to have wine under the stars.

MARRAKECH
After two nights in the desert, we were all looking forward to heading to Marrakech to have a few days in the city to explore! We were also staying at La Mamounia hotel, which we knew would be an experience in and of itself — we had planned for days visiting museums and visiting sights while spending afternoons by the pool and at the spa. Our time in Marrakech started off as planned, but on Friday evening there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and we were promptly evacuated from our hotel. Luckily, we were all safe, our things primarily undamaged, and were able to return to our hotel the next day after a night sleeping outside by the pool. Not all of Marrakech faired as well, and the areas closer to the mountains — that we had just driven over days before — were even worse. Our last day or so was fairly somber, as we were all trying to figure out what happened and tell our bodies it was okay to relax. We felt like our trip was cut a bit short and figured it just an excuse to go back one day!

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It was my mom’s first time to France (and second time to Europe — the first only a few months earlier!) and I was so excited to show her the beautiful sights this country has to offer. Paris is easily one of the best cities in the world. I have a soft spot in my heart for London, but even still it doesn’t beat the architecture (and history! and art! and fashion! and food!) that surrounds you everywhere you look in Paris. It’s simply a photographer’s dream!

That being said, I know there are probably no less than 1 million travel guides to Paris on the internet. Rather than bore you with an itinerary that you could probably find in better detail elsewhere, I’ll simply give the highlights with lots and lots of eye candy (aka photos) from our trip.

We broke the trip into two parts: Provence and Paris. We visited Provence first to enjoy the peak lavender season. I was here once before at the beginning of August, having just missed most of the season and seeing the sad leftovers that were literally being harvested before my eyes. This time The lavender was vibrant and fragrant and the rows seemed to go on forever. We stationed ourselves in Manosque to primarily explore the Valensole, but also did day trips to Verdon Gorge, Sisteron, Gordes, and Roussillion.

The second half of our trip was to Paris. We took the fast train from Marseille and arrived in under 4 hours on Bastille Day. We reserved an incredible AirBNB for the week that allowed us to the view the fireworks from the comfort of our very own room. It was an experience I’ll simply never forget. The rest of the week hit all the highlights: the Louvre, Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Monmarte, and even Disneyland Paris. We enjoyed a day trip to Chateau de Chantilly and so much more that I’ll put into photos below.

It was nothing short of the most amazing trip with two of the people I love the most! It’s fun returning to France over and over again, with different travel buddies and seeing it as if it’s the first time.

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LISBON
We flew into Lisbon and rented an AirBNB in Cascais — this was a good middle spot to both Sintra and Lisbon where we were splitting or time. Renting a house the easiest/only (?) way to travel with kids, as I don’t think we would’ve survived in a hotel room! We spent two days exploring Lisbon and these were some of the highlights:
Elevador de Bica – A classic funicular to take you up the hill! You can easily walk up as well, but our kids were thrilled to ride in this!
Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara – A stunning view of the city.
Miradouro de Santa Luzia – Another viewpoint; this one was my favorite as you can see the water!
Carmo Convent – These are historic ruins — it’s small but worth a quick visit!
São Vicente de Fora – A monastery that is a bit off the beaten path but we loved exploring this spot! If you love the blue tiles, this is a must-stop!
Pink Street – Would highly recommend skipping this; it was dirty and sticky and just not worth the time to visit!
Belem Tower – Known as the ceremonial gateway to Lisbon, this 16th-centry fort overlooks the water and makes for a great sunrise or sunset spot!
Jerónimos Monastery – I know what you’re thinking, another monastery! I promise, it’s worth it — just plan to arrive early to queue.

We didn’t get to eat a ton of meals in Lisbon (the joy of traveling with kids!), but the ones we did have were incredible:
Pharmacia Felicidade
Seventh Brunch
Nicolau
Time Out Market

SINTRA
As I mentioned above, we stayed in Cascais and split our time between Lisbon and Sintra. It’s important to note that Sintra is a VERY small town with almost no parking. And many of the main sites either: a. do not have parking or b. do not even allow car access. So the only way to visit is by public transit or a taxi. We drove into Sintra twice; we grouped together things we could drive to and things we could not drive to to make our lives a bit easier. TLDR; do research between planning your Sintra itinerary — this is not a place you can wing it!
On Day 1 we went to Quinta de la Regaleira and Monserrate Palace.
On Day 2, we went to Pena Palace and Castelo dos Mouros.

Sintra (and Cascais!) are right near the beach, so we also visited Praia das Azenhas do Mar and Boca do Inferno.

ALGARVE
We definitely kept ourselves busy while in Lisbon/Sintra, so we planned our second week to be in the Algarve region so we could relax! The beaches here are unreal — some of the prettiest in Europe, if not all of the world. I was surprised to find they had soft, not rocky, sand, and very clear water. A bit of seaweed was really the only disturbance and even that was minor. Most of our days were spent at our pool or the beach, but we also did a bit of exploring as well. Some highlight include:
Lagos – The Algarve Region is HUGE and it can take over an hour to get from one end to the other due to the small road. We wanted to spend some time in one of the other popular areas and loved all the view points in Lagos. Some of our favorite spots were: Praia deo Camilo, Praia de Dona Ana, and Ponta da Piedade. Be sure to stop at Beats and Burritos for an amazing lunch!
Seven Hanging Valleys –
Benagil Caves – Access to this iconic cave is only via water, so you have to plan a boat/kayak/etc ride to get in here! My mom and I went on a kayak tour at sunrise and then went back with the whole family later in the afternoon via boat! The boat tour allowed us to see much more of the coastline but the kayak tour was very intimate, so I was glad to have experienced both!

SEVILLE
Rob and I’s anniversary fell right in the middle of our vacation, so we took a short overnight trip to Seville. On the well (or, well, out of the way), we stopped in Ronda as I’ve always wanted to see this mountaintop city. After a short visit, we head to Seville and started off our evening with tapas and sangria (of course!) at El Rinconcillo — a 350 year old bar and restaurant. The food was incredible and I loved how they wrote your tab on the table! After dinner, we headed straight to Las Setas which is a modern art installation that has a stunning view of the city. If you stay past sunset, they even have a calming light show! We grabbed some churros with drinking chocolate before heading back. The next day, we visited as many highlights as possible: The Spanish Square, Royal Alcázar, and the Cathedral of Seville. I had no idea what to expect, but the opulence of the Cathedral was unlike any I had ever visited — possibly even more than Notre Dame! It was a full, busy day, but we wanted to fit as much into our day as possible before heading back to Algarve!

If you have any questions or need help with your itinerary, drop a comment below!

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Fast forward to 2021 and we were planning our annual girls trip. None of our husbands were super excited about the idea of Greece, so we figured it would be the perfect spot for the three of us girls to explore! 


ATHENS
Emily and I were traveling together from Washington, DC, and had to land in Athens before making our way to Santorini. We extended our layover by a few days so we could probably visit this city. Athens is a large city, but as a tourist, there isn’t TOO much to see. If I’m being honest, you could do Athens in one day if you had from sunrise to sunset. Some of our highlights included the Acropolis, of course, as well as the Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Stoa of Attalos, and the Parthenon. Our favorite view of the Acropolis was from our hotel, Electra Palace Athens, but Areopagus Hill also had a great lookout! Be sure to stop by Little Kook to see the seasonal decor (we visited in October, so it was all Halloween!) and Ellyz Cafe from some delicious treats!

METEORA
Athens also served as our base to visit Meteora. As long as I wanted to visit Greece, Meteora was always part of that vision. Unfortunately, like many of the best spots, it’s far from most other destinations (about 4 hours from Athens). Fortunately, It’s become more popular in the last few years, which ended up being a blessing in disguise as there is now a day trip to this unique spot from Athens! We spent about 8 hours in the shuttle roundtrip, but we were able to catch up on our jet lag and see the stunning landscapes, so it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Meteora is a series of monasteries that were built on pinnacle rock formations — they look as unreal as they sound. While only six of these remain and are active still today, there were 24 in their height. It was truly one of the most unique places I visited and I highly recommend booking a tour with Visit Meteora.

OIA SANTORINI
Finally we were on our way to Santorini to meet up with our third travel bestie, Ally! We stayed in Oia, the most popular of all the town on Santorini. What most people don’t know — including myself before I started doing some research — is that the iconic view of the Oia Blue Domes is extremely limited from the public viewing area. And it’s also very crowded, very, very crowded. Once I realized this, we made the decision to look for a place to stay where we could wake up to that famous view on a daily basis. It was a way for us to truly enjoy it, away from the crowds of day visitors from the cruise ships.  Oia is a beautiful town outside of just the blue domes — the windmills, the cliff houses, Ammoudi Bay, and so much more were a delight to visit. We enjoyed stumbling upon view after view in this gorgeous place.

SUNSET BOAT CRUISE
While in Oia, we had a few excursions. The first was a sunset cruise that took us to see the Red Sand Beach, the White Sand Beach, and the Hot Springs around Santorini — these were all places we wanted to visit that were quite far from Oia, so it was perfect to get them all in one trip. One thing to note that we didn’t realize — you can get off the boat to swim at each stop, but you don’t actually go ON the beaches. This was a bit of a disappointment for me, but we enjoyed the time on our boat nonetheless! Also, I get EXTREME motion sickness and did just fine on this boat with the help of some dramamine! The boat tour finishes back in Ammoudi Bay, where you watch the epic sunset from the boat before returning to the dock.

PETRA KOUZINA COOKING CLASS
Our other big excursion was to Petra Kouzina for a cooking class. Chef George invites attendees into his impeccably decorated cave house to teach five authentic recipes. After class, you dine together on their outdoor patio. Each recipe was better than the last and I’ve already replicated two of them at home for Rob and the kids since I’ve been back!

GREEK EATS
Other things we enjoyed were massages at Canaves Oia Spa and many, many of the best meals of my life! So many talk about the cuisine of France or Italy but the Greek cuisine was the best I’ve ever eaten in another country. Every meal was top notch and I think ate my weight in tzatziki on a daily basis. Here are some of the best foods we ate (followed by just some of the adorable wildlife!).

One thing that surprise me more than anything on this trip The kindness of the Greek people. I’ve been to many places in Europe and have rarely experienced the kind of hospitality we did in all of Greece. Nearly every person we encountered went above and beyond in their service and it did not go unnoticed. Greece was a wonderful country to visit and I truly hope I have the privilege of returning in the future (alongside the greatest company again!).

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We opted to land in Munich (yay for direct flights!) and drive about 3.5 hours south to Ortisei where we stayed at the fabulous Adler Dolomiti. I cannot recommend this fantastic hotel enough! Aside from the hiking which I’ll outline below, we also spent much of our time enjoying the spa and variety of pools here. Ortisei was the perfect base for the first part of our trip; from here we were able to visit many highlights without having to drive more than an hour! Here are a few:

ALPE DI SIUSI
This stunning location was the first we visited and probably my favorite of the whole trip — I liked it so much that we went back a second time! I wouldn’t call this a hike, so much as a long walk (about an hour one way) from the car park with a brief uphill.

SASSOLUNGO
We planned to do a long (5-6 hour) hike here, but jetlag got the best of us! We still took the tiniest, coffin-like cable car up to the top for some epic views!

VAL DI FUNES
In the Val di Funes, we visited both Santa Maddelena & St. John; two beautiful churches set against the iconic Dolomite mountains.

ADOLF MUNKEL
Following sunrise in Val di Funes, we headed to the Adolf Munkel where we hiked. Since we had such an early start, the trail was all ours as we peacefully passed by heards of cows, their bells wildly clanging.

SECEDA RIDGE
Perhaps the view I was most excited for on this trip and it certainly didn’t disappoint! We were sure to stop at Baita Troier Hütte to refuel on some of their famous apple pie!

Following our time in Ortisei, we drove through the Val Gardena and more to get to Cortina d’Ampezzo, which — fun fact — is where they will be hosting the next winter Olympics! We stayed at Dolomiti Lodge Alverà which was a bit on the outskirts of town. While the hotel had fantastic views and a lovely staff, I could definitely see the benefit to being within walking distance to more restaurants. That being said, it was a great stay and another perfect base for more adventures on our trip! From here, we visited:

LAGO DI BRAIES
This is one of the most popular spots in the Dolomites so we were sure to get here to catch the sun rise! We enjoyed a short walk around the lake followed by renting a boat — paddling was harder than it looked ;)

TRE CIME DI LAVAREDO
One of the most popular hikes in the area, this circuit took us all the way around this iconic viewpoint. This was rated as an ‘easy’ hike and we saw MANY kids doing it, but we found it to be moderate. A couple we were chatting with perfectly described it as mentally challenging!

CIMA CADIN
This Insta-famous spot lived up to all the hype. We did this short hike following Tre Cime and the worst part of it was having to walk so close to the edge the entire time! But boy, oh boy, that view!!!

LAKE SORAPIS
We almost skipped this hike due to potential rain, but decided to go for it and I am SO glad we did! Definitely a more challenging hike (almost straight up hill), it’s one of those that the pay off doesn’t come until the very end but it is oh-so worth it!

OLPERERHÜTTE
As we headed back to Munich, we knew we wanted to do a hike along the way and this one fit the bill being not too far out of the way! You start at the bottom of the lake and hike all the way up get this overhead view that is simply jaw dropping! I wish it had been a clearer day, but the scenery was like nothing else we’d experienced.

MUNICH
We finally made our way back to Munich! This is a city that we had visited on our first ever trip to Europe nearly a decade prior, so it was fun walking around again to take in the sights! Our dear friends who live abroad even journeyed to spend the night with us so we could visit all the most touristy beer gardens and watch robots make drinks! It was such a wonderful trip and I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to my AMAZING parents for watching our two sweet, but wild!, boys while we were gone!

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…Enter Disney. I’ve been a small handful of times in my life — I’m absolutely not an expert, but I’ve at least been to the parks and thought I would have no trouble planning this since I’ve tackled multi-country trips in the past, right Wrong. Oh how wrong I was. Disney is a special sort of beast, complete with all sorts of “insider” tips and tricks that make your life easier, so they say. I’m here to share all my knowledge with you! This is a trip that was planned by a mom and dad with a one and four year old boys, so that you can have a reference of what we were working with!

First up, Disney World:

NARROW YOUR FOCUS
Orlando, if you don’t know, is overflowing with things to do and see, so my first tip would be, after determining how long you are traveling, to narrow down exactly what you want to do. Since we had little kids, we knew wanted to focus on Disney & Universal parks — saving things like Legoland, water parks, and Space Center for a return visit. We were visiting for 5 full days, excluding the days we arrived and left, so we planned for 3 days at Disney and 2 days at Universal. To play it safe, we planned on 2 days at Magic Kingdom (MK), 1 day at Hollywood Studios (HS), and 1 day at each of the Universal Parks (US & IOA). We ended up whizzing through MK, so we decided to change our plans and visit Animal Kingdom (AK) on our extra day. Pro Tip: If the park reservation system is still in effect, book what you THINK you need at MK first. It’s by and far the busiest park and the first to sell out, so you want to ensure you have those reservations secured. AK or Epcot are typically easier to book at the last minute. 

Oh and don’t try and be a hero and plan anything for the day you arrive. Trust me… everyone is exhausted and you likely cannot get into your hotel room to refresh, so it’s not worth it. Arrival day should be just that :) We did dinner out the first night is Disney Springs and that was more than enough after an exceptionally long day!

STAY ON THE PROPERTY
If at all possible, stay on the property. Trust me — I really, really tried to avoid this. The cost differential alone seemed to make it not worth it, but after multiple people tried to convince me otherwise, I finally gave in. As I mentioned, we aren’t ones to travel to Orlando on a regular basis, so we figured we might as well make the most of our trip — I totally understand this isn’t feasible for everyone, but staying on the property gave us a lot of flexibility to:
1. Ability to leave the parks for naps and return later in the day without having to drive super far.
2. Early entrance and late departure to/from the parks is exclusive to those staying on the property.
3. Shuttles!!! Avoid driving if you don’t want to have a car!

Also the staff is just as amazing as everyone says they are — we experienced some of that infamous “Disney magic” on our first day; Corey at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, you truly save our trip!

GENIE+
By the time you’re reading this, it’s totally possible Disney will have a new fast pass system in place since it seems every changing. No matter what system they have, do your research on it WELL in advance as it will be a lifesaver for your visit. The Genie+ system was not super intuitive, so I read blog after blog until I understood every aspect of it… or so I thought. There was still a bit of the learning curve the first few hours of actually using it, but it was so helpful that it saved us an entire DAY at MK. We would book our next ride right after “tapping” in to the previous ride so we we always knew where we were going next. We saved HOURS of waiting (which would’ve been hours of whining — hello, one and four year olds!)… most, if not every ride had a 60+ minute wait that day. And if you think you missed a slot on one of the popular rides, keep checking — they continue to open up!

This app also allowed us to order food, find where we were in the park, and locate bathrooms at the drop of a hat! Hop on that free wi-fi and enjoy!

MISC.
Bring as many of your own snacks as possible! If you are going through the park, you might not have a ton of time to stop! Disney does have AMAZING food, so be sure to set aside time to grab your favorites!

If you have kids under 5 years old, do not depend on Disney stroller rentals… it’s basically a giant piece of plastic that no one could ever actually nap. In-park naps were essential for our visit, so trust me on this! Bring your own and save the time and $$$ at the rental counter!

Be sure to check out the entertainment! Disney actually has some really cool shows that our kiddos loved! The fireworks, of course, were especially magical. They change from day-to-day, so plan your park visit accordingly with the entertainment you want to see!

The child swap program is AMAZING, taking full advantage of this so both parents can ride — as a bonus, your kiddo gets to ride twice!

Plan an “off” day! We didn’t do this to save the expense of an extra hotel night, but if you can, it would make a great reset between parks!

Our next stop was Universal and we were SO grateful to go here second! The entire system was much less convoluted and we enjoyed it even more than our time as Disney World! I don’t have a lot different to share here, but I’ll give a few quick tips!

STAY ON SITE:
Again, staying on the property has a ton of perks! We stayed at the Hard Rock (which has the greatest kid-suites ever) and were able to walk to both parks and City Walk. Game changer. You could also take the ferry! We didn’t use our car once :)

The US properties also allow early entrance AND free fast passes to those who stay on site! Double win!

And, bonus… Universal Parks have a lot more “adult” rides than Disney so there were things we wanted to ride without making our young kids wait in line for no ride at the end! Rob and I took turns going back to the parks at night — alone — while the other watched the sleep kiddos so we could enjoy the parks a bit too! It was so easy to do so by staying within walking distance.

DINING:
The food in the parks Not so great. This is more your standard park fare of burgers, hot dogs, fries, etc. Take some time to seek out advanced options so you can plan being in that part of the park near lunchtime! Wizarding World has some great options!

WIZARDING WORLD:
This, of course, needs an entire section to itself :) :) Our oldest loves Harry Potter as much as Rob and I do, so we went here first thing each morning and essentially had the whole place to ourselves while everyone else waited in lines! We did the short show at Ollivanders, selected a wand, drank butterbeer, and explored the shops before the park even officially opened for the day.

The frozen butterbeer and the butterbeer ice cream were to die for. The stuff in Honeydukes I could take or leave (although I love the cute packaging), but definitely get your fill of butterbeer!

You can only ride the Hogwarts Express if you have the 2-Park ticket, so purchase that for at least one day so you can experience the train — it’s totally worth it! And you land right in Diagon Alley!

I’m sure there are million more things I could share, but I’ll leave it there! The TLDR Do your research in advance — it will save you so much time, and so much stress while you are at the parks so you are able to fully enjoy the experience while you were in it! I won’t lie… the first day and a half of our trip we kept looking at each other, asking why we came here in the first place and by the end We were asking when we could go back!

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In honor of our getaway, I wanted to share some highlights and memories that I never want to forget!

GERMANY
+ The $100 cab ride to Ally’s house from the airport — the driver said the credit card machine didn’t work until I insisted and it magically went through… imagine that!
+ The hike to get up to the apartment with all my luggage. How she got Ikea mattresses up there alone, I will never know.
+ Walking around the adorable town and stumbling upon the best bakery — only in Europe!
+ Eating so much Ritter Sport chocolate in every flavor imaginable.

FRANCE
+ Going down one-way streets, bus lanes, and being totally lost in Colmar in the complete darkness — and then having to trek over construction sites with our luggage to get to the hotel.
+ Ally spending a small fortune (jk John!!!….) on tea to tell us when we left that she does, in fact, hate tea.
+ Seeing the absurdly large stork nests on top of buildings.
+ Finding it impossible to get a tasting of wine — full glasses only!
+ Eating all the macarons and pretzels we could find.
+ The other tourists who told us it was tacky to get photos with the sign.
+ The kindest ‘travelling’ gentleman who helped us get a ride from one town to the next. Why is it so hard to find taxis & ubers here!?
+ Find all the souvenir shops and visiting each and every one in search of the best ornaments!
+ Sleeping in the “loft” and having to try not to die on the wooden ladder in the middle of the night!
+ My lovely birthday surprises — flowers from Ally (“It’s a gesture!”), dinner from Steph (“Wait, I don’t have euros!”), and wine from Rob (“what’s this data charge notice#8221;).

And some iPhone snaps!

SWITZERLAND
+ Tossing our mint shots (yuck) on the way up to Zermatt in the shuttle.
+ Sitting at a NOT reserved table at breakfast to later be told we had assigned seats.
+ Being complete tourists with the Toblerone sign — I mean, they have it there for a reason!
+ Going to a viewpoint with Ally to find out that the cable car was closed. The way up “You walk”. Walk we did — for miles and miles! But the view was worth it, as was the turquoise lake and running into someone from UVA!
+ Stumbling into “Paradise” after said walk and being drawn in to the most epic wine bar with the most stunning view and sultry music… only to find out it was closed… for the season.
+ Being completely out of place on the lift to Glacier Paradise with all the skiiers. I’ll never forget the older gentleman who gave us tips on crossing the border with illegal substances — why!?!
+ The never-ending switchbacks from hell on the drive from Zermatt to Lucerne. Still shocked we made it without anyone getting sick!
+ All the puppies! But especially the man who had three Bernese Mountain dogs.
+ The best meal of my life — raclette, black stone steak, chocolate fondue, and all the bread. All with our wonderful waiter from Minnesota aka Venezula.
+ The worst meal of my life with the server who gave us used bread in a basket with glass. That was some dank ass pizza bread through.
+ Slipping on the ice because I forgot my hiking boots — sneakers are not made for snow!
+ Swimming in the most luxurious outdoor hot tub/pool with a view of the Alps — and Ally loving me enough to buy a disposable (read: diaper material) swimming suit.
+ The woman at our hotel who just had the hardest time figuring out how to get us water. Why does Europe hate water How do they survive
+ The same woman who didn’t want to recommend any spas and insisted on Googling.
+ And, of course, that same woman who wouldn’t look at us for fear of new questions the following day.
+ Farewell dinner at McDonald’s. Micky D’s on vacation is just a standard at this point!

And some iPhone snaps here too!

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Hilton Head Island in SC has become our go-to beach to visit with the kids. We’ve been fortunate enough to come here with my parents every year since Landon was born; this was our first time bringing both him and Gavin. The age gap certainly brought new challenges compared to past years. But we’re heading back next year, so I think it’s safe to say we all had a blast! Below are a few highlights from our trip!

We always stay in the same neighborhood and LOVE that each of the houses has their own pool! We stayed a new house this year (due to our old rental no longer allowing dogs — boo) and one of the highlights was the hot tub and the outdoor TV. None of us are huge TV watchers, but there was just something so cool about watching football from the pool!

We, of course, also spent a ton of time at the beach. We tried having Gavin nap there — which worked well for the first few days, but then he quickly became too excited about all the sounds happening around him! He loved putting his toes in the water and watching it go back and forth. And, of course, trying to eat all the sand.

Landon loved building sandcastles (so he could knock them down), getting water for his moats, chasing Granger, and burying each other in the sand. And in true HHI fashion, the beach was always nearly empty so we basically had the run of the place! Landon was more scared of the water than in past years… so we certainly didn’t tell him when we saw a shark in the surf (first time spotting in like — 7(?) visits!). Rob and I loved coming down here to walk Granger at sunrise and sunset.

Also new this year was a pirate boat ride! I’m fairly anti entertainment on boats, but this was actually SUPER well done and kept the kids engaged the entire ride! It was just the right length and had an adorable story, complete with defeating mean pirates and finding the treasure!

And in true HHI tradition, we wrapped up the week with some family photos on the beach taken by yours truly!

Already looking forward to a return trip in 2022! If you’re headed to the area and want park/activity/beach/restaurant suggestions, I’m always happy to help!

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So when I found myself with unexpected time off this June due to schedule changes, I knew I wanted to take advantage of that time, but I also knew it was less than a month away. When I suggested to Rob we go on a trip… with our three year old and three month old… he looked at me like I was crazy. But he slowly warmed up to the idea, because almost two years of no travel will do that to you and we promised to continue exploring even when we had kids. We opened up travel wishlist (yes, I have an actual document for this because I’m so Type A) to see where we could realistically go… in the US… with two kids… during June. We landed on a National Parks trip and selected Utah simply based on availability of accommodations! We had previously visited the southern part of the state, just before Landon’s first birthday, to see Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon, so we thought it would be fun to head north to Moab for Arches and Canyonland. We also added in a few days in Salt Lake City, strictly so we could do activities just for the kids!

Rob and I were both most nervous for the flight — him for how much stuff we had to bring and me for not annoying everyone around us. Luckily Landon is finally at the age where he loves watching movies, so this was one of the rare times we let him just plug in and enjoy! Between that and the endless snacks, he was quiet as a mouse. Gavin, of course, needed a bit more attention, but also surprised both of us with sleeping about half the flight and eating a good amount of the rest. We have the tendency to expect the worst and get pleasantly surprised when things aren’t so bad!

The rental car pickup, however, was another story. After the four hour flight, we were welcomed with an hour wait to get our car and another hour wait to install the seats. But we were finally on our way! We stopped in downtown SLC — seriously one of the easiest cities to navigate and get to from an airport ever — for lunch and a bit of playtime for Landon before our long drive to Moab. We made an 11th hour decision to do an Airbnb instead of a hotel and couldn’t have been happier with our choice… if I can leave you with nothing else, it’s that space trumps everything (even a pool and room service!) with kids. And snacks, lots and lots of snacks.

If you’ve ever been to the Utah National Parks, you’ll know that it gets HOT there during the day… it is, after all, the desert. We planned to start our days at sunrise and hike for a few hours before heading home around 10AM. I know that sounds ambitious with a 6AM sunrise and two kids, but coming from east coast time made it much easier — we basically stayed on our own time zone and went to bed early every night!

The one exception was our longest hike to Delicate Arch; it was a decent length, uphill trail and we didn’t want to do it in the dark, so we started off closer to sunset. The kids rallied hard (aka we carried both of them uphill the whole time) and we made it! It was a perfect sunset before heading back at dusk, dodging bats that kept dive bombing my face!

While in the area, we also visited Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park, both of which I’d highly recommend. Basically, all of Utah should be a National Park because it’s all so jaw-dropping and unique!

After our time in Moab, we headed back up to SLC for a few days of things just for Landon. We spent time at the zoo, where he was elated to feed a rhino, but somehow even more excited to ride the carousel. We also went to Antelope Island State Park, which was a beautiful place that reminded me a bit of our time in New Zealand. We were lucky enough to see some of the wild buffalo roaming around. Finally, we wrapped up our trip with a visit to a “hands-on” aquarium where Landon was able to feed otters, kinkajous, a sloth (his favorite), stingrays, brids, and so much more! Our flight home was, thankfully, as uneventful as the first.

I’m so glad I didn’t let the over-planner in me talk me out of taking this last minute trip — after a year of no travel, it was so nice to get to explore with both of our boys!

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The past few years, we’ve rented a home in Palmetto Dunes, which is a community that offers a private beach. This is AMAZING because, even on a “regular” year, the beach is nearly empty! You easily have 50-100 yards between and the next group, so whether you’re playing in the sand or jumping in the waves,  you feel completely alone! Here are some of our favorite beach and pool days!

Of course, the photographer in me made everyone dress up for some quick beach photos! I know I’m biased, but how handsome is this toddler!

As I mentioned, we mostly stayed at our rental home, but we did go on a boat ride to see dolphins and saw SO MANY! There was a pod of about 6, including two babies, and they kept popping up to say hello!

A few of our other favorite things: bike rides, visiting the butterfly house, seeing/chasing/riding the wildlife (we saw a tiny gator and Landon was obsessed!), and finally getting to spot the baby turtles hatching!

We may have missed small things like visiting some of our favorite restaurants in person, but in the end, it actually allowed us more time at home and on the beach which was okay with our wild toddler who loves the water! Given the uncertain of how things will unfold over the coming year, we’ve already planned for our trip back in 2021 and I think we are all looking forward to another trip to our favorite beach! See you in 2021, HHI!

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After a long day of travel (he did great, btw! I’m not sure what it is but he seems to do really well on flights which is amazing!), our first stop was a bounce house part to get out some energy, followed by In and Out! I think it’s safe to say he is a fan! In the evening, we headed to the Museum of Ice Cream, which, turns out, is not really a museum. Think of it as more of an Instagram experience. Not sure I’d ever go back, but they do give you different kinds of ice cream throughout the entire “tour” which made it worth it once!

The next morning we went to one of my favorite breakfast spots of all time — Brenda’s. Despite a major toddler meltdown (jet lag is real), we made it through and then headed to the zoo! The best part was easily feeding the giraffe, although Landon would tell you it was riding the choo choo through the bubble tunnel and playing on their epic playground!

Somehow, we managed to get up just after sunrise the following day to catch the morning light at the Golden Gate bridge. I remembered doing this on my last trip and it was one of my favorite experiences. Landon loved running up and down the beach, chasing birds and playing in the sand. It was a short hike to and from the beach, so we ate some well deserved Bob’s Donuts afterwards and then headed for the true SF experience… riding a cable car! Everyone else had the same idea, but we loved it nonetheless!

That evening, we headed to Pier 39 which normally I’d tell someone visiting to avoid at all costs… but, it’s truly the perfect place for kids! Barking at the sea lions and riding the carousel was the best way to end the day!

And, of course, our miscellaneous airport/plane adventures… we survived 11 hours with this kiddo, thanks to empty seats in the back!

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But this year was a little different than in the past… just like last year, we took the 9-hour car ride with Landon and Granger and arrived at the beach on Saturday afternoon after a short stop in Raleigh the night before. The first two days were perfect — empty beaches, great food, and leisurely bike rides. It was on the third evening after our bike ride that we returned to a messy kitchen due to Granger taking a little dive for some delicious treats. Unfortunately, one of those items was CORN ON THE COB… x2! Yep, you read that right, she ate two entire corn cobs! We had to rush her off for emergency surgery which put a bit of a damper on the rest of our trip. She’s a very strong headed pup, to say the least, and trying to keep her on bed rest was nothing short of a feat (she is way too athletic for her own good and could literally break out of anywhere we put her — it was hard not being in our own environment!). Luckily my amazing parents were a huge help (no surprise!) and we all survived, but it was a big curve ball that we certainly were not expecting! We all took turns babysitting sweet Granger which wasn’t ideal, but we made it work! 

The rest of the trip unfolded mostly as planned! We visited a few of our annual favorites, including Skull Creek and Chow Daddy’s, and of course many trips to Hilton Head Ice Cream for the best cookie monster ice cream that turns everyone’s mouth blue! The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful (we *just* missed the hurricane that landed a few days after we departed!) and the beaches pristine as always! We always leave with tears in our eyes which is a sign of perfect trip in my opinion… and with fingers crossed that our next trip back will be sooner than later!

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