It's a Family Day in the LBK!

This blog post is sponsored by Visit Lubbock, an organization I was honored and excited to work with because of all the great things they do for our community. They work hard to be at the forefront of all things new and exciting in Lubbock and are my first go-to for news and events!

You know we love a good adventure- even if we don’t have to go far to find it! And thankfully- we don’t! When Visit Lubbock contacted me about doing a Family Day in Lubbock for National Travel and Tourism Week, I couldn’t say “yes!” fast enough.

Shawn and I grew up in a small West Texas town about 3 hours from Lubbock, and truly never expected to stay after moving here just after we were married. But, we have! And I believe we’ve stayed for many reasons:

1. The People. Truly, Lubbock is one of the friendliest places on earth. We have found wonderful friends and a church community here like none other, and we are so thankful for them.

2. The Culture. We love living in a city that has a large university (fun sports games to go to and other events, beautiful campus to walk through, camps and programs for the kids), and a thriving arts community. Being an artist myself, the arts scene here constantly inspires me.

3. The Food. We have a LOT of GREAT places to eat- driving through town, it doesn’t take long to see that! There is always something new to try and discover, plus tried-and-true faves.

4. The Size. Lubbock isn’t the biggest city in Texas, and we like it that way. “Across town” is a 20 minute drive. It’s not too big, and not too small. Coming from a smaller town, I thought I’d really made it big when I moved to a city with a Starbucks!

So, last Saturday we set off on a Family Fun Day in Lubbock- and it was so much fun, we are definitely going to be doing it again soon!

1st Stop: J&B Coffee

We are a little partial to this coffee shop because it is the one housed comfortably in our neighborhood- but if we ever were to move, we’d sure miss it! It’s a cozy study spot for many TTU students, but there are also a lot of regulars here.

Things you must try if you’ve never been:

• Red Raider Royale (so rich and delicious!)

• Lavender Cold Brew (seasonal)

• Vietnamese Iced Coffee

• Any of their locally-roasted coffees- our personal faves are Costa Rica La Minita and Governor’s Cup

Other great local coffee shops:

Sugar Brown’s

Pearl Tea

Monomyth Coffee

Yellow House Coffee

Tova Coffeehouse

Tumbleweed and Sage

He-Brews

2nd Stop: Texas Tech University’s Public Art Collection

Texas Tech has a beautiful campus sprinkled with amazing art and sculpture- and this is no accident. Through the Public Art Program, public artworks are funded using one percent of the estimated total cost of each new major capital project. I love this program and what it has done for campus and for art lovers like us!

The program has put together several free walking tracks where you can view the amazing sculptures and other art- many of which are interactive. Our kids LOVED this “scavenger hunt” and it was the perfect way to expel some extra energy they had due to the hot chocolates at J&B.

We had never done a walking track before and we are excited to invite friends to do it again- there is so much to see and did I mention it is completely free?

Other cool things to check out:

American Wind Power Center

Silent Wings Museum

Buddy Holly Statue and West Texas Walk of Fame

Buddy Holly Museum

Next Stop: Lunch @ Tom and Bingo’s

Tom and Bingo’s is a local favorite and exactly what you want in a BBQ joint. It’s got limited seating, delicious brisket, and a line out the door. We were lucky to get there while there were seats available and they hadn’t run out of food! (Yes, they run out everyday- it’s that good!)

My parent's joined us for lunch and despite our large group the employees at Tom and Bingo’s were so kind and helpful. We love their brisket sandwiches and Bingo burgers. Worth a stop and worth the wait if there is a line.

Other local lunch faves:

Dirk’s

Caprock Cafe

The Crafthouse Gastropub

Capital Pizza

Choochai

Burklee Hill Vineyards

Blue Sky

Next Stop: The National Ranching Heritage Center

If you’ve never been to the NRHC, they have something for everyone- and the perfect time to go is a beautiful West Texas day like we had! Here, there is a ton of history and they’ve gathered ranch buildings, old homes and artifacts of life on the Plains and displayed them in a city-like configuration where you can walk through them and see just how they were used.

Our kids loved looking for Jackrabbit Joe throughout the property and finally found him at the train depot. The NRHC hosts a variety of events throughout the year- like the Candlelight at the Ranch during the holidays- and it is a truly magical experience.

Other fun activities for kids in Lubbock:

Play Street Museum

YWCA Sun ‘N Fun

Prairie Dog Town

Joyland

Altitude Trampoline Park

Science Spectrum Museum

Lubbock Lake Landmark

Stars & Stripes Drive In Movie Theater

4ore Golf

Miss Megan’s Make Room

Texas Tech Sporting Events (check out their kids club!)

Frisbee Golf at Mae Simmons Park

Buffalo Springs Lake

South Plains Fair

Caprock Canyons State Park

Next Stop: The LHUCA and CASP Studios

The arts district in Lubbock is special to us and there are so many cool things to do and see there! It is full of fun, colorful murals and sculpture- worth a visit if even to just walk around. At the LHUCA, we were able to see some amazing artwork and then had the opportunity to make clay pinch pots at the clay studio! Instructor Mica was so kind and great with the kids- we had a blast!

The LHUCA hosts the First Friday Art Trail every month and is one of our favorite things to do in the “Hub City”. They also have many art classes - for kids and adults! They’re hosting youth summer camps, too- check it out here.

Other cool downtown spots to check out:

Two Docs Brewery

LBK Brewery

Buddy Holly Hall

CASP

Jux Ta Posh

The Garden

Last Stop: Dinner at Triple J Chophouse

Always a fave with us- Triple J! This restaurant has been a staple in our Lubbock life- locally brewed beer, live music, and delicious eats with a fun atmosphere. We love pretty much the entire menu, but have a few things we always order:

Raider Red Ale (brewed by Triple J)

Chilton (the local cocktail created first in Lubbock)

House salad with house dressing (lemon vinaigrette- SO good!)

Wedge salad (equally delicious!)

Any of their steaks- we love the Miss Kitty Kat and Sir Nick

Pizzas (kids always get this)

Chicken “Potted” Pie

And of course their house-made rolls and butter- you WILL leave full, I promise!

Other great dinner spots with kids:

The Plaza

Cook’s Garage

Teddy Jack’s

Picosos

And because mom and dad need a date night every now and then:

La Diosa

Stellas & Manhattan 9

Italian Garden

The West Table

Table 82

Cook’s Garage

La Diosa

The Funky Door

Burklee Hill Vineyards

The Nicolette

Lastly, I wanted to include some of our local favorites in other categories:

Snacks and Treats:

The Pie Bar

Holly Hop Ice Cream Shop

The Soda Shack

Kurbside

Shopping:

Jux Ta Posh

Odds and Ends

Barque

The Heritage Press

J Hoffman

Vibeage

Wineries:

English Newsom

McPherson Cellars

Burklee Hill

Llano Estacado Winery

Pheasant Ridge

Bolen Vineyards

Thank you to Visit Lubbock for giving us the gift of family memory making in our city! I hope this blog post has been helpful and will try to update my lists as I think of new places or places I have missed. AND- if you’d like to add to my lists, feel free to comment your local faves!

Our Trip To Monahans Sandhills State Park

Mid-December of this year, I began anticipating the stir-crazy that inevitably happens in our household when our kids are out of school for more than a week. I don’t like it, they don’t like it, and I’ve learned that if I don’t have any options, the ship can sink rather quickly.

So I started searching for some easy (and COVID/social distancing friendly) day-trip options for our city- Lubbock, TX- and friends, let me tell you- there weren’t a lot of options that we hadn’t already done- save one.

We’d never visited the sandhills outside of Monahans.

So I ordered some sleds and put it on the calendar. It’s about a 3 hour road trip for us which isn’t great, but Shawn and I did enjoy a quiet ride home while the kids were asleep after a long day.

Visiting Monahans Sandhills State Park 

For those of you who’ve never heard of this truly unique place, it is a state park located between Monahans and Odessa, Texas, which is almost the middle of nowhere. The park almost seems to pop up out of the earth with an ethereal almost moon-like feel- just huge expanses of sand dunes all around. It is beautiful and unusual- and the perfect place to take some sleds and do some Texas-style sledding!

The sand is deceptive- see those people on the hill? They were at least a half mile away!

It was early January when we visited and the weather stayed at a warm-ish 50 degrees. The wind did pick up in late afternoon- which was very unpleasant- especially if you’re facing the wrong way with your mouth open...ask me how I know, haha. I am glad, though, we visited in winter as I would suspect that summertime is brutal in the heat. 

We had a great time and it was a day trip we will likely repeat. Here are my tips if you’re planning a trip:

• There is an entrance fee to the park, but at the time we went the office was closed and there was a link to pay online listed at the entrance. The fee is $4 per person, and the park is open until 10 pm. 

• You can camp at the park if that’s your thing- I’d love to be there for sunrise/sunset to photograph the area- I am sure it is beautiful. More info on camping here.

• There were restrooms, but at the time we visited, they were locked. If you have littles, I would definitely bring a port a potty in the car- here is the one we have had for years and has saved us many times!

• Go in the fall, winter, or early spring- otherwise you will seriously risk getting sunburned and dehydrated. It’s a literal desert, y’all.

• There are many parking spaces and picnic tables with grills in easy walking distance to the dunes. There was even a volleyball net set up ready for play. 

Overall, we found it easy to get around. We found many great hills to sled down and you don’t actually go super fast unless you go down a man-made path. It’s very comparable to sledding in the snow. 

Even our 4 year old was going down the steepest hill and the sand is so soft it really cushions the fall if you do take a tumble.

That being said, it can be tough to climb back up a hill and would not be a great excursion for anyone who has difficulty walking or climbing. It’s very much like walking in powdery snow.

What to bring:

1. Sunscreen (yes, even in the winter the reflection of the sun on the sand is BRIGHT- our fave here)

2. Cooler with water and snacks (we left this in our car and just hiked back for a snack time)

3. Sunglasses

4. Case or zipper pocket for phones/cameras (the sand will easily get into these items, and you’ll want to make sure they stay protected)

5. Shoes: depending on what time of year you go, you may not even need them. The sand is very soft but there are weeds/rocks (they’re easy to avoid). Most of our crew wore tennis shoes which will need to be washed, and Shawn chose boots which were heavier and harder to walk in but more sand-proof. So shoes are really personal preference. 

6. Beach bag (with waterproof lining so you can spray sand off later)

7. Change of clothes- I brought a change of clothes for all the kids and we put all the sandy clothing in a beach bag so that my car wasn’t filled with sand. This worked really well- there are restrooms you could change in, but we just did it in the car 

8. Sleds- I didn’t see anywhere you could rent these, so we brought our own. Here are the ones we have and they worked well!

Optional:

1. Folding lawn chairs- we saw a few families using these near the picnic tables and thought it was super smart.

2. Sand toys- our girls love playing in the sand when we go to the beach and probably would have enjoyed playing with some sand toys there, too- however, none of the sand is wet so it wouldn’t stick together, but hey- worth a shot if it means a few more minutes of entertainment for the kiddos!

3. Volleyball- like I said, they had a volleyball court set up, which is fun!

4. Frisbee

5. Backup battery Phone charger- service for us wasn’t great, and our phone batteries dies quickly that day. I wish I had brought my backup charger.

6. Lightweight backpack or Camelbak- this would be especially helpful if you are going during the warmer months. Mine is much older than this one, but I have had it since college and my Camelbak Cloudwalker is frequently used by both Shawn and me (camping, hiking, Disney, soccer/baseball games), and it’s held up so well. Definitely worth the investment!

I hope this has been helpful! In a year where travel was limited, I was thankful to find some neat places not too far away to create memories with our kids. They have talked about this day trip a lot since and keep wanting to go back to sled in the sand!

girls' birthday visit to the American Girl store Dallas

A few years ago my mom arrived at my house with a very special box I hadn’t seen in a long time. It looks like an old Victorian chest- woven taupe fabric edged with leather and gold buckles. Inside was a sweet memory- my Samantha doll, and all her accessories I used to love playing with years ago.

I received my Samantha doll the first year, and for many years after, my grandmother would add to her collection. She had a school desk, a watercolor set, and a beautiful party dress. I even had a dress to match one of hers. Every piece was special, and I loved reading the books that accompanied Samantha and told about her life growing up in the Victorian era.

A year or so ago, my daughters discovered my doll, which I am still a little possessive over, haha! They loved playing with her and all her special things- and I knew I wanted to get them a doll of their own from the American Girl store.

So, this year for their birthdays, we did just that! Liv and Lucy’s birthdays are 1 day apart, so it was the perfect opportunity to head to the Dallas store and celebrate! My niece Hayden Kate’s birthday is a few days before my girls’, so it worked out perfectly to celebrate all 3.

I let the girls pick out a special outfit at Target to wear, and of course they found the glitter unicorn headbands 😂. They ended up looking pretty cute! Quick photo with Dad before heading to the girls-only party.

Excited girls ready to go in!

I made advance reservations at the American Girl Bistro (I almost waited too late- call as much in advance as you can!) for brunch, and we headed to the store first thing that morning. I was so thankful that my mom, sister, and her daughter could come join the party.

We chose to forego the party option since it was just family that day, and I brought my own candles and lighter so we could sing to the girls, which worked out great. I’m still glad we made that decision, because our server ended up bringing them a birthday cupcake at the end of the meal anyway (we gave her a great tip! ;). However, there was a larger party going on near us, which happened to be for the daughter of a friend (kismet!)- and it looked like the girls were having a blast.

The menu has a set price for kids and adults, so that made budgeting easy- you can view the menu here. The food was plentiful- and good- not great- but the atmosphere was fun and staff was kind and helpful.

I had read that the Bistro has small highchairs for the dolls, and was sad that we would need to eat before shopping, so the girls wouldn’t have a doll to sit with. But we were very excited when we arrived and they had quite a few dolls to borrow for the meal. So, each of our girls got to pick a doll to sit with them. They LOVED this, and the servers even set plates and cups for the dolls, which was fun.

Once brunch was over, it was time to go downstairs and pick out a doll. I was just as excited as my girls were! I do wish that we had done a little more research before we went to the store, and perhaps picked out a doll online before we went. Having a plan on which doll each would get would have taken some of the stress out of buying 3 new dolls for our strong-willed 3, 4, and 5 year olds! But, it wasn’t too bad.

The sales people who are on the floor are very helpful, and in some of our chaos, explained to me that there are Bitty Babies, who look like actual babies, Wellie Wishers, who are 14” dolls- slightly smaller than the “norm”, American Girl dolls, who are the character dolls based in a particular time period (like my Samantha doll), and Truly Me dolls, who have a variety of different features and are made so that kids can have one that look like themselves (or not!).

The girls ended up getting the Truly Me dolls for the girls- and it was fun to find the ones with the same hair color, eye color, freckles or no freckles, etc. We also picked up a few accessory sets and extra outfits.

One of the things I think will be fun now that the girls have their own dolls is that you can bring them back to the store for a variety of services- hair styling, ear piercing- they even do real ear piercing on girls. Plus, we have an easy gift option for the next birthday/Christmas- because the accessories are endless! I love the variety and diversity that American Girl has in their products.

All in all, it was a great experience and I am sure we will be back- maybe for an Afternoon Tea and hair braiding!

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how we like to Disney

After posting our most recent Disney trip recap, I thought it would be helpful to post our best tips on “how we like to Disney”. Having been many times with infants to toddlers and many adults, we have honed in on a few ways we like to do a Disney trip. Here are our top tips:

Liv and Lucy at the Art of Animation Resort.

• Use a travel agent that specializes in Disney. Yep, it’s a thing- and if you just do one of these things, let it be this one. A Disney-specialized travel agent will take the largest amount of stress off your shoulders, be able to advise you on when and how to do things, and even make reservations and schedules for you. We used Ashly with Foerster Travel, who is also our friend and has been to Disney something like 30+ times! She was amazing, kept up with all our reservations and even let us know when it was time to book dining and fast passes.

• Stay at a Disney resort. I get it- Disney can be expensive- but you’re paying for convenience. And much of that convenience is due to the perks of staying a Disney resort. When you stay at a Disney resort, you have free transportation (via bus or the new skyliner) to every park and every other Disney resort. Your bags are checked from your departure flight straight to your hotel room. Your room keys are on your magic band, giving you one less thing to carry. Each of the parks have Extra Magic Hours (extra early or late opening/closing hours for Disney resort guests). Not to mention that the resorts themselves are a vacation. Each is elaborately themed and fun with their own pools, shops, and special features. For us, being at a Disney resort has been a huge part of the experience. There are a ton of resorts to choose from, and from our experience, even the Value Resorts are great quality- we stayed at Art of Animation this last time, and absolutely loved it!

• Go for more than 4 days, get the Park Hopper tickets, and take a break/resort day. Again, yes- this is the more expensive option- but the more days you book, the better rate you will receive on both your room and your park tickets. Since there are 4 main parks, we have decided it is worth it to book at least one extra day, so that you don’t have the pressure of trying to cover an entire park in just one day. (It’s pretty much impossible with kids!). We had 5 full days this last time, and would have loved 1 more just so we could have had a resort day and gone to the pool. It was, however, so nice to have the park hopper option, which means we were able to bounce from one park to the next on the same day. This allowed us to go back and revisit some favorite rides and some we weren’t able to do on the last day of our vacation.

• Don’t try to do it all. I put this tip here, because if you’re like me, you want to get the best bang for your buck and get the whole experience. One of the reasons we keep going back is because Disney is so, so good at constantly improving and changing things- there’s just no way you’ll ever do it all in one trip. So, go knowing that each trip will be different and remember it’s impossible to do everything!

• Reserve everything you can in advance. This includes dining reservations (meals with characters book up very quickly!) and Fast Passes (available 30 days before your trip). You can do this on the My Disney Experience app which is essential to a great stay at Disney. Food is MY favorite souvenir, always- so I did lots of research on the best places to eat at the Disney Food Blog, who were right on in their recommendations! Since we opted for the quick service meal plan this trip, we didn’t need to do any dining reservations in advance- more on that next…

This was a quick-service meal in Pandora at Animal Kingdom, and it was delicious! Knox loved his cheeseburger “pods” and Shawn was eating some sort of Asian-noodle stir fry and a mysterious green beer- which was also great!

• Do a Dining Plan. Guys, I did the math. I really, actually, ran the numbers on what it would cost us to feed 5 people, and decided the dining plan was worth it. Disney has a few different dining plan options- and here is my recommendation: if you’re going with mostly adults, do the Disney Dining Plan, which contains 1 table-service (a.k.a. waiter/more formal sit-down meal) and one quick service (order at the counter) meal, plus 2 snacks per day. If you’re going with mostly littles: do the Quick Service Plan. We have done both, and loved both. It is always enough food for us, and we typically use 1 snack credit for breakfast (you can get a muffin or bagel, for example). This last time we chose to do the Quick Service dining plan (which is less expensive), and were so glad that we’d opted for that over the regular Dining plan for a couple of reasons: 1) We didn’t have to make any dining reservations- which means we weren’t bound by any schedules and 2) we weren’t wrangling 3 little people to stay seated/behave at a “nice” dinner. Annnnd, the food was GREAT. Again- refer to DFB for recommendations on where to eat.

• Eat meals at the resorts. A dining plan also includes meals at any of the Disney resorts and some of them have the BEST restaurants- some of our favorites include, O’hana, Sanaa, and The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. On this past trip, we visited Magic Kingdom on a particularly busy day and decided to seek refuge at the beautiful Polynesian Resort and eat lunch there. It was way less crowded, and such a nice break- plus they serve the famous Dole Whip there!

• Don’t get hangry- pack snacks. One of your greatest enemies when pulling a long Disney day is hunger, and Disney allows you to bring food into their parks, which is a huge perk. We always pack protein bars, and they have come in clutch so many times- for adults and kids! Our kids love Zbars while Shawn and I prefer Larabars.

We loved riding the new Disney Skyliner from our resort to Epcot and Hollywood Studios!

• Pack swimsuits in a carry-on if you want to swim first thing. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, this is the same tip! Because your bags are checked directly to your room from your first flight, your bags will take a few hours to arrive at your hotel room. We landed around noon and had a couple of hours to check out our resort before our room was ready, which would have been a great time to enjoy the pool (we didn’t plan on going to a park that day). The only problem was our swimsuits were in our bags- so, now we know for next time- pack our swimsuits in a carry on!

• Do laundry! If you have a larger family and are staying for more than 5 days, I would recommend only packing for half your trip and doing laundry. Most resorts have laundromats centrally located and are very convenient. I did laundry on a previous trip and it saved me from packing a lot more clothing. You’ll need some quarters. :)

• Meet the characters first. If you’re going with littles that really care about meeting the characters, decide on your “must see” characters and plan to meet them asap. Our travel agent scheduled in alerts on our My Disney Experience plans that would let us know when character meet and greets were happening, so we were able to go first thing to meet Minnie and Mickey (and didn’t have to spend the rest of our vacation being begged to meet them!). We also HAD to see Elsa and Anna, so we knocked that out on our Epcot day first thing. Other character meets happened organically for us and it was nice to not stress over this aspect since we’d already said hello!

• Bring cash for extras to stay on budget. Since your magic bands can also be connected to your credit or debit card, it can be really easy to charge things to your account using them (don’t worry- you control whether or not kids can charge on their bands!). We decided to bring cash to use for souvenirs, tips, and extra snacks, etc. It worked like a charm and helped us stay on budget.

• Utilize Rider Swap. Ya’ll this one thing is GOLDEN for parents of littles. Because our two youngest were too short to ride many of the heart-pumping feature rides, we were able to utilize Rider Swap and Knox (our 8 year old) got to ride twice- once with Shawn and once with myself. Essentially, when you get in line for a ride, you just need to find the Cast Member at the end of the line and they will scan the magic band of the first two riders, and then the rider that will swap once the first two have gone. I’d wait with the girls while Shawn and Knox rode, and then once they were done, Knox and I got to go in the Fast Pass line again. Definitely one of the best ideas we’ve seen Disney implement!

• Be willing to go single rider. The single rider line is often moving at a much faster pace than the regular one. We sent our 8 year old son in the single rider line a few times and he had a blast, and got to ride much faster!

• Go see the shows- they are a nice break and generally great! While the rides are generally our family’s main focus, the shows are always a great experience. This past time we loved the Frozen Sing Along and it was a great break and nice opportunity to sit down. Also, if you’re at Disney in the summer, they’re a nice break from the heat!

This stroller was so nice to have and accommodated many naps! Lucy (25 lb.) sat in the back most of the time and had plenty of room.

• Utilize a double stroller with more than one kid. Twice now we have put our Phil & Ted’s Dot Stroller to WORK at Disney- once with a 3 month old and 3 year old, and then with 3 and 4 year olds. Both times it was totally worth it to bring it. You can rent strollers at Disney or from one of the many outside vendors in Orlando, but none of the rentals we saw were inline like our Phil & Ted’s. Having an inline stroller made it easier to get through tight crowds and on and off the Skyliner (Disney’s new gondola system servicing Hollywood Studios and Epcot). People with side-by-side strollers were having to break them down, while we were able to just stroll on and off. :) Plus, it allowed our girls to take naps without leaving the park. Having that stroller was so essential to our trip and we love ours!

• Take this little tripod and bluetooth remote! This was a last-minute Amazon purchase (LINKED HERE) that I am so glad I made. You may be shocked to hear that this professional photographer did not bring her “fancy camera” on vacation- but with 3 kids and all the gear that comes with that, it just didn’t make sense. I would have spent more time obsessing over photos and equipment, and less time enjoying the time with my family. So, I picked up this little tripod/remote combo that meant I could jump in the photo. We also purchased Memory Maker which was also WORTH IT to me. I loved that we could get photos of all of us with little to no effort, including the fun ones they take on the rides. Some of those images are my favorite!

Quite possibly my favorite ride photo ever. Thank you Memory Maker for capturing this moment!

There’s so much more I could write, but this post is too long as it is- I do hope this has been helpful! Feel free to send me your Disney tips or things you’d like me to address in a future blog post!

our big Disney @ Christmas surprise!

For years- YEARS- Shawn and I have kept a shared “bucket list” on our phones- and always, on that list has been “surprise our kids with a Disney trip” and “Disney at Christmas”.

Growing up, I was always a Disney kid- hoarding those classic, white-edged VHS tapes and constantly playing and rewinding my Disney soundtrack cassette tapes. In a game of name-that-Disney song- I WIN. I’d been a couple of times with my family growing up and we even took a trip as grown-up kids a few years after Shawn and I were married, which is when he was introduced to the Disney magic.✨

On our last Disney trip, Liv was 3 months old (yep! you read that right!) and Knox was 3 years old. Now that everyone was a little older and Lucy is finally home, we felt like it was the perfect time to go. So, we started planning our trip with our friend and travel agent, Ashly Moncrief with Foerster Travel. Ashly and her family are Disney experts, having been over 30 times, and so I trusted her advice on what to book/travel dates. They also happened to be going the same dates, which made it fun to run into some familiar faces and share a few memories with friends!

Our flight out of Lubbock got cancelled due to fog, so we made the decision to rent a van, drive 2 hours south to Midland, and catch a flight there. Did I mention we had to leave at 3:30 am? It was a very long day!

We wanted to surprise the kids right before it was time to leave- and so we had told them that I had a work trip and they all had to take me to the airport. So, the night before I had them sleep in their clothes so we didn’t have to change them. After our first flight out of Lubbock was cancelled due to fog, we made the decision to get a one-way rental and drive 2 hours south to Midland. Thankfully, they didn’t pick up on the fact that the drive to the airport lasted 2 hours- much longer than the normal 30 minutes!

We had to refill the gas tank before returning our one-way rental car, so that’s where we decided to hand them their note. Here’s the video below (the lighting gets better about 30 seconds in!):

Here’s what the note said, in case you can’t hear Knox:

I wrote this letter because I wanted you to hear

Christmas won't be quite the same this year.

The Christmas tree will still stand tall

and the Reason for the Season hasn't changed at all

but instead of visiting your house on Christmas Eve night

I thought it would be fun for you to take flight

You're visiting some friends of mine in a magical place

You'll know them when you see each and every face

Minnie, Mickey, Pluto- just to name a few

have so many wonderful things for you to do!

Your bags are packed, you're on your way-

all the way to Disney World- you're going- TODAY!

We ended up going the 1st week of December so as to avoid the high crowd capacity at Christmastime- apparently the closer to Christmas, the busier it gets. Yes, we did pull the kids out of school. It wasn’t as big of a deal as I might have thought it would be- the kids’ teachers were kind and sent home their makeup work which we did during down times and on the plane.

The pull-down Murphy bed in the Cars suite at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

We have always stayed at a Disney resort, because of all the benefits- free transportation to the parks, extra magic hours (parks stay open early/late for resort guests only), and I love the luggage service! Essentially, once you check your bags at the airport, they take care of them all the way to your room. No messing with baggage claim- you just head straight to the complimentary buses to your resort.

I was very excited to stay in one of the Art of Animation family suites this time. This resort is such a fun one- filled with huge sculptures of Disney characters from The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. We stayed in the Cars area, which was definitely my favorite. Once we arrived at the hotel, we grabbed some snacks from the restaurant and enjoyed walking around to see all the characters. They even have a little playground area by the pool the kids enjoyed.

We spent a couple of hours just exploring the resort! Art of Animation has a ton of cool character sculptures that the kids loved.

Another perk of Art of Animation is that it is on the new Disney Skyliner route. This is a new gondola system that runs from several resorts to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. It was one of our favorite things and such a pleasant way to get to the parks! Since we brought our trusty double stroller, every time we boarded a bus to get to a park, we’d have to break it all down which was a pain. But since our stroller is inline (one seat behind the other, not side-by-side), we could roll right onto a gondola. There were times the line to the Skyliner was incredibly long, but we never waited more than 20 minutes to get on. We loved the views and the peaceful ride together.

Enjoying the views from the Skyliner.

Knox and I went hunting for Hidden Mickeys at our resort while the girls napped one day- we found several! This is a fun, easy thing to do with older kids- hidden Mickeys are everywhere at WDW!

Being at Disney World during Christmas was so special- each park, every little area- had completely custom decorations and each park had at least one huge Christmas tree with unique decorations. Christmas music filled the air, and they were extra generous with the snoap (Disney’s fake snow- which is actually small bits of soap they spray down from the tops of buildings), which made everything feel just magical. The nightly fireworks shows were INCREDIBLE and extra-Christmasy.

The first day of our trip was my 36th birthday, so I got to pick where we ate for dinner- and I chose Sanaa, which is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The sun had just set by the time we arrived, but in true Disney fashion, someone walked up and offered us night vision goggles so we could spy on the boars, giraffes, and zebras grazing outside. Dinner was delicious (the Naan and cheese samplers were amazing!) and the kids loved their dirt and worms desserts.

We LOVED our trip and made so many great memories. I plan on doing another blog post with our top WDW tips- so for now, here are the photos!

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FIRST DAY- Animal Kingdom

Our amazing travel agent (thank you Ashly!) pre-programmed a few character stops in our My Disney Experience app, so we headed straight to meet Mickey and Minnie first thing- which was the perfect start to our trip! I was so worried Lucy, our youngest, wouldn’t like the characters, but she ended up loving them the most!

This was the first time we’ve been to Animal Kingdom since Pandora arrived, and it was one of our favorite parks because of that new addition! All of Pandora glows at night and the kids loved that aspect. We got to wander through the huge garden and see all sorts of animals, meet several characters, and enjoyed some of our favorite treats of the week here- the pongu pongu (a pineapple-cream cheese egg roll type snack), BBQ from Flame Tree Barbeque, and a giant Mickey cinnamon roll in Africa.

Dinner in Pandora was one of our favorites- Shawn is having some sort of green beverage with a steak and noodle bowl, and Knox enjoyed his hamburger “pod”. It was always easy to find things for our non-adventurous kids- mac and cheese is usually an option everywhere. :)

We fully utilized Rider Swap (more on that in another blog post), and so I took Liv on the Dinosaur ride after Shawn and Knox got off. That was a mistake- it terrified her! I promised to not take her on any more potentially scary rides. I am sort of glad we have this photo, though- haha! The look on her face is priceless! Also, check out the lady behind me!

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SECOND DAY- Epcot

For us, Epcot meant 2 things- ANNA and ELSA. We have 2 Frozen fanatics and so meeting them was top priority. I feel like Liv is living her best life in these photos.

We ate lunch in “China” and got to see a dragon dance. One of my favorite parts about being at Disney in the winter was getting to drink coffee all day! Shawn was doing some high-level dadding here- both girls were asleep in the double stroller as we walked through the World Showcase.

I took several of our family photos with my iPhone and this handy tripod and bluetooth remote.

Here is the link to our favorite inline double stroller that has lasted through years of use! You can’t see it well in this photo, but Lucy is seated underneath Liv.

More great Liv faces from the Frozen ride. We snagged fast passes to this one and I’m so glad we did! The line was so long but it was a fun one.

We got to end the night at Epcot watching the fireworks with friends! They happened to take a trip on the same dates we did and it was so much fun!

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DAY 3- Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was probably our favorite this time around- because STAR WARS. This was our first time visiting Galaxy’s Edge and even our little girls thought it was awesome! We started our day at Toy Story Land and loved that everyone met the height restrictions there. We waited quite a while for the Slinky Dig Dash rollercoaster, but it was worth it. Liv wasn’t a huge fan, but check out Lucy’s face!

Liv = hiding. Lucy = LOVING IT. Parents = no longer cool.

Same spot, facing different directions. I loved having the Memory Maker so that I was guaranteed some photos of all 5 of us!

One of my favorite photos of the trip! This rollercoaster blasts you from 0 to 57 mph in 2.8 seconds…so you can understand Knox’s face here. Haha!

Galaxy’s Edge was definitely one of the coolest experiences. There were sound effects of ships flying over head, other languages, and characters would appear out of nowhere- “on mission”. Stormtroopers marched through and we had quite a few Chewy sightings. Shawn grabbed some blue milk from the Cantina and asked Kylo Ren if he’d had the blue milk. Kylo’s very robot-serious response was, “I would tread lightly”. Haha! We had so much fun!

We knew that Knox would love getting to build his own droid at the Droid Depot, so we scheduled an appointment in advance. He got to select his parts off the conveyor belt and put it all together. What a fun souvenir! He named his droid BA774, or Barry.

SNACKS! Always up for ice cream, even in our winter jackets.

The Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! show at Hollywood Studios was way cooler than I expected it to be, and we all enjoyed watching it. As the park closed for the night, snoap sprayed down and it was a perfectly magical ending to a great day.

We snagged a last-minute reservation at Oga’s Cantina, and it was probably not the best choice to walk in with 3 tired kids at the end of a long day, but getting to sample some of their drink concoctions was so much fun!

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DAY 4- Magic Kingdom

In trips past, we have gone to Magic Kingdom on the first day- right off the bat- but because of crowd calendars and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, we chose to go this day so that we could have an entire day at the park and see the Happily Ever After fireworks show. Y’all, it was SO CROWDED. This was the only day the crowds really got to us- we were seeing 2 hour waits for the most unpopular rides- so everything took longer and we had a few meltdowns. It was STILL MAGICAL, though- and we had lots of fun moments on the Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Did you know there is a little play area underneath Splash Mountain where the littles can play while the big kids ride? Disney has thought of everything!

Mixed feelings on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! I was proud of Liv for wanting to ride this one!

The wait for the Tea Party was long but worth it!

The girls loved playing in the kids’ play area next to the Splash Mountain waiting queue.

Sweet moments waiting for the Jingle (a.k.a. Jungle) Cruise! During the holidays they decorate it and change the name.

In the middle of this very crowded day at Magic Kingdom, we decided to escape to the Polynesian Resort for lunch- which was SUCH a good decision! The resort had zero wait for food and delicious Hawaiian BBQ, and a grassy area with cornhole, hula hoops, and building blocks for the kids to play with. We love this resort and also enjoyed seeing the Christmas decor there. So- that was a much-needed refreshing moment!

After waiting in another line to get our photo in front of Cinderella’s Castle (the photo just doesn’t do it justice! It was so twinkly!), we staked out a spot to watch the fireworks. We waited for about 1 hour on the concrete while Shawn scavenged some hot dogs for dinner. Note to self: bring a blanket or two next time and something to entertain the kids with! And mobile order food well in advance or pack a dinner in the backpack. Shawn and I were so tired of corralling kids, we almost went back to the room, but y’all- THE SHOW WAS SO WORTH IT! The Happily Ever After fireworks/laser show was simply incredible- and I think all 5 of us watched it with mouths wide open in awe. The way they tell a story and transform the castle with lights and lasers is incredible. Definitely worth the wait!

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DAY 5- Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom

I was SO glad to have this last day to revisit some of the things we weren’t able to do earlier in the week. We decided to head back to Magic Kingdom in hopes to for shorter lines, and thankfully- the lines were indeed much shorter! We got to do some of the classic rides like Peter Pan (the girls are still talking about this one) and It’s a Small World.

After lunch, we went back to Animal Kingdom. We hadn’t been able to snag a Fast Pass for the Avatar ride Flight of Passage, so the guys decided they’d stick out the 2 hour wait for it. It actually turned out to be a really nice time- as the boys waited, the girls napped in the stroller while I got to walk around and take my time looking at the animals and shop. When they woke up, we got a coffee and HUGE Mickey Cinnamon roll to share. Once the boys were done, I got to Ride Swap and go with Knox. I’m so glad they waited it out so we all got to experience it- Flight of Passage was amazing! We ended the day shopping for a few ornaments to commemorate our trip.

My gorgeous girls! Moments I’ll never forget.

Animal Kingdom had these amazing handmade puppets that they would bring out. They were all so neat and in true Disney fashion, the kids were allowed to pet and interact with them.

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DAY 6- Disney Springs/Go Home

We had an afternoon flight out so after we checked our bags at the counter at our resort (huge perk!), we took a bus to Disney Springs to explore. There is so much to do there- you could easily spend an entire day or two! I happened to see that they had a special Christmas tree trail and Santa, so we headed straight over. It was really neat- they had probably 20-30 themed trees to look out, and of course snoap was blowing out around the tree trail to make it extra Christmasy. We waited in line for just a bit to see Santa and it was such a perfect way to end our trip! The photos were included with our Memory Maker, so that was also a win!

Little did we know, there was one last surprise waiting. As we waited for our airport shuttle to arrive at our resort, Mickey walked in! It was the perfect way to say “see ya later!”.

The kids wore their Christmas pjs to breakfast the last morning of our trip. I loved all the Christmas decorations everywhere!

In the end, it was such a wonderful, unforgettable trip and we would go back tomorrow! I’m so glad we took the kids at these ages and can’t wait to go back!

I have more Disney posts coming up soon and would love to answer any questions you may have!

our stay in seaside, florida

It’s been many, many years since I’ve visited the Florida Panhandle- in fact, we were staying in Destin when I first watched the movie Jaws! Not the best choice for a beach vacation, haha! But this summer we made it back and absolutely loved it. Our family drove (yes, 15 hours one way!) to Seaside, Florida a few weeks ago and could not believe how family-friendly it was.

About 30 minutes east of Destin, the entire town of Seaside is idyllic and literally picture perfect- they filmed The Truman Show there! The perfectly-planned streets are lined with palm trees and beautiful beach “cottages” (some are much too large to be called a cottage!). People are biking or walking everywhere, and there are plenty of opportunities for a shopping, a snack, or a delicious meal.

One of the biggest pros to Seaside for us was the ability of nearly every restaurant to accommodate our large group quickly. In all, our group totaled 13 people- my side of the family came with us and we had 5 kids in that group. So, we are used to long wait times at restaurants and difficult table configurations- but had zero issues in Seaside!

Our kids LOVED the bunk beds! They were large enough that the girls actually shared one.

There are many, many places to stay in Seaside, and condos or homes outnumber hotels by far - which is our preference, anyway. After doing some research, we decided we could save quite a bit by staying just on the other side of 30A (the main thoroughfare that the area is named after- it follows the shoreline). So, while we didn’t have an oceanview, we were able to walk there quite easily and felt it was a really good decision!

Our condo was perfect for our family and had two bunk beds, a pullout couch and 1 king bed with 2 bathrooms, a small kitchen, living area and enclosed balcony. One major perk of the place (besides the location) was the huge crate full of beach toys, chairs and even a beach cart. It was also above an ice cream shop, urgent care clinic, and surf shop which we utilized at different times throughout the trip. The condo we stayed at is called Cassine Station, so look for that when searching vrbo or AirBnb.

Our property also had access to a pool which was handy when there were 2 red flags up at the beach and we were unable to get in the water. This happened 2 days we were there, but it wasn’t a huge issue- the kids still played in the sand and then we swam in the pool.

This is what they call Ocean View, not Oceanfront. 😂 Still, we loved our little spot by the ocean!

FOOD…because it’s our favorite souvenir

There were so many great spots to eat around Seaside, and we didn’t scratch the surface- but here are some we’d definitely visit again and enjoyed-

Pizza By the Sea

Pizza By The Sea- my favorite meal! Wine and pizza and the beach…welcome to my dreamland. The pizza was amazing and went beyond basic ingredients. They also had a shelf of children’s books to entertain while waiting on food. We ate here the first night, and it worked out really well because Publix is next door and we were able to buy groceries after dinner.

Fantastic frosé found here!

Great Southern Cafe- This was a delicious meal! Of course, we all ordered seafood and it did not disappoint. I would say this is more adult-friendly, but it was no problem to have the kids there. We also hit up the little stand right next to the restaurant for some frosé before our meal which was totally overpriced but delicious and hey….vacay!

Cafe Thirty-A- My parents volunteered to babysit one evening, so we got to go out with my sisters and brothers-in-law for dinner. This is the most upscale place we ate, and it was so delicious. Great service and menu variety- everyone loved their food and the drink list was extensive. Great for a date night.

Seagrove Village Market Cafe- We ate on the patio for this dinner and it had a great atmosphere. This place knows how to fry food, for sure- most of what is on their menu is fried (but good!).

Seagrove Village Market Cafe

Frostbites

Frostbites- We had to stop by this Seaside staple for a snow cone one day! It was a great break from the heat and the entire area beside this food truck is adorable. There are several more food trucks in this area and space to play for the kids.

It’s Heavenly Shortcakes & Ice Cream- We ordered wayyyy to much here (read: lots of sticky ice cream mess) BUT everything was so yummy. Centrally located in Seaside Circle.

Bud and Alley’s- This restaurant has a casual bar with an ocean view, or a more formal restaurant. The night we dined at the restaurant, it was getting late and we had cranky kiddos, so the formal setting was a bit much for us. We should have just gone to a burger joint! But, the food was great. However, this was one of the more expensive meals we had.

Walking to The Perfect Pig

The Perfect Pig- This was a great breakfast/brunch place just a short walk from our condo, and was so delicious! Great coffee and GRITS!

The amphitheater at Seaside Circle. This was a fun spot to people watch and let the kids run around. So many great shops and food nearby- and a short walk to the beach!

Now for our Tips for Seaside:

• Buy groceries (but don’t overdo it!)- We planned to eat breakfast and lunch at the condo, and that worked really well for our family. I made sure to buy things that were super portable, and didn’t require any real cooking, haha. Pop tarts, sausage biscuits, Lunchables (our kids don’t get these first three at home very often so this felt special to them, haha!), snack cheese, turkey pepperoni, crackers, etc. We also grabbed paper towels, extra wipes, sunscreen, and a couple of inner-tubes. The Publix in Seaside has plenty of beach toys if you need any!

• Consider skipping the ocean view- Let’s be honest, if you’re traveling with kids, there won’t be a lot of time for porch-sitting and basking in the view from your condo- unless you wake up super early, and on vacation, we don’t. :) It was such a huge savings for us to be just off the ocean, and we’d do it again.

• Set a timer for sunscreen- I mean, this isn’t that revolutionary, but we needed to! After we forgot to reapply the first day and had several bad burns, we were pretty hard core about it. We aren’t used to that extra sun at the beach, and so we literally needed a reminder.

• Take a break in the afternoon. Most days, we had an intentional slow start to the day and wandered out to the beach by 10-ish, and stayed until 1 or 2 when we’d come back to the condo, eat lunch and make the girls take a nap. This worked really well for us and that rest time was my only “peaceful” moment to read, nap, etc.

• Don’t bring it to the beach unless you want sand on it. Again, obvious, but worth remembering when packing! We designated a waterproof cosmetic bag I had for our phones, wallets, etc. and that worked really well.

• Hit up the beach in the evening. We did this one night and loved it so much. At 5 pm, condos that set our beach chairs for their guests pick them back up for the night, and many people leave for the day. It was cooler and much less crowded in the evenings, and in the future we’ll visit more often during this time.

• Don’t reserve rentals ahead of time- I wondered if we needed to reserve rentals in advance (there are a TON of rental places that rent everything from beach chairs, to bikes, to baby cribs), but I’m glad we didn’t, because our condo had everything we needed.

• Double check amenity deals before you go. Our condo offered some special deals on fun things like parasailing, jet skis, mini golf, etc.- but there was a catch- one free adult per day (and you can’t stack your days) AND most of the activities were at least a 30 minute drive. We considered doing one or two of them, but decided that this trip, we’d rather just have more beach time. I think we will probably be into this stuff once our kids get older and can participate.

• Get a condo with washer/dryer and do your laundry the day before you leave. I would assume that most condos have one, but it was SO handy. The condo provided one extra pack of laundry detergent, which wasn’t enough for us, but I brought some travel detergent. So, you may need to buy that or bring some extra.

Whew, lots of info and that’s not even half of what I could tell you about! All in all, we will definitely be back. Seaside was charming, laid-back, and that sugary white sand was the best we’ve ever experienced.

I hope this post was helpful, and if you have more Seaside tips, please let me know! Also, if you haven’t checked out my Road Trip Travel Hacks & Must-Haves, you’ll need to! That was a whole other portion of this vacation I didn’t get into this post. :)

Our Travel Hacks and Must-Haves

After 40+ hours in the car, here’s what we know…

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our road-trip travel hacks + must-haves

So far this summer we’ve spent about 60 hours in the car as a family, getting to our vacations. :) It’s not been near as bad as I anticipated, and we’ve learned a few trips along the way- so I’m here to share!

Our best road-trip travel hacks:

• Slip on shoes for kids. Keep in one place when inside the car so you don’t have to search for them every time you need to get out. We especially love Natives so this is usually what they are wearing.

• Small neck pillow and blanket for each kid. We keep in a basket of these in the back of the car all the time.

• We are big fans of leaving early in the morning so that we can take a pit stop at lunch. So, we get up early. To help the kids sleep, and because I just love it, I keep my car diffuser on all the time- usually with a relaxing scent like lavender. I will throw some peppermint oil in there if I’m driving and feeling sleepy and it perks me up right away. This is the one I have, and it works well, though I wish I would have tried this one since it doesn’t take up a cupholder.

• Unlimited screen time & cell phone hotspot or downloaded movies. That’s right- we give our kids unlimited screen time and turn on one of our cell phone hotspots while driving. We came really close to using up all of our data this month, but didn’t and it was worth it for the peace and quiet! Also, we say “unlimited” screen time, but in reality they fall asleep watching or their devices die. If you don’t want to turn on your hotspot, you can download selected movies from Netflix for free. They expire in a week so be sure to do it just before your trip. A couple of must-haves for this are some good headphones (we have had plenty break, these are the best), durable iPad cases. We keep a designated backpack to hold all 3 tablets, headphones, and chargers so that they are easily found when not in use.

• Stay hydrated- We also always bring an insulated mug for both Shawn and I and a water bottle for each kid. The kids know they are in charge of their own cup, so it gives them a little responsibility- though we are still picking them up a lot! Did you know you get a .10 discount if you bring your own mug to Starbucks?! Also, on this note- you’ll want to check out the travel potty that we love because it definitely came in handy!

• I bought several snacks in bulk at Sam’s before the trip and they really came in handy and kept us from buying junk at the convenience store. (However, my love for chewy Sweet Tarts did overpower me once!) For these trips I bought fruit snacks, Goldfish, Pop Chips, zBars, turkey pepperoni, bottled water, powdered flavorings for water, Babybel cheese, and apples. We kept them all in my favorite travel cooler bag with these flexible ice packs and the cold items stayed nice and cool!

• Get a good gas station routine. To cut down on time and confusion at pit stops (and there are many when you have 3 littles), we stick to this plan every time- Shawn gets gas and takes Knox to bathroom, I clean out trash and take girls. Seems small, but saves us a lot of stress.

• I always bring a small dish brush (this one fits in my toiletry bag) and a travel sized container of dish soap. I’ve used it for so many things- namely cleaning our water bottles, but they have come in handy with shoes, stains, and lots of other things!

• I love to pack with compression bags. I have found I can fit so much more in and keep it all organized with them.

• When there’s room, I bring a foldable laundry hamper that I set up in the room where we are staying. Makes doing laundry after we get home a breeze and keeps the room clean.

I love a good list- so here are some things that makes life easier for us when traveling!

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IN THE CAR

• AUX Cable with iPhone/iPad charger port

• Band-Aids (these are for practical purposes but also entertain when you’re in a pinch! Warning- they make lots of trash)

• The Best Portable Potty Seat + Liners (we LOVE this foldable potty seat and the throw away liners. It comes with a bag to store everything in and fits under a seat!)

• Car Seat Protectors & Kick Mats

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FOR THE KIDS

• Cute backpacks they can carry

• Contigo cups

• Boogie Wipes (we love the grape ones)

• Kid’s Melatonin (We first used these to help with jet lag while in China, and they work so well for our kids that we now take them with us whenever we travel.)

• Kickee Pants Blankets So soft and lightweight, fold up to a small size

• Boogie Board

• Water Wow

• Wikki Stix

• Our Favorite Activity Books

• Durable Headphones

• Tough iPad Cases

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FOR THE BABIES

• Tula Carrier

• Airlight Carrier - we used this when the Tula was too hot. The airlight is mesh and breathable, perfect for a newborn to about 6 months. It packs small and is also great for water/splash pad/pool situations because it dries quickly. Of course, I wouldn’t swim in it- but it was nice to have when I was supervising one child while wearing another.

• Snack Cups

• Portable Placemat

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BEAUTY/HEALTH

• Mineral Sunscreen (my favorite for face, for body)

• Essential Oil Carrier

Oils that I typically carry are

• Thieves - germ blaster

• R.C. - excellent for congestion

• Lavender - sooooo many uses but great for allergies, bug bites, promoting sleep

• Peppermint - Shawn swears by this for headache relief, great for tummy aches and cooling in the heat

• DiGize - for all those tummy troubles after adventurous eating

• Geranium - this is a MUST HAVE for us because Liv gets nosebleeds and this oil stops them quickly

• Oregano - ear infections, other infections)

• Travel Size Dry Shampoo

• Travel Size Dish Soap

• Small Dish Brush

• Thieves Hand Sanitizer (Young Living)

• Probiotics (we use Life 9 by Young Living)

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LUGGAGE + GEAR

• Hardside Rolling Suitcases - These are great because they are expandable and hold a lot.

• Foldable Laundry Hamper

• CamelBak - I bought one of these years ago and now Shawn mostly carries it. It’s been great for family camp and other days when we’ve been outside a lot.

• Tough Luggage Tags with Privacy

• Compression Bags

• Double Inline Stroller - This one folds down relatively small and we have loved it!

• Extra Gallon Ziploc Bags/a few empty plastic grocery sacks- these are great for alllllll sorts of things. Use them as a dry bag or to cover super dirty shoes. They don’t take up much room and I love having them because I always find a use for them.

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BEACH SPECIFIC

• Foldable Cart (Beach) - Thankfully, the condo we rented had one of these, but we found out quickly that the wheel size matters! This cart is pricier but worth it when you’re dragging your stuff across the sandy beach.

• Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker

• Pop-up Beach Tent - a MUST HAVE with an infant!

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GO-TO SNACKS

• Freezable Tote

• Dried Chile Mango (addicting!!!)

• Larabars (Lemon is my fave!)

• ClifKid Zbars

• Turkey Pepperoni

• Beef Jerky

• Yeti Ramblers for Coffee

• Nalgene Water Bottles

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glorieta family camp 2018 recap

March seems like a funny time to be sharing about a vacation we took last July, but I also know that it’s that time of year to start planning vacation for next summer! So, I’m sharing our third-year experience at Glorieta Family Camp today!

We weren’t sure if we’d be able to make it to camp this year with our adoption being completed- but once we realized we’d be home from China at the end of April, we were able to decide whether or not we’d be able to go. I was worried about family camp disrupting Lucy’s transition to her new home, but in retrospect I think it only helped. More on this in a minute.

If you haven’t read my first blog post on Why We Love Family Camp, go read! <- This post will give you the main HUGE reasons we love camp. We have attended family camp in Glorieta, New Mexico for 3 years now. It’s a specialized camp for families that really caters to all ages, including the parents.

This year at camp, our family jumped right in, literally and figuratively. There were some fun new elements, and some of the things we’ve enjoyed every year.

One of the first activities we did was the arbor climb- and I was so proud of Knox, who volunteered to go first and killed it climbing up the tree! The girls were more interested in the little ziplines they had made nearby, so everyone was entertained and it was a fun time. At every activity, there are camp counselors who are trained in the safety practices necessary, and so we really got to relax and just enjoy the beautiful setting and our kids.

One of the things I mentioned earlier was Lucy’s transition and our fear that family camp would interrupt her newly-forming attachment to us. In all reality, I think it only helped. Because we attended camp with several families from our church, it was like a week-long “get to know you” session for Lucy.

Many of the older kids were (and still are!) so great with our kiddos, and being at camp really gave them lots of playtime. I vastly underestimated how important it is for our children to know other kids older and younger- it has been so amazing to see them connect throughout the week when we see them at church and beyond.

Because of these familiar faces, I was much more confident taking Lucy to church (and leaving her in childcare) those first few weeks. We are so, so thankful to the kids and families that helped us establish a safe place of community from the get-go.

Mealtimes at family camp are always fun (and the food is actually good!). One afternoon, we had a make-your-own-family pizza time where we all got to select the “ingredients” we wanted on our pizza. Of course, we were encouraged to talk about the things our pepperonis and such stood for- like being people with great integrity, gratefulness, and generosity. It was a great activity that kept the kids engaged and the pizza was good, too!

A few years ago, Shawn and I established a no-nag rule at mealtime on vacation, and it is the best thing ever! At home, we are constantly begging for our kids to take “one more bite”, and it is such a relief to have a week where we worry zero about how much food they are eating. The amount of exercise and fresh air they are getting almost guarantees they will be hungry, and food is available almost all the time at camp- plus I keep a good stash of granola bars in our room just to satisfy hungry tummies.

There are several meals that we get to do kid-free, too- which is always nice! This year, we had a speed-dating style meet and greet with the other parents before dinner which included some delicious appetizers (bruschetta! hummus! tiny skewers!). And date night is always fun. Here is our group of friends from last year- so thankful for these people!

On date night, we were given a couple of hours to rest or get ready (our kids were off having a party of their own), and then we were driven to a really neat old farmhouse where we were served a delicious steak dinner. It was a great time and we were encouraged to take a walk or wander around after dinner. Such a highlight.

Let’s talk about fun stuff! This is one of Shawn’s favorite activities- drift trikes. This year, even Liv got in on the action. :) We love the different activities that are offered and have found them to be great for almost any age. If the girls were too small to participate, we could bring them along to watch and play on the sidelines, take them to the great childcare, or split up and do something different. There are so many different options, and they add more every year- hiking, archery tag, mini golf, mountain scooters, lake activities, yard games, bikes and trikes to ride, or hammocks to chill in. Let’s be honest- there were several days I opted to “take the girls for a nap” in our room and enjoyed a quick nap myself. :)

Shawn and Knox went on the optional white water rafting trip this year (the photo above is NOT that, haha). They take a group to a local river and they get to white water raft all afternoon. I think they had fun, but Shawn’s arms were quite sore the next day- needless to say, I don’t think our 7 year old was a lot of help on the rapids. :)

There is a lake at the Glorieta campus (pictured above) with a ton of activities like stand up paddle board, kayak and canoes, and big inflatables. Since our kids are smaller, they mostly loved looking for crawdads.

An impromptu tea party with our friend Analeigh. Again, we love the flexibility of the schedule at family camp. There is no one expecting you to be anywhere, and that relives such stress and allows for fun little moments like this.

Let’s talk about theme nights!

Every year, there are a couple of theme nights which you are given in advance so you can bring outfits/costumes. The first this year was “Yacht Party”. So we got a little bit nautical-fancy (for camp, anyway!), and headed to dinner. After we ate yet another delicious meal, they gave us our task for the evening- create a boat out of cardboard. Oh, and one member of our family had to try to float in it.

So we got to working and taping, and Knox was volunteered as the captain of our ship. :) After we all made our “boats” we headed down to the lake to see if any would float! Haha, ours didn’t last long but it was fun.

The other theme night was “Lost Boys”. I was determined to make costumes from things we already had at home and really loved what we ended up looking like! On this night, we were driven to a whole new part of campus to find a giant wooden ship, inflatables, slingshots, face painting, cotton candy, grilled corn and turkey legs, and of course, there was a dance party. It was a really fun time.

Liv was living her best life at the face-painting station. She still talks about it to this day!

Another thing our kids have talked about consistently since was the foam party! This was a surprise to us, but so much fun! One afternoon, they busted out these giant foam makers- it was quite literally good clean fun!

Camp this year was a blast and we are so thankful we got to do it again. There are so many HUGE perks I didn’t mention here, so if you are interested in going, please read my previous post.

The time we had together as a family to make memories, worship together and just rest was wonderful. Shawn and I had many great conversations and vision-casting for the Anglin crew, and time to enjoy our friends who support us so much without the distractions of everyday life was invaluable.

I will never forget taking this photo below- this is one of my oldest friends and her daughter, whom they adopted in the past year. We had similar adoption timelines and so seeing these two beauties there with us was evidence of the miracles God has done!

Shawn and I also made it on this promo video for Glorieta if you would like to see my very pared-down family camp look, haha! No, honestly- it is wonderful to barely wear makeup for an entire week. :)

cruisin' with kids • our family's tips for those really big boats

So it's been far too long since my last post- but not for lack of content! In the past month, we've spent two weeks in the mountains of New Mexico (one was family camp at Glorieta- that post is coming soon!), delivered 3 gorgeous weddings to newlyweds, and road tripped to Galveston where we boarded a 5 day cruise to Cozumel and Progreso.

We all had a blast on the cruise and Shawn and I deemed it an overall success, with a few stressful moments thrown in there for good measure (because it's not a real family vacation if there aren't a few screaming toddlers). 

This was our 2nd Carnival cruise- our first was when Knox was under a year old, so this one included 2 more kids and required a lot more of us as parents. We were aboard the Carnival Valor which made port in Cozumel, Mexico and Progreso which is on the Yucatan peninsula. We traveled with my parents and my youngest sister, brother-in-law, and my niece who is 17 months. It was extremely helpful to have extra adults willing to help feed a kid or take them for a walk if they were getting restless!

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Before You Go:

• Book your excursions! We waited until a couple of weeks before we left to do this and we almost missed out, because some fill up fast. 

Cozumel

In Cozumel, we'd selected a "beach" excursion that included lunch and a sea lion show. While the property was nice (Chakanaab), the time it took to actually get on the beach (after a bus ride and tour of the property) was way too long, and once we finally got there, it was densely populated. Plus, the restaurant and bar with our included meals was quite a walk- making it tough to watch kids and eat. 

Chankanaab in Cozumel

Progreso, on the other hand, was surprisingly great. We'd been warned there was a 40 minute bus ride both ways to the resort where the beach was, but that turned out to be a great nap time/applying sunscreen time for our kids. We ended up at Hotel Reef where the beach was beautiful and not too crowded. There were several food stations with delicious Mexican dishes and waiters who were very friendly and efficient at bringing drinks. After hanging out at the beach most of the day, we got in one of several pools to wash the sand off and swim before it was time to get back to the bus. 

• Get passports for everyone. No, you don't necessarily need passports for kids while traveling on a cruise (birth certificates will work), but it sure does make getting trough security easier. Plus, now you can easily travel with your kids anywhere! We had to jump through some hoops to get Lucy's passport (she still doesn't have a Social Security Number!), but thankfully it came in time and was a lot more convenient than hauling around her original adoption decree. 

• Download the Carnival App (if you're cruising on Carnival) The app is great and not only lets you see what's going on around the ship, but is the best way to communicate with your group. The chat function is $5 per device and worked pretty well for us. There were a few quirks- like keeping the app running so you don't miss messages- but overall it was great.

• Download music, videos or apps for any devices. Unless you pay for service on the ship, you won't be able to access any of your normal apps, etc. We chose to not bring the kids' iPads on the ship, but it was really handy to have our normal bedtime playlist downloaded when it was time to put kids to bed.

This is our room- with kids in bed. Liv and Lucy are in the upper left bed (you can see I wedged lifejackets between the bed and the wall because I was worried someone would wiggle out and get stuck- haha) and Knox is in the upper right. It was a little crazy, but our bed was very comfortable!

• Consider booking two rooms. Ya'll, I knew our room would be tight, but when we walked in with our luggage, it was laughable. Of course, we booked the smallest interior stateroom and really- it is ingenious how they have fit in a king sized bed with two twins. We made it through the week, but it was definitely tight- and now we know we could live in our utility room for a week if we had to (yikes!). Next time, we'll be going for the adjoining rooms so Mom and Dad don't have to worry about someone rolling off their bunk onto them. :)

• Don’t fall for the soda upgrade. Sodas aren't included in your cruise price, and in the weeks before you go alcohol and soda packages are heavily marketed via email. We really expected to be dealing with children begging for Sprite (we don't usually have it at home but do allow it on vacation), BUT they never even asked about it because there are several delicious juices and milk available at all times for free. 

• Check your phone plan. Most companies include Mexico and Canada free (turn on service while at port). This is a great time to check for important texts/emails for free without paying for the pricey-yet-slow internet on the ship.

• Make a daily budget. We set a budget for ourselves every day and it really helped us enjoy the cruise and not stress out over money constantly. You will need to budget $65-70 per person in gratuities (no, it's not optional).  This will hit your account the last full day- read up on this before you leave so it's not a surprise. 

• Call a few weeks before the cruise for free upgrades. We did this the first time we cruised as a family, and my sister did it this time with the same result. She'd called Carnival to check about cribs (yes, they provide them), and they offered her a free room upgrade since there were available rooms and it was close to the sail date. Wish we would have given it a shot this go-round!

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Packing:

• Kids' arm and chest floaties. We have these PuddleJumpers and this Speedo one (this one is great for Lucy since it has shoulder straps- the others tend to slide down on her). They provide lifejackets on the ship, but we utilized the kids' floaties in port as well. They were really nice to have on the beach- especially since the girls wanted to play in the sand and wade in the water a bit.

• Peppermint oil for nausea. I used this a ton while I was pregnant, and it still works for me (not pregnant!). Simply inhale it or apply it to your chest with some carrier oil, like coconut oil.

• Swim diapers AND a reusable swim diaper (like this one). We did not know prior to the first morning that there are NO DIAPERS ALLOWED- NOT EVEN SWIM DIAPERS in the ship's swimming pools. We were lucky that Lucy is close to being potty-trained and just took her swim diaper off- but this rule is strictly enforced by some lifeguards (not-so-strictly by others). If I had an infant, I would definitely bring a reusable swim diaper like the one I linked above so they can take a dip in the pool on ship days, AND disposable ones for port days. 

• Storage-sized Ziploc Bags. These were super handy for all sorts of things- but I was glad I had extras to keep dry clothes, sunscreen, and phones from getting sandy and wet in the beach bag.

• Snacks. We stock up on Z bars and Clif bars- they are our favorite travel snack since they don't get crushed or melt easily. You really don't need many snacks (there is PLENTY of food on the ship), but these came in clutch on port days or if we were just not at a place to get kids food and needed something quick for them. My sister made a good habit of grabbing a few cereal boxes from the buffet line (the individual-sized boxes) in the morning and those were great (free!) snacks too.

• No towels needed. There are plenty of beach towels provided in every stateroom, and if you need more they will bring them to you. You can take these with you to port and as long as you bring them back, it's free. You can also check out towels at the ship's pool area if you don't feel like dragging wet towels in and out of your stateroom.

• Insulated cup for coffee/water. I drink coffee all day (yes, really) and there were a few times we really needed water but there was none to be found (on the beach mostly). I was so glad we'd brought our favorite insulated mugs to keep our coffee hot and our water cold. 

• Baby carrier or harness. Surely I am not the only mama who booked a cruise and then had a kid-goes-overboard nightmare...or two (yiiiikes!). We had this harness from when Knox was a baby and we totally used it on the ship with Lucy, who has a history of running off. I also carried Lucy in our trusty Tula carrier during embarkation, debarkation, and on the long walk on and off the ship at port. It was so nice to give her a place to rest and I loved having free hands.

• Signs or decals for stateroom doors. I saw lots of people bring decals or signs to hang on their stateroom doors, and thought it was a smart idea for kids. I would avoid using anything with our names for safety reasons, but having a picture or symbol that kids could recognize could be really helpful if someone gets lost and can't find your room.

• Umbrella stroller. My sister suggested this one- and I agree- a small umbrella stroller (anything larger would be too much for many of the tight spaces on the ship) would be helpful if you have a sleeping infant or one who does not like a baby carrier.

• Kid's water bottles. We carry one of these for each kid pretty much everywhere we go, and they were super handy on the beach in Mexico when we weren't about to give them water from the restaurant to drink. We filled these each morning in the ship's restaurant with ice and water. 

• Travel-size dish soap and small dish brush. This is just one of my travel norms that has paid off many times. We use them to wash our water bottles and mugs, and have even treated stains in clothing with it. 

• Card games, wiki stix, board games. The last day of the cruise we busted out some fun goodies that my mom had brought for the kids and just hung out in the restaurant- out of the hot sun. The kids loved playing with wikki stix and some modeling clay. I saw several families playing card games or board games, too.

• Cheap flip flops. To keep from overpacking, I try to keep it to 2 pairs of shoes per person. After this trip, I'm adding cheap flip flops to that rule. During our last day at port, Knox's shoes went missing. We're not sure if they were stolen or just buried deep in the sand, but either way, we left without them. I was glad he had another pair of shoes to wear, but wished I would have brought some cheap flip flops to take to the beach/pool since he didn't want to wear swim shoes. 

• Silicone wedding ring. These are inexpensive and worth using instead of your actual wedding ring. Please, listen to the girl that lost a diamond while ziplining in Puerto Rico (thank goodness for that warranty!). I have these rings. 

• Tampons/Feminine Products. Trust me, you don't want to have to buy these in Mexico (sketchy) or on the ship (super expensive).

• Probiotics. Just to keep everything regular while you binge. I use Young Living probiotics for myself and heard they just came out with kids' gummies! You're welcome.

• Bucket/Shovel for playing in the sand. Our kids played in the sand 90% of the time we were at the beach and even used them at the pool on the ship. These were a little annoying to carry around, but worth the few dollars we paid for them for the amount of entertainment they provided.

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On the Ship:

Real life- this is what most of my photos of the three of them look like :)

• There are lots of freebies! Check the daily schedule to see what is being offered that day, and even if it sounds a little lame, show up. We had a ton of fun at the trivia games and shows. There were cooking demonstrations and art and jewelry presentations (that boasted free champagne!). They even had a Dr. Seuss parade for the kids. All free!

• Take advantage of the childcare. Truthfully, I intended to snub the childcare on the ship, assuming it was a sad, lonely place full of disgruntled workers (sorry, my mom-judgement is harsh sometimes), BUT when we boarded the ship, they told us we needed to go register the kids whether or not we were planning to utilize the childcare area and services. I was totally surprised to see a very cool, clean, brightly colored space with an underwater theme and friendly workers. They walked us through the facilities and their procedures- which were very safe, clean, and totally age appropriate for our kids and told us that anytime we had kids there that we'd be given a phone that they could use to reach us. We ended up taking the kids almost every day because they enjoyed it so much- and they even ate most of their dinners with the childcare program (called "Camp Ocean"), which meant we got to have a peaceful, adult dinner every night. They served kid-friendly food our kids loved- and the same childcare workers were there every day, actively involved with them. This was a major win in our book!

• Wear your swimsutis and apply sunscreen first thing in the morning. This may seem super obvious, but our family just doesn't tan...we burn (well, Lucy is our exception). But, applying sunscreen before we even left the room was super helpful because without fail, the kids wanted to get in the pool right after breakfast. Which leads me to my next tip...

• Hit up the pool first thing in the morning to snag the good chairs! This may seem silly, but trust me, it will pay off about 1:00 P.M. when the pool is packed and you still have a prime spot in the shade to watch your littles while you drink your piña colada. 

• FREE Room Service! I'm usually too cheap to order room service during hotel stays, but Carnival offered free room service until 10 PM to staterooms (you can get it for a small fee after hours as well). There were actually door tags in our room where we could order what we'd like for the next morning. We were able to select what we wanted delivered, pick a delivery time and set it on our door before 10 PM. Then amazingly, the next morning we had hot coffee delivered for us and bananas to tide hungry kids over until we made it to breakfast.

• Don’t stress about what your kids are eating/not eating. This is one vacation rule I've adapted this summer and it has been a great thing for my mindset. We battle "how many more bites" from at least 1 kid at almost every meal, and it wears on Shawn and I both. Since food is readily available 24 hours of the day on a cruise, we chose to just not worry about what- or more importantly how much- our kids were eating. No, they didn't just eat ice cream the whole time- but we definitely had it for breakfast on the last day!

• Keep bedtime routine. Our kids were exhausted every night, but somehow when their heads hit the pillow, they still wanted their normal bedtime music. We had downloaded our bedtime music playlist on Spotify and brought our bluetooth speaker which were really handy. 

• Unpack when you get there. Like I said, our room was TIGHT. I unpacked all our suitcases and utilized the drawers, cabinets, and shelves in bathroom. It made getting ready and keeping the room organized much easier. I laid kids' clothes out paired in outfits and made a shoe drawer the kids could throw their shoes in. We hung a giant laundry bag (purchased at Ikea) in one of the closets and all dirty clothes went there. When it was time to pack up, I just filled one suitcase full of dirty laundry and it was so nice to just dump it in the laundry when we got home.

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At Port:

• Cash is king. You need cash for tips and spending. Yes, many stores will take cards, but if you take an excursion you will need cash for tips.

• Keep passports with you always. Never, ever leave your passports on the ship while in another country. Yes, it may be annoying to keep them safe in your beach bag, but you do not want to have an emergency in another country and have no identification.
 

Just a biiiiiit windy on the top deck!

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Yikes, I hope that was helpful- because it ended up being super long. I'm just writing the blog post I really wanted to find before we headed out. Happy cruising!

My mom bought the girls these sweet dresses in Mexico so we had a very quick photoshoot. There were 4 other adults watching to make sure no one got too close to the rails and about 186753 outtakes, haha!

an exhaustive adoption packing list

I'm going to apologize in advance for the amount of detail in this post- I'm writing it for me, one month ago. At that time I was a frantic, excited and stressed out mama trying to pack her entire household for a trip across the world. This included packing for a child I knew only a little about and had yet to meet. Cue the list-making, and googling, and random trips to Target for that one thing I forgot.

If you are an adoptive mama about to make that trip, bless you! I hope this is helpful. I realize everyone has their own preferences, but here's how we packed our bags. 

Travelers were myself, my husband, our 7 year old son, 3 year old daughter and we brought home our 2 year old daughter. My parents also came with us, but I'm only covering our family of 5 in this list.

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Baggage Allowances

You'll want to check your baggage allowances before you start packing. We were able to book humanitarian tickets through American Airlines (thanks to Adoption Airfare) which allowed us all up to a 50 lb. bag. The problem with that is that our domestic flights had much tighter restrictions on weight (35 lb. per bag) and only 1 carry-on. So, we needed to pack for the domestic flights, not the international.

If you're headed to China, be prepared to find conflicting or no information at all about the baggage allowances on domestic flights (I'm sorry!). There are also different requirements about where liquids and electronics go (checked bags vs. carry-ons- it was different every time!). The guides our agency provided were extremely helpful with this and there was definitely some packing/un-packing we had to do at check in, but we all got on the plane in the end. 

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Luggage

• 1 medium rolling bag for Lissa's clothing (Here is the set we have)

• 1 small rolling bag for Shawn's clothing (Here is the set we have)

• 2 small hard-side bags for Knox, Liv, and Lucy's clothing (Liv's bag similar, Knox's bag was the smallest of this set) 

All of our luggage bags had expandable zippers which were super important because we really packed the small ones down! They worked like a charm, and I found that I really prefer the hard-side bags to the fabric ones. 

• 1 backpack/bag for each person 

Our backpacks were our carry-ons and all had a little something different in them. 

Shawn's backpack (also carried our laptop, important paperwork, and DSLR camera)

My bag (this is typically my camera bag, but the lens insert and pockets worked really well)

Knox's backpack (iPad, headphones, activity books, pens/pencils, small toys, change of clothing/underwear, water bottle and snacks)

Liv and Lucy's backpacks (these are smaller sized so it meant they could carry them by themselves which was essential at a few points!) I packed Lucy's backpack in my larger luggage bag on the way there. Liv's bag included her iPad, headphones, small zipper bag of shopkins, coloring books/activity books, crayons, stickers, wipes, extra Pull-ups, water bottle and snacks)

• Stroller (ours has been discontinued, here is a similar)

I debated on bringing a stroller, but ultimately it was SO helpful- especially in the airport and on a few sightseeing days. We needed it most for our 3 year old (we carried our new daughter in a carrier most of the time). I would recommend buying one there if you are not bringing other children with you, and I also would not take a stroller that is too precious to you. There were a few moments we weren't sure if we'd see it at baggage claim, and in those moments I was really glad we'd brought our old umbrella stroller.

• Tula Carriers

Not technically baggage, but carriers. :) We borrowed my sister's Tula and so we had two- one for each girl. These were so great- especially on the days when the stroller wasn't appropriate (hiking the Great Wall, for example) and we were SO glad we'd brought them. We love our Tula- very comfortable and fit our 2 and 3 year old well.

• Compression Bags

I bought these on a whim and they were so useful for us. I had seen a lot of recommendations for packing cubes, but they were more expensive than these bags and the compression aspect of the ones we used was great for diapers and clothing.

• Money Belt/Neck Wallets

Shawn and I wore these money belts from the time we took off in Lubbock to the time we landed back home (well, I guess we took them off while showering and sleeping, but you get it). They were fine, necessary, but annoying. My dad had a neck wallet- something I didn't even know existed- and I will definitely be purchasing one for our next overseas excursion because it seemed way more comfortable. 

• Luggage tags

This might be an obvious, but I wanted to pass along a few tips. Make sure that every piece of luggage you bring (including carry-ons) has a luggage tag on it. We like to fill out the address with our home address and then put another card with our name and our hotel's address ON TOP OF IT for the flight over. We do this on trips longer than a few days, when there would be enough time for our bags to still arrive at our destination should they be lost or not on the correct flight. Once we receive them at our destination, we take the top tags off, so that our luggage now reads our home address.

Another thing to consider is your personal safety. We are very careful about what we put on our tags, since anyone can see that information. We only use 1 name, address, phone or email for all of our bags, and on the kids' backpacks, we even flipped the information over and wrote "over for info" on the card- just to ensure that wandering eyes couldn't associate our children with any address or name. We were also careful to make sure that the bags they were carrying did not have their names displayed on them (the girls' backpacks do have a monogram)- this is just a safety measure to prevent strangers from knowing their names. 

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Clothing

We packed for only half the trip and did our laundry halfway through (our guide helped us find laundry service at 1/2 the price of of the super-expensive hotel laundry). This cut down majorly on what we needed to pack. I had read that laundry was cheap, but after sending clothing for all 5 of us to be laundered, it was still 150.00! I would do this again, but budget a bit differently. :)

I also did my best to make sure that every piece of clothing could be worn together. Helped me feel a bit less monotonous and Shawn dress the kids. I brought several matching outfits for the girls which also helped with dressing.

It was in the 70s the entire time we were in China (April), but it was also a lot more humid than we are used to in West Texas. So overall, we packed to warmly. Here's what was useful, though: 

Per person:

• 7 shirts (4 short sleeve/3 long sleeve)- I recommend bringing quick-dry materials. It was humid and rains off and on, so you need all the help you can get for your clothing to dry out.

• 7 pants or shorts

Knox and Shawn wore shorts every day, while the girls and I wore pants or leggings. It was hot and humid- so I could have gotten away with shorts or a dress- I just prefer jeans. 

• 10 pairs of underwear, 1 bra, 3 bralettes, 1 sports bra 

• 4 sets of pjs per kid (somehow these were dirty quickly), 2-3 Shawn and I (I brought yoga pants and wore those during the day too)

• 5 pairs of socks  (the girls wore sandals or slip-ons most of the time, so they didn't need more than a couple pairs of socks)

• 2 pairs of shoes (MAX! This is a great way to create more luggage space. I ended up wearing my tennis shoes the entire time, except for when we went to the pool and the last few days in Guangzhou, where I wore sandals)

Shawn's shoes (New Balance tennis shoes, Chacos)

Lissa's shoes (cheap tennis shoes from Walmart- these are similar, sandals)

I was happy that I hadn't brought my "nice" tennis shoes so that I wasn't worried about how dirty they were getting! We walked at least a mile every day (not kidding)- so having tennis shoes was essential. These sandals are cheaper versions of the Sanuk brand. I bought the Sanuks several years ago and they broke in a few months. These have actually lasted several years! Also- you might get some looks from people in China about your sandals if you choose to wear them. Chinese people just don't really wear sandals and we were questioned a couple of times if we really wanted to wear ours or not that day :). 

Knox's shoes (tennis shoes, Keens)

Liv and Lucy's shoes (sandals, slip-on shoes)

Estimating Lucy's sizes was tough and the shoes I brought her were a total miss- wayyyy too big. Thankfully, they didn't take up much space and we were able to find her a couple of pairs while we were there (there was an H&M in the mall in her city).

• Swimsuit & swim caps

Some pools in China require you to wear swim caps, so I bought these and packed them unopened just in case. We only swam in Guangzhou, and didn't need swim caps there, so I returned them once we got home. 

• Rain jacket (we used these a few times and they didn't take up much space, so I was glad we brought them)

Shawn's rain jacket, My rain jacket, Knox's, Liv and Lucy's

• Vinyasa Scarf 

I am in love with this scarf and it was so great on the plane because it doubled as a blanket or pillow. I didn't wear it in-country though- it was too hot!

• Sunglasses

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Baby Things/for Our New Daughter

• Diapers

You can buy diapers in China (they took us to Walmart immediately after meeting Lucy so we could buy the baby things we needed), but they were just as expensive in China and the compression bags we used really worked well to make them take up less space in the luggage- so I was glad we'd packed them. I estimated 3 a day and we still came home with some. 

• Swim Diapers- only a few

• Wipes- we brought 4 or 5 packages of the sensitive (or unscented) kind in case Lucy had any reactions to fragrance. We used these for way more than just diaper changes!

• Medication

We used Dr. Chambers at Children's of Alabama International Adoption Clinic to review our files when we received Lucy's referral. A week or so before our trip, she called in a few prescriptions to take with us for commonly seen issues in Chinese adoptees. There were a few creams and an antibiotic, which we ended up giving to Knox when he got sick on Gotcha Day. We also brought our favorite cough syrup, ibuprofen, allergy meds, powdered Pedialyte and Pepto for the kids. 

• Melatonin

Our pharmacist (a.k.a. Uncle Justin, who actually is a pharmacist) recommended this melatonin for the kids- and it was essential for us, especially those first few days getting over jet lag. We gave it to the kids at bedtime for the first few days, and on the long flights when it was time to sleep.

• Bib and plastic kid utensils

• Sippy Cup with straw (we actually bought this in China)

Lucy was used to drinking from bottles, but we found out quickly that she could also drink from a straw and bought one at Walmart there.

• Toys

Light up toy (we had a microphone that lit up and played music that she loved- I think the lights were helpful in getting her attention and interest that first day), coloring book, crayons, stickers, stacking cups (great for bathtime, too!), small board books

• Small hair bands and bows (we are from Texas, duh!)

• Detangling Spray 

• Boogie wipes (these were super helpful as we brought a virus with us that Lucy quickly contracted and alllll the boogers ensued)

• Snack containers

I should have known to bring these, but I forgot! Definitely something I wished I'd had for Lucy.

• Blanket

I packed a Kickee pants swaddle blanket in each of their backpacks, and they were perfect for the plane, stroller, and sleeping. They are very lightweight and breathable, but also fold down and aren't very bulky. Lucy still sleeps with hers every night.

• Safety pins

These are always useful and just in case the clothing we bought her was way too big, I knew these would help.

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Toiletries/Meds for Adults

• All the medication we might need- I took everything out of boxes and labeled them well. Tums, allergy meds, Tylenol, melatonin, activated charcoal (this is helpful if you feel someone has had food poisoning)

• Essential oils and diffuser (this one is smaller and great for travel)

The oils and diffuser are some of our "normals"- we used the oils for various things- upset tummies, headaches, general mood lifters and sleep. It was nice to keep the diffuser running in our hotel room so it smelled nice and was relaxing.

• Toothbrushes & toothpaste (including one for Lucy with fluoride-free toothpaste) 

• Travel size containers of all shampoos, body wash, hair products, etc. 

If there was a travel size of something, I brought it! This was super helpful with space-saving. Dry shampoo was a MUST for me and this is my favorite kind- I found the travel version at Walmart. 

• Makeup essentials

I wore my tinted moisturizer , my favorite mascara , and chapstick most days. We did need nail scissors for Lucy (I actually use these and am obsessed with them! They took them away from me in Hong Kong because they weren't in my checked luggage and I immediately came home and bought a replacement pair). I also brought my favorite mama self-care eye cream which boosted my jet-lagged self on several days. Small things like this were a great way for me to feel like I was still "me" during two straight weeks of no alone time.

• Sunscreen- we didn't pack this but our travel group friends shared. This was definitely needed on some sightseeing days where we were outside most of the day.

• Deoderant, Gold Bond powder (it's hot and humid!)

• Curling Iron or Flat Iron (Converter needed. No need to bring hairdryer- they are in the hotels)

• Razors 

• Qtips, cotton balls

• Kleenex travel packs (you will need to keep these in your daily backpacks for squatty pottys)

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Tech

• Travel Converters

It is super important that you get converters and not just adapters- as China's voltage is different from the US. We ordered several of these on eBay and they worked great. I've also seen people recommend bringing a power strip, which we definitely could have utilized at times, but we were fine without- even with 2 iPads, a laptop, phones and chargers.

• iPads 

We brought two iPads for the kids with pre-downloaded videos (you can do this for free on Netflix) and games. I also wish we would have downloaded some episodes of Elmo in Mandarin from YouTube- Lucy loves those!

• Headphones and headphone splitter

We brought 3 pairs of headphones total- 2 pairs of wireless bluetooth headphones (for the girls- we have found we like the wireless ones better because no one can chew on the cord and ruin them...not that that's happened or anything...) and 1 wired pair (Knox's old headphones), with this splitter so that the 2 wireless headphones could watch the same iPad. This worked really well in the hotel room, but we found the bluetooth headphones did not work on the plane with their in-flight video system. This was okay because they provided earbuds on the plane- except the girls could not wear the earbuds- they were just too big to fit in their ears. So, I would have preferred 3 sets of old school, wired headphones. :) 

• VPN

China blocks many of the websites we needed to keep friends and family updated- specifically any form of social media (besides WeChat), and so to access those, you will need a VPN. We had a friend set us up on all our devices, but it's good to have at least 2 downloaded to your phone/laptop/iPads BEFORE you leave. When the one our friend set us up (a private one) didn't work, we used Betternet and it was great. Just download it from the app store.

• International phone plan

This was something we'd decided we didn't need, until our international adoption doctor recommended it. She said, "what happens if you get stuck at a hospital somewhere and don't have any way to reach anyone?"- and that sealed the deal for me. We just called our provider and got a temporary international plan for one of our phones. We did actually end up using it a few times for calls or directions, so I'm glad we had it.

• WeChat

As I said earlier, WeChat is pretty much the only social media in China. They use it for everything- texting, renting a bike and even paying. So go ahead and download it and create a profile. You will use it to talk to your guides and your travel group. I WISH I would have asked Lucy's foster mother to friend me on WeChat so I could have stayed connected with her. One of my biggest regrets for sure.

• Battery backup charger

My mom brought a backup battery charger and it came in clutch when one of our phones was about to die.

• Downloaded music

We have a "Sleep Playlist" that we play for our kids every night when putting them to bed on Spotify, and so we downloaded it to our phones before we left. I also downloaded this album- "A Little Mandarin" which has some familiar children's music in Chinese. I wish I had downloaded more just to enjoy while we were hanging out in our hotel room. 

• Google Translate

This app was super handy when we needed to read a menu, read a street sign, or try to communicate with a shop owner. Must download!

• List of waiting games

You'll spend a lot of time waiting- in an airport, like, van, etc. and if you are bringing kids, you will need some entertainment. I kept this list on my phone of games that required nothing but kept the kids entertained:

I Spy / Simon says / Thumb wrestling / Would you rather / Two truths and a lie / Telephone  / Rock Paper Scissors / Alphabeth Game- My name is Alice. My husbands name is al. We come from Alabama, where we sell apricots / 20 questions- guess the animal or person

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Food/Other

• Laundry hamper

This was suggested by another adoptive mom who had just been to China and it was genius. We took this one and packed it into our luggage bag. It was super helpful to have when you're in 1 hotel room with 5 people and all their dirty clothes.

• Coffee survival kit

This was one of my favorite "pamper me" items. I am a caffeine addict- meaning I will literally get a headache if I don't have a cup of coffee in the morning. Sad but true! It's also just a little comfort item. So, I researched the best instant coffee, and put several packets of it, a baggie of palm sugar, and powdered creamer all inside a sandwich-sized ziploc bag with some plastic spoons. My little "survival kit" came in handy several mornings/evenings when I wasn't able to run down to the lobby to get some coffee and was a familiar taste of home.

• Water bottles

This is just something our family does on every trip. I packed the kids each an empty Contigo water bottle (found them cheapest at SamsClub auctions! They're not always there, so here is another link) that we filled up after we went through security at the airport. You can't drink the water in China, which means we were either buying bottled water or using the complimentary ones at the hotel, and having these water bottles meant we always had something to keep us hydrated. Shawn and I both brought Kleen Kanteen insulated bottles and loved them because we could do coffee or water. The loops on the top of all the bottles we took were handy when we had a lot to carry- it was easy to tie them on to a backpack.

• Candy

Yes, some of this was just for personal comfort, but we also brought a package of Dum-Dums specifically for Lucy on Gotcha Day. I had read that suckers were a great way to say "hello", and that the sucking motion would help soothe her as well. So you better believe I packed those in her backpack! She could have cared less about them on Gotcha Day but they did come in handy several times during our trip.

• Dish soap and dish brush

I brought a small travel-sized bottle of dish soap and it was so handy when I needed to wash our water bottles, bibs, or even treat a stain on clothes. I just forgot a small dish brush! So I had to use a washrag most of the time, haha.

• Laundry detergent 

We've had this concentrated laundry detergent for several years now and it was really handy when I needed to wash a few things before we were able to send our laundry out. Mind you, it was very humid where we were so it literally took DAYS for things to dry in our hotel room. 

• Clif bars

Ya'll, we lived on Clif bars! The food was great in China, but there were a lot of moments where we were in-between meals and everyone was getting hangry. I bought a large pack at Sams and we ate every last one. Knowing my kids were also getting some protein in their systems and not just a ton of sugar was great too- and it kept them full until mealtime. Lucy actually liked these as well- especially the banana ones (she has a thing for bananas!) I also brought some Z bars for the kids since they don't always eat the larger bars.

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Things to buy in China

There are many opportunities to go to Walmart or a local grocery store to buy things you might need. Our guides took us in both Guiyang City and Guangzhou, but we were also able to find them on our own after asking the hotel concierge for directions.

• Bottled Water

Again, you can't drink the water in China (brushing teeth is ok), so you will probably want to get a case of water. Don't overdo it though- every hotel we stayed at would supply us with 3 new bottles every day.

• Paper towels

3 kids and 2 adults in 1 hotel room. Spills happen. I wish I would have just had a couple rolls of paper towels!

• Sippy cups (if your child doesn't like what you brought)

They didn't have a huge selection in China, but we were able to find one with a straw that Lucy could use well once we realized she did not need to be drinking from the bottle we were given by her foster mother. If there had been any indication that she needed to continue to use it for emotional support, we would have been glad to continue using it- but she saw our other kids' water bottles and immediately forgot about the bottle.

• Crackers & Snacks

We bought Lucy drinkable yogurt (which she loves and is super popular there), rice crackers and several other snacks to keep in our room. We actually overbought and had to leave some food there- so I would say don't go overboard.

• Bubbles

We loved playing with bubbles and they were easy to find and inexpensive in China. I had packed some, but I wished I hadn't and saved that space/weight for something else and then purchased bubbles while we were there. 

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Unnecessary Items

• Bulky/large strollers

• More than a couple pairs of shoes

• Face mask for smog (if you want one, they are readily available)

• Umbrella (you can borrow one from the hotel)

• Car seats (these just don't exist in China, haha!)

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Cultural differences

Lastly, I want to share a few random tips if it's your first time visiting China, and a few things we learned while on our adoption trip.

• It's not rude to stare, or speak up

Just prepare yourself for it. If you are caucasian, you're going to get stared at. Don't take it too personally- because it's not considered rude to stare in China and most people are just genuinely curious. When we did engage people who were staring, they were very nice for the most part. It's also not rude for someone to offer you their opinion, even if you have no idea what they are saying. Chinese like to keep their little ones in several layers of clothing, so if you take your kids out in any less than 2 shirts and a jacket, there will inevitably be a little old woman that needs to tell you to put some more clothes on your child. :) 

• Appointments and work hours are different

We were both amazed and frustrated at how quickly and how long some appointments took. Some were more formal than others- and sometimes we'd need to run to a random office to sign something or get passport photos. Our guides were very trustworthy and knowledgeable, but sometimes it felt a little chaotic, and that's just the result of how things work in China. One exception was our appointment at the U.S. Consulate- which was exactly on time.

• Translation requires patience

Most people spoke some English, but there were many times when we needed things to be translated for us. Our guides/translators were super helpful, but it required us to add an extra dose of patience into every conversation. Most people were incredibly patient and helpful with us- but it was frustrating to wonder how well something was being translated, waiting for the translation, and the fact that everything took longer because of that. Our American culture wanted everything to be more efficient, but because we had the privilege of a translator, we had to chill out and be more patient with every conversation.

• No air conditioning

So many people laughed at us because we were always commenting on the heat! Our hotels had air conditioning but one in particular was quite warm. We did request a fan from the lobby and very quickly had a large fan delivered- complete with ice cubes in it to cool us off! So, just so you know- air conditioning is not the norm.

• Walmart! And Starbucks!

If you've made it this far, you've seen me post about Walmart- but there are also several other western familiarities- especially in Guangzhou. Starbucks, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC...lots of familiar things for when you get a craving. However, these restaurants are more expensive AND you'd be missing out on the delicious local food if you just stick with what you know. 

• Check front desk for fees

Before checking out, be sure to check the front desk to see if there have been any fees associated with your room you might not be aware of. In two of our hotels, there were unknown fees and we needed our guide to help us sort them out with the hotel before we checked out. I am assuming this is pretty common, so I'd want to be sure to check while a translator is there to help.

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Whew! I hope that was helpful. Of course, I still feel like I am missing a few things. Here are a few other packing lists I referenced that were very helpful:

No Hands But Ours                Mix and Match Mama