Tips for Traveling w Children of the Corn

I  mean toddlers...Bahahaha. As excited as I was to see our family for the holiday, thoughts of last years 7.5 hour car ride from Hell danced like evil sugar plums in my brain!!! After that trip I swore I was flying to New York while Damon drove the kids. Meet ya there honey. I also swore we would be having no  more children. This one may still be true, it's yet to be determined.  This year's drive?? A piece of cake. We cut an 1.5 off our time & I had no thought of jumping from the moving vehicle!!!  I'm sure it helps that the kids are older but here are a few tips we use to make traveling with toddlers easier.

1. If your traveling for the Holidays more than likely its going to be chilly. FOOTY PJS for the win. You don't want to have to keep turning around to cover the baby's feet after he's pulled his shoes & socks off for the 20 time!!! Even though Mia is potty trained we put a pull up on her so we don't have to stop every 2 hours. Wes got a 12 hr night time diaper.We only stopped once each way & ROCKED!!!

2. Before you head out stop by the library!!!! We splurged & got head rest DVD players for this trip. I made sure to borrow videos they hadn't seen. Make sure you get 5+ videos as a few are guaranteed to be scratched & not work. I also got both kids several books. We are now the proud owners of a numbers touch & feel that Wesley ripped the binding off.

3. Get new apps for your phone or tablet.  I got The Joy of Reading & a Monkey Preschool Lunchbox collection. They are AMAZING!!! I especially loved TJOR. Super educational & easy for her to navigate without us having to help her every second.  I brought books, crayons, memory games but let's be honest people. It's the electronics that saved us on this trip!!!!!

4. Coming into the 6th hour eyes are bleary, tempers starting to boil I usually pull out the snacks!! Stuff they don't usually get at home. Yogurt pretzels, gold fish cracker, mini Reese Cups. It's okay because we'll be out of the car soon, right???

5. Make sure you get a suite when staying in a hotel. Having two rooms will save your sanity I promise. We were able to keep the kids on their nap schedule &  super early 7pm bedtime routine. While they were napping we could party, drink & do push ups watch reruns of Tanked & nap on the couch. We made the mistake of having one room when Mia was tiny & spent the majority of our trip using sign language & reading TV subtitles while trying not to wake the baby.

6. We bring the pack n play for Wes & Mia sleeps in her own bed. She still has a toddler railing so I was concerned about her falling out of bed. I just stuffed an extra pillow under the fitted sheet. Problem solved.

7. Have a few family friendly activities planned.  Wrangling the kids in hotels & non baby proofed homes makes for REALLY long days. Scout out the area & plan some fun activities. We visit the most amazing childrens museum each year. grandma, aunts, uncles & cousins all come & have a great day. We also pre-planned a cookie decorating evening. 

A NOLA Family Affair

I knew our trip to New Orleans was going to be too short. That we would only have 2 days to explore. What I wasn't counting on was a GIANT American Airlines fail. The 3 hour flight turned into a 12 hour ordeal complete with lost luggage. We should have landed in NOLA at 11am, instead we got in at 8pm, losing one of our days to explore.  On Friday we shook off the travel funk & spent 6 hours exploring my parents old French Quarter stomping grounds. We saw 727 Barracks where they first found out my mom was pregnant. It was magical to stand there looking into the court yard where she would run her hands along her belly dreaming of the life that was growing inside. Me. 

Then there's my dad's story. Less magical, more bad ass. A group of men with chains were attacking a man coming out of a nearby gay bar. My dad heard the shouts & they were directly under my parents balcony. he grabbed a sawed off shot gun pointed it over the balcony & told them he'd blow them to smithereens if they didn't get lost. Like I said, bad ass. 

We grabbed PoBoys from the Verdi Mart & had a bottle of wine in Jackson Square, where they used to let their Harelequin (B&W) Great Dane, Elsa run loose early in the mornings. W stopped for drinks at The Napoleon House. Mine? Pimms Ginger Julep. AMAZE!! Next we hopped the street car to tour through the beautiful Garden District passing through Tulane University.  That's all we managed in 6 hours but Damon promises we can go back!!!

Cozy Detroit Walk About

We celebrated the first day of fall on a little road trip in Detroit. The temps were 15 degrees cooler then we've had in Columbus so we needed to dress comfy & warm on our adventure. The high waisted jean trend is perfect to pair with shorter sweaters like this one.  Damon says it's made from kittens... This Fossil bag was another amazing find from Clothes Mentor. The only way I can indulge my soft, brown leather bag fetish is with affordable finds like this one. $50 bucks baby.  Bring on the Pumpkin Spice lattes if you must!!  Happy Fall!!! 

Sweater: Abercrombie In Store Jeans: Gap Clearance Shoes: Nordstrom Rack old Bag: Fossil via Clothes Mentor necklace: Francesca's In Store Lips: Nars Niagra

Detroit Birthday Bash

Happiest 40th birthday to my handsome husband. Bowling & Cars was the theme of the FOUR day 40th extravaganza. First we bowled & partied with friends, family & Cards Against Humanity. Need I say more? The kids stayed with Gma & Pop, so Sunday morning we headed to the Westin in Downtown Detroit. Thanks to a friend from high school who is a big wig at GM, we got to explore the city in a 6 speed Cadillac CTS V & get a private tour of GM's private collection at the Heritage Center. Despite the whiplash it was AMAZING!!!! We would go back to Detroit & stay downtown again in a minute!!!  Make sure you hit up Slows BBQ in Corktown while wearing your baggiest clothes. Or you can end up like us, spending the rest of the day with your pants unbuttoned. Also prepare to unbutton if you brunch at Toast. Biscuits & Gravy for the win.  

Las Vegas

Spring Break 30 something style!!!!!! We stayed at the Vdara, the non-gaming sister hotel to the Aria. It was originally built to be condos, so if you're looking for a place w a full kitchen, washer & dryer, studio style to stay, this is the winner. It's on the end of the strip connected to the Bellagio. Speaking of the Bellagio, how stunning are the ceilings? Not only are the ceilings beautiful but the Napoleons at the breakfast buffet. OMG!!!!  Since Vegas is Damon's favorite he usually has a checklist including Metro Pizza (vote LV's best pizza 8 years in a row) & a trip to Red Rock Canyon for drinks at the Yard House. We ALWAYS hit Hash House A Go Go for our FAVORITE gourmet breakfast (as seen on Man vs. Food). The brown sugar banana pancake is as big as your head & totally to die for!!!

We've never gone into Madame Tussaud's but they've always got to stars out front you can take pics w for free. This time it was Johnny Depp & Gwen Stefani. While Damon & Bryan had their list Tony & I had ours, as we always do...We were most excited to spend the day at the pool. We rented a cabana at the Aria & it did not disappoint. With the help of several sugar free red bulls & vodka it was an awesome day. YIKES.Second on my list was seeing The Beatles Love, but I screwed that all up. 

Disclaimer: Red Bulls & Vodka.  Damon can't be mad because seeing Love is on my bucket list, which means we have to go to Vegas again sometime:) Lastly on the list was dinner at Sage at Aria. I had lamb & truffle gnocchi. It was DELICIOUS!!!!!!! Then they charged my card my card the entire $1500 bill (there were 17 of us) because the server refused to split our checks. That was not so delicious. The trip  was pretty short since Wesley is still so little. Both kids did great & were totally spoiled by Tachee, Pop Pop & Nana.  

Happiest Birthday to my sister in law Moe & our friend Missie. Check out the Hash House Pancakes from our last trip to Vegas here. During our last trip we rented a car & drove to Zion National Park. Pics here.http://lizbonj.blogspot.com/2009/09/vegas-baby.html