Jan
2019

Bike Training 101

categories: Blog

We are now bike training experts.  Two kids down and one to go.  I’ve got the expert tutorial on how to train your kids to ride their bike right here.  And I do hope you know that I am joking.

#1: Make sure you have a proper, functioning bike. The first bike we tried with on the first kid, someone gave to her as a gift and they got it from the secondhand store. Turned out, it wasn’t functioning properly. My husband spent a year using that to teach our child until he realized the bike was the problem. Talk about frustrating for both kid and parent.  I’m sure our kid probably thought – bikes suck.  So, don’t try with second hand bikes is my recommendation.  And also try to make sure that the bike is a proper fit – if the bike is too big then that will intimidate them as well.

#2: Have Fun. This is the hardest part b/c bike training will break you, especially if you have multiple kids. I remember when I was a kid and my dad was bike training me. I didn’t realize it then, but now I know he had the patience of a saint.  He just stayed silent instead of saying what he was really thinking – I never knew how hard that was until I had kids.

I remember being so proud of myself that I was riding a bike without training wheels that I wanted to show my mom. I rode around the front yard in the grass, my head swollen with pride, and promptly ran smack into a low lying tree branch with my forehead.  I was lucky it was my forehead b/c that’s made of steel and pretty expansive. :-p I landed flat on my back.  My mom just turned around slowly and went back inside – I could tell my Dad was going to get it.

My roller blading experience wasn’t any better..  My husband broke his wrist b/c of my roller blading skills or lack thereof.  I have a strategy of throwing myself in the grass instead of using that rubber knob that doesn’t stop anyone. I’m convinced people stop by magic on roller blades.  My husband didn’t realize my strategy of drop and roll instead of using magic and tried to catch me – thereby breaking his wrist. Good thing the kids only get half their athletic genes from me. :-p   

#3: Demonstrate. Don’t be afraid to get on that kid’s bike and show them how it’s done with lots of horsing around. This helps break up some of the tension. If you can fake a fall without hurting yourself, you get extra credit points. :-p

#4: Try, try again.  If they don’t get it this year, they’ll get it next year.  Don’t be afraid to stop for the year and try again next year if things aren’t going well.  Sometimes, they just aren’t ready yet or you just aren’t ready yet ;-).

How you know you are winning? You do so well with the first child that the second child asks you not to bike train her.  She wants her older sister to do it or anybody but you. That’s a win win.  Below is a small video clip of my husband demonstrating to my daughter how not to ride a bike.  For some reason, she kept throwing herself off the bike to stop instead of using the brakes.  It was really scary, I thought she was going to break a bone – good thing kids are made of rubber.  So, of course, my husband had to give a demonstration of what not to do.

Here’s a video of my daughter dive bombing off her bike for no reason (this was about the 20th time she did it):

And here’s a video of my husband (I think he’d lost his mind by this point in the day) and trying to demonstrate what not to do.  I couldn’t look at him without laughing for the rest of the weekend:

Here’s a video of my oldest daughter becoming the newest instructor to her sister:

And now, years later, we have our final bike rider in the family and we were able to achieve our dream of biking the Katy trail as a family last summer. It started out rough because although our daughter had learned to ride in a parking lot, riding on a trail was a different experience. It was a two-way trail which she hadn’t experienced before, so every time bike riders were coming toward her, she threw herself into a ditch – hmmm, wonder where she got that from?

My husband was a bit frazzled so I had to step in here. Sometimes you have to save the other parent. Eventually, we were able to talk to her and figured out why she was throwing herself off the trail and I had her follow directly behind me and focus on me and not the people coming towards her. She was so brave and didn’t give up. Knees all scraped up and frazzled, she made it all the way to the restaurants in downtown St Charles and we had a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant and some ice cream at an ice cream shop. Super proud that day, but best of all I could see my daughter was beaming with pride herself. So, it was all worth it. This gravel trail does instill some grit in you.

on her way
the group – we made it
open road

Dec
2018

Freaky Friday moments..

categories: Blog

Ever get reminded of adult problems when your kids are having kid problems? Ever get that feeling while you are lecturing your child about something that you are actually lecturing yourself? This blog post is starting to sound like an ad for a prescription.  :-p  But it’s not, unfortunately.  I’ll call these Freaky Friday moments, like the movie.  I get that feeling quite often as well as my children frequently turn the tables on me mid-lecture or even lecture me themselves now.  In this way, we keep each other in check. I can’t get away with anything anymore and neither can they – not without a good lecture, that is. I even have a little box I like to stand on – just kidding. Here are some of our Freaky Friday moments:

Getting injured:
One morning my daughter got hurt while monkeying around with her sister. She hurt her bum. So, I unwisely, decide to lecture her after her other sisters head to school. She was complaining about her bum hurting and I told her she has to be careful when monkeying around because that’s when she usually gets hurt (not my best logic, I know, b/c monkeying around implies not being careful, but whatever – details..). Her response: ya, well you need to be careful in the shower because you could be hurt in there – I saw a commercial about it. Really?!? Was it one of those fallen and can’t get up commercials? B/c that’s not funny.. Touche.. Don’t mess with that one – she’s got ammo.

Words of wisdom:
Words of wisdom from my child one morning when I was particularly grouchy: “You just have to be like Frosty the Snowman!”. She begins singing in a cute, chipper, and loud 4 year old voice before I’d had my coffee: “Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul…” I had to keep myself from explaining, “but he was a fairy tale they say..” and even if he wasn’t he probably had an entire pot of coffee or something else before he was that jolly. I mean, why’d he have a pipe? Now that song is back in my head – thumpetty, thump, thump, thumpetty, thump, thump is the sound of kids upstairs..

Shopping:
I was feeling very low energy one day so I decided we would just take a field trip to Wal-Mart and kill two birds with one stone.  I get some groceries and play it off like it’s a fun outing to “Wally-mart”.  Turns out Wal-Mart shopping with the kids takes the most energy.

I spent most of my time asking them if they are in someone’s way. I feel like I should pay someone to run them over with a shopping cart one day so that they will have an impactful moment in their life that will help them to remember to check if they are in someone’s way. Ok, that’s a little harsh – maybe just bump into them with a shopping cart and give them a dirty look or something. I’m surprised that hasn’t happened already – what usually happens is the inconvenienced customer gives me a dirty look. And I want to tell people, you don’t know how I’ve tried – trust me I feel your pain. :-p I feel like me reminding them constantly to get out of people’s way saves them from the consequences that would actually help them think for themselves. 

But I digress – as I was saying – then we pass by the toy aisle and of course they NEED to spend some of their allowance money. One child was seriously considering this poop emoji stuffed pillow for her room.. Well, technically, it would match b/c her room colors are pink and brown.. I had this thought that maybe I could find some more poop themed decor for her room and make it look real put together.

This definitely parallels to adult hood. When I feel like spending some money, I spend a whole lot of time in the colored box aisle looking for the perfectly colored storage boxes or decorative pillows. I will stand there for hours staring at the pillows – it’s kind of crazy-making like shopping for toys is. And do I really need them? – no. The girls remind me of that everytime we go shopping for home decor just like I remind them of that everytime we go near a toy aisle.  They are like, ugh – Mommy, you aren’t even going to put anything in the boxes!  Which is true, in fact, I like the way the boxes look but I never actually get around to organizing.  :-p  I just like to stage the house like I’m organized but really everything is hidden in closets inside Wal-mart bags and completely unlabeled.

Making the Bed:
One night, my child’s idea of making the bed is covering it in 4 blankets and 5 strategically placed stuffed animals-and by strategically placed I mean they looked like they were set up to have a tea party. When I ask her to get in the bed she says, “How do I get in?”. Um I don’t know – very carefully.. Then, everytime a stuffed animal got knocked over she proceeded to have what appeared to be a seizure or some kind of possession for which I might need to call an exorcist.. Poor toddlers- why do they have to make life so hard for themselves? It was actually painful to watch..

But then I got to thinking that this is why I don’t actually make my bed because I sort of feel the same way with all the decorative pillows, throws,etc..😛 Now, how do I get in? I don’t want to mess this up. Maybe I’ll go sleep on the couch. We do the same thing to ourselves as adults, eh?


May
2018

Being a Parent is 90% about being roasted

categories: Blog, Kids

That was a tweet on Twitter.  I wish I could remember who so I could give them credit.  I totally agree with this tweet.  And since I have a few budding comediennes in the family, I get roasted quite a bit.  But it’s OK, I actually find it pretty hilarious – most of the time.  There are also those times though that are just plain embarrassing.  These are a few of my roasts:

Dinner with family visiting

My sister came in town for a visit with her family for a weekend and she had never seen our house before.  They were going to stay the weekend at our house.  Now, you know if you have kids that it’s scary to have people stay over night b/c you don’t really know what all is lurking in your kid’s rooms.  I knew we had to do a thorough deep clean.  I cleaned all the bathrooms – even the showers!  We finally cleaned the kid’s rooms and this wasn’t me just telling them to clean and them shoving everything under the bed and in the closet.  I knew that wasn’t going to fly with adults staying in their rooms.  I actually put on my hazmat suit and went into each of their closets – the horror.

It took days maybe weeks to get the house into decent shape for company.  I even cut the glitter glue out of my daughter’s bedroom carpet.  She managed to spill half a bottle of glitter glue on her carpet.  Don’t ask me how because they aren’t allowed to have any glue in their rooms.  But this glue had dried into a hazardous shape.  I mean it basically dried into a knife and like it would tear your foot off if you stepped on it.  Luckily, it was in a corner of a room and I had placed a book on top of it so it wouldn’t tear my daughter’s foot off.  However, company was coming and what if they picked up the book unknowingly and ended up losing a toe.  I couldn’t have that.  So, I got the good scissors and hacked away at the carpet.

My daughters were watching me do all this and apparently taking notes.  My sister and her family arrived and we pretended that our house is always this clean even though inside we were feeling like visitors in our own home – lol.  The only thing amiss was that there were gnats circling our heads occasionally.  We must’ve thrown so much junk in the trash cans that gnats flocked to our house from around the globe.  We probably had Costa Rican gnats here.

Anyway, all was well until the last night we had dinner at a nice restaurant and I made the mistake of mentioning cleaning.  My daughter’s eyes lit up and she was like now that you mention cleaning my Mom went crazy cleaning the house before you came!  She spent weeks!  She was running around like a chicken with her head cut off.  I really wanted to clamp a hand over her mouth at this point but that would’ve been rude.  She continued.  She even cut stuff out of our carpet and tossed everything out of our closets!   She kept telling us why do we have to be such big pigs..  Yada Yada Yada..  Ya, I definitely got roasted like a pig that night.  But I was laughing pretty hard in an insane put me in a straight jacket sort of way.  :-p

Craft time

The one time I made the signs for the Girl Scout cookie booth but they turned out awful and I told everyone my daughters worked really hard on them.  My daughter was in the background with a shocked look on her face like she didn’t know what I was talking about.  lol.  Ya, totally called me out.

Mother’s day

All the moms got invited up to the school for Mother’s day tea at my daughter’s preschool and the kids had prepared an All About My Mom worksheet for all their moms.  So sweet, right?  The teacher read them out loud that day for fun.

Just to give you some background: I was very pregnant with my third daughter at the time.  And my mom had been in town visiting for a couple of weeks to help out.  So, the question on the sheet of paper was – what is your Mom’s favorite thing to do?  So many cute answers – my mom loves quilting, my mom loves cooking, my mom loves reading to me, my mom loves … well, me.  All the moms are oohing and aahing – oh, how sweet.  Isn’t that precious!  Then, we get to me and my daughter had written – my mom’s favorite thing to do is…  Watch TV.

Really?  You couldn’t have put laundry, or dishes, or all the other things I do – maybe b/c I complain too much about those? – lol.  I admit I was watching alot of TV at the time because I was trying to entertain my mom without talking since I was a hormonal very pregnant person.  As soon as my mom started talking about how I should take Livatox (liver cleanser – you’d have to know my mom), I would discreetly turn up the volume.  But usually I don’t have a whole lot of time to watch TV.  Needless to say, everyone in the room was laughing – some a little too hard. :-p  Ya, definitely roasted that day.  :-p  Or as my daughter likes to put it: Roasted, Toasted, ….   And Grilled.

Homework

Then, there’s the time my daughter’s teacher roasted me.  Whenever I would help my daughter with her homework in Kindergarten or First Grade – can’t remember which.  I stopped helping with homework early on!  My daughter’s papers would come home with, “Read the Directions..” or “Needs work!”.  Whenever my husband would help her with homework, the papers would come home with, “Great Job!!!” and a sticker.  Or, “Your daughter’s really progressing!” and a sticker.

It was kind of demoralizing and a running joke in our house.  I still occasionally put in my two cents with homework though but I’m not really sure if I’m helping or hindering.  :-p  Common core is not my forte.  Like, why should we have to explain in words why 2+2=4?  I loved my daughter’s answer for one of these math questions.  It was an addition word problem question and she answered it: 3+2=5.  Then, the follow up question was: How do you know this answer?  And she wrote: Because I read the words or (becs I red the wrds in her first grade spelling).  I was like Yes, Exactly!!!  Self explanatory!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

My one daughter roasted herself at her preschool graduation, then me.  Her preschool put on a big celebration where all the kids were supposed to think about what they wanted to be when they grow up.  The teacher took pictures of them with their chosen dream occupation and they played a slide show at the graduation.  The kids all were holding signs like, “Engineer”, “Doctor”, “Astronaut”, “Scientist”, and there’s my daughter with her sign that says, “Checkout Lady”.  And she even had this exhausted, miserable expression on her face as if she’s been dealing with difficult people all day – lol.

The room erupted in laughter and I could tell she felt bad but she played it off.  Later, she asked me why everyone was laughing at her and I told her, “well there’s nothing wrong with being a checkout lady but it’s just that people don’t usually think of that as their dream profession, it’s more like a necessary profession.”  She said, Mom aren’t you going to have to be a check out lady?  B/c at this point, I had been staying at home with the kids for 10 years.  I was like well I don’t know  – I felt bad but I played it off as well.  :-p

I know there are a million other times I’ve been roasted.  Those are just the ones that I can think of in the moment.  Marshmallows do taste better roasted though don’t they?  I think so.  Though I do kind of fantasize about the day when my kids are older and they have kids of their own and I get my chance to roast them.  I imagine being kind of a Betty White (as opposed to Betty Crocker) grandmother.  Though I’ll use some of Betty Crocker’s products to make the grandkids some yummy treats.  But I do tell the kids to please invite me to their family dinners on occasion so I can do an impression of each one of them when they were little at the dinner table.  It would just make my life to be able to come full circle with that.  :-p  Although, I may not get invited back.  Whatever – It’d be worth it.  :-p

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Feb
2018

Pet Cemetery

categories: Blog, Kids

Having animals is a great way to teach your kids about death.  So begins our foray into having pets with kids.  When the kids were little, I would think there is no way I’m adding to my workload by having pets and small kids.  Having small kids is so. much. work.  Besides our own house looked like a hamster habitat with tunnels and slides everywhere, shredded toilet paper all over the floor, etc.  Don’t ask how the toilet paper got shredded all over the floor but small kids like to shred stuff – like whatever they can get their hands on.  Styrofoam is definitely a favorite.  Kids: “Mommy we are having so much fun!  We made snow in the living room!”.  Me: “Oh for the love of …  “.  That stuff is so hard to vacuum up – you feel like you are in a snow globe with all those pieces flying around – an angry mom snow globe.  But now that they are getting older and able to take care of things a little more (in theory), I figure let’s try it.

It has definitely increased my workload or my wordload because I’m constantly having to tell the girls to feed them and water them and clean up after them but the little furry animals are so worth it.  It’s hard to have a bad day when you see a little furry animal nibbling on a piece of apple – too cute.  And I get to hold a little furry animal while watching a movie – instant stress reliever.

One of my daughters is pretty allergic to cats and dogs so we needed to get something non-allergy inducing.  Therefore, our first foray into having pets was fish.  We thought my daughter definitely can’t be allergic to fish and we were right.  So, we got 5 of them and in about a month we were down to only one.  I remember my daughter coming downstairs one day laughing hysterically and saying that Flashy, her favorite fish, was swimming upside down and waving Hi to the rest of her fishy friends.  She was having so much fun!  I was like uh oh.  She was devastated when I informed her that Flashy was in fact dead.  I mean, it was a full on telenovela.  With three girls, there’s alot of emotions in this house.

I don’t remember being that sad when my pets died when I was little but maybe that was because we had so many.  Everytime one died, it was like – eh – I have 20 others (we lived in the country).  Maybe we developed that toughness over time though because, it seemed like every morning one of the cats got killed when we turned the car on because they crawled up inside the car to keep warm.  It was pretty traumatic.  Also, we did things differently back then.  If they got sick, then my dad put them out of their misery.  He was the executioner.  :-/  My poor dad.

Fish were so much work though and they weren’t cute and cuddly so I thought we have to get something furry next. We decided to go with hamsters.  We went to the pet store and I had my daughter take a big whiff of the hamsters to see if she was allergic.  I had her inhaler and benadryl ready.  All went well.  No hives and no asthma.

But we did have a Saturday night live skit going on at the pet store.  The sales lady really did not like hamsters and said everything she could to dissuade us.  We learned from her that:

1.) Hamsters stink – like, really stink. It’s not just the cage- the rodent itself really stinks.

2.) We were worried about allergies- lo and behold, everyone in the store she used to work at was allergic to them..

3.) Hamsters bite- she wouldn’t let the kids touch them unless they are wearing heavy duty gloves.  Their teeth are big.

4.) She says-how about a big rat? Those are better and more friendly too.  Or a hedgehog.  Or a sugar glider- we don’t sell them but they are supposedly really fun.  Or a ferret.  Or a guinea pig.  Or anything but a hamster.

5.) I asked if they sell alot of hamsters because I was concerned it would be gone by Christmas.  My daughter had a specific one she liked and it wasn’t possible to put it on layaway (😛).  She said yes they sell alot but people usually bring them back after a couple of weeks.😬

So, needless to say, we bought the hamster anyway with lots of trepidation.  It never bit us. It was the sweetest hamster ever.  I was expecting it to turn into Godzilla any day but it never did.  We named her Flynn.  It did however end up dying a week later.

We kept it in the basement just in case my daughter ended up being allergic to it.  And one of us left the cage open.  It got out and one of my girls discovered it was missing in the morning.  They were searching all over the basement for it.  I was getting ready and told them I’d be down in a second.  I  just said in passing that it might have gone in the pipes down there or something.  My daughter was like hmmm pipes and then it looked like a light bulb went off in her head.

She runs back downstairs and then after a couple of minutes I hear alot of screaming.  Oh great, why’d I have to say pipes.  Well, they followed all the pipes in the basement and decided that it might be in the sump pump then they decided it probably wasn’t.  My other daughter looked in there and said I think it is.  They ran and got their Flashlight Friends (little stuffed animals with flashlights on their bellies) and shined them into the sump pump.  There was Flynn floating on the top of the water – dead.  Ugh.

We gave her a proper burial the next day.  I was not going to fish it out of the sump pump at the time.  Though they wanted me to take her out and give her mouth to mouth – I had to assure them that she was definitely dead.

After a couple of weeks, we thought we’d get another hamster because we felt bad about the first one.  We picked a hamster that looked exactly like Flynn because that’s what our daughter wanted.  But he was nothing like Flynn.  We called him Bryon jr because Bryon never got a namesake – we have all girls.

He absolutely never stopped going, going, going.  He was not at all afraid of heights.  Everytime he encountered a drop off, he just did what we would call, “easy does it”, and slowly lower himself until he dropped about 4 feet and bounced like rubber.  The first time he saw a ceiling fan, he had a little hamster explosion.  If you can imagine this, it’s hard to imagine, but a hamster starring in a horror movie and about to get slaughtered.  That’s what he looked like.  He let out a hamster scream/gurgle and raised his hands up in the air and everything.  We thought he was having a seizure.  He was hilarious.  He ended up dying after about a year.

We also got a mouse who is super sweet and docile.  She doesn’t move much – she likes to just hang out.  Her cage does require more maintenance though.  But she is very timid and scared of heights which is funny because she has the ability to climb more so than Bryon jr did.  She is still alive and happy and sweet as ever.  I highly recommend a mouse except you will have to clean the cage out more frequently.  When we went to buy our mouse, that same lady at the pet store got down to my daughter’s level and looked her right in the face and said, “Are you prepared to clean that cage out twice a day?”.  Lol.  She apparently doesn’t like mice either.  :-p  You really don’t have to clean the cage out that often – maybe twice a week, but sometimes we do just once and it’s fine.

Now, we have ventured into being guinea pig owners.  They are so sweet!  We have 2 girl baby guinea pigs and we love them.  They are pretty docile.  You can just sit and hold them while you watch a movie.  They aren’t as on the go as hamsters (I guess depends on the personality), but the ones we have aren’t.  They get to be about the size of a half loaf of bread is what we are told so you have to have enough space for them.  I imagine they will be sitting at our breakfast counter eating cereal when they get older.  :-p

UPDATE: We’ve already lost a guinea pig – it died.  One tip: don’t get the calm ones at the store – apparently, it means they are half dead.  At least, that’s our experience.  Or maybe the one we have is a a serial killer.  I don’t know – but she’s better off in a cage alone regardless of what the lady at the store said.  She did not like having a roommate.  She kind of bullied the other one.  So, use your judgement on whether to get one or two.

The reason I titled this blog post Pet Cemetery is because animals have a short life so there will be alot of death involved and everytime my kids will be like, “I would give anything to have Flynn [insert every animal name here] back.  ANYTHING.  I would give up EVERYTHING in this house.”  And all I can envision is our poor little hamster coming back from the dead like the movie and dragging itself up the driveway and knocking on the door.  I’m baaaack!  Of course, we wouldn’t even hear it knocking because it’s so small.  It would be waiting out there a loooong time.  Then, one of us would probably just exit the front door one day and smush it so it’s not that scary but whatever.  I guess that’s why they have a scary cat not a hamster in that movie.  I need to watch that movie again or maybe I don’t.  Creepy.  And girls please don’t say you’ll give up EVERYTHING – it freaks me out!  :-p


Feb
2017

Our First Real Estate Baby

categories: Renovation

We did so much on this unit that it’s broken down into several posts.  Since it took us 9 months to complete, we are calling it our first real estate baby.  Hope no one drops it on it’s head!  :-p

We decided to DIY an IKEA kitchen:
See post on IKEA kitchen (4 part post):IKEA Kitchen Planning Design

Ceiling Fans:
We had an electrician put ceiling fans in all the rooms.  See this post on Ceiling Fans:Ceiling Fans

Patched Holes from Ceiling Fans:
See post on patching the holes: Patching Holes

Repainted all walls, ceilings, window trims, & closet doors.
For the paint colors, see this post: Lighter Shade Of Gray

Doors:
Installed all new 6-panel doors throughout.

Opened up the doorway from the dining room to the kitchen:
See this link: Opening a Doorway

Duct Work:
We had to fix the duct work in the garage that was dented in pretty badly. We hired Morgner Heating & A/C to come out and put new duct work in.

Flooring:
We put new flooring throughout.  See this post on the flooring: Trying out Pergo XP in the Rental.  We actually used Allure Ultra in the kitchen because it is even more resistant to water.  They look so similar in color, don’t they?  You can hardly tell they are two different types of flooring.  We actually lucked out there because we didn’t even have a sample of the kitchen flooring – I ordered it online.  It’s called Sawcut Dakota.  We had Home Depot install it.

Bathrooms:
See this post on the bathroom gut: From Potty To Powder Room 03/2016

Repaired bathroom ceiling:
We had an issue while renovating where we had to repair the bathroom ceiling (after it had already been renovated.):Repairing Ceiling Water Leak

Shelf Liners:
I like to put shelf liners in the drawers and cabinets to protect them.  For some of the shelves (like the ones that are already damaged), I do permanent liners.  But for the new shelves, I do temporary, removable liners with no adhesive.

Here’s the before and after pictures of the unit:

Kitchen – Before

Kitchen – After

Kitchen – Before

Kitchen – After

Kitchen – Befoe

Kitchen – After

Kitchen Entry

Living Room – Before

Dining Room – Before

Dining Room/Living Room – After

Master Bedroom – Before

Master Bedroom – After

Second Bedroom – Before

Second Bedroom – After

No Before Picture for the Third Bedroom

Third Bedroom – After

Hall Bathroom – After

Master Bathroom – After


Dec
2016

9 Things That Will Turn Your Child from a Gizmo Into a Gremlin

categories: Blog, Kids

Whoever created the movie, Gremlins, must’ve been a parent. It’s the perfect analogy for children. Ever look at your child one minute and they are sweet and cute (Gizmo), then the next they are foaming at the mouth and having the biggest tantrum ever (Gremlin)?  I call this the Gizmo to Gremlin transition.  It happens in the blink of an eye.  I’m compiling a list of the things that cause it so I and others can be more aware..

9 Things that will turn your gizmo into a gremlin:

1.) Go on a playdate without a snack/drink or go anywhere without a snack/drink. They will claim to be dying of thirst the second they realize you have nothing for them to drink. You will end up buying a $3 water somewhere.  If you are on a playdate at a friend’s house, they will eat everything in your friend’s kitchen or complain the entire time about being hungry.  You may end up clamping a hand down over their mouth and making a bad impression with said friend.  :-p

2.) Let them stay up past midnight.  In the Gremlins movie, you aren’t supposed to feed them after midnight, but in real life – it’s don’t let the kids stay up past midnight – you’ll regret it.  We frequently let our girls sleep together on the weekend and next thing you know, they are each breaking down in turns and your whole weekend is consumed by tears.

3.) Wake them up from a nap. The phrase never wake a sleeping baby applies to everyone: never wake a sleeping baby, never wake a sleeping toddler, never wake a sleeping preschooler, never wake a sleeping husband.

4.) The witching hour: anytime between 4pm and 6pm.

5.) Serve them anything homemade.  I no longer answer my kids when they ask me what’s for dinner.  I tell them that’s a loaded question!  Or I’ll tell them it’s something frozen that I warmed up b/c they trust that stuff more than they trust my cooking skills..

6.) Tell them you are going to Home Depot.  They hate Home Depot, mostly because they will usually end up getting barked at by some old, grouchy person that thinks kids shouldn’t exist in this world.  But some are nice and give them lollipops so it just depends.

7.) Tell them it’s time to clean.  Although, now that they are older, I find that I tell them all to clean just to get them to play quietly together.  Somehow telling them to clean, causes them to play nicely.  Not exactly the desired response, but close.  Sometimes, as a parent, you have to improvise and be flexible to get what you want.  :-p

8.) Tell them no at the store.  I like to say, we’ll add that to the Christmas list.  If they push further, I pretend to add it to a list on my phone.. This applies more when they are little – now, for my older children I say no incessantly at the store – it’s like I’m making up for all the times I couldn’t say it when they were little.

9.) Tell them to share.  This evicts the worst response.  It’s like you are asking them to set their toy on fire or something.  Telling them to take turns isn’t much better – they will watch the clock like a hawk and nag you incessantly to see if it’s time yet.

Anyone else have any other things?  My kids are 4,  7, & 9 so the list might’ve been different when they were younger.. No, wait, it was definitely different and more exhaustive when they were younger. I used to say – it’s so hard being little – all the time because it seemed like EVERYTHING upset them.  Seriously, you could say, “We are going to the park!” and they’d get upset.

And gremlin kid after they’ve eaten all the snacks out of your friend’s pantry:

And now I’m going to flip the script down here and write about times when Mom turns from Gizmo to Gremlin:

Here’s Mom “happily” at the computer paying bills:

These are the things that turn Mom into a gremlin:

1.) Talking to me after bedtime.

2.) Scream mommy from another room over and over again and expecting me to come running like I’m some kind of butler.

3.) Leaving the house without shoes on or with only dress up shoes on and not finding out until we are at the destination.

4.) Incessant fighting.

5.) The sound of the bead bucket hitting the floor.

6.) Bouncing around so much upstairs that it sounds like a Jumanji style stampede is going to come through your ceiling.

7.) Having to repeat myself for the 5th or 6th time.

And gremlin Mom (angrily stuffing face with cookies while offering the kids none):

 


May
2016

IKEA Kitchen Install Part Uno – Planning Design

categories: Renovation

We just got an IKEA in St Louis – yay!!!!  I’m from Texas and we had an IKEA in Houston so I know how wonderful it is and I’m over the moon excited about this.  There are so many cool organization items there and affordable furniture – I just love it.

We have a tenant moving out end of May and their apartment hasn’t been updated since 1969 so the whole thing needs to be overhauled.  Since we are on a budget, we are going to attempt to do the kitchen ourselves with IKEA cabinets.  I’ve heard they are easy to install with the rails that are leveled on the wall for both the top and bottom cabinets and the adjustable feet so you don’t have to deal with shimming.  I loathe anything that involves shimming.  We shall see.  I’m going to document it here.

First, we designed the kitchen in the IKEA kitchen planner online tool.  This online tool can be glitchy so be prepared for a little frustration but over all I LOVE having access to a design tool online – LOVE diy stuff in general so this is great.

We have already renovated a kitchen in a similar unit so we had a head start on that but the cabinet sizes are slightly different for IKEA so that made it a little tricky.  For example, they don’t have a 33 inch wide cabinet. The upper cabinets are also 3 inches deeper than standard cabinets which I like – more space..  So, here’s our design from the online IKEA 3D planning tool:

3D Line View in IKEA software:

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KitchenUpdateAptAfridgeSide

Floor View in IKEA software:

KitchenUpdateAptAFloorDiagram

On the left side of this kitchen is a window and a door leading out to the deck and on the right side is the entry from the dining room.  The details of the cabinets from Left to Right, Top to Bottom (spacing may not be perfect in the tool, but that’s ok):

36 inch wide cabinets (top & bottom),  Bottom cabinet has 2 drawers on top and doors on the bottom.  We did this because there is a window sill there and the drawers can’t pull out all the way so we figured if the drawers were smaller in height, they could at least pull out the top drawer all the way.

30 inch wide cabinets (top is 20 inch in height – slightly shorter so you can have breathing room while washing dishes and bottom has a 1 bowl sink),

24 inch wide cabinet on the top and dishwasher on the bottom.  The dishwasher is only going to be 24 inches wide but we need to put a panel between the dishwasher and oven in order to support the counter which would be about a half inch and we’ll add a cover panel on top as well so they are symmetrical. UPDATE: the dishwasher panel is actually more like 5/8 inches.

30 inch wide cabinets on top (15 inches in height so that we can put a built in microwave underneath – because their cabinets are slightly deeper than the regular cabinets they have special tools we can use for the built in microwave to make it level with the cabinets as far as depth goes) and oven on the bottom. The oven is about 30 1/8 inches so we left a space of 30 1/4 inches for the oven. UPDATE: this extra space was unexpected because ovens are normally 30 inches or less so we added a full cover panel to the side of the 12 inch wide wall cabinet mentioned below in order to make up for the extra space in the base cabinets.

12 inch wide cabinet on top and 12 inch wide cabinet with a door on the bottom (they didn’t have one that was 12 inches with drawers. UPDATE: we added a full cover panel to the side of this 12 inch wide cabinet to add 1/2 inch of space to match up with the base cabinets.

Next, is a pantry 24 inch x 80. But there will be a cover panel on the side of the pantry which will add an extra half-inch.

We have about 4 inches of extra space that we are going to put fillers on each end to fill. We’ll probably do 1 inch on one side and 3 inches on the other side because we realized we need to keep the existing venting duct work within the cabinet that is over the microwave (there was an oven range hood that vents outside and we want to reuse this for the over the range microwave) and that is cutting it REALLY close. :-0 UPDATE: we ended up putting 0 inches of filler on one side and 3.5 inches on the other side.

On the other wall from Left to Right is:

15 inch cabinets (top is the extra tall 40 inch height and bottom cabinet has 6 drawers- I love this idea of having several skinny drawers for utensils, hand towels, junk drawer, etc – feels very organized).

36 inch wide cabinets (top cabinet is the extra tall 40 inch height (because there is no soffit on this side of the wall – hopefully this doesn’t look funny to have taller cabinets on one side than the other – we shall see) and the bottom cabinet is 36 inch wide and has two drawers on top and then doors on bottom.

36x24x20 over the fridge cabinets with doors.  We also bought panels to cover the sides of the fridge (not pictured here).  These were the ones we weren’t originally going to get. UPDATE: We decided to return the over-the-fridge cabinets and get a dishwasher instead to stay above the $4,000 mark.

We left 1 inch of space between the cabinets and the walls at the ends and on the one side where the counter will be sticking out we left 3 inches for the overhang of the counter.  We knew to do this b/c this is what we did for the other kitchen we updated and it worked out just fine.  You want to leave some space in case the walls aren’t level, etc and you don’t want anyone bumping themselves on the edge of the counter if it’s sticking out.

The lady that worked at IKEA told us that we don’t need to put the fillers in the picture, fillers are just cover panels which you cut to size so you can order whatever you need in whatever size later.  These cabinets are shaker style in off-white (GRIMSLOV).  I figure you can’t go wrong in white for a rental and shaker style is my favorite.   Another great thing about IKEA is that it’s relatively easy to replace parts when they break because everything comes in pieces that you assemble yourself and you can buy several components individually if you need to.

We did have a hard time getting to the $4,000 mark for the IKEA sale because we got our appliances at Home Depot (for their July 4th sale) and we didn’t want to buy the counter tops at IKEA since they were a little pricier than Home Depot for stone.  You have to reach $4,000 before taxes in order to get the 15% off gift card.  Also, they were out of sinks or in transition on sinks so we couldn’t get a sink there.  We already had a faucet.  I’d heard about people buying kitchen cabinets for the bathroom but we just had our bathrooms renovated and didn’t need it there.  Well, we did need over the toilet cabinets, but 15 inches deep would probably be too deep and look funny.

So, we ended up buying over the fridge cabinets which we weren’t originally going to do – we were just going to have a stand alone fridge, but it’ll look nicer so we’ll see.  UPDATE: we returned these and got a dishwasher instead – we were going to keep the existing dishwasher but it was going to look like an eyesore with everything else being updated.

Definitely make sure you allow enough time for the ordering of the cabinets – it takes a LOOONG time – like several hours.  We decided to pick them up ourselves instead of choosing the delivery option.  The delivery option was only $60 – should’ve done that.  Everything fit in our mini-van with all the seats taken out (except passenger and driver seat, of course), so that worked out (even the pantry – which was VERY close – we got the 80 inch tall pantry), but we were there until 11pm waiting for them to bring down all the furniture pieces.  The building closed at 9pm so we were just sitting around with stir-crazy kids – not good.

One thing we didn’t have in the 3D planning tool b/c we didn’t know about was cover panels for the exposed areas of the cabinets.  You have to add those on so that the gap in the back of the cabinet is covered – adds a little bit more to the price.  Every little bit counts to get to the $4000 mark.  We also added some molding at the top and bottom. UPDATE: we are going to have to return the molding – it is too thick (1.5 inches on the thin side) and reduces the space too much between the upper and lower cabinets – we are already a little bit less than 18 inches – about 17.5.  We bought the wrong molding and didn’t realize it.  They had a thinner one we could’ve used.  Oh well – we just did without – it looks fine.

Read on for the rest of the install:

IKEA Kitchen Install Part Uno – Planning Design

IKEA Kitchen Install Part Dos – Cabinet Assembly

IKEA Kitchen Install Part Tres- Cabinet Install

IKEA Kitchen Install Parto Quatro – Finishing Touches


Oct
2015

5 shades of gray

categories: Home Decor, Renovation

Gray is the IN color right now or so it seems, but I have such a hard time liking it!  It all stems back to when I first met my husband.  Gray is his favorite color (I guess b/c it’s manly [insert man grunt here]).  So, when I first met him and went to his house – it was a bachelor pad with actual flannel sheets hanging as curtains instead of curtains – getting the visual now?  And I found that he painted the entire house a light shade of gray and the baseboards were a darker shade of gray.  I’m not going to lie, it kind of made me think of a prison.  I called that shade of gray “prison gray” from then on.  And, after that, I couldn’t bring myself to paint any rooms of the house gray – I developed an aversion.

Before I moved in, I repainted every single wall to a non gray color.  But then what happens – gray is now IN.  So, I’m forced to reconsider.  I have tried out a few shades of the HGTV Sherwin Williams line at Lowe’s.  And I fell in LOVE!  Gracious Greige and Stone Isle are my favorite.  It seems the lighter shades of gray remind me of prisons or mental patient facilities (not that I’ve ever been in one, yet – there’s still time! :-p) because they can come across as cold. Though, I did do another post on Lighter Shades of Gray in which I found some that aren’t cold – here’s the link: Lighter Shade of Gray   But here’s my current review of these shades:

5 shades of gray.  I didn’t quite have the finances or energy to try 50. :-p And no I’ve never seen that movie and don’t plan on it.  That’s just not something I’m into.  I’d rather men be good old-fashioned nice, you know?  Nice is sexy.  I’m not so much into crazies or encouraging crazies:

1.) Icy Avalanche (lighter shade on same paint card as Stone isle): I think this was the exact color of prison gray that my husband used on his first house.  I don’t recommend this one.  Though I used it in a bathroom where the tile was grayish so it might have just been a little overwhelming – still don’t recommend.  I’ve found that the trim, tile, etc in the room really effects the way the paint color comes across.

2.) Stone Isle (slghtly blue-ish gray but more on the gray side – still very neutral): I LOVE this color.  It kind of reminds me of like a beachy kind of gray – my brother called it cape cod.  It’s still on the neutral side.  It looks very modern and classic.  I wouldn’t paint an entire house in this color, but one or 2 rooms would be good.  I actually painted the common area of our four-plex building in this color b/c I’m using some artwork that has red in it and it will go really nice with red.  It’s also very neutral but still modern and stylish.  I’ve gotten alot of comments on this color from the tenants – they really like it.  It comes across as warm even when paired with red/brown brick.  LOVE this color.

3.) Repose Gray (little darker than what I was looking for): This was a little darker than what I was looking for in a rental house.  I needed more neutral and light.

4.) Basalt Powder (HGSW2457 – lighter shade on same paint card as Gracious Griege): I painted the other bathroom with this color and it’s not bad – not great either but not bad – just kind of meh neutral.  It looks very close to white though so it depends what kind of look you’re going for.  If you want an almost white color, then this might be for you.  It might come across as a little cold though in a living room – I think for a bathroom it was alright.  UPDATE:  I tried this in the living room in a different unit and I really like it!  It looks very modern.  See other post Lighter Shade of Gray

5.) Gracious Greige (HGSW2456): LOVE this color.  I would paint an entire house in this color and not think twice.  We painted the kitchen of our rental unit with this color and it looks great.  This is a very neutral color and it’s also light enough – not too dark.  Plus, it’s got a little beige in it so it’s not all gray – more like grayish.  Good for those of us who are still walking the line on whether to like gray or not.  This is my new favorite neutral.

Here’s the gracious greige in the kitchen:

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Gracious Griege Kitchen

Here’s the Stone Isle in a bedroom:

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Stone Isle Bedroom

Here’s the Icy Avalanche in the bathroom (don’t recommend – I just felt like it was kind of blah and seemed very masculine to me – think garage.  Maybe b/c of the colors it’s up against – that makes a huge difference):

Broadmoor_HallBath
Icy Avalanche Bathroom

Here’s the Basalt Powder in the other bathroom (again not my favorite – very close to white – but it is neutral).  Sorry you can’t really see the wall that much in this picture – the door is in the way and the lighting’s not great.  It’s such a small bathroom – hard to get good pics:.  This one kind of made me think of a dentist office or a pharmacy :-/:

BroadmoorMasterBath
Basalt Powder Bathroom

See this next post on lighter shades of gray: Lighter Shade of Gray


Apr
2024

Restoring Peeling Thermofoil Kitchen Cabinets

categories: Renovation

Anyone else have peeling kitchen cabinets? I used to love our white cabinets and how easy they were to wipe off, but now that they are peeling they are the bane of my existence. One thing with house renovations is that once you think about updating one thing it cascades into a bunch of other things and before you know it you’ve spent a gazillion dollars. Because of our peeling kitchen cabinets, we haven’t been able to replace our flooring, countertops, backsplash since we didn’t know if we would have to fully replace the cabinets and that might change the kitchen footprint. It has basically held up all of our house renovations, so now we have decided we are going to completely peel the thermofoil off and paint them.

Our main goal for our house is to not have any eye sores and these peeling cabinets were eye sores. We aren’t trying to necessarily have an HGTV house just functional house with no eye sores because we have three kids and they are about to go to college. :-p Now, when we have a rental house that generates income that is a different story and HGTV is the goal so that’s fun to get to play around there, but for myself I don’t feel like I need all of that. If by doing our little hacks, our house looks a little more HGTV, well then I’m not going to complain or anything.

So as a quick and potential long term fix if it goes well, we took off and painted the 2 cabinet doors that were peeling. We don’t have much time, in general, with 3 kids. so we figure we’ll fix them as they peel 🙂 Here are the steps we followed:

1.) Buy the paint and supplies (see supply list section). We took an existing door to Home Depot to get a color match. We bought special cabinet paint in this color. I think it’s important to buy cabinet paint because it’s somewhat self-leveling. You could even splurge and get the Benjamin Moore – Advance for cabinets. or Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel. I read those are the best but then got in a rush and forgot about it because I was already at Home Depot and I got Behr Cabinet paint which worked out fine.

2.) Prep work: We took both cabinet doors off as well as the handles. We covered our ping pong table in the garage with a paint cloth and setup all our supplies. This was the perfect place to do the painting (height and everything).

3.) Remove the thermofoil completely with a heat gun. I highly recommend buying a heat gun for this because the thermofoil comes off much better so you can avoid messing up the wood underneath. We set the heat gun at 500 degrees and the thermofoil removed very easily and cleanly. I wore some gloves because I was scared to get burned. We even used the heat gun to speed up the paint drying process, but we set it at a lower temp and held it further away. This allowed us to finish the job quicker.

4.) Sand and prep the cabinet doors. After removing the thermofoil fully, you can use denatured alcohol to remove the glue residue. We didn’t do that part, we just sanded the doors with 120-grit sandpaper (wear goggles, and mask b/c you don’t want this stuff to get in your eyes and nose), then 220-grit sandpaper. If you have any indentations in the wood, you can use wood putty to fill those in before painting. We didn’t have any because the heat gun at the right setting and some patience (don’t drink coffee before this process :-p) allowed us to remove the thermofoil very cleanly. Use a tack cloth or vacuum to remove the debris after sanding.

5.) Prime the doors with the Kils3 primer (2 coats). Put your first coat, then let it dry and sand again. Do this twice (total of 2 coats of primer) – sanding after each time. The sanding is important – it really gives it that smooth feel you want for your kitchen cabinets. You don’t have to sand after the final coat. We used a paint brush for the intricate parts of the door and a roller for the flat parts.

6.) After thoroughly priming, you are ready to apply the paint color (3 coats). The paint we got had a satin finish because it will be easier to clean than eggshell and that is what our current finish is so we wanted the best match for that as well. Some people prefer semi-glass for kitchens – that’s probably what I would’ve gotten if I wasn’t trying to match our existing doors. We did 3 coats of the color – sanding after each one, except the final one. For the final coat, we did it with the paintbrush only because we felt that had a better finish. I guess if you got the right roller, maybe that would give you the right finish. We had a foam roller and it was leaving an impression – don’t use a foam roller – use a short nap one.

7.) Once dried – you may have to wait several days depending on the type of paint you purchased (check the cure time), you are ready to put the handles back on and put the doors in place!

We are very happy with the final product. The paint match we got from Home Depot wasn’t perfect but it was close enough – for white kitchen cabinet doors it’s hard to tell the difference. I don’t think any of our company will be looking close enough to tell the difference (if they are, then they won’t be invited back j/k) and it looks so much better than having white cabinets with the brown underneath showing in chunks. I feel confident enough now that we can one day get new backsplash and countertops with this fix (once we get over the price shock of those things – as I mentioned our 3 kids are heading to college one after another :-p). We will just continue to do the rest of the doors and drawers as they start peeling as well – in my opinion it’s so much easier to do it as they peel rather than all at once. We were able to save ourselves like $15,000 – not sure how much kitchen cabinets run these days with inflation. I didn’t even bother to get a quote because I didn’t want to faint or waste anyone’s time.

Supply List:

  • Face Mask
  • Work gloves
  • Cabinet paint
  • Kilz 3 primer
  • Paint brush
  • Paint roller – short nap mini roller
  • Tack cloth to wipe off the sanding debris
  • Heat gun
  • Goggles

Pictures of the process:


Dec
2023

Bike Vacation Itinerary: 30A, Florida (near Destin)

categories: Travel

Another Biking Vacation for those who enjoy biking – 30A is a great biking destination! We stayed essentially in a mobile home in the Blue Mountain Beach area. I didn’t realize it was a mobile home because from the pictures it looked just like a house, but once we got there we realized it was the one small house in a sea of mansions – no wonder it was a good price! 🙂

Anyway, it suited us just fine – good thing there weren’t any strong winds or hurricanes while we were there. It had two bedrooms and one bathroom which was all we really needed. Turns out they also had an outdoor shower which came in really handy so none of us would have to remain salty after coming home from the beach.

We loved Blue Mountain beach – it’s a nice central location to access all of 30A and it’s a beautiful beach, relatively laid back, and family friendly. 30A has a unique phenomenon called Dune Lakes which are actually pretty rare – we passed over many on our bike rides.

Here’s our itinerary with kids.

Day 1: Explored the Blue Mountain Beach area. Loaded up our beach wagon (the place we rented provided one of these) and headed down to the Blue Mountain Beach. We got an awesome new beach tent that looks like a blue starfish which really made our trip nice. It’s very portable by bike as well. After some boogie board riding, we headed to eat at Redfish Taco which had a great band most nights and amazing tacos, then had ice cream at Blue Mountain Creamery.

Day 2: Rode our bikes to Seaside (about 4 miles away – where the Truman show was filmed) from our house in Blue Mountain beach. We ate lunch at the food trucks in Seaside. Had some barbeque at Barefoot BBQ and grilled cheese at the Meltdown – nice shade and cool breeze under their canopies. Then, we headed down to the public access point to the beach and set up our tent. The beach was very similar to Blue Mountain beach – no difference. Except the public part is very small – mostly you have to pay to get in. The town of Seaside was pretty neat with the pastel architecture so that was a sight to see. We went to a few of the shops but were priced out of them for the most part. Saw a dress for $179 and did a U-Turn out of there.

Day 3: Rode our bikes to Topsail Hill State Park (about 5.6 miles – the opposite direction from Seaside). I liked the scenery at this park – it was nice and shaded from the tall trees. We got some snacks at the general store and ice water/Gatorade then rode the Campbell trail to the dune lake – there was nice breeze the whole way. Then, we rode to the beach and saw some sea snails and sat on the sandbars which were protected from the waves. The beach was pristine.

Day 4: Rode our bikes to Grayton Beach State Park (about 3 miles away). This was a must do. We first hiked the Dune Trail which was an experience hiking in the sand but the ground hardened out shortly into it so it wasn’t heavy sand the whole way. After this hike we were kind of hot and ready to get in the ocean. The beach here was really nice and we caught and released some sea creatures. We ate dinner at Beach Camp Brewing Company which was yummy. It actually started pouring down rain at this point and it was getting dark so the ride back was a bit scary traversing the rain by headlight. We were extra careful though and made it back with no injuries.

Day 5: Drove our bikes to Point Washington Forest and biked some of the trails there. Afterwards, we drove our bikes to Rosemary Beach, parked at Shades Bar & Grill, rode the trail to Seacrest and got some pizza at Pizza By The Sea. We ate in the town square where there was some live music then headed back to Rosemary Beach to watch the sunset.

Day 6: Destin for a boat snorkeling tour. I was really surprised how clear the water was – we could actually see fish when we went snorkeling and we even spotted someone with a pet monkey on a surfboard. Afterwards, we ate at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville on the ocean.

Day 7: Shipwreck Island Waterpark and then checked out the Panama City Beach.

Day 1: Blue Mountain Beach

There was some seaweed in the water, but not much on the beach.

Red Fish Taco Band – they had a band most nights and great food – awesome way to end the day of biking:

Blue Mountain Creamery for dessert most nights:

Day 2: Rode our bikes to Seaside

Crossing over Alligator Lake:

Red Fish Dune Lake:

We can see the beach but the tricky part will be getting there. For most of it you have to pay to get in – we walked quite a bit to find the tiny public access point.

Day 3: Rode our bikes to Topsail Hill State Park

We loved our little starfish tent – it was easy to transport by bike and all we had to do is fill the legs up with sand. I kept wondering if the pole was going to snap in half but it held up with all the wind.

Day 4: Grayton Beach State Park

We hiked the Dune Lake Trail. I highly recommend this – it’s a nice change of pace and a different kind of hiking on the sand.

Now, to the beach:

Day 5: Point Washington State Park (my favorite ride this trip). There were some heavy sand patches in some spots that you have to be wary of but very fun trail.

Day 6: Destin

We took a boat snorkel tour which was amazing and saw some dolphins along the way.

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Dec
2023

Bike Vacation Itinerary: Clearwater, Florida

categories: Travel

Since we love biking so much, we were looking for a vacation where we could explore mostly by bike. Clearwater, Florida is what we landed on since we had read about the Pinellas Trail. We went over Christmas a couple of years ago. Here’s our itinerary with kids.

We rented a house in Palm Harbor which is more of a suburb so it was a bit less expensive than being on the beach. Turns out there are a lot of bike trails in the area as well so if you are an avid biker, you may not even need to drive. We have kids so we drove to the Pinellas trail most days.

Day 1: We rode our bikes to the neighborhood park in Palm Harbor (John Chestnut Sr Park) and saw lots of nature. There were alligators, lots of birds, and several playgrounds.

Day 2: Rode from Crystal Beach to Tarpon Springs. There was a zoo along the way! We ate some Greek food and dessert at the Sponge Docks.

Day 3: Rode from Crystal Beach to Honeymoon Island State Park. This ride included miles on the DunedIn causeway which had the most beautiful ocean views on both sides. It was about 6 miles one way but we beat the car traffic which was bumper to bumper. Honeymoon Island State Park is a very natural park and the beaches are beautiful and pristine. We got snow cones on the way back and watched the sunset at High & Dry Grill.

Day 4: Just me and my husband rode from Palm Harbor to Tarpon Springs and we ate at a nice Greek Restaurant. It was a little too long of a ride to include the kids.

Day 5: Rode from DunedIn to Clearwater Beach. Clearwater beach is amazing – it’s a very busy city beach with plenty to do and loads of shops, but the traffic getting there was pretty bad – luckily we didn’t have to deal with it because we were on bike. We ate at DunedIn Brewery at the end of the ride and it was yummy.

Day 6: My absolute favorite place was Pass-A-Grille beach. We didn’t actually bike here but I think you can. The atmosphere was amazing – there was a great band playing and we got to sit right on the beach to eat at Paradise Grille. A fog had rolled in over the ocean which gave it an eerie, magical feeling. The beach was absolutely stunning.

I do feel like the best way (and most fun, IMO) to get around to the beaches in this area was by bike because you got to beat the traffic and fully immerse yourself in the ocean atmosphere – lots of wildlife and fun things to stop and see along the way as well.

Day 1: Bike to John Chestnut Sr Park

Day 2: Crystal Beach to Tarpon Springs

The Zoo along the trail:

Sponge Docks:

Day 3: Crystal Beach to Honeymoon Island State Park

Ended the day with snow cones at this place and watched the sunset:

Day 5: Rode from DunedIn to Clearwater Beach

Day 6: Pass-A-Grille Beach


Apr
2020

Banana Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

categories: Recipes

During the pandemic, everyday feels like Groundhog Day. We just watched that movie with the kids this past weekend and they loved it.  Well, if everyday is going to be the same then I want it to involve this Banana cake with cream cheese icing. So on top of the standard eggs, bread, and milk from the store, I make sure to have bananas, cream cheese, and powdered sugar. As I tell my husband when he sees me making a cake every 3 days – someone has to be the adult around here! :-p

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com which is my goto place for recipes. Here is the link:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8333/banana-cake-vi/?internalSource=streams&referringId=15827&referringContentType=Recipe%20Hub&clickId=st_trending_b

I’ll paste my version of it here.  I just tweaked a few things b/c I didn’t have stuff on hand or didn’t want to do the extra stuff.  Otherwise, it’s mostly the same:

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter (use salted butter)
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups buttermilk (milk with 1 tbsp of vinegar added – let sit for a few minutes)
2 teaspoons lemon juice (didn’t use)
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (3 bananas)

For the frosting:

½ cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice (didn’t use lemon juice just mashed the bananas), set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda. Set aside.

Step 2

In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Step 3

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes (did not do this – don’t ever have that much space in the freezer and it turns out fine!). This will make the cake very moist.

Step 4

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream 1/2 cup butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

Some people in my family like to sprinkle this cake with cinnamon before eating. Sounds good, but I tend to like it the way it is – can’t mess with perfection.

Update: I did gain 20 lbs over the pandemic so maybe don’t make this every few days like I did. :-p


Apr
2020

Things To Do During the Pandemic

categories: Blog

Definitely don’t try to travel abroad. We did that and almost got stuck in Costa Rica. :-p So, I highly advise against it. Maybe I’ll write about it some day but it’s still too raw in my memory bank. I think next time we try to vacation we will go camping or something simple. This whole pandemic thing has really made me want to go back to basics and I’m probably not alone on that.

These are a couple of things that have kept us busy during the pandemic.

1.) Pandemic Pokemon bracelets. One of my daughters loves Pokemon so we decided to make some Pokemon themed charm bracelets. You can check out how to do that with this blog post: 

DIY Charm Bracelet

Here’s a picture of one of them:

She likes the Evees (not sure if I”m spelling that right)

2.) Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition. They are giving away the beta version of this game online and you can print it and play it for free! Nothing better than that. Aren’t we all trying to save some coins during this time? You can get that here: https://www.cardsagainsthumanityfamilyedition.com/

It’s handy if you have some card stock lying around which we happened to for some other project. I also had to write in a few of my own cards to get some extra laughs from inside jokes our family shares. That went over pretty well! The game is appropriate for kids (the kids said it was until I wrote in my own cards :-p). What can I say – I’ll do anything for a laugh – most people don’t know that about me.

3.) Movies – lots of movies. One of my daughters had her birthday recently and so we let her have an Amazon movie shopping spree for her birthday – she bought alot of super hero movies (Spiderman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Black Panther).  Turns out it was the perfect gift b/c she’s our movie lover.  A few of the movies we recommend:
Big
Abominable
Evan Almighty
It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Leap
Adventures in BabySitting
Mrs. Doubtfire
The Kid Who Would Be King
Groundhog Day
Captain Marvel
Black Panther
Wonder Woman
Cheaper By The Dozen

4.) Taking a walk most nights around the neighborhood. My husband would love to go when the sun is still out but I don’t like to run into too many people. It gets to be like the game Frogger crossing the street everytime someone is walking toward us. So I like to go when it gets dark. We compromise and go at dusk – it’s usually dark by the time we get home.

5.) Cooking – I’ve never cooked so much in my life.  I guess I’m trying to make up for not getting to go out to eat.  I thought I would lose weight during the pandemic but turns out, it’s quite the opposite.  I can’t stay out of the kitchen.  One of my favorite things is Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.  I will post the recipe I use for that soon.  I basically make it again as soon as we run out.  As long as I have that cake in the fridge, I feel like everything is going to be ok.

6.) Learn to make masks.  The kids made their own out of some scrap cloth we had laying around and used rubber bands and staples.  They are probably not going to be the most comfortable masks but so far they haven’t had to use them so we’ll see.  I learned how to make some out of socks and t-shirts but still have yet to make one.  I haven’t gone anywhere so no need yet, but I guess I should prepare.  :-p

7.) Have a stick person dance party using glow sticks:

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What not to do (And I know this from experience :-p):
1.) Watch news 24/7. (I’m about to lose my ever loving mind with this!)
2.) Watch Planet of the Apes with the kids. We thought they could handle it – 1 and 2 were fine but War of the Planet of the Apes was a step too far. All kids were fine but my sensitive kid (and it’s not the youngest) – she was not happy and might’ve had to sleep with her siblings for a couple of days to recover.  Now, she no longer trusts my movie picks and I don’t blame her.
3.) Don’t feel like you have to do it all.  Take some time to relax.


Feb
2020

Kauai – 11 Day Itinerary

categories: Blog, Travel

Here is our 11 day or 10 night itinerary to Kauai.  We packed plenty of stuff in but it still managed to feel relaxing.  Kauai has a way of making people feel that way.  This island holds a special place in my heart.  It’s my favorite of all the Hawaiian islands though I haven’t been to the big island yet.  I feel I have no need to see the big island if it means missing any days on Kauai.  Some say Disney is the most magical place on Earth, but I definitely think they meant Kauai.  

Day One (Saturday): We arrived in Kauai at around 2PM. The first thing we did was pick up our Avis Rental car. We got a minivan of course for convenience sake.

The first thing we noticed is that chickens and roosters were everywhere. We thought that was curious. I was thinking – why are they in the Avis parking lot – what could they possibly be eating for food? Then I realized the amount of food that flies out of our minivan every time we open the doors – ah! they are eating goldfish! Makes sense. Not the healthiest diet, but to each their own.

We saw some baby chicks that the kids fell in love with. From here on out they decided they would count the baby chicks they found. Turns out there were ALOT. And we soon found out that they were testing out their Cock-a-doodle-doos all day long. I thought roosters only did that in the morning as like an alarm clock, but not these roosters. I guess they wanted to make sure they still had it. They screamed so much that their voices were hoarse. They were like – cock-a-doodle-cough-cough. Definitely need ear buds!

We realized we were really hungry. There’s a 5 hour time difference. So, while we arrived at 2pm it was really 7pm back home. We decided to go out to eat in Lihue at Kalapaki Joe’s. The burgers and fries were really good. It’s American bar food, but very good and good service.

Next, we went to Wal-mart to buy groceries. The place we rented is a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo – woohoo! Usually we all stay in one room on vacation which is definitely less fun.. :-p The kids would end up keeping us up all night and at some point I’d end up throwing a pillow at one of their heads to shut it.  But now we had the roosters to keep us up and I couldn’t exactly throw a pillow at their heads. Though, the ear plugs definitely helped. :-p

Day Two (Sunday): Lydgate Beach Park, then Ho-opi Falls.

We felt jet lagged so luckily I didn’t plan anything for this day and we got to sleep in a bit. I actually had planned something for this day, but turns out I got the days wrong luckily on the Excel spreadsheet, so we had an extra spare day – that worked out very well! Eventually, we got around to going snorkeling at Lydgate Beach Park. Our condo is right next to this place so it was within walking distance.

This is a great place to snorkel especially for kids who are just learning. It’s protected by boulders so the kids aren’t exposed to the open ocean. There isn’t a reef there, but there’s fish and some rocks for the fish to hide behind. We did see schools of fish (some yellow and black striped and some big bright blue ones that the kids called Dori fish), but it takes some time to find them – you have to be patient. I was hoping to see a turtle, but didn’t find one. We ate our packed lunch at the beach.

Next, we went to Ho’opi falls. This was a beautiful hike! I highly recommend it. Though we got off to a late start – 4pm. I wish we would’ve started sooner because we would’ve had more time to explore. There are some obstacles that you will have to maneuver around depending on which paths you take but this is what makes it fun – nature’s jungle gym. The paths sometimes branch off and then converge so there’s different ways to get to the falls. But I would say it’s a moderate hike – not too strenuous.

We passed the first waterfall and went to the second waterfall which is what people recommended. However, the path (remember how I mentioned multiple paths) we took landed us at the top of the waterfall and we wanted to be at the bottom so we could swim. We saw these 2 ladies go up this cliff wall – up and over to get to another section of the path but I thought it would be too dangerous coming down that wall with the kids and we decided against it. Turns out, we could’ve gone up and that would’ve converged with a different path and taken us down to the bottom of the falls for swimming. So, we could’ve done it, but we were also low on daylight and the mosquitoes were eating us alive!

You need good bug spray for this hike. The girls got no less than 30 bites each even though we sprayed them with bug spray. The spray we used was family spray though with not so many chemicals and it just didn’t cut it. Me and my husband didn’t get bit as much because I think they wanted young blood. I had a ton of them land on me but they didn’t end up biting – I think they took a sample and then spread the word that my blood was rotten. :-p

We decided to start our trek back to the car when we all heard a man scream and then a thud. To my horror, I realized it was my husband. He was trying to climb over a fallen tree and all we saw was him do a drop and roll onto his shoulder and then his back and he was grimacing in pain and holding his hand. Turns out, as he was climbing over the tree, his camera bag got stuck and caused him to roll over awkwardly. He tried to catch himself with his hand and all 4 of his fingers bent backward all the way to touch the back of his arm. Youch!!

The only thing you can expect when you’re out in nature is the unexpected. That’s the fun of it but also the danger of it. Luckily, he could still move all of his fingers so we didn’t think they were broken. We kept on trekking.

Day Three (Monday): Napali coast boat tour with Capt. Andy, swam in the pool at the condo, then we went to a Luaua at the Smith’s family farm.

The boat tour was amazing. It was a sailing catamaran that felt very luxurious. We did the 7AM tour. We arrived at Port Allen around 6:45AM. They provided muffins and coffee which were REALLY good – almond poppy seed (my favorite). Then, we boarded the vessel and they had more snacks – fresh fruit and some homemade oatmeal cereal bar type treat and a quiche type of treat.

They also provided wine and beer on the trip though we did not partake – just way too early for that plus I battle sea sickness and that’s not a good mix. I did take some dramamine before boarding the vessel, but I didn’t give any to my kids because I wasn’t sure if they got sea sick or not. Turns out 2 of them do. I gave them some dramamine a bit after I saw they were getting seasick and it helped but of course they were already somewhat sick so they ended up missing some of the views.

The views of the Napali coast were AMAZING! And Captain Andy’s narration was amazing. We saw several pods of dolphins up close (even an albino dolphin) and some sea turtles. Then, we got in to snorkel on the way back which was nice – there was plenty of fish – even a yellow one which we called the Pokemon fish because my girls are really into Pokemon right now. I told my youngest if she could find that fish while snorkeling I’d get her a special Pokemon treat just to encourage her b/c the snorkeling was a bit of a challenge for my two youngest.

To be honest it was a bit of a challenge for me this time as well because I had to use one of the snorkels they provided instead of my own and one of their life jackets which wasn’t quite what I’m used to – has the buckle that goes between the legs. I felt like it was either riding up my bottom or it was choking me so I spent most of my snorkel time wrestling with that vest and also trying to coax my daughter to put her head in the water. :-p But I still had a blast – any chance I get to snorkel is a good time because you never know what you are going to find and it’s such a neat sensory experience. My oldest daughter was swimming around like a fish which was neat to see.

They called us in for lunch after a while – that’s how they got us out of the water and lunch was GOOD! Gourmet deli sandwiches which I sometimes don’t like deli sandwiches because of ligaments, but these were amazing! They also had some yummy homemade rice with it and white chocolate macadamian nut cookies and drinks. YUM! We didn’t not go hungry.

On our way back home, we stopped for coffee and shaved ice at Fresh Shave.  Both soooo good.  Both located in the same area.  The coffee was right inside the building.

Day was not over yet – we still had a Luau planned.  We went to the Smith Luau and it was great!  They had lots of animals to play with for the kids.  My oldest daughter finally got to play with a chickie – she’d been waiting to get her hands on one.

Day Four (Tuesday): Swimming at the hotel pool to cool off our burnt selves, then Waimea Canyon. We had originally wanted to do Pihea trail which is 8 miles and takes all day, but we got off to a late start and decided to do Canyon Trail instead. We arrived at our destination about 4pm.

It was really overcast and drizzling on our way up the drive so I was thinking we weren’t going to be able to do the hike. I had read that if it’s been raining it can be really dangerous because the trails will be slick. But it started to clear up once we got there. We stopped at the overlook where the Canyon trail started and we saw some helicopters which was really neat. The helicopter landed on a trail. We found out from some people that a lady slipped while at the end of the Canyon trail and broke her ankle – 90 degree break or something. They got her out by helicopter. :-/

We decided to do the hike anyway with lots of trepidation. I kept wanting to turn back multiple times. But other hikers kept encouraging us on. We found out not to go all the way to the falls but just to go to the lookout and we would be fine. The trail has lots of ups and downs and I would say strenuous at times but we made it through without falling. Everyone just had to listen to me freaking out the whole time. :-p My youngest was really tired and I was scared she wasn’t going to make it all the way to the end or she was going to get hurt because she was dragging her feet and there were so many tree roots everywhere. Me and my husband alternated holding her hand at times.

But we all made it unscathed and then we headed up to the Pu u lookout which is the head of the Pihea trail. This was amazing. You get a view of the Kalalau valley. The clouds roll in and over at times but when they part and you see the view it is pure heaven. We couldn’t see the sunset there because of all the clouds, but that’s ok the view was more than enough.

Next we headed down the mountain about 7:15PM and it was dark and now rainy which was kind of dangerous. We were happy to be down and found a place to eat called Chicken in a Barrel BBQ – it was sooooo good! I highly recommend it.

Day Five (Wednesday): Wailua River Kayak and Hike to the Secret Falls tour. We took this tour with Duke’s Kayak Adventures. It started at 7AM, but we met up at 6:45AM in Lihue – only 5 min from our condo. We had no idea what we were in for. I did not realize how rigorous this tour would be beforehand – thank goodness! We really enjoyed it, but we probably wouldn’t have done it if we’d known. :-p Or at least I wouldn’t have. :-p With my husband’s sprained hand, I was definitely nervous, but he said he’d be ok so we went ahead. The tour was over at around 12:30PM.

The kayaking was intense. Maybe because I was saddled with a 55 lb bag of potatoes – my daughter. :-p She was doing her best to paddle, but most of the time she was too tired to paddle. So, I never once stopped paddling and we were always pulling up the rear, but it was good exercise. The thought of kayaking back the way we came though was a little daunting. It seemed like both ways we were going against the wind.

Once we arrived at the hiking destination, we started the hike. There wasn’t a whole lot of resting on this tour – it was pretty go, go go. The hike was a bit strenuous because you were basically hiking along the river most of the way to get to the waterfall. You need river hiking shoes. We wore our tennis shoes and that worked out fine but our feet got all pruned by the end and the kids didn’t like that feeling.

The rocks were wet and the trail was muddy so plenty of chances to slip and hurt yourself but we all made it out ok this time. I was definitely gun shy after the first hike and kept lecturing the kids to stay positive and practice good team work. That’s hard for kids even in Kauai. :-p

The waterfall was really nice and you can swim in the pool beneath. Highly recommend. We brought our own lunch and ate it there at the waterfall. We got about 45 minutes to eat and play, which I felt was a little rushed, but most of the tour I felt rushed – that’s the only thing I would change if I could. Otherwise, I loved the tour.

Back to the hotel for swimming. Bubba’s for dinner. Several places we sat down and left before we landed on Bubba’s. It was just eh ok. It filled us up and didn’t break the bank was the main point.  We didn’t want to spend over $100 on a meal and eat fancy stuff that we don’t like anyway.

Day 6 (Thursday): Snorkeling at Poipu beach, then Allerton Botanical Garden.

Poipu beach was my favorite place to snorkel. We saw a bunch of fish and the water was really clear. We went to Lawai beach first, but it was too advanced for the kids and us probably – the rocky shore made it hard to enter without scraping yourself up. I saw an adult man with a bleeding hand and asked him what he thought of the place. :-p That was enough to convince me to go somewhere else.

We had our lunch of turkey sandwiches and chips and did some snorkeling. We saw some needle fish and a bunch of other kinds of fish. I was hoping to see a turtle but we didn’t see any in the water, however at night a giant sea turtle came up on land to rest and we got take some pictures.

The girls made a Pokemon sand castle that was cute:

We had an appointment at 3pm for a tour at Allerton Botanical Garden.  This was sooo neat!  We had such an amazing tour guide who really catered to the kids and made them excited.  We got to taste some of the fruits that were on the trees which was an interesting experience and he always made sure the kids were entertained.  It was also a great opportunity for some really cool pictures.  Here are a few:

Then, we went to see the Spouting Horn since it was right outside Allerton Garden:

For dinner, we got some huge burritos from Da Crack and brought them back to Poipu beach to eat while the sunset. Then, we went to Uncle’s shave ice – it was our favorite. We tended to like the Hawaiian shave ice flavor wherever we went. This was pineapple, coconut flavors mixed together with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Day 8 (Friday): We went tubing with the Kauai Backcountry Adventures down the irrigation canals in the center of the island and afterwards went to Hanalei Bay in the North Shore. In between, we ate Wailua Shave ice on the way to North Shore.

The tubing adventure was amazing.  We had a couple of guides that were hilarious – they kept us laughing.  We took a bus ride to the spot where we were going to tube.  One of our guides played the ukelele while we tubed which made it feel surreal like we were in a movie.  I loved all the songs.  

The tubing was relaxing  – nothing too crazy – though you do have to watch your head and feet when you go through the tunnels to make sure you don’t get smacked around.  They fed us a nice lunch with gourmet sandwiches.

Next, we had some shave ice at Wailua Shave Ice.  It was good.  Not our favorite but good.  We didn’t get ice cream in it this time, maybe that’s why it wasn’t our favorite. :-p

Heading up to North Shore now.  I have a special place in my heart for the North Shore because that’s where I stayed last time I was in Kauai although this time much of the North Shore had been blocked off because of flooding so that was kind of sad.  But the North Shore is still so beautiful as I remembered.  The farthest we could go was Hanalei Bay.  Hanalei Bay is such a beautiful town.  The bay is surrounded by cliffs in the distance so it’s a unique setting to swim.

We didn’t snorkel here because the water was definitely rougher and it was a sand bottom so not much to see but fine for swimming and boogie boarding though we didn’t have boogie boards.  The girls just went swimming.  And there was a life guard on duty so that was nice.  I always have my girls wear life jackets in the water though so I can relax – otherwise I think I’d be too stressed.  I once almost drowned in a wave pool when I was about 8 so that fear still lives with me.

Ate dinner at Calypso.  We loved the live music and atmosphere.

Day 9 (Saturday): North Shore again – woohoo!  We went to Anini beach because we had heard that this would be a good place to snorkel as it was supposed to be calmer in the North at this time due to a South swell.  However, I found it to be the same calmness as the South Shore – it was calm everywhere for us – nice Mother Nature.  Then, we went to the light house.

Anini Beach really struck me.  It was such a huge beach with the potential for being so crowded on a Saturday.  I thought it was going to be crazy, but it wasn’t.  The beach is so huge with so many nooks and crannies due to the fact that there are monkey pod trees everywhere providing lots and lots of shade that it felt like it didn’t matter how crowded it was, you could find a place that would make it feel like your own personal spot on the beach.

I really loved this beach also because there was just so much shade.  Me and Bryon went snorkeling – the girls were kind of done with snorkeling at this point.  Bryon decided he would explore the area on his own by snorkel and let me know where the good spots are and what he finds.  So, I was left to snorkel on my own but that kind of freaked me out.

I love snorkeling but I’m used to doing it with a partner.  I kept trying to explore, but would end up looking behind me wondering what was exploring me feeling like I was being watched by something underwater.  :-p  I was essentially snorkeling backward like watching my back at all times.  It wasn’t fun.  I waited for my husband to come back and tell me.

Once he came back, I convinced him to stay with me and we decided to go together out to this fallen tree in the ocean.  And we found a turtle!!!  It was what I’d been waiting for the entire trip.  We got to swim with the turtle.  Then, we explored some more and found another turtle eating moss off the reef and we decided to remember where this turtle is and go back and get the girls so they could see the turtle.

That was a bit exhausting but the kids were excited to see it to.  We found our way back to the turtle and showed them and then we were done.  Time to go eat.  It started to drizzle a bit, but that’s how it is in the North Shore.  It drizzles then clears up quite often throughout the day.  That’s what makes it so lush and maybe what keeps it cooler.  The temps stay in the 70’s and 80’s but thankfully the water is still warm so that’s nice.  Kauai is the perfect place – maybe it’s spoiled us forever – I’m not sure anything else could ever live up to it.

Then, we went to see a lighthouse from afar and got some nice pictures:

For dinner, we ate at Street Burger back on the East side.  We loved it – such unique burgers.  I got the Greek burger and it was amazing.  Next time, I would try the Southern.

Day 10 (Sunday): We decided to hike the Heritage trail, then we went back to Poipu beach on the right hand side this time and saw a monk seal. 

The Heritage trail was nice.  It had great views, but we weren’t prepared for how long it was.  As we were heading to the trail head (which is kind of hidden by the way – you meander through the beach and up to the trail), an older lady walks by and says, “if I can do it, you guys can do it!”.  So, we were feeling pretty confident that ya of course we can do it then – look at her. 

But this trail is looong or we were just tired at this point.  :-p  I am convinced there’s no way this lady did the whole trail – she probably just walked along the beach and turned around – or so that’s what I like to think so I don’t feel bad.  If I did it again, I think I’d turn around right before the Golf course.  

Though right after the Golf course, it turns into Mars looking terrain with red dirt so that’s kind of cool and you can see turtles swimming in the ocean at places.  The views are amazing.  At the end, there was a cave, but we couldn’t figure out for the life of us how to get in.  We just kept hiking around and we were so tired so we decided to head back.

We headed straight for Waikomo Shave Ice, desperately in need of something to cool us down.  Amazing Shave Ice there – they even had a blackberry flavor which was refreshing and our favorite – Hawaiian.  

Next, off to Poipu Beach again.  We were planning to boogie board, but we didn’t make it in time to rent boogie boards so we just played in the water to cool off.  This time we headed to the right side of the beach where the waves were a little rougher.  

We got to see a double rainbow and a monk seal was sleeping on the beach.  So neat!  That’s why I think Kauai is so magical.  It’s like it knew what we wanted and provided like clockwork.  On our last day, it’s like – boom!  Double Rainbow!  boom! Monk Seal!  boom! Sunset!  Cue – unicorn on the beach take 1.  j/k no unicorns there but might as well be.  Almost like fireworks at the end of the trip.  You can’t help but appreciate it.  Kauai – stay magical.

Then, dinner at Thai Food Bowl.  It was nice – they had live music.  And made us our favorite dish – Pad See Ew.  

Day 11 (Monday): Packed. Shopped. Looked for Chipwrecked food truck couldn’t find it. Ate at Paco’s Taco’s instead. Had Jojo’s shave ice. Walked to Kalamani playground. It was raining.  Not the most fun day but it was our last day and we were tired and didn’t want to get wet before flying so basically wondered around the East side.


Feb
2020

Nashville – Opryland Resort Itinerary

categories: Travel

Over Thanksgiving holiday a few years back, we decided to take a roadtrip to Nashville. It was amazing. We were only there for a long weekend but we made the most of it. We stayed at the Opryland Resort and that was the best decision. It’s a little pricey but so worth it if you like no-hassle vacations.

It’s a bit like being at an all-inclusive resort (except it’s not all-inclusive) because there are so many things on sight to do and very kid-friendly to boot. When you have young kids, it’s nice to just go where everything is all in one place and you don’t have to do a bunch of moving around. It was also very festive around this season with lots of lights and got us all in the holiday spirit.

Day (night) 1: The first night we arrived on a Thursday, we just roamed around the hotel checking everything out, played the bear challenge where you have to find all the bears hidden around the hotel, and watched an ice skating show.

Day 2: We went to go see ICE which features figures carved out of ice – the theme was Charlie Brown so we got to see a bunch of Charlie Brown characters as ice sculptures – very neat! Then, the kids went ice tubing and played some ice games. After that, it was cookies with Mrs. Claus while she read them a book and they decorated gingerbread cookies. Always something going on at this hotel to keep the kids busy while the parents chat, have coffee, and laugh occasionally when the kids make themselves a mustache out of icing. 🙂

Next, we had some pizza at one of the many restaurants and then saw a light show set to music. And after all that the day was still not over, the kids went ice skating with their Dad. See pics below.

Day 3: Tour of downtown Nashville. There was live country music in many of the bars and if you go during the day it’s very family friendly and you don’t have to pay cover to get in. The artists were so sweet to the kids – often giving them shout outs. The Parthenon was also a sight.


Jan
2020

Craft Time by Ikea

categories: Blog

Have I mentioned that Ikea is my favorite? Because it is. The things I wanted for Christmas this year all came from Ikea and I have things there that I want for every Christmas for the rest of my life. :-p A craft nook in the basement was one of them:

We also have bunnies in this room, so this is our bunny/craft room. No one can be sad in a bunnies and crafts room right? It’s our happy place. Unless we mess up on a craft, but then we just feed it to the bunnies.. :-p


Jan
2020

Chicago With The Littles: 4-Day Itinerary

categories: Travel

We went to Chicago when the kids were little right after Christmas back in 2015 and it was actually one of our most fun vacations. Did I mention that I really love Chicago? It has such a special place in my heart. Maybe because I love Chicago style pizza. :-p Something about Chicago. I just really love big cities. They are filled with possibilities, aren’t they?

We ended up buying the CityPass because we wanted to do all the main attractions in the city. And we found a Groupon to stay at a hotel on Michigan Avenue. The hotel was the Hard Rock – which is funny since we have kids, right? Rock on!

The CityPass included entrance to many of the major attractions (Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, and the Sears Tower). We didn’t make it to Adler’s or the Sears Tower because we ran out of time.

You might be thinking – a trip to museums with little kids? Well, this trip was mostly for the adults. We needed some time in a new city and we figured the kids were so young they probably wouldn’t remember it anyway so why not do what we want and drag them along for the ride. And seriously sometimes we were dragging them around. My husband had them riding on his shoulders. We had three piled in a single stroller all at once at times. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

We ended up forgetting my little one’s jacket and that was a bit of a fiasco because she had multiple winter coats at home so we didn’t feel like buying another one on Michigan Avenue of all places. We thought that might cost a tiny fortune. So, my middle child gave up her coat and wore my husband’s coat. That made for more hilarity.

At one point, we were walking around the city with our youngest in the stroller and she wasn’t strapped in. I hit a curb while trying to get back on the sidewalk and she plopped out onto the curb. A stranger was walking by and started laughing, then he spotted my other daughter wearing my husband’s huge coat which made her look like a floating well-dressed man ghost and he busted out laughing even further and so did we. He said, “Holy Cow! That coat will keep you warm!”. That was definitely a moment.

There’s a great transport system of buses and trains so you definitely don’t need a car – just a good phone app to help navigate you around.

Night 1: American Girl Doll Store for dinner

Our first night, we went to the American Girl doll store for dinner which I have another post about called Potty Humor.  That was it’s own event.  My girls used to be really into American Girl dolls until they started making their own money in the form of allowance and now they would rather get cheaper dolls and doll clothes from Target.  Woohooo for learning the value of money!

Day 2: Shedd Aquarium

There was a cool show with dolphins and beluga whales. We also saw the 4D Ice Age movie that shot snot (water) at us anytime any of the characters sneezed – the girls thought that was pretty funny and disgusting. WE loved the jellies exhibit – so cool to watch the jellyfish move and such a variety. The girls got to touch starfish and there were a couple of play areas for the kids to get out their energy.

After Shedd’s, we took the bus to Navy Pier for some Chicago style hot dogs then headed over to Build-A-Bear so the girls could spend some of their Christmas money.



Day 3: Field Museum

The Field Museum had an extensive Native American exhibit which was neat b/c that is what my oldest daughter was learning about at school at the time. We got to meet Sue the T-Rex and saw a movie about her which freaked out the kids. Sue is the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever discovered. Then, we went to the Living Machines exhibit which had many examples of bio-engineering (God’s handiwork on display). After that, to the underground exhibit where they pretend to shrink you and you can act like you are on, Honey, I shrunk the kids.

Afterwards, we took the bus back to the American Girl store so the girls could shop because they didn’t have time to shop on the first night. Then, we walked to Gino’s East for some Chicago style pizza.

Day 4: Museum of Science and Industry

This museum rocked! It was definitely our favorite.  It’s the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere. There were so many cool things to see and so much hands on play for the kids. It was 9 degrees outside so we were really happy to be entertained inside.

After this, we drove home. It was New Year’s Eve and we managed to catch sight of some fireworks as we were arriving home.

Some pictures around the city. Around Christmas time there were lots of lights – made it nice.

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