Spring Break 2019

Spring Break 2019

With spring break ending a few months ago, it’s safe to say we have recovered from our trip to Disneyland. After all was said and done, we would say it was mostly a success, with a couple rather substantial bumps along the way. We end most trips with so many fantastic new memories and adventures, and reminding ourselves that travel is unpredictable, educational, eye-opening and a mostly positive overall experience with each other and our kids. It’s also humbling and a great reminder that we are not♡ in control. This year’s spring break getaway was no exception. 

Getting There

Southwest is one of our go to airlines.
April 2019

Every time we plan to sneak away to any part of Southern California, we have the discussion of how we want to get there. We are coming from Northern California, east of Sacramento.... so, driving and flying are the most common ways to get there from our neck of the woods. There are benefits to both, but we do love to fly and that’s what we usually chose if we can find a good deal to do so. Flying is helpful when time is limited. If we are trying to do a quick trip over a long weekend, it really does make a difference. This particular trip was over spring break, so we weren’t holding our breath on hoping for a good flight deal, and we also did have more time to play with than usual, so we were not against making the 8-hour drive. Then in February, Southwest

The Crew | 2019

had one of their great sales and our spring break dates were included. Moral of the story.... always check the flight deals! Southwest puts most of their deals out between Tuesday and Thursday each week, so keep an eye out for that! Also, there are many airports serving the Los Angeles area. Orange County (also sometimes called John Wayne airport) is the closest and our favorite. That said, sometimes the other nearby airports are the ones that might offer a better deal. These include Ontario, Long Beach, LAX, and Burbank. The last two are the farthest from Disneyland, but we have used those airports occasionally if the flight times or prices were significantly better. 

Travel To and From the Hotel

We are still working on this! There’s lots of ways to do this. Here’s what we know: there is the Disneyland Express Shuttle that offers rides from Orange County Airport and LAX to the Disneyland Resort area. This can be a good

Jen & Her Boys
 Disneyland | 2019

option. Here’s why: It’s reliable and It’s also a full-size bus, which means car seats are not needed. For us, not packing car seats was a huge benefit when our kids were small and all we needed was to get back and forth from the airport and the Disneyland area. The downside is that there is some wait time and you need to make sure you are coordinating times and pick up locations, not hard at all but when these details are not made a priority, it can add extra stress/frustration. Also, these buses are not owned and operated by Disney. This detail is not important, just good to know.

Super Shuttle is another option. We’ve had both good and terrible experiences with Super Shuttle. It is definitely an option. We will leave it at that.

Ride Share. For this trip, we made the choice to try out Lyft and Uber. We are clearly behind the times on this, but after hearing so many good things, we decided to devote this trip away together to try these services out and see for ourselves. We’ve both had some experience using Lyft and Uber with friend and family, but neither of us had ever solely relied on these services or been the one responsible for scheduling and paying. Our week went so great, we Ubered and Lyfted all over the place, as a party of 6 and when we broke down into smaller groups. It all was fantastic, until our last ride, which was leaving and going to the airport.You can look forward to a separate post about this hot mess later.

Hotel

We love trying new places! We also love the process of finding somewhere new... the research and excitement of shopping around to find the place we want to try each time we go out of town. Even though we’ve had many trips to Disneyland, we don’t stay at the same place each time. In fact, we haven’t stayed at any particular place on a regular basis. For our spring break trip this year, we ended up at the Doubletree near the Anaheim convention center.

Shopping Downtown Disney

It was by far a better price than many of the other nearby hotels. It’s important to note that when we take our kids and go as a group together, we are a party of six. This is a challenge from the start. Unless we want to pay an outrageous amount for a hotel (which we usually don’t want to), it does take some work to find a suite that can accommodate our party and also not break the bank. The Doubletree was a great find; it had everything we needed which included a nice pool and hot tub area, a room with a refrigerator and microwave that was large enough for us all to fit comfortably, and beds for everybody. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and the entire property was neat and clean. The only things that this hotel did not offer, that we would also prefer, are free parking (we didn’t have a car for this trip, so that did not matter this time), a continental breakfast, and bunk beds. These things are not must-haves, but we do appreciate them. Overall, we really enjoyed our time at this property, and I think we both would agree that we would happily stay there again!

Downtown Disney

Our first night in town, we packed everyone up and went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some time to wander around. We put our name in at Ballast Point, which is a new brewery that opened this winter. After hearing good things, of course we wanted to see what this was about. The wait was about an hour, so we put our name in as soon as we arrived in Downtown Disney and then we walked around, ending up at the LEGO store, where our kids built and raced Lego vehicles for a majority of the time we waited. It was a beautiful evening and perfect way to wait for dinner. This activity is always a favorite of our kids and it was nice for us moms to sit and chat while our people played. When we made it back to Ballast Point, we found ourselves in a fun atmosphere with delicious drinks and food. We all had a great time together

Ballast Point | April 2019

A few days after we arrived, we enjoyed m another delicious meal at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen when we met Tara’s brother and sister-in-law for dinner. This restaurant provides a fun ambiance, good high-end food, and we topped it off by sitting at a table outside, which allowed us to enjoy the beautiful spring evening. We had been inside Disneyland until our reservation took place, so we hopped on the monorail to get easy access into Downtown Disney. When we were finished with our dinner plans, we jumped back onto the monorail and found ourselves quickly back in Tomorrowland where we finished off our night by closing down the park. 

Disneyland

Tara & Her Kids
Disneyland | 2019

We love the Disneyland park. It’s beautiful, it’s nostalgic, it was built by Walt which gives it a special touch of magic, and for all of these reasons it is our favorite park. One thing that has been fun for us, is that every time we take our kids, there’s so many things geared toward their current ages. There really is no perfect age for taking young ones to enjoy Disneyland, because there are so many things that accommodate every possible age group. 

Ca Adventure

This adventure was a unique one. Tara was sick on our day we had set aside for California Adventure. Jen packed up all four of our kids and hit the park head-

Jen & The Kids 

on, accomplishing so much! The kids all shared a lunch card for the food and wine festival. It was great, they had fun sampling different foods and wandering the park.

Fantasmic

We tried a Fantasmic! On-the-go dining package during one of our days at Disneyland. This was our first time doing any of the Fantasmic dining packages and we learned a lot and also really enjoyed it! This is a package offered that gives you dinner at one of three restaurants and then also includes a reserved viewing area for the Fantasmic show. The restaurants you can chose from are Hungry Bear Restaurant, River Belle Terrace, and the Blue Bayou Restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. The one lesson we took away that was most valuable, was that when we showed up at Hungry Bear Restaurant, we were led to a separate line (and separate menu) because we were

Our Seats for Fantasmic 

participating in the dining package. The menu options were a bbq chicken platter, a fish option, or a vegetarian option. What we learned was upon our request, we were able to order hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Although these may not have been the best options for the cost of the package, these options made our group most happy and we were just glad to have it available. Depending on what time your dinner reservation is, the early or late show (if there are two shows that night) will be assigned. When we got to the viewing area, we truly enjoyed the show. Everyone in the reserved areas are asked to stay seated during the show, so there was nothing to get in the way of the great view. Overall, we loved this and will definitely do it again!

Challenges

Our week had it’s fair share of bumps. One of these was that Tara came down with a stomach bug in the middle of the night after our first day at Disneyland. This obviously was a big disappointment. She stayed at the hotel the next day while Jen went to California

Adventure with all of the kids. By the following day, our whole group managed to make our way back to Disneyland for our third and final day at the parks. This “bump” was worsened

Jake sick waiting for our
ride to the airport.

by Jake coming down with the same stomach bug the following night and Brysen one day later. At that point, we were just all glad to have survived and made it home. 



Overall, we were able to enjoy most of our time away at Disneyland during spring break. We did leave feeling like we need a re-do trip at some point soon, both because of the sickness that wiped half of our party out and also our Lyft problem that we will share soon. We still love our mom-kid trips and are still thankful we were able to have this time together to enjoy our friendship and our kids. That said, if you see us attempting Disneyland again soon, you can know it’s because we are attempting a do-over!!

♡ Jen & Tara 

Surprise Mystery Trip

Last December, I asked our two boys what they wanted to do for their birthday this March. In unison, they both said “go on a trip!”. This made me laugh because we have created travel monsters, which I secretly love! Going on a trip is way more fun than hosting two birthday parties in the same month. I proceeded to ask them what kind of trip they had in mind. Brysen (our eight year old) recommended a Disney Cruise or Disney World, which was not happening with such short notice. Brayden (our ten year old) recommended a surprise mystery trip and Brysen quickly agreed. If you know me you know I LOVE planning trips, it is what I do in my free time, so this excited mama was off to start planning our mystery birthday weekend getaway. 

As the weeks got closer, the boys started asking for clues. The suspense was starting to get to them. We did not cave, but we did give them a few clues occasionally, so they could start making guesses. We never confirmed or denied any of their predictions. They had to wait until we got to our gate at the airport. 

The clues the boys received were:

1. It is not an island 

2. We are staying in the United States  

3. We are leaving our home state of  California 

4. This state has an NFL team

Their final guesses where... 

Brayden: Wisconsin Go Pack Go!

Brysen: Arizona

Friday morning we arrived at the airport and loaded a plane to Colorado to visit Denver and Colorado Springs!

Union Station | 2019

Our day in Denver..... 

Once we got to our rental car, we were off to Union Station for lunch. We ate at Next Door|Union Station. It was a very trendy restaurant, food was okay but the atmosphere was fun. After lunch we walked around 16th Street Mall, Rookies ballpark and the Bronco stadium. My sports crazed boys (all three of them, if you include my husband Brandon) loved every minute of this adventure! Denver proves to be a clean, beautiful city that I would love to revisit in the spring/summer months. 

After our time in Denver, the four of us made the fifty minute drive to the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. From the moment we arrived, the kids could NOT wait to get to the water park. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing and then finished our day with dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel. 

The following day, our time was spent exploring Colorado Springs. We started with brunch at First Watch. We had a 15-20 minute wait which was no problem, as we were in no hurry. Once we got our table everything was going good. Our waitress was charming and funny. We started with their Million Dollar Bacon which is a baked bacon with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle, and it was as AMAZING as it sounds! Once our meals arrived, everyone was excited because we were all starving a this point! Unfortunately all of our meals were cold! This was disappointing. We ate what we could and went on with our day. After brunch, we toured the Air Force Academy, which was astounding. Our whole family really enjoyed it. Being on a military base always gives me such a proud and patriotic feeling that I love to share with my boys. The cadet chapel was beautiful, and was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Afterwords we found a quaint homemade ice cream shop called Josh & Johns. It was  delicious! After we scarfed down  our yummy frozen treats, we drove around and explored. Our day ended with dinner at Cheddars which was a good and kid friendly restaurant. 

Great Wolf Lodge | 2019

The following day was Sunday. We Spent most of the day at the hotel enjoying all that Great Wolf Lodge has to offer. This includes the fabulous waterpark, magicquest game,  indoor miniature golf,  an obstacle course and a challenging rock wall. All this indoor fun was perfect because it snowed Saturday night and all day Sunday, staying below eight degrees most of the day! This California girl is not fond of the cold, so I was happy to spend the day inside the cozy resort.

Magiquest | Great Wolf Lodge

We had paid for late check out Monday, which meant we had our room until 2pm instead of 11am. This also meant we could enjoy more of the fun activities before returning to Denver to catch our flight home. We left an hour and a half earlier than we had originally planned, just so we wouldn’t have to stress if we hit traffic or any delays, and was I so glad we did! We encountered two accidents and one of those closed the two lane freeway. After all was said and done, we got to our gate with less then 5 min to spare!

Mini Golf | Great Wolf Lodge

All in all, we had really great trip. It was so memorable and our boys have now said they would like to do a mystery trip every year for their birthday. We would love to go back and spend more time In Colorado...but this time in the warmer months!

♡Jen

Day Trip | SF Zoo

My kids had last week off for President’s week. After being stuck home for several weekends being sick, we needed to get out. We made an unplanned and last minute decision to jump in the car and head towards San Francisco, to go to the zoo. I had heard good things about the S.F. zoo and it ended up being exactly what we needed. Not only did the zoo itself not disappoint, but I can not put into words just how much days like this feed our souls. Being a recently divorced single mom, it’s so easy to get bogged down in the hum drum of laundry to do, a house to clean, homework projects to complete, and dinners to make. I feel like there’s always more to do than I will ever actually complete, so when these sweet opportunities come knocking and things line up just right....I try to embrace the crazy and this particular day it was just what the doctor ordered.

SF Zoo | 2019

We have a long standing joke/seriously abides by rule in our family that Denny’s is only good on road trips. So, it just made sense to kick off our mini road trip with a quick stop at good ol Denny’s. The kids were really excited about this. After the three of us devoured our shared lumberjack slam (which btw was the perfect amount of food to split between the three of us), we hit the road. It was about a two hour drive from where we live to get to the zoo. It was rainy and cold at home and when we got to San Fran it was a beautiful day.... windy and chilly, but sunny and beautiful. 

By the time we got through the gates, we had about two hours until the zoo closed. This was a concern at first, as it could have been so easy to skip the whole experience because we weren’t going to have much time. As it turned out, we had the perfect amount of time. The three of us had so much fun wandering this new place and seeing some really exciting and unusual animals that we had not seen before. There was a hippopotamus that was pretty awe-inspiring and penguins (the biggest hit, because who doesn’t love a bunch of adorable penguins waddling around all over the place). There  was also a rhino, and the the usual suspects such as bears, tigers (my favorite), and a very cool safari area that housed a whole slew of animals that have clearly become good friends. We finished out our time a little bit early, because the penguins had a scheduled feeding that happened a half an hour before the zoo closed, which we ran to make sure we were able to watch. After the penguins ate, we were on our way back to the car. 

SF Zoo | 2019

Our original intention was to also squeeze in a stop for ice cream at the famous and delicious Ghirardelli square on our way back home. By the time we arrived the line to get ice cream was intense. I left it up to kids on whether they wanted to wait or not, because let’s face it... if they wanted to wait, I wouldn’t be turning that deliciousness down. Both kids agreed that they would be happy with just some chocolates, which we could buy at the mostly deserted upstairs portion of the store. So we loaded up on some candies for the ride home and headed off in search of the Golden Gate Bridge. This was also a request from the kids, they had asked to cross the Golden Gate Bridge since we had been on our way to the zoo earlier in the day. So, we easily made our way to the famous bridge and then continued our way back toward home.

SF Zoo | 2019

All in all, this quick little trip that was last minute and not anything extra noteworthy ended up being the perfect day that my kids and I will remember for a long time to come. It also serves as a healthy reminder to me to not put things off. Just because we didn’t have the whole day, or just because there were chores that could have been done, sometimes it’s important to remember to simply embrace the day and take the time to have fun together. Those are my favorite days, and I hope they will be cherished by my kids as well.

♡ Tara

Starting to Plan | Mom Kid Trip 2019

And so it begins....

Like so many people who share a passion for all things vacay, it’s not just the actual days away from home that make our hearts go pitter patter. It’s all of it. Everything from that first spark of an idea, through the planning and researching, booking flights (is searching flight times and dates into all neighboring airports within a somewhat close proximity to the target destination a thrill for everyone? Hmmmmm💭). It continues, all the way up to the packing suitcases, making reservations and then of course the actual time to depart for whatever adventure we have been so anxiously anticipating for weeks or months. It’s all a thrill. 

Jet Blue | 2018

Our current project that we are getting more and more excited about is..... well, for anybody who knows us can guess.... Disneyland! Disneyland has been our number one go to since becoming moms. We have both always loved it, and also may have spent a New Years or two there together in our younger, even more insane years, but it was really our kids that sealed the deal with this particular destination. It’s just so fun. That’s all we’ve got; it’s magical, it’s beautiful, it’s a clean wholesome fun that we really enjoy sharing with our kids.

Disneyland | 2015

Plus, as much as we never take anything for granted... it feels safe, warm, and welcoming. We’ve always told our kids... stay close, don’t get lost, but if you do have to get lost... do it at Disneyland. Don’t worry, we’ve not lost anybody yet, but as much as we aren’t really serious about losing our kids there... we kind of are serious. It’s just a great place! 

Tahoe | 2018

So, as I sit here this cold and wintery (but not that cold or wintery, thank you Northern California!) night, I’m getting excited at this trip that we are just starting to plan. Jen booked our flights this week. We don’t always fly. We will seriously get there by any means necessary, but when we can fly we definitely chose that option. Every step of the process is a celebration waiting to happen. We have some new things we are excited to share with our kids on this trip. Stay tuned, we will be sharing more as we start locking more specifics into place!

♡ Tara & Jen