One last adventure before the next chapter begins.
Saying “See You Later” to the East Coast: Our Family’s Farewell in Kittery, Maine
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do.
Monday, August 22, 2022
I say this with zero exaggeration: I fell in love with a piece of New York. I didn't think that would ever be possible.
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
This trip was a big deal. This was our first vacation since before Covid-19 put our entire lives on hold.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
This Best Western Plus was so incredibly nice... in fact, it was nicer than the Premier we stayed at in Puyallup. I recently found out that Best Western hotels are individually owned, so it is at the owner's discretion on what needs to be updated or changed in their hotel. The owners in Salt Lake City did not disappoint their guests. I found this hotel online after finally deciding on a "stop" destination for the night. When I tried to book a room online, everything was sold out. I decided to actually call instead of rely on the internet... sure enough, they had a king room available. Definite perk to being a co-sleeping family; None of us minds sleeping in the same bed (Justin and I have a queen pillow top, so this king bed spoiled us) and I think our oldest was so excited about being able to sleep so close to her baby sister.
This hotel offered 24 hour room service through a third party provider, upscale touches to their king room, and free wifi (definitely has been a plus on this trip). We were in awe over how nice everything looked. This hotel wasn't built that long ago, so I'm sure a large part of it is the fact that it's brand new. Our experience wasn't bad at all, even though we did only stay one night. Breakfast was mediocre... but we don't ever really expect much from continental breakfast spreads. Ava didn't eat anything from it, but I do believe Justin attempted to. We woke up late, which resulted in me missing out on taking maternity photos for a friend from high school. I'm not sure when we will be in Salt Lake again, but hopefully I can take some photos of her and her baby boy when I am!
Overall, I was impressed with this facility. Far enough outside of the city where you didn't have to hear major traffic or noises from the city, but close enough to the freeway that we could get on with our trip without major delay. The best part of leaving Salt Lake was arriving in Wyoming to meet up with Justin's dad and Uncle Jimmy. His dad has been driving trucks for Prime for well over two years now, so he's usually all over the place. We ended up meeting them in a really small town with a truck stop... it was the first time that anyone from Justin's side of the family met Olivia.
♥- Leilani
This hotel offered 24 hour room service through a third party provider, upscale touches to their king room, and free wifi (definitely has been a plus on this trip). We were in awe over how nice everything looked. This hotel wasn't built that long ago, so I'm sure a large part of it is the fact that it's brand new. Our experience wasn't bad at all, even though we did only stay one night. Breakfast was mediocre... but we don't ever really expect much from continental breakfast spreads. Ava didn't eat anything from it, but I do believe Justin attempted to. We woke up late, which resulted in me missing out on taking maternity photos for a friend from high school. I'm not sure when we will be in Salt Lake again, but hopefully I can take some photos of her and her baby boy when I am!
Overall, I was impressed with this facility. Far enough outside of the city where you didn't have to hear major traffic or noises from the city, but close enough to the freeway that we could get on with our trip without major delay. The best part of leaving Salt Lake was arriving in Wyoming to meet up with Justin's dad and Uncle Jimmy. His dad has been driving trucks for Prime for well over two years now, so he's usually all over the place. We ended up meeting them in a really small town with a truck stop... it was the first time that anyone from Justin's side of the family met Olivia.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
We made the decision to drive through the night for our first "day" of travel and I am so glad we did. The girls slept right through (so did this mama) and Justin drove. When I did wake up, we were making a pit stop for breakfast. This was in Baker City, Oregon. A very small town in the middle of Oregon somewhere. At first I was a little apprehensive. It was a very small time, and frankly.. I seemed to be the only gal of color around. I never even think to worry about those types of things in bigger cities, but I seriously got an eery feeling about being in Baker City, Oregon. To my surprise, I was very much wrong. No one looked at us differently, no one treated us differently, and the service was great. There is a huge casing inside this small restaurant that goes throughout the entire place and inside is a train. It's constantly moving and Ava loved it so much!
Ava ended up bringing in a Minnie Mouse playbook (although we tried to have her leave it in the car) and the waitress that took our order came back out with this:
Ava was so stinkin' excited when she saw her Minnie Mouse pancake. It really is the little things that make my heart flutter with my child. That act of thoughtfulness made my whole day. Justin and I ordered hearty meals as well and they were SO good! The only thing I didn't care for was the bathroom facility. Then again, I am a complete GERM- O- PHOBE + any restroom without seat covers is enough to make me cringe.
Aside from that, we enjoyed ourselves. We got compliments on how beautiful our girls were and lots of smiles.
If we road trip back to Washington, I hope we get to stop here again. Small town dining isn't always bad. I especially love the fact that it wasn't a chain. You can eat at IHOP anytime.
♥- Leilani
Ava ended up bringing in a Minnie Mouse playbook (although we tried to have her leave it in the car) and the waitress that took our order came back out with this:
Ava was so stinkin' excited when she saw her Minnie Mouse pancake. It really is the little things that make my heart flutter with my child. That act of thoughtfulness made my whole day. Justin and I ordered hearty meals as well and they were SO good! The only thing I didn't care for was the bathroom facility. Then again, I am a complete GERM- O- PHOBE + any restroom without seat covers is enough to make me cringe.
Aside from that, we enjoyed ourselves. We got compliments on how beautiful our girls were and lots of smiles.
If we road trip back to Washington, I hope we get to stop here again. Small town dining isn't always bad. I especially love the fact that it wasn't a chain. You can eat at IHOP anytime.
♥- Leilani
Friday, May 27, 2016
The two remaining days we spent in Washington state were spent at Best Western Premier Plaza Hotel in Puyallup. Best Western is never usually our first choice, but after our experience with them, they are our go to now. Before I go any further into this review, let me just say that Best Western has a three tier type of establishment that is available in the areas we plan to travel in. Best Western, Best Western Plus, and Best Western Premier. I know there are a couple other types of establishments they offer as well, but again, not in the area we'd be in. Any who, our experience was great. The hotel room was a little more on the pricey side, but definitely worth it. They do offer government rates which is always a bonus. A full service restaurant was located in this hotel, on location laundry services, and an indoor pool. So many amenities that pertain to our interests. Since Washington is my home state, I didn't really need help looking for things to do around the area, but the location was definitely great for those that were visiting and needed to be between the city and heart of Olympia.
The housekeeping staff was so incredibly nice, having the elevators located closer to our room was nice as well. I loved that the bedding didn't feel cheap or dated. The air conditioner in the room worked wonderfully, and when we needed anything extra (like towels) the runner was extremely quick to aid our needs. I'm not the biggest fan of being on the road and using sheets that hundreds have used before me, but I didn't feel that way about this hotel. I also really liked the seating area they had outside of my room. One of my best friend's came to wish us off and we were able to chat outside of the room without waking the babies.
I have nothing negative to say, aside from the size of the bathroom. The bathroom was extremely small for the room size. Justin hated that he couldn't shut the door without hitting his knee on the door.
♥- Leilani
The housekeeping staff was so incredibly nice, having the elevators located closer to our room was nice as well. I loved that the bedding didn't feel cheap or dated. The air conditioner in the room worked wonderfully, and when we needed anything extra (like towels) the runner was extremely quick to aid our needs. I'm not the biggest fan of being on the road and using sheets that hundreds have used before me, but I didn't feel that way about this hotel. I also really liked the seating area they had outside of my room. One of my best friend's came to wish us off and we were able to chat outside of the room without waking the babies.
I have nothing negative to say, aside from the size of the bathroom. The bathroom was extremely small for the room size. Justin hated that he couldn't shut the door without hitting his knee on the door.
♥- Leilani
Saturday, December 20, 2014
It's almost midnight and instead of sleeping can you guess what I'm doing? If your guess was packing, you are absolutely correct. We are taking our first annual trip (as a family) down to the good old city of Leavenworth, Washington to watch the lighting of the tree. I feel like I'm packing for a week long vacation and it's kind of ridiculous how much stuff we are taking with us. Ava came down with some type of stomach bug and she threw up like three different times yesterday. It's not been concerning to me (or else we wouldn't be going), but I am a little nervous to see if the bug let's up, or if it's going to be problematic. She kept down all of her solid foods yesterday, but she threw up when she consumed large amounts of water. We didn't brave any milk products, so we are going to be monitoring her super closely during our trip. Surprisingly this kid didn't even have a fever.. she's behaving normally, but she has been wanting to cuddle MORE than the norm lately.. I basically haven't been detached from her in almost 24 hours... I love it, but I hate that she's probably not feeling the best.
The trip itself is almost three whole hours.. I'm not looking forward to that in the least. I used Ava's cute little luggage bag to pack away books, toys, and lots of coloring materials. I'm hoping that between me sitting in the back with her and all the entertainment I brought along, that we will have a decent trip. We are also leaving during her nap time and I'm hoping she sleeps well over an hour and a half of the trip. She's a really good kid in the car, but these last couple months have been a little trickier with her rear facing. I know she absolutely hates it most days, but we have been firm on not switching her until... well, I'll like to keep her turned around for as long as possible. The lowest goal I've set is 24 months, and we are only five months shy of reaching it. She fits the height and weight requirement for front facing, but I'm really not ready to take that leap quite yet. If any of my parental readers have yet to educate themselves on extended rear facing, I highly recommend doing so right now! It's important to know all the ways we can keep our tiny humans safe.
Because Ava has this stomach thing, I've packed a lot of bland foods for the trip. Zero milk products, saltines, chicken broth, and chicken noodle soup. I did stash some gold fish and I plan to bring blueberries.. I just don't want her stomach to get upset on the road. I packed plenty of throw up bags and about four different outfits.. can you tell I'm a mama? Always planning for the unexpected. I actually remembered to charge my camera battery (whoop whoop), and I'm just super excited to start this tradition with my daughter and her daddy. This time of year is my absolute favorite, and with all the emotions whirling this week, this family definitely needs a fun distraction. I plan on posting pictures of our "mini road trip" on instagram (which I never do), since I won' be on a computer for a little while. If you don't already follow me on instagram (and I know you personally), use the link on the right side of my blog. Hopefully I'll have great news to report about our trip and all that we learned in this cute little German town. Take a look at where we will be:
Happy Sunday all!
♥- Leilani
The trip itself is almost three whole hours.. I'm not looking forward to that in the least. I used Ava's cute little luggage bag to pack away books, toys, and lots of coloring materials. I'm hoping that between me sitting in the back with her and all the entertainment I brought along, that we will have a decent trip. We are also leaving during her nap time and I'm hoping she sleeps well over an hour and a half of the trip. She's a really good kid in the car, but these last couple months have been a little trickier with her rear facing. I know she absolutely hates it most days, but we have been firm on not switching her until... well, I'll like to keep her turned around for as long as possible. The lowest goal I've set is 24 months, and we are only five months shy of reaching it. She fits the height and weight requirement for front facing, but I'm really not ready to take that leap quite yet. If any of my parental readers have yet to educate themselves on extended rear facing, I highly recommend doing so right now! It's important to know all the ways we can keep our tiny humans safe.
Because Ava has this stomach thing, I've packed a lot of bland foods for the trip. Zero milk products, saltines, chicken broth, and chicken noodle soup. I did stash some gold fish and I plan to bring blueberries.. I just don't want her stomach to get upset on the road. I packed plenty of throw up bags and about four different outfits.. can you tell I'm a mama? Always planning for the unexpected. I actually remembered to charge my camera battery (whoop whoop), and I'm just super excited to start this tradition with my daughter and her daddy. This time of year is my absolute favorite, and with all the emotions whirling this week, this family definitely needs a fun distraction. I plan on posting pictures of our "mini road trip" on instagram (which I never do), since I won' be on a computer for a little while. If you don't already follow me on instagram (and I know you personally), use the link on the right side of my blog. Hopefully I'll have great news to report about our trip and all that we learned in this cute little German town. Take a look at where we will be:
Happy Sunday all!
♥- Leilani
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