It's been a minute

Let's see, what have I been  up to? 

I'll try to make it as quick as possible. I feel like we haven't had much downtime lately, and that trend will likely continue in the near future. Last year, we stayed close-ish to home; at least staying within the United States. We did end up getting TSA PreCheck, which has been AMAZING. After I almost missed a flight out to my Staff Forum last October, we decided to sign up. It has been awesome! In hindsight, I do wish that we would have signed up for Global Entry instead, since we do a fair amount of international travel, but TSA PreCheck helps a lot for domestic travel. 

First, we spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with Colleen and her (err, our?? it's complicated..) family and took some fun photos in the wash for our Christmas cards

Me and sis with matching shirts

We had an amazing time with Colleen and her family. It was also nice to have some extra help with Mark.

We returned home for about ten days before leaving again for a wedding in Florida. The grounds, wedding, and reception were beautiful, however, as you can read about in the link, the caterer left much to be desired! Fortunately we had eaten before we went, since we had a feeling that we might be hungry. Other guests weren't so lucky!

Jay, me, Silvia & Brian at Villa Toscana in Homestead, FL

Despite the wedding debacles, we had an awesome time catching up with friends and making some new ones as well.

After the festivities were over, Jay and I headed south to Marathon for a few days to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. We didn't like the traditional anniversary gift for this year, so we decided to gift each other with experiences. My gift to Jay/us was a sailing lesson. Jay's gift to me/us was a package of private dance lessons with Dancing on the Shore. It was hard to fit them in, but we enjoyed the refresher. We're hoping to get back into some ballroom dancing!

Oh Captain my Captain

This was the view from the front of our beachfront apartment in Marathon. We stayed at Tranquility Bay in Marathon, and I can't recommend it enough. The entire experience was perfect and we hope to return with Mark in the next few years. After our last trip to Key West, we wanted a place that was a bit more low-key - still a place where you could go have a few drinks, but not such a crazy party atmosphere. We'll be back to Key West of course, but the middle keys seem to be more our speed these days. We also went diving in Key Largo, but that photo didn't download for whatever reason.

Obligatory Santa photo

This is my most favorite Santa ever, he's at the Salisbury Mall - this is the second time we've gone to him. He's fantastic.

Quick trip to New York

We made a quick trip to New York the weekend after Christmas to visit Jay's family. His dad was in the hospital, so we got to see him as well. This is one of the few photos where almost everyone is together in the last few years.

This is from early in the night of my company outing

For the second year in a row upon hitting our special number at work, my boss has rented a limo to take us out with our spouses/guest to Ruth's Chris in Annapolis. This year was quite the debacle and probably left a few people scarred. We had a great time though!

Ocean World in Puerto Plata

In February, we returned to Lifestyles Holiday Vacation Club in Puerto Plata for the first time since having Mark. They suckered convinced us to upgrade our timeshare to the Villa level, which is what we've always wanted. We've tried to book the villas before with our plain old vanilla Studio level without success. But now we can finally book the villa. It's obvious that they are continuing to upgrade and update the resort, and the actual city is looking better than it has in previous times, so I know that the company is improving life for their employees and continuously looking to update their properties. So we will be trying to get to the resort at least once every year or two so that we can take advantage of our membership.

 Outback Beach Safari in Puerto Plata

 My favorite beach at the resort - Serenity Beach

Mark with a new friend and a hermit crab friend in Puerto Plata

This is what happens when you can't reach the dog food at the bottom.

Shortly after this photo was taken, someone tipped out of the dog food container, which broke.

 Mark with his second (errr, third??) cousin & Jay's Goddaughter - "Baby Spatula"

I've always wanted to donate my hair - especially before I start to get too much grey in it. I noticed that my hair had been kind of gross, limp, and I was starting to get a lot of split ends. I have also been starting to find more and more grey hair. I decided that this is the time and cut it off. I donated about 10 inches of hair to Children with Hair Loss. 

Before

After - feels so light!

Other news -- after slowly grinding at the Beachbody thing for a while, I started getting discouraged and a little frustrated. I was never big on the whole MLM kind of thing, and messaging people to join my challenge groups, pushing Shakeology, etc, just felt fake to me. It was taking up a lot of time and I slowly realized that I had NO training or business really to be suggesting this crap to people. I was suggesting fitness programs to acquaintances and people who I hadn't evaluated, not to mention I'm not a medical professional. Yes, I love the programs and they work, but it didn't feel scientifically sound to me. 

So I sent a message to a friend who is a Certified Personal Trainer to get her take on whether I should get a personal training certification or a nutrition certification and she said BE CAREFUL about the nutritionist certification, because really only REGISTERED DIETITIONS can prescribe meal plans and that kind of thing. WHAAAAT?? Then WTF is Beachbody doing?? Makes me wonder if this whole coaching thing borders on being against the law with some of the stuff.

At any rate, I decided to up my game and become a Personal Trainer. You know, with all of my spare time. LOL. I'm not going to do too much with it probably - just do in-home training with a few people here and there, but I wanted something else to hold myself accountable.

For travel this year, I got an AMAZING airfare deal from DC to Brisbane for about $800 roundtrip (thanks to nextvacay.com, so I am actually heading out to visit my aunt next month, but just for a week. After that trip, we have no big plans this summer, then probably a long weekend trip to Idaho for my cousin's wedding, a bucket list trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, then 4 days in Prague (all with a group of about 24 friends). I come back for a few weeks and then I'll be at my company's Staff Forum in San Antonio, where I think I will be presenting some stuff. 

SOOO there's a lot going on this year! I'm tired just thinking of it.

In MUCH sadder news, my baby boy Draco had to be put to sleep two weeks ago. I was absolutely devastated and am still pretty sad about it. He was an amazing cat and I am really going to miss him. He was older and definitely in ailing health. I wasn't a fan of him pooping outside the litterbox and tracking litter everywhere, but I really thought that we had another few years left with him.

Piper is a bit more skittish without him around. I'm not sure how much she misses him, or if she's happy to be the only cat right now, but I think she wants another friend. I do really want another cat and I'm hoping that Jay will warm up to the idea. When I got Draco, what I really wanted was a Maine Coon. I chose him because he was allegedly a MC mix. He definitely had a lot of the same traits, like the chirping that he used to do at birds, and he loved to play in the water. 

Anyway, if I can convince Jay that we need a Maine Coon, I am looking at these two breeders:

RP Cathouse which is pretty close by, and Makanacoon who are in Virginia Beach. I've talked to them both and they have good quality cats. Either way, I wouldn't be bringing a kitten home most likely until the middle to the end of summer. I'm torn though, because I should really be getting a rescue instead. Maybe I'll offset my guilt with a donation to our local shelter. 

So I think that's it for now! I should really be off to bed, I am tired. :)

Diving MUSA

Another video that I made for our dive in MUSA.

One Percent Travel - Cenote Oxman in Valladolid

Here is a little video I made of the cenote at Valladolid. Alberto of One Percent Travel took us here instead of the crowded cenotes by Chichen Itza where all of the tourists go. I highly recommend his tour company for travel in Mexico. We will probably be going on one of his Day of the Dead tours or perhaps Cuba.

This is Cenote Oxman, and it is pretty much deserted except for locals and people who are "in the know." What a neat little spot.

Australia

I've been back for over a month, so I really need to post about my experience. Traveling with Mark wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it would be and the trip went MUCH better than expected.

This weekend I am going to work on a full post and update. As usual, there is a lot going on.

More pictures of our trip here.

Clownfish at Lady Musgrave Island - diving the Outer Wall

DOH! Pizza!

Jay got to hold the koala at Currumbin this time

Mark feeding a joey at Currumbin

More updates this weekend. I have a ton of things that I need to do that will also tie in to my 101 list.

Some places/things I am planning to review for TripAdvisor: Kirra Dive, Bundaberg Cane Railway/Botanical Gardens, Bargara Beach, Beach at Your Feet, Lady Musgrave Experience, Ocean Plaza Resort, Paradise Island Resort (probably my first bad review of anywhere I've stayed).

Weekend goal: update this blog and my 101 list blog, write 3 reviews from Australia.

First Markface-Free Trip

Here are some photo highlights from our trip to the Yucatan. I still have to download the pics I took at Chichen Itza from my camera.

Highlights of the week were diving at MUSA, exploring Isla Mujeres, and another fantastic outing with Alberto from One Percent Travel. 

MUSA - Manchones Reef

Catfish at Cenote Oxman outside Valladolid

MUSA Manchones Reef

Cenote Oxman

Pequeno Manchones Reef

El Castillo, Chichen Itza

Corn Ice Cream in Valladolid Square

Proof that I was in Cenote Oxman

"Usie" by ruins in Isla Mujeres

Time Bomb - MUSA 

The Silent Evolution, MUSA

The Silent Evolution, MUSA

Cenote Oxman

Full post coming soon... I have to fully review visiting Chichen Itza (I liked Coba better - less touristy), as that is one of my five UNESCO for 46 and 47 of my 101 list.

Traveling with Tots

I've been wanting to blog about our traveling experiences with Markface for a while in hopes that it might help others.

**UPDATE JANUARY 2018**

Currumbin Wildlife Refuge - Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia
May 2017 (Mark ~2.5)

I scoured the internet for hours, posted questions in the moms group I belong to on Facebook, texted friends, and consulted my Magic Eight Ball.

Travel with a toddler? The number one answer: Don't do it!

Traveling with babies is tough, but how else can you get a picture like this?

In my brief experience, I have discovered (so far) that there is an age that is extremely difficult to deal with - at least it was for us. From about 14 months to 22 months was not good for traveling. In our experience, doing pretty much anything during that time frame was a challenge (and continues to be - terrible twos in full force here).

In the 14-22 month range, Mark was mobile, curious, headstrong, and would not listen to anything we said. Running away was a fun game. This time frame also involved either extreme clinginess or extreme independence. Mark either was clinging to our legs and begging to be picked up or was running away at full-tilt.

This was a trip to AZ to visit my SILColleen at around 17 months old - we were lucky to have family to help on this trip!

You can imagine that this wasn't the ideal time for trips.

While I am by no means an expert, we've chalked up a dozen long weekend road trips and three week-long vacations involving air travel (two domestic and one international) in two years with our son Mark, so I wanted to share a few things that might be helpful for other folks traveling with small humans. We also traveled to Australia (about 48 hours travel time including layovers) while he was 2.5. I will add my updates in this font.

Mark's first "trip" was to New York to visit family when he was three months old.

Here we are at the Residence Inn Long Island Islip, which is our favorite place to stay while visiting friends and family in the Deer Park area.

Here are some travel suggestions to maintain your sanity. Good luck, we're all counting on you!

1. Maintain Your Usual Schedule, If Possible

Kids thrive on routine and still need their sleep. We are all grumpy when we don't get as much shut-eye as usual, and this is especially true for kids. They're in a new place and their schedules are all up in the air.  Staying on schedule is easiest from birth to three months, as kids can nap anywhere, and in these early months, there is no such thing as a schedule anyway.

If you're traveling by car and your destination is less than four hours away, try to plan naptime for the middle of the trip. If you're traveling by air, for the love of God, don't wake them up early for a flight. We immediately regretted our early flight to Miami (which I was so proud of saving a ton of money on). The trade-off for saving cash on our flight was a cranky 15 month old who we woke at 3 a.m. for an hour + long drive to the airport, the usual fun check-in procedure, and security. He put up with all of this until we got on board. He cried for what felt like the entire flight. To my horror, I discovered that we were those people on the plane.

The best baby on a plane is a sleeping baby

It was so bad that the flight attendant gave Jay two free bottles of vodka with his Bloody Mary mix.

Determine if adjusting to a new time zone makes sense for you and your child. The general rule of thumb is that it takes one day to adjust to each hour of time difference. If you're taking a long weekend in Paris (lucky you), consider sticking to your usual time zone for activities, if at all possible.

If your trip allows you to adjust to local time, live like our ancestors did. Wake at sunrise and start winding down at sunset. Make sure that you and  your kiddo are exposed to as much natural light as possible. It will help you adjust more quickly.

I've always heard that you should stay up until 8 pm local time to best adjust to a new time zone. For adults, a 2 hour nap on arrival afternoon (hell, you're on vacation - nap each day!) is also fine, as well as up to a 3-3.5 hour nap for your kid. Wake them at least 3 or 4 hours before their local bedtime though so that they can eat dinner and try to get settled in.

Here is an update from my time in Australia: There was a 14 hour time difference, and he actually adjusted to it better than we did. Our first day there, we let him take a 3.5 hour nap. We also hit the playground and got outside right away. Kids are incredibly resilient and adaptable. Although you should check with your pediatrician before doing this, we also got some melatonin gummy vitamins - 1 mg each. We bit one in half and gave it to Mark about an hour before "bedtime". Make sure that you put the top on all the way, because he did get in to them at one point and ate about 4 of them. I'm happy to tell you that he survived and he slept GREAT that night.

2. Prepare for Passport Issues

Ready for Mexico

If you are traveling abroad, it can be incredibly difficult to get a good passport photo of your baby. Especially if they are less than 6 months old and can't sit up. We tried passport photo apps as well as getting Mark's picture taken at Walmart photo. We failed at both. It's difficult to get everything aligned correctly without any shadows, and Walmart employees weren't the most knowledgeable on the whole baby with a passport thing.

If you're going to try the photo yourself, lay your baby outside on a white sheet or blanket. Preferably on a cloudy day, where you get enough light for the photo, but not enough to cause shadows.

I found this post to be the most useful for getting a passport photo for Markface.

Ultimately, the lovely woman who works at our local post office took Mark's photo while he was laying down on an old mail bag. When in doubt, ask USPS what to do. They're experts!

Also, don't forget - kid's passport photos expire after 5 years, so you need to keep a close eye on Passport expiration dates. Most countries require that your passport is valid for at least six months beyond your planned return date. Check to make sure that you have all of the necessary information from the U.S. State department before your trip, and also check with the country you will be visiting to see if there are any travel visas to secure ahead of time.

Australia has an electronic visa system - see if the country you are traveling to has one as well. Prepare to check this at least 2-3 months ahead of time!

3. Keep them occupied

This is the name of the game on planes, trains, and automobiles (and boats too, I'm sure). A kid occupied with a new toy or game is going to be less likely to annoy those around them, especially their parents.

When you think of traveling with your child, think like a bride on her wedding day.

Something Old
A favorite toy, stuffed animal, or blankie- perhaps even something that you haven't let them have in a while that is comforting to them. Break it out if you sense they are about to lose their shit. If you have to resort to a pacifier even if they've given up the habit, do it. It's also good to have a pacifier, bottle, or sippy cup for them during take off and landing in an airplane. Kids have tiny Eustachian tubes that are more prone to getting blocked than ours. This is also why they are more prone to ear infections. Speaking of which, if it looks like that might be happening before your trip, try out Wally's Ear Oil. You'll thank me later.

Something New
Kids love something they've never seen or played with before. Have something new and available before they spy something that someone else has that they want. Download some new apps on the phone or tablet. Some inexpensive suggestions: pipe cleaners with beaded fluff balls, stickers, dollar store junk wrapped in wrapping paper, a Tupperware container full of random objects, yo-yos, invisible markers with coloring books, masking tape and duct tape too (just in case you get desperate - also good for childproofing your destination). Whatever you don't mind losing.

Something Borrowed
Ask friends with kids their saving grace when it comes to traveling with their kids. Then ask to borrow it. A good travel stroller? An ergo carrier? An iPad or Tablet? Think of what can do the most good and take up the least amount of space.

Something Blue
Blue is for blueberries. Stopping meltdowns from happening in our house usually involves snacks. Bring pouch applesauce, blueberries, or raisins. Mandarin oranges. Cereal bars. Bring something low in sugar to stop them from bouncing off the walls, but also something that they might consider a treat.

I can't tell you how we survived all of our travel to OZ, but we did. I think that the pipecleaners with the fluff balls were the biggest hit. He also liked things with magnets. Oh! And those fun toy airplanes that they sell at the airport are awesome too. There was another kid with one on the plane and I thought that Mark was going to steal it from him.

4. Be Prepared, but Don't Overpack

This may come as a surprise to you, but people populate the entire world. This means that at some point, they were babies. Inexplicably, people continue to make other people- there are kids all over the world. You probably don't need to bring your entire stash of diapers. Bring plenty of diapers to get you through the travel day and the next day or two (you never know what delays you'll encounter with air travel). Chances are good that there will be a place to buy diapers where you are going. They might not be your chosen brand, but they will be fine. Exception: Bring swim diapers as those might be harder to find.

One of the many places that I fed my kid was at this lovely restaurant in Cancun overlooking the lagoon

On breastfeeding: I made the mistake of bringing my breast pump on vacation several times and I never needed it. If you will be away from your child, invest in a small manual pump. Also, most other people around the world are more used to seeing babies eat in the usual fashion. Bring a cover up if it makes you comfortable, but don't stress too much - no one really wants to see your boobs and they can look away if it bothers them.

We found diapers (aka nappies!) to be cheaper in Australia than they were at home. They definitely have them everywhere!

5. Don't Give in to Fear

It's okay to take a break from your kid(s) on vacation. Go to the spa. Go out to dinner. Take time for yourself (and your significant other).

As soon as I start planning for a vacation, I start the Google search for a babysitter. It never fails that when I begin my search for a babysitter or sitting service, I see posts like this:"I can't see how safe it would be, leaving a child with an unvetted stranger."

I don't advocate that you leave your child with an unvetted stranger. Instead, I suggest that you do some research and meet the sitter ahead of time and/or ask for references. Most hotels also have a go-to babysitting service that they recommend, and they nearly always come with background checks.

We've used babysitting services in Cancun, Outer Banks, NC, and Key West. We even found a sitter on Craigslist for Key West. She gave us references and we met her at her day job when we got down there. Sitter City and Care.com are other resources to utilize.

Sunrise with Markface in Buxton, NC

When we go to Australia next year, we are planning to use Busy Bees. I will report back after our return.

I'm not saying that child abductions don't happen; they certainly do. However, your child is most likely to be abducted by someone they know. 82% of abductions are by a family member, often a parent. Less than 1% of all kidnappings are by strangers, and the majority of those are likely to happen near your house. It's much easier to abduct a kid in ways other than posing as a babysitter online and risking detection and leaving a paper or telephone trail.

If you're still feeling anxious about leaving your kid with a stranger, think of vacationing in a place that has childcare available.

We did not end up using Busy Bees in Australia, as right before we left I was unable to make contact with the person there. I did however find a sitter in the Gold Coast area called Heaven Sent Help and they really were heavenly. Our sitter was a fantastic Kiwi named Colleen and she ended up watching Mark probably 3 or 4 times during our week in Coolangatta. She was phenomenal and I am still in touch with her. 

In Bargara, which is a coastal town near Bundaberg, I found our babysitter using Facebook. Yes, I know it's crazy. I haunted Facebook and creeped on a number of pages until I found Curdy's Kids Care. Zoe is the owner and at the time that I met her, she did not have a lovely website like this. :) She was PHENOMENAL and I felt completely at ease leaving Mark with her. I think that he may have had more fun with her than Jay and I did going out to dinner and diving the Great Barrier Reef.

ONE MORE UPDATE ON TRAVEL TIPS -- HERE IS MY BONUS TIP!

If you have a long layover (5+ hours), may I suggest a Day Use hotel? It sounded super sketchy when I first heard of them, but I am now a firm believer. Gone are the days of sleazy pay by the hour hotels. Now you can book a luxury hotel room for a partial day! We used Hotels by Day  for our long layovers at LAX and booked a Marriott for around $85. It was just what we needed to grab a shower and a nap, especially on our way home. Even better, these hotels are usually near the airport and they have shuttle pick up. Other Day Use websites are DayUse.com and Between9and5.com. 

Obviously this list is not all-inclusive. This is very much a work in progress and I am planning to add on to this list (perhaps even make it a devoted page on the site) as I have new ideas.

How about you? Please share your own tips and tricks of traveling.

Happy traveling!

Toddler in Tow

I'm working on a post devoted to traveling with a small person. Given how many hours I researched on my own before our first trips, I think it is only fair to share my own experiences!

Week in Arizona

The pictures just don't do the Grand Canyon justice.

I'm planning to post more about my trip. Maybe. Okay, probably not.

But it was amazing. My SIL Colleen planned an awesome itinerary for us and we had a blast. Also, traveling with a toddler nearly 1.5 is not for the faint of heart. I'm glad that we don't have any other major trips planned with him for the next few months or possibly year, because he is a bit dangerous at the moment.