travel
Travel: Belfast with Kids
When we were considering a move to Ireland last year, we took a bus tour through Northern Ireland. Our bus stopped in Belfast for approximately one hour. Long enough to grab a sandwich, but not much else. Earlier this month we took a long weekend and headed north to spend more time in Belfast. GETTING THERE FROM DUBLIN: It is approximately a 2-hour train ride from Dublin’s Connolly Station to Belfast Central Station. I recommend booking your tickets in advance if you are traveling with a group. This just saves you the headache of finding a seat all together. Plus, the kids get to see their names above their seat…
A Day in Malmö, Sweden with Kids
During our New Year’s trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, we were able to spend a day in Malmö, Sweden. Being able to easily visit two countries in one trip is still a novelty for us and we were thrilled for the opportunity. Getting There Conveniently, Malmö is only a 20-minute train ride from the Copenhagen Airport. If you’ve been traveling around Copenhagen on the Copenhagen Card, you will need to purchase a separate ticket to Malmö at a kiosk in the airport. Kids go free. Keep your Copenhagen Card with you though because on the return trip, you’ll likely need to show both tickets. When you board the train to Malmö, there is…
Travel: Copenhagen, Denmark With Kids
One of our goals when we moved to Ireland was to use our time here to explore as much of Europe as possible. We were able to visit two countries during the holidays: Denmark and Sweden. Since we spent the bulk of our time in the Copenhagen area, that will be the focus of this post. GETTING THERE Thus far, we’ve had good experiences finding relatively inexpensive airfare on the budget airline, Ryan Air. All 4 of us were able to fly round trip between Dublin and Copenhagen for less than what we have been used to paying for one roundtrip ticket on most any of our travels in the…
Live Around the World
Would you do it? Would you live a nomadic lifestyle for a season? A couple of months here, a couple of months there? I’d like to think I would if I could – if we didn’t have kids in school and both of us could telecommute. An article in my Stumbleupon feed caught my eye recently when it introduced the idea of signing a lease that lets you live around the world. What an unique concept for a business. The company is called Roam. According to their website, “$500 per week per room gives you access to incredible co-living spaces and local communities around the world. Come and go as…
Collecting
Generally speaking, clutter freaks me the heck out. That’s why my kitchen counters look like this – minus the flowers right now. It was just too much. 😉 Since I don’t enjoy clutter, you’d think amassing a large collection of something would be on my “things to never do so you don’t have to dust it” list. By and large, that is true. But just to keep things interesting, I have an exception to the no-clutter rule. It started back in college when I went on a Jan Term trip to England and Scotland. I think it was the first and only time I packed light since everything I needed had to fit in…
Travel: Charlotte, North Carolina With Kids
I spent a very fun, but unromantic Valentine’s Weekend with my love and our offspring. I find it amusing that whenever we stay in a hotel, my husband and I never end up in the same bed. It’s always the kids’ chance to sleep the entire night in either mommy or daddy’s bed. I’m not going to say one of us is more popular, but one of us did grow the children in her womb. Infer what you will. It’s fun to explore new places and we loved downtown Charlotte. It was clean, well laid out, had some interesting green space and parks and had a fun mix of shops, restaurants and…
Tips for Visiting the Dominican Republic
We had the pleasure of visiting the Dominican Republic over Christmas. It was a real hardship, but someone had to do it! Don’t hate me right now. 😉 If you are from the United States and planning a trip to the Dominican Republic, here is some useful information we discovered during our visit. Beach at Catalonia Gran Dominicus La Romana near Bayahibe 1. Currency It was unclear before we left how much currency we needed to exchange into Dominican pesos. Most sites recommended having a mixture of US dollars and Dominican pesos – especially small bills for tipping. We ended up exchanging $100 before we left the U.S. and received…
Travel: Fort Walton Beach and Destin, Florida with Kids
School is out for the summer in Georgia! Thank goodness. I don’t know who was more tired of homework, me or the kids. Who are we kidding? It was totally me. I documented the occasion by taking a picture at the last bus stop of the year. I’m sure my daughter loves me taking pictures while an entire bus load of kids looks on. So, how did we kick off summer? By going to the BEACH! We have spent the first full week of summer break soaking up the sunshine in Fort Walton Beach and Destin, Florida. We built epic sand forts with help from Daddy. Mommy left this task…
Travel: Marathon, Florida
The day after Christmas, we got up at 4 a.m. and headed south to the Florida Keys. Road trip! Poor us, right? We started planning this vacation with friends from Oregon almost 6 months prior and while we like to plan, we’ve never planned a vacation that far in advance. It was totally worth it! While it was freezing cold and dreary at home, we were soaking up the 80 degree temperatures and sunshine. Should I say “poor us” again? This was the view from our deck. Absolute heaven. A friend had told us that the Florida Keys doesn’t really have the white sandy beaches that other parts of Florida has.…
Harvest Activities in Georgia
Hello, hello! We have spent the past 4 days enjoying a long Columbus Day Weekend with a visit from the grandparents! My kids have been ecstatic to get some special time with grandma and grandpa! One of our traditions with this set of grandparents is to visit a pumpkin patch. I was worried that we’d miss out on that this year, but they were so gracious to fly out here during the month of October! On Saturday we headed out of the city to Washington Farms. Earlier this year we purchased the best strawberries to make freezer jam with there, but this was our first time partaking in all of…
