March 5, 2016

Hiking with Kids: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve’s Schooner Cove (Tofino, BC)

During our recent trip to Vancouver Island, BC last month, we really only had one day to explore the Pacific Rim National Park, so we needed to make the most of it! Two of the biggest draws in the park are the beaches and the rain forest, so in selecting the main hike for our morning, Schooner Cove was the clear choice since it would provide us with a little bit of both!

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March 2, 2016

6 Reasons for Families to Plan Ahead for Travel

We often get poked fun of or are the recipients of eye rolls because of how far in advance we plan for travel, but we have our reasons for making travel arrangements ahead of time! While I know it’s not for everyone, and we certainly don’t end up scheduling in advance for every trip, I wanted to share why we plan ahead, and why we think it’s such a good thing for families to consider.

At the time I’m actually writing this post, summer vacation is about 3 months away, so it really is smart to be thinking about trip ideas and booking tickets and lodging if you haven’t already!

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February 22, 2016

One-on-one Outings with Kids: Special Adventures Provide Special Connection

When I was a mom of one, I never thought twice about one-on-one outings with Bergen (our 4-year old). That was just life as I knew it, the regular routine of errands or adventures. Now as a mom of two, even though that 2nd child can’t even walk or talk (and she’s often quite content tagging along in the carrier or stroller), opportunities where it’s just the two of us, mother and son, are so precious.

Not only do I get to experience life with my little guy without distraction and interruptions for “baby stuff”, but all the typical ways that he tends to misbehave seem to disappear. I know it’s because I can give him my full attention and it’s not necessarily the destination or what we happen to be doing. Just going to Goodwill together is such a blast! Bergen senses that my focus is on him, and he doesn’t need to do anything special, or outrageous in order to connect with me. [Read more…]

February 19, 2016

Vancouver Island Family Road Trip to Victoria & Tofino: 7-Day Itinerary

Thank you to Moon Travel Guides for Sponsoring this post. All opinions are mine alone.

We just returned from our much anticipated road trip to Vancouver Island with visits to Victoria and Tofino! We have many stories to share, with ups and downs worth reflecting on, but first I wanted to give you an overview of our journey! Vancouver Island, located in British Columbia on the Pacific coast of Canada, truly is a special place, and I can’t wait to dive into the specifics and tell some of the tales of our adventure.

In the meantime though, here you’ll find our 7-day itinerary with activity highlights, and some of the restaurants we chose for our meals (one of our favorite parts of travel). You’ll see that we broke up our roughly 7 days of travel into 2 destinations: Victoria & Tofino. This provided a great balance of city and small town. Victoria is British Columbia’s capital city, and while it’s smaller than it’s close neighbor Vancouver, it’s still a thriving metropolis with a population of about 350,000 in the greater area. Tofino is a small coastal town (about 4.5 hours from Victoria) on the Pacific Ocean of just under 2,000 residents.

Family Road Trip to Victoria & Tofino, BC

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February 15, 2016

Tips for Getting Outside with Kids on a Rainy Day

We live in Seattle, with kids (one of whom is particularly rambunctious) and a dog, so getting outside in the rain is necessary for us. Spending time outdoors brings us pleasure, and keeps us from growing too stir crazy. We rely on our walks and hikes for exercise, stress relief, and plain enjoyment as a family.

When it rains, we try not to let it hold us back, so I took some time to reflect on what helps us through the less than ideal conditions.

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February 12, 2016

Hiking with Kids: Olallie State Park’s Cedar Butte Trail (North Bend, WA)

In order to feel less guilty about all the junk we’d consume at our Super Bowl extravaganza last weekend, I decided to take the kids on a good calorie burning, heart pumping hike. I don’t really need an excuse to go on a hike, but this was a great way to get the kids out of the house while Slaed (born and raised in Colorado & devoted Denver Broncos fan) prepared, stressed and prayed, for the big game ahead.

As you might have read from our Winter Bucket List post, I’m hoping that the three of us (Georgia, the 1-year old on my back in the carrier) can conquer Little Si this season. The mileage, at 4.7 miles round trip, isn’t something that I’m extremely concerned about, but more the mountain climb and elevation gain (1300 feet). So in preparation, we are training with hikes that are a bit easier, but have relatively similar distance and hill climbing.

Olallie State Park’s Cedar Butte trail definitely fit the bill as another good hike to get ready for the more difficult Little Si. It’s also less popular than it’s neighbor, Rattlesnake Ledge, which was bustling with folks and crammed with cars in the parking lot as we drove by.

To give you an idea of our hiking experience, I once again documented the journey with a video!