Happy Saturday, friends! Emilia and I just flew back from our first-ever solo Mom/Daughter trip 😉 We headed to New York to visit our brand new TWIN COUSINS and they COULD NOT have been cuter!
The trip didn’t go exactly as expected (thank you, Covid, for continuing to ruin plans THREE YEARS LATER), but we definitely got to do what we went to do … get. twin. baby. cuddles.
Additional highlights included one-on-one time with my own baby, plus visits with my aunt and uncle and Grandpa Robert.
Hope you guys are having a delightful start to the year … and staying healthy!
Travel with a 2-year-old is never breezy … but I’m ALWAYS happy to have done it.Grandpa!Tried my hand at double-feeding. It is … not as easy as it looks!Pure baby heaven times two.I’m in awe of my sister and brother-in-law’s strength <3But I mean … can you even???Being back in the snuggle bunny phase was pretty delightful for me.Emilia wasn’t quite sure what to think at first ….But she was quickly obsessed!Em also got to spend some one-on-one time with my aunt and uncle — who essentially helped raise me — so that was very special, too.Then, all too quickly, we were headed back to the airport :/In the first month of 2023, this little one has been in Australia, California, Colorado, and New York. And she has been, for the most part (!) an angel.We’ll be back, babies. You can count on that.
What’s a trip to Australia without a proper visit to the beach?!
The final leg of our Australian holiday journey was a trip to Forster, the beach where Chris almost every post-Christmas holiday with his family and two groups of family friends growing up.
But before we headed to the beach, we flew from New Zealand to Sydney and hopped right quick on a train to catch up with the kids in Circular Quay and take some necessary touristy shots of the quintessential Aussie sites:
The cutest twins!We have a similar photo of these two from our trip back in 2019. Time. Sigh.Emilia obviously had no idea what she was seeing, but I wanted her to see it, nonetheless.Just a couple of cuties 😉Also cute <3The girls did surprisingly well with all the photo taking, considering ….Train rides are fun.
I also forgot to mention that while Chris and I were livin’ that kid-free life in New Zealand, the girls did some pretty fun things with their fam back in Sydney, including a visit to the Simbio Wildlife Park where they got to SEE KOALAS AND PET KANGAROOS!
So incredibly grateful to this crew for watching our own little zoo for a couple days, allowing us a very much appreciated solo getaway!While getting away by ourselves was the main objective of our New Zealand trip, obviously, Chris and I were both so incredibly grateful that the girls got to spend some one-on-one time with this delightful family of theirs that they don’t get to see very much.They unsurprisingly had a blast, plus …FED KANGAROOS! An experience that at least Lotte and Grace will, I’m sure, always remember <3
We were also finally able to catch up with Chris’ grandmother — and all of his other family members on his mom’s side — after missing them on Christmas when Nannan got Covid. Thankfully she was doing much better, and getting everyone together before heading off to the beach was absolutely the best.
Absolutely priceless.The best there is.The (absolutely incredible) gang <3
We decided to head straight from dinner to Forster to make the most out of our few days left. That meant a three hour drive, but the girls did incredibly well, and Chris and Vince volunteered to take ALL THREE with them so that Cath and I could drive and chat in silence.
I mean, how sweet is that?
We arrived after dark, obviously, but once the morning hit, it wasn’t hard to see why Forster has meant so much Chris and his family. Here’s what we got up to during our few short days there.
Our cute little condo is the same place Chris’ family has been staying for years!Vacation necessities.Our girls would have slept in the water if we left them. Other than a few terrifying moments where we lost Grace (which, bright side, afforded us the opportunity to discuss what to do when you get lost!), we had THE BEST TIME at the beach!Lives here now, thanks.Beach treasures.Lotte & Nan <3They had a blast together in the water!<3Chris’ best friend even drove hours from his home to stay at the beach with his own family while we were there. That was so special and sweet!This was the first time these two had ever had their families together, so that was a lot of fun for us <3His daughter became fast and adorable friends with Lotte and Grace <3Too. Stinkin.We had a cookout on the beach the second night we were there, which is another one of Chris’ families’ traditions.Another mediocre dining view 😉Having family around was the. best. Chris’ mom took Lotte and Grace for a walk on our second morning, which gave me and Chris a chance to take a walk with just Grace. It was so delightful.Walks with Nan.Morning beach walks for the win!My cutie.This little beach “pool” was so great. It was a sectioned-off area of water separate from the actual ocean, which meant there were no waves/riptides contend with. The girls did have fun splashing around in the actual ocean for a bit, but we spent most of our time here, which was a nervous parents dream come true!Fearless.So much fun with all these adorable people!Fun and more fun.Cute and more cute.See? Adorable!That beach life.Emilia wasn’t totally convinced on this trip that she loves water … but I have faith that she’ll get there!We ordered fish & chips for dinner and went out for ice cream on our last night, which is also a Connor Clan tradition!Our last day before heading back to Sydney was cloudy and rainy, but that didn’t stop the girls from a beach trip!Breakfast at a restaurant on the beach was also a highlight!Some members from one of the other families that used to vacation with Chris while he was growing up also stopped by for lunch and a beach hang, which was yet another amazing highlight of this trip.Lots and lots of cousin time was the other major perk. (I have no idea what this is, by the way, but I am HERE FOR IT!)
And that was Forster, friends. It was the most amazing beach time, and I’m so glad we were able to make it work.
Then we were back in the car headed to our final night in Sydney before flying out the following morning.
It’s absolutely impossible to sum up what this trip and all of its parts has meant to us. I have 12,000 photos to relive the memories, of course, but I’m hoping to hold on to the feeling for as long as I possibly can.
All the feels.The best aunties.Can you even?The best Nan & Poppa.
Welcome back to my Holidays in Australia series, including a surprise 24-hour layover in San Francisco, Christmas in Australia, our anniversary and New Years Eve in New Zealand, and a visit to the beach that Chris visited every year growing up! We saw friends and family that we haven’t seen since before the pandemic (I blogged about our first trip out with Lotte & Grace in 2019, including here), and friends and family got to meet Emilia for the very first time. Emotions were high (in both the best and saddest of ways … traveling, and especially traveling with children, is never not fraught), but while I sit here typing this up, I honestly can’t believe it’s over. So very much planning and buying and packing (and stressing!) went into this trip, and it was definitely one for the books, friends.
I have, as you can imagine, approximately 12 million photos to add here and to look back on for years to come. I’m going to break the trip up into sections. First up — Christmas at Chris’ parents house in Bathurst. We were so excited to be spending the day with Chris’ NanNan, but she sadly came down with Covid (on Christmas Day, no less!) so our plans had to shift. Still, we spent the day with all Chris’ siblings and all of our Aussie nieces and nephews, and it was magical, nonetheless.
Swimming, sleeping, eating all the tasty treats and getting in as many cuddles as possible topped our list of priorities for this first half of the trip. We also managed to get in some kangaroo and cricket viewing.
After we spent the holiday in Bathurst we all packed up and drove to Sydney, where Chris and I would be leaving the girls before we headed off to our own separate little holiday in New Zealand to celebrate the New Year and our anniversaries (10 years married, 15 years knowing each other!). We stopped off at the Three Sisters in Katoomba along the way.
And that was the first third of our trip in a nutshell, friends! It was filled with all the love and fun that we imagined, and then some. Next up was our SOLO trip to New Zealand … until then, bis bald, friends!
Happy New Year, friends! I hope everyone had a fabulous and fantastic holiday season filled with all the fun things.
We sure did.
We arrived back LAST NIGHT from our holiday trip. It included Christmas in Australia, our anniversary and New Years Eve in New Zealand, and a visit to the beach that Chris visited every year growing up! We saw friends and family that we haven’t seen since before the pandemic (I blogged about our first trip out with Lotte & Grace in 2019, including here), and friends and family got to meet Emilia for the very first time. Emotions were high (in both the best and saddest of ways … traveling, and especially traveling with children, is never not fraught), but while I sit here typing this up, I honestly can’t believe it’s over. So very much planning and buying and packing (and stressing, if I’m being completely honest! I was SO SURE someone would get sick! Spoiler alert: WE DID NOT!) went into this trip, and it was definitely one for the books, friends.
But first, we had to get there.
Things started optimistically enough! We knew that weird weather was rolling into Denver, and our flight out to San Francisco was scheduled for early evening, with a layover of only about an hour to make our connecting flight to Sydney.
Needless to say, that didn’t end up happening.
We sat for about 2.5 hours on the tarmac before finally taking off and landing in San Francisco around 1 a.m. United Airlines, to their credit, gave us two hotel rooms for two nights, since the next flight out they could get us on didn’t leave until 10:45 p.m.
Instead of looking at it as a lost day in Australia, we decided to find the silver lining and consider it a free (Kind of. Well, the hotel rooms were free, at least) and unexpected day in San Francisco.
Ordered in pizza to our hotel room/showered/repacked
Headed back to the airport around 8 p.m.
You know what’s great about catching a 14.5-hour flight at 10:45 at night after spending the day running your kids ragged around San Francisco?
They. Are. Zonked.
Seriously, the flight from San Francisco to Sydney was probably one of the best we’ve ever had, courtesy of exhausted children who slept seven to eight hours and then watched tv/snacked/did crafts the whole rest of the time. I was BEYOND impressed with my kids’ travel abilities and their willingness to go with the flow and find adventure in every little thing (even the snags) … but more on that later.
For now … bis bald, friends! See ya when we’re in Sydney!
Edit Note: I wrote this post on the Monday after Thanksgiving, as we had just spent the weekend at the second YMCA of the Rockies location. Since the trip was a sponsored press trip, I waited to post this until the story for the publication that sponsored me went live. You can find the complete Good Housekeeping 2023 Family Travel Rewards story here!
Happy Monday after Thanksgiving, loves! Our little family was lucky enough to try out the second YMCA of the Rockies location — this time in Estes Park — the weekend after the holiday. (You can find information on our stay at the Granby Ranch location here.)
While similar in many ways, and with many of the same amenities as Granby, the Estes Park location did feel slightly different. There is less property at this location, which means the cabins and activities are closer together. This is nice if you’d like to opportunity to walk around more easily, but the vastness of the Granby location also had its perks. Whichever you visit, you honestly can’t go wrong. Grace spent the entire first-day-back-preschool-morning-check-in walking up to her little friends and her teacher and saying, “I went to the YMCA of the Rockies!”
It obviously had a lasting impact. Here’s a little bit why …
Even the check-in area was charming!We had a real fireplace at this cabin, which you just KNOW Chris loved!Games were another big part of our stay.So glad we got to check out the pool on this trip!The most fun!Who doesn’t love a good air throw?Just like in Granby, the cafeteria was a big hit.Me and my cute little crew 😉We took a cute, short guided nature walk that involved hugging trees!Borrowed some clubs for some mini-golf!The library — and more specifically the story time at the library — is a MUST if you come here!Grace did some rock climbing on the scrambling wall, while Lotte …… gave the big wall a go!Nature Center cutiesWe made ice cream!We explored some trails!We made art!We made a mess 😉We tried out the playgrounds!We got cozy and colored by the fireplace in the lobby!We made smores in our jammies back in our cabin!And on Sunday morning, we woke up to gorgeous, snow-dusted vistas.
And that was our action-packed, amazing trip in a nutshell, my friends! Check out the YMCA of the Rockies in the Good Housekeeping travel awards here.
Happy Thanksgiving week, my friends! We have been battling all the illnesses over here lately (just like literally everyone else in the world, I know), but we did manage to pull it together this past weekend for a quick press trip out to YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, CO.
As you’ll recall, we are already big fans of Granby, but the YMCA property took that love to a whole other level. I won’t go into a ton of detail here (because all of that is covered in the actual story that the press trip was for, which you can find here), but I’ll just say, this is the best, most upgraded camp experience you could ever have, dropped right in the middle of the most majestic mountain setting.
Some of our activities included:
Meeting the sled dog team and going on a little ride
Checking out the Kiva/Rec Center
Making crafts in the Craft Center
Smoresing and bonfireing
Building a float for a mini Thanksgiving Day parade
Enjoying our SPECTACULAR mountain views
We feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to visit this iconic spot.
We stopped off in Idaho Springs on our way home, as well, and had lunch at Beau Jo’s <3
I hope you guys are staying healthy and have some relaxing and fun holiday plans ahead. Until next time … bis bald!
Dads work on their birthday weekend trips, don’t get it twisted 😉
Happy Monday, friends! Back to yesterday, when we were spending the second part of Chris’ birthday getaway at Garden of the Gods and on a cave tour at Cave of the Winds.
We’ve been to Garden of the Gods a number of times (like here, with my bestie), but yesterday was magnificent. The weather — while windy — was remarkable in all her fall glory, and we got there basically as the park opened to avoid the (always) crowds.
The girls basically love anywhere they can run unencumbered. Happiness is …Fall foliage AND these spectacular rocks <3
