7 Tips for Traveling with Children and Having Fun

As most of you know, I love to travel and I have totally passed on the travel bug to my family! YAY 🙂 We love to go on adventures big or small and explore new places! Flying for a family of 4 can get expensive, so lots of our trips are road trips! But, on the occasion where we do get to fly, we still use the same system for traveling with our kiddos because it seems to work great for us! So, if you’ll be traveling with children this year and are a little nervous (as well you should be!) take a deep breath and check out the tips below on how to make traveling with children less stressful and lots more fun!

1. Prep the kids. If you’ll be in the car for a few hours, let them know. Tell them how long the flight is going to be. Depending on the age of your kiddos, you don’t have to be exact. A simple, “We’re going to be on this plane for a long time.” Is enough. This helps keep the “Are we there yet” chants at bay, at least for a little while!

2. Keep your expectations low. Kids are kids. They will get cranky, they will ask a million questions, they will get bored, they will need to go to the bathroom 5 minutes after you asked if they needed to go and they said no. If you mentally prepare yourself for these situations, they may not seem so major when they actually happen. Don’t expect perfection from them, but do tell them what type behavior you want from them. I find that if I tell my kids how I want them to behave beforehand, it’s easier to redirect them when they get rowdy or off track.

3. Have entertainment. Yup, I am not above having my kids watch movies or play games on an ipad or laptop when I know it’s going to be a long trip. We also pack them books, small toys, pencils, crayons, and paper to draw. For our last road trip we printed out a few family-friendly road trip games online, such as license plate games and I Spy. We even found Road Trip Bingo game cards!

4. Plan a surprise (or two!) On our road trip to Ensenada, Mexico this past spring, we used our Happy Family Movement Road Trip in a Box kit. This was a blast! The kids really loved opening up the packages at the designated times and taking breaks to play with water guns, blow bubbles, or just have a dance party in the middle of nowhere! The kits are no longer available to purchase, but you can totally make your own! Just grab a few fun dollar type toys, wrap them up, give them instructions on when to open them and wait for the fun to happen! You could do simple things like temporary tattoos, gummy worms, stamp kits, an inflatable beach ball, etc!!! The possibilities are endless and will definitely make for a memorable trip!

5. Rest. This one, I learned from experience! We totally didn’t plan for much rest on our summer trip to the east coast and we hit the ground running when we go there. This was a huge mistake and we ended up with some major cranky jet lagged kids in Washington DC! Once we slowed down a bit and they got a good night’s sleep, we were great. The remainder of our trip was awesome! From now on, we start our trips a bit slower, don’t plan a ton of activities when we first arrive, especially if there’s a time difference, and we find it makes for a much better trip overall!

6. Start travel traditions. We love to goecache! So, for us going on a trip also means we get to do a fun geocache in another state. The kids expect it now and it’s part of our road trip tradition. Whenever we travel to California or Utah, you know we’re going to have Chick-fil-a because we don’t have any in Vegas. Also, when we go on road trip, you know Johnny Cash’s Everywhere Man is gonna be playing! Our traditions aren’t too big but they’re ours and we love them! Whatever your tradition is, big or small, your kids will love it. Traditions make kids feel special and who doesn’t love that?

7. Have Fun! Some of my best memories as a child are from family vacations and I really want my kiddos to have these kinds of memories too! I love it when one of my kids starts off a conversation with, “Remember when we did/went…” We know that traveling with children can be tough and tiring, but it’s also so worth it! And the best part about traveling with little ones is that they don’t remember the time when you were stressed out at the rental car ticket counter or the time they made you upset because they broke a coffee mug at the souvenir shop, nope, kids tend to forget that stuff pretty quickly. They’ll remember the little things. The ice cream cone you got them at the beach, the fun rides they rode over and over, the jokes you told, the giggles, the fun, the good stuff. And at the end of it all, that’s what really matters. The good stuff!

Here’s to safe travels, fun adventures, and making memories that last a lifetime!

How to Encourage Kids to Eat Healthy & Be Active

OOPS, so I haven’t blogged all week. I feel bad about it. I really enjoy blogging and it helps keep me sane. But sometimes, life gets crazy and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done and work, laundry, dishes, all these things tend to pile up on you…BUT, that’s for another blog post because I finally did carve out some time this morning to share a bit of my family life with you.
Most of you know, I’m a mom of two kiddos! I blog about them a ton, especially when it comes to doing fun stuff together and going on family vacations and adventures! Today, though I want to talk about how important it is to lead by example and how to encourage kids to eat healthy and be active. When I started this weight loss journey and began exercising regularly I did it for me. I mean, yeah, I wanted to be able to run around with my kiddos and not be out of breathe, I wanted to be a good example to them about eating healthy and keeping active. But guess what? These things don’t happen by osmosis. Kids don’t just become interested in eating kale chips because you are. They won’t trade video games for jumping jacks because you tell them they should be more active. Nope. You have to engage children. You need to get out there and do these things with them. They not only need to see you go for a run, they need you to invite them to join you. It took me a little bit to realize that while I was enjoying the benefits of a healthier, more active lifestyle, my kiddos weren’t as involved as I wanted them to be. So, I made a conscious decision to change that! And for the past year or so, we’ve been making changes for the kiddos too!

Here are a few things we do & you can use to help you and your family eat healthier and be more active:

Making easy Lexi's Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe :) Kids love these! — Making easy Lexi’s Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe 🙂 Kids love these!

Cook together! Having my kiddos help me cook dinner or a healthy snack helps a ton when trying new things. It doesn’t mean they’ll love it, but they will at least try it because they helped make it. And, even if they don’t like a certain dish or vegetable, it’s still a great way to spend time together and talk about the benefits of healthy foods verses junk food.
Make Exercise Fun! Kids are kids. You can’t pop in a workout DVD and expect them to love the burn! You gotta make it fun for them and for us, that means taking it outside. Whether we’re going on a family hike, a bike ride with daddy, or a 1 mile run I like to let them know we’re not just having fun but also exercising. We’ll do fun little “boot camps” or challenges at the park. Jason & Diego will play football or basketball. The important thing is to stay active!

Be Sneaky! Yup, I am not above tricking my kiddos into eating healthy. I mostly do this by adding spinach & chia seeds to all our smoothies and making fresh juices with both fruits & veggies! Smoothies are usually a few spoonfuls of greek yogurt, a banana, milk, berries, a bunch of spinach, and a tablespoon of chia seeds. One of Elysse’s favorite juices is made with 5 carrots – 1 cucumber – 4 celery – 2 big handful of grapes! It’s fun to experiment and try new combinations and of course, have the kids help 😉
Share your Passions! I love to sign up for races and my favorite are obstacle races and lots of times my hubby runs along with me. It’s fun to take the kids to watch us run and cheer us on. By race day, they are super excited because they saw how much we trained for that day. They see us put in the work and then see the results of our hard work. Nothing like your kid see you succeed and be proud of you!
Get them Involved! Not only do we sometimes take the kids along to see us race, we also sign them up for their own races! Of course, there is nothing competitive in these races, it’s just a ton of fun for them and that’s what we want. There are lots of races that have fun 1 mile family runs or are kid/stroller/walker friendly. We want our kids to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle now and as adults!

How do you encourage your kids to eat healthy & be active? Feel free to share your tips too!

Wine Tasting | Temecula, CA

What do you do when your Spartan Sprint Race gets canceled in Temecula? You go wine tasting, of course! At least, that’s what we chose to do and it was a ton of fun. Not as much fun as running a Spartan Race, but a very close second 😉

Jason and I started our day off with a yummy breakfast at E.A.T. Marketplace in downtown Temecula. I was very excited to finally get to try it out. I’d been following them on Instagram and swooning over their yummy organic, locally raised foods. I especially loved that they offer Paleo-friendly options! We met up with our teammates after breakfast and since we were all still bummed out – them about not being able to race at all that weekend and me about not getting my trifecta like I planned -we drowned our sorrows in wine tasting!

We started at the hubs and mine’s favorite winery in Temecula, Wiens Family Cellars. They did not disappoint and we even became wine club members (again!). Our next stop was Lorimar Winery, which we had not visited before. The grounds were so pretty and the tasting was a ton of fun there too! At this point, we all agreed some food was needed so we made our way to Ponte Winery‘s restaurant and ate al fesco & enjoyed fun conversation and a beautiful view! Of course, we couldn’t leave without trying some of their wines too 🙂

Forgive the blurry picture, our wine pourer maybe had a few herself behind the counter ;) J/K hubs had the camera set on manual focus- FAIL! — Forgive the blurry picture, our wine pourer maybe had a few herself behind the counter 😉 J/K hubs had the camera set on manual focus- FAIL!

This was definitely our motto for the day!

Flor, how was that mediterranean wrap?!!? LOL

Our last winery visit was Mount Palomar. This of course, was after a lovely nap and freshening up for dinner afterwards. We spent a long time in their cozy tasting room and were starving when done, so we made our way to a yummy Italian restaurant, Trattoria Toscana. Thanks To Yelp for all the great reviews, this place was delish and the perfect way to end the day!

Not Paleo. Not Sorry. So worth the indulgence! Homemade pasta & pasta sauces! Mmmmm

So, yea we totally made the best of a not-so-good-kinda-crappy situation and we’ve got lots of wine to prove it! It’s not a Spartan Trifecta medal, but that will come soon too, I’m sure of it 🙂

Time to go Back to School

After a short summer track break for Diego, he’s now officially a 4th grader! School started back up on Monday and he wasn’t too excited about it. He barely let me take a picture of him. Once he got to school though and saw some of his friends, he was fine! I’m super proud of him and I just know he’s going to do great this year too!

This was also Elysse’s first day of kindergarten. Here in Nevada, kinder is only half day and we chose afternoons for her (none of my kids have been early risers!). All morning s he kept asking if it was time to leave and how many more hours until she went to school. To say she was excited, is an understatement! Finally, it was time to go and I don’t think she was a bit nervous about it. I remember Diego was so cautious and a little scared on his first day. Not Ely! As soon as she heard the bell ring, she ran to her classroom without even saying goodbye! I just love her independent spirit, but of course, I walked after her and went into the classroom to say goodbye. I thought I’d shed a tear sending my baby girl off to school, but nope, no tears. She was just so excited and ready to be in school, I couldn’t feel sad. Plus, it’s only half day kinder, maybe the tears will come next year….

Did you send your little ones off to school this week? How was it?

Family Traditions | Southern California Fun

I’ve been posting all summer as we check things off our Summer Bucket List and even though it’s been an interesting summer with year round school, we’ve still managed to keep this tradition. The kids talk about it throughout the year and we make a big deal about everyone contributing to the list! I think family traditions are so important. It is something very comforting and at the same time exciting for kids to look forward to each year! We have a few family traditions in our house, from big to small, but one of our traditions has been to take a trip to Southern California every August. It started right when we moved to Las Vegas and were just looking for a getaway at the end of summer. Vegas summers are hot and the SoCal beaches are such a dream to retreat to! We then added these trips to our yearly Summer Bucket List and they’ve become a back-to-school tradition. I’m so happy we’ve been able to create this for them. Usually, we’ll go away for 3 – 5 days. So far, we’ve taken back-to-school trips to Santa Monica, Disneyland, Legoland in San Diego, Newport Beach, and the Pasadena Children’s Museum! So much fun 🙂

Like I said, this summer has been quite busy and we’ve tried to cram a lot in between track breaks, so we weren’t sure how we’d get to go but we managed to make it happen, albeit it was just for the weekend. We still had a blast and it was one of the most relaxing trips we’ve had. There was no real agenda (I know, this is shocking for me!) We just went to Laguna Beach and let the kids play! They also got to enjoy the pool at the hotel on Sunday morning before we headed north a bit to Redondo Beach pier for a yummy lunch by the water and a few more hours at the beach before heading home. It was a quick, but much needed trip and we kept our back-to-school tradition! Traditions are where memories are made and we hope we can continue to take these summer trips for many more years and we especially hope our kiddos will always remember these yearly trips!

Do you and your family have any special family traditions? Any back-to-school traditions?

Summer Bucket List | Ethel M. Chocolates & FroYo

It’s summer and yea, with trips out of town, bbq’s with friends and family, and so on & so on, we let the kids have a few more treats than usual! When we put together our Summer Bucket List, we added a few intentional “treat” days to the list. We figured a trip to the chocolate factory would be fun on a day when we had nothing to do. So, on a Monday after lunch we took a trip to the chocolate factory. I think my kids were expecting Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, so when they saw that it was just a hallway with information and a window into the actual working factory, it was not very exciting! But, we did learn a few things about how chocolate is made and we got some free samples at the end. Of course, we did buy some chocolates to take home and we walked around their cactus garden. It was super hot that day, so it was a short walk!

After doing some back to school shopping a few weeks ago, we went over to Yogurtland for some yummy froyo! The kids love being able to serve it themselves and pick out their own toppings! It was a nice treat on a hot summer day for sure!

I’ll be back tomorrow talking about why traditions are important in families and sharing some photos from our yearly back-to-school California trip!

Summer Bucket List | BBQ with Friends & Wet N Wild

We are having a great time this summer, even with Diego being in year-round school. Tomorrow is his last day in 3rd grade and he’ll have his 3 week summer track break before starting 4th grade. We plan to pack a lot of summer fun in the next 3 weeks 🙂

Here’s a quick update with 2 more things we got to check off the Happy Family Movement’s Summer Bucket List, BBQ with friends and going to Wet N Wild.

We were invited over a friend’s place for a BBQ earlier this month and the kids had a great time playing with the other kids and swimming in the pool. It really was a nice relaxing day with friends. It was exactly what we needed!

This Saturday we finally went to Wet N Wild. I say “finally” because this is the 2nd season it’s been open and we literally saw it being built. The water park is about 4 miles down the road from our house and we drive down that road every day to & from the gym. When it opened last summer, we heard stories of how it was so packed, so we decided to hold off. Our kids had been patiently waiting all year, so when it was time to put our summer bucket list together, Wet N Wild was maybe the first thing they suggested. Huge thanks to our friends, Ernie & Veronica and my nephew, Jared and his friend Mikey for getting us in with a buddy pass and saving us quite a bit of money!!

We spent about 6 hours at the park and had a blast! It was not crowded and the lines were not crazy long. The kids got on most of the slides, played in the wave pool, and relaxed in the lazy river. It was perfect! I think they must have said, “thanks for bringing us here” about a hundred times! We’ll definitely be getting season tickets next year.

Did you and your family do a Summer Bucket List? What kinds of fun things are you doing this summer? I’d love to hear them!

A Couple that Runs Together, Stays Together

I am so proud of Jason for running his first half marathon (Bryce Canyon Half Marathon) with me earlier this month. He trained hard and it totally paid off. He finished strong and more importantly we finished together. It was pretty amazing.

Our 18 year wedding anniversary is coming up and it got me thinking about how we do so many things together and enjoy lots of the same things too and I think this makes for a happy marriage, it really does!

When I started this “fitness journey” Jason was so supportive and understood that in order for it to work it had to be a lifestyle change. He knew that eating healthy and exercising wasn’t just about me, but about the whole family. He not only stood by me, he joined me. We’ve been having so much fun running races and participating in obstacle course races together. Not only is it better for our health, it’s been better for our marriage and our family life. Having a spouse support you in following your dreams and cheering you on is so important!

Running is such a metaphor for marriage. It’s about staying beside each other even if you know you can go faster, it’s knowing when to take the lead or slow down a bit. Jason’s helped me up dozens of walls and obstacles, he’s literally carried me on his back, he’s encouraged me to not give up. Jason has been to every race of mine either, cheering me on or running besides me. No matter what life throws our way, I know we’ll be able to deal with it. Together. Our marriage is one big fun crazy adventure and I love it more and more each year.

What are some things you and your spouse do together to keep your marriage strong?

Summer Bucket List | Hiking at Bryce Canyon National Park

Summer is in full swing here in Vegas (read: hot as an oven!) so going out to Bryce Canyon, UT this past weekend and enjoying cooler temps was such a nice break from the 100+ temps. Since we were already going to Bryce Canyon for our half marathon, we decided to make a family trip out of it and add it to our Summer Bucket List!

Our obligatory/traditional photo in front of the national park sign!

After the 5 hour drive on Friday (we took the scenic route) we totally needed to stretch our legs and let the kids run around. We found a list of suggested trails and decided on Mossy Cave, it was an easy & short 0.8 trail that led to a small waterfall and offered pretty scenery. It was just the right amount of exploring we needed before dinner and calling it a night since Jason and I had an early start the next day!

After Saturday’s Bryce Canyon Half Marathon and a hearty breakfast, we made our way to hike among the hoodoos on Navajo Loop. It was a fun 2 mile trail that led you down into the canyon and then back up. Some of the drop offs were kinda scary, especially with my daredevil Parkour loving 13 year old nephew and Diego ready to keep up with him! But, we all survived and were starving afterwards. My sister and Jared took off to come back to Vegas after our late lunch and we went back to the room to relax a bit. Running a half marathon, then hiking for 2 miles really made us tired and I think I was in bed snoring by 9pm. It would have been sooner but we had to get dinner and some groceries for the picnic we were planning the next day.

On Sunday, I was still a little sore from the race, but I felt so much better. After breakfast, we made our way back to the park so the kids could listen to a ranger talk, which was part of their Jr. Ranger program. We’ve been doing these National Park Jr. Ranger booklets for years now, but this was the first year Elysse was actually excited about completing her booklet and getting the badge. It was pretty cute 🙂 Her souvenir from the trip was a army green Jr. Ranger vest!

After our picnic lunch and a little walk around some lookout points, we pretty much called it a day and started our trip to Vegas! Like I said, this was a much needed break from the Vegas heat and just the daily grind. Going on road trips and vacations with my family is really one of my favorite things to do and I’m so grateful for all the memories we get to make together. I can’t wait for the next one!

What’s one of your favorite things to do with your family? Do you have a favorite National Park? What’s on your summer bucket list?

Summer Bucket List | 51’s Baseball Game

I can’t believe it’s almost July! This summer is flying by! Mostly because Diego is still in school and so it doesn’t really feel like summer. Year-round school has it’s advantages, but boy is it tough in the summertime! Diego is off for a 2 week track break after this week and we’re planning some fun stuff, including the trip to Bryce Canyon for our half marathon and of course, some family time hiking and exploring the National Park. Can’t wait 🙂

Anyhow, we did actually mark one thing off our bucket list this weekend and we went to see a 51’s Baseball Game. Las Vegas doesn’t have a major league team, but we were ok with the minors. Diego and Jason had gone last year and they had a nice time, so we added it our Summer Bucket List this summer. It’d been years since I’d gone to a baseball game and this was the first game for Elysse. I’ll just be honest here and say, it was kinda boring! Sorry to all the baseball fans out there, but I just couldn’t get into the game. Maybe because I wasn’t too interested in the teams or maybe because I’m just not a big baseball fan, but it felt to go on forever! Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time. We went with another family, so there was plenty of playing and laughing! The kids ate popcorn and shaved ice. They got some noise makers and had at it! Don’t expect we’ll be getting season tickets, but the kids got to experience something different and that was awesome!