They're older now, they should be able to handle a longer road trip!
One of the unexpected surprises of our trip to Ottawa, Remembrance Day Weekend, was the Flavour Town adventure the girls experienced. Salina and Andrea introduced the girls to a variety of foods we hadn't thought to try with the girls. Cottage cheese, tofu, zucchini, and pumpkin soup were all on the menu, plus the girls had a lot of their food in small pieces as we continued to move away from some of the pureed food. It really is a marketing accomplishment that companies are able to convince parents to buy a baby bullet or special equipment to make baby food, when really the time spent eating pureed baby food is so short.
One thing illustrated by our road trip, was how beneficial having a routine is!! (Yes this is yet another post promoting routines!!) We were able to predict when the girls would need a nap or need to eat, which made planning very easy. The girls surprisingly transitioned well from place to place and slept will in the playpens.
A definite highlight of the trip for the girls was playing with Avea and Declan! The girls loved all of the new toys to play with and spent a lot of time watching to see what Avea and Declan would do. The experience also gave us a chance to see what to expect in the next few months! Life is going to get busy once they are on two feet!
While driving meltdowns seem to be the norm for our extended road trips, we made it five hours outside of Ottawa before Abigail started to lose her mind. In hindsight, thinking about how we frantically pulled over of the 407 with me trying to comfort a sobbing child, Shawn shouting for me to get back in the car before we get killed, us trying to find an exit to find a place to feed the girls, the whole scene was quite comical. As always, the humour is noted well after the experience! LOL As we drove the remaining hour home in blissful silence, we apologized to each other for losing our minds as much as Abigail did! Chalk this road trip up to another great adventure full of learning experiences.
Showing posts with label Trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trips. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Friday, 25 October 2013
Mini Vacation in Niagara Falls
This past week, the girls and I joined Daddy at his work conference to vacation in Niagara Falls! LOL The girls had a ton of fun exploring their new space (why is it they can always find the cords and electrical outlets???) I felt like a Sherpa carrying a 4 day supply of baby belongings up to our room, but I guess that's the price you pay for vacation with babies less than a year old!
The Bumbo chairs make feeding time a lot easier when you're away from home and this hotel table had a convenient serving drawer! The girls really enjoy holding their own spoon during meals.
This was the first time girls had ever seen Niagara Falls and it motivated a lot of standing and Abigail even pulled herself up!
The girls really enjoyed all of the exploring they were able to do in the hotel, plus they were a huge hit with Daddy's colleagues and all of the hotel staff!!
The girls are always making people smile, wherever they go!!
The Bumbo chairs make feeding time a lot easier when you're away from home and this hotel table had a convenient serving drawer! The girls really enjoy holding their own spoon during meals.
This was the first time girls had ever seen Niagara Falls and it motivated a lot of standing and Abigail even pulled herself up!
Molly standing on her own, enjoying the view!
Abigail getting her first view of the Falls!
Abigail standing on her own, looking at the Falls!
The girls looking out the window, Abigail has pulled herself up to get a better view!
The girls really enjoyed all of the exploring they were able to do in the hotel, plus they were a huge hit with Daddy's colleagues and all of the hotel staff!!
The girls are always making people smile, wherever they go!!
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Burgeo: Visiting My Gramps' Hometown
The main purpose of our family trip to Newfoundland this year was to visit Burgeo, the birth place of my paternal grandfather! We still have lots of family living here and since my parents haven't been back to visit in over 30 years it was walk down memory lane. In 2011 Shawn and I came to Burgeo with our cousin Linda (now from Corner Brook) to meet up with my Great Uncle Dan (my Gramp's brother) and Aunt Betty. We returned to see them, now married and with the Turkettes! What a difference 2 years can make!
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| Outside Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty's House |
We had a wonderful time catching up with our family and as always we had great homemade food from Aunt Betty. The girls really took to them and enjoyed all of Uncle Dan's funny faces.
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| Inside Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan's House |
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| Aunt Betty, Cousins Don, Budd, Linda, Uncle Dan and our clan! |
Their Burgeo popularity hit an all-time high when our family was screeched in during the Community-wide celebrated Screech-In Ceremony. Altogether there was 20 people screeched-in! The girls got off easy by only having to kiss the cod. The rest of us had to dip our foot in a bucket of Atlantic Ocean water, sing a song (each individual sang a verse solo....my worst nightmare), eat some salted cod, attempt to eat some rock solid bread, drank a shot of screech and kissed a cod! Meanwhile, Captain Anne who was conducting the ceremony mocked as many of us as she could in front of a local crowd of 200+ people!
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| Screeched In! |
Our last big adventure in Burgeo was to visit Sandbanks Provincial Park. If you didn't put your foot in the cold water, the white sand would make you think you were in the Caribbean! We completed an 8km hike around the park to see different beaches and parts of the ocean. The girls almost made it but grew tired about half way through and had to take a nap!
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| Awesome beaches! |
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| Great Look-outs! |
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| Sleeping beauties! |
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| Burgeo Museum |
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
The Turkettes Take On Rocky Harbour
Our first stop on our trip was to the beautiful Gros Morne National Park! This picture is a tradition my best friend Jen Frendo and I started back in 2004 when we first started traveling out East to visit National Parks of Canada.
We stayed at the Gros Morne Cabins in the small town, Rock Harbour, located inside Gros Morne National Park! It was a great set up as we were right on the water and had a living room, full kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. They also have laundry facilities and a grocery store so it was very convenient for us to do the girls laundry (wow, two kids make a lot of mess!) and grab and food items we might need to snack on.
The cabin had beautiful quilts that were great for the girls to play on when they had some much needed tummy time! The poor girls went from car seat, to stroller, to baby carrier!!
On our second day in Gros Morne we took the girls on the Western Brook Pond Boat Tour. This required us to hike 3km into the boat launch area before going on a two hour boat ride. The view was amazing and the girls lasted about half the boat ride before falling asleep!
Even though we asked a lot of the girls and carted them all over Gros Morne National Park, the Turkettes were fantastic and had a great time! Smiles all around!
We stayed at the Gros Morne Cabins in the small town, Rock Harbour, located inside Gros Morne National Park! It was a great set up as we were right on the water and had a living room, full kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. They also have laundry facilities and a grocery store so it was very convenient for us to do the girls laundry (wow, two kids make a lot of mess!) and grab and food items we might need to snack on.
The cabin had beautiful quilts that were great for the girls to play on when they had some much needed tummy time! The poor girls went from car seat, to stroller, to baby carrier!!
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| Hi Sister! |
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| Abigail Hanging out on the quilt |
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| Loving our time in Rocky Harbour |
On our second day in Gros Morne we took the girls on the Western Brook Pond Boat Tour. This required us to hike 3km into the boat launch area before going on a two hour boat ride. The view was amazing and the girls lasted about half the boat ride before falling asleep!
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| The Gang on the Boat Tour |
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| Enjoying the great view of Western Brook Pond |
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| Sleeping on the boat |
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| The Whole Family! |
To The Rock We Go!
Our past road trips with the girls seem to pale in comparison to the adventure we have ahead of us, flying to Newfoundland for a week long vacation with the girls and my parents! The hardest part about packing for this trip is that EVERYTHING you need to pack must fit into your suitcases for the plane. There is no room for error and no thought of "I'll just leave this in the car, just in case". Predicting what two babies will need for an eight day excursion with unpredictable weather can be tricky. When traveling to Newfoundland you always have to remember that there is no humidity and always a chance of rain....a perfect place to travel to with 7 month old twins! Some how once we had packed up the car with the girls and our luggage we came to the realization that we had more room in our car than any previous road trip. Huh?
After a well planned stay over night in TO at the Comfort Inn Toronto Airport, we were able to pack up, have a hot breakfast, feed the girls and make it to the airport looking calm and refreshed (okay I may be slightly exaggerating).
The first part of our adventure begins with the girls first flight! Not wanting to be "those parents with the crying baby" on a two hour plus flight, we picked a morning flight when the girls were likely to be napping! This worked out well in our favour as both girls slept through take off.
Here are some things we learned from flying with the Turkettes.
1. Baby formula or breast milk are the only liquids you are allowed to bring on the flight in excess of 100mL. The flight attendants will warm your bottles for you any time during the flight!
2. Babies are allowed two baby items (e.g. car seat, play yard, stroller) but no carry on or luggage.
3. While you are allowed to keep and use your stroller right up until you board the plane, we found it a lot easier to use our Baby Bjorn baby carrier and just wear the girls. This allowed us to have both of our hands free especially helpful while boarding the plane and putting our carry on luggage away.
4. There is only one infant allowed per row due to there only being 4 oxygen masks per row, so Shawn and I had to sit in consecutive rows with our own baby.
5. (Thank you Mom for this) Having a soother clip was a big bonus because we a) always knew where their soother was and b) didn't have to worry about it falling on the floor or losing it. Soothers or drinking during take off or landing is recommended for babies since they don't know how to pop their ears on their own and this can be really painful. Both the girls took their soothers for take off and landing and had no discomforts.
6. Dressing the girls in a sleeper was great for the plane as we didn't have to worry about them getting cold, socks falling off and it was much easier when trying to change a diaper in the small little airplane bathroom. (that is a skill all on it's own!) Only the washroom in the back of the plane has a change table so it was easier to be seated closer to the back of the plane. Having small children allows you to board the plane earlier if you wish, but we just let everyone go first and tried to board the plane near the end so we had less time sitting on the plane.
7. Our Westjet flight attendants were awesome! They met with us to give us specific instructions regarding flying with infants and even gave the girls "First Flight" stickers! Our Little Westjetters did a great job flying! Looks like a trip out to Calgary to visit Auntie Michelle might be possible!!!
After a well planned stay over night in TO at the Comfort Inn Toronto Airport, we were able to pack up, have a hot breakfast, feed the girls and make it to the airport looking calm and refreshed (okay I may be slightly exaggerating).
The first part of our adventure begins with the girls first flight! Not wanting to be "those parents with the crying baby" on a two hour plus flight, we picked a morning flight when the girls were likely to be napping! This worked out well in our favour as both girls slept through take off.
Here are some things we learned from flying with the Turkettes.
1. Baby formula or breast milk are the only liquids you are allowed to bring on the flight in excess of 100mL. The flight attendants will warm your bottles for you any time during the flight!
2. Babies are allowed two baby items (e.g. car seat, play yard, stroller) but no carry on or luggage.
3. While you are allowed to keep and use your stroller right up until you board the plane, we found it a lot easier to use our Baby Bjorn baby carrier and just wear the girls. This allowed us to have both of our hands free especially helpful while boarding the plane and putting our carry on luggage away.
4. There is only one infant allowed per row due to there only being 4 oxygen masks per row, so Shawn and I had to sit in consecutive rows with our own baby.
5. (Thank you Mom for this) Having a soother clip was a big bonus because we a) always knew where their soother was and b) didn't have to worry about it falling on the floor or losing it. Soothers or drinking during take off or landing is recommended for babies since they don't know how to pop their ears on their own and this can be really painful. Both the girls took their soothers for take off and landing and had no discomforts.
6. Dressing the girls in a sleeper was great for the plane as we didn't have to worry about them getting cold, socks falling off and it was much easier when trying to change a diaper in the small little airplane bathroom. (that is a skill all on it's own!) Only the washroom in the back of the plane has a change table so it was easier to be seated closer to the back of the plane. Having small children allows you to board the plane earlier if you wish, but we just let everyone go first and tried to board the plane near the end so we had less time sitting on the plane.
7. Our Westjet flight attendants were awesome! They met with us to give us specific instructions regarding flying with infants and even gave the girls "First Flight" stickers! Our Little Westjetters did a great job flying! Looks like a trip out to Calgary to visit Auntie Michelle might be possible!!!
Monday, 3 June 2013
On the Road Again...(yes we're crazy!)
The Turkettes are on the road again, traveling across Ontario, this time up to Gravenhurst for Daddy's work conference. As we began packing for the trip it has become clear Daddy might be winning the argument for a truck or larger SUV in our future, or I may have over packed, LOL! While Mommy and Daddy each have one bag of clothing and essentials and another bag of books, computers etc, the girls take up the remainder of the CRV with their "essential" items!
What the Girls Packed for Gravenhurst:
(for future reference for our next road trip!!)
Stroller
Baby Carriers (Baby Bjorn)
Go-Pods
PlayMats
Blankets (for cribs, sheets for cribs, receiving blankets, etc)
Toys (lots of these!! Books, noise makers, teething toys, balls etc)
Diaper Bag
Formula, Jars, Measuring Cup, Scoop, Kettle
Bottles
Sanitation Bags
Face Cloths
Sleep Sheep
Soothers
Video Baby Monitor
Diapers (regular and swim)
Toiletries (baby shampoo/soap, brush, nail clippers, bum cream, moisturizer, colic water, teeth tablets, dropper)
Now for the Clothes:
onesies (6-8)
Sleepers (4-6)
Jogging pants and sweatshirts
red jeans
long sleeve onesies
jumpers
socks
swimsuits
hats
sunglasses
Part of us thinks we're crazy for traveling so much with the girls, but the other part of us is happy to see our girls adjusting to being around our friends and being in different environments! On the positive side, the girls are really good traveling three hours in the car, most of the time is spent sleeping, the rest playing with toys and listening to our musical toys or mommy singing! I'm happy to report that there were no "poo incidents" on this road trip and we arrived in Gravenhurst without a tear shed! That is what we consider a successful road trip!
What the Girls Packed for Gravenhurst:
(for future reference for our next road trip!!)
Stroller
Baby Carriers (Baby Bjorn)
Go-Pods
PlayMats
Blankets (for cribs, sheets for cribs, receiving blankets, etc)
Toys (lots of these!! Books, noise makers, teething toys, balls etc)
Diaper Bag
Formula, Jars, Measuring Cup, Scoop, Kettle
Bottles
Sanitation Bags
Face Cloths
Sleep Sheep
Soothers
Video Baby Monitor
Diapers (regular and swim)
Toiletries (baby shampoo/soap, brush, nail clippers, bum cream, moisturizer, colic water, teeth tablets, dropper)
Now for the Clothes:
onesies (6-8)
Sleepers (4-6)
Jogging pants and sweatshirts
red jeans
long sleeve onesies
jumpers
socks
swimsuits
hats
sunglasses
Part of us thinks we're crazy for traveling so much with the girls, but the other part of us is happy to see our girls adjusting to being around our friends and being in different environments! On the positive side, the girls are really good traveling three hours in the car, most of the time is spent sleeping, the rest playing with toys and listening to our musical toys or mommy singing! I'm happy to report that there were no "poo incidents" on this road trip and we arrived in Gravenhurst without a tear shed! That is what we consider a successful road trip!
Thursday, 9 May 2013
On the Road Again...
One would think our first road trip with the girls that included an "up the back poop" and a "down the leg poop" would deter us from traveling again, alas we are in the middle of road trip #2 in the same week! Call us crazy, call us brave, but we've taken the Turkettes to the Viamede Resort in the Kawartha Valley with Jen and Martin. This time, the car ride to our destination involved ZERO poop incidents (thankfully) and once we were arrived there was no "crazy lady" attacking our kids!
Flash back to our first road trip to Barrie last weekend, where upon our arrival to the hotel many stress building events occurred at one time. Girls are scream crying because they are hungry, our basement hotel room has NO ELEVATOR access, and we have a CRV full of hospitality supplies (aka a lot of beer!) and luggage. Throw into this scenario the "crazy lady" or Queen B according to her license plate! This lady upon seeing Shawn and I with screaming twins decides now would be an appropriate time to meet these girls, start chatting up their parents and dispense irrelevant, unwelcome parenting advice. While I am open to answering the usual onslaught of twin questions, I do appreciate those who can read social cues. I found it hard to find the patience to answer this woman's questions or even hear them for that matter over Abby's desperate screams for food. All the while knowing in the back of my mind that I still have to unpack her bottles and the kettle, boil water and wait without pacing for the bottles to warm up, likely while both girls lose their minds.
Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to feel Abigail's protests were an issue and she had the perfect solution...now, I think it needs to be noted that my friends and family are always welcome to play, pick up, feed and touch my children.because I know you, trust you and love you. However, when a stranger grabs hold of the car seat you are holding with your infant child in it, grabs your child's soother and attempts to shove it in her mouth while simultaneously dispensing parenting advice, let's just say my usual calm, nonchalant self disappeared pretty quickly.
Sigh, poor Shawn and our awesome porter Tyler had to listen to me rant about the "Queen B" for a good 20 minutes, LOL. I've since recovered and calmed down.
Although our road trips have overall been successful with the Turkettes, there has been a huge learning curve when it comes to traveling. Things we've learned:
1. Our stroller, while awesome, takes up a lot of room in our CRV.
2. Although small, the girls require A LOT of stuff!
3. Their schedule rules our day, nap times trump everything so we needed to adjust to just relaxing (okay I needed to adjust to just relaxing, LOL)
4. Making formula in a hotel room is challenging, feedings are way easier at home.
5. Any form of crying during nap and sleep time results in everyone being unhappy as you can't just "leave the room".
6. Video baby monitors rock! We were able to watch the hockey game in Jen and Martin's room next door, but still keep our eye on the girls as they slept! Awesome!
7. Back up clothing for the girls is key, you never know when poo or spit up will ruin a sleeper!
8. Time, everything you want to do takes more time with the girls.
Hopefully our two adventures have provided us with enough tips and experience to make future Road Trips with the girls enjoyable! We'll need to start our strategic planning of our big trip to Burgeo, NL this summer. 1st time on a plane for the girls, sounds daunting!
Flash back to our first road trip to Barrie last weekend, where upon our arrival to the hotel many stress building events occurred at one time. Girls are scream crying because they are hungry, our basement hotel room has NO ELEVATOR access, and we have a CRV full of hospitality supplies (aka a lot of beer!) and luggage. Throw into this scenario the "crazy lady" or Queen B according to her license plate! This lady upon seeing Shawn and I with screaming twins decides now would be an appropriate time to meet these girls, start chatting up their parents and dispense irrelevant, unwelcome parenting advice. While I am open to answering the usual onslaught of twin questions, I do appreciate those who can read social cues. I found it hard to find the patience to answer this woman's questions or even hear them for that matter over Abby's desperate screams for food. All the while knowing in the back of my mind that I still have to unpack her bottles and the kettle, boil water and wait without pacing for the bottles to warm up, likely while both girls lose their minds.
Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to feel Abigail's protests were an issue and she had the perfect solution...now, I think it needs to be noted that my friends and family are always welcome to play, pick up, feed and touch my children.because I know you, trust you and love you. However, when a stranger grabs hold of the car seat you are holding with your infant child in it, grabs your child's soother and attempts to shove it in her mouth while simultaneously dispensing parenting advice, let's just say my usual calm, nonchalant self disappeared pretty quickly.
Sigh, poor Shawn and our awesome porter Tyler had to listen to me rant about the "Queen B" for a good 20 minutes, LOL. I've since recovered and calmed down.
Although our road trips have overall been successful with the Turkettes, there has been a huge learning curve when it comes to traveling. Things we've learned:
1. Our stroller, while awesome, takes up a lot of room in our CRV.
2. Although small, the girls require A LOT of stuff!
3. Their schedule rules our day, nap times trump everything so we needed to adjust to just relaxing (okay I needed to adjust to just relaxing, LOL)
4. Making formula in a hotel room is challenging, feedings are way easier at home.
5. Any form of crying during nap and sleep time results in everyone being unhappy as you can't just "leave the room".
6. Video baby monitors rock! We were able to watch the hockey game in Jen and Martin's room next door, but still keep our eye on the girls as they slept! Awesome!
7. Back up clothing for the girls is key, you never know when poo or spit up will ruin a sleeper!
8. Time, everything you want to do takes more time with the girls.
Hopefully our two adventures have provided us with enough tips and experience to make future Road Trips with the girls enjoyable! We'll need to start our strategic planning of our big trip to Burgeo, NL this summer. 1st time on a plane for the girls, sounds daunting!
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