Tag: travel

The Black Hills 2023: Part II

Posted on by Lauren Lane

We go to the Black Hills to my parents’ cabin nearly every year. I blogged Part I of our trip HERE. And I’m continuing our trip today!

After naps on the Fourth of July, we headed over to my parents’ cabin for dinner and kid-friendly fireworks. Like sparklers and poppers. 🙂

Just two dads who were influenced by an Instagram ad to grab these cute Bluey Fourth of July shirts and surprise ALL of us with them. So cute!

Fourth of July as a parent of small children summed up in a picture.

My sister and me. What do you think – do we look alike? Or not at all? Our mom swears we look nothing alike. And generally speaking, the rest of the world thinks we look exactly like but with different hair color and eye color.

Our kids did fairy hunts every night at the cabin, and at the end of each fairy hunt was a prize left by the fairies. This night…it was special suckers.

The next day, we rented e-bikes with the kids and went on a bike ride. And my bike ride didn’t last very long until…

I lost control of my bike, and because it was so heavy (I should have never been riding a bike as heavy as the one I was), I flew over the handlebars and onto the gravel. I’m still nursing the bruises, scrapes, and bruised ribs….but there will be a time to get back on the bike again.

After a nap with baby Aidan to recover….

It was time to rally for parents’ night out!

We had a great time first in downtown Deadwood and then heading to Spearfish for dinner and drinks.

Our last day at the cabin was low key. The kids played at Mimi and Papa’s, while I worked on packing us up for the trip back home.

Jonathan got in several more tractor rides before we left…

These two 😍

Our ride home was mostly uneventful….and so very long. But we had a wonderful time at the cabin this year!

A sneak peak of our family pics from our time up there!

Thanks for being here in this space with me!

The Black Hills 2023: Part I

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Coming back from vacation feels like being stuck in a tornado trying to catch up. It’s amazing how you can feel so caught up and like everything is in a good place before you leave, and then return and feel like there are nowhere near enough hours in the day to catch up on all the things that need to be done around the house and for the family.

But, we are back. And I’m slowly catching back up. We had an AMAZING trip to visit my parents in the Black Hills, and thankfully, all kids were healthy for the trip!

We drove up and back in one day. It took us a record (on the long end) 13 hours each way. We kept telling ourselves with that with the boys’ ages this year, this should theoretically be the most difficult year.

I’m going to pepper you with all sorts of pictures of family and the cousins. We had the best time hanging with my sister’s family and Mimi + Papa!

We’re ready for the big trip!

We have very little space in my car with all three rows up for car seats. We bought a rooftop carrier, and I honestly felt like we could fit more in the rooftop carrier than we could when we had the entire back of the car with the third row down. It was definitely the way to go! And I was so thankful that I didn’t come away feeling like we needed a bigger car.

We always stop halfway through the drive and pack a picnic lunch. We eat it at a park and let the boys run around the playground to blow off some energy. Aidan seemed content to be out of the car. 🙂

The other plus about the rooftop carrier was there was an empty seat next to Harrison I could sit in if I needed to help the kids or play with them during the drive. Harrison is a roadtrip warrior.

And we made it!

Our first night in South Dakota was a fast dinner of pizza at our rental cabin and then straight to bed. Slumberpod helping me out with Aidan this trip.

The next morning we ate breakfast, then spent the day recovering for the adults and playing at Mimi + Papa’s for the kids.

This boy was IN LOVE with Papa’s tractor. He’d sneak into the garage to look at it. He’d climb on it if it was out in the driveway. Every morning he woke up, he asked me if he could go ride it.

The happiest little guy to be back at the cabin!

I spent a lot of time feeding this one…

And the big kids enjoyed s’mores by the fire pit!

The next day, we had family pictures suuuuper early. Then took the kids to the rec center for some swimming!

The big kids got to go hunt turkey feathers at Mimi’s…

And played cards during quiet time.

Aidan still enjoying his Mimi’s snuggles…

The next day was the Fourth of July. I stayed back at the cabin with Aidan while the kids and the rest of the adults headed into town for a Fourth of July parade…which there are no pictures of because apparently it poured rain the whole time and all adults and most children were miserable and left early. HA!

After all of the fun that was had those previous two days, it was naps all around for us…

Including our big kid! This is a rarity these days and usually only happens when forced 🙂

The rest of the trip at…some point soon. :). The baby is up and crying – so I’m off to be Mom!

My Favorite Vacation

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Yesterday was the first day of the new “school” year for the boys! They both moved up into different classrooms. This is not as big of a deal for our two year old, Jonathan. But, for Harrison, he has been anticipating this move for MONTHS. He’s officially in the oldest class of the school, Pre-K.

Here’s a look at Harrison just last year on his first day of Preschool:

We’re getting ready to go on a vacation in a few weeks, and I thought it would be fun to share my favorite vacations from the past!

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The Black Hills 2022: Part 2

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Over the week of the Fourth of July, my family and I packed up the car and headed to South Dakota to spend a week in the Black Hills visiting my parents. They have a cabin just outside of Deadwood. I look forward to going up there for a week every year. It’s cool, crisp, and the mountain air is perfection.

If you missed Part 1 of our trip, I blogged about it yesterday HERE!

Part 2 starts with a hike on the Mickelson Trail. Baby J absolutely LOVED this hike. In fact, even though we took the stroller, Harrison rode in the stroller most of the time and Jonathan walked!

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The Black Hills 2022: Part 1

Posted on by Lauren Lane

We got back last week from a trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota to visit my parents. For those that are new here, a bit of history on the Black Hills for my family, because this isn’t going to be a typical travel post about what we did and where we ate!

My parents grew up at the foot of the Black Hills in Rapid City, SD. My maternal grandparents bought some land in the Black Hills before my living memory, and lived in the Hills pretty my entire childhood. As kids, we’d always spend a week in the Hills visiting my grandparents. My sister and I have wonderful memories in the Hills growing up. We’d catch and release chipmunks, go camping, feed the deer, hike (I hated hiking growing up, though), and just generally lived outside in nature for a week.

Years ago, my parents bought land in the Hills as well, and in 2014 built a cabin on that land. They spend their summers living at the cabin, and the rest of the year they live in Kansas City. Thus began our own family annual pilgrimage to the Hills once a year.

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5 Things to Know When Flying with Toddlers

Posted on by Lauren Lane

There’s this special age range of little kids where they are old enough that they don’t sit still. They’re exploring, maybe even walking…scratch that, running…, and they don’t listen to a single thing you tell them. This is also that special age range where they also don’t sit still long enough to watch a movie, TV show, YouTube video. It’s a really tough age to travel with them, particularly on an airplane. They, generally speaking, don’t have their own seat yet – because who wants to pay for a seat when they can fly for free still? And man, they are a force of nature in and of themselves.

I’ve flown with these special little toddlers several times now. First when Harrison was little, and then just a few months ago with Jonathan all by myself. Here are five things that I’ve found that make traveling with these toddlers easier:

-1- If you don’t need it, check it. Even if you’re going for a short stay and you’re only taking what would be a carry on with you, if you’re traveling with a young toddler, check the carry-on. Your hands will be so full dealing with your little one!

-2- Snacks are life. You run out of snacks, you run out of entertainment. Bring lots and bring a variety. Yes, half of them will end up on the floor. But it’s truly the only thing that keeps their attention an their booty sitting for a long period of time. Bring all the snacks and have them with you underneath the seat in front of you.

-3- I know I said check it all, but bring the stroller and gate check it at the plane door. You need to get a gate check tag from the agent working your gate, but when you’re hauling through an airport, or waiting for luggage at baggage claim, or just need to stand in the Starbucks line for a MUCH NEEDED cup of coffee, you’re going to be glad you have a device to strap them into that they can’t run away from.

-4- 9 out of 10 people on your flight are not going to be upset with you if your child is a disaster. Most people have been there already, whether recently or in the distant past. It won’t go perfectly, but you never have to see these people again. If they have the worst flight of their life, they’ve got a good story and you never talk to them again. Children flying is just part of the cycle of life.

-5- Have their comfort object for take-off and landing. Whether it’s a paci, lovey, blanket, it’s worth it to have when their whole world is being turned upside down during this change in routine.

Happy flying, friends!

Our Denver Trip! (And Harrison’s First Time Skiing)

Posted on by Lauren Lane

A couple of weeks ago, Nathan and Harrison headed out to drive across the state of Kansas to Colorado for their very first ski trip. I packed them a lunch to eat in the car, and they were off for the mountains! Harrison was a level 12 out of 10 excited for this trip. All of the good one-on-one time with his Dad and beautiful setting was a perfect father/son trip.

After a couple of days, Jonathan and I packed up and flew out to Denver to meet the boys back in the city and spend a couple of days with Nathan’s parents, the boys’ Gigi and Pops.

The boys rented a small studio apartment in the village at Breckenridge. Harrison was SO EXCITED to get fitted his first day of ski school.

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The Black Hills 2021 – Part 2

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I shared our Part 1 of our Black Hills trip yesterday, and today I’m wrapping up the latter half of our trip.

We decided to keep our activity the next day pretty low key. We headed to a playground in Spearfish that ended up being amazing for all of the kids. It was great for running around and playing hide and seek, and there was a place along the stream that the kids could dip their toes in the freezing cold water.

How baby J felt about the cold water…

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The Black Hills 2021 – Part 1

Posted on by Lauren Lane

If you’ve been coming around here for awhile, you know that the Black Hills in South Dakota is a special place for my family. I grew up going to the Black Hills to visit my grandparents as a kid. It’s on the very western side of South Dakota, and in 2014, my parents built a cabin in the Hills with the intention of living in South Dakota during the summer months.

We’ve gone to visit every summer since 2015, except for last year with COVID. It’s always a lot of fun, but it was particularly exciting this year to see Harrison really enjoy the Hills. The freedom to be out in nature, explore, play and thrive was a joy.

Our trip began with a verrrry long car ride. We got up and were in the car by 5:30am for our drive to the Hills. Harrison was so excited to go visit Mimi and Papa that he didn’t go back to sleep like we were hoping for the drive. 😳 But he ended up doing so well. Baby J too!

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Entertaining A Toddler on a Plane

Posted on by Lauren Lane

We took a couple of different trips this past summer with Harrison. He was very, very mobile, uninterested in screentime for any length of time at this point, and he is suuuuuper active and physical. Basically, I’m telling you that being trapped on a plane with Harrison on our laps for hours on end was like gearing up for our Super Bowl. Child vs. Parents. Who would win? Would we all be in a good mood leaving the plane? Or would we embarrassingly shuffle out with a screaming child?

I’m happy to report that we survived both sets of flights. Surviving is key. That is the most basic of goals. But we were able to keep Harrison pretty well entertained for hours on end. Here are some of the activities I brought to keep our little man busy.

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