Category: family

The parent’s ultimate guide to Disney Aulani with babies

Post author By tiffany
Post date May 23, 2019

The ultimate guide to Disney Aulani with babies

If you are thinking about visiting Disney’s Aulani resort with your baby, read on for the ultimate guide to enjoying Aulani with your baby. I’m covering all the activities, tips, tricks and everything you need to know to make the trip enjoyable for you and your baby.

We flew from Seattle to Hawaii which was a 6 hour plane ride. With a 5 year old and a teething 6 month old, it definitely made for an interesting plane ride to say the least. But when we arrived at Aulani, all was forgotten about the long plane ride, we were SO happy to be there!

How to enjoy Aulani with a baby

Before our trip I had done so much research about going to Aulani and especially staying at Aulani with infants/babies and could find very little info. When I was there though, I noticed that there were a ton of babies! I’m happy that it’s a destination that a lot of families go to, even with very young babies. So, I wanted to write this post to help ease the fears for mamas like me who just want to be extra prepared when heading on vacation to Aulani with their little ones.

Book the Room or a Villa?

We split our trip and stayed in a standard ocean view room the first part of the trip and a one bedroom villa for the last half of the trip. I’m not going into full description of each room as their website does a great job (and so does a quick google search). My tip: Splurge for the one bedroom villa.

Don’t get me wrong, the standard room is still a fantastic choice and I would still book a stay there. However, for our family of 4 (2 adults, a 5 year old and a 6 month old), having the extra space to unpack and make a mess without tripping over everything made a big difference. The other reasons why you should get a villa:

The kitchen is a must have to prepare/store food for the baby, wash bottles, etc…
Lots of room for the pack and play (that the resort provides) so you don’t have to move it/unfold it each night
Plenty of space to keep a dedicated diaper changing area
Separate master bedroom to close off for naptime/bedtime so the rest of the family can still be up and watch TV/movies in the living room.
Huge tub to bathe both kids easily after days at the pool/beach
Dining area with a high chair (also provided by the resort) made it easy to get food to go and eat in the comfort or our room
Washer and Dryer in the room! Babies and kids are messy, enough said.

Activities for babies at Aulani

The resort is great at scheduling lots of events for kids throughout the days. We are not a family that is good at (or likes) set schedules. It’s so hard to get everyone ready and out the door and we end up running late which in turn make mom and dad stressed out. We decided not to deal with that this trip and just do a few scheduled things but the rest of the time, we just did what we wanted, when we wanted.

Activities that were fun and easy to enjoy with the baby

Waikolohe Pool: I loved that it was big (never felt too crowded) and shallow enough for my 5 year old to walk around in and allowed mom and dad to carry the baby around in too.
Aulani Beach at Ko Olina Lagoon: The beach was also very easy to get to and plenty of beach chairs to sit and rest in once the baby got tired. My tip: Bring your stroller on the beach! Just carry it and place it by your beach chairs so you have a shaded area for your baby to sleep.
Waikolohe Stream: The entire family loved the lazy river! You can seriously make it lazy by just sitting in the tube (I had baby sit on my lap) and let the gentle current carry you throughout the river. If your baby can sit up pretty well, you can also pop her on the top of the tube and hold her while you kick your feet in the water to have a bit more control over the experience. It was a very easy and relaxing time for all of of us!
Menehune Bridge: It’s basically a huge play structure that sprays water in certain spots and has small slides. It was perfect for my 5 year old, but don’t be afraid to bring the baby in! While big sister played, my husband or I held the baby and let her splash around too. It was never too crowded so we didn’t feel like we had to dodge bigger kids and plenty of spots for us to sit with the baby and the water splash down around us.

Is Aulani Baby Friendly?

YES! So baby friendly! I would 100% recommend coming here with a baby as you don’t need to bring a ton of gear as they have it readily available (highchair, pack and play, diaper pail and bottle warmer can all be requested!)

I’m still breastfeeding and was a bit worried that I would need to be running back to our room or finding a private spot every time she nursed but it wasn’t like that at all. Everyone there is with small kids and paying attention to their own family that nobody will even notice you (or care if they do.)

I nursed her at the pool and at the beach. The beach chairs were all very comfy and if you are able to snag a shady spot under an umbrella or by a tree, you are set!

I wore one piece swimsuits that were easy to pull down to nurse and used either my favorite nursing cover or a swaddle to cover both of us.

Milksnob cover (above) || Aden and Anais swaddle (below)

Bring your stroller

Aulani is very stroller friendly, lots of pathways with no obstructions to worry about. Even though it’s a big resort, it never felt like you had to walk miles to get to a location. I loved how each area was separate but also easily connected. Even to get food/snacks it was just a short walk from each pool or beach.

The stroller is great not just to transport baby but also a place for them to nap and still be covered. As you can see here, Edie slept very well by the pool.

We used the Ergobaby Metro – our favorite travel stroller. So lightweight and compact. It also reclines very easily for naptimes.

I also carried her which was another easy option but don’t feel like you HAVE to carry your baby. The stroller is definitely welcome at the resort and it’s spacious enough where you are not having to dodge things or even other people or strollers.

Edie is a “face out” kind of baby, she doesn’t like to face in when being carried so I love this lillebaby carrier which keeps us both happy.

SHOULD I BRING MY BABY TO AULANI?

Trust me when I say I thought about this a lot before I booked our trip. It’s okay to be scared to bring an infant or baby to Aulani. They are fussy, high maintenance and unpredictable. Sometimes it’s just easier to stay at home and not have to deal with the extra stress. But, for us, it was worth the trip. I know people say “they won’t remember it”, but you as their parent will remember it. I will treasure the memories that we made from this trip forever!

I would not say this trip was easy or relaxing. It was HARD at times especially when we wanted to make sure that big sister got to do all the fun activities that she wanted to do and working in nap times and feeding times for the baby. However, we went with the flow, made it work and all of us had so much fun.

My biggest tip when traveling or vacationing with a baby, is to let go of your expectations. Don’t try to jam pack your schedule with everything that you want to see or do. It’s just not realistic with a baby. Take it day by day, have a loose schedule of what you want to do and try the best to stick with it.

Keep a loose schedule and discuss it the night before

I like to keep my family informed the night before or what’s going on the next day that way they are aware of what time I will be waking everyone up, when/where we will be eating and any other activities that we are doing that day with a loose timeline. Sometimes everything goes as planned, sometimes it doesn’t but as long as we are all on the same page, everybody is still happy!

Going to a place like Aulani is perfect for a family with young kids as we felt no pressure to leave the resort. We had plenty to eat and do while we were there and the staff is so accommodating for families.

Stay tuned for part two where I will cover all of our activities and what you can do with your pre-school/kindergarten aged kid at Aulani! Let’s just say that Layla had no complaints!

Thank you to Aulani for hosting our stay. All opinions are my own.

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Essential Travel Items for Moms and Kids from Amazon

Post author By tiffany
Post date May 16, 2019

If you follow along with me on instagram (@tiffanyish) you know that we are currently on a family trip to Hawaii! This is our first big trip with both Layla and Edie so I wanted to be extra prepared when it came to what we packed for our 6 hour flight. I ended up making two lists, one for myself and one for the girls to make sure that we had everything we needed during travel. Today I am sharing all of the essential travel items for moms and kids and the best part is they are ALL from Amazon! Plus don’t miss the FREE Travel Essentials Printable Checklist below!

Essential Travel items for Mom:

When it comes to packing a carry-on for myself I like to keep it simple and organized. I really wanted to pack light for myself and include just the essentials I would need to get myself through the flight and to focus on taking care of

#1 Passport Wallet

This passport wallet is amazing! It has so many pockets to hold my cash, credit cards, passport and travel documents and is under $15! In Washington state we are now required to show our passports now to travel, even within the US so having something like this helps me remember to pack them!

#2 Wireless Headphones

Wireless headphones are a lifesaver when your hands are full on a flight.

#3 Packing Cubes

These packing cubes help keep everything organized. I used some in my carry-on and some in our luggage. This comes as a set of 6 for under $20.

#4 Carry-on Tote

I am obsessed with this carry-on tote! It is cute and large enough to hold all of my stuff, as well as my girls things. Plus it has a slit in the back that can slide onto the handle of your luggage so that it sits perfectly right on top.

#5 Travel Tissues

These go without explanation, a travel essential for everyone!

#6 Honest Hand Sanitizer

This is my favorite hand sanitizer and it’s also safe for kids.

#7 Jet-Lag Face Mask

If I happen to get a minute to myself on the flight, this is my favorite in-flight mask to do!

#8 Aquaphor Healing Ointment

My skin and lips tend to get really dry on flights. This aquaphor healing ointment works on everything and keeps my moisturized.

#9 Stainless Steel Water Bottle

After we get through security, I like to grab a drink to take with me on the flight. This stainless steel water bottle keeps drinks cold for up to 24 hours.

#10 Luggage Set

This luggage set is great and comes with a set of 3 for under $150.

#11 Portable Charger

Another serious travel essential, this portable charger works for phones and iPads.

#12 Nike Sneakers

Comfortable shoes are key when traveling and I love these cute nikes.

Essential Travel items for Kids and Baby:

When it comes to packing for my daughters, I tried to think of anything and everything we could possibly need that would keep them happy and entertained during such a long flight. Here is what I packed for my girls:

#1 Diapers

No brainer when traveling with a baby!

#2 Wipes

Of course you need for babies but also great to wipe off sticky hands and tray tables.

#3 Carters Baby Girls Clothing Set

An extra set of clothes (or 2) for baby is a must!

#4 Changing Pad

I take a changing pad with me wherever we go! I love that this one folds up as a clutch too.

#5 Plush Rattle

A plush rattle is great entertainment for infants and this unicorn one is so cute.

#6 Pacifier with animal

A pacifier is essential on flights! They actually help so that infants ears don’t pop from the air pressure and Edie loves this one with the stuffed animal attached.

#7 Nibbly Fingers Oat Bars

Oat bars are perfect on the go snacks so we made sure to pack some of these.

#8 Fresh Food Feeder

I saw this and thought it was genius! If you are in the stage of introducing solids this is a must-have and so easy to take on the go.

#9 Plum Organics Snack Pouches

These snack pouches are another favorite for on the go snacking.

#10 Kids Water Bottle

A water bottle for my older daughter is perfect for travel, and although they are not pictured above, of course bottles for Edie were in our bag as well.

#11 Snack Catcher Bowls

These snack catcher bowls are awesome! You can fill them up with your childs favorite snacks and the soft flap lids make snack time mess free.

#12 Portable Crib

A portable crib is a lifesaver when traveling and this one is so great as when it is folded up it has straps like a backpack to easily carry!

#13 Crayola Color Wonder Coloring Kit

My daughter loves coloring and these color wonder kits are mess free and perfect for the plane.

#14 Time for a Trip Book

A book is great in-flight entertainment and I love that this one is about taking a trip!

#15 Kids Headphones

For my older daughter, these headphones are so cute and perfect when using her tablet mid-flight.

#16 Toddler Travel Bag

Layla loves to have her own bag and this rolling unicorn luggage was perfect to put all of her travel essentials in and still small enough to use as a carry on.

#17 Toddler Travel Pillow

A travel pillow is great and I am hoping will help Layla to lay down or take a nap during the flight!

#18 Kids Tablet

We try to limit screen time but when it comes to a long flight, this tablet is perfect. We downloaded some of her favorite movies and games so it was ready for her to use when needed.

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS FREE PRINTABLE CHECKLIST!

To make packing for your next trip easy, I have compiled all of my essentials into an easy to use checklist. To get the FREE Travel Essentials Printable Checklist, just enter your email below and I’ll send it over straight to your email!

[email-download download_id=”13881″ contact_form_id=”13879″].

I’d love to know your essential travel items for yourself and your kids. Be sure to share them with me and don’t forget that you can follow along with our family trip over on instagram @tiffanyish!

Love these Amazon finds? Be sure to check out these other Amazon posts here:

15 Amazon Finds to Update Your Spring Home Decor

Things I love: Must Buys on Amazon

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T&J Designs is closing… now what?

Post author By tiffany
Post date April 1, 2019

Last Friday my sister and I announced that we were closing T&J Designs, the clothing and jewelry line and ecommerce shop that we created over 7 years ago and put our heart and souls into. I had so many of you reach out through instagram DMs to share your stories of what you bought from us, your favorite items and so many kind notes of support. I appreciate them so much and we would never have gotten to where we are without all of our amazing customers and friends. I still remember the moment my family and I decided to start this business, and how exciting the day of our launch was.

Why we closed T&J Designs

A lot of you also wondered what had happened and why we decided to close the business. My sister wrote a really great post that summarized our journey from beginning to end. It truly has been an amazing ride, to starting our company with $5,000 to design our website and fly to China to start our jewelry collection. Getting on the Today show, that helped bring the company to the next level, to making over $1 million dollar in sales to creating our own clothing line to being accepted into 500 startups and traveling to Silicon Valley every week for 4 months. We’ve been through so much and now that I write it out, I almost can’t even believe it!

Head over to Jen’s post to read about our journey. I don’t want to repeat all the details here, but I did want to offer my perspective as my sister and I had differing circumstances at the end of our journey that helped us both know that it was the right choice for us to close down the business.

What it takes to run a fashion business

When I tell people that I own a clothing and jewelry line the first response is usually “Oh that must be so fun!” and it was indeed fun but the part that everyone thinks about, designing the clothing and jewelry was a small part of the business.

T&J Designs Pop the Champagne — The tee shirt that started our clothing line

The rest of the time was spent marketing (social media, email newsletters, getting more subscribers, facebook ads, etc…) packing and shipping (we usually had a team of 4-5 people doing this), inventory management (which is a whole beast in itself), customer service – returns, exchanges, complaints, questions… (this takes up more time than you can imagine), shooting the products, updating/managing our website, managing our factories in China, and of course just all the general duties of owning your own business and managing a team of 10-12 people.

Within 2 years of starting our business, we began to wholesale our line which grew to around 200 accounts. Wholesale, in itself is a whole different business than the e-commerce side. We were doing tradeshows, had account reps and showrooms so we were basically running two huge businesses at once.

Basically we were doing all of this for 6+ years which meant we were all working 12-14 hours every single day. And don’t even get me started on holiday season where we worked around the clock from September/October until December. And oh yeah, in between all of this, I got pregnant and had my first baby and my sister had two babies!

The (non) balance of being a mom and entrepreneur

We were busier than ever, and looking back at it, I loved it. I loved that we were so busy and our company was able to grow so fast. My parents have been involved since day 1 and I loved being able to work together as a family. But when you own your own company, the hardest part is to stop working. I worked all the time and when I wasn’t working, I was thinking about the business and it just never left my mind. it took a toll on my health both physically and mentally. My husband saw how it wore me down, he encouraged me to take days off, he encouraged me to go to yoga and do the things that I loved and just get some “me time.” He saw me through some of my worst anxiety attacks and even now, even though I haven’t had one in years, he still checks in on me and my mental state just to make sure that I don’t reach that point again.

T&J Designs MAGIC Las Vegas — Our first booth at MAGIC in Las Vegas

In between the business, my husband and my daughter, I wanted to make sure that everyone was taken care of and I just never made the time for myself. I never wanted the business to affect my daughter so I always gave her my full attention whenever she was with me. This meant giving up a lot of regular working hours and only working after she had gone to bed so I ended up working until 2-3am on most days and waking up early before she woke up.

But don’t get me wrong, it was not all like this. I never once regretted leaving my corporate job to start my own business. I was so much happier than I ever had been. I loved that I was able to control my schedule and allowed me the freedom to spend time with my daughter. I loved connecting with customers through social media and email. I loved seeing our designs come to life and see how our customers wore them. The rewards of owning your business are endless and I will always be an entrepreneur because of that.

Tiffany & Jen T&J Designs — One of our holiday lookbook photoshoots

And then came the question of baby #2

I had always hesitated about having a 2nd child but it slowly crept up on me as I watched my daughter grow, that I really wanted a sibling for her. I have 2 amazing siblings that I adore and I just couldn’t imagine her growing up without a brother or a sister. For 5 years, my business was my 2nd child, I gave it as much attention as much as I did my daughter and because of that, I always knew that it would be very hard for me to have a 2nd child, while still running T&J Designs. It really hit me at the end of 2016 that I just knew it was time to expand my family but I questioned how I was going to do that amidst everything else I had going on in my life.

As my sister mentioned in her post, 2017 was a tough year for us and it was definitely hard on me because I felt like I was on a timeline to be able to get pregnant and have my 2nd. My parents, sister and I knew that this was the year where something had to be done so we looked at our numbers, we looked at our 5 year plan and made a decision. We could have continued and created more products and both my sister and I had grown an instagram following that really helped with our business. But, knowing how much work we had all been doing and everything else that was going on in our personal lives, we realized what was realistic for all of us and it was time to slow down the business. For me, it was time for me to concentrate on my family and hopefully expand our little family! I was lucky in that I got pregnant very quickly and found out early 2018 that I was expecting our 2nd!

T&J Designs Earrings — Our best selling earrings

What’s next for T&J Designs

We will no longer be selling on our website but we will still have our wholesale open to a few select accounts. We also currently sell wholesale through Poshmark who has been an amazing partner for the past 5 years. Our inventory will be much smaller and my mom and dad will be running that business with the occasional help from me and my sister. My dad has been an entrepreneur all his life and he refuses to “retire” as he loves to work. Having a much smaller scale of T&J Designs is perfect for him and my mom where he is still able to work but not have to be at an office full time and allows him to play as much golf as he wants! 🙂

What’s next for me

I think most of you know that in 2018 I transitioned to be a full time blogger/content creator. I feel extremely lucky to have been able to transition into this new career. I will have another post soon with more details on my journey as I get a lot of questions about how I did this! My sister has done the same through her blog and instagram and I love that we can continue to share in the same journey together. Even though we don’t technically work together on the same business anymore, having her in the same industry has been immensely helpful.

Last year was so much change where we moved to a new house, had a baby and changed careers but I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I still own a business, it’s just a different kind of business but it has allowed me to stay at home with baby Edie just as I did with Layla. My husband gets to see a lot more of me and I truly love what I do. I get to work with brands that I never dreamed of working with and now that my daughter is more involved with my instagram, I basically get paid to spend time with my girls!

I never really saw this as the end of T&J designs as that business opened up so many doors and helped me learn so much that has brought me to this stage in life. I just see it as a continuation of what I was doing but just a different variation of it.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Thank you again for your support, whether you have been a blog reader since the beginning or followed me from T&J Designs or even are a new reader, I truly appreciate that you spend even a little bit of your time with me. It’s amazing the kind of friendships I’ve made through blogging and my business and I hope that I can continue connecting with you all for a long time! If you have any questions about starting your own business, growing your business, starting a blog or anything else, I’m always here to help! You can email me or reach out to me via DM on my instagram or facebook. One of my passions is helping other small business owners with running their business and it’s something that I hope that I can do more of in the future!

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8 tips for Great Wolf Lodge beyond the water park

Post author By tiffany
Post date March 8, 2019

We were invited to Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA to preview the Spring-a-palooza events. We just got back and we had the best time! It was our first time and I was excited to see the water park that I’ve heard tons about from friends who take their kids often. My daughter has a small phobia of water, even bath time is tough around here, which is why we haven’t gone before. When they reached out and told me more about all the activities that they had to offer that weren’t part of the water park, I was intrigued and excited to take my family. While I know that most people probably do go their for the water park, which is no doubt, amazing, I wanted to share all the fun experiences we got to do and my tips to enjoy Great Wolf Lodge beyond the water park! But don’t worry, we did not miss out! We still played in the water park, and my daughter, water phobia and all, loved it!

8 tips for Great Wolf Lodge beyond the water park

We were coming from North Seattle and it is about a 2 hour drive, which is very reasonable. It’s also a great stop if you are planning on going to Portland, Oregon as well (or if you are coming from Portland too!)

Check the schedule and plan your day accordingly

Great Wolf Lodge does such a great job of planning all sorts of fun activities throughout the day so there is always something to do! It was easy to find the activities for the day as they listed them out in the lobby.

I recommend noting which activities and time your kids for sure want to do before heading to the water park as you’ll want to make sure that they have enough time to dry off and change into their regular clothes.

Take part in the Spring-a-Palooza activities

Great Wolf Lodge changes out their activities and events based on season and for spring there is so much to do! We loved Violet’s tea party where we got to decorate cookies and play games with Violet herself!

There’s also a bubble dance party, nightly story time and lots of spring themed craft making events. All of these are complimentary with your stay so you’ll definitely want to take advantage of them.

Get the Wolf Pass for even more activities

Great Wolf Lodge has a lot of different activities to do and can be done individually or they also have a Wolf Pass which allows you to do a variety of activities packaged into one great price. I loved having this option seeing that my daughter did not spend a huge amount of time in the water park, as well as having a 4 month old, who couldn’t yet enjoy the water park fully, the wolf pass allowed us to have a ton of fun and kept us really busy.

The Wolf Pass package includes:

Choice of MagiQuest or ShadowQuest game
Choice of classic or colored wand, standard topper or Magi belt
One Creation Station animal (outfit not included)
One Clubhouse Crew Adventure
One Paw Points arcade / attractions card (20 points)
One 12 oz. candy cup
One pair of Great Wolf Lodge goggles from Bear Essentials Swim Shop
One Glitz Glitter Tattoo
One Leather Treaty name bracelet from Buckhorn Exchange Gift Shop
One experience at Oliver’s Mining Company

You don’t have to do all of them in a day, you are able to do them at your leisure during your stay.

Creation Station – Build a Bear

The current Creation Station is a lot of fun where you get to pick your own animal to stuff, but they did let us know that they will be opening up a Build a Bear which will have exclusive Great Wolf Lodge animals that you can stuff and dress up! My daughter is a huge Build a Bear fan and I can’t wait to take her back to create her own special Great Wolf Lodge animal!

Mining for Gemstones

One of our favorite things to do was mining for gemstones! You get a bag of sand and sift through it in the water and then you get to see what gemstones you find! It was so fun and so cute to see how excited she got every time she found a pretty gemstone.

Earn tickets at the Arcade

I have to mention the arcade. If your kid is like mine and loves to play games for tickets, well they will have a blast at the arcade!

We spent a lot of time in there playing lots of fun games and I have to laugh as Edie totally fell asleep in her stroller there, even though it was one of the loudest/brightest spots in the entire resort!

Head to the spa for mommy and me time

Great Wolf Lodge is not just for kids as they definitely thought of the adults too! The spa offers plenty of services for moms and dads. But of course, they don’t leave out the kids! We loved Scooops Kid Spa! The ice cream theme is just too cute.

Layla got the princess treatment with a crown, sash, glitter in her hair and even strawberry scented hand lotion! Next time we are there I’m booking us a Mommy and Me pedicure.

Use your wolf ears for fun photo opps

When you check in they hand you the cutest wolf ears which Layla loved. She loves putting bows on everything so she grabbed some of her bows to accessorize the ears and then we made sure to take lots of photos with them on.

For spring they have these cute pastel colored wolf ears which I just adore!

The gray wolf ears are usually what they hand out which are darn cute as well. And bring extra bows if your daughter loves to accessorize like mine does!

Don’t plan on leaving the resort, even for meals

There are so many places to eat at Great Wolf Lodge so it’s not neccessary to leave the resort at all! There’s casual places where you can get pizza, ice cream and more and the two restaurants where you can get breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I admit I had low expectations for food as I’ve been to too many places aimed at feeding kids and the food was pretty mediocre. But I was really impressed with the food at Great Wolf Lodge and can definitely tell that they cater to adults too. They have lots of great menu items for the kids and Layla loved everything she tried there. The adult menus had a lot of variety and everything was so delicious!

Leave room in your suitcase for souvenirs

From the moment you walk in there are so many things that your little one will want (and that you’ll want to buy for them!) The gift shop is pretty amazing as they have a ton of great stuff that is beyond just your typical souvenir. My daughter, who is a huge Beanie Boo fan, was amazed to find a whole wall of Beanie Boos and these specials ones that are exclusive to Great Wolf Lodge!

From the activities on the Wolf Pass like the Creation Station stuffed animal, to the gemstones, toys from the arcade and even a wand we ended up coming home with a lot of fun stuff! Luckily we had a bag with extra room to make sure we could fit it all in.

Pack comfy shoes for the whole family

A lot of people end up thinking of the water park and bringing flip flops but for the dry activities, you do a lot of walking as you go from activity to activity and then back to your room. I was glad to have packed comfy shoes for all of us.

If you have a baby or little one that can’t quite do a lot of walking yet, bring your stroller too! It was worth it to have the stroller considering we would have been so tired from carrying Edie around all day. It can get hard to navigate when areas get crowded so try to bring a smaller size stroller if you can.

(bonus tip!) Book a cabana at the water park

Being that we have a baby, having the private cabana at the park made it so much more easier for us. We were able to go in and out of the water as we needed and either I or my husband could stay behind with the baby or when we all went in, we were able to leave our items in the cabana without worrying about them. It was also private enough that I felt comfortable nursing Edie when she got hungry.

There are plenty of chairs around the park so it’s not a necessity but I think for either families with larger groups who want to have seats together or families with babies like us, it’s definitely a plus!

I forgot to grab a photo of the cabana but it was a large space with several chairs, a lounger and plenty of towels for us to use.

The park itself is great as there were plenty of spaces for us to play and even though there were a lot of people in the park, it never felt crowded. And like I said, Layla has a phobia of water but she really enjoyed it as there were a lot of spots where she could go in and just put her feet in the water or have it spray her legs.

There is a section for the younger kids which was a lot of fun and after a bit she even went down one of the water slides! I was so proud of her as I never thought that she would have tried it out. I think seeing all the other kids there having a blast, made her want to try it out herself.

Have fun!

We really had the best time at Great Wolf Lodge and I highly recommend going even if you have kids that aren’t huge fans of water. They really exceeded my expectations with everything from the activities to the food and the service as well. Everyone there was so kind and they all truly want you to have the best time ever.

Layla is already planning our trip back there and I can’t wait for Edie to get a little older so she can enjoy it too!

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Our newest addition: Edessa Rose

Post author By tiffany
Post date November 6, 2018
1 Comment on Our newest addition: Edessa Rose

Our darling baby girl #2 arrived on October 16th and we all are so in love! Edessa Rose arrived at 39 weeks (to my relief as I was so ready to have her out of my belly!) at 6lbs, 2oz and 20 inches. I’ve been so much better this time around to take time for myself and for baby so that we could adjust to a schedule (somewhat) and deal with some feeding/latching issues. It’s been the most wonderful 2.5 weeks and I am loving every moment.

Even though I’ve been taking photos like crazy, I haven’t been sharing too much to my social media. I really just want to enjoy this time without having to think about taking photos for instagram. Which is also why it’s taken 2.5 weeks to post these to my blog! But I’m so excited to introduce Edie to my blog and of course big sister who has been loving her new role and adores her baby sister.

It’s been an amazing transition from bringing baby Edie home and Layla has been the BEST big sister. I think the 5 year age difference and also with Layla’s personality of always wanting to be super helpful just has made this transition super easy for all of us. She was born to be a big sister and has had zero issues of jealousy even when I spend all day nursing Edie. I’m just so proud of her and can’t wait to see the two of them grow up together.

Thank you to those of you who read my blog and those of you who have been following along since my wedding! It’s always amazing hearing from you guys who have been reading for awhile now. I love hearing about all your weddings and births of your kiddos too! I’m so happy to have this little space on the internet to share my journey and to connect with so many women too. Thank you for letting me share!

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Tips to taking the perfect family vacation photos| Our Family Photos in Key West

Post author By tiffany
Post date October 15, 2018

We made so many great memories on our very first Disney Cruise to the Bahamas and one thing that I knew as soon as I booked the trip was that we needed to do a family photo shoot while on vacation. There’s no hiding that I love photos and I wanted to make sure to capture our very fun trip as well as shoot our baby announcement!

And to make sure that you are prepared for your next vacation, I’ve included my best tips on getting the best family vacation photos that includes choosing your photographer and how to prepare your family for the photos.

Finding the perfect photographer for your vacation

Our first stop on the cruise was Key West and I knew that would be the ideal place for photos! Normally I would ask friends for referrals but since I don’t know anyone in that area, I had to do my own research.

Google is a great jumping off point but I found that the people at the top of the google search ended up being more expensive than I wanted and did not mesh with my style as much. I am thankful that I’m so active on instagram so I could spend a ton of time looking through hashtags and tagged photos of key west in order to find our photographer. Romi was not only so nice but super helpful and offered great tips and suggestions for photos and locations.

How to search for photographers on instagram

On instagram, to easily search for photos use hashtags that are relevant to what you are looking for. For me, I used #keywest #keywestflorida, #keywestphotographer #keywestweddings (since most wedding photographers will also shoot families) #keywestphotography #keywestfamilyphotos. I looked through SO many photos to find the style of photography that I loved and then I sent them a DM through instagram to enquire about pricing and availability. Quite a few were booked as we were traveling at the peak of wedding season for the area but when I asked for referrals or recommendations, everyone was so kind and happy to refer another photographer that might work for us.

Why hire a professional photographer while on vacation?

I am a huge fan of family photos and we do at least 2 photoshoots a year. Kids grow so fast and I love to look back at our photos and see how much my daughter has grown.

Vacations are especially important for me to have photos and although we take plenty of photos, most of the time it’s either my husband and my daughter, me and my daughter but it’s so hard to get the 3 of us together! Asking a stranger to take your photo can be risky in that 1) they may run away with your camera or 2) the photo just turns out awful.

The memories we made on the cruise were amazing but having these photos as a keepsake really make it that much more fun to look back on. We took plenty of candids and fun photos on our own. And we bought the photo package on the cruise, but these photos we took with our photographer are hands down my favorite photos of the trip and I will always treasure them.

Hiring someone to take your family photos might seem a bit much since you’ll be spending so much on your vacation, but splurging on professional photos while on vacation is 100% worth it to me and something that I purposely save up for!

TIPS TO TAKING THE PERFECT FAMILY VACATION PHOTOS

Find a photographer who is local to the area and has good reviews: Since most family vacations will consist of being in a location you won’t be familiar with, you will need to rely on your photographer to suggest a great location for the photos. Along with checking out the photographer’s website I also recommend to check their instagram, facebook and any online reviews which will give you a bigger story of their work and if their clients were happy with their photos/service.
Coordinate outfits before the trip: when you pack, make sure to note which outfits will be for the photos. I try to coordinate our outfits with complementing colors and what the background may look like. I knew we’d be shooting by the beach, but we are not a casual kind of family so I wanted something that would be dressy but also be beach-y.

Prep your family ahead of time: I’m sure you guys know what I mean when you mention family photos to your husband and kids. It’s definitely not something that excites my husband and although my daughter loves to take photos, an hour of taking photos for a 4 year old is a bit much. I let them know on multiple occasions exactly what day of our cruise we were dong photos and what I expected out of them. I swear, setting expectations makes it so much easier for everyone in our family.
Do your research and be clear with your photographer on your expectations: I emailed my photographer exactly what kind of photos I was looking for. I had researched the kind of photos that I had seen in Key West that I loved and shared with her what kind of backgrounds and photos I wanted. I hired her for her photography style so it wasn’t about getting that exact photo as I still wanted her to shoot in her style, but it was more about making sure she knew the kind of backgrounds and poses that I wanted.

Note any special occasions that you want to capture (pack props if necessary): I was about 4 months along at the time and knew I wanted to announce my baby news with the photos so I let our photographer know that when I booked her. I had packed a that was easy to pack and blow up. If you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary, it’s a great excuse to capture the occasion and it’s so easy to pack small props to add to your photos if you want.
Schedule and timing: Family photos should not take up more than an hour so it’s not a lot of time to take away from your vacation. Because we were on a cruise, we also had to adhere to the cruise ship schedule. I had to make sure that timing was right and we would have time to take all the photos I wanted. We had selected 2 locations and then I wanted to make sure to get some photos of us with the cruise ship as the background so I made sure to stay on top of timing while at the shoot.

If you are curious about the Disney Cruise itself, I’ve got another post to come to recap the cruise and my tips to get the most of your Disney Cruise. Check back for the post or subscribe to my newsletter (and get a cute free printable!) to keep up with all my latest posts.

I hope you found these tips helpful! Leave a comment below or follow me on instagram and DM me if you have any questions!

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Family Friendly Hotel in Miami South Beach

Post author By tiffany
Post date June 7, 2018

As you may know, we recently went on our first Disney Cruise which we LOVED! I’m planning on doing a post to cover the cruise but first had to share one of our favorite parts of our trip where we spent a fun day in Miami!

FAMILY FRIENDLY HOTEL MIAMI SOUTH BEACH

Flying from Seattle to Miami is extremely hard to find direct flights as we are flying all the way to the opposite end of the US! I could not find flights that would match up with the cruise schedule. We decided to stay an extra day in Miami so we could avoid the stress of having to catch a flight too early or too late. We booked a room at the beautiful Washington Park Hotel in South Beach and it was the perfect family friendly hotel in Miami!

I’ve only been to Miami for girl’s trips so was not sure how family friendly it would be but we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the hotel and found not only gorgeous rooms but great amenities as well!

BRIGHT AND MODERN ROOMS

The rooms were really bright and spacious so the three of us had plenty of room to stretch out. I loved the decor and the photography/art around the hotel was beautiful.

We had gotten off the cruise early in the morning and took a Lyft directly to the hotel, which was only about a 15-20 minute ride.

The hotel is separated into a few buildings and all of them are unique and so pretty! I just love the architecture in Miami, it’s so different than what I’m used to here in the pacific northwest. The whole property is definitely instagram worthy.

COOLING DOWN BY THE POOL

We spent a little time by the pool but my daughter who doesn’t love being hot (hello, true seattleite!) didn’t want to stay out in the sun, so we just dipped our toes in the pool and then sat under the umbrellas.

Since we had gotten up so early to disembark from the cruise, the room was such a great space to just relax and rest. Layla got to take a nice long nap while my husband and I just laid next to her to rest our heads and watch some TV.

SWIZZLE TROPICAL COCKTAIL BAR

We walked down to their in house restaurant and got burgers for lunch. Don’t let the name fool you as it’s got a great menu for adults and kids. I was so hungry and ate my entire burger, it was delicious! I’m always a little weary of hotel food but this restaurant really knows what they are doing. Everything was delicious. I wanted a frozen fruity drink and the bartender made me something that wasn’t on the menu and it was so good, I had two!

FREE SHUTTLE TO THE BEACH

We were too tired to take advantage of their free shuttle that takes you to the beach but next time I go I’m definitely going to take it. Check out how cute it is!

Your chariot awaits. Our colorful, electric Tuk Tuk is ready to whisk you away to relaxation. #WherePlayHappens

A post shared by Washington Park Hotel (@wphsouthbeach) on Mar 15, 2018 at 9:37am PDT

Thank you so much to Washington Park Hotel for the stay, we will definitely be back!