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Santa Cruz Island
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We are back from a great long weekend in the Santa Barbara area and our trip to the Channel Island, Santa Cruz Island, was a definite highlight. You can check out my earlier post to see why we chose Santa Cruz Island, but primarily it was the shortest boat ride!
We started the morning running late to catch our boat. Island Packers ask you to arrive 45 minutes early and we rolled into the parking lot 15 minutes before departure. Chris and HJ hopped out and got our tickets while K and I parked. We all managed to board at the last possible minute.
Once we were all aboard we settled in for a 1-hour ride with calm seas. Unfortunately, we don’t have the strongest stomachs and about 45 minutes in K took the opportunity to puke all over Chris. Oops.
Wildlife sighting! Seals on a buoy. 
Chris and I were really impressed with the staff and fellow passengers who all stepped in to help. Some strangers held HJ while we cleaned up and a staff member held our wet bag open while I slowly peeled clothes off K and Chris. K got a whole new change of clothes, but Chris ended up having to wear his windbreaker all day since we didn’t have an extra shirt for him.
Stomachs settled down quickly once we reached Scorpion Anchorage and lined up for island orientation. The park ranger filled us in on the rules (everything is protected and trash has to be packed out) and on the wildlife we might see on the island. He guaranteed sightings of the island fox and we had our first sighting only minutes later!
These little guys were so cute and not shy at all! They have no natural predators on the island so they strut around like they own the place, which they do! We joined a guided hike to Cavern Point which took us through the campground where we saw 5 more foxes! The guide started with a historic ranch where ranchers raised sheep from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. The kids were hungry at this point so we started to lag behind the group, but we tried to catch up at each stop. The guide was full of information on the flora, fauna, and history of the island.
The Santa Cruz Island foxes are thought to have originally floated to the island on debris and then developed into the small modern fox we saw. Due to the isolation of the islands, each Channel Island has its own variation of the fox.
The views at Cavern Point were incredible and we sat down for a picnic after the tour was complete. The ranger had warned us to be careful of food around the foxes and crows, so HJ and K took turns chasing the crows away.
We still had several hours to fill so we set off hiking to Potato Harbor. We didn’t have time to spare so we loaded the kids in the carriers. The path was tightly squeezed by wildflowers at points and the views along the ridge were terrific.
There weren’t many other people on the path but we did see another fox walking along the path.
I thought Potato Harbor couldn’t be better than the views on the way there, but it was something special! We did not see any sea lions, but they were down there somewhere barking loudly.
We returned via Potato Harbor road back and passed both the upper and lower campgrounds. The views of the island interior were different but still beautiful. A rescue helicopter landed on the island on our trip back. We were able to watch the descent but couldn’t see the actual landing from where we were.
We saw tons of these little guys on Potato Harbor Road. 
All in all, we hiked 5 miles and arrived back at Scorpion Anchorage just in time for a short rest. For the kids, rest means climbing on rocks!
The return trip was smoother and Chris and K even got a brief glimpse of a whale!
All in all in was a great trip! I asked Chris when was the last time he had a wonderful day and got puked on. He thinks it was a first.
If you want to visit Santa Cruz Island you can take a day trip with Island Packers or camp for a few days. If you plan to camp, make sure you make reservations with the National Park Service and Island Packers.
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Where We’ve Been
The other day I wrote about examining my motivations for traveling and finding contentment amidst all the people on the internet who are doing more then me. As I wrote that I was also compiling a list of all the places we’ve been, so other people can compare themselves to me. ?
Really though, I’m proud of our lists, especially the places we’ve been as adults bankrolling the trip, and I’m excited to add some more! In the near future we have plans for all 4 of us to go to Hawaii, London, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, and China, plus North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas which are already on all our lists!
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Natural Bridges State Beach (Santa Cruz)
Last week we tried to visit this beach but ended up at Wilder Ranch instead, so this week I double checked the GPS and made sure we made it to Natural Bridges State Beach.
We arrived mid-afternoon on a Tuesday and there was plenty of street parking, spots in the 20 minute free lot, and availability in the pay lot. I opted for the $10 pay lot since we had a lot of sand toys and gear and wanted to be as close as possible. Plus I like supporting state and national parks.
I do often struggle with having exact change on hand for these parking fees, so I took a short break from writing this post and purchased the California Explorer Vehicle Day Use Annual Pass. With shipping it came out to $200, but I can get that reimbursed through Chris’s work’s wellness program.
K in the parking lot It was chilly and I was bundled in a blanket, but the kids had no problem kicking their shoes off and getting right to work playing in the sand. HJ didn’t even complain when her dress got wet fetching water for her sand castle.
The beach wasn’t crowded, but I did have to wait for a group to move before I could snap my own pictures of the natural bridge.
From a wildlife standpoint, the highlight was watching the flocks of pelicans diving for fish.
The park only has one natural bridge, but it used to have 3! Thus the name Natural Bridges State Beach. 
After about an hour playing in the sand, we decided to follow some people who were climbing over rocks towards the tide pools. Once you climb onto the first set of rocks there is a sign describing the different levels of sea life that may be uncovered depending on how low the tide is.
With two small kids I was overly cautious and held their hands on the way out. Coming back I gave them more credit and let them walk most of the time. There were definitely several spots where I had to jump down onto the beach and carry them one at a time, but it was a very doable walk.
Even before we came to the tide pools it was a beautiful and enjoyable walk. We made some friends to play with and explored the tide pools together, but otherwise it wasn’t crowded at all. Including ourselves, I’d say there were 8 people total spread across the rocks as far as I could see.
K got into the habit of walking to a tide pool and demanding “Show me.” He seemed to think there were creatures in every pool and I just had to come point them out to him! ? 
HJ called these “enemies” 
Can you see the little crab? We saw tons of these little guys! ? 
Crab, snails, and sea anemone 
Such a beautiful spot! 
The cliffs behind the tide pools were beautiful. 
Looking back towards the beach. 
The path was full of fun things to climb on! Overall I was really impressed with this outing. We spent a full 3 hours here and the kids and I had a blast. I think this will become a weekday favorite spot of ours, I imagine it gets much more crowded on the weekends!
The kids flying like birds in front of Natural Bridges State Beach 
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The Thief of Joy
Travel is a very relative thing. Relative to our friends and family we travel a lot, and the children have especially been on a lot of flights and road trips. Relative to the travel bloggers I follow, we’ve basically never left our house. ?
For me personally, when I read about families traveling or living abroad, I have to make sure I’m reading for inspiration and knowledge and entertainment. It’s too easy to compare my own travels and start to feel jealousy or discontent.
When these feelings crop up I’ve found a couple things that help.
- Recognize that my feelings are trending negative. If I’m not aware its happening, I’m obviously not doing anything to get it under control!
- Examine my motivations for traveling. For me, travel is a way to experience the incredible majesty and diversity of God’s creation and to introduce the children to his power and beauty. If travel has become something I want to check off my list or show off in Instagram, then my motivation is wrong.
Creation in Hawaii - Count my blessings unrelated to travel. I have a loving husband who goes along with all my schemes and supports us, my daughter is so smart and observant and is turning into a hilarious and beautiful little girl, and my cute son is so caring, affectionate, and easy going. Our extended family is loving and supportive and fun and everyone is healthy.
Showing some sibling love, 5 minutes from home. - Count my blessings related to travel! We’ve traveled a lot! My memory is not great, so I review pictures of the wonderful trips we’ve taken and feel blessed.
Kids exhausted after a long day in Bangkok. - When all else fails, go outside! If comparison is the thief of joy, then my laptop/iphone are the getaway cars! We live in a beautiful world and God’s creation is all around us! For me at least, all discontentment fades away when I get into the woods or the mountains or step onto the beach.
Exploring the tide pools here in the Bay Area. Many people have been to more places then me, people have stayed for longer at the places I’ve been, people have stayed at nicer hotels or eaten at better restaurants, people travel more frequently then I do, but at the end of the day, what does that have to do with me?
1 Timothy 6:6-7 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
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Disney Wonder Cruise to Alaska
When I was pregnant with my son I was seized with an intense desire to travel, but I had developed very low blood pressure and was passing out on a regular basis. 😦 No traveling for me! Traveling with two kids (under 2) was also a big unknown, so I satisfied my wanderlust by booking a trip with the most family friendly company I knew, Disney!
So when my daughter was 23 months and my son was 7 months, we flew to Vancouver and spent the weekend exploring and acclimating to the time zone before boarding the Disney Wonder! (If you enjoy this, check out my post on the Disney Magic which we took to the Western Caribbean for New Year’s 2017.)
Check in and Embarkation
We arrived early to the cruise terminal and dropped off our luggage with the porters. Disney had mailed us luggage tags with our stateroom number and we dropped these off with the expectation that they would find their way to our room.
Next we followed the signs to check in where a line had not even formed yet. They gave us our Key to the World cards and we joined a small but growing group in a large waiting room. During the wait the kids rambled around a bit while Chris and I people watched. The big takeaway was that almost every single person had a Castaway Club lanyard, indicating this was not their first cruise. Realizing that Disney had so much repeat business helped get us even more excited for getting on board.
Our wait lasted about an hour and before it was over Mickey showed up for pictures! A line formed almost immediately but my daughter had no concept of lines and sprinted straight to the front. Once we explained to her what the line was for she was content to wait in line (it didn’t take long) and was so thrilled when her turn finally came to hug Mickey. She gave him the biggest hug in the world, stepped back, and asked “Where’s Minnie?” It was the sweetest thing and really set the stage for an amazing vacation. Prior to this we weren’t sure how she’d react to the characters, some children are afraid of them after all!
When our group was called we were invited on board and our name was announced as we walked into the atrium. (This was a detail that I loved on the Wonder and wasn’t as good on the Magic. On the Wonder we walked into the atrium where cast members were lined up to clap and smile as we entered. On the Magic we entered on a balcony level overlooking the atrium and the the cast members were spread out at various points surrounding the atrium.)
After a couple seconds of googly eyes about the beautiful atrium, Chris took the kids exploring and I jumped in line for event registration. I signed us up for a character breakfast and joined my family.
By the time we decided to check if our room was ready our luggage had already been delivered. The room itself was perfect for our small family! We had gone with the cheapest room with a window, so we were on the 2nd floor with a great low view of the water. We had requested a playpen and Disney had also provided a Diaper Genie. It’s the details like this that really set Disney apart.
Disney also provided a heavy curtain to separate the bed from the living area where the children slept. HJ had a couch that converted to a bed and K had the play pen next to her. The window also had a heavy curtain with snaps to completely block light from the window. Then the bathroom had Disney’s famous family friendly style with two separate wash rooms. One with a shower and sink and the other with a toilet and sink. This really did make getting ready smoother throughout the cruise.
Exploring Activities on the Wonder
Every night a Navigator was left in our room, along with a towel animal and the chocolates for our pillows, and we had a blast circling the family friendly activities we were most interested in. Our top 3 favorite activities were:
#1 Wake up with Disney Junior!
On most days at sea there was a dance party hosted for the littlest cruisers. HJ was not familiar with any of the Disney Junior shows, but she got into it pretty quickly all the same! The 3 mornings we went each started out with music and dancing led by cast members and then finished off with a special dance appearance by a character. We got to dance with Jake the Pirate and Mickey Mouse!
#2 Character Breakfast
After our first character breakfast was such a hit, we asked for a second reservation. So we were able to do this twice! (Unfortunately they only offer these on sailings of 7 nights or longer, so we missed out on our 6 night cruise on the Disney Magic.)
We showed up to Animator’s Palate at our designated time and were seated right away. We ordered off the menu but they bring the bread selection around to your table, so the littlest ones can start munching right away. Then the characters (the fab 5: Micky, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald) rotated through the restaurant. The time was just perfect that you had a little time to eat between characters and the kids always had a character to watch at a nearby table as we waited for our turn.
The servers also made us napkin hats while we waited for the characters!
#3 Dance Parties
Weather permitting, the dance parties are generally scheduled to take place on the deck. On this Alaskan cruise though, everything happened in the Atrium. Since we were traveling with such shorties, we made sure to arrive early and get front row seats. The music and dancing was fun and the kids were enthralled by the characters they brought in. Just be aware that I still get “Sailing Away” stuck in my head sometimes!
#4 Jack Jack’s Diaper Dash
Throughout the week cast members kept telling us about Jack Jack’s Diaper Dash and we made it a point to go. Most of the activities were geared towards my daughter and we wanted to make sure my son had something all about him. I wasn’t really expecting it to be much fun, but it was hilarious!
All the parents were trying to coax their kids across the finish line using little toys and the babies were just not interested. Finally one parent pulled out an iphone and started sliding it along the track and all the babies took off for it!
Oh and when I say all the babies took off? I mean all the babies except mine. K wouldn’t move an inch off the starting line!
Dining
Dining was a huge highlight of our cruise! We had previously cruised with Carnival and really felt that the quick service food on Carnival was crap, so on this trip we made a point to always eat in the dining hall. Yes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner we always sat down for full service!
This was a little (a lot) crazy, because we found out later that Disney’s quick service food is great! All those hours in the dining rooms were not highlights for the kids!
The food was incredible, but what really stole the show was the service. The kid’s drink of choice was always waiting for them at dinner, the servers would entertain the kids, and one lunch K fell asleep right at the table and the staff sprung into action! They used napkins to tie chairs together and create bumpers. This was truly the moment that Disney Cruise Line made me a fan for life!
We also ate at Palo, but HJ was throwing a fit in the nursery and we ended up having to cut it short. Palo is definitely worth the upcharge though!
Childcare
Now babies must be 6 months old to cruise with Disney Cruise Lines and all children must be 3 before they can attend kid’s club. For my children this meant that the only option available for childcare was the “It’s a Small World” Nursery for $17/ hour ($9/hr for the first child, $8/hr for the second).
I think the nursery is great. A lot of times the princesses will stop by and play with the kids and the cast members who work in the nursery are top notch.
However, the nursery did not work for us at all this time! We tried on a bunch of occasions and always had to come pick up early because my daughter was going through some severe separation anxiety. This stage of her life only lasted about a month, but it happened to correspond with this vacation. Oh well. We still had a great time, but we didn’t get the adult time we were hoping for.
When the nursery was working for the kids (it happened a few times, just never for the whole time we had reserved), they had no problem stopping by to nurse K. They had a rocking chair for me in the back and I would try to duck in without HJ seeing me and then sneak back out.
The moment the nursery won me over for life though, didn’t happen until we were cruising again on the Disney Magic. HJ had aged out of the nursery but I was checking K in and I recognized the cast member from the Disney Wonder! Before I could mention this to her, she repeated K’s name and said “You’ve been with me before!” Now maybe Disney has some secret reminder system and the computer was telling her this, but it really seemed like she remembered him (he does have a fairly unique name) and it made me feel so special!
That’s really what sets Disney apart and makes the Disney experience so magical! They are always looking for ways to make their guests feel special. Another example is the cast members called all little girls “Princess” and all little boys “Prince” through the entire cruise! If the child happens to be in costume, they also call them by the character’s name. So fun!
They did have some open programming events in the kid’s club, so we frequented “Toddler Time”, “Storytime with Belle”, and the “Princess and Pirates Dance Party.” HJ loved these events and there were always places for K to crawl around and enjoy the music.
Character Experiences
HJ surprised us with her willingness to stand in line on a regular basis for the opportunity to hug several characters every day. The lines we chose to stand in were always reasonable, and you could request reservations to the most popular events, like the Princess Gathering. On several occasions we just happened to walk into the atrium as a character was starting or we would run into a princess in the hall. When Chris and I weren’t interested in standing in line, HJ was happy to just observe the characters from the balcony.
Alaskan Ports
Our 7 night cruise made stops in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway and had 1 scenic sailing day in Tracy Arm. Because the children were so young, most excursions were not an option for us, and the ones that could accommodate baby K were just not interesting to us. So we explored each location on our own.
Juneau
I can summarize this one real quick! We got off the ship, realized we had forgotten our wallets, got back on and spent the day on the ship! We actually had a very nice day on the ship, but we didn’t see much of Juneau!
Skagway
We started off our day in Skagway with a short hike to Yakutania Point. The trail was well defined and pretty easy hiking with both kids in their Tula carriers. The views were fantastic and the weather was really nice for this little hike.
Seaplane coming in over Skagway. 
After the hike we took a little walk around town and discovered the Mollie Walsh Park playground! The kids played there for an hour and had a blast!
The town of Skagway 
Ketchikan
We wanted to do some more hiking so we walked to the Rainbird trail. Just getting to the trail was a feat since we had to cover some serious elevation just walking through neighborhoods to the trail! Once we reached the trail it was a beautiful walk through the woods with stunning views along the way. When we reached Raven’s Roost we cut back through town to the cruise ship and we were exhausted by the time we got back!
It did rain on us a little during this trek, but not enough to dampen our spirits! We loved breathing the fresh Alaskan air and getting away from the crowds. We also especially loved the fact that we didn’t spend any money on excursions or activities, but still had a great time and experienced something unique to the town.
Tracy Arm
This was a day-at-sea but with scenic sailing. We tried to get up on deck as much as possible, but it was cold and windy so we probably only spent about half an hour on deck. It was beautiful though! and we could still see the views from our room’s window.
And that was our Disney Cruise to Alaska! We went the first week in September when many kids were in school, and we never felt overwhelmed by the crowds or number of kids on board. Disney Cruise Line is expensive compared to a lot of cruising options, but we absolutely felt like we got our moneys worth.
On several occasions we complained about the behavior of our children, their inability to sleep through the night, HJ’s separation anxiety in the nursery, etc. But we always felt that Disney Cruise Line made these things better and never worse! It wasn’t the vacation we had imagined in advance, where we would have a couple hours to ourselves everyday, but it was really a wonderfully memorable trip with our babies.
So did this come across as a love letter to Disney Cruise Lines? It pretty much is!
We have now done 2 cruises with Disney Cruise Line and can’t wait for our next one! It’s not the only travel we want to do though, so it’s looking like we’ll be taking our next one summer of 2019. I have my eye on the 10 night Norwegian Fiords and Iceland cruise!
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10 California Hotels to Daydream About
Now that we’re on the other side of the country from our parents and favorite babysitters, we’re regretting that we didn’t utilize them more for weekends away! We did spend our 5th anniversary in St. Lucia and we came here for our house hunting trip, but other then that we just did the occasional evening out.
So now, with no reasonable way to make these plans a reality, here are the romantic overnights in California I’m dreaming about! Oh and they are arranged by price, so skip to the bottom if you want to see what I’m really drooling over!
#1 Tahoe Deerfield Lodge at Heavenly
Located half way between the Heavenly Ski Run and Lake Tahoe, this would make a great retreat year round. After all the snow this year, you might be able to take water ski and snow ski on the same day!
King rooms range from $115-225.
Photo from the Deerfield website #2 A Vintage Cabin at Evergreen Lodge Yosemite
Cute and rustic, these cabins come with the bare necessities and allow you to embrace nature! They do have restaurants and activities on site and you have Yosemite in your backyard!
Prices range from $145-260/night or you can choose a deluxe cabin for a little more.
Photo from the Evergreen website. #3 Mama Shelter in Los Angeles
This ultra hip hotel looks like it would make me cooler if I stayed there. With chalk drawings on the ceilings and a colorful rooftop restaurant, I am a little worried they wouldn’t let me in!
The best part is you can get a “Medium Mama Back Alley” room starting at just $159/night + taxes and fees.
Photo from the Mama Shelter website. #4 The Pacific Terrace Hotel in San Diego
Right on the beach and close to many San Diego attractions, an ocean side room at the Pacific Terrace could be a great home base for a romantic San Diego weekend.
Rooms tonight start at $189 + taxes and fees, but I’d really want to get that ocean view for $199!
Photo from the Pacific Terrace website. #5 The “B” at Tara Bella Winery in Sonoma
This winery has the advantage of only having 1 guest room, so you’re sure to have the place to yourself come night fall! Wine tasting plus a private room upstairs? I can definitely see the appeal in that!
The room is $225/night with a 2 night minimum, but you can get a discount by being a Wine Club member.
Photo from the Tara Bella website. #6 Avalon Palm Springs
Every Hollywood Regency styled room is a suite with living room and patio or balcony. The pools and spa look heavenly and I can just imagine swimming there with Frank Sinatra.
A room for tonight is $225 and they have a guaranteed lowest price policy, so shop around on discount sites and see if you can beat that!
Photo from the Avalon website. #7 High Ridge Manor in Paso Robles
Surrounded by hills and vineyards, High Ridge Manor would be a great place to explore the beauty and the wineries of the Central Coast. Since they don’t allow children, we wouldn’t even feel guilty about leaving the kids at home!
Prices range from $315-365/night + taxes and fees.
Photo from the High Ridge Manor website. #8 Glamping at Tree Bones Resort at Big Sur
For a really unique experience, the autonomous tent at TreeBones is perched right on the mountain with its own firepit, a shower in the tent, and some incredible views.
If you balk at the idea of staying in a tent for $595/night, check out their more affordable yurt options starting at $320/night, but you’ll have to walk to the shower!
Photo from the TreeBones website. #9 The Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay
A cliff-top hotel overlooking the ocean where you can reserve a suite with a private outdoor fireplace for roasting s’mores? Yes please!
Booking a room for tonight will set you back $734 plus taxes and fees. Maybe try to shop around on different dates?
Photo from the Ritz-Carlton website. #10 Calistoga Ranch in Napa Valley
Each of the deluxe lodges includes an outdoor shower and bath garden as well as a private outdoor gas fireplace. Every single photo on the website is to die for.
A room tomorrow night would cost me $1,480 + taxes and fees. I’m pretty sure it would be worth it. (Hah! My husband would literally murder me.)
Picture from the Calistoga Ranch website. So? Anyone want to babysit?
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Wilder Ranch State Park
I was itching for some adventures in nature today, so the kids and I set our GPS to Natural Bridge State Beach (or so we thought) and an hour later found ourselves pulling into the Wilder Ranch State Park parking lot.
A beach is a beach right? No problem. We paid the $10 parking and set about gathering our beach supplies from the car. I briefly considered bring the Tula and decided against it, I was pretty sure the beach was right down the path. Are you picking up on the ironic foreshadowing?
We walked a short ways down the path and came to a daunting “No Trespassing” sign at a railroad crossing. I had definitely seen that there was some private property within the park, so we turned around and followed a bumpy dirt path for a ways.
What about this sign says “OK, proceed” to you? We walked quite a ways before connecting to a wide dirt road where we saw the same truck going back and forth several times. We then encountered the exact same railway crossing sign and this time ignored it.
Finally, we passed a couple houses and some construction storage and made it to the Old Cove Landing Trail. I was a little nervous that this was going to dead end into a concrete wall, but we were definitely getting closer to the ocean so we powered on. At this point I had carried my 30 lb son the entire way (estimate just shy of a mile) without a carrier and I was desperate to find a spot of sand to plop down on.
It was so worth it. When I first caught sight of the cliff with the dense purple wildflowers I literally gasped. I found out later that this was Sand Plant Beach and it was perfect! We had it entirely to ourselves, the view was incredible, the sand was play-grade, there was lots of driftwood to play with, and we saw an otter!
I can’t get over that gorgeous water and the unreal purple flowers on the cliff! 
The path down from the trail to the beach is steep, but not unmanageable. 
The driftwood was perfect for house building. 
It doesn’t get much better then toes in the sand, especially when 10 of the toes are oh so yummy. 
The beach was huge and we had it all to ourselves! 
As good a spot as any to enjoy a little snack! 
After a happy couple hours on the beach, we headed back to the trail to try for a different route home. The problem was we had no concept of how long the path was. It ended up being a lot longer then I anticipated and at one point we even turned back thinking we’d overshot and should just go back the way we came. Fortunately some bikers came along and reassured us.
Despite the will-we-ever-get-home? worries, the Old Cove Landing Trail was stunning! We passed cove after cove, each more beautiful then the last. Some coves had sea caves, some had seals, and all had turquoise water crashing against steep cliffs.
I love how easy it is to find seals in California! 
Every step of the path was surrounded by wildflowers. 
The mountains are just past Monterey. 
I wonder if this sea cave is accessible by kayak? The waves were pretty rough. 
Fern Grotto, we’ll definitely be back to explore this cave at low tide! We had no idea what the tide was doing today, so couldn’t risk it. 
It was an incredible day trip and we didn’t even get to visit the historic Wilder Ranch or explore the sea cave! I can’t wait to go back and I think this just got bumped to #1 on my list of places on the coast to bring visitors.
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Wilder Ranch State Park Spoiler
No real post today, simply because I just wasn’t feeling inspired. The kids and I did dash over to the beach for the afternoon and the inspiration is back! So be excited about tomorrow!
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46th Annual Stanford Powwow
This weekend we had 3 festivals to choose from: The Hungarian Heritage Festival in Belmont, one of the summer Facebook festivals, and the Stanford Powwow. Honestly we just couldn’t decide so we turned the decision over to our 3 year old daughter. She took it very seriously and ultimately we headed to the Stanford Powow. It was free with just $5 parking and we arrived just in time to get a quick look around before the opening ceremonies.
The first exciting thing was this Chief in his incredible costume. You can see how high his feathers went and some of them were even cropped out of this picture!
The opening ceremonies started with the flag carriers and they announced each individual tribe as they processed around the arena to the drum beats. The drummer were off to the side under a tent and we couldn’t get a good view of them.
Many of the costumes were very elaborate. Many included feathers and tassels and some included metal work.
After the opening ceremonies we checked out the booths. They were primarily selling handicrafts made from beads but there were a lot of paintings, wood working, pottery, drums, etc. We bought each of the children beautiful wooden maracas for only $5 each.
Next time we won’t eat lunch before hand, because there were tons of food trucks advertising “Indian Tacos” and other Native American food that smelled delicious. We did spend on a couple of lemonades though, it was hot!
Next up we returned to the dance in time to see the “Over 55”, “Tiny Tots”, and “Women 18-54” categories. Tiny Tots was my favorite!
We enjoyed the dancers and the displays, but we think we would have gotten more out of it if there was more educational information provided. We loved the dancing and the costumes, but would have liked to know where each tribe came from, what the significance of the costumes is, how reservation life has changes over the years, etc. I heard they were selling programs but I never found any and am not sure they would have answered these questions anyway. The kids and I are just going to have to hit the library to learn a little more!
For a free cultural festival I thought it was very worth the time we spent there. If you have any gifts to buy, this would definitely be a great place to go shopping!
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The Ultimate Beach Packing List for Babies and Toddlers
This post may contain affiliate links.
It’s May and that means fun in the sun and the surf! I love a day (or even a couple hours) at the beach and with the beach only half an hour away, I’m assembling a kit to keep in the trunk of the car.
Here’s what I’m including and you can too!
#1 Full body swim suit
Sunscreen can be expensive, messy, obnoxious, and it’s so easy to miss a spot. Full coverage suits mean less sunscreen and less mess. We’ve used Stingray suits since my daughter was born (and those first ones were hand-me-downs) and they’ve held up really well! For little babies get the one piece footed suits to keep the sand out of the suit!
#2 A sun hat that covers their neck
Another trick to minimize sunscreen application. I like the Sunday Afternoon hats because the brim is stiff enough it doesn’t flop down in front of their eyes but their neck is still covered.
#3 An outdoor blanket
We’ve had the JJ Cole 5′ x 7′ outdoor blanket for over 3 years now and it has held up great. We keep it in the car so it’s always on hand for impromptu beach trips or picnics in the park.
#4 A pop-up sun tent
When my daughter was born I bought a Coleman beach tent, but once my son came along I no longer had the time to fully assemble a tent with stakes. I’m planning to buy this one since we had a good experience with a rented pop-up tent in Hawaii.
#5 Your sunscreen of choice
Even with the fancy swimsuits and hats, you’ll still need a little sunscreen for those UV rays reflecting off the sand into the face. The Environmental Working Group has a list of the safest sunscreens for kids.
#6 Sand toys in a bag
We grabbed a cheap set of sand toys for our Disney Cruise this year and the best part ended up being the mesh backpack the toys came in. The mesh allowed the sand to wash out and it was light enough for the kids to carry. I’m thinking about buying another set to leave in the car.
#7 Soft cooler and insulated water bottles
We have a cheap cooler from Target, but I have my eyes on upgrading to either a YETI or an RTIC. If only those suckers went on sale! I use my cooler at least 5 times a week though, so surely I can justify the cost? Maybe not?
For almost all my day trips these days I’m packing smoothies in the camelbacks and that has been a huge hit with the kids. So refreshing in the middle of the day!
#8 Quick-drying towels
The one downside of the full body swim suits, is they really soak through your towels. Right now we’re using standard towels but I’m looking to upgrade to some quick drying options! I like that this one comes in extra-large. Regardless what kind of towel we are using, we always keep 2 in the trunk of the car!
So that’s it! Let’s hit the beach!
Magnets From Everywhere
Dreaming, planning, inspiring family travel. Starting here, starting now.
Magnets From Everywhere 