Traveling With a Baby

We were lucky enough to travel to Hawaii a few weeks ago and it was our first trip with baby. I am so happy that Jamie and I took a couple big trips before baby because traveling with an infant is so different. It was a very long trip getting to Maui but I'm glad we had the support and help of my in-laws along the way. First mistake we made was booking a 7:00 AM flight. Every time we book flights, I say to myself I'll never book another 7:00 AM flight and yet I do it time and time again. With a baby though, definitely not doing it again. It was extremely challenging for us to plan Charlotte's feeds for 14-16 hours and carry all that gear with us. We had 2 big backpacks just full of feeding equipment such as bottles, formula, thickener, pump parts, ice pack etc. The first night I had a mini meltdown, saying to Jamie, "This is SO hard and I just want to be home right now." We settled in nicely after getting some decent rest though. I'm glad we chose a destination that was nice and chill because you really can't go go go with a baby. We opted to bring our own car seat but decided against the base because it was just that much more to lug. Lesson learned. Although it was easy getting the car seat strapped in with the seat belt, it definitely was less convenient so we will bring it on our next trip. We also decided to go stroller-less. I used a ring sling in the airport on the way there and then used our Emeibaby carrier for the rest of the trip. It was definitely very convenient using the carrier although I did have to remove her when going through security because the rings set off the alarms. I thought I was going to use my woven wrap a lot but I didn't bring it out once just because the carrier was that much more convenient. I only missed the stroller once and that was when we landed and had our first Costco trip. Having the use of a kitchen was also another lifesaver. We were able to wash all of Charlotte's bottles, my pump parts etc. Charlotte is fussing so I'll cut this short. All in all, even though we did not accomplish much in Maui, it was fabulous to get away and I can't wait to show do it again! 

366 Photo Project - Photo 55: Amsterdam

It's been too long since my last post and I apologize! Between the new job, weddings and home renovations, it's been hard finding time to blog. As I slowly work my way through all our honeymoon photos, I'll continue sharing photos that I have a story about. We booked over half our accommodations through airbnb and for the most part we had a great experience. This is the view we had from our balcony on the top floor of our Amsterdam bed and breakfast. We were warned about terrible stairs in all the reviews and past guests weren't exaggerating. The angle of the skinny steps were approximately 80 degrees. I had to actually turn my feet sideways or just use my toes to get up and down. I ended up slipping on the stairs on my way down for the first time. The stairwells were so long that they had separate light switches at every floor. 

We were fortunate enough to have the entire top floor to ourselves. This included a separate bathroom, kitchen with eating area and private balcony. We only got to enjoy the balcony once because of all the rain but it was fabulous sitting there sipping wine and eating cheese, even if it was for just one evening. 

366 Photo Project - Photo 54: Wicked!

I knew I wanted to catch a show in London so the toss up was between Lion King or Wicked. Our Londoner friend, Anita, suggested we go onto lastminute.com to find cheaper tickets. We were really skeptical about booking because the seats you end up with are based on random drawings. Their disclaimer basically said they try their best to give you the best selection. After an hour of comparing prices and looking up restaurant reviews, we decided to book a dinner and show combination at bbar restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised with the level of service. Despite having a very set dinner menu to choose from that was already prepaid, the servers were still very attentive and earned their well deserved gratuities. We absolutely had to have a picture with the sign but with few options of passerbyers to lend us a hand, we opted to use the famous stick. It really isn't meant for heavy cameras but we made it work. Couldn't keep the stick out of the photo though. 

We got to Wicked and I was so sad to find out that they sold candy, chips and alcohol but no popcorn! I know, ludicrous right?!? Wine in tetra pack juice boxes but no popcorn! Empty handed, we headed up to the second balcony to our seats. A few minutes after settling in, some girls inform us that we are in their seats! I pull out our tickets and we were in the correct seat number. My thoughts were, "Nooooo... lastminute screwed us!" I seek out an usher to tell him our dilemma and he tells us we're in the wrong section of the theater! We were actually on the floor level! "Yeeees! lastminute is awesome!" Wicked turned out every bit as wonderful as everyone has boasted. Jamie didn't even fall asleep so that in and of itself, goes to show how good the show was. 

366 Photo Project - Photo 53: Phonebooth

That's right folks, I am 100% posing with a phone booth in London. We had just finished our pre-show dinner at bbar Restaurant and were heading to the Apollo Victoria Theater to catch Wicked. We saw a lot of typical London things and I'm glad we were able to prop our camera up on some pole, set the timer and run back to be a poser by the famous red phone booth. Turned out pretty decent for having no one actually behind the lens. Looking back at this photo makes me smile because Jamie looks like a little school boy and he's just so darn cute. As for me, I'm just trying to be too cool for school. We only carried our big camera around in London because it was just so convenient to take iPhone photos instead. I haven't gone through all our Europe photos yet so hopefully I don't regret tucking away our main camera. 

366 Photo Project - Photo 48: Europe

Hello. Hallo. Bonjour. Ciao. Hola. We're back from our 4 week long honeymoon and it was amazing. We got to 8 different cities, 12 if you count all the Cinque Terre towns, 13 if you count our 5 hour layover Parliament visit in Ottawa and 14 if you count the Frankfurt airport. We aren't big planners as you could tell from our wedding procrastination and it was no different with our honeymoon. We stayed up late into the night booking hotels the day before we left and figuring out our Italy itinerary. It's a good thing our flight out wasn't till 10:00 PM the next day. We packed for most of the following day and headed off to Europe. Over the next few weeks months, I'll be sharing random photos and any stories that go along with it. This photo was actually taken at the last stop of our trip, Barcelona. The beach there was gorgeous with nice soft sand and beautiful golden flecks throughout the ocean water. We tried writing in the sand a couple times and could hardly snap the photo fast enough before the waves washed it away. You can see in the bottom left hand corner that the wave was already fast approaching! Although I miss laying on the beach, it's nice to be home. Happy Canada Day everyone! 

Honeymoon Booking

On top of the many other things that we need to get done, the most exciting is the booking of our honeymoon. Jamie and I have only ever been on one trip together as a couple. It was our second Valentine's day together and we drove down to Banff for a weekend of ski/boarding. There was so much snow fall that cars couldn't make it up the mountain to get to Sunshine. The only cars that were making it up were the SUVs with 4 wheel drive. We had Jamie's Cavalier at the time so after sitting in the car and waiting over an hour with the rest of the poor sedans, we decided to go into town and book a walk instead. All of the other vacations we have taken have been with family or friends so I am beyond excited to get to explore the vast continent of Europe with my hubby. He's been there before but we are hitting up some cities that he's never been to, like London and Amsterdam. Our big flights are booked so we are flying from YEG to LHR (direct) and our return flight is from BCN to YEG (not direct). We just booked our flights from Paris to Rome tonight. Now we need to look for Amsterdam to Paris and all the little mini train rides in Italy.