Vacation Firsts
neil’s first time using the maya warp sling
our first family photo
edie’s first toe dips in the ocean
edie’s first experience on grass
oh and our first awkward family photo (head over to Naturally Family to view)
Author: Lindsay Ingalls
Vacation?
So this is vacation with an infant. It’s great to be away but let me tell you it has been a challenge for everyone around here. First off Neil isn’t really on vacation but rather working remotely which makes this vacation not really a vacation for either of us. Yesterday Neil worked in the morning and evening so we could spend the day together which was amazing and it actually felt like a vacation because I had my partner to help me; don’t get me wrong it’s nice being with my parents but it’s nothing like having your baby’s daddy there to help out.
The second thing is that I think E and I both are thrown a little off because we haven’t been able to keep our normal schedule and we both are adjusting to being in a new place. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed because E must be going through a growth spurt or something so I haven’t had much down time to relax and then just like normal she gets gassy and fussy at night (I guess we could officially call this colic?) so Neil and I spend our evenings trying to soothe E to sleep and by the time we are done that I have to make dinner and then I’m about ready for bed (so much for down time at night).
There are a number of things I would do differently next time which include making sure that Neil can take a week off rather than work remotely <– huge mistake on our part. What I am glad we did however was rent a place with my parents so that we could have a real house to stay in with a kitchen, laundry and a comfortable place to relax, oh and a bonus, it is on the ocean! I am glad I have been able to eat well because we have been cooking most of our meals at the house, nothing to exciting though and I have been too tired by the end of the night to even think about photographing our meals. I also have made an effort to get out for a walk everyday usually with E in a carrier of some sort which certainly makes things more challenging. Yesterday our big fitness adventure was heading to Newport to do part of the Cliff Walk. It was hot, beautiful and a perfect way to get our fitness on as a family.
Today E and I are hanging out at the house just relaxing while Neil works away. I am hoping that E with cooperate tonight so that we can get out and do something after Neil is done working. We are at the house until Saturday so Neil suggested that we get a hotel in Providence or Boston for Saturday night so that we could have one full day as a family without him having to work. I checked on Hotwire (love love love love love Hotwire) and found a good deal on a hotel in downtown Providence so we are going to extend our vacation by one night which I am really looking forward to.
I’ll do more of a full update of things we did while we were here next week and tell you all about the yummy places that we have gone to eat while visiting Rhode Island.
Also just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of your feedback on the survey and please keep it coming!
Love Me Some Kale Chips
I am a huge fan of kale chips, I mean nowadays who isn’t? There is nothing better than having a chip that is also healthy, but for it to be good it needs to also be tasty. So what I am saying is that not all kale chips are created equal. I love to make my own kale chips (which usually are the best) but sometimes I like to try the number of packaged varieties that you can find in stores today.
The most recent kale chips that I tried (and really enjoyed) were Pacific Northwest Kale Chips which are actually on special right now on Vegan Cuts.
Neil and I took the three flavors of Pacific Northwest Kale Chips on our recent road trip down to Rhode Island. The first flavor we tired was the Cheezy Crunch which we thought would have been our favorite flavor because who doesn’t love cheezy flavors? Don’t get me wrong they were good but not quite as cheezy as I would have liked.
The second flavor we tired was the Stumptown Original which were really tasty and I loved the use of hazelnuts in the flavoring. It’s not often that you find kale chip season made with hazelnuts usually you see cashews or sunflower seeds so this was a nice nutty change.
We liked all three but in the end we decided that the Glacier Peak Greens, which was a combo of cilantro, jalapeno and lime, to be our favorite of the three. We were both surprised how much we enjoyed this flavor combination. Neil isn’t a huge fan of cilantro and although I am I wasn’t sure if the lime and cilantro would be over powering but in the end the flavors were super subtle and really flavorful. We finished the whole bag of Glacier Peak Greens down to the last crumb on the way to Rhode Island.
Overall: Big fan of the kale chips and I loved the packaging-the chips stayed super crispy!
Disclaimer: Pacific Northwest Kale Chips provided me with their product at no cost. I was under no obligation to review them if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.
Kisses By The Sea
Yesterday we spent the morning enjoying baked goods and coffee from Wildflour Bakery and then we went grocery shopping to pick up food for the week. I can’t fully express how much I love being able to shop at Trader Joes and Whole Foods- wish we had both at home!
After grocery shopping we headed back to the house an but E down for a nap and then we enjoyed lunch out on the deck. Once E woke and ate we put her in the Ergo and headed out for a walk.
The evenoing was spent getting baby down, watching the Yankees and heading to bed early. I was lucky E only woke three times to nurse and we both got a good nights sleep.
Today Neil has to work so E and I got out for a walk around town and have otherwise been lounging around the house. We may go out tonight but we will see, I do know I am thinking Indian takeout sounds good for dinner though.
We’re On Vacation…well kinda.
Last Wednesday I was talking with my parents about their upcoming vacation, asking where they were going and what their plans were. At the time all they knew for sure is that they would be heading to Rhode Island/Massachusetts on Friday and after that they thought they might go to Maine for the week, however they weren’t sure because they couldn’t seem to find any where to stay at a reasonable price. We got to talking and I suggested they try another area maybe western New York (Ithaca area). All this vacation talk got me wishing that we could get away and then my mom said “well it’s too bad that Neil couldn’t word remotely and then we could rent a place for a week.”…that got me thinking well what if he COULD work remotely or take a few vacation days? I immediately called Neil and asked him if could work remotely. He said he couldn’t see why not but he would check with his boss and let me know.
Well Neil got the okay and that is when we started our search for a place to rent, which proved to be a challenge considering we were looking for a place to rent starting Saturday and it was oh Thursday when we started our search. Well our first thought was to head towards Ithaca but after searching for awhile we found that there really weren’t many places available to rent so we decided to expand our search to basically all of New England (VT excluded). We looked at coastal Maine, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and parts of New Hampshire and Connecticut. We found a few places in Maine but weren’t completely sold on them because of the internet access for Neil to work remotely and because of the distance (because of the bebe). Well finally my mom received a call from a property owner in Rhode Island. We checked out the space online and decided to take it.
On Saturday we headed out first to breakfast with friends, then to visit my Grandma (her first time meeting Edie) and then finally we made the trek to Rhode Island. It wasn’t so bad either- Edie fussed for the first 10 minutes and then three more when wanted to eat. A trip that should have taken around 4 hours and 45 minutes took approximately 7 hours which included one coffee stop, one gas stop and three stops to nurse- not so bad if I do say so myself! Once we arrived I was so happy to see this:
Our bed for the week.
Today we are all feeling pretty tired out after a busy Saturday but I am hoping that after a (hopefully) good nights sleep we will all be more rested and have a great week. Now I will leave you with a tour of our accommodations for the week.
Also any suggestions for things to do, sites to see and vegan friendly places to eat?
oh and just for fun here is Edie upon our arrival to Rhode Island:
I’d Love To Hear What You Think
It’s been awhile since I have reached out and asked your thoughts. Things have really changed around here from making the transition from CVL to RWT, to leaving my office job to be a full time stay-at-home-mom/health coach/blogger/freelance writer and oh yeah I had a baby.
Now that I am home I am spending more time focusing on the blog as well as our family blog so I am really looking for your feed back on what your likes and dislikes are on the blog, what you think about the look/layout and what you would like to see more or less of.
So for those of you reading this in your reader here is what RWT looks like right now:
I think that over the years I have really made some improvements to the blog and have evolved from a recipe centric blog to a healthy living, lifestyle focused blog (hence the transition form CVL to RWT). So now I’m asking you to take a few minutes to provide some constructive feedback. If you can’t answer the survey in your reader head on over to the RWT mainsite and fill it out (pretty please).
Thank you your feedback is appreciated so much!
