When Star Ratings Don’t Matter

I love staying at hotels! A freshly made bed, housekeeping and room service! And I especially love the little chocolates left on my pillow. But I’m finding that no matter how nice the room is, hotels just don’t cut it when traveling with a child.  No kitchen sink for washing those dirty bottles or sippy cups, no stove for whipping up a quick meal or microwave for warming up said (leftover) meals, or refrigerators for keeping milk or snacks fresh. You get the point. 

Capitola Beach. Photo taken with Instagram.My husband and I are huge fans of renting homes from sites like VRBO and Airbnb. Most recently we went to Capitola with my in-laws and rented a house just a 5-minute walk to the beach. It was amazing!

We just rented this one in Anaheim for a family vacation. My brother promised my niece and nephew a trip to Disneyland so we’re all going along for the adventure. I don’t think I visited Disneyland until I was 17 years old and Reese gets to visit before her 2^nd birthday.

So back to the house we’ll be staying in. It has 5 bedrooms, a deck and a pool!  It has a Disney theme so I know the kids will love! To top it off, the house is toddler friendly and equipped with a pack’n play and high chair, children’s plates, books and toys. Finally, when we did the math, it’s much less expensive per person to rent a house than to rent hotel rooms.

Anyone have experience using VRBO or Airbnb?

Putting Myself On A Time Fast

I have been a bit of a psycopath lately. In the last few weeks, I could have written a classic guide on how NOT to overextend yourself because I have done just that. I think I have handled it with relative sanity but I am ready to pull back on the reigns.

We just moved into the most beautiful house in New Jersey where my son has his own room, his own backyard, parks nearby, and more. It is a dream come true but it was a nightmare getting here. Our escrow closed 2 weeks late and required my full attention in the six weeks between our offer being accepted and our close date. Every day our lender needed something else that required digging, negotiating, re-signing documents. There were many tears of frustration.

Then came the move, which is stressful in and of itself. We still don't have our wireless router installed so I am writing this post using an AT&T Android phone as a wireless hotspot. 

In those same six weeks that we were working on an escrow and moving, we traveled long distances four times. FOUR! I worked for Disney hosting travel videos on their cruise to Alaska, Clayton covered the Apple conference in June in San Francisco, we visited Clayton's family in Pennsylvania for a belated Father's Day celebration, and we went on an annual camping trip with my family in Northern California that was planned long before I knew we would be moving.

So to tabulate: that is four long-distance trips coupled with a move and an escrow from hell. And now that we are back and travel is wrapped up, I have Baby Mo's first birthday party staring me down the nose: 10 days to go and counting.

A more sane family might have said no to any of the above obligations to keep a little sanity but not us. We pride ourselves on being able to juggle a lot with baby in tow and our baby is VERY resilient as a result. He has been on 21 airplane rides in just 11 months and can adjust to any time zone in just one day. Plus, he gets to spend A LOT of time with both parents, which I can already tell is beneficial to him given the words and sounds he is speaking so early! (Proud mommy!)

But there are consequences. Mommy feels unsettled and overextended. Daddy does too. We have a house with beds and bathrooms but absolutely no where to sit down - no couches, chairs, kitchen table even. We long for stability and organization.

I recently listened to this podcast by Christane Nothrup about time management. She says that if you are constantly worried about not having enough time, you never will. She suggests re-framing your mindset about time so that your day can expand to fit the things you want to accomplish. I love that. She suggests a "time fast." This means that for one day or one week, you try to prohibit yourself from saying or thinking that you don't have time. I am going to try that. I don't want to spend precious play time with Baby Mo thinking, "Okay let's play but when you go down, I have to pay bills and return emails." Talk about a waste of time!

So I hereby put myself on a time fast. Care to join me?