Driving on Highway 1.

Sharing these last few pics today from our California coast adventure last month. If you ever get the opportunity to drive the coast along Highway 1 - DO IT. You will never regret the views. My prayers have been with our California friends as they endure another round of wildfires. It breaks my heart for those who call this gorgeous stretch of coast home, that they have to deal with the fires licking up on their doorsteps.

A few things I would highly recommend if you’re ever going to do this drive:

- Give yourself a lot more time and buffer than Googlemaps tells you. If you think it will take you 3 hours to get from your point A to point B, budget at least 1-2 hours more so you have time to make stops, get outside, walk around, etc. It will be well worth it! This is not a drive you want to rush. The whole point is to enjoy the drive!
- Pull off on all the coastal highway stops. Okay, maybe not all, but a lot of them! You get the very best views that will quite literally take your breath away. Also, the air is so crispy cool along the coast - it feels so good just to soak in the feeling.
- Stop in Big Sur and walk around! We got lunch at at Big Sur Bakery which has incredible food, but there are lots of quirky little places along the highway to stop in at grab a bite.
- Other places that are well worth the stop but will require some more time and planning are Carmel-by-the-Sea (see more here), Santa Cruz, Monterey and Half Moon Bay.
- The Bixby Bridge (pictured above), is spectacular and really, really worth stopping and seeing.
- Tagging this drive along with a few days in LA or a few days in San Francisco (or Napa!) is really special. If you have the chance to plan the trip that way, do it!

This trip was our last adventurous travel of the year. Now that we are in the home stretch of waiting on our baby to be born (!), I am cherishing these photos and the joy they represent. The next few months will be a lot of cozy days at home in front of the fire place!

Happy Friday to you all!

Exploring in Carmel.

Trekked out to the West Coast trek last month, when I was 34 weeks pregnant (!!!) and savoring the last bit of travel adventure while celebrating my BFF’s beautiful wedding out there. I shared about our morning watching the sunrise over the vineyards in Paso Robles HERE, and I also wanted to share a few pictures of the romantic and dreamy town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Carmel is a sleepy European-inspired village on the coast, boasting plentiful art galleries and coffee shops and fancayyy boutiques. There isn’t one destination spot that you MUST visit in town, it’s more of a place to wander and eat and drink along the way while exploring the windy streets and all they have to offer. We got juice twice here (I loved the Clean & Green), shopped around and went back and forth on whether we should get the boys souveniers (do they really NEED another stuffed animal that says a city name on it? I think not.), pretended to be art connoisseurs gazing at the assortment of mediums on display in the ubiquitious galleries (we know nothing about art. I just know it when I like it.), and of course, we wandered down to the ocean, which is a sweet walk down the street from the village.

There is simply nothing like the Pacific Ocean - the ever-reaching sapphire waves carrying the frosty, frothy water to my squeamish toes. It’s always shocking to me how VERY COLD the water is, probably because like most East Coast southern gals, I’m most comfy with the bath water that IS the Gulf of Mexico. And while the Pacific always stuns me with its frightfully cool temperatures, the views are the true marvel. California really does harbor some of the most treasured coastal views.

So grateful that Stevie and I had a few days to wander here. We gawked at the sprawling, oversized succulents, drank the boujee coffee, discussed what it would be like to raise our kids here (in a word - EXPENSIVE), marveled at the interesting trinkets while we window shopped. It was just so NICE being together, being slow, exploring again. Before we had kids, our travel looked a little something like this (although back then we were much more fast-paced - this pregnant tired mama has learned to slowwwwww dowwnnnnn). It was fun to resurrect that exploratory spirit for a bit. Just a bit.

P.S. - Fun story about the first time I visited Carmel HERE.
P.P.S. - Fun IGTV vid from our trip HERE.

Sunrise in the Vineyard.

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WearinG:

Shop Gumption Open Back Sweatshirt, VS Pink Sports Bra, Blanqi SportSupport Hipster Contour Leggings, Nike Flyknit Shoes

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We trekked out to California a few weeks ago to celebrate the wedding of one of my dearest, oldest friends! Along the way, Stevie and I planned to see/do a few special things and take advantage of one final trip before our baby boy arrives (so soon now!) We woke up early one morning in Paso Robles and decided to watch the sun rise over the vineyards. Because when you’re on East Coast time and nothing can keep you asleep, then you chase that sun rise! We grabbed coffee at our hotel oh so early, hopped into our rental car and drove out toward the tiny bit of light that was beginning to illuminate the wine country of Paso - it is SUCH a stunning place and home to dozens (maybe even hundreds?) of new wineries over the past 20 years or so (move over, Napa!) We found a beautiful vista and drove up into it, though knowing that we didn’t want to trespass on land that, A) wasn’t ours and B) wasn’t necessarily open to the public (remember, it was the crack of dawn!) Someone was working at the entrance of this particular vineyard (I don’t even remember the name!), and after he and Stevie exchanged a few Spanish words, we had permission, and we journeyed up, up, up!

Made it just in time. The sun crested over the hills and saturated the vinyards with every shade of the palest yellow, then marigold, then brilliant burning red. It was a sight to behold, something I will never forget.

I’m doing my best to take stock in these kinds of moments, especially as I near the end of this pregnancy and I feel such a strong shift of seasons coming my way. I know what a new baby entails - long nights, blurry days, a year passes in an instant. I’m anticipating what I know is coming, along with all the unexpected that will most certainly come along with his arrival! I can’t wait to get to know another baby boy of mine… my two boys are so different and such incredible people, who have changed me and taught me so much. I can’t wait to see what little man #3 has in store for our family. I truly feel overwhelmed with gratitude.

I have a few other things to share about this trip, including our drive up the 1 and some time in Big Sur and Carmel, so I will post those things this week while they are still fresh on my mind :) Also, a little IGTV film if you’re into it!

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Family Summer Trip to NYC!

I can’t go too many months before I get the itch to get back to New York. Stevie is up there almost weekly for work so we talk a lot about NYC as a family - we have a bunch of great books (this one and this one are our faves), and it helps the boys understand where he spends time when he’s working. It also has helped us create a fun bucket list of places to visit and explore! Which is just what we did as a family a few weeks ago. We loved taking the boys up there for a few fun days in the city and I just I love sharing with them all the things I appreciate so darn much about that wondrous place. In case some of you are planning a trip or curious about what to explore with your kiddos, I wanted to share!

A quick note: If you think traveling with kids in NYC is absolutely terrifying and insane - I promise you it’s neither. Like anything else with kids, it just requires some planning before the trip and some grace & flexibility during the trip. Believe me, our travel times aren’t without challenges and moments of frustration. But I truly love traveling with these boys - we have so much fun together and make such sweet memories as a family! It’s definitely worth the work and the sometimes frustrating moments that are inevitable. Definitely let me know if you have questions. Okay, on to the pictures and recs!

Central Park and Washington Square Park were our jam this time around. We were in Central Park every single day - I don’t know how people live in the city without getting into some green space every day #suburbanthoughts. It’s so grounding and green and SO BEAUTIFUL. The trees are magnificently old and feel like they have endless stories to tell. I just love it. We also love Bryant and Riverside Parks but didn’t spend any time in those on this particular trip.

Things to do in Central Park with kids:

• bring a frisbee and run/play freely on Sheep’s Meadow

• explore the 10+ playgrounds (some with splashpads - if you’re visiting in summer, bring a towel!) Our faves are the Diana Ross Playground (westside), the James Michael Levin Playground (eastside) and the Heckscher Playground (just north of Central Park South).

• see a show at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Puppet Theater (seriously, these shows are SO incredible!) Puppetry feels like a lost art (kind of like tap dance?) and I love that this form of puppetry is still celebrated here.

• grab lunch at Shake Shack at 77th & Columbus Ave. and walk your lunch into the park. We like to eat on the big rocks that overlook the lake :) Yum I want another Shackburger right now…

• walk from the Bethesda Fountain down through the mall (a gorgeous tree-lined pathway)

• play on the Alice and Wonderland statue on the eastside of the park at 75th street. It’s really fun for the kids to climb and it overlooks a pretty little pond and it’s just such a peaceful reprieve.
  
  We didn’t get to sail boats or do a horse carriage ride yet (two requests that we couldn’t make happen this time!), but those are still on our list!

A tower of blondes.

I wear my Blanqi supportwear every day - if you’re pregnant, you have to check them out! Made walking around the city so much more bearable, especially since I tend to carry big, heavy babies. My favorites are the maternity tanks - an absolute must for any pregnancy! I wear one everyday, either by itself or with layers.

Juice Generation!! It’s become a family fave.

^ The BOB Double Stroller that has endured a lot of abuse over the years traveling with us - it’s still rocking!!

We took the boys to get cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery in SOHO! It was so much fun sharing a sweet treat there. I honestly have no idea how we were able to snag some because when we used to live here, the line was LONG and they would sell out first thing in the morning. But they were SO GOOD. I can’t remember what the flavor was - they change it monthly but whatever it was, it was GOOD. We also really like the DKA and Everett chose some kind of Nutella bread and he chose well. Haha I’m so proud.

New buildings going up all the time!

We explored two museums on this trip - first, the American Museum of Natural History (Daxton is REALLY into dinosaurs right now), which we have spent a lot of time in on multiple trips. They really loved it this time and the dinosaurs wowed them more than ever. Haha I love this age. And we also visited The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which was awesome! It literally has a space shuttle on the ship. Like, in every direction, this is a dream museum for boys.

I forgot to mention that we found an EXCELLENT pizza place that is completely kid/family-friendly called Patsys Pizzeria - if you are looking for something on the upper west side, you will not be disappointed! I can still taste the goodness.

“Cleaning fossils” at the American Museum of Natural History. They were cracking us up. We found the Discovery Room this time around and it is honestly such a perfect place for kids to get hands-on! So often, museums can be a bit boring because they can’t actually touch anything, but this is a dedicated space that is for kids to use their hands and discover! They dusted away at fossils (pretend ones), used those fossils to build the structure of a dinosaur, pet little live critters (I’ll admit I was grossed out), used a telescope and microscope, you name it! It was really fun to see their minds at work in a new way. I HIGHLY recommend visiting this room if you come to the museum.

We got mildly addicted to Juice Generation a few years ago and now we basically go as much as possible whenever we’re in the city. “Get Ur Green On” is my favorite juice!

The Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park! We had never been there before but they LOVED climbing it! It looks out over a beautiful pond - would be a great spot to bring a book and read for a bit. That wasn’t really the case for me, but if you were alone it would be splendid.

Everett really wanted to visit “Town Square” (Times Square), and we didn’t have the heart to correct him because it was SO CUTE. So off to Town Square we went. Haha for like 10 minutes. Then we left again because oh, it’s so bright. It’s one of those places that you HAVE to go to see a show, but otherwise you don’t really want to be in that mess of lights and sounds.

^ My dream is to one day see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular here!

To make things easy, we usually stay at a hotel close to Central Park. Our favorites are The Warwick (where we stayed this time around) but if that one is sold out or if the prices are crazy, we like The Hilton NYC Midtown, which is located just across the street. Honestly, it’s just nice being able to walk the kids into the park everyday, so this location works well for us. Also there’s a Starbucks on the way from our hotel into the park #priorities. But there are SO many trendy, cool hotels everywhere - I’m always filling my bucket list with new ideas!

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There you have it! We had such an amazing trip. I loved watching the boys light up at so many new experiences this time around. They have been so much littler in the past when we’ve taken them to NYC that I have just made all the decisions about where we eat and what we do, but this time around they had opinions! They wanted to walk more, which I’ll be honest, terrified me at times, especially when we were close to lots of street traffic. But just like anything else, it took a little practice and learning and we were all finding our rhythm as a family exploring the city. And all their suggestions and ideas were so much fun to make happen. Except when Everett insisted we ride the subway and I watched Daxton basically lick one of the subway poles while we were riding. I felt like I was in slow motion yelling, “NOOOOOO”, but thankfully, somehow, he didn’t get sick after that. Ahhhh I don’t even want to think about it.

We had so much fun! I also put together a little IGTV episode about our trip, you can see it here. Do you have questions? Have you ever taken your kiddos on a city trip? Did you/they like it? Would love to hear from you!

A Weekend in Marco Island!

Last weekend, Stevie and I took a little trip down to Marco Island, Florida! We wanted to celebrate our 12-year wedding anniversary (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) and also get a little babymoon in before this little one arrives in a few months. 5 months is always a sweet time to travel because it’s not too uncomfortable yet, so we planned a fast 2-night getaway so we could connect, read, eat and talk without our other two cuties pulling on our time.

IT WAS THE BEST.

We had never been to Marco Island. We had heard about it and had some flight points, so we picked the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort and just went for it. The resort is gorgeously situated on the water, has a seriously delicious buffet breakfast and a killer amazing spa. We weren’t expecting the food on the island to be so legendary, but it is basically all Italian and all INCREDIBLE. I’m not usually one for pasta and pizza on the beach because, I don’t know, I don’t want to feel carb-loaded when I’m in a bathing suit, but being pregnant has it’s perks. I’m always bloated! So we ate like we were in Italy! And it was magnificent. Really and truly.

EATS.
If you’re visiting, we ate a fancy, celebratory meal at Sale e Pepe (incredible fresh pasta and fish!) which was a quick walk from our hotel and has the most beautiful views of the ocean. The pizza and salad at DaVinci almost made us cry and of course we had to indulge in gelato at Dolce Mare where they also home make chocolate truffles. Get the caramel sea salt. More incredible pizza at Joeys and we also loved brunch in Naples at The Cafe on 5th where they had the best juices and crepes ahhhh. I’m drooling just typing all this.

We took lots of pictures, and these are all from my iPhone!

^ The view from our hotel! So lush and tropical.

^My 5 month baby bumps vs. Stevie’s (below)

A lot of the buildings lining the beach were actually condos and not hotels. This is a place for snow birds and we were actually visiting in the off-season! It was truly tropical weather. Like HOT and humid. Most of the snow birds hang out down there Jan.-May.

BECASA Beach Bangles & Cotton Pullover, c/o

Old Navy Suit (sold out in yellow, still in stock in black top and bottom)

^One morning we decided to split up and do whatever we wanted! I crave alone time SO much and Stevie always wants to play golf, so that’s what we did! I ate breakfast alone (SUCH a luxury), laid on the beach and read, and then went to the spa for a pedicure. It was seriously the most indulgent morning I’ve had in years.

^My tan is so fake you guys. I normally don’t lay out in the sun but since I was only out for about an hour on this particular morning I went for it and ended up spending most of that time in the ocean because it was just SO hot. But I really love getting an organic spray tan at RAW Bronzing Studio and that’s how I look and feel tan without actually baking for hours in the sun ;)

^Just having a mermaid moment

JCrew suit (past season, similar here) Target Hat, Target Sunglasses

Target Dress, Target Sandals

^It was so dark by the time we went to our dinner at Sale E Pepe, but it really is worth visiting! It’s styled like an Italian art museum, with frescos painted on the walls and arched walkways and fountains. It’s really special.

^That dinner view. I meannnnn.

^It was so tropical! I couldn’t get over the bird songs and the lush flowers and exotic plants.

^Downtown Naples! We didn’t get to spend a lot of time here, but we want to plan another trip to explore more because it was SO stunning. I mean, look at this pink building! Is this real life?!

^Pistachio and Hazelnut gelato. Glory be.

ASOS dress (sold out, similar here), Target Sandals

This trip was truly a dream. We ate SO well, we read on the beach, we even went to the spa together and got massages one morning! Stevie hadn’t had a massage in 10 years, so you could say he was due for a de-stressing morning. He was so funny when he came out of the massage room - we met up in the little spa garden and drank cucumber water and he was like, “I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD THAT WAS.”

I don’t feel bad about getting some pampering before entering into another season of sleepless nights and busy baby days. Feeling very grateful for the time we got together, to dream and talk and laugh and wonder about what the future of our family will be like with 3 kids! I am so so grateful to my parents for taking over and watching the big boys while we got away. This was an extra special trip, just getting Stevie all to myself for a few days of fun and relaxation. Hurray for beaches and babies!