Month: June 2016

Airplane Travel with Lil Bit

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I told you I would let you know what worked well for us and what didn’t.

What we’ve tried:

Snacks

  • dried apple, pear and strawberry/banana slices that are in individual serving packs
  • almonds
  • carrots
  • raisins and craisins
  • a cheese stick
  • animal cookie/crackers
  • Cliff Bars

I packed most of her snacks into a plastic, clear “tackle box” that we bought for just this purpose.

Toys

  • Ipad with:
  • Her small pillow
  • Nintendo DS with a few age appropriate games
    • Nintendogs
    • Horsez
    • Cooking Mama (I even like this one)
    • Spyro
    • A few others like Mario and Kirby that she likes to try but can’t really play well
  • Coloring/activity books
  • Highlights High Five magazine x 2 (for younger kids)
  • A few small story books
  • Child headphones
  • A “comfy” animal (stuffed)

I left the tackle box in the fridge on the way to the airport but the dried fruit and cliff bars as well as the bags of crackers and animal cookies were awesome both there and the way home.

The Disney movies and iPad games were life-savers. She slept most of the long flight to Europe but on the way home really needed the iPad. Every 30 mins she was asking if we were there yet :). She did play the Nintendo some but honestly Josh and I used it to play retro nintendo games on there more than she utilized it. The coloring and activity books helped as well while we were actually in Ireland. She colored when she was up while everyone was getting ready and packing.

I don’t feel like we shouldn’t have brought any of the things we did but I maybe think there were some better choices. We also bought a lot of stuff while we were over there because it was way cheaper than we had planned for originally. I had packed an extra travel duffle and we ended up buying a second with wheels there for all of our souvenirs (many).

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Exploring Dublin

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We’ve officially spent our first full day in Ireland and Dublin. We arrived to the airport and then went to pick up our rental car which took quite awhile. Little Bit did AMAZING on the flight there and slept most of it (unlike the 3 adults). This was our first peak out the airplane window!

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We don’t plan on using it much through Dublin but will be using it to drive to Tralee in 2 days. My first impression once we got to our hotel was that the food was way better than anticipated. We drove to find a hair dryer and straightener from the pharmacy and it took 3 tries before we ended up all the way in St Stevens Green shopping centre where we then met a nice merchant who suggested we get out of Dublin ASAP and head towards the countryside, lol. We told him our plans and he made a few recommendations and suggested we avoid Kilarenny and go ahead towards CO Kerry that there was some beautiful places to visit and see “although the roads aren’t brilliant” and the drive might take closer to 5 hrs than the 4 we thought.


We left there and swung by the mall at St Stevens Green which is another beautiful piece of architecture. We found it especially humorous that TJ Max is TK Max over there. Not sure why they feel the need for the letter change but there you have it.

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On the way out we stopped by Butler’s Chocolate Cafe where I bought one of the best cups of hot chocolate I’ve had in my entire life for €3.50. They also gave me a free chocolate to go with it and I got the Butter Praline which was good as well. The next day however when we stopped by and ALL got a cup (The Princess, my sister, got a white chocolate and Moose a Mocha which they use the hot chocolate with the coffee)we tried the shaved white that was phenomenal.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to our lovely, rather nicer than expected room with a Queen bed and two singles. We didn’t really eat dinner and all of us proceeded to sleep 11-13 hours each.

We woke up the next morning and were at it again bright and early to try to get both breakfast and to make it to Trinity College and Guinness to play true-to-form tourists for the day.

I loved Trinity College but then again I’m a nerd. Here you can enjoy the back of my head along with views of the courtyard facing those gorgeous 200+year OREGON oaks. Lol.

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It was beautiful, the tour was fun, interesting and I got to go to the library…the only thing I cared about why we were in Dublin.

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Incidentally, we have discovered a new challenge. Apparently this gold snitch-like sculpture has brothers/sisters around the world.

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My family and I hope to have our pictures taken with them all at some point or another. At least we like the idea of it. We very much enjoyed the tour and left to explore some more of downtown Dublin and head towards Guinness.

To Be Continued….

Travelbug

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We have been packed as I said but I’ve been trying to compile a nice amount of activities for the little one. We are also bringing snacks! I know I showed you my carry-on before but little ones is ready to go.

We got this porter series from REI on sale after not being able to find something we liked. 


It folds down nearly flat when there is nothing in it which is necessary for storage let me tell you. It also has multiple carry handles and backpack straps. Again I’m in love with these at this stage but I’ll let you know how it goes.

Our carry-on for her is the comet from them as well. Again I promise you Osprey had not given me anything! But we do love these.


The sticker/coloring books are where a laptop would actually go nicely. 

Her carry-on will include:

  • Snacks
  • 1 coloring book
  • 1 activity book+another sticker interactive book
  • Crayons/colored pencils
  • Nintendo DS we got used at our local gaming store + charger
  • iPad + charger
  • Highlights High Five magazine x 2
  • A few small books
  • A double-sided toy story book


I’ll add a few pics of the snacks when they are ready tomorrow. We are also bringing an empty water bottle for spill saftey.

On Hubby

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Have you just been doing some mundane task say laundry or the dishes and talking to your spouse and realized you absolutely got it right with them for the millionth time? I mean seriously, who else gets your quirky sense of humor and sideways movie/music references like your spouse?

I always tell him that I’d love to be married to me because I’m awesome (jokingly of course… mostly) but truth is I’m very lucky. Do not get it twisted, he’s not perfect but he’s pretty wonderful as a husband and a dad. He’s also the romantic in the relationship. I’m usually the one who struggles to pick a present or choose somewhere to go, he on the other hand seems to have some endless source of awesome surprises at hand. I’m the practical one (to a fault in many cases) and he’s the dreamer.

I feel like while we may have that a bit backwards, we also just…work. In lieu of all that lovey-dovey mush, I’m once again admitting I’m terrible with presents and have been told by the Moose that he didn’t want anything for this past birthday nor does he want anything specific for Father’s Day because we will be out of the county but I can’t help feeling I’d like to do something for him with Lil Bit of course. Any good ideas out there?

Laugh a little

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Sometimes you just need humor at work and today we started the day with these…
 in honor of my future international flight

And this one…be warned, don’t read this while you need to maintain composure….Moose and I have voted it the most passive aggressive gift and he is buying some for work. What’s even funnier is I can see him writing the one about Satan bears.


(Pic courtesy of www and free clip art)

Enjoy and send some of your favorites my way! 

Countdown

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As I write this we are 8 days out from our very first trip “across the pond” I have had some serious education on travel packing and I hope it’s worth its salt. 
The Moose is the researcher and vacation is the one aspect of my life I try not to be a control freak over. I’m not sure if my hubby is that awesome at vacation planning or if I’m in that much of need of a vacation by the time I get one…

I’ll  tell you what we bought and will put the links in only if it ends up working well because no one is paying me anything or giving me anything for free so I don’t want to advertise for something if I don’t love it and find it worthwhile. Something I am totally in love with however that the Moose bought are these backpacks by Osprey and unless they disintegrate (they have a warranty if they do) I can only foresee us using them regularly for trips. 


I also packed a rather large and softish purse full of fun things and my makeup. I love that I can carry the backpack with the shoulder strap, the side handle or as a backpack. We did the whole packing cube thing and I’m glad because I like them for OCD and squeezing purposes if for nothing else.

 


I’m most nervous about flying with Lil Bit because she’s 4 and the international flight is overnight. If I can get her to sleep then I will sleep otherwise this mama bear will be exactly that by the time we land.

We are loading the tablets up with games and a couple of Disney movies that we love, taking a Nintendo and coloring books and as many snacks as they will let me bring. 

I’ll post more once I find out if any of this is worth it! Lol. 

Long days, Short Straws and Aliens

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In the wake of a very long day at work I receive a text from the Princess (my sis) reminding me of a motherly duty that tomorrow is Alien day at school and that my Lil Bit would like a pink and green Tutu and crazy hat they found via Pinterest. 
Sigh. 

Saying no, we can use something silly we’ve got at home would be easier………………So I made this one 


…after a quick stop to the store for some last minute tule and googly eyes. Why doesn’t the Moose ever have arts and crafts duty? Being a working mom can be tough sometimes but, I know that when I see her sweet little face in the alien costume tomorrow my heart will swell and today’s exhaustion will be worth it. Plus, there’s always coffee…

A Lateral Move

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I’ve decided to create a further separation between my home life and work by dividing my working-mommy/family posts and my work itself into separate blogs. I hope those joining me for the more medical aspectsor just those curious will follow me here. 

Following a nerve-wracking dream of starting an NP blog has renewed my writing joi de vive and I have many, many posts lined up for both. There was always something making me feel like I didn’t have enough to contribute to an entire NP blog but with everything going on in life and the world lately I’ve just decided that I don’t care and I have to try! Life is short. I don’t like to make promises but I hope to publish at least weekly. Summer is a little slower at work and therefore more feasible! Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to post more! 

Excuses, Excuses….

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I apologize for my absence, life keeps getting in the way. Work, everyday things and the recent loss of my grandmother have kinda shifted my life into this deep confusing rut. My whole family feels a little like planets flying out of orbit after the loss of their sun. My grandmother was the matriarch of a very large family. I have 31 1st cousins to put it in perspective. 

So on top of that emotional turmoil, I’m trying to decide if I want to find a different job. I love my patients, coworkers and office staff but the administration at our hospital is…well let’s just say it’s one of those places where if you do a great job they want you to do more for less and make empty promises. I could go on but I don’t see the point in troubling you with my work issues and find it hard at this point in time to stay professional.

On the positive note, I’m extremely looking forward to our family’s vacation to Ireland in less than two weeks. A little nervous about little one flying for the first time but I think she will do well. I’ve been putting together a travel bag for her for some time now.  I will let you know what worked well and what I would do differently if I had the chance as we progress. 

I promise to try to be more faithful again!