{Road Trip: Keep the Kids Happy}

Packing up the car and taking the girls to visit friends and family in Oklahoma tomorrow! I can't wait to see childhood friends, eat at my favorite restaurants and be with some the people that I love most in the world! After scouring the internet, I've come up with my list of necessary accouterments for happy road trip with kids!

1. Frequent Stops and Things To Look Forward To:We are stopping in Grapevine, TX on the way to OK and back. Our first stop will be to see the SEA LIFE Aquarium and then on the way home, the Lego Discovery Center. This will be the halfway point of our trip. The girls will be ready for lunch and to stretch their legs and then hopefully take a nap the rest of the drive. We also plan to stop in Waco for a quick snack and bathroom break and Ardmore for another bathroom break and trip to Braums. No trip to OK is complete without a stop at Braums!
2. Snacks, Snacks, and more Snacks:Our favorite easy, no-fuss snacks are:

Freeze Dried Fruit

   Organic Fruit Snacks

  Fruit Squeezes

   Mum Mums

3. Wrapped "Prizes": I found a few coloring books, sticker packs, and crayons at the dollar store to give Lily as prizes for good behavior on the trip. For every hour that she behaves, she gets to open a new prize.
4. New Books & DVDs: Luckily our car is equipped with a DVD player in the back for the girls to watch movies. We've borrowed a few from friends and bought Alice & Wonderland so the girls have new movies to enjoy.
5. Books on Tape for Mommy: I'd like to think that I would be able to listen to a new book in the front seat, but I have a feeling that may not happen... I have it dwnloaded to my phone just in case, so I can listen with one earbud in.
6. Ways To Keep It All Together: Taking an ice chest for juice, milk, and a few other perishable snacks as well as trash bags and lots of handy wipes, but the thing I am most excited about is a travel toddler tray we found that attaches to the car seat.
  I don't know why we didn't get something like this sooner! Not only can she eat snacks, but color or play with the Ipad without it sliding off her lab and mommy having to rescue it off the floor while driving. Genius!

If you have any other helpful road trip ideas, please share!!  

Show Us Your Life: Denver, CO & Pineapple Upside Pancakes

A and I took Lily on her first plane ride back in March for a little visit to Denver, CO. A's brother moved there recently, and we thought we'd visit him and his sweet girlfriend while taking a fun vacation. It was wonderful! LOVE me some Denver.

The city reminded me a lot of Austin, down to the Green Peace activists on the street corners. Our favorite spots were the Denver Zoo, where Lily got to see her first real life giraffe up close and personal, okay, maybe I was more excited about this than she was....

Lily with Denver (her littler souvenir)

The 16th Street Mall. A huge outdoor mall that had about every national store you could hope for...

via

then we randomly found a little street called Pearl Street in Washington Park and it have some cute boho charm to it. Of course I didn't take any pictures...
and last but definitely not least, Snooze.

via

It's hands down the BEST breakfast place I have ever been to. And their Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes are something out of a pregnant woman's dreams. They. are. heavenly. One part breakfast, one part dessert, all parts delicious!

A makes a mean pancake, and since he knew how much I loved the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes from Snooze, he tracked down their recipe online and got up extra early on Sunday to make them from scratch for me for Mother's Day. Is that love or what?!

They turned out fantastic! Snooze's buttermilk pancake recipe is a secret, but A used this one and said it worked great! He used Snooze's recipe found here for everything else. Here's how he combined the two recipes:

A's Mother's Day Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes
This recipe is for 12 servings
Ingredients for Pancakes:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Ingredients for Everything Else:

• 1/2 fresh pineapple, skinned, cored and chopped into small chunks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
   
• Cinnamon Butter:
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  
  Vanilla Crème:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Steps:

Cinnamon Butter: Place the stick of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar in a food processor. Purée until combined and smooth; place in a small glass dish and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Vanilla Crème: In a saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in the heavy cream, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and the vanilla extract. Heat to boiling.Turn down heat and continue to slowly simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Remove from heat and pour into a small pitcher to use for serving. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve.

Pancakes:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter.
2. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. You can flick water across the surface and if it beads up and sizzles, it's ready!
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. 
5. Ladle about ½ cup batter onto hot griddle and sprinkle a heaping tablespoon or so of pineapple chunks onto the cooking pancake.
6. When pancake is ready to be flipped, sprinkle a dash or two of granulated sugar onto the pineapple and then turn; this will caramelize the pineapple side.
7. Place finished pancake on a plate in a warm oven and repeat process until all batter is gone.
8. Stack two pancakes and serve with a dollop of cinnamon butter on top and the vanilla crème on the side.
   
   Here's all that was left...

European Vacation

A and I are headed “across the pond” in May for a trip through London, Paris, and Rome. As always I’m overwhelmingly practical when packing for trips. So in anticipation for our long plane ride, I’ve been looking for all the necessities I might need to make the ride as comfortable as possible. If you’ve ever taken an overnight flight, you know that they usually give you a “sleep pack” with a sleep mask, ear plugs, socks, and always provide blankets and pillows. But airplane issued items aren't that cute or comfortable or clean so I decided to find some alternative to pack in my carry-on.

The first, and the item that inspired this post, are these adorable Holly Golightly Earplugs. I HAVE to have these!




Of course a sleep mask is most necessary. I own a few, but my favorites are these from Bath & Body Works:


or these from Traveling Chic



or of course the Holly Golightly complete ensemble:


A cute, and comfortable travel pillow and blanket. I always prefer to have my own blanket and pillow since airplane ones can be full of germs from previous passengers. Gross. This one is called a PamBee and was designed by a flight attendant. It's a little pricey, but I really like the Pucci inspired design. Hoping to find similar for less...



I like this polka dot pillow from Traveling Chic as well...



I also love everything at Flight 001

Evian Travel Companions


Reflexology Travel Socks


Cherry Blossom Motion Sickness Bracelets


No Cooties!


I also bring a large bottle of water, chap stick, lotion, a contact case, and my glasses since I get soooo dehydrated on the plane, facial wipes, tooth paste and tooth brush..If you can think of anything else I’m forgetting, let me know!