Four Days in Austin, Texas

Vacations...

Don't they feel like such a long time away now that we've been sheltering at home for almost two months? Instead of pining for the missed vacations that we were supposed to take during this time (a family trip to Chicago, weekend trips around Colorado, and a school trip to Washington DC for Ava) I've decided to take a look back at some of our past vacations and share them here on the blog. As inspiration for when we can start travelling again - and also because I've been meaning to share them for such a long time!

Today I'm starting with a trip that was exactly one year ago. This time last year we were on vacation in Austin, Texas. It was our first visit to Texas and we had a blast. Austin is a great city to visit with or without kids. There are sprawling parks, stunning architecture, plenty of interesting wildlife, lots of great shops and restaurants, interesting historical sites, natural wonders, and my favorite, lots of street art. You know I'm a sucker for a good mural! Sure, it was hot, humid and there were bugs and pollen everywhere, but Austin's charm and quirkiness made up for that. Well, for four days. I'm not sure I could handle the weather much longer than that!

I'll be sharing some more detailed posts about the places we visited, but for now, here's a look at our four days in Austin...

Last April I attended the Mom 2.0 conference in Austin. Seeing as it was a city (and state) we were yet to visit we decided to tack a family vacation onto the end of the conference. Kim and the girls flew to join me on the Friday evening and we made an extra long weekend out of it, flying home the following Tuesday evening.

A Look Back at 2019

2019... It was a year of big changes and adventures for our family. 

We took a few trips across the country and across the world, we took part in uplifting events, we went to so many cool exhibitions, we had fun parties, we celebrated holidays, we experienced so many new things... Oh, and we moved to a new state and bought a house!  

Some of these things I've shared here on Little Hiccups, others I've shared on Instagram and others I never got around to sharing anywhere. So let's take a look back at the past year and everything we got up to. Don't forget to click the bold and underlined links for a dedicated post on each event/trip/part/holiday etc. 

This is a long post, so grab a drink, something to snack on and get comfy. You'll be here a while!

26 Fun Things to do in New York with Kids

New York City.

It's my favorite city ever and one of the few places that I'm happy to visit over and over again on vacation. With so many amazing places to visit around the world I like to spend my vacation time visiting somewhere new, but there's something about New York City that always draws me in.  There's always something new to see, something new to taste, something new to experience. You could visit over and over again and never do the same things twice. There really is something for everyone no matter where your interests lie.

While I find New York to be a very family friendly destination, I often see questions pop up in travel groups about just what to do and where to go while visiting there with kids. So today I thought I'd share twenty six of my favorite kid friendly activities in New York City.

Some of these are popular destinations on every visitor's list, while others are lesser known in tourist circles, but still definitely worth a visit.

So here they are, in no particular order, my top twenty five things to do when visiting New York City with kids...

Making City Adventures Easier with Good2Go

This post is sponsored by Good2Go but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

The kids and I spend quite a bit of time out and about exploring San Francisco. Exploring the city is one of my favorite things to do with the kids. We love finding new (to us) playgrounds and parks throughout the city  

I'm generally pretty prepared for our adventures in the city with bags of snacks, wipes, bandaids, tissues, toys, spare clothes... You know, all that stuff that moms find themselves carrying around. But there's one thing that I can't always be prepared with, and it's a big one. A bathroom! Our adventures in the city find us in a variety of different places, but there's one thing they generally have in common - no public bathrooms. And when there are public bathrooms available, well, let's just say that they're not always up to scratch. Finding a nearby cafe is my usual go to when the kids need a bathroom pit stop, but it's not always so easy, especially if I'm not familiar with the area - which is often the case. How do I know if the bathroom will be clean, or if they'll even have one. 

This is where the new app Good2Go, comes in super handy! 

Good2Go partners with cafes and retail spaces around the city to provide safe, well maintained and clean bathrooms for the community. Each bathroom is all-gender with a baby station and plenty of space for wheelchairs and strollers. The fixtures are all hands free so there's no need to worry about germs when opening the door, flushing the toilet or using the sink. And it's all controlled through your phone! It's a dream come true for parents out and about in the city with kids!

Recently Mathilde and I were hanging out in a (new to us) playground in the Mission District and I knew that she'd be needing a bathroom break soon. Wanting to be prepared, I pulled up the Good2Go app on my phone and found the nearest partner bathroom. What luck; it was just a short walk way in a nearby cafe!

  

Ever the tech savvy preschooler, Mathilde was excited to see how the Good2Go app works and press the buttons for me. The simple to use app brought up our nearest bathroom location and a big yellow button for directions. Mathilde pressed the directions button and our route was marked out for us. 

Mathilde was keen to follow the map right away, so we followed the directions on the map, and sure enough, a few minutes later we found ourselves at the cafe. See the Good2Go logo there on the sandwich board out the front? Mathilde was excited when she spotted it and pointed out that it matched the one on my phone! She can't read yet, but she sure is good at recognizing logos!   

It wasn't quite time for a bathroom break just yet, so we sat down with a delicious cookie and a chai latte. When Mathilde was ready I pressed the "Join Queue" button on the app. Now, if there were other people ahead of us the app would show us that we were in the queue and would alert us when we had reached the front. In this case, there was no one else ahead of us so we headed straight to the bathroom. 

Once you've reached the front of the queue, the app gives you a certain amount of time to make it to the door. If you don't happen to make it in time, the app will give you the option to rejoin the queue in your original place. Once you are within close distance of the door, the app will bring up a QR code "key" which can be used to unlock the door hands free. In our case, we were about 2 feet away from the door when the key popped up.

I placed my phone under the scanner by the bathroom door and the door unlocked and opened for us. The door then locked behind us once we had entered the bathroom. No hands needed! Not only is that good in terms of avoiding germs, but it made access with a stroller so much easier.

The bathroom was roomy with plenty of space for the two of us plus Mathilde's stroller. It was very clean and well stocked.  Everything from the toilet flusher, to the sink and hand dryer was automatic so there was no need to touch anything. Mathilde thought it was all pretty magical.

Even the door was hands free on the way back out again! Mathilde simply waved her hand in front of the sensor and the door opened back up for us. A magic bathroom indeed!

After our cafe and bathroom pit stop we headed back to the playground for a little more fun before hopping on Bart and heading home. 

Using the Good2Go app made finding a clean bathroom nearby super easy for us. We'll definitely be using it for future adventures in the city. As time goes by, more and more new bathrooms around San Francisco are being added to the program. Bathrooms that are coming soon are marked on the app and show up as grey, rather than green. I was pleased to see a lot of new bathrooms coming soon in locations all around the city.

Good2Go is available for both Apple and Android. You can find Good2Go onthe App Store here and Google Play Store here. 

Hooray for being able to find a clean bathroom when out with the kids. It really is the little things that make a difference to your day, right?

Glass Beach at Fort Bragg

This Summer has flown by and we haven't taken any big trips like we normally would during the long break. While we've been home for much of the Summer, we have taken a few short trips around the Bay Area with friends and family visiting from Australia. 

Once such trip we took was to Fort Bragg, a small coastal town three hours north of San Francisco with my parents. The highlight of our visit was Fort Bragg's famous Glass Beach, a beach covered in colorful sea glass. I remember reading about the Glass Beach when we first moved to California and I've been keen to see it for myself ever since.   

While the Glass Beach is rather pretty, it's origins are not quite as romantic as one would imagine. All those pretty pieces of glass? They didn't wash ashore from a ship, nor are they the remains of letters sent in bottles. Nope. Between 1906 and 1967 the shoreline along the Glass Beach was used as a dump! All those rounded pieces of glass are the result of sixty years of the town's trash. Various clean up efforts over the decades removed all of the large items and the metal for scrap, while the biodegradable waste degraded over time. What remained after the clean up effort was beautiful glass pieces worn smooth by the waves.

Monterey Day Trip

Here in the Bay Area we're pretty lucky to be surrounded by amazing natural beauty. Stunning beaches, towering redwoods, snow capped mountains, rolling hills, lush forests, natural hot springs... all of these can be found within just a few hours drive of the Bay Area. We're pretty spoiled for choice.

One of our favorite places to visit either for a weekend away or a day trip is Monterey county, located just a two hour drive along the coast south of San Francisco. We've visited Monterey many times and we always find something new to do. Whether it be spending a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, taking in a little of California's history at the Carmel Mission, soaking in the views along the Big Sur coastline, playing in the amazing Dennis the Menace Park, or just relaxing at the beach, we always enjoy our visit to Monterey and can't wait to come back.

This past weekend we took a day trip to down Monterey and it was the perfect day out. We spent much of our time at the beach, with the kids chasing waves, exploring tide pools, searching for treasure, climbing on rocks and making sand castles. We also visited the quaint Point Pinos Lighthouse for a little history, and took a drive along the famous 17 Mile Drive.

Keep reading to see more of our adventure in Monterey as well as your chance to win tickets to Monterey Bay Aquarium and MY Museum.

Our Stay at the Madonna Inn

After my last post about our trip to San Diego over the Winter break last year I thought it was about time I finished posting about the rest of that particular trip. 

Our visit to San Diego was part of our Southern California road trip over the girls' Winter break from school. We drove down to Los Angeles where we spent a few days hanging out in Downtown and Longbeach before heading to San Diego on Christmas Eve. We then spent four days in San Diego before starting our drive back north. We spent a day at Legoland and then made our way to San Luis Obpiso and the subject of this particular post: the Madonna Inn.

Where to start about the Madonna Inn? Let's see... It's tacky. It's over the top. It's pink. It's one of the most amazing places I've ever stayed!

Kids Free San Diego

   

Over the the girls' Winter break from school last year we left the gloomy Bay Area weather behind for a week and headed to the sunshine in Southern California. Our main destination was San Diego, a city that Kim and I had visited in the past before the kids were born.

Before our trip I went online and did a little research about places to take the kids. I knew that San Diego and its surrounds were home to Seaworld, Legoland and the world famous San Diego Zoo, but I hadn't realized just how many other amazing places to take the kids there were. The more I researched, the more it looked like our five days in San Diego were not going to be enough!