Florida part 1 – Traveling

We made it! Leading up to our trip a few things had me concerned, not the least of which was the government shutdown leaving TSA agents and air traffic controllers unpaid and forced to work. I worried about lines, lack of security, and whether or not things would continue to run smoothly the longer the shutdown dragged on. Additionally, New England was beginning to brace for a big winter snowstorm due to hit the area Saturday night. Being a holiday weekend, the best flight fares wound up being Saturday and Tuesday. We had planned to take our time getting out Saturday midday, and coming home Tuesday morning to avoid the holiday rush. If the storm came through as planned, we would be on the ground in Florida before the first snowflakes fell.

After confirming that the Boston economy parking was a covered garage (because who wants to come home to a snow covered car), we set out around 10:30 in the morning for a 2 pm flight. It’s a little over an hour from our home to the Boston airport and we wanted to allow plenty of extra time to get all three of us to the terminal, check our son’s car seat, and clear through security. Things seriously could not have worked out more perfectly getting to our gate. We were able to ditch our heavy winter coats inside the car seat bag and checked it all together at the ticket counter. Our tickets were on our phones, although it turns out our son’s ticket was not delivered electronically, so we took a short detour back to ticketing to get his printed out. We later learned this is fairly standard with a lap infant, so you’re better off stopping at the beginning and asking for printed tickets.

Getting through the TSA checkpoint was nothing short of impressive. Regardless of your politics, these were all hard working individuals that continue to show up day after day, and as of our flight out, had already missed at least one paycheck. Every last TSA agent we encountered greeted us with a smile, they were patient as we navigated our first trip with an infant, and they helped us through as best they could. When the line started to back up, in walked 4 more agents ready to open another line. I was pleased and yet so surprised at what seemed like a generally happy demeanor. Had the tables been turned, I don’t think I could have continued to arrive at work with such dedication and sunny disposition. The next time you’re at the airport thank them, I know I did.

After arriving at our gate, we tracked down lunch to eat on the plane. Not wanting to venture too far, I stuck with protein bars, yogurt, jerky, bananas, and anything else that looked both healthy and was labeled with ‘GF.’ Now was not the time to experiment with anything that could potentially not be safe for me.

Boarding was uneventful, our gate check bag for the stroller worked perfectly and we gate checked both of our suitcases as well to avoid the fuss through the airport on the other end. We were relaxed, and without clutter as we boarded the plane with just our son and his diaper bag. We were each seated in a middle seat in the same row where my husband could see the smile and hear the giggles as our son played in my seat, occasionally jabbering with the women on either side of me. We truly lucked out, as his smile kept everyone happy, and my seat mates didn’t seem to mind when he discovered the in-flight entertainment controls on the arm rests, constantly changing the channel and playing with the volume, happy that he had figured out how to push the buttons.

Upon arrival, our son received his first set of flight wings from the crew and we were met with his stroller on the jet bridge. All of our bags were waiting for us at baggage claim, and we made our way over to the rental car counter. My husband asked if there were any upgrades available, which of course there were. It’s been drilled into my head over the years to not accept any upgrade offers or insurance when you’re picking up your car. There are always hidden fees and charges that wind up costing much more than you’d planned. The upgrade, naturally, would cost us $17 more per day. Playing unintentional good cop/bad cop, my husband thought the upgrade was worth it, while I quickly calculated and said out loud that we could spend that extra $60 on doing things with my family instead while we were in town. Hearing our discussion, our rental car agent seemed to disappear not long after declining the upgrade. She’d seen our heap of baggage, stroller, and car seat, and was initially concerned we wouldn’t fit in the full size vehicle we’d requested. In the end, she told us we were her last customer of the day, and she’d gotten it approved to upgrade us to a mini van with NO extra fees or change to our rate. Here’s the catch though…I’d traded in my MINI Cooper over a year ago in anticipation for our son’s arrival and bought an SUV with a 3rd row, wanting the space for luggage on long trips visiting family. I had talked myself out of a mini van because they just weren’t that nice, and couldn’t possibly have the trunk space of an SUV. When I opened the trunk of our rental mini van, I couldn’t believe the space and the features it had built in. I actually *enjoyed* having it for a few days….the horror!

All in all it was a successful first flight for our little man, but we definitely learned some things along the way:

• Limit the number of bags you have to carry through the airport. Checking our car seat (along with our coats, extra diapers, and food pouches) was a huge help. Let’s be honest, the car seat is big enough on its own, throw it in a backpack bag to protect it and the resulting size is just absurd. No one wants to navigate with that on their back unless it has side and rear view mirrors!
• Gate check your luggage if you can. We had everything we needed in the diaper bag which made it easy to hand off our suitcases. If you’re flying nonstop, you have a better chance that you won’t have any issues getting it at your destination, plus you won’t have to deal with trying to hoist it into the overhead bins.
• Bring a bottle, pacifier, pouch, or whatever your child will happily take for both the takeoff and landing. Babies don’t understand how to pop their ears back, it’ll help equalize the pressure and keep them comfortable.
• Also make sure you have plenty of toys and books to preoccupy your child. Any flight is a long time to keep a little one happy and busy, especially since they’ll have to be glued to your lap the whole time.
• If your child is on formula don’t bother premixing it, they’ll have to test every bottle. Oh, and also take the formula container out of your diaper bag….no one wants to watch as TSA pulls it out of the bag, accidentally spilling some of that super expensive powder in the process.
• Buy the protective bags for your car seat and stroller. They were worth every penny for us, not only because we could throw extra things in with the car seat, but both bags kept everything protected and clean.
• Last, but certainly not least, ask for the upgrade. As my keen negotiating husband would have you know, sometimes it pays to ask, be kind, and have a happily smiling baby along with you. You just might get that upgrade for free!

Somehow this post has carried on much longer than I originally planned, stay tuned later this week as I get into all the wonderful fun and food we had while we were there!

Dining Out…with kids!

A couple months after our son was born, we were in desperate need of a night out at a restaurant. I was craving sushi post-pregnancy, and we’d heard rave reviews from friends about a restaurant not too far from our home. I will never forget that first dining out experience. We thought we timed it well, and the little man snoozed through the beginning, waking up just as our food was about to be delivered. The restaurant was noisy, and we hoped he wouldn’t disturb anyone as we got a bottle ready. Suddenly, it seemed he was near impossible to calm down. He wasn’t loud, but I quickly turned frantic and nearly started crying at our table. We were still so new to parenting and it was all overwhelming. As my husband started to soothe our son, a woman approached us out of the blue. She sat down beside me, and told us what a wonderful job we were doing. To keep it up, keep going out, and enjoying our life. She mentioned she heard the cries and knew it must be a newborn; both a mortifying thought upon seeing how far her table was from ours, and soothing at the same time. I will never forget the kindness of that stranger, and how she made me feel in that overwhelming moment. We’ve taken our son out since then, but I’ll be honest that it isn’t frequent. As he transitioned to solids, the mess he makes and everything we need to bring discouraged us from venturing out.

Fast forward to the holidays. Our son is now 10 months old, and quite the active little man. The car seat no longer comes in with us, and he can eat small bites from the table! It was time to venture out again, this time with quite the crew. We had family and close friends in town for the new year, and decided it would be fun to eat out on the water one evening; however “evening” can be relative with a little one in your life. I’d heard good things about Surf restaurant in downtown Portsmouth, overlooking the water, and serving true New England food for our out of town guests. I called to make reservations, clearly mentioning that we were 6 adults and 3 children, no one batted an eye. Trying to coordinate the timing of dinner with bedtime, our reservations were an early 4:30pm! Oh how times have changed.

Upon our arrival, we were escorted to a long table overlooking the Piscataqua River. Even though the sun had set, you could still see how beautiful it was outside. We received smiles from wait staff and patrons alike when they saw our little boy smiling and giggling back, but the fun didn’t last long. The table next to us held an older couple, near the end of their meal. As soon as we were seated by them you could see the side eye and feel the glare pointed directly at our table. Clearly they were not pleased with our presence, even though the restaurant was clearly accommodating to families. Thankfully they were not there long, and the table turned over to what appeared to be a more friendly couple.

Our food was delicious, and everyone was enjoying themselves. That quickly changed when not one but two of the little ones got sick over dinner. Call it bad luck, a full moon, or whatever you will, we suddenly found ourselves in a mix of panic and clean-up mode. Our waiter could not have been nicer, bringing water, paper towels, and whatever else we needed. He did not miss a beat, arriving with our check not long after we asked. All in all, it was a fun night night out, but it certainly taught us some lasting lessons.

• Early reservations are perfect with little ones, you can still enjoy a nice restaurant without impacting bed time, and clearing out just before the dinner crowd arrives.
• Expect the unexpected. Although our son is a great eater at home, and nearly never spits up, you can’t predict what will happen in public.
• Not only did I have to worry about what was safe for me to eat, but what my son could reach on the table, and whether or not he could get gluten near my plate. I’d never thought of it before, but now that’s obviously a concern.
• No matter how accommodating an establishment and its staff are, there is always a chance that its patrons do not feel the same way. Don’t let that stop you from going!

When being gluten free means missing out

I like to think there aren’t many things that I’m missing out on since going gluten free. For the most part, shopping has gotten easier in recent years and I feel like I can cook most things that I miss (and can’t easily be found from trustworthy restaurants). There are some times though when there is just no substitute, and frankly, it stinks.

This will be our third New England fall. The foliage is absolutely breathtaking, the weather is comfortable and calming – yes, I actually enjoy when we have overcast and rainy days. Here’s the thing though, there are certain delicacies that New England is known for, especially in the fall, that I just can’t enjoy. One of them is the whoopie pie, which up until last winter I had never had the opportunity to try. I heard all about them as we visited the area, and once we were officially moved up, but I couldn’t find gluten free whoopie pies anywhere. I FINALLY had the chance when planning for our baby shower. We were going to be hosting over 20 family members and friends from out of town at our home, which meant everything on the menu had to be gluten free. I was lucky enough to find Andi’s Gluten Free Kitchen, and she was absolutely amazing getting us a variety of delicious desserts. Naturally, I requested whoopie pies in both the original and pumpkin pie flavors. They were to die for!

That leaves me with probably the most famous item of all….the cider donut. Each year I feel like I go through the same frustration. I search every corner of the internet looking for someone/somewhere that will make these gluten free! I’ve called bakeries, farms, apple orchards, literally anything I can think of with no luck. I went through a phase growing up where I couldn’t even stand the smell of donuts, apparently the universe is getting back at me for that. I would LOVE to try one this year, especially as the weather is chilling and it sounds wonderful to sit down with a cider donut and hot cider…maybe even after apple picking (could I get any more New Englander than that?!).

I know I’m not the only one that gets frustrated when it feels like you’re missing out. What have you not been able to find or substitute? It would be wonderful if we could crowd source helping each other out 🙂 For now, I’d settle for anyone within driving distance of Seacoast New Hampshire that’s willing to make me a gluten free donut…please, send me your recommendations!!

Is this thing on?

As I sit here writing this, I’m finally unwinding after an evening of dancing to Motown while wearing my son in his baby carrier and making another batch of lactation cookies. To say that a lot has changed since my last post would be one of the biggest understatements. About three years ago my husband and I were restless. We were starting to think about settling down and buying a home. We loved our closer to the city condo, but it was time to expand. The problem was, moving to suburbia in the DC metro area meant long commutes to and from work, and the work life balance just wasn’t there. After months of soul searching, research, and a long weekend away, we decided to relocate to the seacoast of New Hampshire…we like to joke that we threw a dart on the wall, but trust me, there was so much more discussion that got us here. Without our jobs figured out, we came back up to meet with our realtor and put an offer on a home. Talk about a leap of faith. The next four months seemed like the longest of our lives, trying to make our careers work so we could actually move in. Eventually we both worked through remote arrangements and began to pack the biggest suitcases of our lives….everything we owned was going 500 miles north!

Mere weeks after moving in we adopted the pup we’d always wanted. He was a rescue at four months old, and we named him after the bar where we’d first met. Another year down the road and we were preparing for our first child… due in the dead of winter in New England! As I’m adjusting to this new role of motherhood, I’m reflecting on how we got here, and what’s next. It was finally time to dust off the blog and start writing again. The title might not seem the most appropriate for my life right now, but my love for traveling, culture and understanding remains unchanged. Over the next few months, I’ll be revamping the blog, and finding a way to bring it back into my life. Bear with me folks, we seem to be adjusting to a lot these days so any recommendations and requests are welcome! I’ve added an Instagram account so you can keep up with me even when I’m not writing, so please check it out and follow along for this crazy ride 🙂