We had such an AMAZING time at the Gaylord of the Rockies last week! I wanted to share our experience for those of you that might be looking for a last minute summer trip! The Gaylord is only a couple hours from us, so it made the perfect “staycation”.
The Gaylord has seasonal themed activities– this summer is the theme “pirates & princess”. We started our trip out at the art studio and painted ships and castles, then headed to the escape room. We had a blast and it was the perfect activity for all ages. We were cracking up at the end when we found Briar treasure room filling up his shirt with all the gems and coins!
We headed to the pool the next day and spent the whole day in one of their cabanas. I highly recommend one of these if you can reserve in time! We loved having space for our things, seating, and shade! The pool food was so yummy and some of our favorite meals on the trip. The pool area has a nice large pool outdoors with a small slide, an indoor pool with larger slides, and a lazy river (which was the family favorite).
In addition to the pool side food, the Gaylord has multiple restaurants on site for a nice dinner, a few casual bars and American-type food places to eat, and the cutest market place with food and drinks to take on the go. They have fun amenities include free cookies and cocktails in the afternoon, and lots to see and do around the resort! Don’t forget to end your night out by the fire with s’mores!
The last morning I woke up and headed to the spa for a massage. It was definitely one of the nicest spas I have ever experienced complete with steam showers and individual vanities to get ready. You can relax by the fire and enjoy their amazing coconut water, trail mix or a mimosa! This truly completed a busy trip on a relaxing note!
We cant wait to return this winter as they roll out new activities for the season! A huge thank you to Gaylord of the Rockies for hosting our family! This summer has been different with traveling so we made the decision to stay close to home and not book any far away trips. A drive to the Gaylord of the Rockies made it feel like we truly escaped andcreated the most fun memories of our summer!
She is eight! And absolutely LOVES her dinosaurs so it was a given when she chose it as a theme for her party. I had fun putting this together and getting creative on how to make dinosaurs “cute”. Sharing a few photos from the party! I will try to link everything still available below. When I party plan, I just focus on having one wall decorated and something on the table. Thats it! It’s easy to go overboard, but I feel like just focusing on one wall makes it less overwhelming. For activities, we had a dinosaur piñata and these rock dinosaur eggs that they worked on like a paleontologist to discover the dinosaur inside.
One of our most fun, memorable, weekends this summer was spent in Copper Mountain, Colorado. We loaded up a Friday morning and in just a few short hours we were up in the beautiful Colorado mountains. We were greeted with the smell of pine, cool air, and music in the air. Little did we know, we had planned our weekend during the Guitar Festival. Copper Mountain runs Summer Fest through the summer months and has different events going on various weekends. Always worth checking the event calendar before booking your weekend to see what fun event they might going on!
Copper Mountain is unlike any other town in Colorado. Beautiful condos surround the lake along with shops, restaurants, and family-friendly activities. (Not to mention the gorgeous scenic view of the mountains in the background.) We immediately checked out our 3-bedroom condo and the girls claimed the bedroom upstairs so they would have they own space (or basically to have their own slumber party alllll night without us knowing…) The condo had a full kitchen, dining area, washer/dryer combo, and living area. Our favorite part of it all was the balcony that overlooked the village of Copper Mountain. We loved sitting outside and listening to the different performers from the Guitar Festival.
Once we were settled, we headed back down to the village area and grabbed a bite to eat at Gustinos Pizza. One thing that we remembered from coming a couple years ago was that the food here does not disappoint. We ordered a large pizza to share and sat outside and listened to the music. We ended the night by walking around West Lake while the girls played in the beach/sand area and watched the zip-liners fly across the lake. Before heading back to our condo we also made sure to grab ice cream at Mountain Top Cookies & Crepe Stand. Our favorite dessert spot! Once we got the kids down for the night, Garth and I opened the windows so that we could enjoy the remaining acts from the Guitar Festival. Perfect ending to the start of a fun weekend!
We made sure to look at the weather the night before and rain was predicted for the afternoon on Saturday, so we got up early so we could fit all the activities in so we could miss the predicted weather. Before heading to Guest Services to grab our activity day-passes, we grabbed breakfast of champions—donuts!! These donuts are unlike any donuts you will ever eat— they are fresh-from-the-fryer-mini-donuts with variety of toppings to choose from! At Sugar Lips, you choose how many mini donuts you want, what toppings you would like (nutella/strawberries is our favorite) and they prepare them right in front of you so you can watch the magic of your donuts being made!
Once we had full bellies of donuts, grabbed our passes for the day, we started at the Rocky Mountain Coaster first. This alpine coaster takes you and a passenger all the way up the mountain and down for a scenic, thrilling roller coaster ride. The Rocky Mountain Coaster is actually 5,800 feet long, making it one of the longest in North America. Thrill-seeking-Emery and I went first and she LOVED every moment of it and begged to go again. Of all the activities this was her favorite (and mine too)
The girls decided we would try the Quad Power Jump next, but we first passed the Woodward Wrecktangle which was fun to watch both children and adults attempt this outdoor ninja obstacle challenge course! We waited in a short line, and the girls were each harnessed so they could attempt the bungee-like trampoline. This was Adelyn’s favorite activity of the day as she said she loved the feeling of “flying high in the sky”!
We grabbed some lunch at our favorite taco spot— Mahi’s Street Tacos. I love the chicken salad, while Garth’s a huge fan of the fish tacos! We sat and ate alfresco before we headed to West Lake for some fun on the bumper boats! We cruised the lake before it started to sprinkle on us, so headed for some of the shops to shelter us from the rain. We of course had to stop by the Candy Shop and let the girls choose a treat, and then ran in to some cute Colorado gift shops.
Once the rain had cleared, we walked over to our last activity of the day—Go Karts! The girls had a blast, but I think its safe to say this was Garth’s favorite! It was now late afternoon, and we decided to let Briar get a quick nap in before we headed out again for the night. While he napped, we enjoyed some of the Guitar Festival performers from our patio. Once he was up, we decided to have dessert before dinner and run down stairs to Mountain Top again for some crepes! We ended our night walking around West Lake, watching zip-liners, more of the music festival, people around the bon-fire roasting smores, and called it a day.
The next morning it was pouring, so we got up and packed up the car, and headed to Toast & Co before we headed home. This is my favorite restaurant at Copper Mountain. I love the French toast, pancakes, and avocado toast. A must if you visit!
Hands down our favorite place to visit in Colorado is Copper Mountain. We have now been both in the winter and summer months and have had non-stop activities that are fun for our whole family. The best food with several restaurants to choose from, cozy condos to make you feel right at home, and activities that the whole family will LOVE!
Thank you Copper Mountain for hosting our family for a wonderful weekend getaway. We can’t wait to return!
Our first Disney trip is in the books!! I still feel like a complete rookie when it comes to planning a Disney trip, but I thought it would be fun to share what I know and a few favorite moments!
With this being our first trip, we tagged along with my brother and sister-in-law, so naturally we let them do most of the planning. Every time I would try to get involved in the planning, I would get super overwhelmed. My SIL had a friend who was a Disney travel agent, so I honestly think that was the best move we made was in using her help us with all the little things in booking our trip. She knew all the ins-and-outs about Disney, so I think it is definitely worth looking into hiring a travel agent if its your first trip, or heck, even your 12th trip.
We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and because there was 9 of us total, we got a 2-bedroom suite with a kitchen and washer/dryer. This was so nice to have with a large group so we could all be together and have our own space too. It was amazing waking up and standing on our patio to see giraffes, zebras, and ostriches walking just feet from us. I will say though, we were hardly in our room because we planned a jam-packed week to fit all the parks in, and the resort was a 40 minute drive to most of the parks. I think next time would try to stay on Disney property but in a location closer to majority of parks. Animal Kingdom is beautiful and its definitely a resort worth experiencing.
With this being our first Disney experience, we wanted to do all the parks and make it a full trip as it takes a lot of work (and money) to get a family of 5 to Florida. We stayed on the Disney property so that we could opt into the dining & photo package with the magic bands. Highly recommend this. It made meals and paying for things so much easier. You can start booking your meals 180 days before your trip and we actually quickly found out that you should start booking right then because a lot of the decent times were already taken when we went to book. (Disney is serious business when it comes to booking–I guess I appreciate this in knowing everything is planned and booked but also stresses me out to the MAX) We did a lot of buffet dinners with characters/princesses. Definitely the highlight meal was “Cinderella’s Royal Table” which was eating in Cinderella’s actual castle in Magic Kingdom with all the princesses. However, the only time available was 9:45 that evening when we went to book which made for a verrrry late (but memorable) night. Again, book your meals right away friends.
Speaking of booking…you can also book your fast passes 60 days before your trip if you are staying on Disney’s property (30 days if you aren’t). My SIL booked our rides so I don’t have much experiences with it. However I found this post that has a lot of helpful information about fast passes.
This was our first trip, and I feel like learned a couple things I hope to remember for next time! Here are a few of them–I hope they help in planning your Disney adventure!
My Top 10 Disney Tips:
Download the My Disney App and connect all those who are in your party. It is on this app that you can see wait times on rides, your photos if you have a photographer take your photo around the park, add/delete fast passes, find restaurants and more.
If you are able to, stay on the Disney park. The whole experience was so much easier being able to opt into the meal plan, use the magic bands, the shuttle system from hotel to park etc. I just feel like they have so many more perks for those who stay on Disney property.
Use the My Disney app to order food at quick service restaurants. You will be able to skip the line and pick up your food. So worth it! Especially to get your Dole Whip!
Choose restaurants that have character meet-and-greets. The characters come around to each table while you eat for a photo and is the best way to skip the loooong lines to meet characters. We loved The Royal Table at Cinderella castle, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall to meet most of the princesses, Hollywood Vine to meet Mickey & Minnie, Dinner at the Floidian to meet Cinderella and characters, and our favorite one was breakfast at Trattoria al Forno with Ariel & Rapunzel.
The night shows at each park are amazing. We learned that many restaurants will include tickets to better seats, or find a quick service restaurant close to the water at Epcot for a good view and plan on staying until it gets dark. You will not want to miss the Magic Kingdom firework show. We booked a Fireworks Dessert Party at Tomorrowland Terrace and it was amazing. It has the best view of the show as well as a delicious dessert bar to enjoy while you watch.
Get to the parks as early as you can. The crowds gather more in the afternoon and it gets hot! Its a great time to head back to the hotel for a nap and to cool off, and then head back at dinner time when the crowds start to clear.
Once you use your 3 fast passes, hop onto your Disney app to see if you are able to grab more fast passes for other rides.
Purchase the photo package. Totally worth it because it includes rights to all photos taken of you and your family throughout the week. Saves you so much money and time from trying to decide which photos to buy when you can just get them all.
Bring: Comfortable walking shoes. If you have a baby/toddler who will be riding the stroller quite a bit, bring a portable stroller fan. Extra change of clothes for the kids. (They will be eating messy food and getting wet on some rides) Baby sling to wrap your little one while you stand in line. Bag to hold all the things, light and durable–love this one. Portable phone charger. You will be using your phone for so much with the app and taking photos/video–I highly recommend this one.
Which brings me to my last tip. Take lots of video. You will be getting so many photos through the photo package, and I feel like video captures your trip so much more than a photo. Make sure to take all your video horizontally, and then hire Isabell Family Films to take all your videos and compile it into one beautiful keepsake video that you will treasure forever. You can see the video she put together for our family below, and we have watched it at least a zillion times. These videos will be so much fun to watch together as family as the kids grow to remember fun trips & moments. Kalee has so kindly created an exclusive discount just for my followers to get 10% off their first video/video package. Use LOVE10 at checkout to save!
What did I miss? Leave any tips/suggestions below OR questions! Disney truly is the happiest place on earth, and we cant wait to go back!
Briar is ONE!!! How quickly the year went and we are just so smitten with this little guy! We gave him the nickname, “Briar Bear” when he was just a month old, so of course we had to give him a party to fit his name!
This party was so easy and SO fun to throw! We kept it simple with a cake table, and a balloon garland wall behind his highchair. The party was at 10 in the morning so we had quiche, fruit, and donuts. Just a few family and friends came, and this to date was my most low-key and fun party I’ve thrown. (quite a difference from Adelyn’s first birthday when I basically invited everyone and their mom…) While I love to get creative with parties there is nothing fun about being exhausted or spread thin the day of the party. If I can suggest anything when throwing your child a birthday party is to KEEP IT SIMPLE! You will be thanking yourself later when you look back and see you actually got to take it all in and enjoy the day rather than frantically obsessing about every detail.
It was the best day celebrating him with lots of balloons and cake! He woke up to a crib full of balloons & party hats, and continued the day with lots of yummy food & his fav song, “Baby Shark”, on repeat.
Ok. Let’s get into the details! I knew I wanted to do a balloon garland behind his highchair and decided to do the “one” in moss to go with the forest-bear-bee-kind-of-theme. I bought the wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, and adhesive spray glue along with live moss from their floral section. I would just spray a little glue and then add moss until all the wood was covered. I made the balloon garland from a kit on Amazon using balloons from Sweet Lu Lu. The highchair garland was a few fern leaves tied together using fishing line.
On the cake table, I kept it simple with our Letterfolk letter board, the most beautiful cakes made by my friend, Mel, the little honey jars for favors, and bear honey containers filled with chocolate milk. The cakes were hands-down the best part of the party as they were made in a bee-hive shape, with honey ganache frosting, and a honey swirl cake. It tasted incredible and Briar seemed to agree as well.
Emery is our sweet sunshine girl, who brings laughter wherever she goes. She has so many fun interests that I knew planning her party would be a blast. When we sat down to brainstorm ideas, she immediately started naming off all the things she loved, her pink octopus, dancing, flamingos, candy etc. So it sparked the idea to have an “Emery Party” of all the things she loves at the age of 4.
This is was the most simple, yet fun party I’ve planned. We had just a couple of her friends and family over, Chick-fil-A catered (her favorite), made bracelets for fun, cut into a surprise candy cake, flamingo piñata, and just let her run the day. Usually at past parties, I was frantically trying to get all the details right, talking to all the guests, making sure everyone was fed that I could hardly enjoy the actual person we were celebrating.
Not this time. Letting her help me plan the party was so fun and less stressful. It reminded me to let the little things go and just focus on what is important– who is being celebrated.
Most of the party decoration and supplies were from Witty Bash. This is absolute cutest little party shop that has everything you need for your next party. The owner Stefanie was absolutely amazing at helping me plan all the details and color scheme. I HIGHLY recommend this shop to help you with all your next party!
For the background, I just traced her name and painted the letters. I used the balloon garland kit linked above to make the balloon garland. And our sweet friend Mel nailed the cake by surprising Emery with her favorite food group in the middle–CANDY!
You are light and love my sweet, sweet Emery. It was a joy celebrating YOU today, and everyday.
This is one of my favorite posts to share each year. I love finding fun things I know our kids will love, while also filling it with things that I know will be used and not add clutter. This year was even more fun being able to put together a small baby basket for a special little boy. I can’t believe this is his last first holiday we will celebrate with him. How quickly it has gone this year.
I am always amazed at the talent and creativity of small shops. I want to 100% support them and help give them allllll exposure, so I teamed up with a few to share some adorable Easter Basket ideas. Look out for discount codes and even a sale below!
Sunnies: A pair of sunnies usually always goes in their basket, especially with summer on the horizon. These flowers ones are so so adorable.
Bloom Tee: Love this simple, but fun tee for spring!
Rainbow Necklace: Handmade necklace that I know the girls will love year round. SO many other color options too!
Magnetic Doll: The girls are obsessed with these magnetic dolls, and now they come in travel size! Perfect for any trips you might have coming up!
Floral Bow: I like to put a couple of fun accessories that can be used and worn more than once! Loving this fun floral print!
Butterfly Pillow: A different take on not including a stuffed animal but instead a cute pillow! Bla Bla has so much cute options of both pillows AND stuffed animals for your basket. Use code: tinylove15 for 15% off your order!
Book: Anything Jo touches is gold, so of course this book is more for me than them– but I can’t wait to read this book that Joanna Gains wrote with her children.
Chalk: Picked these up from Target in the summer aisle! And they are glitter chalk!
Wunderdough: This is the cutest play dough ever! Completely natural ingredients using essential oils, coloring from plants, and biodagradiable glitter! I love that it mimics ice-cream and is safe for kids to play with!
Bunny Diffuser: My girls love picking out their essential oils for the day so this will be so fun to fill up this spring in their room!
Teether: Honestly we can’t have enough teethers right now. One in every room in the house, car, diaper bag–you name it. Many of these teethers are on sale until the 7th!
Pacifier: And again just like the teethers, we can’t have enough pacifiers. And they all seem to go missing–so of course I’m sticking a few new ones in his basket!
Bib: Always on the hunt for good bibs! Loving this leather one with the pocket! Cute!
Lamb Lovie: Sweetest little lovie– best part?? It’s on sale! Use code: EASTERBUNNY for 15% off!
Pajamas: My favorite pjs for Briar (and the girls) are from Childhoods. Incredibly soft and will last until they outgrow them!
Building Toys: Love the coloring of these toys, not only will they look so cute in a nursery but are perfect for those beginning toys! (These are alway a part of the sale with code: EASTERBUNNY)
Hat: I have struggled finding cute hats for Briar for this summer! Loving this mustard one–now if he will only keep it on!
Stuffed bunny: We LOVE all our Bla Bla Kids dolls, best quality and so darn cute! Use code: tinylove15 for 15% off your purchase!
Hope these were helpful! What are you putting in your child’s Easter basket this year?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Matchstick Monkey. The opinions and text are all mine.
Briar just celebrated his nine-month milestone—how are we only 3 months away from ONE?!?! He has changed so much lately and is interested in everything. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things he is loving lately and that I would highly recommend for your babe!
He has yet to cut a tooth, but he is definitely working on it. I have been on the hunt to find the perfect teether that keeps him busy, while also soothing his sore gums. If I could truly choose anything that is being used the most right now, it’s the Matchstick Monkey Dancing Monkey Teether…I’ll share more below on why it’s a favorite!
It’s ergonomically designed to fit in little hands with multiple ways to grip the teether (even with feet as shown by Briar…) I think this is so nice to have this option so that they can hold it from any angle to chew.
But what I think he loves most about it, is the multiple textures to soothe his teething pain. Briar loves chewing on the back of the Monkey’s head that has toothbrush-like bumps that act as the perfect training toothbrush! Multiple colors, dishwasher safe, & BPA free!
**tip: it can be chilled in the freezer to really help sooth sore gums.
2. Toddler chair – This was Briar’s gift for Christmas. He loves to just be able to sit and watch the girls play. He has never been a fan of tummy time but enjoys sitting instead. It’s the easiest little chair to carry around the house so he always has a seat!
3. Snuggle Me Organic Toddler Lounger – We loved the infant lounger, and it was so nice that they recently made it an option to move right into a toddler lounger when the infant size is out-grown.
4. Once Upon a Farm baby food – Briar actually just started like solids a little more. He has had no interest in food until recently when we tried the Once Upon a Farm baby food packets. I had tried everything from other brands, to even making my own baby food. He immediately loved the taste of these, and I loved that there are no preservatives, contain organic ingredients, and are cold pressed so they have to be refrigerated.
5. Green Beanie– I mean can you not get enough of a baby in a winter hat?!?! Yea, me either.
6. Stuffed Chicken – Okay, okay this one is totally my pick. I died when I found this cute little chicken. I hope one day he loves it as much as I do.
7. Night Sets – These Childhoods night sets have been on repeat. Incredibly soft, cutest prints, and easy for diaper changes.
Hope you can find a few of these favorites helpful! Now, if I can only press pause because I know I will blink, and soon I will be sharing his one-year-old favorites!
Riding a bike. It’s like a right of passage into childhood. I didn’t start learning how to ride a bike until I was almost 5, so when Adelyn turned 4 we bought her a bike with training wheels in hopes that maybe when she turned 5 or 6 she would be ready to ride without the training wheels. Here’s what happened. We gave her the bike and thought she would love it and want to ride everyday, while in fact the complete opposite happened. We gave her the bike and she hated riding it. The pedals were to hard for her to push, she felt uncomfortable, and didn’t like how the training wheels made the bike wobble as she rode it. So back to riding her tricycle she went.
That is until she got her Strider Balance Bike. Friends, if I could give every parent in the world one tip it would be to skip the bike with training wheels, and buy your child a balance bike to learn on. Here’s why:
With a Strider Bike your child can start as early as 6 months learning how to sit and balance on a bike
They are designed to teach young children how to steer and balance on two wheels
By using just foot propulsion, children are more likely to learn the fundamentals of riding, which then makes transitioning to a bike easy to do
Adelyn & Emery have been obsessed with learning to balance and steer on their bike, we actually have been letting them practice in the house as it’s too cold to go outside much right now. They are currently using the 14x Sport Strider Bike, which is recommended for ages 3-7. I love that once they seem like the have learned how to balance we can easily put on the pedals that came with their bike.
For Briar who is almost 8 months, we are allowing him to learn how to rock before he rides. We have the 12 Sport Baby Bundle with the attachable rocking base and this bike is good for ages 6 months up to 5 years old. I think it is SO neat that they have an option for babies to start getting used to sitting on a bike at the young age of 6 months. It acts just like a rocking horse, except you are allowing your baby to become familiar with sitting on a bike seat, how to hold the handle bars, and soon enough balance themselves enough to rock it back and forth!
Remember at the beginning of this post when I said that I thought that all kids learn how to ride a bike around the age of 5?? But what if they were able to start learning before they could even walk? I can’t wait to see how quickly Briar catches on by starting him this young!
Balance bikes are designed with only foot propulsion, so when they have the fundamentals of balance and steering down, then we can easily transition them to a bike with pedals. This is why training wheels aren’t needed and they are able to teach themselves how to ride a bike at their own pace. With a Strider Bike they are able to develop balance, coordination, and confidence.
Riding a bike may be a right of passage into childhood, but it also plays a part in their development with balance, coordination, and confidence. Giving our children a Strider Bike has not only been amazing in the developmental aspect, but in encouraging them to play each day. No lie, they love their bikes so much that they park them next to their bed each night, and first thing in the morning they are up riding them around the house. (I can’t wait for warmer weather and not to have my toes ran over anymore…) I LOVE that they are playing and having the best time each day learning to balance on their bikes so that this summer we will possibly be able to add the pedals.
These have been the BEST gift to our children. It’s the gift that can ride with them throughout their childhood.
Can you believe we are less than two weeks away?!?! I told myself I would have all my shopping done by December 1st and here we are, December 12th, not finished. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime and allllll the blogs that have gift guides for the ideas! This year I have just been feeling more overwhelmed by all the buying and hoping to do more experiences in exchange for tangible gifts. We plan on taking the girls to a holiday tea and to Disney World in the spring as part of their Christmas gift. I just feel at this age, it can get to be overwhelming with all the toys that don’t last forever—but memories always do! We did get them a few gifts to have under the tree, so I am sharing a few things we got them, as well as things I just found super cute! I hope these guides can help with any last minute shopping and I believe all will ship before Christmas! Enjoy!
Enjoy this season with your littles! I encourage you to slow-down this season, disconnect from social media, say no to obligations that may cause unnecessary stress, and soak in this magical month with loved-ones.
