We can all use a few more hands
My sister in law is getting married tomorrow, so we took a road trip to Texas. Can’t wait to tell you all about our adventures! That will be coming next week after we get back home!
We just got back from at trip to Disney World a few weeks back. This was my third time breastfeeding a baby at Disney World during our vacations. Most of our kids have visited Disney before their 1st birthday, and usually before they are crawling. It’s so much easier to take a trip when the baby is still easily portable. Breastfeeding at Disney doesn’t have to be complicated. Through my experiences, I’ve come up with some tips for you guys if you find yourself with a hungry baby that needs nursing at Disney.
My first tip for breastfeeding at Disney would be to find the Baby Care Center. Having 5 kids, I’m no longer very shy about nursing, however, it’s HOT in Disney World during most of the year. During our most recent trip in March, I was sweaty, baby was sweaty, and we found it much more comfortable to make it to the Baby Care Center and sit in the air conditioning. They have a private quiet room to nurse in, which worked great for my nosey little nursling. He was at the stage where he would rather look at everything else despite his hunger. The quietness helped him stay focused and we both were able to be refreshed.
Inside the baby centers, they have all sorts of baby essentials – baby food, diapers, wipes, creams, powder, and more. I was very pleased with the variety of items that were available for sale.
Even though it’s Disney World, it is still possible to find a quiet corner. I found a quiet area near the bathrooms at Splash Mountain. There are also some nice cement railings that worked great near the Dumbo ride. Keep your eyes out and you will find some! You could even ask a cast member for directions to the nearest quiet area. Corners of restaurants work well. Most people are so busy wrapped up in the Disney excitement that they won’t even notice you.
I recommend always using your discretion, but we did find several rides that were perfect for nursing. Below are my favorites in each park.
Breastfeeding at Disney is totally allowed! In Florida, you can breastfeed anywhere you please! I’ve heard from other moms that take their baby in the Ergo and nurse while they walk. I’ve never been coordinated enough to do this, but if you can, go for it! Have fun, stay hydrated, and try to keep cool!
Do you have any others to add? Leave a comment and tell me your favorites.
Also – check out the rest of our Disney World Tips.
This past year, I couldn’t decide what to get my mom for Christmas. Then I remember how she has always mentioned wanting to visit the Biltmore Estate at Christmastime. We have heard that the Biltmore at Christmas is something worth traveling to see.
My brother and I came up with a plan to surprise her and take our entire families (5 adults and NINE children) to fulfill her Christmas wish. Visiting Biltmore Estate with kids turned out to be much more fun than I expected.
With all of the children with ages from 12 all the way down to 3 months at that time, I was a little worried if it was going to be worth it. In the end, I’m very glad that we all went. Here are a few tips to hopefully make your trip to Biltmore Estate fun with children.
Lake Lanier recently invited our family to come check out their Winter Adventure activities. We had an absolute blast and it wasn’t crowded at all on the day we went! For starters, we drove through the Magical Nights of Lights and then pulled off at Winter Adventure, which is where the water park is during summer. Everything was so beautifully lit, it was like a magical winter land!
The kids, their aunt, and my husband had a blast going down the water slides on sleds! I had fun watching them while holding the baby. The sled rides do require a helmet, so keep that in mind. The “ice skating” was okay. There isn’t any ice- it’s just plastic you’re skating on. The kids had fun but my husband and his sister didn’t quite enjoy it. They are used to real ice.
We spent most of our time down at the Fun Dunker zone, which had been turned into a snow playground. There were little slides, snow ball makers, toys, and more. The kids really liked it.
Another big hit was the Knockerball. You get to climb inside a big bubble and try and knock your friends and family over. We all had a blast! Lots of hysterical laughing!
Want to see some of the sledding first hand?
My husband really enjoyed the zip lining. His sister did as well and you can hear her screaming a little in this video!
Big thanks to Lake Lanier Nights of Lights and Winter Adventure for hosting us! We had an excellent time!
For more information, visit the Lanier World website.
We’ve always been huge fans of Chick-Fil-A, but now since we’ve been on the backstage home office tour, we are even bigger fans! I had no idea that they even offered these tours, so I’m excited to tell you about them!
You have a choice between the Original and the Deluxe tour. On the Original, you can learn the history of the Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy, and the core values of the company with a visit to the History Museum. This tour is FREE! The Deluxe offers this plus you can experience Truett Cathy’s office, take a quick shuttle ride to see new product development in “The Kitchen” and visit the “Hatch” innovation center. It is $15 per person. Both require reservations. You can find more about that HERE.
We took the Deluxe tour along with some other Chick-Fil-A mom bloggers today. It was a ton of fun! During the tour, we were even allowed to sample some top secret new items that will be rolling out next year! How exciting is that! I wish I could tell you about them, but I’m sworn to secrecy 🙂
The Story of Chick-fil-A® and founder, Truett Cathy, encompasses the BIG 3 ideas:
Throughout the tour, you’ll see these ideas expressed.
Chick-Fil-A has a huge warehouse called the Hatch Innovation Center that they use for training. In this warehouse, they actually have 3 prototype working restaurants for training! These were pretty neat to see! Everyone was bustling around making sure that everything went smoothly and finding out ways to make the restaurants work more efficient. They even had a fake drive-thru where they used trikes instead of cars. We could see a lot of the neat ideas that are being tossed around at Chick-Fil-A from future restaurant designs to uniform ideas.
On top of everything in the warehouse, EVERYONE was so happy! All of the employees were genuinely happy! We even witnessed a group of employees sitting down for a Bible study together! How many other jobs offer that!? Our tour guide told us that they have miles of walking trails throughout the campus and also a fishing pond. If someone has a bad day, they are free to go for a walk to clear their head or even go fishing! Working out at the wellness center is also an option. My husband was about ready to switch jobs 😉 He especially wanted to work in the kitchen where they sample food daily and work on creating new an exciting menu item! We were able to sample the new Greek yogurt that is rolling out right now and it was very good! Twice the protein and half the sugar!
We loved seeing all the fun cars and even the Batmobile in the “Moo-Seum”. So many beautiful collectable cars! Up in Truett Cathy’s office, we heard stories about the Cathy family and the kids were even invited to sit at his desk. The flag was given to Truett from soldiers in Operation Enduring Freedom. So much history, so many interesting facts! I think we will have to take another trip just to have time to see everything in more depth!
Of course, no trip is complete without taking a picture on their billboard! Don’t worry, this was on the ground, not up in the air!
Big thanks to Chick-Fil-A to having us out for the day! We had a great time! Can’t wait to come back!
Again, if you’re interested in taking a FREE Original or $15 Deluxe Tour, visit their website.
This past week, after a slight delay, we spent a few days up in Dahlonega, Georgia. Dahlonega is by far my favorite place, even over Disney World. I love the fresh mountain air, the history, the restaurants, and the peacefulness. We try to go up as often as we can for some family relaxation.
Our friends over at Consolidated Gold Mines were so gracious to invite us in for a morning of fun! We were given a guide of the mine, gold panning, and gem mining. What a wonderful and educational experience this turned out to be! There is actually still gold in the hills but it’s not cost effective currently to mine it.
Our tour guide, Mr. Chris, helped us through the mine and made it super fun along the way with tidbits of information and humor. The Consolidated Gold Mine consists of 6 miles of mines that wind their way through the mountains. Way back during the mining days, in one day, they could pull out enough gold to equal over a million dollars in the current market! That’s amazing! Miners were paid $1 a day to work in the mines, with the exception of men who worked with a particular drill. The drill would cause them to be deaf in about a month’s time because it was so loud. Those workers made $1.50 per day.
For $2 a day, you could be a mine safety inspector. These were the guys that would make sure that all the dynamite actually exploded as it was supposed to and take care of any that didn’t go off. Mr. Chris told us that only 1 in 4 safety inspectors survived the job. However at $2 a day when other jobs outside the mine brought in around $.35 a day, this job was in high demand.
The walking tour of the mine was fantastic and I’m so glad we were given the opportunity to experience it. From my 4 year old up to us adults, we all loved it. Definitely note to not bring a stroller as it’s impossible to take through the mine and to wear closed toe shoes. The mine floor can be a little slippery! I would recommend it for most kids that aren’t afraid of darker areas and can listen, otherwise they may end up in the stream of water and stained orange for a while 🙂 There is also a short time when they turn out the lights to show you how incredibly dark the mine gets with no light. My kids were not bothered by the darkness as we were told it was going to be happening and was just for a moment.
After the tour, we ended up at the gold panning station. There is a short video to show you how to pan for gold and then you can get started! All of us found gold – either in nugget form or flakes. The kids were super excited and were already plotting how to spend their gold 😉 Mr. Chris put the gold in a little vial for us to take home.
We ended up our trip with gem mining. This was so much fun! We were given a big bucket of dirt and the kids went at it! My littles really enjoyed this since it was quite easier than the gold panning for their ages. Simply pile the dirt in your box, place it in the water, and watch to see what appears! We found all sorts of goodies from Fool’s Gold, rubies, sapphires, amethyst, and more! I can’t even remember all the names of stones that we found. The picture above is just what I found, not including all 4 kids and hubby’s goodies! The sand is loaded! They even have a studio where they can turn your finds into jewelry right there at the mine!
Definitely an A+ rating from us! We had a blast and hope to return again soon! This fits in perfectly with a homeschool excursion as well since it’s very educational.
Consolidated Gold Mine is open 7 days a week, rain or shine, from 10am-5pm. For more information, visit their website or facebook page.
A few days ago, I started telling you about our first day in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Today I will continue on with our 2nd day in Fayetteville. We started the day with a wonderful complimentary breakfast at Fairfield Inn & Suites – Fayetteville North. The food was great and there was a nice variety available.
From there, we ventured on to Fascinate-U Kids Museum. Fascinate-U is a hands-on children’s museum located in historical downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina. For almost two decades, it has been a destination where children have been able to explore their world through creative role-playing, manipulation, and interaction with each other and their environment. My little girls had an absolute blast pretending and imagining at the museum. There were so many different things to do and to be!
For lunch before leaving Fayetteville, we were invited by New Deli. You know a restaurant is awesome when it is super busy at lunch time with people waiting for a table and lots of to-go orders! They were hopping!
New Deli is known for their incredible dessert apples, but I was personally impressed with their allergy friendly idea. They do not have a list of allergens on their breads, so I wasn’t able to risk it for my son, but our awesome waitress suggested making some ham and cheese roll-ups for him instead! What a simple idea and he was thrilled! She even warmed them up a little so it was nice and cheesy. Very pleased with their service!
The dessert apples are giant apples on a stick rolled in all sorts of candies and goodness! We tried the Apple Pie, which is their most popular, the Reeses, and the Rocky Road. We loved all of them, but we have to agree with everyone else on the Apple Pie being #1! We badly need a New Deli here in Athens, GA! I think it would go over super well!
Thanks again so much to the Fayetteville, North Carolina visitors bureau for setting up this incredible trip for us and helping us feel so incredibly at home in your wonderful city! We had a fantastic time and look forward to visiting again! Thanks again also to all the wonderful sponsors of this trip. You can find all of their links below:
We were recently invited to come visit the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina. We decided to visit after our recent Myrtle Beach trip. Our family had never been to Fayetteville before although several of our friends have and several actually grew up there. Greater Fayetteville is proud of its rich role in our nation’s history and holds fast to the friendly feel of a true hometown, while providing the cultural and entertainment amenities of bigger cities.
Upon arrival to Fayetteville, we first stopped at the Visitor’s Center, where we picked up brochures, information, and my kids favorites – passports! The passports had a bunch of the local attractions and museums inside and when you went to that place, you could get your passport stamped with the locations exclusive stamp. My kids really enjoyed this!
Our next stop was the Airborne and Special Operations Museum Foundation. The Airborne & Special Operations Museum is owned and operated by the United States Army and is part of the United States Army Museum system. The main gallery is designed as a self-guided tour, in chronological order, through the history of airborne and special operations soldiers from 1940 to the present. I think my husband and my son could have spent all day in this museum! There was so much history and as you walked through, you were able to see weapons, uniforms, aircraft, and more from each of the wars. This museum was free to visit!
From there we visited the North Carolina Veteran’s Park. This was right across from the Airborne Museum. This park was fairy small and didn’t take a lot of time to check out, but it was very sobering. The picture on the left above was a wall with dog tags featuring the names of every North Carolina Casualty from the different wars. Yes, each of those little silver things is a dog tag. Very, very sobering, and this was just from North Carolina. This park was also free to visit.
After this, it started pouring down rain so we went ahead to our hotel, Fairfield Inn & Suites – Fayetteville North. This hotel is brand new, super clean, and fit us perfectly! We had a 2 Queen Bed Studio Room with a sofa bed. This room features a large fridge, sink, and even a dishwasher! I loved the color patterns in the rooms as well. Nice and bright and modern. Our absolutely favorite feature was the HUGE glass shower! It was so wonderful and relaxing!
Look how beautiful the rooms are! And the beds were so super comfy that we slept very soundly!
After we got settled in our room, we headed out for my birthday dinner! The Mash House graciously invited us in and provided gift cards for us to use during our dinner. The food at The Mash House was absolutely incredible. So much flavor and great atmosphere! Their items are made from scratch in house so perfectly allergy friendly! My kids gobbled down their macaroni and cheese and fresh pizzas in no time at all. My husband enjoyed sampling a few of their beers and settled on their most popular, the Hefeweizen. My husband enjoyed their NY Strip Steak and the garlic mashed potatoes as a side were fantastic! I loved my Mushroom Stout Burger with Asparagus! Their desserts are fantastic as well. They offered a red velvet cheesecake, and then my favorite, the Chocolate Stout Cake! Perfect for a birthday dinner! This definitely ranks as one of my favorite restaurants! We will definitely be returning the next time we’re in Fayetteville!
For more, see our 2nd day in Fayetteville!
As I mentioned the other day, my family and I took off for 3 nights, 4 days at the Captain’s Quarters Resort in Myrtle Beach last week. This is a sister resort of Crown Reef, which we visited this past fall.
Upon arrival, we checked out our Angle Oceanfront Suite. My favorite part is the full working kitchen! We were able to make food right in our room to save money and to eat healthier! This suite features a full-size refrigerator, microwave, stove, toaster, coffee maker, and basic cookware and dinnerware! It worked out perfectly for our family!
The first room in the Angle Oceanfront Suite has a double bed and a privacy door. This comes in handy when you’re on a trip as a family and the adults need a little alone time. 😉 Side note – the door did not have a lock.
From there, you walk through the kitchen and the bathroom is off the kitchen. The bathroom featured double sinks and a large shower/tub. The next room featured a King size bed and a pull out sofa. I thought I grabbed a picture of that, but I’m sorry to say that I didn’t. This room had a table with 3 chairs and a large TV with DVD player. We also had a deck with absolutely gorgeous views! Check it out!
At Captain’s Quarters Resort, we found a lot of things to fill our time. Of course we spent plenty of time walking on the beach, but honestly it was too cold to enjoy the water. My crazy kids did get their feet in, though.
Since it was the off season, what was there to do? For starters, Captain’s Quarters has their own bowling alley on level 6! It was a full working bowling alley, not anything virtual. Resort guests get a free game of bowling each night, shoe rental extra. We totally took advantage of this! Bowling alley opens at 11am every day. For the kids just learning, they offer bumpers that will pop up and help keep their bowling ball in the lane. They also have this neat dinosaur that my little girls were able to use that acted like a ramp to send the ball down the alley. I think this was the first time that many of my kids went bowling and they loved it! The alley was clean and smoke free, which is important to our family. Snacks and a game room are available in the bowling alley as well.
We tried several of the snack foods at Level Six. I loved their fried pickles and virgin strawberry daiquiris and the kids really enjoyed their slushies. Speaking of food, in the mornings, Captain’s Quarters Resort offers a breakfast buffet for an additional charge. The food was great and they even have an omelette station! YUM! You can also walk right across the street to The Loco Gecko, which is a very highly recommended restaurant for lunch and dinner items.
Besides the bowling alley, Captain’s Quarters has an indoor swimming pool, toddler pool, and lazy river that are heated. During the summer months they have more pool options, but we were very happy with the indoor options. My kids loved riding down the lazy river and swimming in the pool.
Captain’s Quarters is also located close to all the major Myrtle Beach attractions. This trip, we decided to visit Wonder Works. It ended up being a super awesome and educational place and we cannot wait to go back! I cannot say enough good things about this attraction, plus it’s close by Captain’s Quarters so you don’t have to drive very far.
Captain’s Quarters Resort is a great and affordable hotel in Myrtle Beach. I have no complaints at all from our 3 night stay other than I wish we could have stayed longer! I left the resort feeling more relaxed than I have in a while, but perhaps that is because my sweet hubby did most of the cooking 😉
We had a great time and a big thank you to Vacation Myrtle Beach and Captain’s Quarters for sponsoring this trip.
This past weekend, we headed on over to Stone Mountain to play in the snow along with many other local bloggers. Snow Mountain has become a fun family tradition for us. My kids love playing in the snow, which is a rare occurrence here in Georgia.
We started off playing over at Fort Snow, where my littles were able to go down the little tube slides. When it was our time slot, we hit the slopes! We did the family ride several times and then my big kids did the single rider tube slides a bunch of times. The big kids loved the slides. My littles liked them, but really preferred to play in the snow at Fort Snow.
Great time was had by all! If you’re interested in going, Stone Mountain is offering up Snow Mountain Camping packages. Deals start at just $119 and include snow mountain passes and camping! We went camping at Stone Mountain last year and it was a great experience.
