Five Friday Faves - 3/7

Travel faves and back to routine

Happy Friday, friends!

Back to the grind! I took two weeks off between jobs, spending time in both the mountains and at the beach—the perfect reset before starting my new role. Coming back feeling refreshed and ready for work was exactly what I needed!

I'm such a schedule person, and honestly, after just one week of vacation, I was actually looking forward to getting back into a routine.

Packing and unpacking twice for our family of four in such a short time was definitely a challenge, but the memories we made were 100% worth the effort.

Travel has always been such an important part of our family life, and we're incredibly fortunate to do it regularly with our kids. We've really fine-tuned our family travel approach over the years, and I now feel very confident taking trips (short or long) with everyone in tow. Below are our favorite travel tips and tools, freshly updated now that we have two kids completely of diapers (HOW did that happen so fast?!)

OK full disclosure - I definitely shared a post about travel a few months ago, and COMPLETELY forgot until I’d already drafted this one. Cool. So if you don’t care about travel, scroll on to the ICYMI and as always THANK YOU for being here!

Packing Must Haves - If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. We are a packing cube family, and there is no other way. Every family member has their own color of Away packing cubes. I love having a range of sizes, for plane travel, or a simple car ride, this makes everything easier. For packing, I often bring the cubes into my kids’ rooms and pack on top of their dressers, and when we get a destination, I just throw them in their rooms. It makes repacking and unpacking easy too. For short trips, I only pack the clean clothes in the cubes, and the dirties at the bottom of the bag. For longer trips, I might repurpose a cube for laundry. I also use lots of zipper pouches to keep thing together - and when traveling with liquids, ziplocs.

Cosmetic Cases - I use these zipper cases for my personal cosmetics and I like that they’re structured and I don’t have to worry about certain things getting squeezed.

Two Checked Bags - We’re not in the carryon phase of life yet, but we’re definitely getting close. We have status on Delta, so we’re able to check bags for free, so it’s worth it to us to be as hands free as possible in the airport. We pack this Duffle Bag with the kids’ and my packing cubes. We usually put things that aren’t breakable in the duffle and squish as much in as possible. We use this hard sided checked bag with everything else. To Jamaica we packed our straw hats, sound machines, sunscreen, basically anything we don’t want squished.

Carry On - My husband often packs his own stuff in this Away larger carry-on. Anything that doesn’t fit sometimes ends up in the other two bags, but for the most part we check this bag.

Kid’s Bags - My son is obsessed with his own rolling bag, and we got this set for them. We let him carry it on the plane, and he does a great job with it. We sometimes put games in this bag or his clothes, but we definitely make use of this space.

Personal Item Bag- I’m still trying to figure out my forever Personal Item, but I usually use an LL Bean Boat and Tote or the No Reception Club Backpack. I also just got this gorgeous Cuyana bag for travel, but it works best when I have a carry on to rest it on.

Games and Entertainment - I have a whole cabinet full of activities for the kids, and one of our new favorites are these mini-magnatiles and Spot-it. I put the mini-magnatiles and some legos in their own zipper bags, so they pack relatively flat.

Stroller - We’re not out of the stroller phase yet, and with a 3 and 6yo, it’s so handy to have. Our Minu Stroller has done a LOT of miles with us. We can navigate it with one hand, has good storage, and goes in the overhead! We usually use the carrying backpack, but forgot it on a recent trip, and just threw the stroller in the overhead no problem. The best is never having to wait for the suitcase in the jetbridge. We also have a hook on the handle to hang bags etc. and makes getting through the airport a breeze (unless my daughter refuses to ride in it)

Travel to the Airport - For a long time because of carseats, we would drive to the airport and park, but we realized a lot of babysitters would be more than willing to drive us to the airport. Now, we have a babysitter meet us at our house before we want to leave, my husband or I drive the car with her in the third row, and then she drives our car home. On the flip, she will then drive our car to the airport to pick us up, and my husband or I will drive home. This saves a lot of dollars and there’s something nice about getting in your own car instead of re-installing a carseat.

Car Seats - I have been an evangelist of the Wayb since my son got his in 2021. I love the convenience of the backpack. We ended up getting a second for our daughter once she was 2yo. If you have any questions about this, I’m happy to chat. We just got this RideSafer vest for my son now that he’s outgrown the Wayb, and it’s nice to have an option for him that fits within the Wayb backpack. We carry the backpack on the plane when we’re headed to our destination, and often check in on the return trip since checking carseats is free. Don’t forget if you’re traveling internationally, you should get some of these seatbelt locks to ensure the carseat will be secure. Some countries do not require seatbelts to lock - and we learned this the hard way in Jamaica our first year.

What’s for Dinner

Monday - Chalupas with Beef Tacos - My son calls hard tacos chalupas. We put soft tacos around the hard tacos, and he loves them because the hard tacos don’t break as easily.

Tuesday - Pasta Fagiole from the Cucina Simpatica Cookbook - our favorite - even my kids eat this.

Wednesday - Honey Chipotle Chicken Tacos from the NYT - A perennial favorite.

Thursday - Leftover Hunter’s Minestrone.

More A Day In Her Life:

• ICYMI - This week’s episode, A Day In Her Life with Bailey Walden is SOOO Fun. Bailey is a mom of two and Lawyer in Memphis, and also the voice behind @busymomfindstime! This episode is filled with nuggets about managing life, ambition, and fending off guilt as a working mom. Bailey is such a gem and I absolutely loved chatting in person!

• February Reads - If you love to read, here’s what I read in February!

• One Year Ago - A Day In Her Life with Becca Galbraith Casey! Becca is an interior designer, who’s built a brand a shop in Connecticut. I loved chatting with her about how she manages her busy life with two kids, two dogs, and two businesses.

• I’m On Another Podcast! I have shared my love of Nurture by Naps before, and this week, I am so excited to be on the Unswaddled Podcast sharing about how I hated the newborn stage. Listen in, and if you love Emily and Jamie as much as I do, make sure to check out their episode of A Day In Her Life!

• If you love romance novels, follow something new I’m working on with my friend Anna over on @pepper_books! We’re looking for feedback on our MVP, so would love if you’d take a second to complete this quick survey!

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