Los Angeles, CA (November 2021)

This is our first airplane trip in a year and a half! I truly thought that the kids would have at least one Covid shot before getting on this plane, but that was wishful thinking. But at some point we just have to go and move on. We were so excited to get off the east coast and to see Dan and family! This is a trip that had gotten rescheduled twice before so we were really looking forward to it. 

Our first full day (when the kids woke up around 3:30am) had us going to Point Dume in Malibu. This was a short easy walk on the cliffs on Malibu with wonderful views. 

This day was also Halloween and the kids were beyond excited to go trick or treating in their scary costumes. It was so odd trick or treating with palm trees around! We're so used to colder weather and leaves falling off the trees. 

The next day we went to Santa Monica Pier. It was empty! Which I was grateful for. There were absolutely no lines and the kids had the run of the place. 

The kids (and us!) really needed a chill day the next day. J wasn't adjusting to the time change as quickly as M or us so she was pretty tired. From Dan's house we walked to the La Brea Tar pits. We had taken J here before in 2015 since it's so close to the house. We walked around and explained to the kids what they were looking at. They were fascinated! 

We then walked to LACMA and walked around the outside. We truly were trying to stay outside as much as possible so we didn't go inside the museum. But the outside has enough to look at that everyone was satisfied. And we showed them where we had a picnic in 2017 with them (not that they remember...)

That about wraps up our LA time! We spent the rest of the time in Joshua Tree. 

New Haven, CT (May 2021)

Ok, so I may have been trying to recreate our November trip during the Memorial Day weekend trip. And it would have been just as wonderful, if it hadn't rained the. whole. time. From the minute we got there Friday night, until the minute we left Monday around 11, it rained. There was probably a total of 2 hours total that it wasn't raining. And that's when we were able to leave the house haha. It was unfortunate because we all had such a fun time later. But we made do. 

We went to the Pez factory nearby in order to get the kids out. They had fun, while I was nervous about being inside with too many people. 

We were still able to eat the amazing food so there's that! 

Local Skiing all Winter (Mohawk, Mt. Peter, Shawnee)

No trips out west for us this year, but we checked out some ski resorts that we hadn't been to yet or in a while! The kids are really improving and it's a great activity to do together. Hopefully we'll make it out west next year! 

New Haven, CT (Nov. 2020)

So this is the week we had planned to go to Italy, but... Covid. And since we didn't want to be on a plane to go somewhere in the US, we checked out short driving trips from our area. Let me just say that this trip was fantastic! The weather was amazing... high 60s and sun in the beginning of November?? Yes please! 

We rented a house directly on the beach. We could open the back door and we were on the sand. And with the beautiful weather we were able to sit and relax while the kids played on the beach the whole time. 

We ate delicious food, namely lobster rolls and clam chowder and drank wine on the deck. The kids LOVED this trip and I have to say that we did too. 

The Poconos (Aug. 2020)

Whew, 2020 sure has been fun hasn't it! After months of staying home we decided that we had to get out of New Jersey and go on a little trip. We settled on a house (with an amazing game room!) in a lake community on Arrowhead Lake. This community had two outdoor pools, a lake where we could kayak, a playground, nearby hiking, and a lovely neighborhood to walk in. 

Our first day there we drive to a hike called the Poconos Heritage Land Trust Trail. This was probably a 2 mile easy hike that passed through rocks and a creek. The kids had fun splashing in some water and we got some great outdoors time. Another hike we did on the last day after leaving the house was the Hemlock trail and the Woodland Trail. This provided a nice break from the car, although we think the kids were done with hiking!

We went to the pool a few times. We had to make reservations ahead of time in order to reduce how many people were let in due to Covid (although it still seemed pretty crowded!). 

One morning we rented a four person kayak for a couple of hours and paddled around the lake. We had so  much fun! We stopped on the other side of the lake to get out and play and enjoy the scenery! 

And of course, no lake or hiking trip would be complete without a firepit with smores! 

We never would have come here for a summer getaway had Covid not been around and I'm so glad that we did!