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! 

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (Jan. 2020)

Jon's mom, Lori, had a big birthday this winter and to celebrate they took the whole family to the Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana. Woohoo! This was our first time going on a hot weather vacation in a long time! And our Florida trips to see the grandparents don't count. I'm talking about sitting on a pool chair or laying on the beach all day while someone brings me a ton of pretty alcoholic beverages. It was a much needed vacation for all of us and it was nice to spend the quality time with the family.

We slept at an airport Marriott the night before since we had an early flight. I'm going to emphasize the had part. After we boarded on time and everything was out of the bags for the kids to settle into their seats, the pilot announced that there was a mechanical issue and that everyone had to deplane! Um, excuse me? And we had to take everything with us since they weren't sure if we were going to use that plane. So off the plane we went to then wait in the gate area for over an hour. That was fun. We finally boarded the plane again and we arrived safely in Punta Cana!

We were able to give the kids some pool time before dinner while we watched some very inebriated British group try to take an action photo at the pool. It was pretty entertaining!

The next day we went to a fabulous buffet breakfast, changed into our suits and plopped ourselves in front of the pool for the entire morning. The kids had a blast at the pool while we drank a ton pina coladas. Seriously, I think I had about 8. And then we started asking for a side of rum. We all had such a great time!

That afternoon we went to the water park on the other side of the resort. This is where the "kid" side is. I think if M was a little older then Jon and I would have had a great time there, but because we had to watch her every step of the way and help her a lot we really couldn't enjoy or relax the way we wanted to. Such is life with young kids, right? There was a lazy river that we did get to go around in and of course we had the pina coladas keep on coming! J got to meet spongebob and two of the ninja turtles, which she was excited about!

The rest of our days there were about the same, except we didn't go back to the waterpark side. The kids were very content playing in the pool the whole time. We made our way to the beach one morning, but just to dip our toes in and play in the sand. One night there was a little festival outside in the square where there was music, vendors, and street food. 

A tip for anyone that wants to visit this resort... go longer than 4 nights/5 days! The time flew by and we left feeling like we needed just one more day. But isn't that always the way when you're having a good time?

Fort Lauderdale area, Florida, U.S.

April 2019

It was time for our annual trip to Florida to visit our grandparents. While we love seeing the grandparents (we have my grandma, my grandpa, and Jon's grandma) and they're all conveniently located within a 15 mile radius of each other, it is not a very relaxing trip. In fact, 2018's trip to Florida is dubbed "The South Florida Rehab Center and Hospital tour" because all we were doing was sitting in these facilities while our grandparents recovered from ailments. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our grandparents and are so fortunate that they are still alive, but it is absolutely no fun for two little kids to be in those environments for most of our time away. This year we vowed to do things differently. First, we only had one grandparent in a rehab center this time so that helped. Second, we made a plan to see everyone within our first 24 hours there and then move on to our on mini vacation in Fort Lauderdale. So that's what we did and we had a great time!

So our first 24 hours in the West Palm Beach area looked like this:

Tuesday night right from the airport we did a quick visit with Jon's grandma at her rehab. The next morning we went back to the rehab and visited with her some more. She looked good and was so happy to see us!

From there we went to my grandfather's and Natalie's (his companion) apartment. We were able to stay and visit with them for a few hours.

We then went to visit with my Aunt Lynne and Uncle Howie in Delray Beach. We had some lunch with them at their condo and swam in their pool which was a much needed break for the kids.

Lastly, we drove to my grandma's house in Boynton Beach. There was space for the kids to play and room for us to relax.

Whew! What a whirlwind day, but it was so nice to visit with everyone.

After leaving my grandma's house we drove to Fort Lauderdale and checked into our fabulous room! What an amazing view!

The next few days we spent a good amount of time at the pool, eating some good food at local restaurants, walking around the area, and spending time at the beach.

M refused to put her feet in the sand and water

An all around great trip to Southern Florida!

Boynton Beach, Florida, U.S.

April 2018

Iceland Part III: The Myvatn area: Dettifoss Waterfall, Viti Crater, Namafjall Geothermal Area, Myvatn Hot Baths, Grjotagja Cave, & Godafoss

After leaving Seyðisfjörður and stopping in Egilsstaðir for some quick breakfast, we drove towards Myvatn. Myvatn has a completely different landscape than the East Fjords, or anywhere else in Iceland for that matter. The area is filled with volcanic craters, mudpots, lava formations, and geothermal zones all set around a large lake. It was amazing to see the difference in just a couple hours drive.




We first stopped at Dettifoss waterfall. This waterfall is HUGE and is said to be the most powerful in all of Europe! It was quite impressive and in my opinion it was one of the most majestic sights I've seen.






There are apparently two different roads to get to the waterfall, one on each side of the river, depending on which direction you come from. We took the long and unpaved path since we were coming from the east, which is only a couple of kilometers long, but took about 30 minutes. Driving up the other side would have been easier, but we really enjoyed the views from the side we came in on and were able to get a full view of the waterfall.







After getting up close with Dettifoss, we followed a 1km path up the ridge to look more closely into the gorge. There are no guardrails so it was up to our discretion to get as close as we wanted. I definitely made Jon back up a few times while he was taking pictures! Further up along the path, which was easy to lose given the terrain (though you really just have to follow the river back), another waterfall Selfoss, can be seen.





We walked back and then up back up to the car park. From Dettifoss we then drove to Viti Crater. We climbed the short, but steep walk to the top of the crater and were rewarded with a bright green/blue pool of water at the bottom!





A five minutes drive to us to nearby Namafjall Geothermal Area also known as Hverir. This area was very reminiscent of the geysir geothermal area we saw last year. The area has numerous natural steam vents, boiling mud, hot springs, and solfataras. The weather changed pretty suddenly in the five minutes from Viti Crater and we found ourselves in some steady cold rain. We walked around for a little bit, but didn't stay too long because we were getting soaked. We were eager to go to the Myvatn Nature Baths just down the road and warm up!






The Myvatn Nature Baths are known as the Blue Lagoon of the north. It's not as touristy, not as flashy, and not as crowded. Though the baths aren't as "pretty" as the Blue Lagoon, it was definitely a less chaotic process getting into the locker rooms, showering, and entering the baths. It was still crowded and there seemed to be a ton of Americans and Brits around, but we made ourselves comfortable in our own little area. Unfortunately our camera with the waterproof case ran out of batteries as soon as we got into the baths so we have no pictures of our own.

There was still so much to see in the Myvatn area and we tried to hit a few things on the way out. We stopped at Grjotagja Cave, which is a small lava cave with a natural thermal spring inside. The temperature of the spring is around 109 degrees so some people do get in, but most find that it is too hot to sit comfortably. Jon went in to take some pictures of the blue water, while I stayed back. The rocks were wet going down, there was a family of ten pouring in behind us, and being 18 weeks pregnant I just didn't want to take the chance of slipping or losing my balance. I'll post more of the pictures from the inside when I get to Jon's camera.






We drove around the beautiful lake and started to head towards Akureyri, Iceland's second largest city (17,000 people) behind Reykjavik, and our home for the night. On the way we stopped at Goðafoss waterfall, which is a large horseshoe shaped waterfall. It was a pretty impressive sight! And since we arrived there around 7:30 at night there weren't many people around at all and we were able to enjoy the crushing sound of the falls.





Akureyri was about an hour away and we were getting hungry for some dinner. Akureyri is known for its nightlife, cool cafes, hip restaurants, and chic art galleries. We wish we could have stayed here more than one night, especially since our accommodations were the most comfortable of the whole trip! We had a delicious dinner in the center of town and stopped for some Icelandic ice cream on a walk.





Today was such a long and busy day, but we had such a good time in the Myvatn area. Next up a beautiful drive in the far north, the fishing town of Siglufjordur, and Hvitserkur (aka Dinosaur Rock).

Iceland Part VI: Hveragerði hot river and hike, and the Blue Lagoon

July 2015

Before I talk about this amazing day we had, I must start with the idyllic house we stayed in for our last three nights in Iceland. The house is located in between Reykjavik and Keflavik and is set right on the ocean, free of noise and people, with the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in the distant background. When researching for our Iceland vacation I came across a blog that had this house pictured in them. I messaged the writer and she gave me the VRBO link, and we couldn't have been happier with our choice! Our owners Anna and Birgir welcomed us into their home (we had the entire bottom floor of their house), and were so friendly and informative.




Because the sun sets so late at this time of year we had been finding it hard to go to sleep before midnight - though with our eye masks we were able to accomplish this maybe once or twice. Even though the sun does set in the summer (when we were there it set at 11:50pm and rose at 2:45am) it never fully gets dark. If you woke up at 1:30am it would look like dusk outside... it really messes with you if you're not used to it!






We stayed outside for the sunset one night and I have to say it was the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen. One thing about the sunset is that it takes FOREVER to set. It looks like it's hovering over the horizon for over an hour. The colors were striking, especially after the sun dipped below the horizon and stayed just under it for another hour. The sun, coupled with the beautiful scenery from the house made this a really special moment for us to share.





We dubbed our last day in Iceland our "free day". We had accomplished everything we had wanted to do the week before and we had it open to do whatever we chose. We chose to go Hveragerði, which is a town about 40 minutes outside of Reykjavik. The town is known for its intense thermal activity - they have a ton of greenhouses growing vegetables there that are heated from the ground. We had read about a hike just north of the town that leads you to a natural river bath heated from the thermal activity in the ground, but cooled off enough from glacial runoff so people were able to relax in it.





The climb was almost entirely uphill, but you are rewarded with wonderful views, waterfalls, and geothermal pools. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes and our legs were ready to quit... but we knew that just around the bend was the river!




Wooden pathways were a recent addition to the river since it has become more of a "hot spot". Hot steam was coming off of the river and though there were people hanging out in the river, it wasn't crowded by any means. We found an area where we modestly changed into our swimsuits and put our stuff down. Stepping into the water was like stepping into a hot tub. It was so relaxing after an uphill hike! We stayed in the water for about 20 minutes before taking a lunch break on the grass with sandwiches that we packed. We then tried different areas of the water since different parts had different temperatures and water flow.





We had 5pm reservations at the Blue Lagoon so after going back to the house and hanging out for a bit we headed there. It gets pretty crowded here in the summer so it's recommended that you make your reservations a few days beforehand. We decided that we would spend some time in the Lagoon and then eat at the highly rated LAVA restaurant on site.

The locker room was a little crazy... at least on the women's side. It took me a while to find a locker and even then I had to ask a woman if she was leaving and wait while she changed. The set of lockers that I ended up using had a mechanical issue so we couldn't shut or open them. The poor girl next to me who barely spoke English had just finished a shower and couldn't get into her locker to get dressed for maybe 30 minutes. One more thing.. leave your modesty at the door! They always say that they can tell who the Americans are because we cover ourselves up as we get dressed and undressed. So there were naked people everywhere in that locker room! But I have to say it was pretty liberating and I wish that we weren't so uptight in our own locker rooms... it's hard getting dressed while trying to hold a towel around you! Anyway, I digress...

The lagoon is so beautifully done. The hot aqua blue water was so inviting that we couldn't wait to get in. We parked ourselves in an empty area and relaxed in the water. A few glasses of Prosecco for me and a few beers for Jon later and we were very very happy!





We put some silica mud on our skin making it ever so soft and took in a few more of the sun's rays. We probably stayed in the water for about two hours before we were done.




After a shower and getting dressed we met each other at LAVA restaurant for our 9pm reservation (though we arrived early at 8:30). Even though we arrived early and said it wasn't a problem that our table wasn't ready they comped us for our drinks while we waited! We had one of the best seats in the restaurant looking right onto an empty area of the Blue Lagoon. The meal was spectacular and nicely presented.





It was such a nice way to end our fantastic day and our time in Iceland. Up next, exploring the Reykjanes Peninsula before our afternoon flights.