it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

The past two weekends have been delightfully festive!

Last weekend, we went out to a holiday dinner downtown with friends one night, and the next day we went to Skyline Park to figure skate before hitting up the Christkindl Market for mulled wine, European fare, and live music + dancing.  

We threw a holiday "open house" last night with mulled wine (more!) and a fantastically wonderful amount of child-induced chaos. As the party was ending, snow began to fall, and before long there were inches of accumulation. By the next morning, we had almost a foot of snow! The kids loved playing outside, and really nothing makes you feel more festive than snow, right?

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we got a cat!

We have a new member of the family adding to the excitement this year: Peter the cat! 

I would have never gone looking for a cat...but we happened to meet Peter and it was love at first sight. He needed a home, and Willa REALLY wanted a cat... I have to admit, I kinda did too. He's been with us two weeks now and overall it's going well. Willa's fed him every single one of his meals (yay chores/responsibility/family contribution!). He and Bryna (our dog) get along pretty well and have been playing together. We put in a cat door to prevent Bryna from eating his poop. You know, we're adjusting. Biggest negative: he's pretty into a flying jump to attack our curtains which is putting holes in them. Not cool, Peter. Not cool.

My main argument for getting Peter was that we should always be open to new life experience. (That, and, he's cute.) But so far it definitely has been just that. Lots of new excitement around the house. And litter box adventures. Welcome, Peter! 

food and festivities in california!

We traveled to Marin, California last week for Thanksgiving! There was obviously fantastic food, but we also enjoyed pleasant weather, good workouts, a great children's museum, and a trip to the beach. 

The kids were so so so excited about the trip. Everything about it: taking the light rail, flying on a "blue airplane" (Cameron), going overt he Golden Gate Bridge, seeing Grandpa's house, eating pie, playing in the ocean waves... We had a really nice trip:

^^We spent a morning at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It was fantastic. Cameron was pretty tired from traveling the day before, but Willa loved exploring several of the exhibits. There was tons of outdoor space between each activity, as well as an outstanding playground. Not to mention a view of the Golden Gate Bridge! When we got there, the parking lot was quite crowded, but there seemed to be plenty of room inside the gates; nothing seemed overcrowded. I definitely recommend going if you have kids and are in the area! 

^^After the museum, we went to lunch at fish. in Sausalito and enjoyed fish sticks, Brussels sprouts, Dungeness crab, Ballast Point beers, and no kids' cups on that picnic table picture above. It was delicious and tasted like vacation. 

^^Thanksgiving! Pie was delicious. Everything else was, too. Cameron particularly enjoyed the cranberry sauce. Eaten with his hands. I'm not sure what Willa's favorite was...probably the popovers!

^^The day after Thanksgiving, the rest of the crew went to play golf, and so I embarked on an adventure with the littles. We went to Muir Beach on Highway 1. It was quite the drive to get there (I got carsick even while driving!) but it was well worth it. It was a cloudy, cool morning, which made the beach feel even more Pacific Northwest-y than usual, I'd imagine, which was just fine by me. Willa had so much fun running in the waves and collecting sea shells. Cameron was tentative at first, but after a bit he asked me to take off his shoes and he started to be more adventurous. Despite my efforts to get us out of the water early, we still got pretty cold. And sandy! But it was a lot of fun for all three of us.

^^Our last night, we went to Burmatown to celebrate since three of us have November birthdays! Unfortunately the picture with Willa in it is terrible, so we'll go with this one instead :)

waste restrictions

If you know me, you know that I'm annoyingly concerned about waste. For the past few years I've been working on reducing waste overall, and more recently I've become more aware of the problems with plastic, so I try to avoid it as much as I can.

One could probably also say that I'm hypocritically concerned about these issues too, because sometimes I just throw all my ideals to the wind and buy the most plastic-y of plastic options (hello, Asian grocery store!). However, my overall philosophy is that life is all about balance, and trying to make a difference where and when you can without having a negative impact on too many other areas of your life. 

My willingness to ask others to help me out on these issues has increased over time. For awhile, I just gave in to how our society and economy functions. I went with the flow and didn't want to make too many waves. I still don't think I have much power to change the wasteful tendencies that prevail (or if changing them will even help the environment very much), but I now try to make a few things happen when I'm out there in the consuming world.

When we were out at a local pizza place over the weekend, the two groups in front of us ordering had dietary restrictions. The first was allergic to gluten. The second was severely allergic to tomatoes. Setting aside the conclusion that these folks should have perhaps considered a different cuisine for their Saturday night, the restaurant, rightfully so, made great efforts to accommodate their needs. Then, we ordered, and despite our requests, we received straws and sippy cups. Now, I do not have any immediate health risks with straws or sippy cups, so this comparison is of course only tenuous at best. Allergies are no joke. But the damage single-use plastic is doing to our earth is not something to take lightly. Below I'm listing a few of the small actions I take to minimize waste when eating out. Maybe if more of us make these "waste restriction" requests at restaurants, they'll start to change their ways.

UNNECESSARY WASTE #1: Single-use cups
Action: Request no kids' cups
Success rate: High. Restaurants seem to understand when you want your kid to use their own cup.
Annoyance factor: Low. You have to remember to ask quickly, but it's usually met with reasonable response.
Benefits: Waste reduction; fewer spills

As soon as the host is leading us to our table, I try to remember to tell them we don't want any sippy cups or straws. Sometimes they tell me I can tell my server, but usually this is the time to ask, because most restaurants waste no time bringing out waters. Kids' cups drive me the most crazy of all waste-producing restaurant trends. It is common practice in our parenting world to have a water/milk/juice cup for your child. Almost every parent I know rarely leaves home without one. Therefore, most kids who arrive in restaurants are already going to be in possession of their own (usually plastic) cup. We don't need to add more plastic to the world!

Now, you may be thinking, what about those restaurants with the cute plastic cups with animals or cartoons on them and bendy straws that you can take home and reuse? First of all, the exciting nature of these cups makes them more of a problem than they're worth. My kids are always trying to test the straw's functionality in a way that results in spillage. Also, they are made of such cheap plastic that they don't hold up at home, so you're going to throw them out soonish anyway. Perhaps they're not single use, but they're still not a quality item.

Related: what age does a kid have to be before restaurants will just give them a regular glass!? Developmentally, kids are supposed to be able to sip from a cup by age 1, but it seems restaurants have missed that memo.

UNNECESSARY WASTE #2: Straws
Action: Request "no straws" and BYOS
Success rate: Low
Annoyance factor: Medium (server usually looks at you like you're crazy)
Benefits: Waste reduction; use of more enjoyable metal straw

I usually have success preventing kids' cups from appearing at the table. Straws, however, are a much bigger challenge. I think it's just force of habit? Restaurants that serve drinks with straws just can't seem to help themselves. I've also seen my drink appear on a bar with a straw, and then the server just takes the straw out and throws it away. Giving me what I want, I suppose, but missing the point. Nevertheless, I'm going to keep asking.

Perhaps the most egregious of all straws are cocktail straws. Usually, they're used merely to stir a drink, and then placed aside. Plus they usually give you two straws per drink! When ordering a cocktail, I try my best to remember to request no straws. I really think restaurants should invest in trendy drink stirrers. It seems so odd to me that a nice place serves you a $12 drink with a plastic straw...

When I do succeed, but still want a straw, I use metal ones that I carry with me. More enjoyable to drink from, too, I find.

UNNECESSARY WASTE #3: To-go containers
Action: Bring your own container(s)
Success rate: Very high. No one has ever said anything.
Annoyance factor: Low. You're basically doing your server's work for them, right? Sometimes I feel a tad awkward, but there's really no reason to!
Benefits: You can not only take your leftovers home, but also the food you probably wouldn't want to ask for a container for (bread, rice, condiments, etc.). Not only are restaurant take-out containers not usually recyclable, but they're also often not air-tight. If you bring your own container, you don't have to transfer the leftovers into a different container when you get home!
Exception: Pizza boxes. They're 100% compostable or recyclable, so I don't feel too bad about them. Also, do you have your own container big enough for pizza slices that also fits in your purse? I don't.

WASTE RISK #4: Barely-used crayons
Action: Take crayons home with you
Success rate: n/a
Annoyance factor: Low
Benefits: I've been asking at restaurants lately, and if they give your kids new, individually-packaged crayons, they're going to throw them out if you leave them on the table. Take them!

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We're hitting the road this week, so I'm hoping to implement some of these strategies throughout our journey. Fingers crossed for some success. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

willa styles

When Willa was younger, maybe 2ish, she'd often wake up on the "wrong side of the crib." Mornings were tough. And I don't blame her. I'm not much of a morning person myself. I've just learned it's not socially acceptable to grumble as you're getting dressed. Although I suppose that doesn't always prevent it from happening...

Anyway. Getting Willa dressed was often a struggle. For a long time, she didn't care much what she wore...so one lucky parent would just endure her mood as we got her clothed. But once she started showing some preferences, and just to make our lives easier, we prioritized teaching her to get herself dressed on her own before coming downstairs in the morning. 

The lesson stuck pretty well. So, now, for better or for worse, she usually puts together her outfits. I exert control by removing clothing I don't want her to wear from her drawers, and occasionally I'll insist that she changes or that she wears something specific if we're going somewhere special or that has a certain dress code.

But, mostly, it's all her. Her style. As long as she's within the spectrum of appropriately dressed for the weather and occasion, we go with it.

In case you can't quite gleam her fashion trends, here's my interpretation of how she rolls as a four year old:

  • Pink. Nothing more to say here.
  • Layers. Lots of layers. Tee shirts under dresses. Leggings under dresses, ALWAYS. Socks over pants. Tutus over pajamas.
  • Accessories galore. Headbands. Barrettes in all kinds of places, like clipped to a dress sleeve. Beaded necklaces. Pins. 
  • Interpretation of the occasion. Sometimes loose, sometimes spot on. Cowboy boots for her school farm field trip. "Comfy pants" for dance class. Elsa dress for Halloween. Super hero costume for school spirit day.
  • Messy hair don't care. I try people, I try. Probably not hard enough though. She's always been a bit wild, our Willa.

a drive to see the aspens :: gunella pass

Checking out the Aspen trees in the fall is a thing people do in Colorado. A thing we had not yet done, officially, since moving here. Sure, we'd been outdoors in the fall, and seen a bit of Aspen foliage, but we'd never made a point to plan a trip with Aspen-peeping as the main motivation. Until this year.

The first weekend of October, we left bright and early Sunday morning and drove through Gunella Pass. We took interstate 70 west to Georgetown, and then after checking out the sleepy town, proceeded through the pass. The route is about three hours of driving time. Give or take.

We stopped a few places along the way to stretch our legs and take pictures. However, it seemed a lot of the most majestic views were places that stopping and getting two kids out of their carseats would have been quite dangerous, so the views just had to be appreciated in the moment. That's a good thing to do, right? 

Nevertheless, we did get some pictures at the places we stopped! Proof we went, of course.

^^so often it's hard to take pictures in quaint, historic towns because the parked cars get in the way. it was beautiful to be in georgetown early on a sunday morning when there was not much to distract from the old buildings.^^

^^the top of the pass. not many aspens to be seen, but absolutely breathtaking.^^

^^for years i've been wanting willa to get out into nature and just get dirty. she had a slow start, but i think the's finally there. she was delighted at all the little treasures she found when we stopped at a trailhead.^^

^^it was a beautiful day of fall + family!^^

cameron's second birthday!

As I write this, Cameron is completely and utterly consumed driving a Hot Wheels car carrier around the living room. He recently moved on to that after using his Bruder Loader Backhoe to move around a Thomas the Train engine. 

He loves toys. Things with wheels, especially. But his love for toys is pretty remarkable (particularly after I'd been used to a first child who was only rarely vaguely amused by something manufactured especially for children). 

Yesterday, we celebrated Cameron. It's always nice when a birthday falls on a weekend day, so we can all be together as a family. 

We started the day with sprinkle waffles and two kids delighted with a ride-in water-spraying fire truck thanks to Grandpa. We attempted to go to the Children's Museum, but didn't realize there was a trick-or-treat event happening (side note: is it just me or do there seem to be an excessive number of opportunities to celebrate an already excessive holiday?) so we enjoyed some fresh air and sunshine at Jefferson Park instead. 

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After Cam's naptime, serious celebrations commenced. More presents (thanks, all!) and then Auntie Al and Uncle "Jay-bit" arrived for a mango lemonade cheers and pasta dinner.

Cam was so enthralled with his new toys, that even shouting "cupcakes!?" elicited no response. So finally we decided to just light the candles and sing "happy birthday." Once he saw a double-decker cupcake coming his way, he knew what was up and wasted no time blowing out the candles ("I blew out candles!"). He put away an impressive amount of cupcakes and ice cream (homemade banana chip!) before diving back into playing. 

I found myself wanting to video the entire evening, because everything that came out of Cameron's mouth made me smile. He excitedly exclaimed "Daddy's pasta!" at dinner. He yelled "boom shaka-laka" at one point; not sure why. He can express himself better and better each day, and it's fantastic to hear his thoughts. He regularly says "thank you, mommy," which totally melts my heart.

He had trouble falling asleep after all the excitement, but had a purple Hot Wheel in one hand and Thomas the Train in the other. He woke up this morning asking for his loader and car carrier. "Keep playing!" is his mantra. We love you Cameron!

new season, new goals

With the start of a new season, there's often an urge to make promises to yourself; to strive to accomplish goals you've set awhile ago. Lately, I've been really feeling this. I want to work harder on several things that are important to me. A few big goals, but mostly little ones. Some are things I used to do but have fallen by the wayside. Some are things I've always wanted to do but haven't gotten to. Some are random. Some are predictable. I know I won't get an A+ on this endeavor. But I'm going to try my best. (And be glad the days of getting grades are long behind me.)

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Goals for the rest of 2016:

  • Send more letters and cards by post.
  • Cook more. Mostly whole foods. Don't cave and give the kids things we don't really want them to be eating.
  • Spend 10 minutes of focused play time with each of my kids, twice a day. (Read this, and this for more on the topic, plus numerous parenting books!)
  • Blog more. At least one post a week. Do the updates/reformatting I've been planning for way too long.
  • Create our "family yearbook" of photos for 2015. (Nope, that year is not a typo.) Start the 2016 one.
  • Complete the household projects that we've been thinking about forever: new curtains, craft area for kids, laundry room organization, pictures in various spots around the house, the guest room closet...
  • Don't plan on exercising during Cameron's naptime.  It never works.
  • Host a party occasionally. I like parties.
  • Plan a new activity/park/outing once a week. I love our neighborhood, but I tend to do the same things and go to the same places all the time. I need to keep expanding my/our horizons.
  • Don't drive if I can walk or bike. Unless the weather is really bad. But sometimes, go places I have to drive to.
  • Continue to reduce our waste. Don't buy things in packaging if they can be obtained without packaging.
  • Minimize screen time before bedtime. Find an alarm clock to replace our phones.
  • Complain less. Just address the "problem."

meeting my newest seattle friend

I made a quick trip to Seattle last month to see my dear friend Megan and meet her 5-week old baby boy. As cheesy as it sounds, Seattle clings tight to a piece of my heart. As soon as the plane landed on the tarmac, surrounded by clouds and drizzle, tears came to my eyes. I was there less than 48 hours, but we packed a lot in. Most importantly, I spent a lot of quality time with Megan, her husband Sean, and the cute newcomer to their family.

^^after touching down at seatac, i took the light rail (for just $2.75!) downtown, and then walked up to capitol hill. i had to hit up my favorite coffee shop, victrola, before uber-ing to megan's 'hood: madison park.^^

^^baby william! so happy to meet him! what expressions he has at such a young age. no surprise, though, given how cool and animated his parents are.^^

^^baby william, his parents, our friend shannon, and i all went to anchovies & olives for a delicious dinner, and then ended the night with dessert, conversation, and baby bouncing at cupcake royale.^^

^^gorgeous saturday morning light in madison park.^^

^^beautiful new mama rocking the best baby carrier eva.^^

^^obviously, going to mighty-o donuts was a must. conveniently, they've open a new shop in ballard, which was another spot i wanted to visit. we spent saturday afternoon walking around and checking out new and old spots, happily full of donuts.^^

^^had to stop at golden gardens for a quick walk along the beach. // as the sun set, we went back to madison park and cooked salmon and vegetables for dinner. we talked parenting and baby carriers and life. we reminisced about the fun we had as twenty-somethings in fremont and capitol hill. we were too busy talking to take any pictures. it was just lovely.^^

^^a quick shot after a great breakfast at geraldine's before i headed back to the airport. thank you SO MUCH for the wonderful weekend, megan!^^

summer in denver :: highlights

The weather recently has still been too hot for my liking, but there are sure signs of fall all around. Leaves are changing, and the mornings are full of crisp air. I did a terrible job blogging about our summer adventures...I probably have one more post to do about our trip to Vermont, but until I can get around to doing that, I wanted to post some miscellaneous pictures from the summer months.

^^homemade ice cream; delicious.^^

^^many of our summer days looked like this.^^

^^bocce and pizza in the park!^^

^^summer haircut + pizza afterwards.^^

^^denver chalk art festival.^^

^^few things are more fun than the fountains at union station.^^

^^willa's 4th birthday!^^

^^bbqs at my sister's house are always fun + yay for a rare family photo!^^

^^willa asked for a kite for her birthday. windy days aren't frequent, but we've gotten it up in the air a few times!^^

^^fun with nana!^^

^^we hit the pools pretty hard this summer.^^

^^summer nights.^^

^^friends. thank goodness for friends. and park picnic playdates.^^

^^the color run. super fun.^^

^^the day we biked to cherry creek to buy a deep fryer.^^

^^the donuts we made with the fryer.^^

^^and just like that, summer was over. back to school!^^

memorial day in kansas city

How is it August already? Didn't summer just begin? What is it about summer that makes us all so busy? The nice weather and conceptualized "break" from the routine of the "school year" seems to be engrained in me, even though it's been a long time since the academic year dictated my life. Although, Willa is now wedded to the school calendar, so summer has brought a lot of freedom with her schedule. A lot of bonding time for us. As soon as school finished, we hit the road as a family and headed due East. Some tornado warnings slowed our initial progress, but once the skies cleared we made good time and were delighted to spend a weekend with Dan's mom and other extended family. There was lots of pool time, good food, and a baseball game. Most importantly, there was family bonding and the road trip was totally tolerable. The kids rocked it.

Photo highlights:

^^shortly after we arrived, we went to check out the pool. the kids couldn't contain their excitement and started to climb in, clothes and all (and helmet!).^^

^^memorial day weekend marked willa's discovery of her love of the pool! she had been really timid up until that time, but she realized how well her floaties would hold her up, and she then spent hours swimming around the deep end. it was the beginning of a summer of swimming willa!^^

^^frozen treats at grandma's house!^^

^^humidity = green!^^

^^cousins!^^

^^yay family and yay KC royals.^^

our willa bean is 4

It's late (almost 10pm!) and it's been a long but wonderful day of celebrating our dear Willa. We planned to keep it low-key this year but somehow it felt anything but that, but in all the right celebratory ways. Willa was thrilled.

We had a birthday party in the park yesterday with cupcakes and donuts and a bubble maker and a Minnie Mouse piñata. And for the first time ever, her scrooge mother didn't write "no gifts please" on the invitation so she got a boatload of amazing gifts, several of them of the Frozen variety. Princess Elsa 4eva.

And her Nana's in town.

Her Uncle got her a stuffed skunk with pink sparkly eyes. She loves skunks. Almost as much as Elsa. Sometimes more. Depends on the day.

And today we took a trip to her favorite park and she didn't even care that the train and petting zoo were closed or that a thunderstorm rolled in after 20 minutes of playing in the stream.

After that we went to see chickens and get fresh eggs at Auntie Al's work.

Once home, she and her brother ate a whole pint of raspberries in the backyard and then she watched The Cat and the Hat on the couch in minimal clothing.

We made pizza for dinner and she squealed when daddy threw the dough high up in the air. She got more presents.

I made her a "pink lady" cake with strawberries and as soon as she saw the strawberries smashed to the sides she ran over with arms spread wide and gave me a huge hug and told me it was the best cake ever.

Mid-cake eating we realized there was a rainbow in front of the house. Not a mini one, but a real-deal all the way across the sky one. She jumped up and down and said she "just knew" there'd be one on her birthday. Later she said it was the best gift she received for her birthday.

She used her newfound four-year-old strength to drag her mini trampoline upstairs and bounced on it for a good hour to burn off pizza and cake and present-induced excitement.

She got to stay up until 9pm. Wearing a glow bracelet from Nana and Bobo.

She makes us laugh and smile and sigh and scream and I can't imagine what our life would be like without the joy she brings to it each and every day. Happy birthday, Willa!

while i was snapping...

I've been given a hard time lately for a dearth of Instagram photos. I used to post at least once a day, but in recent months I've waned. Mostly, my aging phone has been to blame. Every picture I took was blurry and not Instagram-able. But, also, I must admit, Snapchat has been dominating my social media time. I really like Snapchat. It's fun. And quick. However, Snaps do indeed disappear unless manually saved, so I best post some pictures on this here blog lest we forget everything we've been up to lately. Here's a roundup of pictures from the past month or so!

IMG_3352^^spring has been coming and going, but i think the nice weather is finally here to stay!^^

IMG_2775^^biker cam! we've been biking a lot more, but the two kids are pretty heavy in the trailer, so when the whole family bikes, we put one of them on the back of dan's bike.^^

IMG_3405^^one of those bad shots i referenced from a roller-skating birthday party!^^

IMG_2825^^flowers on our cherry tree!^^

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IMG_3439^^that montage is called: "eating out with kids is fun..."^^

DSC01173^^so much magna tile fun with grandpa!^^

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IMG_2848^^yay for backyard time!^^IMG_2891^^celebrating A&J's birthday!^^

DSC01238-001^^girls' spa day in boulder for our dear friend sara's baby sprinkle!^^

IMG_2896^^mother's day lunch at taste of thailand. SOOOOO GOOD!^^

IMG_2899^^her "celebration of learning" at school. she was so excited to show us what they'd been working on but mostly she was thrilled to "be in charge" all night. ;)^^

IMG_3520^^pizza delivery race at her school's field day!^^

tulum, mexico :: places we went

Just one more post about Tulum. We gotta talk a few deets: Places to go! Things to see! It was our first visit, and we were only there a week, so we are obviously the farthest people from experts on the area. Nevertheless, there were several places we really enjoyed during our trip, and I want to share them. Some are places I found before our trip through online research, while others we stumbled upon while there.

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PLAYA MAMBO ECO CABAÑAS There are lots of hotels in Tulum, and all of them are small and locally-owned. No big resorts. But there are lots of choices. We wanted to be right on the beach, and somewhere that was more rustic, so Playa Mambo sounded like a good choice from what I'd read online. It was.

We reserved through booking.com and rented a bungalow with ocean view. There are two of these available. Both have the beach and ocean as their front yard. They are also a bit bigger than "cottage" options because they have a sleeping loft. I thought this would be a good option for the kids. It was a small loft with a window, accessible by ladder. It worked out well for Cameron; he slept up there in his travel crib and it was good for naps because we could go in and out of the cabana without disturbing him. Willa was freaked out. She slept on a mattress by our bed.

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Pros:

  • Location. Playa Mambo's beach was beautiful. They had a small number of beach chairs/beds with umbrellas. There were several good restaurants nearby, as well as a mini-mart just outside the gate for cheaper beers and other snacks.
  • The hotel provided breakfast to guests. Coffee, fruit, and pastries. Eggs and such were available at an additional cost.
  • The staff were efficient and friendly. Our room was cleaned daily. The staff offered the kids beach toys on our first day.
  • Overall, Playa Mambo had a great vibe. It was laid back and casual while still being stylish and well kept. It seemed to attract friendly people; we enjoyed interacting with many of the other guests staying there at the same time.

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Cons:

  • No fridge. No cold drinks. No way to store perishable food.
  • Breakfast. We wanted to enjoy it because it was part what we were paying for, but it wasn't quite enough. It was our first breakfast and then we'd go find a second breakfast.
  • Cash only. I alluded to this in a previous post. It is absurd that a place that charges what Playa Mambo does per night would not take a credit card. Or at least PayPal or some other electronic option. This was really to their detriment though; we would have bought many more piña coladas if we could have paid with plastic.
  • Value. While we really enjoyed our stay at Playa Mambo, it didn't feel like a great deal. It was "eco-chic" which, in some ways, just meant "budget." There was no air conditioning. The shower was a trickle. We only got new towels every few days. All of this was totally fine for us, but I'm not sure it matched the price point.

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RINCÓN POBLANO I didn't want to spend a week in Tulum and only be at the beach. (However, the beach was really nice!) We ventured into town one of our first days to check things out. The town definitely had a less tourist-focused vibe.

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My favorite thing to do when I travel is to do everyday activities like locals would, so it was nice to just walk into this random restaurant off the main street and have lunch. It ended up being a great choice. It was relatively empty; just us and one Mexican family eating lunch. The man working was quite friendly and the food was delicious. We ordered taquitos and a mole. And beers. And a smoothie. Willa got quite into smoothies on vacation!

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LA OÑDA A few doors down from Playa Mambo, this place advertised "Best Pizza on Earth." Now, I'd have to disagree with that bold statement, but the pizza really was quite good. The service was friendly and the beers were cold.

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BOLAS DE POSTRE (Balls of Dessert) Being on vacation was no different than real life; the words "if you X, you can have ice cream" somehow at some point were uttered by some parent. That was much easier said than done however. On Tulum's beach road, everything is run by generator, so freezers are few and far between. Willa was a good sport about it, but we did feel compelled to find ice cream at least once during the week.

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We'd seen an ice cream cart when we were driving to and from town, so on one of our last afternoons, we finally decided to walk down the road to find it. It was a bit of a walk; Willa was asleep in the stroller by the time we arrived, but it was so worth it!

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They called it "superfood ice cream" and all the flavors we tasted were divine. The Vegan Papaya Almond Bliss was my favorite, but the Cacao was also good and the Tamarind Jamaica was really delightful and refreshing. Willa initially said "yucky" when the chocolate came out (3 year olds!) but I think she was just thrown off by the nuts and other textures. She ended up devouring it. As did Cam.

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There were no real cons about this place for us, but my only somewhat negative thought was that all the soymilk they were using might not fly in a trendy American city, but that was no problem for me (tofu foreva!).

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ZAMAS The New York Times told me to go to Zamas in the morning for the view and the huevos rancheros. So that's what we did. And, unsurprisingly, NYT was right. The service was great, the food delicious, and the location on the beach was fantastic. This breakfast is a really happy memory for me; I'm so glad we went. (Notably, Cam cried through most of the meal. See, another vote for traveling with kids! Even when they cry it's still a happy memory!)

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LA EUFEMIA While Tulum was overall a great travel destination, and we really enjoyed our time there, there's no getting around the fact it's quite touristy. Perhaps it was once off the beaten path, but beach road is now the path. It's full of folks from Brooklyn or London (or Denver), looking for some tasty tacos. Luckily, just a few places down from our hotel, was La Eufemia. It ticked all the boxes for me: casual, fun, delicious food, good drinks, reasonable prices, and an authentic vibe. It was the only place we went twice. It was also the only place we spotted the young, hip staff from our hotel eating after they clocked out.

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They had a 2x1 drink special the first night we were there, and we didn't really think it through before Dan ordered a piña colada and I ordered a mojito. So when 4 drinks came to the table, we were like, "hey, I guess we're having a big night!" The second time we went, we were ready and just ordered one piña colada. Although I don't judge anyone who enjoys multiple. They were good!

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LAGUANA KAAN LUUM The morning I did my paddle boarding + yoga outing, they took us to this public lagoon. SUP Tulum has their own private lagoon, but it was quite windy that day, and Kaan Luum was smaller therefore less wind.

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It was beautiful. When we arrived at 9:45am we were the first ones there. By the time our class was over, around 11:30, there were probably 20-30 locals there swimming. The sandy bottom of the lagoon was pretty squishy, which took some getting used to, but the water was gorgeous and a perfect temperature.

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SOL Not a place, but I feel compelled to note that while on the beach, the refreshing taste of Sol made it my preferred cerveza.

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Salud, amigos!