Family Travel Tips That Work with Stephen Weinrich Ep 28

Episode 28: Family Travel Tips That Work with Stephen Weinrich 

Family vacations create some of our favorite memories—but let's be honest, they can also be a lot of work.

In this episode of MomsWork Podcast, Kristin welcomes back her husband, Stephen Weinrich, to share practical tips for planning and enjoying family vacations with less stress and more fun. Together, they discuss everything from choosing the right destination and creating a balanced itinerary to managing expectations, handling unexpected hiccups, and making meaningful memories once you arrive.

Whether you're planning a beach getaway, road trip, amusement park adventure, or sightseeing vacation, this conversation is full of realistic advice that parents can put into practice right away.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Choosing a destination that works for the whole family
• Balancing activities with downtime
• Avoiding common vacation planning mistakes
• Saving money without sacrificing the experience
• Helping kids take ownership in planning the trip
• Setting realistic expectations before you leave
• Establishing simple routines while on vacation
• Handling tired, overstimulated kids with flexibility
• Beach, amusement park, and sightseeing tips
• Creating unforgettable family memories without spending a fortune
• Why the little moments often become the most meaningful

Most importantly, Kristin and Stephen reflect on why family vacations aren't about perfection—they're about spending intentional time together, building traditions, and creating stories your children will remember for years to come.

Whether you're packing for your next adventure or simply dreaming about one, this episode will help you travel a little smarter and enjoy the journey even more.

If you enjoyed today's episode, please follow, rate, review, and share MomsWork Podcast. Your support helps us reach more parents and families.

Follow along on Instagram and Facebook @MomsWorkPodcast for more conversations about parenting, work, family life, and everything in between.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Welcome to the Mom's Work Podcast, where career meets motherhood and real life happens in between. Hi, I'm Kristen Weinrich, a working mom navigating the chaos, the career, the cooking, and yes, the crying. Each week we get real with moms making it work from classrooms to boardrooms and everything in between. No fluff, no judgment, just honest talk, helpful hints, and the support we all need. Whether you're listening while commuting, catching a break, or buried in laundry, you're in the right place. Welcome. You belong here. Welcome back to Mom's Work Podcast. I'm your host, Kristen Weinrich, mom of two, teacher on summer vacation, and someone who loves making memories with my family, even if getting everyone out the door sometimes feels like an Olympic sport. Back by popular demand, today's guest is someone who has been on every family vacation with me, has planned countless trips, and has plenty of opinions and knowledge on how to make family travel smoother and more enjoyable. My husband, Steven Weinrich. Steven, so glad you're here. Thanks for joining me again. Oh, thanks for having me. Always a pleasure. We're talking about family vacations, how to choose a destination, plan a trip that works for everyone, and more importantly, what you can do once you arrive to make the experience more enjoyable and less stressful for the whole family. If you haven't listened to my episode with Krista Rogic, make sure to go back and listen to that one because we talk about getting there in terms of um road trips and air travel. And this episode we're going to talk about kind of once you've arrived or once you leave, um, how you organize a trip and once you're there, kind of how to make it run as smoothly as possible. Steven, welcome back. Why don't you tell us a little bit about those uh for about yourself for those who haven't listened to our Valentine's Day episode when you made your debut on the podcast? So just give us a little refresher.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Well, that was a great episode, so I suggest that everybody take some time, go back and listen to that one. But I'm happy to be here. Uh again, my name is Steven. I am father of two. I am the number one fan of the Mom's Work Podcast. Uh in my free time, I enjoy coaching sports. Uh, we just had a great uh baseball season and softball season. I also volunteer as a teacher at our church. And I don't know what else.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

You like doing family things.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

I do love doing family things.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Family things, and now that it's summer, lots of family things coming our way. Um so why don't you tell us to get to know you a little bit better? What motivates you professionally in your job that you do when you're not having fun family time with us?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

When I'm not planning vacations um and having super fun, uh I I work for a finance company. And what I enjoy most about that, and what what is motivational, is the company that I work for, part of our motto is to help people. And that's really what I enjoy the most, the the opportunity to be able to help those um with whatever they need. And there have been times where I work directly with clients, I have taught others to who work directly with clients, and the overarching theme is to um protect their interests and and help them out with things that they might not be comfortable with.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

And you're a big big fan of helping people, so that uh works well for you. I know you like to kind of be a mentor and play that role to people. Um, what would you say in terms of being a working father, which is not a term you hear very often, working father, like a working mother, um, but what has been your most or our most challenging uh moments as a two-parent working household, would you say?

SPEAKER_00 3:54

One of the great things about uh where I work is that I do have some flexibility. And when my children have a half day or they have a day off that might not coincide with a day off from work, I am able to work from home. And the tough part about it is that they look to me and they say, All right, what are we gonna do today? And I have to tell them, I think it's gonna have to be a couch movie day. And as much as they like to sit on the couch and watch movies, there's a little disappointment there. And I wish that there was, you know, the you know, more opportunities for me to do things with them, but you know, I I let them know that it's gonna be for a couple hours, and then you know, we have time together after that.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Right. It's kind of like a mixed bag in that it's helpful helpful to us that the kids can be home with you, but we always have to have the conversation of like daddy is still working, and they are old enough to sort of kind of entertain themselves, at least for a little bit without arguing with each other, but it does tend to be more of a low-key, you know. And I'm like, that's what it is, it has to be. If it's a TV movie day, that's what it is. But you know, it's helpful to us, but at the same time, sometimes a little bit challenging anyway.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

It's you know, I'm working, I I still feel a little bit guilty that that I'm not interacting with them as much as I'd like to.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Right. But it is helpful that they can at least be home with you. And what would you say is the biggest compliment that somebody can give you?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

The biggest compliment? Um well, since we're talking about work, uh I I said that you know, I used to teach people on how to interact with clients. And one time I was giving a presentation, not to students, but to other teachers. And one of the other instructors said to me later on, I don't remember what you were teaching, but I remember how I felt about it. And I cared about it, and you cared about it, and that excited me. So that was one of the best compliments I've ever received in how somebody f how I made somebody feel in a positive way. So, um I've always taken that with me and and tried to to keep that in mind when I'm interacting with other people. Um since we're talking about children also, biggest compliment I could re I could ever receive is when somebody says, Your children are so polite.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Out in public, they sure are. Out in public they are very polite.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Sometimes we see a you know a different side, you know, in the comfort of our own home and and all that.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

But but I agree with you. That's a real what that that's a compliment to the work that we do every single day, and when they are out in the world, if they're being nice and polite.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

If that's their their public persona, that's that's what I'm I'm pleased about. I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Good one. All right. And I was gonna say too, uh, Steven is like the king of anecdotes, so I think that when you're teaching, um, you probably tell a lot of little stories and little side notes that make it interesting to listen to.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Sometimes I get a little off track with my stories.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Your students probably like that too. They do.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And but there is a point to it. There is a point that I'm getting to.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

And that makes it enjoyable and memorable, apparently. All right, let's talk about our win and our challenge for the week. What do you want to start with? Win or challenge?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Uh let's go with win. Okay. And this has been a constant theme, or at least, you know, mentioned a few times in the podcast that it's our garden. And we've had an episode um with Cara Rash and talking about talking about uh the garden. And just to go out and see everything like flourishing. Everything is growing, and we've we've harvested some the food that we're eating. I've gone to work and said this is a salad that um I grew myself.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

And we tried, we uh planted broccolini, which we had never had before, and Steven found a great way to cook it with what garlic and butter? Yes, and the kids like it and a little bit of lemon juice, yeah. Yeah, it it's really good, and you know, it's a new vegetable that they're willing to eat, which that's a win in and of itself.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It is, and they feel a part of the process, and I think that helps with with the eating of the vegetables, is that they've picked it off the vine themselves, and some of the things don't even make it into the house, they just pick it off and eat it right there in the garden, which is great, but they just have that ownership to the food, and it helps, you know, them enjoy more, expose them to more, and you know, it it adds more to our regular diet.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

And like you said too, they're excited about it. Like I have said to our older one, Ollie, hey, can you go out and pick me some basil? And he's like, Remind me what it looks like, and I'll show him a picture, and he takes a little cup out, or we have um some guys working at our house right now, and Ollie was like, Can I offer them a snap pea? And he went outside with a little plastic bag and he picked like, you know, 10 snap peas, and he came in. He was like, Mr. Devin, would you like to try a snap pea? And you know, he eats it, and yeah, I think they're excited about it. I agree. And I would say that my channel, my win of the week is that we are currently recording this episode from the beach. So we are fortunate enough to be at the beach this weekend um with Steven's family and uh his brother and sister-in-law have the kids right now, which is also nice. Um, but just the fact that we're here, it's kind of like the official start of summer for us. Um, and it's a beautiful weekend and beautiful weather, and we're just, you know, relaxing, and we've been to the beach, and we went out for coffee and a playground and um just kind of sitting around telling stories and the kids are playing, and it it's a win for sure. A nice what I call slide into summer, right? Slide in. All right, and what about your challenge?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Well, my challenge is um similar to what you said earlier about you know a difficult thing of being a uh working father. When we go into summer, we're very fortunate that you're a teacher. So you have some the time off in the summer, and I'm like most like everybody else. I still have to go to work. So, you know, in the morning time or in the evening time, you talk about you know, what are you gonna do the next day and and there is a lot of you know planning that that you put into things and a lot of exciting things that you have, you know, that you take them to do, even if it's just going to the library and getting some books. Um there's there's things that I would like to be a part of and I'm not always able to do that, so I really look forward to planning out our vacations and you know what we have what what we have planned for for our trips and and all that. So that's that's the challenge. I I miss out on some things.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah, and I always feel kind of bad when we talk about like something fun that we're gonna go into, and the kids are like, Is daddy coming? And I'm like, Oh no, he has to work. But you know, again, it's good that I can be with them and we don't need child care all summer, but yeah, you do kind of miss out sometimes. We miss having you with us on our trips. Um, and my challenge is sort of the opposite of that, in that I don't work all summer, which in theory sounds fabulous. And when your children are little tiny, it is, you know, you stick them in the cart at Target and you walk around for the morning, or you go to the library or the grocery store, and like that's it, that's your morning. You come home, you give them lunch, they take a nap, and by the time you know it, it's dinner. And then your kids get older, and Target and the library and the grocery store are no longer fun. So, um, you know, as much as I look forward to the summer and having the time with the kids, one of our children in particular, um, I don't know, has a hard time with summer. Just, and we're pretty structured in the summer, but just seems to know. And even though, you know, our kids go to camp sometimes and we keep pretty busy in the summer, um, there's just sort of like a grouchiness or an unsettledness or a need for constant entertainment.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

He really, he really looks forward. Well, you said he too. Yeah. Um, yeah, yeah. He really looks forward to a lot of the things that you have planned in the summer. And we have talked about, all right, you know, we can go here and do this and visit this place. And they're not all like water parks and amusements, it but he wants to do everything immediately. He wants to do everything in one day. Right. So really showing him that, you know, when we spread it out, when we have something to look forward to, then that's going to make it even more enjoyable rather than just do everything the first five minutes over with.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

And we've talked a lot about Stephen and I with our kids, you know, this summer. You have camps and we have on our calendar um surprises, because we have a couple little surprises planned for the kids of day trips or baseball games or whatever. Um, but you know, I use the saying, every day can't be Disney World, meaning some days we're just gonna be home. And I'd say too, you have to be happy at home. You have to be able to be at home for a day and play with your toys or read a book or lay on the couch or whatever it is, and we can't go out and do quote unquote Disney World every single day, and that is hard for him, which becomes a challenge for me because then there's a lot of like antagonizing behavior to his sister and complaining and whining and kind of digging his heels in, and that is because I could be happy at home for weeks, and his sister could be very happy at home, and he just kind of wants a constant go.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

So Right, and then it and it comes and goes. It comes and goes. There are there are there are times where he can sit down with a uh a couple books and you won't hear from him for two hours.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

But then there are times, and I think that's really, you know, with everybody, where you you need you have that need to move around and and want to go do something, and we're we're still working through that. Working on it.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah. And I think I I often say to him too, you know, I look forward to this all year. I look forward to the summer with my kids, and this is not very fun for me. And I think he's too young to really, you know, he's like, Well, I don't want to do this or whatever. Um, because he's still kind of all about him right now because he's nine and that's understandable, but goodness is it tiring sometimes. So anyway, we're at the beginning of the challenge. Maybe it'll be like really great this summer. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. All right, let's jump into our main conversation, which is planning a vacation that works and is enjoyable or mostly enjoyable for everyone in your family. Um, and I think one of the hardest parts of this happens before you even leave home, and that is deciding where to go and what kind of trip makes sense for your family. So we have taken a lot of different trips, um, far trips, near trips, day trips, week-long trips, 10-day long trips, three-day trips. Um, so I think we have a lot to say. So we'll we'll try to keep this podcast under three hours. Um, but we do we do have a lot of of travel experience. So let's start. And I have said before on the podcast, Steven does a lot of the planning. He's really, really good at it and finding things kind of off the beaten path. And I do a lot of the packing and the, you know, the that sort of stuff. Um, so I'm gonna let you do talk about this mostly because you're the one that does it. So when we are planning, and we we do talk about it, but you kind of do the reservations and find the places. But when we're planning a family vacation, what is the first thing that we consider?

SPEAKER_00 15:24

The first thing is like obviously where you're going. And that seems a very daunting question, and then a simple question, let's just go here. And the way that we we kind of figured that out is we talk about it, you and I, and we say, all right, let's uh you know, is there any place that we've you know heard about recently or we've always wanted to go or something like that and talk about that? Um I like to take a look at uh Google Maps and see how far it is to drive someplace. We we haven't been on any airplane vacations.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

We're still we just that one when the kids were really little.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Right, yeah, we went to a wedding uh on the airplane.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

But we like haven't recovered yet.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Oh, I I still think it was a good time. And other people you know think differently. But but either way, um we like to take road trips and we're not afraid of being in the car for a long time. So over uh the past few years, we've kind of increased the distance or the time in which we can be in the car. So I like to take a look at the the map and see how far away something is and judge it that way. And we can say, okay, we could go this area or this area and how much time we have.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Is it a week-long vacation, is it a long weekend?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Right, right. Um yeah, how much time that we have to to do all this, because you don't want to go away for for a weekend and drive eight hours. So that's certainly dependent on it. And then the temperature is and the weather is something that's another huge factor. Um we tend to in the winter time, like Christmas break, um, or the spring, like spring break time, we tend to kind of go south. And when it's the summertime, we tend to go north. So that guides us a little bit that way as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

We we like to be cool in the cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yes, I want to make sure that everybody's comfortable. Yeah. Because you're not gonna have a good time if if it's you know terrible weather for you.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

And I was gonna say too, we have gone to a lot of new places, but we've also returned to the same place several times. So we it's kind of a mix of I think we've been to New England, what, three times with the kids, and we come to the shore every year. Um, but then of course we've gone to different places too. So um, and once we've decided that, then when you're planning the events, how do we sort of balance what we want to do, what the kids want to do, kind of make it a vacation for everyone?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Oh, I was fortunate when I was younger uh to be able to go to a um, you know, a lot of different places. My parents took me. Um but what I do remember is that I went to a lot of museums and and tours and things like that that at the time I didn't appreciate. I would now as an adult, but it was very boring for me. And vacation is for everybody. It's not just for me, it's not just for you, but it's it's for our children as well. So I want to make sure that there is some balance there and everybody has something that they will look forward to, something they will enjoy while we're doing it. So it's it's important to get everybody involved in it.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

And I think we usually, this might be a question for later, but we typically we, Stephen and I, pick the place and then we kind of have a general outline of where to go. But um, in the moment, you know, it might be like, Do you guys want this for dinner or that for dinner? or but I think we kind of guide mostly where we're going, but we we consider everybody when we're doing it. Like last year we went to Boston and we took a tour of Fenway Park for, I mean, Stephen enjoy it, we all enjoyed it, but in particular, our son loved it. And then um, you know, we we went to the Boston Children's Museum because we knew that our daughter, who was six at the time, would really like that too. And then we went and did some American Revolution things for me and you, and um, you know, so we yeah, we kind of bake a little of something in for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

And and part of that is, you know, in the in the planning, once we know where we're going and I take a look and see what's there. Then we can get them excited about it. Yes. So we can tell them, all right, this is where we're headed, and then we can, you know, work towards, you know, bringing them on board and getting their buy-in. Because once they once they know what they're looking forward to, I mean they're gonna be more excited by it. And you know, one of the ways that we do that is uh we'll watch YouTube videos.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

I was just gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Right, of of where we're going, and that gives them an idea of things that they're going to see, some things that are exciting. And you know, then they can they'll start talking about it. Another thing, it depends on you know where you're going, but if there's a particular type of food or culture that is prevalent there, when we went to Maine a few years ago, uh a couple months ahead of time, we had dinner one night where I went to the supermarket, I bought lobsters, and I bought crabs.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

And we made sure nobody was allergic.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Make sure no one was allergic. But also, you know, this was like the first time that they had ever had that type of uh seafood. And you know, we really talked it up and showed them how to crack open the the crab legs and how they enjoy it. And um we prepared the the the lobster in a couple different ways, some with butter and some with the the I don't know, I think it's with mayonnaise that they they serve for you made like a little lobster roll for everybody. Hot and cold, so then you know they could understand what it was and what what they liked and what they didn't care for, and then they had you know to look forward to that again. And it's just more of their excitement, their buy-in to the trip.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

And I think also uh now that our kids are a little older, like we're gonna go to Gettysburg lady that later this summer. And my son read an I survived book uh about Gettysburg, and I was talking to him about it today, and he's like, Yeah, mommy, I also read uh Magic Treehouse has a book about Gettysburg. So he has a little background, or we'll talk to the kids about it, or watch a movie about it, or read a book about what is actually happening in the places that we're going to. So I think that's helpful as well, because the book can certainly give way more background than than I could.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Right. And you know, when they have uh a little bit of exposure like that, and then they see something, or they're they're doing something that they had read about or they saw. On the video, then they're like, hey, Daddy, remember we saw this place? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

And they're like in action. And I just want to pause and say, for any listeners who are maybe new parents who have never gone on a big vacation with their family, it's very cliche, but it's very true. When you have small kids, a vacation can be classified as just a trip and parenting in another place. I mean, I think I have a friend who just came back from Disney World and she's, I said, Oh my gosh, how was it? And she said, I think my husband thought that the kids were gonna walk into Disney World and it was gonna become like an episode of Full House where everybody was so grateful and so smiley and happy and you know, hugging and getting along. And she's like, My kids were just my kids. And she's like, We had a great time, but you know, we have these like beautiful ideas of what vacation is gonna be, and they're still gonna argue and they're still gonna cry, and they might not like what's on the kids' menu, or they're gonna be grumpy, or you know, and and it can be a lot of work. Um, I think we're at the stage now where it's a little less of parenting in a different place. I mean, we still are, and it's a little more relaxing, but you know, your kids are not all of a sudden gonna become these like starry-eyed angels the second you are quote unquote on vacation.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Um and that goes for us too. We're still the same people, we're still the same people, and um, you know, there's still times that we've gotten sick on vacation and you know, you know, then you're tired and you're probably a little cranky that way. Right. Or, you know, if it like going back to the thinking about the temperature, if it's super hot and your family just doesn't do well in the the heat and humidity, you've got to take that into consideration. Right. And as as much as you can put planning into things and and all that, sometimes it just doesn't go exactly the way that you had hoped. Right. But there's you can still have an amazing time.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yes, yes. And I think overall, when you when we think back to our vacations, we do have sort of like a starry-eyed thought about it. But trust me, there are moments that I would not like to relive. But I mean there's I think it's just important to realize that vacation, you know, your kids are gonna be your kids, you're gonna be yourselves, and yes, there will be very, very special moments and experiences, but they're not gonna turn into, you know, little or just you know, parenting in a new place with fewer things. Okay, and uh uh this kind of goes along with that. How has our planning changed since our kids have gotten older? I would say I pack less stuff.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

You pack less than that is a great bonus.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

No strollers, no pack and plays, no high chairs. No, that feels much easier for me.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

But remember, everybody, the Toyota Sienna packs a lot of stuff in.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

We love that Toyota Sienna.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Put down the back seat, and we have been away for like almost two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

I always say I could live out of that thing for three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

And yes, and that's why we got it.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

I was like, I like to travel, but I like to have all my things, and we can pack a lot in the city.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

We've had multiple strollers and coolers and all things and laundry baskets, laundry and uh clothes that we need and food that we wanted to bring.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

So we've got it all when we're on vacation.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

That Toyota has been uh uh an amazing part of the family.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

It is. We'll be kind of sad when it goes. We'll just have to get another one to keep traveling. But yeah, so since they've gotten older, what would you say? I I would say the biggest things is that um they can last longer. We're pretty, pretty, especially when they're little, pretty tight on bedtime. So, you know, when they were little, we would let them sleep in and then they'd wake up and we'd leave, and then we'd stop for the night and make sure that they were still in bed by 7 or 7.30. And now we're like, hey, we're getting up at 6 and we're leaving at 6 30, and you might be up till 9 30 or 10, and and they can handle that. Um I think and like you said, we can drive farther too.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Yeah, we can go further, and you know, you don't have to plan around naps, and you don't have to be so rigid with your bedtime. Uh just I mean, this weekend we have been hitting bed at 10 o'clock at night, which is an hour and a half later than usual. Later than usual.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

And they're handling it for the most part. And our kids have always been pretty hardy. Like I I mean, I have said before, I'm sort of an anxious traveler, but our kids are good travelers. And I think my sister-in-law has always said the sooner you start them, the sooner they they're used to it and they get long car rides, and they understand not being at home and they can deal with a hotel, and you know, so our kids I think have always been decent travelers, like they're fine with being away from home and they're you know okay in the car for a while, and I'm always the one that's a little nervous, but they actually do really well. Um, so yes, and I think I said on the last uh the episode with Krista, we tend to try to go the furthest that we're going the first day when everybody's fresh, and then you know, if we're going nine hours, we go nine hours the first day, and then as the vacation goes, kind of work our way back so that when you're kind of tired and ready to come home, maybe you only have a three-hour road trip home or something. I think that's helpful.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Right. You get the you had the most excitement and and energy on that first day. Yeah. So to use all that up is great. And um, you know, when we're in the car, nine hours is a long time, whether you're driving or whether you're riding. Yeah. So um, you know, keeping everybody like involved in them in the ride is is important too. Then you have, you know, some less complaining.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Little things to stop and see on the way out, you know, but we try to like get there.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Yeah, we um we don't use uh tablets in the car, and we can't use movies in the car uh because of car sickness, which we've learned the hard way. Only took three times.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

I was like, wait a minute, I see a pattern here.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Three hours and then boom. Boom.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Funny stories now.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Right. They are funny, but uh but we've we've adapted where you know we have uh podcast that we listen to outside of this one. Yeah. Um, you know, some trivia that we do in the car.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

The kids can both read in the car.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Yes, which is which is helpful. And they also can get from the library um books on tape, so they they can listen to the stories themselves.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

And sometimes they just look out the window and you know, it is what it is. And they like license plates. We talked about that, Krista and I in the last one, all the things. And really that first day, especially, I think the kids are they're excited enough that they'll talk and they'll chat and they'll look out the window. It's on the way back, actually, that you're like, how much longer, how much longer, how much longer. So, um, and how do we decide what activity, how much activity it is enough without overloading? And I would say we always kind of go in with a general plan and maybe, you know, over the course of a week, four or five things that we definitely want to do. Maybe we already have it scheduled, maybe we have tickets for it, and then the rest, we have a list of a lot of things we want to do or we could do, but I think kind of in the moment we play it by ear. Like everybody's kind of tired. Why don't we sleep in tomorrow and then you know get to that place by one o'clock? And I think that's kind of the best way to do it. You have to see what sort of the vibe of the family is and not push too hard because I think that's when you get into like meltdown city.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Right, that's the tough part. Um, but I try not to to plan more than two big things in a day because that that's just a lot for everybody. Whenever we decide where we're going, then I'll break it down by day and see all right, what are we going to do on each day? And that's nothing is real rarely is anything it has to be on this day. And it's a it's a framework. And we say, okay, we're gonna go to this museum in the morning, and then we're probably gonna go to this place for lunch or this area for lunch, and then we will go to someplace else in the afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Right. But if it's like we have tickets to a baseball game, that's pretty much set in stone, but everything else we're kinda fluid with, and this is something we would really like to do, but if we don't get to this, it's not a big deal or right.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

The last couple of spring breaks we have uh gone to baseball games. So when I'm planning things out, I'll look at the schedule and see if there's a day game. That's much easier than having um go, you know, going to a game that ends at nine o'clock at night because everybody's still excited, and then you have to come home and go to the hotel and and and try and relax. So when you have something that that really can't be moved, like a one o'clock baseball game, then you know that's what you're doing on Thursday. And then this past uh spring break we were kind of working things around and we had we moved our Monday activities to Tuesday so we could go see some people.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Right, we were visiting friends, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:59

And that that kind of flexibility is great.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Um Right, we just said Wednesday is the only day we can't see you. Other than that, you tell us and we'll make it work.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

And when I'm when I'm working on that uh that framework, I you know look at the websites and see when places are open. And you know, can if it's closed on Mondays, then we know we can't do that that day. And you know, things like that. And that way I I have a good idea of what we're doing uh and when we're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah, and that leads nicely into the next question of what do you think, because you are the planner, what are some mistakes that family that families do make when they're planning vacations? And the only thing I was gonna say you just mentioned is make sure that what you're going to see is gonna be open that day. Because I think we've had that happen to us once or twice, and we get somewhere we're like, ooh, that's not open today, and then you have disappointed kids, and you're kind of like, now what? So that I would say is a mistake we have made just a couple of times. But what else would you add to that?

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yes, it's you know, that that planning, and it doesn't have to be, you know, a hundred percent this is what we're doing every single day, because then it turns into a job rather than enjoying the time that you're there. Um and you know, it just happened when you were interviewing uh Mrs. Shapiro, um, the children and I were planning on going to a museum and Harrisburg. And I never looked up the the website. I just assumed it was a Tuesday, it's gonna be open. So I walked over, we walked over there and saw some children around, which I thought, you know, this was great. I went to the front door and it was locked, and I was, you know, and then I it was at that moment I saw a sign that said that Tuesdays they're closed except for group trips. So oops. In the moment that was disappointing for everybody, but then we were able to to quickly go to the Capitol building and take a walk around there and and see different parts of that, which was still exciting.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Yeah, but it could have been like if there wasn't anything else to do, that could have been a problem. Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Another thing um is trying to pack in too much and and just trying to, you know, overload your days. And it's there's only a there's only so much even as adults that you can take in, whether it's like exciting or not, um you you just don't want to pack in too much and doing the same thing for too long is a is another one. So what I mean by that is if you are going to to a museum, trying to stay there for like five hours and seeing everything that's there, that's that's too much for anybody. There was a museum that we went to um in um Ohio, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a it was an airplane museum, and it I could have spent like seven hours there. I think we spent three.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Didn't we spend seven? It felt like seven.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

And I think you were kind of tapped out after about an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

And you know, trying to do too much like that way is. But Ollie was a baby.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

I just made myself very busy with the baby.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

And if there is a uh something a museum like that, and you want to see something, go see it and then work through the rest of it. We went to another uh place in Washington, DC, and I wanted to see the space shuttle. So the first thing we did, we went right into the museum, saw the space shuttle, and then we kind of worked our way around. And when everybody got tired, we we were finished.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

And like you said though, too, on the other side of that, don't pack too much in because we could get to a museum and realize that there's some display or something there that we don't know about and want to spend hours there. And then if you have a rigid time frame of well, we have to be somewhere else in an hour and a half, that can cause disappointment too. So it's this very like, don't do too much, but don't do, you know, not enough, and you know, kind of just have to go with the full up.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Right. And and another thing that I like to break up is to have like little like side trips involved, and it just kind of breaks up the day. And what I mean by that is when we were in Boston, um, we went to a museum in the morning time, and then there was a st there was a statue I wanted to see, and it was of Phyllis Wheatley, she was a a um a poet.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

And that's what the one that Catherine wanted to see, right? Our daughter specifically, I think she had read a book about her, and she's like, Can we see the Phyllis Wheatley statue? We were like, sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

And it wasn't anything other than the street. It was like in a in a neighborhood, and it was just but just like going there and breaking up from being inside a building to being out and you know, walking down the street and and seeing something that um that that broke it up. There was another time that we went to the world's largest filing cabinet up in Vermont, and it wasn't anything other than 10 filing cabinets filing cabinets stacked on top of each other, but just to to say, you know, we saw it.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

And I feel like every time we talk about going to Burlington, Vermont, we're like, oh yeah, and then the filing cabinet. So it's like you know, it's a fun little memory, just a little 10-minute whatever.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

The house that's shaped like I'm that's sorry, was it a house?

SPEAKER_02 36:10

It's a shoe. It's shaped like a shoe. Like a hotel now, I think.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

We didn't go in, we didn't like go to the gift shop, we just drove it in the parking lot.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

That's in York, Pennsylvania, if anyone's interested.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

We love a roadside attraction.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

And and took pictures, got out of the car for, you know, 10 minutes and walked around giant shoe pictures. Well, here's a here's a um a hotel that's shaped like a shoe, but it just kind of broke things up and it made it a little lighthearted rather than being so rigid.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Right. We're driving, driving, driving, and yes. Um, and what would you say I like this one? Um, what are some ways that people can save money without sacrificing the experience? And I wrote several things down on this, and I think Steven kind of is the person who well, I guess both of our families sort of did this, and then we just kind of added to it. But one thing that we two things that we have, three things that we have found to be very helpful is one, we stay in a hotel that has most hopefully a full-size refrigerator and like a mini kitchen. Um, and sometimes we stay in a hotel that has like a suite so that you know one parent and one child will sleep in one room and the other one will sleep in the other room. And that way, if one of our kids gets up early, you know, they can watch TV or talk to the parent or whatever it is without waking the other one up, but also having the refrigerator. We typically tend to stay in hotels that have breakfast for free. And I could go either way on that, but it's free. So you eat that and the kids love the waffles and the cereal and whatever, and that's exciting for them. And then we will pack food or buy food once we get on a vacation, and we pack lunches almost every day, no matter where we're going, and then we take a cooler with us because we've talked about if you go on a vacation and you have to buy three meals a day, I mean, it it could easily be $200 a day, and that's a huge expense if you're away for a week.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

It is, it's a it's an enormous expense, and it's the other than where you're staying, eating is the second biggest expense of vacation, and it's something that you have to do. And finding a place that has free breakfast or breakfast included, it might be a little bit more expensive than another hotel, but realistically, for a family of four to go out to breakfast, even if you're doing fast food, it's gonna be thirty dollars. If you sit down, it's gonna be fifty dollars. And you know, if you do that every single day, you're starting the day off, you know, spending fifty dollars for breakfast, and it's going to be a waffle or pancakes that are gonna get half eaten. Yeah, and it's you know, you're not gonna get you know a a really like healthy, great breakfast. You know, it's it's going to be something that's all sugar and carbs, and you know, that's that's tough. So going someplace that has an an included breakfast, you know, you can have um yogurt, you can have fruit, you can have waffles, toast or you know, some sort of like weird eggs, they're not always the best, but yeah, that's just a way to you know save some money that way. And as you said, you know, we we pack a lot of sandwiches for lunch and and and like cut up vegetables and things like that as snacks and and fruit. And that way we feel more comfortable going out to a dinner that might cost more money, but you're still kind of ahead of the game.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Right. And when you can and and if you had a hotel that didn't have breakfast, but you had a refrigerator, you could very easily go buy cereal and yogurt and fruit or whatever and still have it and still be ahead of the game. Um, but I think too, then our kids look forward to going out for dinner because every night dinner's kind of like a ooh, where are we gonna eat tonight? Because we had breakfast and lunch, you know, packed or in the hotel or whatever. And right, and then we don't feel so bad about it. Or, you know, you know, by like the fourth or fifth night of vacation, you're like, all we're doing is spending money. Sometimes then we'll be like, let's just go to a pizza place and get pizza, or I'm sorry, or let's just, you know, or we'll we've gone to places that have like happy hour specials and we'll get um, you know, appetizers for dinner or whatever, just to kind of cut down the cost because yeah, I mean, every night for four people and we don't go to fancy restaurants, it can be close to a hundred dollars, and that like starts to hurt a little after so many days. Um, so just doing it once a day as opposed to lunch and breakfast and dinner, I would say is probably our biggest cost saving idea.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

It is um another thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

We pack snacks too, like we really pretty much just buy dinner in terms of food. We bring snacks with us, we bring you know, all of that.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Right. And when I when I look at restaurants, um I use Yelp a lot to see, you know, what is you know recommended and and things like that. But I also go directly to the websites of restaurants and see what does the kids' menu look like. Now, we don't always order from the kids' menu, but just to know that they have that available. And you know, you're gonna get you know something that has mac and cheese, or you have like a you know, a cheese. All the crowd favorites, yeah, all of those, yeah, these these things like that. Then you're not gonna get a a complaint from dinner because it's something that they're picking that they like. Right. And then you know, like you said, they're uh, you know, the happy hour is a great one. And then I can kind of know what what to expect in terms of you know what we can eat, how much it's gonna cost, things like that. But stepping away from the the eating, uh a hidden cost that you know you have to be careful of when you're booking a hotel is parking. If you are outside of a a major city, usually parking is included, you're just parking there at the hotel. But anytime that you are close to a city or staying in the city, parking can be $35, you know, to $60 per day in a garage. And some places you don't have in and out privileges. So you're allowed to, you know, park at night and come out in the morning time, but you can't go back and forth. You're gonna get charged extra. So one thing that I look at is can we stay reasonably close to the city and still and and have free parking? So whenever I'm looking at a a hotel near a city, I generally look about twenty minutes. If if I can find a hotel that's twenty minutes away, the parking's gonna be free. It's gonna be much cheaper than staying in a city. And twenty minutes isn't really that big of a deal to drive in and out of town. I don't want to stay anywhere that's forty minutes because then you're looking, you know, you you could hit traffic, then it's an hour each way. And I think that's a bit too much. But 20 minutes is is definitely doable.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

And when you're a little bit further out in the suburbs, they have when you have kids with you, you know, they have restaurants that we're familiar familiar with or they have a target if you need to run in and get it, you know, to just kind of go back to the suburbs at night. Um feels like you're sort of you got all the things that you need um with a family and kids.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Right, and if you need to take a break from the the museums and the attractions and things like that, usually in the suburbs, you can find a community playground and to just unwind a bit so you and I can sit on a bench, they can get some energy out, you know, climbing on the city.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

And they love to explore a new playground. What's better than a new playground? Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Right? You can use up, you know, you know, 30 minutes or 45 minutes an hour. And that's another thing.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

We're like, hey, we're gonna go to this museum or we're gonna do this, and then we're gonna go find a playground. And they're like, oh, okay. And then, you know, the and the other thing I was gonna say too earlier that I forgot to say is um, you know, I I talk a lot about well, I don't know if I do, I think a lot about how when you're the mom and you're the dad, you get to make the rules. Like you, however you grew up or whatever you think you get to make the rules. Rules for your family once you become the parents. And people used to say to us, Oh, there's you know, we're not big amusement park people. Um, so when we go on vacation, we're not looking for amusement parks, or people will be like, Oh, did you go here and go there? And I'm like, No, like we're not really a Ripley's, believe it or not, family. Nothing against anybody who is, but Steven and I always say, and our kids say it and they laugh. We like history in small, cute towns. So we have always gone on vacation and typically there's been been some historical side to it. And we typically go to a cute town and walk around and find a restaurant and go out for ice cream, and that is, and somebody was like, wait, your kids go to museums? And I'm like, My kids love museums, and they have to be the right kind of museums, but our kids enjoy not that they never complain, but they enjoy history, they enjoy museums, they enjoy cute towns, and that's kind of just part of our family culture and what Steven and I enjoy doing, and so our kids are used to it. Um, and I think that that's important too. You don't have to get caught up in we have to go to the amusement park that's $700, and if you like to, go for it. But you know, we have taken our kids to Williamsburg and to um Jamestown and to, you know, to American Revolution things and and um I don't know, I can't think of them right now, but but that's what they're used to. They like that because that's what they're used to.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Yeah, that's what we do, and that's you know what we have you know kind of exposed them to early on. And it's never too late to to do that.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Um it's just a matter of kind of you know making it interesting. If you are going to an art museum, that's not going to be as exciting as making a living history museum. A living history museum where they can talk to somebody about making shoes or you know, making um, you know, something with the blacksmith or something like that. When we went to um Monticello was another one that we went to, um, and when we were there, the the tour guide was talking about these colonial people and this and that, but they mentioned Ben Franklin. And you know, the the children got excited over that because he's associated with Philadelphia and we have Then we've been to Old City Philadelphia more times than we can count. Right, lots of times, and that just makes it more personal. So you know, grasping some things like that can can make the museum more enjoyable. And most newer museums are interactive. You know, there's screens that you can you can touch.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

There's were they have scavenger hunts for the kids.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Scavenger hunt.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

There was the um even in we were in Newport, Rhode Island, in you know, the Gilded Age mansions, and our kids for the most part part enjoyed that. But some of the houses that we went into, the pair the um docents were like, Oh, do you want a scavenger hunt? And you would go into the room and it was like find the you know, whatever. And our kids loved that. So I think places are making it more fun too. But you know, uh our kids like museums. Yes, that's they do.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

That's where we've gotten them used to.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

Yeah. Um so that's you know, that and if you're not a museum person and you are an amusement park person, then your family gets used to going to amusement parks, and you go on vacation to go to an amusement park, or like we've been going to baseball games lately, and you know, you kind of get to make that decision and shape and form what you want to do as a family. So I think that that's an important thing to remember. You don't have to do what everybody else is doing.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Right, yeah. You want to you want to make the uh the memories for your family and and um again, it goes back to you know giving everybody a choice and making sure that everybody gets something out of it.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

Yes, and a couple more money savers, I would say pick, you know, maybe every day or every other day, pick one thing. Um, like when we were in Boston last year, we went to the Boston Tea Party Museum, and that was a bit of a cost, but again, history nerds, we loved it. And the kids liked it, and that was a very interactive you got to go on the boat, you got to throw the tea over, the people were dressed up, you got to yell at the town meeting. Um, but then we would find other places to go that day. Like we walked the Freedom Trail, which is just the trail of history through Boston, doesn't cost anything. And then, but also I feel like, and you're good at finding this online. There are so many resources and so many places that tell you of places to go and maybe things that most tourists aren't doing or going um that don't cost anything. Or if you know, if you were gonna take a walking tour of a city, you might be able to find the walking tour online and do the exact same thing without spending 40 bucks a person or you know, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

And and that's one thing that to keep in mind that you know you can book these walking tours and it it could be you know $35 or $40 a person. So you're for a group of four, that's $160. And that's a big expense. You can also search for free tours, and they're free because the the tour guides are working for tips. So if you go onto a free tour and you tip them $50, they're gonna be able to get it. And you know, they're often just as good, and you know, there's a lot of information, and they're we've had them where they've asked us where we were from. So they might mention something about Philadelphia, or they might mention something about um you know, Benjamin Franklin. Or they might, you know, since there's young children, they will tailor that tour and say, Well, you know, this is where this happened, um, and everybody went off to fight in the the battle, but then the children had to stay home and do the farming and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

And then the kids get excited.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

Yes, and you know, would you like to be a a farmer for you know, get up at at five o'clock in the morning and take care of the chickens and then pull all the the crops and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

And our kids are like, no. But I think we were at the Paul Revere house too, and there were like reenactors there, and they let the kids pretend that they were marching and they were holding the weapons, which of course our seven-year-old really loved. She's a wild one, but but you know, just those things, and they don't cost anything, but they're inexperienced, and the the people are really good at talking to the kids, and yeah, I mean, I feel like you don't and uh another thing I said is you also don't have to do the add-ons. If you go to the science museum, you don't have to see the IMAX movie for an extra twelve dollars. You know, there's plenty to do just at the science museum, or and if you want to go for it, but if you're looking to be a little more budget conscious, which we always are, um, you know, just uh just kind of take it for what it is or splurge on a couple of things that you really want to do. But there are certainly plenty of things in towns and cities that don't cost anything.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

And getting back to when you're planning things out and looking at the website, see if there is a community day. Is there a day where festival if it's if it's free, you know, whatever this museum is. Is it free on the third Sunday of the of the month? Right. Right? And then you can go that day. Is um is it cheaper to buy the tickets online rather than buy them in person? And you don't have to plan that out months in advance. You can just go online that morning and say, Oh, this is where we're going, and save a couple dollars that way. So there's certainly ways that you can um you can save up some money um with that.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

And I'm looking, I feel like we already answered. Um all right, I'm gonna m move forward to skip a couple of our questions.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Go ahead, you know. There's there's staples that that we go to. We like to go to zoos. And you know that you know zoos have animals, but different zoos have different animals. We we got to see elephants when we were in Cincinnati. Pittsburgh and was it Pittsburgh?

SPEAKER_02 51:37

Pittsburgh, yeah, that was awesome. They were like close, and yeah, we saw them being fed and washed and yeah, that's right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:44

They're they don't have elephants in Philadelphia. Right. So the the Pittsburgh Zoo had elephants. And in the Cincinnati Zoo, that's where they had the baby hippo um that was born a couple years ago, but they they turned it in it was a real big thing online where um the the hippo was being born. Now the time when we were in California, we saw um the they just had a baby giraffe that was born um a short time before we got there. And they had um the the um the giant pandas, which aren't in every zoo. You know, to see different things, it's it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um and okay, so let's talk about sort of how we settle into a rhythm. So, what would you say is the first thing that we like to do when we arrive? Let's say we drove for six hours and we get to wherever we're we're getting. How do we sort of settle in, would you say?

SPEAKER_00 52:37

Well, the first thing that we need to do is get get to the hotel so we know where our our home base is.

SPEAKER_02 52:42

If it's time. Otherwise, we find something else to do until we can check in.

SPEAKER_00 52:46

Yeah, but most times you know it's three o'clock. It's check-in time. And so, um, and then you know, whenever you're you're booking a hotel, you can always make the request to to check in early. And sometimes it it's available and sometimes it isn't.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

But and our kids kids are at the age where they still feel like hotels are exciting, so they love to get there and look around the room and open all the doors and you know, try out the new soap and whatever. So we'll while we're sort of unpacking and getting settled, they're you know, looking out the window and trying the TV and all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

That's very exciting right now. And usually and we're saying, get your feet off the get your hands off the rug. Ew, don't touch the rug, you know, and they're like, but look at this, and you know, um, but yes, what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

Yeah, but it's usually uh, you know, it's the hotel that's that's first getting their um ourselves settled in and all of our things, and then it is kind of easing into it. Maybe um you know, we usually have to go out to eat something, so um, so we'll walk there um if possible and then just kind of see what the neighborhood is like.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

Yeah, we don't usually stray too far on the first night. We kind of get the lay of the land of the town where we are.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

Because I mean everybody sat all day, but it's tiring to ride in the car.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

And you have a little bit of pent-up energy, but you you need to be able to like come down from the excitement of being in a new place.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

So we'll usually go and maybe check out the town, maybe go in a couple stores or whatever, and then find somewhere for dinner. And I'd say usually that first night is kind of an early night. We'll go back to the hotel, we'll, you know, we'll let the kids put their pajamas on and they love to like lay in a hotel bed and watch a few shows so that then you know they go to sleep at a normal time and they're ready. Brightener. Because that also, if we wake up early, they're more tired than they usually are. So we try to get a good night's sleep that first night, um, you know, to set the set the groundwork. Um, and routines that we try to maintain while we're on vacation, I would say now that they're older, it's a little different, but especially when they were little, I love sleep and I love children that sleep. So we would try to get them to sleep pretty early. And I remember when Ollie was a baby, we had one hotel room and we had him in a pack and play. So we put the pack and play on one side of the bed and we like turned out the lights and closed the curtains, and Steven and I sat on the floor on the other side of the bed so he couldn't see us and like, you know, know that we were awake, and then he finally fell asleep. And I guess we just I guess we just went to bed then too. But um, I think we try, I would say sleep and also eating somewhat. I mean, we are not, we love treats, we love ice cream, but you know, also having them eat a little healthy, because even I feel like after you've been on vacation for a certain amount of days, you're like, I just want an apple and like a piece of lettuce. So, like we said, you know, we'll pack peppers and apples and bananas and try to keep them on a routine of eating some fruits and vegetables because you do get a lot of treats and pizza and stuff. So we try to work that in.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

Right, balance it out a little bit with the the treats and the and the regular food. Yeah. And it it's just eaten out at restaurants all the time, it just feels heavy. Um but another thing about the hotel to make it more comfortable for everybody is that we bring our own pillows and you know, sometimes, you know, a favorite blanket.

SPEAKER_02 56:01

So, and if they're the noises are Ollie sleeps with a sound machine, so we'll bring a sound machine. And I talked about that on the last one too, how it's helpful if the hotel is loud. You know, you turn that sound machine on and everybody can just sort of go to sleep and grounds out.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

And if they have loves to sleep with, that just makes them feel more secure and in with their own things in a new place. And that helps with the sleeping.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

And this is so silly, but one thing that our kids look forward to is when we are on vacation, we each take a kid, and for whatever reason, it kind of works out that my son is usually in the in the bed with me and our daughter is with Steven. Um, and they both look forward to that because that's not a typical thing that they get to do is sleep with us, but it's you know, it's like a big vacation thing, like, oh, I'll get to smuggle mommy and Catherine will get to be with daddy, and you know, we're all in the same room, but they look forward to that very much. So that's you know, so and I think that brings them a little comfort, like just yeah, that's run a new place so we're with them.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

And um, she and I are early risers, so uh as you said before, you know, when we have uh the ability to get a hotel that has uh two rooms or you know, two TVs, then she and I can um you know watch something on TV and and wake up that way, and then um you might wake up a little bit later than that.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

Now it has to be said, and maybe we'll have to put a little poll out on the online for this, but Steven likes to get the um the suite with like the living room and then the bedroom. My issue with with that is that then somebody has to sleep on a pullout couch, and there is nothing I dislike more than sleeping on a pullout couch in a hotel with a mattress that's like two centimeters thick and you can feel the springs. And when we were in Cincinnati, that was a little bit of a point of contention. And he was like, Well, I don't mind sleeping there, and I'm like, but I feel bad if you sleep there every night. Like Ollie and I slept in the pullout bed, and oh, it was a bad night's sleep. So my preference is to get a room with two beds, but go ahead, give them, tell your piece. Right. No, we love a you love a pull-out couch.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

I mean, I don't love it, but I don't mind it that much. And it I it's not comfortable. No, by any means, it's not comfortable, but it's not that bad if it was pretty bad. If it then gives us that separation that, you know, if somebody is having difficulty sleeping, they're not gonna keep all four people awake. So you have that separation available there, and it gives you a little bit more, you know, flexibility. You know, rather than having um, you know, two beds um and one TV, it's something I really don't mind. And and I I didn't mind sleeping in in Cincinnati or DC or so jury's out on that one. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 58:51

Sometimes we get two beds, sometimes we get a pullout couch, but I have to give him credit. He always says he's willing to sleep on the pullout couch, but then I feel bad about that. So I'd love to know what everybody else thinks about the pullout couch. What did my sister say? She'd rather sleep on the floor of a dirty hotel than sleep in a pullout couch. So I don't know, there might be strong opinions on this. Um, okay, so let's talk about when things don't go according to plan and how much sort of downtime we should build. I mean, I feel like when something doesn't go the way you plan, there's really nothing you can do but go with it. So we've been to urgent cares on vacation. Uh, we have had times where, like you mentioned, I was sick um and Catherine was tired. And so after dinner, Catherine and I went back to the hotel and just kind of like rested and watched TV and laid in bed, and Stephen took Ollie and they went for like an hour and a half long walk through Pittsburgh. Um, or you know, some days we'll say, We're gonna scratch whatever we were doing tomorrow morning because we've had three late nights in a row and we're just gonna let everybody sleep in. And um, or even when Catherine was when the kids were little a couple years ago, we went to Maine and Catherine hadn't really had a normal nap, and she was okay for a couple of days without a nap, but there was one day where everybody was just kind of like losing it. And so I said to Steven, why don't you go back to the like you guys go back to the hotel, she can take a nap, and I'll take Ollie out for two hours and we'll find something to do so she can just sleep. Because I feel like sometimes on vacation you just need a reset. Like you, you know, you can go and go and do special things and stay up late and this, that, and the other thing. But after a while, especially with little kids, you just need to like bring it back home, you know, bring it back to like baseline.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:29

Yeah, sometimes it catches up with you and you know, being flexible in what you can do and um, you know, being willing to, okay, this is this is what the plan's going to be, and we're just gonna have to skip this and you know, going with it because that's gonna make for a more pleasant time for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Everybody, yes, and just kind of it is what it is, and then you know what's gonna make your kids kind of come back, and so you do that, and then everybody is usually kind of ready to go again. Um, and how about some simple things that parents can do to make each day run more smoothly?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

Have a plan. Um, because it doesn't have to be exact to the minute, but have a plan on what you're doing that day, where you're going, where you know how how far it is to drive there. You don't want to come up with any surprises. And you don't want to just kind of like figure it out while you're there because that is very expensive. It costs you money and it costs you time. And I found that out the hard way, or we did. When we were on our honeymoon, I had this idea that oh, you know what, it'll be great. We'll I planned the uh the flight into San Diego, and then I planned the hotel for New Year's in San Francisco, and I thought we're just gonna figure it out along the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

We're young and fun and in love. It'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

Right, we'll just go you know, go with the flow and be, you know, real easygoing, things like that. And then on day th three, we're sitting at lunch at a place in Southern California and no place to sleep that night. And so it I wasted, you know, all of our time like in the car driving and during lunch trying to figure out where we were going next and you know where we were gonna stay. So it really it was a it was like a fun romantic notion, but it doesn't really work out practically.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

But better to learn it when it was just the two of us than the four of us. So that was a good good lesson to learn early on.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

So having that that framework and and doing some planning ahead of time and doing a little bit of over planning. You know that you're gonna go and do these two activities on this one day, but having one or two or two other things in your back pocket, say, okay, you know what, if if it doesn't work out with this second place, we can still go here.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:47

And that is really like the best tip that I can give anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

Yeah, I think that I had forgotten about that, yes. And like I keep saying, you're great at planning, and and I think logistically you handle that. And I, on the mom side of that, what I would say is to make it go smoothly is to be prepared. Um, we typically carry one or two backpacks with us wherever we go. We have water bottles, we have snacks, we often have a cooler with lunch in it. I often usually also stick a new shirt or pants and a shirt um for my kids in case, you know, if you're in the middle of a city and your clothes are back at the hotel and somebody gets wet or somebody falls in a mud pile, like you're done.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:27

Right, or you're just eating ice cream and then all of a sudden you've got a chocolate shirt.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:30

That happens sometimes with kids, doesn't it? Right. And I, you know, we have snacks, and um, so I always have kind of what I often carry uh wipes with me because wipes and tissues and band-aids, I mean you you can always use them. Yes. So I think you know, some people go out for the day um with their wallet and their keys, and those people are much calmer than me, I guess. Much more, you know, but I just think being prepared makes you feel ready for the day. If you're waiting in line somewhere or it's not time for lunch, the kids are like, We're hungry. Sometimes a snack works wonders. So um Right, and as I we have a plan and we have snacks.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:06

And I mean, that just that thing uh with the backpack, it can be expensive otherwise. Yes. Because if you find yourself that you need a bottle of water, then going to a uh grocery store or going to a uh, you know, a gas station or something like that, it's gonna be three dollars for a bottle of water. Right. Where you could have, you know, like six of them from the twenty-four pack that you bought ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:30

And where people have the I mean, if you take your own water bottle, those um water fillers, I feel like the filtered water is everywhere. Or if you go to a restaurant and you say, Can I have ice? You know what I mean? Like it's just right, you're saving yourself a lot of money and you're not buying a soft pretzel from the street vendor. And you know, again, you could say here's an apple or here's a banana or whatever to just kind of keep yourself on that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:51

And that's another thing that we we have done is going to Target or the supermarket and bought one of those multi-packs of snacks and letting the children pick out whatever gross snacks that they want to have.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:03

Right, because that's not something we usually do, so they're like, Can we have Doritos today? And we're like, sure, I'll have its vacation after you have three peppers or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:11

Right, but they're involved in the planning and they know, oh, can I have a snack? Oh, you know, can I have Cheetos or something like that? And you know, you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Yeah, go ahead. And something I forgot to mention, and this is gonna sound really silly. Um, but we I don't even know how it started, but something, and I may have mentioned this once or twice before, but um something I love to do when we're on vacation now is to go to libraries in different towns. And I think maybe it started in Maine that day that I was talking to you about when Catherine stayed back at the hotel and took a nap. And Ollie and I went into the town. We were staying, was it Brunswick, Maine? Yes. If anybody's ever been to Brunswick. Um, and I said to Ollie, it was hot, and you know, he was, I don't know, six, six years old, and I was like, Let's just go to the library. And they had um these huge illustrations by the um author and illustrator of blueberries for. Um that book that takes takes place in Maine all over the walls. And they had I had never seen a library that had like kitchen equipment and a metal detector and you know all the library of stuff. Yeah, the library of stuff. That was the first time ever I had ever seen that. And they had a play area where Ollie played for 45 minutes. Wait, a lot of libraries. They have a lot of great things.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

A lot of libraries have that like play area where there's some toys. Or you can just sit there and look at some picture books. And it's air conditioned, it's calm, and it's free. So that is something that you can, you know, take advantage of. Remember the other library.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:41

Oh goodness, that's what I was gonna say. That and that was in Brunswick, Maine, and that was a very, very nice building. But last year, when we were, again, I keep going back to Boston, we were in Concord or Lexington. Concord, I think. We were in Concord because we had done our American history stuff in the morning and um gone to the Concord Museum. And then in the afternoon, we had our lunch, and it was a beautiful day, and we kind of found this sort of like park, and we went to eat there. And as we were sitting there, I was like, Well, I wonder what this building is. And it was the town library, and oh my gosh, I mean, it was two stories, it had like wooden railing, it was like open to the to the ceiling, and you could look up and see the two stories, and there were bookcases and all this pretty wall woodwork, and it was beautiful, and then again they had this great kids' area and they had coloring and crafts and toys, and you know, it just gave us a little time to cool off and again sort of reset and have downtime while you're still out. Um, so I highly recommend going and finding a library, and you know, because again, if you're on vacation, the kids aren't playing, and sometimes it's nice for them to go and they might have the same toys you have at your house, but gosh, they're more fun when they're somewhere else. So I think the kids did like magnetiles and little people, and that is that is, and I just like to see what different towns have to offer. It's interesting to see what different libraries have. So that is something that I have really started to enjoy every time we're in a new town. We're like, let's go see what the library's like.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:01

And that's just something we discovered along the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:03

Right, and it doesn't cost anything. But you could spend an afternoon there or a morning there, you know, and you often get to go and look in that cute little town, and then at the end you're like, well, let's go to the library, maybe you'll hit a story time, or maybe not, or you know, but and there was also a pretty one in Lexington too. We went to the Lexington Library then too, so way to go, Lexington and Concord. Um, and we we were talking about how vacation's kind of like magical and sparkly when it is and when it's not, it's not. But why do you think that kids often remember and fa parents too? I think the little things that happen um on vacation more so than the big expensive, like boom activities. I think often it's the things that you're not expecting them to remember that they'll remember. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

It's just comes down to you know, experience. And sometimes it's a planned experience, sometimes it's happenstance. And when we we talked about before about watching the YouTube videos, you know, we know ahead of time that we're going to see some historical landmarks. And then um, you know, we go and they get excited. Oh look, we saw this, you know, we we knew we were gonna be here, and that is, you know, the reinforcement, and you know, and later on, you know, what was your favorite part? Oh, when we saw that building where uh the man was dressed up and you know reading the news of the day or something like that. Um there was another time where we happened by some street performers, and you got to partake. I did. I they were looking for you know volunteers and one guy pointed at me, so I said sure. So I walked up and was it your birthday? Might have been. It might have been your birthday, huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

And um a little lucky extra thing for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:48

They were like, you know, doing some dancing, and you know, we had to do some dancing. Me and the other gentlemen that were participating had to do some dancing, and and it was just a a funny time where uh my daughter will say, Remember you were out there with all those men dancing? And I'm like, Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

Yeah, it's a funny memory for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

It is.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:05

And also, when we have souvenirs, um, we don't buy a whole lot of things. Um we tend to focus on like two things. One is some t-shirts. So the um the kids get a t-shirt from some place that we went.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:22

Not we usually buy it a little big, so they wear it for like three or four years.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:26

Right. So they they might get more than one season out of it, but you know, we're not buying it from every place, but one place that you know that we went to and we like the design and you know it's inexpensive, something like that, um, because my daughter was wearing a a shirt from Mystic today, so it made me think of it. And that brings it back. Remember when we were in Mystic, remember we saw that boat or the the bridge that went up and we ate dinner by the water that night and there was a storm.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

Exactly. Those little things, you know, bring it back. And I like to buy uh some Christmas ornaments too. I I buy ones that are made out of wood or that are sewn uh just because they won't break. You know, things that you know that are metal or glass or plastic, they they can break just from from normal handling and um you know storage and things like that. But then when we decorate our tree, we pull out these ornaments, and then there's a story. Remember, you know, somebody will say, Remember when we got this, or and I'll say, Oh yeah, that was in that town, and the children will have an entirely different memory that I had forgotten about. Um, but it brings it back and you know kind of reinforces it and cements that into their like long-term memory, and there's a a positive um memory of you know the vacation that we went on.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:49

Right. And the even like throughout the year, just randomly, you know, one of us will be like, Oh, remember that time on vacation when dot dot dot, something that's related to something on the news, or you know, if Ollie's watching baseball and they're playing in a certain town, I'll be like, Oh, remember we saw that stadium when we were on vacation, and then one of the kids will be like, Yeah, wasn't that the day that we did XYZ? And then we'll talk about that. Um, and I think too, I said, I feel like everything about vacation is novel, it's all novelty. And there's often a big buildup, like we're going to Williamsburg, we're gonna go to colonial Williamsburg and see the people dressed up, and that's kind of what you're expecting. Um, but then I think the little things are the things that you're not necessarily expecting, but they make vacation special. So those are the things that sort of stick out in your mind. Um, for example, because I I think vacation in general has a special sort of magical feeling to it, because it just, you know, the days don't feel like days, and you're, you know, you're out for dinner and you're doing this and you're staying up late. But um, when we were in Williamsburg, it was right after Christmas, and we went out for dinner to this really good restaurant. I can't remember what it was called, had a number in it. But anyway, we were eating dinner, and this man who had a white beard and twinkly eyes and white hair and a jolly belly.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:08

And this was about December 28th. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:11

He walked over to the table and he said to our kids, Oh, I, you know, I've been watching you. This sounds creepy when I'm saying it. It was not creepy. I was watching you during dinner. You two were really well behaved, and you know, said something alluding to the fact of who he might be, might be or who he may have known. And then he gave Stephen two $2 bills, and he was like, Oh, these are for your children, and you never know who's watching. And again, it sounds creepy, but it wasn't. It really wasn't. And he walked away, and the kids were like, Is that who we think it was? So every time we talk about Williamsburg, one of them is like, remember we saw Santa, we think, in that restaurant, and he gave us $2. And you know, what could that have happened in our hometown? Sure. But you know, when when vacation already feels special and then something like that happens, or we've been on vacation and run into people we know, or we've been on vacation and seen somebody, you know, wearing a shirt of something that we know, and like just all those unexpected moments. Unexpected things.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:12

And you know what? Magic happens in many different forms because I'm reminded often of when we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and saw the elephants, one of the elephants was pooping. And that was magic for a six-year-old. One of the greatest memories for a six-year-old, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:29

So we'll talk about like remember we watched the zoo keepers washing their feet and we saw them eating, and no doubt she's like, and then the elephant pooped, and we're like, yes, and then they're laughing, and so I think, yeah, it is those it's magic, it's magic, and it's those little unexpected things. Um, okay, let's do a really quick, you know me and my quick practical readings. Okay, best tip, really quick best tips for different situations. So, your best tip for a beach vacation.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:55

Um, the best tip for a beach vacation, um make sure that you go to the beach at nighttime.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:04

Oh, you just stole mine.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:05

Well, I didn't know you were giving away tips too.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

Oh, go ahead. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:08

So if you go to the beach at 10 o'clock in the morning, it's going to be hot and all. But there is something, you know, magical about being at the beach at 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock at night because the sun's still out.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:21

Magical because you don't have to put sunscreen on your kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:23

It's cooler and it's not crowded, and it's just a relaxing time to be there.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:29

And when they're little and they're not swimmers, they also are not allowed to go in very far because there aren't lifeguards, you can tell them. You know, you really can't. You have to stay at the water's edge. So if that is something that is pleasing to you as a parent, that is helpful. Also, as the sun sets, if you're there that late, there's kind of a natural ending time. Whereas if you go at 10 o'clock in the morning, you could be there for 85 hours, and you know, but 7:30 or 8 o'clock comes if you're there that long, and oh, starting to get dark. It looks like we've gotta, you know, head home.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

So since I took yours, I can I can also I can give another one where if you're going on a beach vacation, day one, go to the beach because you can't say, Oh, right, we're going to the beach and this and that, and then you have like some activities planned on day one, and everybody's been looking forward to the beach. So get to the beach as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:17

We do not always follow that tip, but it is a good tip to follow. Yes. We came here on Thursday, we did not go to the beach, but we went last night, so good enough. Um, okay, I'm gonna do this first so you can't steal mine. Best tip for amusement parks, and I would say try to be there, you know, 10 minutes before it opens, um, because the crowd is the lat the is the smallest it's gonna be all day. If you know what you want to go to as soon as it opens, you walk directly to that amusement. You make sure you go on that, and you can usually get you know three or four rides in, maybe more, before it really starts to get crowded. So, you know, don't roll in at 12:30. If it opens at 10, pull into the parking lot at 9 40. That's my biggest tip.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:56

Well, uh, what I learned from listening to Amber Barry and an earlier podcast AI is you know, she taught us that you know you can use AI to plan out your amusement park and make a AI can make a list for you of what rides are going to be appropriate for the age of your children. And like you said, it seems cliche because a lot of people may say it, but as soon as you get in there, run to the back of the park because you can knock a couple things out without any lines.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

Or if it's not in the back of the park, if there's one thing you really, really have to go on, go there first.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:35

Yes, because your line is gonna be short. There's been times when when I was younger, I went to, you know, Great Adventure, and you would wait for two and a half hours in the sun for the roller coaster.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:48

And I had you gotten there at ten o'clock, you could have to be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:51

And that was the first thing I did, maybe it only would have been 45 minutes in line.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:55

Right. Best tip for sightseeing with kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:59

The best tip for sightseeing, um get down on their level and and see what they can see. And you know, from their perspective, point things out. And you know, whatever's a good one. You whether it is I do things you don't even notice. Yeah, I know. So uh get down there and then you know, point out, oh, do you see on the side of that building there is um a dragon or you know tiny door. Can you see that tiny door? I wonder what's in there. Do you think it's just for kids? Do you think that the you know the people that work there have to get down on their hands and knees and crawl in? You know, different things like that. But because if you just are looking at everything from your perspective and from what you might find to be most interesting, they could be a little bit lost.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:48

Wow. I okay, I'm gonna go with that. I have nothing to add to that. That's a great one. Um, I was like, take pictures. I don't know. Um, what are some ways to create memorable experiences without spending a lot of money? And we talked a lot about this, but I'll go back to again my cute towns, um, fun stores, playgrounds, things that are off the beaten path um that maybe only local families go to or know about or whatever. And my biggest one, um, we are big fans of ice cream in our family. And so we don't go out for ice cream very often, you know, at home. But when we're on vacation, we always try to seek out like what's the best place to go. And we often go to like a mom and pop rather than a chain. So we'll usually hit up, I don't know, two or three ice cream places, and um, you know, we'll take pictures, and then when we see those pictures again in our photo memories the next year, it's like, oh yeah, remember, and dad had that coconut one, and mommy got banana peanut butter or whatever, and you find really charming little um creameries and places, and um that I feel like a lot of our memories revolve around ice cream because we've gone to a lot of ice cream places, and that's fun. That's like a fun thing. Is there an ice cream place in that town or you know, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:59

That's a special thing that we do, and you know, the way that I find those places is by using you know Google Maps and you kind of focus on an area and then you just search for ice cream, and then six or eight places all will pop up, and you can then you know pare it down for you know when you're gonna be in that area.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:18

I like to look at pictures of them because you can get a good feeling for them based on what they look like.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:23

Right, yeah. So when you go to Google Maps, you know, you can click on a place, you can find, you know, all the hours and and the days that they're open and things like that, and then all the pictures that people have posted. And you can see um, you know, if it is something that is uh a local place, and you know, you know, the reviews of it will be about, you know, the owners of the place and and things like that. And and like you said, we we I come from a um you know a small business family. So anytime that we can support something local, we're going to uh go after that rather than any kind of change.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:57

Sometimes you don't have an option, but and hot tip a lot of ice cream places will do flights. So let's say a cone and a scoop of ice cream is five or six dollars. But if you look further down the menu, it'll say like four scoop flight or six scoop flight is like eight dollars or something ridiculous like that. So then, you know, we'll all pick a flavor and we'll share it. Um, and that's also a money-saving thing, but it's fun. You get to try four or six different ice creams, you know, for the price of one. Like it's so ridiculous. So that's but we have found that a lot of especially small chainie, I mean not small chains, small businesses have a have a flight. Um, and you can pick however many scoops. Okay. What do you hope our kids remember about family vacations years from now when they think back?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:37

Much like the the compliment I that I started with, um I want them to have a feeling, you know, I want them I want the memory to be of how they felt. Um if they don't remember everything that we saw and everything that we did, that's okay. But I want them to have the memory of how they felt that we were with us. With that we were together and then we were doing fun things. The overall fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:03

And like I said, you know, that you can have aggregating mo a aggregating, aggravating moments on vacation, but when you look back, I think it's with rose-colored glasses, and that's probably why we keep going on vacation, because we forget that sometimes it's it's painful, but it is this very special time with our kids. Um, and that's what I want them to remember too, and then maybe want to recreate that for their own children, um, and just our little family team being together. Um, what do you why do you think family travel is valuable even when it's not always easy?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:36

It just exposure to uh to new things. Um to be able to ride in the car for a long time, that's a skill.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:43

Um to be able to be open to try new foods, that is valuable. To be able to um, you know, see other places to new people, different kinds of people, different cultures. That that unlocks like travel for the future. If you uh are only going to places that you are most comfortable with or you know, we're always the same place all the time, then you in the future you might not want to, or you might not have the desire to go out and try something new or go to a new place or try something on the menu that you know what, I don't know if I'm gonna like this, but I'm gonna try it anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:24

Right. Just kinda s kind of sets the stage for later in life too. Um and again, I think back to that whole feeling of it's a special time with your family, then you know, you'll look back on that fondly. Um and wish you could go back sometime. And if you could give this is the last big question, if you could give one piece of advice to parents planning a summer vacation, what would it be? And I'm gonna go back to you get to decide. It's your decision. You're the parents, you make the call, you decide on the place, you decide what you're doing. If there's something you don't want to do, don't do it. If there's something that your family is really into, you go and and do that. Um if you like museums, go to museums. If you like amusement parks, go to amusement parks. If you like a little bit of everything, do a little bit of everything, but it's your call.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:06

Right. You don't have to, you know, play by somebody else's rules. Right. It's your family, your your family culture, and you get to um you get to dictate what that looks like.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:16

As Taylor would say, this is our place. We make the rules.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:19

Yes. All right, here we go. Rapid fire. Ready?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:22

Okay, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:23

Beach or mountains.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:24

Beach.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:25

Hotel or rental house.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:26

Or house. Oh we've been to Airbnb's. Um I I I don't really get it. Weird. I don't know. Yeah, it does. Um we've had great hosts, right? There was um somebody in Poughkeepsie, New York. He was lovely to talk to. He gave us great recommendations on where to eat and um you know what to see and and this and that. But I also felt strange sleeping in his bed. Yeah. Okay, so that there was that.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:54

I'd rather sleep in a bed that hundreds of people have slept in instead.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:57

Right. They're they're faceless and nameless. Um place in Pittsburgh. We stayed in an air building. That was weird too. It was. We were in like it was a uh a multi-level house, and we were in the basement which had a full kitchen, a nice bedroom, and had a living room, and all that, and and its own door and all that kind of stuff. But I knew at the top of the steps there was a lady. There was that lady. And I did I felt weird that I could go upstairs and be in her place, or she could come downstairs. So um You're gonna say hotel. I'm gonna say hotel.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:30

Planned itinerary or go with the flow, or somewhere in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:33

Um, mostly planned. Let's let's say 80% planned.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:37

Sunrise or sunset?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:39

Sunset. Um they're both they're both like sparsely populated, but you know, you're you're more of a mindset of at the sunset.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:48

I'm too tired for sunrise. I'm usually tired at sunset too, but anyway. Uh favorite family vacation destination that we've gone to so far?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:57

Sure. Um I can't think of like the magical thing, but I really have to say that we've been to Boston like three times. Yeah. So, and each time we've gone and done different things.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

And the same things too.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:15

And I mean, mostly it's different, yeah. But, you know, because there's little towns like around there, and then there's also like sites that you can see in there, and that goes again, you don't need to do everything on that vacation.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:29

Right, you know, and as our kids have gotten older, we've done different things that they couldn't do when they were little.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:33

But we've returned there, you know, every couple of years and uh we've it we've enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:39

Yes, yes. And that means next year we're gonna be planning a trip to Boston. Maybe we'll see. Favorite vacation meal. I think I know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:46

So my favorite vacation meal, there's a restaurant in Washington, DC. And oh, I forgot.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:54

Uh what was it called?

SPEAKER_00 1:26:54

The Dubliner?

SPEAKER_02 1:26:55

The Dubliner, it's near the Capitol Building.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:56

It's near the Capitol building. It's it's you know, a little bit away from the Capitol Building. It's across the street from the National Postal Museum, which is so underrated.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:06

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:07

I mean, everything else gets like, you know, the air and space and the natural history, American history, those are the the big ones.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:13

That's another thing. DC is a great place to go because practically everything's free. Continue.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:17

It is, but this postal museum, it was great. Um, but anyway, so across the street from there was the restaurant called the Dubliner. They had a sandwich beef on Wec and my favorite sandwich. Dream about that sandwich is a is a hot roast beef sandwich, and this was amazing. It really was.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:35

I would say his second is a lobster roll in New England. That's what I thought you were gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:41

Only because only because we found a place that was reasonable. Yeah, because a lobster roll is delicious, but you can spend $30 on a sandwich, and I don't know that it's a $30 sandwich. Right. But I did find a place that had a lobster roll and french fries and It was under it was like nineteen ninety five.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:01

Is that the one in Cambridge near Harvard? Forget the name of it, but yes, it's in in Cambridge near Harvard. So go find it.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:08

So above all else with with meals, if you can eat outside, that that's great. There's something about that. Yeah. Watkins Glen, we sat outside right by the the uh um the lake, and there are the boats there, and there's always like activity.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:24

If you can and there was Westerly Rhode Island, we sat outside.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:27

Yep. And um in was that the one um across the street from the beach.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:32

Yes. And and Mystic we sat outside too.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:35

Mystic we sat outside again with the boats and and the water and all that, and there was another one. Oh, in in Maine, where we sat right on the it seemed like we were on the edge of the world because I was in Portland. It was in Portland. You were sitting at a um, it was nothing fancy, you were sitting at a picnic table eating seafood with your hands, but it was 270 degrees of just ocean.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:59

And Ollie really liked that place because he said it had the world's smallest bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:03

So again, a little magical was it seafood shack restaurant?

SPEAKER_02 1:29:07

It was like we're kind of near the the lighthouse in um uh Portland. Yeah. Smallest, smallest bathroom, but really smallest sink. Yeah, smallest sink, smallest sink. And I think the bathroom is pretty small too. Um most underrated family vacation activity.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:22

Um I think that you hit it with the with the library. Yeah. Because that's it's and a coffee shop. It's not a new coffee shop. I like that. A new coffee shop that doesn't hit for everybody. Yeah. You know, you have to go out and get coffee. Yeah. So finding again, like the ice cream shops, finding a local coffee shop is great. And if you find a local coffee shop, it usually has a little town that it's part of. So walking up and down the the little town Love a town, love a little town. And and you have to get coffee anyway. So you can skip Starbucks um and skip Duncan and just find a little place and it's going you're gonna find regular people there, you know, regular local people is what I mean. Um and but the library. Yes, the yeah, those things.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:07

Yeah, find the find the thing that isn't in the tourist book. Um, and last question one thing every family should do on vacation.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:15

Enjoy yourselves, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:17

Um kind of gotta go with the flow.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:19

Whatever, whatever that looks like, and we've said it before, whatever that looks like for your family, enjoy yourself and take lots of family pictures. Nobody is ever gonna care about a picture you took of a building, no matter how incredible that building looks.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:34

But if you have a picture of your children in front of that building or yourselves, a weird selfie that half of a half the family's cut out of. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:42

Just whichever's whichever half is complaining the most gets cut out of the picture.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:47

But you know, I mean, that makes it a little bit funny, but um it's the whole point of vacation is to be together and you just happen to be someplace else.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:56

Yeah, I agree. Lots of pictures.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:59

Well, Steven, loved this conversation because I had it with you, and it's a reminder that family vacations aren't gonna be perfect, they're about time together, shared experiences, inside jokes, traditions, and making memories that become part of your family story. And I think we have we have done that, and hopefully we've given people some some ways to do that for themselves too. Thank you for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:21

Well, thanks for talking about one of my favorite things.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:24

It's so nice that you come on the podcast whenever I ask.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:27

Um to our listeners.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:30

Thank you for being here. We hope that this episode helps you plan a little summer getaway that's less stressful and a lot more meaningful for your family. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate review, and share the podcast wherever you listen. And you can also follow along on Instagram and Facebook at Mom's Work Podcast for more conversations about parenting, work, family life, and everything in between. Steven, thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:53

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:54

Have a great week.