At the end of last year, my husband and I made a decision to book a bunch of family trips when the kids had days off school and really take advantage of this time while they’re little. Once they are older, pulling them out of school is going to get more and more difficult (especially if they are involved in sports) and we want to remember and enjoy this time as a family of 5.
Traveling with Jackson and Cameron is fairly easy as they just want to watch their iPads and play cars on the plane. Parker is 15 months old and traveling with him is NOT easy but a flight under 3 hours seems manageable. So that’s why Scottsdale was the perfect destination for President’s Day Weekend. We love it here.. guaranteed sun, pool time, golf, and access to restaurants and shops. We rented a house in the Kierland area close to Camelback and were able to walk to Starbucks each morning and had access to everything we could want on a vacation but were in the comfort of a home that felt like ours. For those asking on Instagram, we booked this house through Marriott points as the house we rented is considered a “Marriott Turnkey Property” so if you have status with Marriott, definitely check this out as an option for future vacations.
We head home today and are sad to leave but are ready to get back to reality… until our next adventure 🙂
Recapping everything I packed and wore on the trip below:
I always bring all the HYDRATION on warm weather vacations because the sun and elements dry me out. Oils, serums and above all SUNSCREEN are in my makeup bag. I also always have my CBD daily drops to manage anxiety.
The house we rented had it’s own pool and was gated so I could sleep at night knowing my kids wouldn’t wander off into the pool without me knowing. We would wake up, walk to Starbucks, and head back for a day in the sun. I buy most of my bathing suits from ASOS and this one is so comfortable with great coverage but still not your everyday mom suit, you know?!
We attempted a nice family dinner at Tommy Bahama (Britt and I had our wedding rehearsal dinner at the one in Newport) and so we thought it would be fun to take the kids there. Hmmmm, kinda wrong but we agree we need to start taking the kids with us to nicer dinners because they need to get used to behaving in public 😉 We definitely got some looks as we entered the restaurant with three boys under 5 but overall, they did great (thanks to me for packing all the SH*T). Crayons, coloring books, snacks (kinda tacky in my opinion to bring them into a restaurant but it’s either that or Parker is screaming) and all the promises of dessert if they behaved. We got out of there in under an hour and a half and while it wasn’t relaxing at all, it was still nice to have a good meal and a glass of wine while threatening my children to be quiet or ELSE haha.
On Valentine’s Day, I got a little solo time at the outdoor mall near the house we rented. Threw on this $40 ASOS dress and Target boyfriend shirt and was OUT!
At about 5 pm every day, we’d pour a drink and let the kids run in the yard before either heading to dinner or cooking at the house. The luxury of renting a house is that we could just be casual and relaxed at the house, the kids could seriously run around naked if they wanted to, and we could throw on comfy clothes and drink wine on the couch. Or we had the option of heading out for a nearby dinner, which we only opted for a couple nights because sometimes it’s just nice being home after a long day in the sun.
This was definitely one of our favorite vacations and it has taught us just how important it is to spend quality time as a tight knit family. But now we have to get back to reality, school, work, and gearing up for some amazing blogger events!
xx, H
