Mom Life in the PNW

Camping at Detroit Lake in Oregon

Camping at Detroit Lake in Oregon

A few months ago, we decided to book a camping trip at Detroit Lake, Oregon since our friends had invited us. I was kind of hesitant since baby girl is walking around now and you know, campfires and dirt and uncomfortable air mattresses with a toddler just didn’t sound thrilling. So let’s just say, I had to be optimistic.

It takes about 2 hours from here to there so I knew we needed to leave before she took her late morning/early afternoon nap. We got lucky since she ended up sleeping the entire way there.

We arrive and set up camp, which didn’t take nearly as long as it usually does since we bought an instant tent with poles already attached and ready to go. (Thanks, Target cartwheel for the 40% off! Lol)

detroit lake campground

I brought her playpen and a new camping play toy set on Amazon which kept her occupied while we set stuff up. Then we freed her, and all was fair game says the running rampant toddler.

She walked around part of the campground saying hi to the campers near us. She’s going to be a social butterfly like her dad. I myself like to avoid conversations with strangers since I’m a little socially awkward. I don’t know if I like her being super friendly since this opens up (in my mind) easy access for kidnapping. Hey, you can never be too cautious with the sick people in the world today. But don’t worry, I’m a helicopter mom. I mean, you got to be when they’re this age…

The campground was okay, maybe a little too cramped for my liking since we had the extra parking spots right in our camp area. It’s almost as if we were in the city with very little yard separating us from our neighbors. I guess in a way it’s nice if you want to mingle with strangers, but I prefer more space when you have to pay to camp.

The lake last year was pretty dried up. It still isn’t where it normally is supposed to be, but it at least had a good amount.

detroit lake campground

We sat in our inner tubes in the lake for a little bit, but the current kept pushing us up to the shoreline in the 6 inches of water, so our butts were scraping on the rocks. Arya wanted to hop out of the tube and go play on her own. Lol

She’s starting to become too independent… I just want my baby to stay little forever.

She was having so much fun running around that she didn’t want to take a single nap and fought it pretty much all day until 5 pm. And even then, she only slept 30 minutes and was up til 10:30.

She’s enjoying the world. And when she gets older, she’s going to wish she could nap like I currently wish for myself…ha

Overall, Detroit Lake was fun, but it gets pretty cold through the night, so be sure to bring lots of blankets and warm clothes. I was freezing my butt off!

They have free showers to use, a free activity every day to do, AND toilets… No digging holes for me, yay!

So if you’re looking for a luxury style place to camp in Oregon, try Detroit Lake!

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Traveling to Vegas With a Baby Part 1

Traveling to Vegas With a Baby Part 1

Vegas was interesting, to say the least

It’s like a whole other experience when you have to be a responsible adult. Hah.

The first day was pure chaos.

There’s so much extra crap you have to bring when you have kids.. like a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, toys, food, etc etc. I felt like I was moving across the country with how much stuff we shoveled into the airport by ourselves.

The flight there was fine. No turbulence and only one loud outburst from baby. I thought she would end up taking a nap during the 2-hour flight since she usually does around that time, but nope.

New environment, too much excitement… must stay awake mommy! She did end up falling asleep for the last 20 min we were in the air. Hey, I’ll take what I can get!

So we grab our million items once we get off the plane and go catch the shuttle bus to the car rental place and wait in a long line. My husband was stressing cause his friend was the first UFC fight of the day which started at 3 pm. We landed at 1 pm and got to the shuttle at 1:30 pm. We should have had plenty of time to grab the car and go. Nope. Apparently I scheduled the car pick up for the following day, so our car wasn’t even there. It took an hour back and forth to finally get a minivan, which added $10 to our bill. My husband wasn’t happy about having a minivan when we booked a small SUV, but we didn’t have time to mess around. We finally get going and it’s like a little after 2:30 and he still has to drop me and baby off at Harrah’s to check-in. Next time we’ll just plan for a pickup service from Limo Find

Needless to say, he didn’t end up making it there before 3 pm and actually missed his friend’s fight which got stopped due to injury. This was kind of the whole point of our trip, but we had no clue when he’d be fighting, otherwise, we could have scheduled better flight time for him to make it. It sucks, but what can ya do?

So I was alone with baby waiting to get the check-in email alert that my room was ready but nothing ever came. So I had to go stand in a line after all even though I attempted to avoid it by the email text check-in they sent the day of our arrival. Meh.

Once I got into the room though, it was great; nice and newly updated. Not the nicest room we’ve ever stayed in, but it was pretty decent!

harrahs las vegas

I basically just stayed in the room to nap with her and walked around the hotel a bit to get food.

Other than that it was a pretty boring first day…

Since this post is long enough, ill update with another.

Traveling to Vegas Tomorrow Morning

Tomorrow morning we leave for Vegas, and although I was a little excited when we first booked back in March, I’m now kind of worried its not going to be as fun. Mainly because it’s going to be a different experience with a child, but also, it’s going to be almost 100 degrees. I aint ready for that kind of heat yet!!

Im prepared though. We have tons of sunblock, new swimsuits and our hats to be protected from the sun. I’ll prolly be strolling around in the hotels most of the time since they keep the AC running, but they can also be smokey which I think is going to suck, especially having arya around that. Luckily though, thats mainly in the casino area where she can’t hang out anyways.

The first day (tomorrow) is just going to be me and Arya all day alone since daddy has the UFC event to go to as soon as we get off the plane and pick up our car pretty much. His gym friend is fighting again in the UFC, which is the reason we decided to go in the first place.

Hopefully tomorrow will go smoothly and i can check into the room early with arya so I’m not stuck lugging crap around all day or having to wait in a long line for an hour with a possible crabby baby. I wished one of my family members were going or even one of my friends, but I’ll survive… I hope.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Oahu, Hawaii

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Oahu, Hawaii

Hawaii was beautiful but I recommend leaving the city /resort area. We booked a trip to Oahu and stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort which included flight for 3k on Costco Travel.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort

View from our hotel room

Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort has numerous different room towers. The closer you are to the ocean, the higher the room rate. We were in the Tapa tower in the village area, so it was sort of a walk to the ocean from the room, but that was fine since we needed the exercise!

The village area was pretty cool though. There’s a bunch of shops for touristy purchases, food options, and even bird viewings at certain times of the day. This was our first trip with our daughter so having some animals for her to check out was pretty cool. They had a fish pond and a turtle pond as well. Definitely, a family catered resort which was a plus! View Post

Taking a Little Trip to Oahu

Taking a Little Trip to Oahu

A few months ago, my husband mentioned taking a trip to Hawaii at the end of the year before our little one starts walking so we wouldn’t be too stressed out from having to chase her around. I immediately started saving as much as I could from blogging income at that point because I knew that my husband would probably back out of it when the time comes because of funds being limited. He started this massive backyard project that’s going to take like 5k to finish, and we just got done with our master bathroom remodel in February which cost us 10k. A lot of money, but in the end worth it because it’ll help out with our resell value. I knew with all of those limitations, his mentioning of Hawaii wouldn’t actually happen unless I helped out. I’ve never been there and would love to go of course, so I am all on board!

We decided that early November or early December would probably be the best time to make this trip happen since it’s the cheapest overall for package deals. Just don’t plan to save money around the holidays when people are traveling during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I think we’re going to stay on Oahu since it’s somehow the cheapest. Maybe more touristy? They want to get you there so you’ll spend more money on what they have to offer? At least that’s my guess considering the capital is on that island.

I also liked Oahu because it has some of the most beautiful beaches and adventurous excursions; we’ll definitely need to be packing our comfy Reef attire and shoes/sandals for exploring the island. My Reef Braided Cushion sandals are a must for this trip. You wouldn’t think a sandal would be that comfortable, but it has support and is cushion-y; feels like you’re walking on air!

I can’t wait for this trip, it’s going to be amazing, that is if I end up saving enough at the end of the year. Hopefully I’ll get to see some pretty blue waters in Oahu that I didn’t get to see while in Mazatlan, Mexico. That’s always been one of my things to see in life, but I may just have to go to the Caribbean some time for that. Beaches around here are mucky, dirty and cold. Definitely not a pleasant experience.

HHV_Oahu-island-activities_Content_Beaches_455x248_x2

Have you been to Hawaii? Did you love it or was it overrated?