family + travel + lifestyle + wellness
Los Angeles in endless in good food, things to see and things to do. I always say we live in a gem city, meaning that we’re close to everything but it doesn’t feel congested the way downtown does with more traffic, people, etc. A cool spot we’ve found downtown in The Last Bookstore. It’s definitely worth a trip to see if you’re in the area! Not only does it have a large selection of new and used books, they’ve created art with books and upstairs there’s small art galleries.
book tunnel! ^
When people ask where I would like to travel in the world, my answer is literally every country. It would be my dream to see every country even just for a day and experience the local, traditional cuisine. Here are some of my favorite travel items I would take for a trip around the world:
($29) – this travel pillow is different from traditional pillows in that you wrap it around your neck (like a turtleneck). It has velcro to hold it closed and a piece of flexible plastic that prevents your head from flopping. I like that the material is soft fleece and keeps you warm since usually it’s cold on planes. It folds almost all the way flat which makes it easy to pack. I felt like it was really effective in preventing my neck from flopping, I slept comfortably on my trip to England. Here’s how it works: 
2) Lightweight Water Resistant Travel Backpack/Foldable & Packable 
3) Hydro Flask
4) Lightweight waterproof jacket
5) Hunter Rain Boots 
6) Earplugs
7) Sleep Aid (generic brand)
8) Chaco sandals
9)Waterproof phone pouch
10) Solar phone charger
We had the best week up in Victoria, British Columbia! We started early with an 8 am flight out of LAX to Seattle, then a quick less than 30 minute flight to the Victoria airport. Dave’s dad had a work conference and his parents were kind enough to invite us to tag along on the trip. The last trip with just out family and his parents was our epic South America trip to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (before we had kids). This was my first time in Canada, and the kids as well (also their first time out of the country although it didn’t feel very foreign ;)
We stayed at the Fairmount Empress Hotel which is absolutely gorgeous! The gardens were absolutely gorgeous and July was the perfect time to visit. We had great weather, in the 60s with a nice breeze since we were right on the harbor.
Here are some highlights from our trip:
Butchart Gardens: Victoria is known as the ‘Garden City’ and these gardens were incredible to say the least! The 55 acre land is a former limestone quarry that the Butcharts converted into a series of extremely well manicured gardens, including a Japanese, Rose, and Mediterranean Garden. It also has a few fountains, a carousel, a fireworks stage, a tea room, restaurant and a gelato shop. Its one of those places you could stay all day.
Victoria Food Walking Tour: the tour started at the Victoria Public Market and then the local guide took us to a few locations nearby. We tried amazing bread from a French bakery, macarons, ice cream, pierogis, meatballs and chocolate. Dave’s mom planned most of the itinerary and this was a really fun way to try local spots and all the food was delicious.
Parliament: the parliament building which was just a block from the Empress hotel gives tours and also has a restaurant on the ground floor. I honestly didn’t know much about Canada and it was interesting to hear more about their government.
Beacon Hill Park: 200 acres of an awesome, free, public park. The land was set aside by a former governor who didn’t want any for-profit activities on the park. It’s beautiful with walking trails, lakes, peacocks, mini golf, a small splash pad shaped like a watering can and a goat petting zoo! There were 42 goats when we went including about a dozen babies.
Carriage tour: we liked learning from the guide more about the history of Victoria and seeing Beacon Hill Park, the coast and the historic part of the city.
China Town walking tour: it was interesting hearing about the history of China Town and seeing the alleys that were created that are now filled with little shops and restaurants.
Royal BC Museum: we saw the Mysteries of Egypt at the IMAX then checked out some of the exhibits: Egypt and the mummies, sea life and a giant woolly mammoth.
We were impressed with Victoria as a city. It was not only very beautiful but it was clean, lots of good places to eat, pastries, ice cream shops, unique bookstores, polite people, and we loved the flower baskets that they hang from all the city lampposts. Even though we were only there for a short time as tourists and it was summer, it was such a nice city we could picture ourselves living in – that’s one of my favorite parts about traveling, seeing where other people grew up, live, work and play. It’s my dream to see literally every country in the world. I think each place and city has something unique and beautiful to offer the world.
Last month I had the awesome opportunity to travel to England to visit Isaac in Bristol, where he has been living and working since Thanksgiving. I’ve also been itching to attend a Chelsea FC game in person and figured this was a great opportunity to do so! Pin and I found a great flight deal via Secret Flying and we’ve spent the last few months researching AirBnBs, hostels, trains, etc. When Dave and I lived in Edinburgh, we went down to London for a long weekend and were able to do some of the main tourist attractions. I loved going back to a place I enjoyed the first time and this second time around was really nice to have a more open schedule and flexibility to see the less popular items. My trip was exactly 7 days and needless to say was a lot of fun!
Our flight landed in Gatwick which is south of London. We took a train up to our hostel which was in the Kensington area. As I mentioned, we were trying to keep within our budget so we opted to stay in a 12 person room hostel — my first time staying in a non-private hostel room. I’m glad I packed a box on ear plugs because it’s definitely different sleeping in a room with 12 people (6 bunk beds all crammed in)! Isaac works every other week in a hospital in London so we met up with him to walk around, eat in the city and check out the Museum of Britain. We were also able to visit the National Portrait Gallery, Kings Cross and Platform 9 and 3/4, Baker Street (from Sherlock), Little Venice and Abbey Road.
We took the train out to Bristol, which is a port city about 2 hours west of London. It was a bigger city than I expected and fun to see his flat and where he works. We also saw a Banksy original street art, Bristol is one of his early locations. The next day we headed out to Bath to see the Roman Baths and abbey. Bath is about 10-15 minutes from Bristol. I had seen pictures of the Roman Baths but didn’t realize it was actually a huge complex that was unearthed. We returned to London that afternoon and stayed in an Airbnb and met up with Pin’s roommate, Brittany, who flew in from Utah.
The next day, I went by myself to take a stadium tour of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s stadium and see their museum. It was so incredible and an amazing experience to see the dressing rooms, press box and press conference room and the stadium from field level. I loved seeing all the jerseys ready for the upcoming match and they had jerseys from other famous players in the Away dressing room — including my idol, Messi, Beckham, and Cruyff! The whole time I was trying not to freak out but I was so excited to see a place in person that I’ve seen just on TV for years.
The following day, the 4 of us went to the Chelsea match vs West Brom. It was pretty cold but I didn’t want it to end! The atmosphere was unlike anything we’ve experienced at any sporting game in the US. I loved how intimate the stadium felt and how involved the fans were. People didn’t come late, leave to get food or talk about things unrelated to the game. This was one of my favorite experiences of my life! The only way it could’ve been better was if Dave was able to be there with me because he gets my obsession with soccer. One of my favorite players, Eden Hazard, scored twice and Chelsea won!
I returned from my trip refreshed and energized. I love how travel in general opens your eyes to the world and helps remind you how good the world is!
Some of my travel essentials for this trip:
Trtl travel pillow 
G4Free foldable travel backpack
Ear plugs and sleep aid – Not only did I use these items at night but I used them especially to sleep on the plane and avoided jet lag. I calculated how long I should stay awake on each flight, took the sleep aid and planned to fall asleep within the hour. On each flight I was able to sleep more than most people and didn’t feel overly tired or jetlagged upon arrival. The sleep aid I brought was just a generic, over the counter one from the drug store.
We recently celebrated our 11th anniversary in Seattle! We celebrated our decade anniversary last year closing on our house in Texas – so much has happened since then!!! This year, my parents were kind enough to come up and watch the kids for a long weekend while Dave and I flew to Seattle. It was nice and sunny, and pretty warm for Seattle (85 degrees), we stayed at the Marqueen Hotel and could see the Space Needle from our hotel window.
We had a great time walking around the city, going to a Mariners game and meeting up with friends we know from BYU tailgating (some which live in Seattle now). Safeco field is an awesome venue, it was perfect weather for a game, lots of good food including garlic fries, good atmosphere and company! Plus we could check another stadium off our list.
We of course, took a tour of the Space Needle and checked out the Museum of Pop Culture. We also walked around Pike Place Market and saw the gum wall which was kinda cool and kinda gross ha, ha! We also stopped by the Fremont Troll, the Elliott Bay Bookstore and some record shops (for Dave). We ate our weight in food including one of my new favorite donut shops – Top Pot Doughnuts – which has a very delicious apple fritter!
While we missed the kids, it was so nice to relax, not be tied down to a schedule, have time to read, not have to cook or clean, walk around and explore a new city and most importantly, just enjoy each other’s company! It was an added treat to be able to sleep through the night since Tessa still hasn’t recovered her sleep schedule from a few months ago. 
Seattle is a city we would definitely go back to visit! Until next time!
We went on our first staycation a few weeks ago! We really enjoyed it because it was nice to have time away, relax while not having to travel far. We are blessed to live in an area where there is so much to do relatively close to us. Even though the kids are I go to Newport Beach every week, it was great to have Dave with us on our trip.
Dave’s parents let us stay in their Marriott timeshare which is an amazing location and gorgeous property. There are 3 pools, kid play areas with toys and crafts, a movie theater and game area. 
We also went to Balboa Island which is so gorgeous! We had frozen bananas at the banana stand and walked around to admire all the cute homes and boats in the harbor.
The next day we went to Crystal Cove beach. The beach sand area is small, down a flight of wooden stairs on the cliff and it’s so gorgeous! We had a section of the beach almost all to ourselves and had fun with the kids playing in the waves.
Our last day before heading back to Chino Hills, we stopped by the Santa Monica Pier for a churro and to ride the carousel.
I would definitely go on another staycation especially when there are so many cool places close to LA area – Santa Barbara, San Diego, Mexico, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, La Vegas and Phoenix are all places we’ve thought about for our next staycation!
We’re currently on a staycation in Newport Beach! I’ll write more about it when we come back (from an hour away, ha!) but we’ve been looking forward to relaxing and seeing a new-ish place without traveling far.
Here are some other places I’d love to see one day:
Canada – I’ve never crossed the border north and was inspired by these pictures of Banff and Lake Moraine
10 things to do in Barcelona (my top choice would definitely be Camp Nou!)
This last week we took a long, long road trip up the 15 to Idaho Falls to visit my sister, Emily, for her daughter’s baptism. While I’ve driven the stretch between Utah and San Diego countless times, there was something new to see: the Seven Magic Mountains! It’s a temporary (free!) public art exhibit between Jean, Nevada and Las Vegas. I love rocks and these brightly colored rock stacks in the middle of nowhere were gorgeous!
We spent two days in Salt Lake City catching up with friends, Dave’s family, seeing Melinda’s adorable baby for the first time, and eating a ton of food at places we loved when we lived in Utah (like Royal India, Moochies, Originial House of Pancakes, Park Cafe). We stayed in an AirBnB in Holladay that was a good experience. I sometimes prefer an AirBnB over a hotel because you have more kitchen amenities and often more space. This trip we stayed in a fully furnished basement apartment and when we moved to Texas we ‘rented’ out a townhouse for 2 weeks while waiting to close on our house.
It was fun to be with my entire family for the weekend! Now that we’re kind of all spread out, it’s rare that we’re all together. I loved seeing Brent and Tessa play with their little cousins and the opportunity we had to tour the Idaho Falls temple which was recently renovated.
We felt like we were on the road driving most of the time and the kids were pretty good considering the 4 days of travel and Tessa missed her nap almost everyday. We drove to Salt Lake, stayed for 2 days, then drove to Idaho. On the way back, we drove from Idaho Falls to St. George and spend the night before finishing the last stretch of the drive back to Chino Hills. This was Tessa on the drive, ha, ha:
We tried to pack new snacks for the kids, like treats they usually don’t get. We also planned a few ‘surprises’ to give them during the trip, new small toys and boogie boards
St. George temple grounds ^
We saw Hunt for the Wilderpeople last week at the Alamo Drafthouse – the movie is an adventure comedy drama and made me smile, laugh and cry! But most of all, it made me really want to visit New Zealand! New Zealand has been on my travel list for a while (I mean basically with like every other country in the world, ha, ha) and I loved the gorgeous scenery in the movie.
Here are some more amazing images I found while daydreaming about going to New Zealand.
p.s. – the director, Taika Waititi, also directed another movie I love “What We Do In The Shadows”, a horror comedy and vampire documentary. I know it sounds weird but I’d recommend it!
One of my favorite blogs I’ve been reading for years started another segment of their series “Motherhood Around the World” where they interview American moms living abroad and discuss surprising and unique aspects of raising kids in various cultures. It’s been so fascinating to read about different parenting styles, giving birth in a country one didn’t grow up in, and of course seeing the beautiful landscapes around the world.
In Sweden (and other countries), babies will often nap outside tucked in their strollers – that’s one huge difference than in the US! Child Protective Service would be called before anyone could think twice! 😉 Some countries like Germany have paid maternity leave up to 12 months!
Some of the countries featured that I found particularly interesting were: Iceland, Thailand, Kenya, and Mexico. While I’ve lived abroad twice (in Guatemala and Scotland), both were before we had kids and would’ve been very different experiences. We’ve always been open to moving abroad with our kids and this series has given me an interesting and real insight to what it might be like.
Check out the amazing outdoor community pool in Iceland:
this cute family in Thailand:
or read the series here on A Cup of Jo!
Jen Holtkamp 