A Weekend in the Forest
A month into our stay-home status in March and it was clear that our trip to California this year wasn’t going to happen. Everyone everywhere mourned their travel plans. As a self-proclaimed home-body, I thought it would be fine but months and months went by and I was stuck in my home starting to feel antsy. I needed to get out! I asked Fabian if he felt comfortable going somewhere and we both agreed to find a place to go where we could be as alone as possible. The beach, the mountains, the forest… we checked all possibilities and after talking a few of Fabian’s family members into joining us (they’re in our quarantine circle) we booked a house in the middle of a forest in Arkansas and made plans to get outta town! I didn’t care if I was stuck in someone else’s house as long as it wasn’t mine!
The week of vacay came and I kept telling Jax we were going to the forest. I am not sure if he knew what that meant but it was something for him to look forward to that’s for sure. Our bags were packed and we all jumped in the family van and drove 4.5 hours to Arkansas. This was Leo’s first big road trip and I was curious how he would do. I stocked his snacks and a few toys and hoped for the best. Turns our this boy loves road trips… he did so great!
We arrived at our log cabin in the woods and all got out and breathed the fresh air, screamed a little, and just listened to the echo. Now vacationing with little ones, isn’t quite as relaxing as a vacation pre-babies would be but we found ways, both Fabian and I to make sure we got some alone time and used it to help us re-charge.
The house we booked had two ponds with little hiking trails and a pool, that sadly we didn’t get to swim in because the weather was a little colder than we had expected. But just being out in nature was so good for our souls. We’re all city kids and had to adjust to seeing spiders everywhere and being ok with all the dirt. While we were walking to one of the ponds to we had to cross a little stream (basically a big puddle) and Jax didn’t know what to do, I told him to just jump over it and of course he jumped right into it but just seeing him enjoy nature was so fun! Because the house had two ponds Fabian stocked us up with fishing gear and that’s one memory that Jax will take with him forever. In his words, “remember last night, with my friends we put the worm on and then the fish ate it?” (he calls his Tia’s his friends)
Our trip was short, just for the weekend but it was just what we all needed. This year has just been a lot and I completely believe that if you’re feeling antsy, trapped, or just need a break in your routine that a safe vacation can happen during a pandemic. I will leave a link to the house we rented for y’all to check out! It was beautiful, lots of spiders, but full of peace. [ Air B&B in Arkansas ]
Also, I wanted to share just a couple of tips and our favorite buys for traveling with littles.
Toys and not tablets. We’ve never raised our kids by just handing them our phones so bringing toys for the car ride is key. With Jax, we decided to let him watch a couple of episodes on Netflix during the trip when he needed some quiet time. [Magna-Doodle // V-Tech Write & Draw // T-Rex ]
Pack in Ziploc baggies. Jax is big into dressing himself right now (which I love) and having things packed in baggies made it easy for him to find what he needed plus, as the baggies emptied I replaced the clean clothes with dirty clothes. This type of organization makes sense to me and brings me peace if it’s not your style… I get it!
The Inglesina Table Chair! We purchased this when Jax was little after seeing a local Fort Worth restaurant using it instead of high chairs. It's so compact and perfect to bring on trips or even with you to a restaurant. It saved us a lot on this trip because the house we stayed in had 2 flights of stairs! Sometimes just putting Leo in the chair to play saved us from having to chase him around the house making sure he was safe.
