Traveling to Florida

We went on a great family vacation last week to Florida. We went to Blue Mountain Beach which is in between Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton Beach and just a few miles away from Seaside. It was SO beautiful. Marc loves the ocean and beautiful views but all he remembers of our last trip to this area five years ago was seaweed. He was pleasantly surprised to find the Emerald green waters and white sand beaches at their best! We had wonderful weather as well... not overly hot and not a day of rain. It couldn't have worked out any better. :)

Marc and I were excited to get away for a week to relax, but we also couldn't wait to see Eli take in all of these "firsts." It was our first time flying with two little ones and we made it through with no tears from either of them (or from us!).

Eli loves anything with an engine that makes loud noises so airplanes are no exception. He was so excited looking through the window on the plane seeing all the other planes take-off and land.

He also loved his new portable DVD player and head set. I did a little research before we bought one because I knew it would come in handy for our LONG trip to Africa next year. I wanted one with a long battery life and the option for two headsets to be plugged in. This is the one we decided on and we got these headphones to go with it. We really like it so far. Thanks to any of our family who sent Eli money for his birthday because that is what we purchased with it! :)

I can say that I feel like I learned a lot after flying for the first time with two kids. On our way to Florida we maxed out our carry-on items with three bags and three smaller personal items. We had a diaper bag, a breast pump bag, Hailey's car seat in a shoulder bag (this didn't count as one of our items), my over sized purse, Marc's backpack, a laptop bag, and a small carry-on luggage piece. Whoah! We were both worn out lugging all that stuff around so on the way home I decided to combine a few of these bags so that we had less strapped around us. I carried Hailey on my front in her carrier and Eli made a fashionable statement this way...

I had seen this strap on Amazon (I am getting a little link happy in this post!) and decided it sounded like an easy way to travel. Several reviewers said they bought a strap on their own and made a cheaper contraption so we went that route. Our strap was a little time consuming to put on so I think if we traveled this way again I would just buy the $15 strap. The main reason we chose to get Eli around this way vs. in an umbrella stroller is that it freed one of Marc's hands up (compared to using both hands to push a stroller) and it ensured that with our tight connection Eli's car seat would not get lost (we checked it under the plane on every flight). Marc also carried Hailey's car seat in a shoulder strap bag but it was too much for him to handle so we put it with our checked bags on the way home.

Here are a few other tips I learned from this first traveling experience with kids:
1. Pack lots of snacks, especially if you have a tight connection and just might miss a meal!
2. Breast milk, baby food, fruit juice boxes, etc. can all make it through a check-point even with the liquid regulations. I even put some water in a bottle for Hailey to drink with take-off and they didn't have a problem with it. On the way home, they did take a sample of the breast milk for a test to make sure it didn't have any explosive materials in it. Ha!
3. Try to plan flights if possible that work with your kids' schedules. Hailey slept for the entire second flight on both days of travel. She slept on the boppy on my lap. It worked out great.

I have lots of pictures to share tomorrow of our trip so check back!