hopefulandhungry

Happy Halloween!  We are back in Seattle and are missing the sun already.  I would say our trip to Hawaii was 95% successful…..we had a tough flight home yesterday.  With a  1 PM departure time from Kona (4 PM Seattle time) we missed nap time and were overly tired on the plane.  Overly tired for our girls equals meltdowns and craziness.  Zoe finally conked out and slept a good 2 hours, however, Jemma kept fighting her tiredness and was not her pleasant self.  I think the flight attendants were feeling bad for me-I got offered a free glass of wine, they brought Jemma a cup of ice for entertainment and returned later with crayons and an activity book.  It wasn’t until I was rocking her in the aisle for quite a while did she finally sleep for an hour (don’t worry, I was able to sit down with her sleeping!).  This time around the girls’ ears were bothering them on descent, Jemma was wailing coming down last night and ended up vomiting all over herself and Hubby.  We got home around 10:30 PM and Jemma wasn’t down until 12 midnight, but on the bright side they slept in until 9:45 AM and took a 2 hour nap today.

Now that I’ve primed you with the worst of our trip, I’ll give some highlights and some of our personal tricks for successful travel with two 15 month olds.

 Pool time (lots of sunscreen and sun hats)-both girls really enjoyed the pool.
 Walking with Hubby in front of the condo.

   Ready to go out to dinner with Grandpa and Grammy. 

Dinner with my in-laws.  They were so nice to take the girls a few times so Hubby and I could have some beach time and could go out to dinner.  
 Our last dinner out, ocean view and a gorgeous sunset! 
Travel Tips:

1.  WHAT TO PACK

This is essentially what we arrived at the airport with:

One large suitcase which held clothes, shoes, and toiletries for Hubby and I .

One large suitcase which held clothes, shoes, and toiletries for J & Z.  Plus 2 travel high chair seats (these ones are perfect for mounting on a counter or table), additional food (bars/puffs/animal crackers/oatmeal packs/pasta), toys/books, sleep sacks, sound machine, enough diapers to last all or part of your trip (we make a point of packing about half as many diapers as need and then find a Target/Walmart/Box store to purchase more diapers for the remainder of our trip since diapers take up valuable suitcase space), baby wipes, favorite lovies/animals, and for the first time-our baby monitor!

2 carseats with carseat bags.  Once we got to the airport, we unhooked our carseats and loaded them up in these bags, these allowed us to carry our large carseats on our backs.

One large suitcase with two Guava Family travel cribs.  This was the first time we traveled with travel cribs, in the past we have rented or used pack n’ plays or cribs.  These are super lightweight, fold up easily, and are easy to set-up.

Carry-ons with food, milk, water, toys/books, magazines and books for us.  Diaper bag with plenty of diapers, extra clothes, wipes, bibs, hand sanitizer, Chlorox wipes.

Stroller-we use the stroller to transport the girls of course, but also use it to haul some of our carry-ons through the airport.  We each carry a baby through security-they have to test sippy cups and the stroller and then we gate check the stroller right before getting on the plane.

2.  PLANE RIDE

To travel with twins and to sit together on the airplane we had to buy one extra seat.  They don’t allow two lap babies in the same row without the extra seat because of the number of oxygen masks.  It’s costly, but keeps us together and we could use the space between our two seats as a play area.  We are Alaska Visa cardholders which gives us two companion tickets per year.

Pack food-snacks, some finger foods, pouches, milk and water.  We packed basically enough food for two meals plus snacks.  I placed a small freezer pack in the diaper bag to keep the milk chilled until we needed it.  Try to give water or milk during descent to help with ears.

Pack some novel toys and books.  Right before we left for our trip we ordered some new finger puppets, Koosh balls and books that the girls had never seen.  The novelty keep them entertained on the long flight.  

Dress kiddos in warm clothing (we did long footed onesies) since airplanes are drafy and can get chilly.  We packed short sleeve onesies to change the girls into after we landed in a warmer climate.

Bring a change of clothes for babies and yourself.  As I first mentioned, Hubby got vomited on and luckily he had a sweatshirt on that he could quickly take off.  We had a spare set of clothes for Jemma to change into as well.  You never know when bodily fluids could warrant a change of clothing!

3.  ACCOMMODATIONS

We rented a two-bedroom, two-bath condo.  Jemma and Zoe took the master because it was large enough for their cribs.  Hubby and I had a smaller bedroom but it was off the living room and let us have some time to watch TV during naps/evening.  We have made it a point to rent a place with a bathtub.  The girls have let us know that they are not fans of the shower yet and this way I can get in with them one at a time and make it easier.  As I said, we also packed our baby monitor this time, the pool was right next to our condo, so we could go hang out at the pool for a bit while the girls napped during the day.  We actually felt like we were on our own vacation during these times!

4.  SCHEDULE

As a mom of twins I’m kind of a schedule-freak.  Ever since J & Z came into this world, Hubby and I, as well as our Moms have all kept the girls on a pretty strict schedule-it just makes each day go more smoothly and predictable.  Therefore, while in Hawaii, with a three hour time change, we did our best to keep the girls on their normal schedule.  Of course, by week end they were off by about 2 hours.  When we started off the week-wake up was at 5:30-6 AM, naps at 10-11 AM, bedtime at 6-7 PM.  Since tomorrow is Daylight Savings the hour we lose will actually be to our advantage.  We always travel with sleep sacks, sound machine and lovies to make the environment as close to home as possible.

Travel cribs set up in the condo 
 These are awesome for traveling if your accommodations have laundry (it’s so nice to be able to do one or two loads during the week!)

 Folding travel high chairs mounted on the kitchen counter-perfect for meals!  
 All packed up again and heading home.  This was before our crazy plane ride home!

We are extremely blessed to be able to travel and take our girls on vacation.  Hubby and I have always enjoyed traveling and although it isn’t nearly as relaxing as it use to be, we LOVE spending a whole week with our girls and look forward to our time away from work.  Yes, traveling with little ones can be stressful, but if you plan ahead, take some things in stride, focus on family, keep a schedule as much as possible, it can be a great adventure!

What are some of your tried and true travel tips?

Have a fun and ghostly evening!

xoxo