1- Vicarious travel! Kae is in the UK, and Elisabeth just returned form Paris. BOTH of their posts have me so looking forward to international travel with the kids someday. We’ve done lots of domestic travel plus Canada and the Caribbean, but have yet to visit other continents. I have been waiting until G is a bit older in part because there are so many destinations I love or want to visit in the US, so I haven’t felt like we were missing out or anything, but seeing these posts makes me excited to plan some farther-flung adventures in the future.
Though probably not in 2026 because we want to go to Hawaii — this has been an idea for a while to celebrate our 20th anniversary PS I like how my trip recap was, as follows:
and then we went to hawaii.
and it was fantastic.but now, it is time to clean our house.
2- I did order a new laptop. This has nothing to do with recent events and everything to do with the fact that it is now telling me to shut down apps constantly because there is not enough memory. I am sure I could scrub it clean but it’s ~7 years old and I spend enough time on this thing that I feel like a tech upgrade is warranted. Based on wirecutter recs, I went with a MacBook Air this time — cheaper than the Pro even with upgraded specs, and bonus: it’s a pretty sky blue! It arrives next week.
The keyboard on this one hasn’t worked properly for years so if nothing else I’m looking forward to smoooooooth typing. Yes, I wrote an entire book with a glitchy keyboard.
3- Inquiring minds wish to know if I made to the tailor yesterday. I did! I got two pairs of jeans hemmed plus the aforementioned Vuori pants. It is possible that without $300 ASICS taking up much of my allowance I will start to dress better in this new era.
(THEY WERE SO MUCH FUN TO RUN IN THOUGH.)
4- Um, I looked at the news yesterday after not looking for close to a month. That was perhaps a mistake, but it felt like it was time. I’m going back to my daily Up First listening, because I think they hit the right reasonably-calm vibe in their reporting, and it’s the right dose of informative for me right now.
5- Looking forward to this weekend:
- C’s 11th bday party! (Held a month late — this was the ONLY weekend without a gym meet or soccer tournament!) That said, it’s at a fun location – no driveway video game truck this year. Will share pix!
- Visiting with family + friends in Miami Beac
- Prepare to launch (next week regular life restarts except not really because G / C are off from school for spring break and there is no soccer or dance! So I get to kind of ease in . . .)
I feel ready. Oh, and bonus: I’m enjoying this book:
Kae brought it to my attention (weeks ago) and it’s good. Calming. Gentle, one might say 🙂 Some good lessons, and I appreciate that Courtney is a little bit older (has adult children) and has been through some stuff including her own health challenges. I will see if I can bring her on BLP!!
21 Comments
Yeah don’t look at the news. Currently rethinking the summer trip to Ireland. Thank god we bought refundable everything. I mean, like, should I even post this?
Go to Ireland. We are in the UK and not one person has mentioned politics, nor have I heard any mention of it; it has been delightfully refreshing!! Also, everyone has been incredibly nice and nothing but 100% friendly and welcoming.
I assume everyone in your party is an American born citizen? No naturalized citizens, no green card holders?
No, my husband is Mexican, born and raised there, but a naturalized U.S. citizen now. Our kids were born here and are dual Mexican/American citizens.
I really hope your rethinking your trip doesn’t have anything to do with Conor mcGregor’s recent invitation to the White House this year and his disgusting remarks while there. Please know that his views are minority views and he does not speak for Ireland. Consider it a meeting between a convicted rapist meeting and a convicted felon. (This may not be one of your reasons, but just in case it’s a factor. The vast, vast majority of Irish people do not share his ugly viewpoint.)
I literally cry every day when I listen to NPR. Don’t do it! But yes to Courtney Carver’s new book. I can’t wait to check it out. I actually met her in person at a speaking engagement. Although the idea of following Project 333 personally fills me with horror :), she has a wonderful perspective on life. So glad to hear about the tailor! I also suggest looking at the matching tops to your new Vuori pants.
I know sets are such a thing these days and I kind of love it!
Laura recently had her on Before Breakfast, so looks like you have a hookup!
Yes!! Totally travel with the kids — or even go live somewhere for a bit if you get the chance!
When my late husband won the Prix de Rome for Canada, we moved to Rome for a year with our daughters, who were 4 months and 7 years old at the time. Our older daughter went to Italian public school, and it was one of the most amazing experiences for all of us. So much learning and growth can happen in such a short time when you’re immersed in a new culture.
We ended up going back to Italy four more times while the kids were young. By the time Dara was 5, she’d already been to Italy five times! Even though she was little, she still carries Italy in her heart. She and her older sister returned last summer — their first time back since they were 5 and 11 — and now at 23 and 29, they had this full-circle moment that was really special. Plus, extra bonus, while they were there, Elena took her boyfriend, and I now have a future son-in-law who proposed to her on the steps outside our Rome apartment!
We also took them to Japan when they were 3 and 9, and after my husband passed, I took them alone to Mexico at 6 and 13. And at 5, Dara started flying to Canada on her own to visit her cousins and grandparents.
Even if they’re little, it stays with them — the sounds, the tastes, the feeling of being somewhere completely new. So yes, when you’re ready, go for it. It’s totally worth it.
I had zero desire (+ COVID, obviously) to travel internationally when our kids were really little. Too much gear, too little independence (I know it works for some people and that’s great, but I know myself well enough to know I would have been a WRECK). We did take our daughter to Denmark when she was a toddler and the trip was great in retrospect but so rough while on the ground. My kids both loved routine and set sleep schedules and that just doesn’t work well when flying/exploring a new place.
When our son came along we knew we would wait a long time to do any major trip. We started small – a few visits to family in the US when he was 7 and 8, a road trip to Toronto/NYC (that did not go smoothly; too much too soon). We did Europe for the first time last March and our son was 9.5, our daughter 13. It was perfection. I was sooo worried because of NYC/TO, but that year of maturity made a huge difference. Based on how well that went, we did Portugal for 2 weeks last summer and now Paris. I feel like this is the absolute perfect age to travel with kids. They’re independent, but don’t have summer jobs/can miss a bit of school. I moved out of the house for college when I was 17 and my daughter turns 14 next year so I realize these next few years will zoom by and then we may never get the chance to travel as a family unit again.
All that to say – I have zero regrets on not doing a “big” trip before both my kids were basically in their double digits and now I am just so grateful I get to experience these things with them because I realize the window could be incredibly short (also remembering COVID; if something like that had happened right now, our daughter could have be almost through high school before many flight bans were lifted!)
I’m living vicariously through Elisabeth and Kae as well! I’ve never really wanted to go to Europe before, but I can see that changing in a few years.
Yay for the new laptop. I think we all keep electronics a bit longer than we should, which makes getting the new one even better.
Boo to looking at the news. I feel like it’s all meant to yank our chain, so it’s not productive, or for that matter particularly informative, to check in.
My husband is from India, so we’ve traveled internationally with my 2 kids for a long time. I definitely appreciate how much easier it’s gotten each year. We usually visit a European destination before heading to India. It’s been great for my kids. We are returning to Paris bc I’m a francophone and they are in an immersion school here in New Orleans. Last year we visited Scotland/England. The downside is we haven’t seen some top USA destinations. I guess I’ve always loved international travel so that’s what we do:)
We resumed our international travel when our youngest was 7. We probably would have done it a little sooner, but Covid got in the way. With big kids it is all a lot easier though we took some great trips when our older two kids were preschool age. We’ve done France, Spain and England with kids. Next summer we are tacking a stop in Amsterdam onto the back end of our trip to Africa.
I loved the audio version of Gentle – her voice really adds to the calming aspect!
We started traveling when we moved to Asia and Lizzy was 15 months old. I have fond memories of traveling with her as toddler and see how she became a pro traveler over the years.
Just died a little at that Hawaii honeymoon recap. 🤣🤣
Oh, that recap was from your honeymoon??? That’s funny. Yes, I’m enjoying Kae and Elisabeth’s travel posts! They both seem to have amazing kids that travel well. I’m actually waiting till my daughter goes to college to resume any big trips, lol.
I hope your weekend is fun, and it’s good you get to ease back into regular life next week! I’m also looking forward to spring break.
yes, those sentences were my ENTIRE recap. I do have the cutest ever paper journal I kept which is precious, but didn’t log onto the internet once during the trip (or afterwards, apparently) to do any online documentation. I don’t think it was much of a thing in 2006!
I’m currently reading Gentle also (and loving it), and I think it’s perfect support for what you’re going through right now. Would love to hear Courtney on your podcast–she’s such a calm, soothing person to listen to.
If you need a little levity, the economist talking about romantasy/erotica (sp?) writing was both informative and pee-your-pants funny. Something about a British monotone I guess 😂❤️ https://economist.com/culture/2025/02/27/erotic-writing-is-becoming-more-explicit
Yay for new laptops. My 7 year old MacBook pro has just been informing me that I might have to get my battery checked – otherwise it’s still working so great that I hope to hang on to it for quite a while, though a pretty new MacBook Air doesn’t sound so bad 😉