Kitty & Kevin

We've been traveling a lot with our 16 month old....and there are a few items we are loving! If you are about to go on a trip with a toddler...do not click through and buy every single one of these items. Each of these have been great for certain trips of ours....but we don't bring all of them for every trip!

Shelf Milk. When on the go, or staying in a hotel without a fridge, we started bringing a few containers of milk with us to have on hand. Shelf milk is extra pasteurized so you don't need to refrigerate it until after opening.

The Stroller sleeping bag. Great for when you will be doing a lot of walking in the cold. It has holes for the straps in your stroller and keeps your toddler warm.

Mattress sheet for travel. Not all hotels come with a sheet on their cribs/pack n plays. This is something we brought, just in case....and used it as the hotel did not have a sheet for her crib. Placing a toddler directly on a mattress was not high on my list of things I wanted to do.

Pac…

I never thought I would be a meal prep person. I don't enjoy cooking, and I didn't grow up in a house where either parent cooked a lot. Apart from grilled cheese sandwich lunches on Sundays, the occasional chicken and rice casserole for dinner, and lasagna if anyone died (my mother is the master of lasagna, and if she was going to deliver one to a family in need, she always made one for our family too)...I'm not entirely sure how I was an overweight child because I don't exactly recall what I lived on (apart from ramen and canned soup).

Cooking wasn't an event in my house, and I never found the appeal of working so hard on something that could be so quickly consumed....with nothing but more work (dirty dishes) to show for it. 
So I never thought I'd be a meal prep person.
But when you are trying to save on expenses, you do things you didn't plan on doing. Kevin and I had a month recently where I realized we had spent almost $600 on groceries. There were a nu…

It seems we go to Chicago about every year. Food, activities and nearness to Omaha are all big perks for a weekend getaway to the windy city!

We did things a little differently this time. Normally we drive (7-8 hours) and stay outside the city to save on parking. This time we decided with our Companion Pass, it made much more sense to fly, use the L (which meant no carseat needed on this trip!) and pay a little more stay downtown in order to get quickly back to the hotel for nap time.

4 nights, two full days in the city was the perfect vacation getaway for us. We kicked off the day walking to "The Bean" and having brunch at Wildberry which was absolutely delicious.

After a little shopping and a walk by the "chicago" sign, we took a nap and headed back out to the Shedd Aquarium for the afternoon.

Deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's

The next day we went up to the zoo. We love this zoo, not only because it is free, but because of how low key and toddler friendly it w…

We recently went through the TSA Precheck process, and have used it almost 20 times in the last year. Now you may be hearing, "for just $15 more you can get Global Entry"...but it isn't always that simple! 

We love our TSA Precheck, both TSA Precheck and Global Entry gets you expedited lines through TSA in the U.S. Not only is the line shorter, but you don't have to remove your shoes (unless you have metal that will set off the metal detector) or remove approved liquids from your bags. The "system" identifies you with a Known Traveler Number "KTN" that you input when you book your airline tickets. There will be a little "TSA Precheck" check mark in the top of your airplane ticket when you get ready to go through TSA.
Now, if you're looking into TSA Precheck, you may want to consider Global Entry as an alternate, but here are a few things to consider:  
Cost:
Global entry costs $100 while than TSA Precheck costs $85

Convenience at Sign u…

This month was our very first trip without Lorelai (since she was born). Not only was it our first trip, but it was our first time ever leaving her overnight....and we left her for 4 nights in a row.
In case you are like us, and may have forgotten how to travel without your toddler...here is how you do NYC without your kid. 

1. Stay in a small airbnb that has thin walls in an area with some great restaurants. 


2. Grab a bagel every morning from Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee and eat it on the go, because you'll have your hands totally free to eat it at your leisure without little hands poking into you cream cheese. 

3. Walk around with only a small backpack. 

4. See as many shows as you want, because you don't need to find a babysitter. 

5. Leisurely walk through central park and then to a museum, or stop by the highline, preferably during the noon to 2pm time when you would normally be back at your hotel for nap time. 

6. Enjoy a quiet cup of coffee at a small crowded cafe, like…

I'm two...soon to be three entire trips behind in blogging! So let's recap the amazing trip we had to New Orleans about 3 weeks ago.

A few things to know about this trip. First, it was a work trip for me, which meant I was at a conference all day while Kevin and Lorelai explored and I joined up in the evenings. Second is that it was our first big trip with a toddler.

New Orleans has a great streetcar system if you are staying downtown, which not only is fun to ride but also practical and INCREDIBLY cheap. It is $1.25 each way, or download the app on your phone like we did an buy a $3 all day (24 hour) pass for unlimited rides on the streetcar and bus system. When you have a toddler with a carseat you really only have the option of car rentals and public transport (non-uber) or else you would be hauling around a carseat the rest of the day.


The French Quarter alone has plenty of wonderful things to do....food (oh yum the food) coffee with beignets being our favorite....music, ar…

Do you have the SouthwestCompanion Pass? Perhaps you are working towards earning the coveted buy-one-get-one-free plane ticket pass that Southwest offers. You can read all about how to get Companion Pass on an earlier post here.

We are exploring the wonders that is companion pass.

First, earn companion as early as you can in a calendar year. Once you earn Companion Pass, your companion gets to fly free with you for the current calendar year AND the entire next calendar year. The earlier you earn it, the more chance you have to use it.

It doesn't matter who booked your ticket for you, the ability to add a companion  is tired to your rapid rewards number. If work books a trip for you, or your spouse has miles and books a trip on your behalf...it automatically shows up on your rapid rewards profile, and you can immediately add your companion to your trip.

Did you know you can switch your companion 3 times per CALENDAR year? So that means if you got companion early in 2018, you can sw…