Mommy and Me Classes: Orlando

I created a resource guide and weekly mommy group list (below) for Orlando moms with 0-2 year olds that I will update on here along with free trials, discounts, etc.  As you know, I am obsessed with all things thrifty.  Now that I’m a mama, this has translated into finding great deals on baby gear and activities.

As a social worker, my soul thrives on connecting people.  When I see a need or a hole in a system, I can’t wait to find a solution.  I enjoy collaborating individuals as well as organizations.  I also really love the amazing community we have here in Central Florida.

I was so excited to get involved in these classes with my little one.  Especially during maternity leave (once she was old enough).  But I couldn’t believe how low attendance was in some cases.  “Where are all the moms?” I wondered…

Many moms have shared that they went months just spending all day every day at home with their child.  This isolation was harmful to their emotional health, marriage, and self-esteem.  Even if you will be going back to work after recovering, it is so great to have baby friendly places to go during maternity leave.  And if your experience is anything like mine has been, you will likely make friendships that will last long after you return to work.

Another thing I cherish is women encouraging other women. It is easy to become competitive with one another and I’m grateful that I’ve been surrounded by encouraging and Non-judgmental girlfriends since pregnancy.  This attitude has continued in many of these groups and I hope that is what you encounter as well.

If you are a mom of any age, there are a few other blogs with similar resources (like My Central Florida Families and Orlando Moms Blog – check them out).  I compiled these lists specifically with new moms in mind and wanted it to be in a form we could pass out.  I recommend calling before you go the first time somewhere just to be safe.  I also stayed in a certain region of Central Florida because even Orlando was an overwhelming task.  I’m sure I’ve missed some places but I hope this is a helpful guide for you!

Having a baby changes your life; it doesn’t mean you can’t have one! I hope you get out and enjoy some time with other mamas and their bundles!  You may learn a lot from them; you may be humbled; you may be relieved to know that thing your kid is doing is normal; or all of the above.

We are a part of something bigger than ourselves. Let’s be in community!

Orlando Mommy Weekly Classes

Orlando New Mommy Resource Guide

Jacksonville & St Augustine for TPC Weekend

St Augustine & Ponte Vedra Beach:

 

Road trip: Savannah & Atlanta, GA + Pinehurst, NC

On our way to Pinehurst, NC, we stopped right at about half way in Savannah, GA for a long lunch and stroll around Forsyth Park.

We really enjoyed our seafood meal at the centrally located Cafe at City Market and our peach gelato at Cafe Gelatohhh!

And, of course, we stopped to use the restroom at the well known south of the border exit… 

My dear friend Claire and her parents invited us to stay with them at their beautiful home on the lake in Pinehurst.  We enjoyed a weekend of golf, yoga, relaxation, boat rides, and great food.  After our time in NC, we visited our sister and brother-in-law in Atlanta, GA.  One notable meal was yummy brunch at the Flying Biscuit!

 

Durango, CO

Durango is a wonderful place for a summer vacation.  Our family ventured there in July 2012 during the summer Olympics.  I remember that vividly because we had so much fun being active outdoors during the days and then we all lounged out (exhausted) on the couches in the evening to watch the games together.

We were so grateful to stay at a family friend’s gorgeous mountainside “cabin” for free.  The travel to get there was quite a haul from Orlando.  Flight to Denver then a long drive because of the somewhat remote location.

I LOVED the local restaurants, coffee houses, shops, farmers market, etc.  The crunchy lifestyle was right up my alley.

There was so much to do outdoors!  It is perfect for an active family getaway.

And you can take a gorgeous, adventurous road trip from here easily as well (see below! ugh!)

I highly recommend Durango!

Caribbean Cruise Ports

The ports we’ve visited in the Caribbean and I’ve indicated our favorites with **:

Nassau, Bahamas

Cococay, Bahamas*

Labadee, Haiti*

Roatan, Honduras

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Belize

Costa Maya, Mexico

Cozumenl, Mexico

Progreso, Mexico

Playa del Carmen

Barbados

Puerto Rico

Key West*

Galveston

Ft Lauderdale

Tampa

Port Canaveral

St Kitts

St Maarten

Dominica*

Tortola, BVI*

 

Washington D.C.

What an amazing trip to D.C.!  We have been many times in the past but it has been years since our last trip and this group of nerds could not wait to soak up some good ole history together.

What to see:

Here is my must-see list if it is your first time there:

• White House of course
• Capitol Hill
• Memorials
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Korean War Veterans Memorial
  • FDR Memorial
  • Jefferson Memorial
  • WWII Memorial
  • Washington Monument (on the way)
• US Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
• National Portrait Gallery
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• US National Archives
• Library of Congress
• National Museum of American History

If you are on a tight budget for this trip, your greatest expense will surely be the hotel (they are very pricey near all the tourism).  Most everything else will be very affordable, particularly your daily activities/museum passes/etc.

Check with your hotel to see if they have any coupons/passes.  Also check online for promo codes or deals.  As an example, we saved $30 because my sister was really interested in the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and there was a coupon machine (weird I know) in our hotel lobby with BOGO passes for this Museum and others!

You must spend at least 3 full days here to get even a taste of the incredible museums.  If it’s your first and possibly only time to visit for a while, I recommend 5-7 days if possible.

Make adjustments to your itinerary (or to the one I have suggested below) based on the weather.  Keep in mind that the Memorials make for a long walk and it is best to do this during the best weather possible.  I.e. During the sunniest part of the day if you go during cold season or during a cooler time of day as sun is setting during the summer so you aren’t miserable!

Also adjust your itinerary based on your hotel location.

Review of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum:  Incredibly well done museum. Go to the info desk and get passes for the full experience (free) and while you’re waiting for your pass’ designated time to occur, check out the special exhibits. Plan on being overwhelmed. Very powerful.

 

Here is my recommended itinerary if you have 3 days to see as much as possible (and if you’re willing to do a lot of walking as we like to do on “vacation”):

Day 1:

• Quick coffee/breakfast to-go (maybe try Baked & Wired or Ebenezers Coffeehouse)
• Walk over to Capitol Hill (this is a good way to get the lay of the land and see the National Mall and then everything else the rest of the day will be back toward the direction of your hotel)
• tour what you can of the Capitol, Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress (give yourself all morning)
• Late lunch (suggestions: Tune Inn, Tortilla Cafe, or Good Stuff Eatery)
• National Gallery of Art (2+ hours)
• National Archives (2-3 hours depending on your interest in history and the lines)
• relaxed late dinner
• get some rest!

Day 2:

• Breakfast at a local bakery (like Paul off Pennsylvania Ave)
• National Museum of Natural History (3 hours)
• White House
• Lunch break (suggestions:  West Wing Cafe III, Mitsitam Native Foods, Capitol City Brewing Co. or Elephant & Castle)
• National Museum of American History (2 hours)
• Then the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum (give yourself 2 hours)
• Walk to closest metro station and get to the Red line to get off at Dupont Circle
• Have dinner off Dupont (suggestions: Bistrot Du Coin, Annie’s, Mandu, Hank’s Oyster Bar)

Day 3:

• Breakfast (suggesstions: Commissary, Founding Farmers)
• Start your day at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (give yourself 3 hours; it is an incredible experience)
• Lunch (suggestions: Cafe Mozart & Bar, The Hamilton, Corner Bakery)
• Monument Walk:
  • Start at the Washington Monument, then WWII Memorial
  • Walk down righthand side of the Reflecting Pool to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
  • Next: Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and Dr MLK Jr Memorial
  • Lastly: Long walks (in comparison) to the FDR Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial
• Dinner & Dessert (dessert suggestion: Pitango Gelato)

 

If you have a full 7 days, you should definitely travel to one or more of the following:

• Arlington
• Gettysburg
• Jamestown
• Williamsburg
• Shenandoah National Park

Where to Stay:

Highly rated hotels are very pricey here.  As far as hotel location goes, I would recommend you try to either 1) find one as close to the National Mall as possible, 2) close to Dupont Circle or 3) at least on the metro line.

For an affordable but convenient and highly rated stay, here is where I would stay:

1. Hampton Inn Washington DC/White House
2. Carlyle Suites Hotel
3. The Normandy Hotel
4. Dupont Circle Hotel looks just okay for the price but it is in a great location.

If it were my husband and I traveling just the two of us, we would pick a B&B (since that’s always my preference when in a historic district) even if that means being in a less convenient location.  Here are some highly rated B&B’s with much more reasonable prices than the hotels but keep in mind this is because they are not in the heart of the tourist area that you’ll likely be spending majority of your time in.  It shouldn’t matter much where you stay if you’re able to leave the hotel for the full day BUT if you have a child, for instance, that will need to come back home for a nap, then it would be worth spending a bit more to be in a hotel closer to the National Mall.  Akwaaba is close to Dupont and has great reviews and can be less than $200/nt.

Especially fun times to visit DC include 1) 4th of July of course 2) Presidents Day weekend or 3) Cherry Blossom Festival is late March-mid April.

What to eat:

Download the TA CityGuide App’s DC page.  There are some great walking tours and my favorite feature is using the restaurants page to find the “best nearby” for whenever you’re ready for a break. That way you don’t have to plan out every minute of the day nor do you have to starve yourself until you get to your planned destination if you spend more time than expected at a certain museum/memorial.  I typically pick out my “favorites” on the TA app ahead of time based on price and rating so that I can pull up the “Saves” page and see what’s close by and then I go to the restaurants “best nearby” as backup if none of my favorites/saves are close enough.

Bistro du Coin

Adorable genuine atmosphere; great location off dupont. We enjoyed a relaxing delicious traditional French meal complete with pate, a delicious mussels dish, incredible mushroom soup, poor cheese plate, and duck confit. YUM!!! You have to try this place. We will return when we get back to D.C. Wish we had a place like this in my hometown.

Hamilton’s

Good food. Bolgnese dish was good but my salad was alright. Good service. Not overpriced but not super affordable either. Huge hotel and many places to sit. It was strange how they took us allll the way to the back to sit when there was tons of space throughout the restaurant; everyone was very spaced out. Convenient location next to White House

Elephant & Castle

Best affordable spot for lunch around. Great location close to the mall; fair atmosphere both indoor and outdoors. Yummy fish and chips and decent salads/soups.

Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse

Great location/neighborhood. My family members enjoyed their steaks. I got a vegetable and fish dish and it was okay. The service was good and atmosphere is very nice.

 

Niagara Falls

 

 

While we had the most incredible girls weekend, we were not impressed by Niagara itself.  Being in Niagara Falls (we stayed on the Canadian side) feels similar to staying in Times Square.  Everything is overtly and unnecessarily expensive and there are tacky lights and all chain restaurants/hotels around.  Our favorite part of the trip was visiting Niagara-on-the-lake (a southern Ontario town chockfull of incredible wineries).

This sounds terrible but the falls are just not all that impressive unless you are in a boat or directly up close to them.  From the hotels, no matter which one, the views are just not spectacular.  Photos of the “view from the hotel” are completely falsified and exaggerated.  The reality is the hotels are all pretty far off so it makes the falls look like beautiful fountains… The best view we had from anywhere in Niagara was in the Marriott restaurant (see above and below).

Our stay at the Marriott in NF will go down as one of our worst stays in a Marriott of all time; poor service overall and everything was ridiculously overpriced.  Starbucks, as an example, cost $6.25 for a TALL pumpkin spiced latte… seriously!  That is how over the top this tourist trap is!

            One of the best days of our entire life was spent at Jackson-Triggs winery in Niagara-on-the-lake.  We had PERFECT weather, amazing food (and wine!!), and the very best company (my best friend/sister).

We took the quick tour of the property and found it fascinating.  I think it was about $15 each.  Then we bought the large cheese/bread/spread picnic assortment and a glass of wine each.

In order to save on transportation (which is very expensive), we walked to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed some delicious pizza and salad.  Then we took a taxi back to the hotel in Niagara (about 35 mins and way too much $).

 

San Antonio, Texas

Although I’ve been to San Antonio many times visiting my grandparents growing up, this was my first time to go as a tourist and Brandon’s first time to visit at all. We spent the majority of our time at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. It is absolutely incredible! Probably the best experience at a chain hotel we’ve ever had. As you can see, the facility is extremely new. The Rustic/southern yet modern family is executed perfectly.

 

     

The gigantic public lounge area has plenty of room for seating and as well as a bar, fountains, and a sports entertainment area including pool tables.

The rooms themselves were gorgeous and spacious (and overall fancy pants).  If you go to this property with a big group and he would like to have your privacy, that is certainly manageable. However, if you want to  be able to check in with them frequently, I recommend making sure that your rooms are close together because they can easily be spread apart by an extremely long long walk.

The restaurant Cibolo Moon is incredible. However, it is also expensive (to be expected at a resort of this caliber). The brunch was unreal. Once again they implemented the adorable country chic theme into every detail.

For the company-wide dinner, they placed us in a somewhat small room but provided great service and excellent food. The company booked a hospitality suite to be utilized by our group throughout the weekend and they did an amazing job of keeping it well-stocked with goodies and constantly checking in. The service was truly incredible.

 

Outdoors there is a Great patio with lounge chairs and a festive Christmas tree light show going on every evening during the holidays. Beyond the patio, we could see the far reaching property including the magnificent lazy river that we wish we could have enjoyed. We can’t wait to return at a time when it’s warm enough to partake in the water festivities.

We also ventured over to the conference center and spa. My experience at the spa was only so-so. The conference area, however, was really neat. There’s also a Starbucks and a couple little shops on property.

We spent our last day in the heart of San Antonio.  Especially since I had been many times before (and I don’t find Texas history that intersting – sorry), that’s all the time we needed.  Only thing I would have done differently is I wish we would have had time to have an evening meal on the Riverwalk since I haven’t done that in years.

Of course the two most iconic (and well worth it) spots in SA are the Riverwalk and the Alamo.  There are tons of restaurants and bars right on the water and clearly the view is fantastic.  I think this is the prettiest I’ve ever seen it; I love all those fall colors.

The Alamo is a short walk away and you can spend as little as 5 minutes seeing the outside briefly for a photo op or 1-2 hours reading every piece of historical information available.  Regardless, it is worth visiting San Antonio at least once and I think the fall is a great time to do it when it’s not disgustingly HOT.  These photos are from December – I recommend going in September/October if you can and hopefully you can still enjoy the lazy river at the resort.  If you have a whole week here, you should bring your family to Schlitterbahn (an amazing water park) and check out Austin as well.

   

St Petersburg, Russia

We had 2 days in St Petersburg on our Baltic Sea cruise.  I believe you could technically stay the night there if you wanted but you’d have to get a visa, pay for a hotel, and find your own way around the city (at a time that tension was high because of the Snowden drama).  We opted for the “Best of St Petersburg” excursion through NCL, a 2 day tour that included transportation back to the ship at the end of each day before dinner as well as our visas.

 

The visa line (as you can see in the first photo below) was extremely long and slow.  The fam is mocking me in the photo because I was so excited to see Russia that the line didn’t phase me but they were OVER it. 🙂

 

We took a lengthy (1 hr?) bus ride to Pushkin to see Catherine Palace.  The constant driving in a large bus was rough just because we were getting up early and every drive lulled me to sleep!  The palace was neat but I would say I could have done without this part of the tour since the palace on the second day was so much more grand (and ultimately very similar).

 

^ The meals included in the tour were very good.  The dining was much higher quality than we expected.  The service was good and the food was bizarre at times but there was plenty to eat and several courses.  I wish I had photos from the first lunch we had; we ate in what appeared to be a ballroom as if we were at a wedding.  The atmosphere was very formal and enjoyable.

^The Hermitage was an incredible experience.  I’m a sucker for museums and art (in moderation) and I felt like we could have spent a lot more time here than at Catherine’s Palace.  It was still plenty of time to see most everything (just not time to soak it all up) before we had to get back on the bus.  The Hermitage very closely reminded me of the Vatican Museum.  Monet, Rembrandt, a little bit of everything!  It was incredible to witness.

 

^The weather was perfect!! This was taken right outside the Hermitage.

One thing I think they excursion planners could really improve on is they gave us too many “shopping” breaks.  Every shopping stop was filled with the same crappy overpriced trinkets and if you hadn’t already bought something after the first place, why would you get something at the fourth one?  Our whole family was sick of these pit stops by the second day; I would have much preferred an extra hour or two at the Hermitage.

 

Now here comes my very negative review of the advertised “Russian Ballet”.  What. a. joke.  It ended up being a horrible community college level performance.  We received a partial refund for this deception from NCL.  We paid extra to do the Russian ballet experience and what we experienced was  a comedy show.  Oh well!  We spent lots of time laughing about it and we still got to see the ballet in Russia (Bucket list… check!)

Day 2 

 

^At Peterhof we were required to wear these little shoe covers which made for some extra fun (and some nearly dangerous falls haha).

 

Above and below you can see Peterhof from outside (where you’re actually allowed to photograph).  It was a really amazing property inside and out and thankfully the weather was great again.

 

  

They then took us by a little boat to our next stop.  It was a little nauseating but it was kind of a nice change of pace from the bus.  We had such a blast!

Tallinn, Estonia

We made a very short walk from the ship directly to this tiny port town.  Surrounded by strong city walls, you will walk into Tallinn feeling as if you’ve just been transported to Medieval times.

 

We stopped for coffee and dessert at the DELICIOUS and cozy Kohvituba Coffee Shop since it was icky and raining outside.  We then made our way walking around the town, shopping, and checking out the historical sites.

 

The highlight of our trip was an extremely AUTHENTIC medieval lunch at III Drakon.  They literally cook the same foods from the 13th century with the same cooking methods and everything. No electricity, no credit cards, etc.  Surprisingly delicious, too!

We stopped later on for some ice cream in a stand and it was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had!! Even in the cold nasty weather!