Keeping Busy on an Airplane for 8+ Hours

Imagine yourself flying over the Atlantic, now you're stuck here for the next 8 hours...at least! We've done flights where we are stuck in one spot for 12. These flights aren't easy...quite frankly they suck, but are a part of life if you want to travel. Luckily for you...the teenager and I came up with a few ways to keep you entertained aside from zoning out to movies.

1. Play with your food. We always buy a pack of gummies before getting on a long flight, we like to close our eyes and either randomly pick a gummy or let the other person pick for us and we have to guess the flavor...or inappropriate shape 😂

   

   Only Haribo will do..we are neighbours with Germany...

   

   But, Haribo may want to rethink this *shape*...it really is scissors!
2. Meditate. We did a meditation where we turned in our seats to face each other (and we probably angered our sweet neighbour lol) or you can use an app like I do sometimes called meditations. We used both on this last flight and it was very calming. In fact, we both fell asleep for about two hours! 
3. Complete a YouTube Challenge. Normally I hate these but there are some super cute ones out there that can easily be done on an airplane, like the guess the emoji challenge. The biggest issue we had was keeping our laughter to a minimum so our seat mate didn't completely hate us! 
   
4. Have a reading challenge. Challenge your travel buddies to see who can read the most pages in their book. My teenager read an entire novella plus half a book. 
5. Make a list. Use this time to think up all the fun things you want to do at your destination...or less fun but necessary things you need to do once back home.
6. Have a wing shot photo contest. We love to take wing shots as we always seem to get the wing seats in the airplane, so take a few photos and see who gets the best one, if you two can't decide and your seat mate is nice get them in on the action or post to social media once you're on the ground!

   

   Sunrise...

   

   Sunset...anyone having flashbacks to their high school production of Fiddler on the Roof?! haha Seriously though, I love this photo, it feels very nasa-y. 

These are just a few of the ideas we came up with over our last few plane rides. They helped us keep entertained when the movie selection was no good.

What are your favorite things to keep you entertained on an airplane?

A Perfect Day, filled with Perfect Eats

Last Friday we had a very busy day, well, I did at the very least. It was probably the only summer day we are going to have this year in Amsterdam so I made sure to enjoy it, too bad the kids had to be in school!

I somewhat kid...it was 33C out, now we are back in the 50s and climbing into the 60s..we are supposed to have one more day this week where it reaches the 30s but it is supposed to thunderstorm all day. I love living here but the weather is really hard to deal with, but everywhere has a down side, right?! So, I will just go on and tell y'all about the most awesomest summer day ever!

Today I'm linking up with Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for What I Ate Wednesday.

Our day started with a lovely sunrise bike ride and picnic...

If you are curious, in the Netherlands to achieve this perfect sunrise...you must be awake at 4:45 to pack your picnic and be out the door by 5:05 to cycle to where you want to watch the sunrise at 5:20..on this day, now it is almost rising at 5:15.

Was so worth the early wake up to have some early morning eats with this girl in the calm morning light.

Our spread...Pofferjtes (I warmed them and put them in foil to keep them warm), banana, peanut butter, whipped cream, nutella, and strawberries.

It was delicious and such a tasty treat!

A view from behind the dune area.

After getting everyone off to work and school I said screw the nap and decided it was a great idea to bike 16km one way with my good friend and her 2 year old to a medieval castle that was built in the 1200's...Muiderslot. 

You can tell I am tired.

Along this route there were free roaming sheep! They belonged to farm as they were tagged, but they just grazed along the bike path and down near the water. It was so amazing. The path is only open from March to October.

We arrived at the castle and it was a gorgeous day to let my friends son run around.

I drank this awesome Lemonade from there tavern...

With the lemonade in the pink cup I also had a bottle of water and a boterham sandwich...which you would think has ham...no matter how many times I see this here I don't think it will ever sink in that "boterham" is just the tradition Dutch sandwich: butter (yes, like real butter), cheese, and this one also had lettuce and honey mustard. They are very good, don't knock 'em 'til ya try 'em!

This is a shot I think of the Ijslameer on our ride home, we rode over a giant huge bridge. Was so fun!

After that I raced home to pack our beach bag and meet the teenager. On my bike ride to her school I snacked on a nectarine. It was so delicious!

We were trying to smile through the heafty clouds we saw rolling in when we pulled in to the Haarlem train station which is two stops from the beach. The doors opened and it was very chilly.

...because it had started raining when we stepped off the train it wasn't easy to find a place that had seating...but we found a quiet place with a nice menu about a half mile from the train station, thank goodness it was only drizzling.

After this photo it started pouring and was lightening! ha!

This was after the heavens opened and the storm started to move away. The chairs are facing away from the water as they were trying to clean up and bring everything in. Here you can rent beach chairs by the hour or day.

The kiddo and I both decided on fish and chips because of the cooler, rainy weather. It was amazing.

This was our excited, yup we deserve some appletaart!

Mmmm...appeltaart and slagroom!

After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. We were doing our best to not be incredibly sad we didn't get to surf.

The sunset made it worth going out there even though we didn't get to play in the water...

...but we did...we weren't leaving without putting our feet in the North Sea. It was chilly, but actually warmer than the air outside! ha!

By the time all was said and done I'd drank a total of 5 of these bottles and could have gone for more! This bottle is one of my top travel essentials and I never go anywhere without it since it is self filtering.

I hope you enjoyed my eats with a little recap of our one summer day. To learn more about going to the beach in the Netherlands check out these posts: A day at the beach part 1, part 2, part 3.

Has summer arrived where you live? How do you remember to stay hydrated?

A pesky situation: Lice

I am a former teacher, but more importantly I am a home grown girl from Florida with long hair with a teenager with long hair. Lice-gasp-yes, I said it lice has always been a figment of my worst nightmare...until one day it wasn't!

Growing up I had really, really, really long hair. I remember lice going around my school, I remember my mother treating me once for lice and nitpicking but I don't think I ever actually had lice. Pretty lucky right? Not really. Back then there were all kinds of rules about being nit-free when you came to school, plus I was always very careful about not sharing my hairbrush or using anyone else's hair brush and I didn't share hats and rarely coats. I remember wearing my hair up more often than not.

Fast forward 20 some odd years or so and now it is my daughter's turn. I honestly never gave lice a second thought until she started going to camps. There was one dreaded camp where she went in lice free but came out an itching maniac. The nurse said it was probably dandruff from not conditioning and probably some of the shampoo dried one her scalp since they take short showers. So, since a nurse told me that I had always believed it was dandruff. I honestly had no idea what lice was and she'd been to the hair dresser and doctor and no one ever said it may be lice. Finally, after moving to Texas in 2010 the itching became more than she could bear I took her to the doctor and sure enough-lice :(

Now, her school in Texas has no policy in effect about lice. You don't miss school because of this nuisance. You still go to school even if you have nits. Well, my kid didn't. We spent an entire weekend treating lice with a prescription killer and combing through our hairs with a nitcomb and washing linens and whatnot. The outbreak in her school continued. It was a nightmare.

Moved to California no incidences. Moved to Vancouver bam-lice problem! Big one too. Apparently it is so bad it has now made the news. We've just left Vancouver but have a lot of friends there and still get some news so thought I would share a bit of what is going on.

According to this article lice are becoming resistant to treatments we are having to go the old fashioned route to be rid of lice. This means folks you are about to spend hours upon hours of your life nitpicking.

Identify:
First things first: Identify your child actually has lice. If you are like me and had no idea what you were looking for consult this article from Rid.

Source

Treat:
Next, treat or kill the lice. When we were "diagnosed" with lice we were given a prescription. Since we had insurance this only made the cost of the medicated shampoo $10 total US. I know there are over the counter shampoo's like Rid though that you can use. Get one of these. Y'all know I am a huge advocate of doing things naturally but don't skimp on this. Just do a one time medicated treatment and kill them off.



Comb:
This is the part you will hate. It really is a nightmare, but if you don't want the lice coming back it is essential. Get a nit comb (found in the pharmacy section and it has really super duper close together teeth and is metal), going through small sections of hair comb through the hair. This took us four hours the last time we had to do it, but it was well worth it. Really go through each section of hair and make sure you look and see that you are getting all the nits. My daughter read a book while we did this. Literally she read an entire book.



Comb Again:
Sadly you are not done after one session of combing. But, good news is it doesn't take as long the second time and is even short the third time. Our second session took two hours and the third just an hour.

In between each combing section I do boil the comb to disinfect it. I know lice & the nits or whatever die soon after leaving the hair shaft, but I don't like to take any chances. I mean these suckers are becoming resistant to the chemical baths so I figure why not just take this one little extra measure.

I inspect once a month now just to make sure.

Disinfect:
All this will be for naught if you don't disinfect. Gather up the stuffed animals and either dry them on high or package them up in garbage bags and put them away for a solid month. Gather up the pillows, fluff them in the dryer on high to kill anything. Wash all the bed linens, blankets, jackets/coats, hats, etc. For our beds I recommend sprinkling them with baking soda and vacuuming then lightly spraying with a vinegar/water mixture that has lavender and tea tree essential oils in it.

Prevention:
Now, prevention is a loose word. If you are going to get lice you are going to get it but here are a few things I've done to "prevent" lice:

• Check for nits at least once a month. If there is a current outbreak in your school or extra curricular activity check weekly.
• Lecture your kids: explain the importance of keeping heads separate, not sharing hats/brushes. We all know lice die soon after leaving the hair shaft and it's been an old wives tale for years to not share brushes and hats, but you can never be too safe. Just best to avoid sharing these items. During school projects or when taking selfies tell the kits to try and keep their heads apart. This will prevent the direct transfer.
• Preventative shampoos: there is nothing that will prevent lice but there is a shampoo that I have my daughter use when she goes to camp and then once a week during the school year it is called Fairy Tales. Great stuff and has really helped us keep our sanity.

Last, if you are dealing with lice right now I am so sorry. I truly feel your pain. Lice brought me to tears once upon a time but if you follow these simple steps you will have it gone in a couple of days. I can't stress enough though combing and disinfecting are going to be the best bets for ridding lice from your life forever.

Products I recommend: Please visit my amazon store to see all the products I have used, use, and/or recommend for the treatment and "prevention" of lice.

As a side note if you are in the Vancouver, BC area and are having a hard time getting rid of lice or don't have this kind of time contact the Greater Vancouver Lice Clinic. I heard about them last year but being a stay at home mom decided to do the lice stuff myself I bet these guys could help if you. I am not writing this as a promo for them have just heard good things and wanted to pass it on for those busy moms and dads who could use a service like this! :)

Diclaimer: Clicking and purchasing from some of the link(s) provided allows me to receive a small commission to support my blogging efforts. Cheers!

September Blogging Challenge: What is your favorite season?

This one is difficult for me to answer. There are so many things I love about all the seasons! We are entering fall and I love it because of the leaves changing (now that I live somewhere where the leaves actually do that), it's the season of mine, hubby's, and the kiddo's birthdays. Plus, there are a few holidays. I love winter because there is Christmas-DUH! I love spring because everything is coming into bloom and turning back to gorgeous. It's just life. But, I have to say my favourite season of all time always has been and always will be....

Img Credit

I love to be warm, have the sun beating on my skin. Hubby says I am a lizard. I love going to the beach, hanging out at the pool, spending time on a lake, in a boat, surfing. I love being able to do yoga outside, hike trails, and just see sun every single day. I love being able to take vacation with my family and spend the long days with my daughter who is home from school. Here are some highlights of our summer vaca....

Kayaking and taking goofy pictures!

Finding tons of turtle nests and seeing a mama turtle lay her eggs

Watching the Sunrise with my brother

Taking crazy amazing cheer photos of my daughter in the sun.

Going back to visit my old high school stompin' grounds at Jax beach!

Visiting with my parents

Making s'mores with GIANT marshmallows!

So.......... that is my favourite season...which is yours?

Wow! What a vacation!

Hello everyone! My posting has been sort of erratic as we've been on holiday. I did an initial post here about our vacation. It was really more of a fun little photo dump but here is a bit more info about our actual trip. There are some things I am excluding just because I think they deserve their own posts!

The first place we visited is the place I grew up: Jacksonville, FL.

My parents and my in-laws live just a few miles from one another. While here the first week we didn't actually do a whole heck of a lot honestly. We mostly hung out a home. We did go shopping, trying to find the husband a Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey. Since they've just come out with new ones we sadly had no luck, but that's how it rolls sometimes. Some things we did get to do that we were looking forward to included mostly eating at restaurants we don't have up in Canada. So, here's the low down.

Image Credit

Bono's Real Pit BBQ. I grew up eating this stuff, my brother worked there for quite a while when I was younger so this place is near and dear to my heart. They honestly have the best sweet sauce known to man. I picked up quite a few bottles and am shipping them back to our place in Canada!!!

Next we checked out Chick-Fil-A and got a chicken sandwhich. Let me tell you no matter where we have traveled there is no chicken sandwich like that of chick-fil-a. We won't have it again for a very, very long time, so I really savoured it!

Image Credit

Next was Chili's. Hubby really loves those chicken fingers! Get them done extra crispy with an El Presidente Margarita. Yum, yum!

We got some really great quality time in with the family too. I think it's really important to state here that good quality family time doesn't have to mean you spend a ton of money to be together. We had a fantastic time watching wrestling with my mother in law and father in law. As well as going to the beach and playing in the waves with all of my nieces and nephews and my brother in law and sister in law. We also spent a lot of time at my in law's pool as well as playing board games.

Beach we grew up going to! Pier used to be awesome and have a cool restaurant (it was probably really crappy lol but as a kid it was fun to go to). 

My new fave game! The Mr. is going to be sorry he let his family introduce me to this! ;)

The second place we visited: St. Augustine, FL

Ok, so this was supposed to be just a one week endeavour. But, due to my ever increasing fascination with sea turtles in turned into a two week ordeal. 

The first day there we actually surprised my nephew. My brother & sister in law knew we were coming but my nephew, who sees my daughter every year almost, didn't know. So when we walked in it was a huge surprise. He was so cute & so bashful when we walked out of the room after he got here! But, the next morning we saw this at the end of our boardwalk: 

A fresh turtle nest and tracks! It was so amazing that same day after doing quite a bit of running (6 miles) we had a bbq with some family friends. I don't want to violate anyone's privacy by posting pictures so I'll stick to showing off my plate of food: 

And here is my watermelon cake:

I will post a tutorial on how to do this soon! 

The next morning we did a really long run and decided to eat out at our favourite restaurant in town (just 3/4 of a mile from our place) Southbeach Grill. This place is so delicious and so dependable. Only once or twice can I ever remember waiting for a table. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all equally delicious. I will be doing a whole other review on this later as it is a family favourite and I want to make sure I give it the glory it deserves. ;)

On our way home we had this weather on the horizon: 

So, we headed into town to go to the carousel when it decided to start raining. Instead of letting it dampen our day we headed way into town to the outlet mall. I will have pictures to come of what goodies we got, but I will say we got some amazing deals!!! It could just be I am used to Canadian prices, but we got almost all of the kiddo's shopping done for back to school and I managed to get a few fun things ;)

The next few days were full of swimming, surfing, and just generally enjoying the beach. My brother and I went on a late night walk on the beach and got to see the most amazing site I've ever witnessed: a sea turtle laying eggs!!! I couldn't believe our luck! Even if I'd have had my camera I wouldn't have take a picture as it would have been too dark and I wouldn't have disturbed her with a flash. We watched her for a few moments but were so nervous about disrupting her that we turned and walked away when we came back she was already gone. She layed her nest a little to close to the water so the turtle patrol did move her nest to closer up by the dunes. 

This was the turtle nest my brother & I saw laid late in the night. You can see where the turtle patrol had already dug it up. An interesting thing my brother & I noticed was that they make one set of tracks coming up and a second set going back out!

This is the next all moved. They have it nice and snug up in the dune away from the drivers and away from the pedestrians. There were 136 eggs!!

In all the research we have done my dad came across a video of a loggerhead that a couple took on our beach back at the end of may! Here is the video, it's well worth a watch! They are an amazing creature. So giant and strong!

We then had more fun swimming and just enjoying the sun! Then, at some point (days are sort of running together on me here) we went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner called The Floridian. This place was so delicious I decided I will do a whole separate review on it later. I really want to be able to highlight it.

After we did lots more working out, the men went fishing and made us fresh fish! My Aunt and cousin came to visit us so that was nice! We then went out kayaking one day. I will be doing a completely separate post on that as the company we rented from was great and the whole process was very easy. We were able to see a ton of wildlife and just really enjoy the time with my brother, sister-in-law, and daughter. I was so glad to be able to bring my kiddo along on that. It was an incredible experience. Plus, it really helped us reach a new level in our relationship having to work together to row that kayak (which previous experience told us could be disasterous ;))!

We've also been to the farmer's market, made s'more's, and saw this adorable little turtle!

S'mores with GIANT marshmallows!

Strawberry lemonade slush at the farmer's market at the St. Augustine Pier!

View of the market.

Cute turtle we saw crossing the road in Anastasia State Park.

But, this wasn't all we did! We also did a couple of hikes, had BBQ at a cute little shack, and got to see the remains of a really old plantation. I will do reviews on all those later as I want to include tons of pictures and really encourage anyone in the area to go check it all out! ;)

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little photo dump and the little bit of info I was willing to provide!

Tell me, where did you vacation this year?