Our Brussels-Bruges-Heidelberg Trip

I told you all about how we booked our fall euro-vacation, but now I want to sit down and share some specifics and some of why we picked the trip we did.

Belgium has been on our travel bucketlist for at least seven years. Being huge craft beer nerds and in love with sours, as soon as we had Cantillon for the first time, we pretty much put a brewery visit on our list. So when we decided to book a trip this fall and to take our son with, we decided we wanted somewhere new (Belgium) and something with easy flights (traveling with a 14 month old. I'm going to do a separate post about travel tips with a toddler). Denver has VERY limited options for direct flight destinations in Europe, especially with the limitation of wanting to use certain airlines (to utilize our miles) and not having been somewhere we've already been (which scratched Paris and London). 

Frankfurt to Brussels was just an hour flight, so we figured once we made it through a long flight, even if the hour connecting flight was miserable, it would be quick. Departing Europe, it made sense to us to have one direct flight back to Denver at the end of travel. Originally we were going to stay in Frankfurt, but after researching some, we decided Heidelberg could be a more charming old-world European city option.

Here are some highlights and details from each city we stayed in. This was definitely not our normal style of travel; we barely had an agenda and didn't do a ton of research on highlights/attractions (I blame being exhausted from first trimester). However, traveling with a baby, we wanted to keep our expectations low and in the end we had a great, laid back trip because of this!

Brussels, Belgium

We had no issues taking the train from the airport to city center. Our Airbnb was about a half mile walk from the station. Although our Airbnb was on the third floor (and we took a stroller), I would highly recommend it for its size, cleanliness, and location; just a few blocks from Grand Place, the large shopping/tourist/restaurant area of Brussels. I highly recommend walking here during the day and night; it's beautiful.

Grand Place by night

Grand Place by day

Our Airbnb

Cantillon Brewery was our top priority for Brussels and it didn't disappoint. It's a family run lambic brewery which makes some of the world's best and most sought after sour beers. It was so good (yes, I had a beer here, I had to) that we went twice. Mainly once to bring the stroller and use it to haul beer home and the second without the stroller to take the tour. If you have any inkling of liking sour beer, or even if you don't, you need to go here when in town.

Cantillon Family picture

Other beer highlights for Brussels were Moeder Lambic (beer bar with apps, on several World's Top 10 Bar lists; right around the corner from our apartment), Brussels Beer Project (dare I say, a nice break from sour beers), and although now they have several locations across Europe, BrewDog (For us, I think it's a nostalgia thing. We went to Brewdog Camden (London) our first Europe trip and then Brewdog Rome and Florence. BrewDog Brussels had an awesome non-alocholic sour for me and also delicious burgers (and high chairs)).

Brussels Beer Project

In addition to beer, Belgium is known for chocolates, waffles and fries. Our favorite chocolate in Brussels was Elisabeth (although there are tons to choose from; their bark was so melt in your mouth good). The best waffle was at Maison Dandoy at the Galerias location. It's a charming corner cafe with tables in the corridor of shops. We waited in line for frites (fries) at Friterie Tabora based on reviews. To be honest, it was a little underwhelming. Their famous for their 30+ dipping sauces, but we're fairly boring (and Ben is really boring, he doesn't even eat ketchup), that I'm not sure it was worth the hype or wait to us.

Maison Dandoy

One thing I wish we would have done more planning for was restaurants. Often times we just popped into whatever was nearby that didn't have a wait because we were all starving.  However, breakfast is my favorite meal, so I do highly recommend the breakfast spots we visited: Peck47 (worth the wait!), Kaffabar (coffee shop with great pour overs and food), and Mokafe (also located in the Galerias near Maison Dandoy; large traditional type breakfast menu).

Overall I liked Brussels more than I expected to given that it has such a large array of reviews (good and bad) and suggested amount of time to visit. It was nice that although we hadn't been here, it felt like a familiar large European city and was easy to navigate (acknowledging we mainly stayed in tourist areas; but outside of Grand Place, it wasn't overly charming or interesting and rather blah). We were in Brussels three days and three nights which was a good amount of time, giving us the first night and first full day to recoup from jetlag. If this isn't your origination city in Europe, I would give it only two days.

Bruges, Belgium

Bruges is everything Brussels is not. It's charming, it's old world, it's magical.  The train from Brussels to Bruges is one-hour direct. Our Airbnb in Bruges was about half a mile from the train station so we also walked there. My jaw was on the ground the entire walk. I felt like I was walking in a fairy tale. It's an absolute must visit!

We stayed at an airbnb on the south side of town. Even though it was only a half mile from the main tourist areas, it felt like quite a distance and was our least favorite located airbnb. It was also the smallest but still very comfortable.

Once our first day, we dropped our bags and went to De Halve Mann Brewery for lunch. I can't speak to the beer (other than a sip) but the food was great! So good that we went back a second lunch another day! We also had a great bagel sandwich lunch one day at Sanseveria Bagelsalon, which was the quaintest old school bagel shop. We had a great nicer dinner at The Belgian Pigeon House, although sadly we both were too nervous to try the house delicacy of (you guessed it) pigeon. Even though it was a nice restaurant, they were very accommodating to Grayson (high chair, kids menus, his meal served first) and we were also able to make reservations online. Our last night in Bruges we had pizza at Otomat, which we would also highly recommend!

As for activities, as I mentioned above, Bruges has such great architecture and charm that we had a lot of fun walking around and talking it all in. A boat canal tour is a must and it really affordable; most were 8EU cash per person. We all enjoyed the Kids Playground at K Astridpark located in the middle of the town. One afternoon we also walked north to Hof de Jonge Park. While there wasn't a playground here, there are sheep! Grayson loved watching them and they came over to us (there's a fence) to say hi. During our walk back, we stumbled across a playground at Sincfal Park.

A tourist-must is to climb Belfort Tower in the square. There's a fee to get in and I know 366 spiral stairs doesn't sound enjoyable (remember, it was 13 weeks pregnant!) but there are stop offs that break up the climb. The panoramic views from the top are well worth it!

View from atop the tower

Overall, I'm SO glad we added Bruges to our itinerary. Having been there now, we both consider Bruges a must-see for Belgium. We had approximately two and a half days and three nights there, which was ample time. I think two nights would be sufficient but I wouldn't go shorter than that to take it all in and have time to relax and enjoy.

Last but not least...

Heidelberg, Germany
Originally we thought it made the most sense to visit Frankfurt since we had a direct flight back to Denver from there. But, the more I looked and talked to people, the more it seemed that Frankfurt would be a large business city and not have a quaint European feel. Heidelberg is an hour from FRA airport by train, so easy to get to.

Originally I booked an airbnb by the main train station; but talking to my sister (who'd been for work), we decided to cancel and book a place in Old Town area. This was KEY to a great visit. I'm really glad we made this choice. Heidelberg has a university and city feel to it; but Old Town area is the quaint classic European feel we wanted. Our apartment was on the third floor and very spacious, which was great for the pack and play they provided. We also had views of the square as well as a private patio with castle views. I highly recommend staying here!

Apartment deck views

Our absolute favorite food/brewery in Heidelberg was Vetters, and really that's because of the cheese spaetzle (a german egg noodle). It's so good, I think we went there two or three times in three days for it. Their beer menu had classic German beers. We also enjoyed  Zum Seppl for lunch, another brewery in a hotel and the beautiful former ballroom turned restaurant. Palmbrau Gasse is another great spot for classic German food and Hans IM Gluck (we realized is a chain), was a great spot for a sit-down burger lunch. We had no issues finding high chairs or kids menus in Heidelberg restaurants, which was a nice relief.

As far as activities, the big draw is Heidelberg Castle. A castle which was originally constructed before the 1200s and has seen a numonber of additions and renovations since. It was worth the hike up the hill to get there (there's also a funicular which you can ride up, but we wanted the exercise). We found two great children's playgrounds; the first was right in Old Town - Spielplatz. The only reason we found this was that we went to a classic German bakery, Backerei Grimm, and as we walked out we heard kids laughing. We walked towards the laughter and found this great playground! The second playground we sought out after Ben did some research, Playground by the Neckar. It was a walk to get there, but it was right on the river and a beautiful sunny day.

City views from castle grounds

Our highlight activity of Heidelberg took us back to our Colorado roots; a hike. Several websites mentioned the top tourist activity was viewing of Thingstatte, an amphitheater built by the Nazis during World War II. We plugged this into Google maps and were able to follow the walking directions to get there, which took us on a variety of trails (primarily Philosopher's Way), total probably 3-4 miles and 2 hours there and back. The German forest was beautiful with fall colors and we were initially the only people at the ruins. This was such a nice break from roaming the streets and their hustle and bustle.

Along Philosopher's Way trail

Thingstatte

Overall 
Two things we would have done differently (and nothing to do with traveling with a toddler): First, we bought a TON of beer a Cantillon; close to two dozen bottles. Rather than ship the beer home, we came prepared with an extra suitcase. When I packed, I managed to fit the majority of items for Grayson and I in a carry-on sized suitcase. Traveling to Brussels, we packed the carry-on suitcase inside of the full size so that we only had one bag to check/lug around. However, because Brussels was our first stop and we filled our extra suitcase with beer, this meant we were traveling around Europe (we counted over 10 trains we took this extra 60 lb suitcase on). In hindsight, it would have been smarter to use this travel technique had Brussels been our last stop and we were going directly to the airport when leaving the city.

Note, I learned back in college when a friend went to Italy, diapers are a GREAT way to package alcohol/glass bottles when travelling or shipping. They help protect the bottle from breaking and can absorb liquid should the bottle break. We bought diapers while in Europe and knowing ahead of time what our plan was, we brought a box of extra large ziplock bags with us on the trip.

Beer, diaper and ziplock stash; no broken bottles!

The second thing we should have done was book our train travel from Bruges to Heidelberg in advance. I'm not sure why I didn't, given that it was about 5.5 hours of travel and had limited options, but it cost us. Booking in advance would have saved a lot of money. Day-of travel tickets cost double, if not more depending on the route, than booking in advance. Lesson learned!

In recap, this trip was very different for us, having a 14-month old Grayson with us; but at the same time, we were able to maintain our go-go style of travel but in a more laid back fashion. Grayson did a great job going with the flow and falling asleep in either the stroller or Ergo 360 carrier whenever he needed a nap.  If given the choice again, I'm not sure Ben would take Grayson, but I would without a doubt. Travel has been a big part of our lives up until now, and while it has and will continue to change (I'm not sure when I'll be ready to take two kids to Europe or any farther international than Canada or Mexico), I think it's important that we continue to travel and show our kids the world.

Big News #2!

This week we shared on social media that our family is growing! We are excited have our children close in age growing up together. I love knowing that Grayson will never remember a time not having his sibling.

I've already received several questions and have been trying to find time to type up some extra information for those of you who are curious and to help document this pregnancy (we've been so busy this fall that I've already done much less for this pregnancy than I did for Grayson's #secondchild). I had so much fun sharing my last pregnancy and documenting that I look forward to doing it again.

How far apart will the kids be?
Baby H2 is due May 2019, which will put our kids about exactly 20 months apart depending when baby decides to arrive.  Our ideal time line for kids is roughly two years apart. I grew up with a brother nine years older than me and a sister two years younger; Ben and his sister are three years apart.

How long did you try for number two?
If you remember, it took us six months to get pregnant with Grayson, so when we decided to start trying again, that was one consideration and the other factor was that Ben had a work retreat in Mexico, where Zika is still a concern. Right now the CDC recommends abstaining three months after possible exposure, which would have allowed us to start trying in January or February. Call me crazy, but I did not/do not want a child born through the holiday season; really I didn't want to be due November through February time-frame. I grew up with two best friends born on Christmas and New Years, plus I loved my fall maternity leave with Grayson, that it was important to me to think about timing.

As luck would have it, we didn't need to worry about the decision to try for a holiday baby or not because this time around things happened much quicker, as in on our first try. I think it's because I'm much more in tune with my body. In order to get pregnant the first time, I learned my ovulation signs and cycles. "Lucky me" (extreme sarcasm), even though I'm still breastfeeding Grayson now at 14 months old (it AMAZES me that my body is supporting not ONE but TWO living beings right now!), with Grayson my cycle came back around 10 weeks postpartum and has been regular ever since. Knowing we wanted to try in the fall, I started tracking my signs in the spring to get a good idea of timing.

When did you find out?
It was a few weeks before Grayson's birthday and I had recently dropped to two pumps a day at work.  I was consistently punping 8oz of milk during the day. Within days of conception, my milk supply dropped 3oz pumped and I knew I was pregnant. I waited a few days to take a test, and sure enough: positive! When I calculated the due date, I realized we were due May 10th; a day after my birthday and six days after Ben's.

Before we were officially trying, I had seen a "World's Best Brother" shirt at Target and had ordered it just in case. So I had it on hand and the Friday before Grayson's first birthday, I put it on him and let him crawl into the kitchen to tell Ben. We were both equally shocked and surprised that it happened so fast, but excited! When we initially started trying for kids in 2016, I naively thought we would have a May baby, so the fact that our second child is due in May feels like it's meant to be!

We already had Grayson's one year pictures set up, so I called my photographer to share the news. I said I know it's extremely early, but would you mind capturing a few pictures of Grayson in a big brother shirt so that we can use them to tell family? I'm so glad we added in these announcement pictures. They might be my favorite from the session. All photos in this post were taken by Courtney Heckler.

How far along are you?
Today I'm 16 weeks. Just like with Grayson, my cycle started on a Friday, so every Friday I'm one week farther along. I know it seems silly, but that makes me look forward to Fridays that much more!

It's so crazy (and honestly nerve wracking) to think that at Christmas we'll be half way there.

How are you feeling?
Thankfully with this pregnancy I haven't suffered any nausea at all. With Grayson I never got sick, or maybe once; but felt poorly enough I carried a vomit bag around with me everywhere, just in case! I was extremely tired weeks five through nine, but now that's subsided.

Are you showing?
You guys, I started wearing maternity jeans at 11 weeks; 11 weeks! With Grayson I didn't wear them until after our babymoon, so 21 weeks. I'm not majorly showing yet (although enough that I've had some people ask), but I think I knew how much more comfortable they would be than regular pants or the hair-tie trick (although I'm still doing that a little to fit into favorite jeans).

Now at 16 weeks I have more of a visible bump starting (it's so weird how bumps always come out more at night; am I right?!). I wore a button down shirt last week and realized, I don't think I can wear this buttoned more! Thank goodness last winter the majority of my tops were oversized and flowy for breastfeeding; they're perfect for this year's bump.

Are we going to find out the gender?
Nope! We have talked about it a little; but we waited for Grayson and it truly is THE BEST surprise to wait. Because we waited the first time, we have all of the initial gender neutral necessities we need anyways.

(Plus you know me, if it were a girl, I would start shopping like crazy! Even if it were a boy I probably would too because we'll need to add some summer weather newborn clothes to our closet for this baby).

Will you schedule a C-Section?
Another nope! I think I may have blogged about this before, but having Grayson via C-section was the absolute opposite birth experience I wanted when we initially found out we were pregnant and even when we found out Grayson was breech. We tried everything, everything, to change that he was breech, but in the end I still believe that he and I are in this world today because a c-section was the safest way for his arrival.

Shortly after having Grayson, I started researching VBAC supportive OBs (vaginal birth after cesarean). I came to the consensus of one highly recommended and raved about doctor in the area. As in, I've heard more than one woman say they decided to have a third child because they loved their VBAC experience and this OB so much for their second. (I also want to throw in here, in case you're a c-section mama and not familiar with where you can find information and support, International Cesarean Awareness Network is a great place to start or to heal from a previous birth experience. You can likely find local chapters to learn about VBAC supportive doctors and hospitals in your area).

Knowing we wanted to have kids close together, I met with him in the spring to ask about my likelihood of a successful VBAC and the preferred timing between pregnancies. He said I'm an ideal VBAC candidate (from what my previous OB, who specialized in breech birth, could tell, there was no reason caused by my body for Grayson to be breech). He also said he recommended 18 months between deliveries.

Also re:gender above, to be honest, there's a part of me that's scared I won't have a successful VBAC. Knowing I'll have the surprise of learning the gender at birth, regardless of how this baby arrives, makes me excited!

So we're planning on an unmedicated doula-OB supported VBAC! And delivering at a different hospital, which is also known to be extremely supportive. As one friend who has had 2 successful VBACs with my OB put it: with your experience, the OB/nurse/hospital, your doula, husband and will-power, you've got this. I hope so that comes true!

Are you going to move?
This question has come from friends and family who are familiar with our house. We have a three bedroom, two bathroom house with some "bonus" spaces like a master entry room and main floor office. We currently have our bedroom, Grayson's room, and a guest room.

With the majority of our family out of town, it is extremely convenient to have a guest room, but for how often they are here compared to our daily living, it makes more sense for us to fully utilize the room for our kids. We currently plan to the guest room into a second nursery combined with playroom (it's much bigger than Grayson's room).

Our basement isn't finished, however there is a fourth nonconventional bedroom (it has a closet and two windows) down there that we could use as a guest room if we wanted (otherwise the air matress fits in the office). We just need to find the time to update it and turn it into an actual bedroom instead of storage (i.e. we need to paint, install carpet, buy an IKEA bedframe and foam mattress in order to get down our stairs. Our current queen guest bed won't fit down the stairs because they're so steep!). This is a winter project on my goal list.

There's also the thought that if the kids are the same gender, we could have them share the large bedroom (current guest room) and then use Grayson's room as a play room and turn it into a guest room (ie pull out an air mattress when guest's come). Time will tell really! We are constantly looking at new listings online and went to see a townhouse last spring, while we have great equity in our house, the problem is that the market is so hot, we would have to spend more than we want to get what we want (a single family home with garage, grass yard, four bedrooms and two living areas). And hi, we'll have two kids in daycare, which also is not cheap here, so we're not looking to increase our mortgage right now!

How did you travel to Europe pregnant? Did you drink?
We booked our flights for a trip that's been on our beer bucketlist for years and a week later we found out we were pregnant. I figured it would happen! Thankfully, I also knew for the timing of the trip I would be in my second trimester and it would be more manageable than going those early weeks of pregnancy, and it was.

And yes, I had some beer. I was 13 weeks and had half a beer and several sips at Cantillon. I couldn't not and I've been reading up a lot on occasional drinks during pregnancy and decided I felt comfortable having some beer; and it was soooo worth it! But we also brought back plenty of beer to save until this baby arrives and I'm drinking more too.

So there you have it; the story to our growing family :)

Deja Vu

Here it is the end of July, 2018 and I'm feeling very much like I did this time a year ago.

Last year we had our first pregnancy and come July 2017, we were preparing for our first baby, due September 8th. My pregnancy had been relatively smooth sailing. I was trying to mentally prepare for baby and childbirth.

I'm not sure why or how, but I always knew I wanted an unmedicated birth. We hired a duo of doulas and were enjoying our last two months of us and of summer when my OB said that the baby was measuring large and she wanted to do an ultrasound to double check (we didn't know the gender at the time. Now that Grayson is here, I typically still refer to him as "baby" in utero out of habit).

We found out baby was breech and I spent much of the rest of my pregnancy as hormonal and emotional as it gets. (You can read about it here); and now I'm feeling much of that anxious emotion again right now.

Grayson is ten months old and not crawling yet.  To this point, he hasn't been a physical baby. He's never done log-rolls and is content sitting and playing. He's trying to get on all fours and army crawls backwards but he's not moving. He was a "late" sitter (at seven months and one day) also. At his nine month pediatrician appointment, our ped recommended we do an assessment with our state's Early Intervention program. It took a while to actually get the appointment scheduled and since then Grayson has shown more interest in crawling, so we considered cancelling the appointment.

Yesterday we went to it. He was evaluated with a play-based interview. An occupational and speech therapist asked us questions as they played with him. At the end of the interview, there was a definitive "yes, he qualifies", which surprised both Ben and I.

I spent yesterday afternoon feeling very emotional, similar feelings that I had to our breech pregnancy last time. I know there's an end; our breech baby was going to be born no matter what, just like in time, Grayson will crawl and will walk no matter what. But, it's the unplanned and unforeseen; it's the uncertainty, the stress, the emotional and mental push to get into the light is weighing heavy on my heart right now.

I'm going to give myself a moment to think "why me?". I had many moments, days and probably weeks of this feeling when we found out the baby was breech. But after allowing myself time, I quickly started to think, I don't want to give up hope and schedule a c-section, so what are my options? Similarly for Grayson's gross motor skills, as a parent there's only so much I can wallow. He can't fight for himself yet, so it's up to us to figure out what's best for him, even if we're learning as we go.

Just like Grayson's birth, he's following his own path and knows what was best for him;  I am reminding myself that this is also his path and we're here to help him progress along on it. This isn't the end of the world. This isn't something life-threatening or dangerous and I am thankful for that. This is just another step along parenthood and motherhood that is a learning moment for us all. There will be plenty more of these in his life. Bigger and scarier trials.

Some friends have had their children in the same program and rave about the impact it's had on their children, although they admit it can be hard also.

Moving forward, we'll be assigned an occupational therapist and a coordinator who will come to our house for a biweekly appointment. On the off weeks the OT will visit him at daycare so that he is in his natural settings, and from there, we'll move forward. Literally and figuratively.

Whatever happens, this child will always be the light of me life.

Photos by Courtney Heckler

https://courtneyheckler.com/

Portland Favs

Portland has been on our travel bucketlist as long as we've liked craft beer, so years. A few months ago my parents asked if they could come see Grayson for Memorial holiday day and instead we suggested a family vacation. Since my sister lives in Seattle and my brother's family is in Chicagoland, we agreed upon Portland.

To save cost on hotels we looked at Airbnbs. It was impossible to find a place with four bedrooms and at least three bathrooms; so we settled on renting two two bedroom , two bathroom condos in Pearl District at Block 17 (managed by Stay Aflred; found on Homeaway; they even had a pack and play for us). The location was unbeatable; we could walk to everything, and having two units across the hall from one another allowed us to hang out together but also have some breathing room (much needed with seven adults and two young kids).

Here's a few highlights from our trip:

Day 1

• Walked to breakfast at Isabel Pearl

• Coffee at Case Study

• We used public transit to get to Washington Park. This park is huge and houses the zoo, children's museum, rose garden (free) and Japanese Gardens.
• We started walking to the children's playground then we realized there was a free shuttle to get there! Portland's public transit system (trains and buses) is extensive and easy to use. Google maps navigates it for you and you can buy an all day pass for $5

• We walked the trail out of the park and hopped on a bus to get back downtown
• Lunch at Deschutes (the quinoa "burger" was awesome!)

• Walked to Italian dinner at Mama Mia Trattoria (yum! we were able to book reservations in advance. Our biggest fear was trying to find dinner for 9 people so we booked ahead where we could)
• After dinner beers at Bridgeport Brew

Day 2

• Walked to breakfast at Daily Cafe. It's an order at the counter type of place but all of our food was delicious!

• After there we walked down to Portland's Saturday market; which is a huge vendor type market-like an art fair. It was worth checking out but after a while everything looked the same and we left

• The majority of the day was an unofficial brewery tour. We went to Wayfinder Beer, Hair of the Dog, Cascade, Rouge and Modern Times. Cascade was the crowd favorite with their sours and desserts. We had lunch at Hair of the Dog and Modern Times hadn't been on our list but we walked by and are glad we stopped in. Their IPAs are awesome!

• For dinner we went to the Kennedy Schoolhouse. We took Lyft to get there. It's an old schoolhouse converted to hotel, theater and restaurant. It was an interesting place! The old classrooms were the hotel rooms! 

Day 3

• All of the lists raved about Mother's Bistro for breakfast/brunch. They open at 8am so we got there right when they opened and were seated right away. It did not disappoint! By the time we left there were crowds waiting, so if you go, go early or be prepared to wait.
• We were itching to get out into the pacific northwest woods, so we hopped in the car and went to the closest waterfall hike we could find which ended up being Latourell Falls, about 30 min from Portland. Again, another crowded spot but thankfully we were able to find parking. The hike was about 2 miles and pretty easy coming from Colorado elevation. The hike itself was beautiful!

• On the way back we stopped at hoping for lunch but they had a limited brunch menu. Instead we went to Ex Novo Brewing and had a great lunch with good beer.
• We regrouped and walked to Salt and Straw ice cream. The line, as anticipated, was insane! About two blocks long. Thankfully my girlfriend had given me a tip to skip the line and order pre-packaged pints to go; so that's just what we did and even bought a cone to scoop our own ice cream. It was fantastic! Rhubarb crumble! And salted caramel!

• From there we walked to Powell Book Store; which was huge and intimating!
• We had to follow our tradition of Sunday Night Pizza Night and our family joined so we went to nearby Oven and Shaker. We had no issues walking in and getting seated about 5:30p (but when we left it was packed). We all agreed this was our favorite dinner

Day 4:

• With just my family and my parents left this morning, we walked to Slabtown area and had brunch at Besaws. It was so good my parents went back there for dinner that night!

• We also wanted to check out Forest Park, the largest US park in a city, so we walked some of Lower Macleay Trail (which was wide enough to take the bob stroller on and we weren't the only ones. We saw three other families with bobs)

Flying with an 8 month old wasn't too bad. We checked luggage and the carseat and took the stroller with us through the airport. Coming back, we checked everything and wore him in the ergo through the airport. It was so nice to have just him and the diaper bag! The flight back was a little difficult for Grayson. It was naptime but he had issues staying asleep so he'd wait and be cranky. Even though I nursed at takeoff, it seemed like his body couldn't adjust to the pressure on his ears because as soon as we were off the plane, he was fine!