Landon Visits Pennsylvania

We had our summer visit to Pennsylvania to see my husbands family!

Here we are at Sunday church.

Landon and his pap pap walking to church. They're buddies. I can't believe how grown he looks!

Landon with his dad and grandparents!

He sat quietly through mass. clapping and cheering when the choir sang. its pretty funny.

The tractor became a huge daily activity. The minute he woke up, he would tell my fil "brrrrrrrr" and pointed outside. we would bundle him up so pap pap could take him on a ride. its pretty funny how he has them wrapped around his little finger!

On a beautiful Sunday, we went to "camp" to have an early dinner and enjoy the outdoors with my husbands aunts and uncles.

We went boating, ate pie, enjoyed a camp fire. it was pretty relaxing and fun! Definitely my favorite thing to do when we visit!

Landon LOVED steering the boat and exploring! 

Here he is with Aunt Shannon and his cousin Selah.

We also scheduled a play date with one of my SIL's friends daughter. We LOVED letting him interact with friends. They were so playful and social! I couldn't believe how well he interacted with Netty. 

My MIL and SIL took me to see my first penguin game! 

Of Course we had to visit our favorite Italian place for dinner! We even celebrated my nieces birthday! 

We love visiting Landon's Great Grandmother. We always have such an amazing time visiting my in laws. We get plenty of sleep and Landon gets to spend time with my husbands family! They've always welcomed me with open arms and they LOVE Landon so much! I have been blessed to marry into such an amazing loving family!

Flying with a toddler: 15 Months

We had our first "Toddler" flight. It was VERY challenging! He is so curious and busy nowadays, I couldn't get him to take a nap!! He fell asleep the minute we landed. Imagine, a 6 hour flight... NO SLEEP.. I WAS DYING!!!!! 

Luckily, we came prepared. I was stocked with snacks, meals, activities and fully charged iphone with 10 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

STICKERS: 

We introduced stickers on this flight. He was instantly obsessed. This activity kept him busy for almost 30 minutes. We showed him how to peel and stick. He loves stickers!

He even peeled them and stuck them on our arms and legs!

Magnadoodle:

I purchased a few travel sized toys (you can get them at walmart, target and CVS) and they were perfect for our flight! 

He spent a lot of time doodling, erasing and doodling some more! 

Glowsticks and Waterbottles:

We've been using this activity for awhile and he NEVER tires of it! We asked the flight attended for an empty bottle once she was done serving beverages.

He spent about 20-30 minutes playing with his glowsticks. He is also obsessed with screwing on bottle caps.

Earphone Plugs:

Once he started to lose his mind, we introduced earphones. He loved plugging it into the socket and putting the earbuds into my husbands ears. 

For a 15 month old, his hand eye coordination is impressive and I'm so relieved it kept him occupied!

Connect Four:

This one is a hard one, I suggest keeping a close eye on your lil one. Every once in awhile, he would try to pop one in his mouth! This activity gave my husband too much anxiety so it only lasted about 15 minutes.

He did love putting the tokens into the holder.

Last but not least, we let him watch tons of Mickey mouse club. At one point, we thought he would fall asleep watching it, but alas, he did not! 

**tips for toddlers: make sure your baby drinks plenty of fluids during take off and landing. I used to nurse him, but during this flight, we have him a food pouch and a sippy cup with water!**

**bring plenty of food & snacks. We also brought a change of clothes and plenty of diapers** 

**bring infant tylenol (just in case)** 

Good luck traveling! XO

Scaife Family Vacation- Carolina Beach, NC

Well, we decided to join my husbands family for an extended vacation to kick off  the last few weeks of Landon's first year!!

We are vacationing in Carolina beach, NC. My in laws have a beach house down here. it is such a quaint little tosn! All the homes are brightly colored, the beach is cool but not freezing or hot.. Landon's having an amazing time!

Lets talk about flying with a toddler... It's getting pretty challenging traveling with a kid that's mobile, teething and getting over a mild cold.. But WE DID IT!!

We decided to book a red eye flight.. I was very nervous because I wasn't sure how he would react... Well, we survived.. Barely!

We headed to the airport at 8:30... My husband dropped me, Landon & our luggage off at the curb while he dropped off our car for long term parking. I went in to wait.. It was nice because no one was at the airport.. 1 pt for booking a red eye flight!

Once we checked-in and checked all our luggage we went through security with a breeze.

Our checked luggage list:
Car seat w/ base
Stroller with stroller bag (brought the bugaboo because it can easily roll in sand)
2 suitcases

Our carry on list:
1 large diaper bag (I have a giant beach bag for vacations)
1 carry on luggage
Baby Bjorne
1 pillow ( I rolled the pillow and stuffed it in a small bag for easy carrying)

**i decided to carry him through the airport because he fell asleep during our drive and didn't want to disturb him... Which worked well for us, I only wished it was as easy on my back! Get a really good carrier ladies!**

We settled in on the plane and Landon was awake.. He played around while I wiped our seats, tray tables, walls, windows since he has a tendency to lick stuff...

I gave him this book to play with while we sanitized our area: (make sure you pack a zip lock bag filled with new & interesting things!)

As soon as we started taking off, I nursed during take off again when we were landing.

He slept for 98% of our flight.. Awake in the beginning and then when we Landed.

He was awake for 1.5 hours while we waited for our connecting flight.. I fed him some breakfast (1am our time), gave him snacks. We wiped down some airport chairs to let him climb around.. I gave him a new toy to play with.. He's really into cars and likes to say "vroooom" as he pushes it around. 

Once we were ready to board, I repeated the same steps as the first flight.

When we landed, my husband suggested I just carry him because it was a small airport and we didn't want to wake him up.. It wasn't easy carrying around a sleeping 20lb baby.. It felt more like a 40lb short person.. Lol!

Total amount of travel time: 6-7 hours (including driving to & from airport)

When my in laws saw him, I was able to hand him off... They took turns holding him and watching him sleep while we waited for luggage.

He slept all the way to our vacation home until I put him in his crib.. It was 4am PST... 

My husband and I were exhausted and Landon got a total of 6 hours of sleep, instead of 12. I got 40 minutes... Boo!! 

This trip would've been a 100% easy but about a week ago, Landon discovered how delightful it sounds when he screams.. So when he's frustrated or is bored, there is a loud pterodactyl squawking that starts... I hope my in laws don't hate me after 13 days... Wish us luck! 

Oh! Before I pack my bag to go home, I'll make sure I take a picture and get you all a post! 

I need an award that says, "I flew with my baby and I survived" and maybe 7 cocktails!

Our Catalina Wine Mixer...

My In-Laws came to visit for 2 weeks in March!

I LOVE IT when my in-laws visit for a few reasons.. 1. we get tons of adventures and 2. THEY LOVE taking landon on SUPER long walks in the early morning so Josh and I could get extra sleep!

So on one of our adventures, we decided to visit Catalina.

I've never been to Catalina, so I was extra excited to go!


We started this trip enjoying our breakfast... UMMM, best BEST Pancakes ever!

We left out of San Pedro, CA. It was a very cold and windy trip on a speed boat (took about an hour).

Landon ended up taking a long nap and didn't wake up until we got there. I dressed him really warm...



I packed pretty light:

a few outfits for him & a hat
3 meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner + snacks)
2 blankets (1 thicker and 1 light weight)
1 zip lock bag filled with toys
sunblock
1 outfit for me
8 diapers, wipes and changing pad
nursing cover

once we got there- I stopped in at a hotel patio to nurse him, change him and wash his face. then our adventure started!



We enjoyed lunch at an irish bar- We all ordered the fish & chips! It was super yummy!







We stopped to let landon crawl around! I took some adorable photos of him!

We couldn't find a golf cart that could sit 4 people and 1 infant so instead we took a bus tour to see the Island.



It was hands down one of the best bus tours I've been on! We saw Bison, squirrel and learned about the history of Catalina.



We took a tour of the private airport, and just enjoyed the sites!




If anyone decides to take a quick day trip anywhere in southern CA, I highly recommend Catalina. The bus tour was the best thing we did on our trip.

Flying with an 8 month old

Well- Landon took his 3rd trip... (5-6th flight).

He did Very WELL!

My husband took us to hawaii as a valentines day gift! On our first flight, we were scheduled to sit together- but when we got there, babies were not allowed to sit in the row we selected so they split us up... we were not the only family with infants that were split up, 2 other families were split!! SO- I was moved to the back of the plane and my husband was in the front.

A couple flying with a third person suggested I switch seats closer to my husband- which I gladly accepted, BUT when I went to move, it was next to an older couple (in their late 60's) who threw the biggest tantrum that THEY WOULD HAVE TO SIT NEXT TO AN INFANT.

the woman- was LIVID. I reassured her that we travel a lot and that Landon was a really good baby.
she was not having any of it. in fact, she was SO loud, all the flight attendants came over to try and extinguish the issue... they ended up moving the womans grand daughter (who was sitting across the way) next to them- and me, in the granddaughters seat.

which was fine. we actually lucked out. we sat next to a woman who bought herself 2 seats and kindly let Landon sit in the middle and to thank her, we paid for her to have a dvd player.

and so off to hawaii we went...

like I told the old lady, Landon is a wonderful traveler... and this is how our flight went.



- we nursed on take off and landing and during the 3rd hour. (it was a 6 hour flight)

- he ate breakfast and lunch on the plane (oatmeal and apples for breakfast, sweet potatoes, oatmeal and peas for lunch)he drank water from his sippy cup

- he snacked on puffs

- he took 2 naps, 1st nap was for 45 minutes and second was for 2 hours

- we changed his diaper twice... and changed his clothes 3x (once after every meal)

- dad checked on us once (he was stuck in a window seat and honestly, it was a bitch to watch him get up to help)

-we watched his music video on his ipad (the wheels on the bus) 30-40x...

-we sang a lot of songs..

- we played with all his toys... and with TONS of cups and straws.

- we started with 10 pacifiers.. and a gallon sized bag filled with toys and ended up with that many in our dirty bag.




and at the end of our flight, the same couple that was upset about Landon, apologized to me. they agreed that Landon was an amazing traveller but I wanted to stab her for being such a bitch...

so my husband flew us home first class... and my husband has decided thats the only way we'll fly from now on... unless we buy 3 seats.



this is what I've learned about flying...

1. we carry clorox wipes or hand sanitizer wipes and wipe down EVERYTHING... trays, handles, seats, window, wall... EVERYTHING.

2. the bathroom with an infant changing table is located in the back. theres usually only 1.

3. flights under 6 hours does not have food available.

4. try to travel during baby's sleeping hours. there was only 1 direct flight available for the day we decided to fly... it was at 7am... we had to wake up at 4. there was a lot of planning involved... A LOT. we flew home at night and he slept 80% of the time.

5. in first class, the last seat has a backing in the middle of our two seats.. so he sat there and played for an hour or so.

6.fly safe and fly often!

Landon's First Christmas...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here his is on Christmas Day...

Our family photo on Christmas Eve.. taken after christmas eve mass.

Dressed to impress for Christmas Eve Mass..

Opening Gifts of Christmas Day in PA...

He was sooOOo cute opening all his packages

having a little snack...

Then we went home to CA and celebrated with my family...

His face is priceless..

Merry Christmas Landon! You are very loved by your family