Posts in Category: Travel

White Sands National Park with Kids

We went to White Sands National Park with kids and had a blast. White Sands just became a national park in December of 2019. We were in the process of moving from Arizona to Florida so White Sands was “on the way.” We had fond memories of going here in 2013 that we wanted to go again. Actually Matt went to White Sands when he was a kid on a road trip and always liked it so he took me. We went with just two kids in June of 2013. Continue onto the next page to see a flashback photo.

Nantahala River White Water Rafting with Kids

My parents, brothers and I went to the Nantahala River about 20 years ago to go white water rafting. Little did I know my kids first time white water rafting would be on the same river. We tried to describe what white water rafting was to the kids. We said it is a little bit like Kali River Rapids at Disney World. As we were going down the river they kept shouting “this is so fun”. I love that this rafting trip was a lot longer than a ride at Disney. Have you ever been white water rafting? If so, which rivers have you been on? This was the perfect river to start my kids out on. There was only one class three rapid (the last one) and the rest were class I & II.

Five Tips for the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival with Kids

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque was definitely one of our trickier trips. Matt wasn’t able to take time off during the week of the festival. So we had to get creative on how we would do the New Mexico trip.

This reminded me of our first Christmas we were married. I had to work at the hospital Christmas Day. We were living in Utah at the time. Matt flew from Salt Lake City to Long Beach on Christmas morning (after I left for work) and then flew back on the same day and he arrived home before I got home from work. He got to spend Christmas Day with his family. Christmas night we were able to have our own little Christmas and I didn’t even realize he was gone. That was nice that the flights worked out where he could fly to California and back in the same day.

Anyways, so back to our Albuquerque trip. The kids and I drove to Albuquerque on a Friday October 11th. Matt went to work on Friday and then caught a flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque that night. He was supposed to get in at 11pm and then we were going to have to wake up at 3:45am the next day to see the Hot Air Balloons take off. He was then going to drive back with us to Phoenix on Sunday. My kids travel pretty well. Here are some tips on how to make the festival more enjoyable.