Hellobee

This year we decided to spend Easter in Los Angeles. My sister has been traveling for work and was scheduled to be there over the holiday. We miss her, as do my parents, so we all met up on the west coast for five days of a sunny California family vacation. This meant taking our first trip as a family of four, traveling with two little ones under two! So here’s how it all went down…

THE FLIGHT

We set very low expectations for the in-transit aspect of this trip. We were pleasantly surprised! As it turns out our children much prefer air travel to car travel.

On Flying In The Afternoon:  We decided to fly in the middle of the day — our flight to LA departed at noon, and our flight home departed at 1:30pm. We found direct flights and these times worked great for us. The kids napped, though Roman did have a little trouble going down on the flight out there; it was only fifteen minutes of a mini meltdown, which is not bad for a six hour flight. There were lots of other families traveling with small children at these times and we found all airport and aircraft staff and fellow passengers to be very pleasant, understanding and willing to lend a helpful hand. None of the “how dare you travel with two babies” looks I was afraid of.

On Packing: We traveled with one large suitcase that we immediately checked, Roman’s Clek Foonf carseat in its travel bag with Iris’s Chicco Key Fit 30 strapped on top. I wore Iris in the baby bjorn and pushed Roman in the umbrella stroller. Onto the plane we brought a diaper bag, a backpack, and a little backpack for Roman with his snacks and distractions. We gate checked the stroller and Iris’s carseat in Roman’s carseat bag.

We flew United which does not allow passengers traveling with children to board early. We had been hoping my husband could get on to install the carseat before we made our way onto the plane; instead we all ventured on together, taking Roman out of the stroller at the door of the plane, folding it down, taking his carseat out of its bag and putting Iris’s in it. I carried Roman on while wearing Iris and Mike brought on the carseat and installed it while we waited. This was a little stressful the first time, but we managed to smooth out the process on the return trip. Roman literally threw a fit the whole way down the aisle to the back of the plane where we were seated, but we received nothing but sympathetic glances from the many passengers we were squeezing by!

On Getting Through The Six Hour Flight: I nursed Iris for take off and landing and we gave Roman his pacifier and water bottle. Neither seemed bothered by any altitude changes which was a huge relief.

I was nervous about how Iris would manage to fall asleep but the motion of the plane must have helped. She fell asleep sometimes after eating and sometimes just sitting on my lap after tiring of smiling at all of our neighbors. She was so alert and attentive through the whole airport and on the plane. We brought a sticker book, some small toys, lots of snacks and the iPad loaded with Blues Clues for Roman. This all kept him very happy.

My parents had arrived first and rented a minivan, so they picked us up at the airport and dropped us back off for our return flight. As I’ve mentioned before this is one of the many ways of traveling with others which makes trips with babies much easier.

WHERE WE STAYED

On The Neighborhood: Because the point of this trip was to visit my sister who would sometimes be working we wanted to stay close to her to maximize our time together. We found a very reasonably priced three bedroom house in Los Feliz on airbnb. This was the neighborhood we lived in during our year in LA and we were very excited about returning with our children. It is also very close to Griffith Park with lots of kid friendly activities, and there are many good restaurants in the neighborhood. It is however a good forty-five minute drive through wretched traffic most hours of the day to get to the beach, something that never bothered me until I had a crying baby in the car.

On Renting A House: The house itself was perfect, exactly what I envisioned for my southern California escape with big sliding glass doors that opened to a little enclosed yard full of fruit trees and a table at which to drink coffee and Easter mimosas. We left the doors open most of the time and Roman could play in and out on a whim. The house was minimalist and spacious, something Roman seemed very excited by. He was just so happy to find himself waking up there every day. As I’ve mentioned before, in my opinion, house rentals are definitely the way to go when traveling with babies and children. We bought groceries and made some meals at home. We had plenty of space in which to relax while Roman was napping and after he went to sleep. This was my first time using airbnb and we had a great experience. Our renter had lots of good reviews so we felt very comfortable with the choice and they met all expectations.

WHAT WE DID

Our activities were limited by Iris’s hatred for her carseat and Roman’s mid day two hour nap. Any venturing out had to be done with his schedule in mind or else deal with a miserable toddler, which meant getting out the door in time to fit in fun in his morning four hour window, or not getting out until later in the afternoon. It was a five day trip and it was meant to be a leisurely vacation so we were not all that ambitious with activities.

We picked the warmest sunniest day to venture out to Santa Monica. We ate at a little beach cafe and spent the whole afternoon on the beach, then went to the very busy Promenade for dinner.

We spent Easter morning enjoying the house and spent the post nap afternoon wandering the neighborhood enjoying a casual outdoor dinner at the Alcove, a very charming place that we missed from our time there.

The next day we visited Shane’s Inspiration Playground and the Merry Go Round at Griffith Park. The highlight for Roman being the three bouncy balls he got out of the quarter machine. Best quarter we ever spent — he adored them the whole rest of the trip. Then Iris and I snuck out with my mom and sister during Roman’s nap to do some shopping in the neighborhood. I became obsessed with the shakes at this place called The Punchbowl. That night my husband and I escaped for our first night out since Iris was born. We went to our old favorite local lounge, The Dresden, with my sister and our good friend.

We had hoped to make it to The LA Zoo and to spend an afternoon over at LACMA, the LA Brea Tar Pits and the Grove, but those plans never came to fruition. For our last evening we went to dinner at Home, which was very child friendly, and then drove up to the Griffith Observatory for the gorgeous views and what Roman came to know as the “ball museum.” He was quite enthralled by the planet displays.

It was a really great trip, one we’d talked about wishing we could do for months, assuming it would just be too much to handle with the little ones. We just sort of spontaneously decided to go for it and were so glad we did!

I think the key for us was choosing what would be the least stressful, most enjoyable ways to spend our time, instead of trying to do all the things. We didn’t see or do as much, but we had a sunny relaxing vacation, with lots of quality family time and lots of much needed extra attention for Roman!

What trips would you recommend for families with small children? Planning any right now? Any seasoned family travelers with advice I missed?