Author: Christine

I'm a wife and mother to 3 kids living in Denver. I'm a Vacation Planning Specialist and love to travel with my family.
Party in the USA

Horseback Riding in Yellowstone

Christine
At the top of the trailhead in Montana

Whiling visiting Yellowstone National Park last summer, we decided to go on an outdoor adventure. The girls were taking horseback riding lessons at the time and I knew this would be a great experience when I heard about The Diamond P Ranch. And the best part it was literally 3 minutes from our campground in Yellowstone.

The Diamond P Ranch is located 7 miles west of the west gate of Yellowstone National Park. They offer guided horseback riding through Gallentin National Park, perfect for all ages.

Because of COVID, I called ahead to make sure they were open and had reservations available during our stay. I booked our ride a few months before our trip and surprised the girls.

Diamond P Ranch is the only horseback riding in West Yellowstone that has access to Gallatin National Forest. We had spectacular views of Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Continental Divide.

There were about 15 people total when we arrived, they assigned us horses, and broke us into groups. Each group was given a guide as well. We were happy to have a private tour with our guide.

We rode for about three hours, taking in the pristine beauty and wildlife. Being my first time on a horse, I was a bit nervous but I calmed down once I met my horse, Buttercup, he was kind and gentle.

It cost $85 per person, which I thought was a great price for a three-hour ride. The weather was perfect and all our horses behaved well.

It was a beautiful, relaxing morning spent in nature and I’m so happy I decided to get outside my comfort zone and took that ride with my kids and sister-in-law.

If you are in the Yellowstone area, I highly recommend visiting the Diamond P Ranch.

Ride Choices

Party in the USA

Why I Love Southwest Airlines

Christine

When we fly, we always try to fly Southwest Airlines for so many reasons, they are a major carrier in Denver which is primarily our departure city. We love Southwest for it’s low fares and low fees.

Traveling with three kiddos, let’s face it, you need a lot of stuff. Sunscreen, diapers, sippy cups, lots of change of clothes, lovies, etc. We love to fly Southwest Airlines as a family for many reasons.

  • Early boarding with children under six years old
  • 2 free checked bags per person
  • Ample flight options, often direct
  • Earn Rapids Reward Points on flights
On a Southwest flight to NY

Early boarding is the best! If you are traveling with children under six years old, you get to board after the A group, right before the B group. This is great to get everyone situated, wipe down your seats and, buckle the kiddos.

All set with all of his essentials.

Let’s get back to all that stuff you need to bring with young kids. Most of the time, when I look for flights, it seems like a good deal with other airlines but I have to pay extra for luggage and that my friends adds up quickly.

With Southwest Airlines, you get two free bags per person and with a family of five, that is huge. And if checking bags is not your thing, remember if you are traveling with a small child, you can board early and have better odds of carrying on your bags.

Flying out of Denver, I can always find some sort of good flight options for the family. I try to book direct flights if possible. There are some places we’d like to travel where we have to change plans or it’s a drive to our destination but I always look to Southwest to books my flights.

We love the Rapids Reward Points system that Southwest Airlines offers their customers. It’s free to join their program, and points don’t expire. Being a large carrier in major cities, including Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Baltimore, it’s easy to earn your points.

As a full-service travel agent, I sell a lot of Southwest Vacation packages, where you can still earn points for your flights, simply supply me with your Rapids Rewards number at the time of booking and you’ll earn credit for your flights when you book your Southwest Vacation package with me.

Pro Tip-sign up your kids for The Rapid Rewards Program as well. Enter their Rapids Rewards number when booking their flights and you’ll earn credit for the flights, points won’t expire as long as there is activity on the account every 24 months.

Travel

Pier 8 Market

Christine

Endless Summer Resorts Dockside Inn and Suites in Orlando FL was our home for a few nights while we were visiting Orlando earlier this month.

Pier 8 located inside Dockside Inn and Suites Resort

We decided against the dining plan since there were just the two of us and my nine-year-old is quite a picky eater. We primarily ate lunch at the park, brought some snacks with us, so that’s left us with breakfast and dinner for a few days.

In the hotel was a wonderful food court slash food market, Pier 8. We ended up getting cereal, milk, and some fruit for breakfast.

Coolers were stocked with drinks, soda, juice, and water. They also had a soda fountain, coffee machines, a toaster, and a microwave available by the seating areas.

Dinner options included pizza, burgers, fried chicken, and much more. They have fresh salads, fruit and veggie cups, and a wonderful dessert bar.

Pier 8 was conveniently located between the lobby and the towers, easy to grab a meal to eat at the pool, in the huge dining room, or bring directly up to your room that has a dining table, sink, and microwave.

I loved all the options we had for food and the options of where to eat. I was pleasantly surprised at the healthy food choices, hot foods, and desserts.

I didn’t get a chance to check out the hot breakfast options since we got our cereal and fruit the night before since we wanted to get up early and take advantage of the early park admission we acquired by staying at a Universal Property.

Travel

Rain Ponchos

Christine

So when I got invited to Universal as a Travel Agent, it was a last-minute trip and if you know me, I’m a planner, I usually start planning a trip months before, making lists, gathering items, etc. With COVID, this was my first plane ride in over a year, so add, hand sanitizer and wipes to the list.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Orlando with out breaking out the rain ponchos.

Since there were only two of us, it was easier to plan and pack, and going to amusement parks as a child and as a mom, there was one item I knew we had to bring…the rain poncho.

For $1.16 at Walmart friends, it is such a versatile item to have with you on your vacation.

First of all, going to Orlando, you get that daily afternoon rainstorm that rolls in and rolls out just as fast. But when it rains, it pours. So the poncho comes in so handy.

Besides a rainstorm, going on a ride where they promise you will get soaked like Jurassic Park River Adventure or Disney’s Splash Mountain, you can simply pull out your trusty poncho and ride and not get wet. Simply toss it away when you are done.

I remember putting it on the seat of a ride before I sat down on a ride as well, so my bottom didn’t get wet.

I’m telling you bringing the rain poncho with you is worth it’s weight in gold.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Cakes Pretty

Christine

As a mother of three, we were invited to many a kid’s birthday parties. A lot of moms would have the cutest cakes and themes for their kiddos. I would be in awe of the details, all matching stuff, and the themed homemade birthday cake.

So after I had my second child, I vowed to be one of these moms. I signed up for a cake decorating class at my local Micehals store and my new hobby was born.

Now let’s back up to my childhood, my mom did excel in many things but being crafting was never her strong suit. At one of my baby showers, we crafted and she had no idea how to say Hodge Podge, let alone know what it is or what you use it for.

So growing up we did not craft, we didn’t make things, we didn’t have many hobbies as a family except going on vacation, going to the beach, and swimming so any wonder why I do what I do and love the beach so much.

I fell in love with making and decorating cakes for my kid’s birthdays. I start asking my kids months before their birthday what theme would they like. My middle was very into Minnie Mouse so we did quite a few parties on her. You can do so many things with Mickey or Minnie.

For my youngest’s 4th birthday, he wanted a fish cake with the candle in the eyeball. And here it is, it was a fun cake to make.

Every party had a theme, with matching invitations, decorations, favors, and cake of course, or cupcakes. And I loved it, we celebrate birthdays lavishly at our house.

We celebrate half birthdays too, we call them Halfy Birthdays, haha. I do it up, I search Pinterest because c’mon now, where else would look.

When my oldest was younger she said “Mom, your cakes are so pretty, you should open a store called Cakes Pretty!” We actually put a sign on our front window for Cakes Pretty and she was pretty disappointed that nobody came to our door asking for a cake.

And that is how Cakes Pretty was born.

Around Town, The Macaroni Mama Blog

The Summer of The Outdoors

Christine

As summer 2021 approaches, it reminds of me how we survived the summer of 2020.

Our family coined it “The Summer of The Outdoors”.

We hiked every weekend. We are lucky to live in beautiful Colorado where we have many hiking trails within minutes of our home. We go up early to beat the heat and walked our little hearts out.

Another great sport we tried this summer was horseback riding. The kids have always wanted to take some lessons and they absolutely loved it. There were great options all over town and I must say the kids enjoyed this the most.

We were still under strict restrictions so we thought archery was another good option to social distance. The kids enjoyed going to their archery lessons each week. We had done a little archery while visiting the YMCA in summers past.

Our neighborhood has a pool where we didn’t have to make reservations to swim, so many days we headed over to the pool to cool off.

The summer of 2020 was not a normal one for us, but it allowed us to branch out and try new sports and activities we normally wouldn’t have even tried. So in a way it was a blessing for us to branch out of our normal summer activities.

I have to say I am looking forward to museum trips again, Denver has some great museums, zoo, an aquarium that we are used to visiting regularly, so the summer of 2021, you will probably find us there.

Travel

A Very Disney Birthday

Christine
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Beautiful birthday girl after her Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique visit.

My younger daughter just turned 10 last and it made me reminisce about when she turned five, we were at Disney World.

We didn’t plan the trip because of her birthday, those dates just happen to fall on her special day but I have to say it was so magical to be at Disney for your birthday, especially as a little girl, who LOVES Minnie Mouse.

We picked up a “I’m celebrating” button and everyone, I mean every team member, wished her a happy birthday.

On our trip, we did a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique the night before her birthday and the next morning we went to Chef Mickey’s for a character breakfast. It was such an amazing trip for a five-year-old girl and for mom as well!!

It was totally worth the wait to see Elsa!!
Meeting Minnie and getting autographs.

Pro Tips:

#1 Schedule your Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique trip at Disney Springs instead of inside The Magic Kingdom, you’ll save valuable park time. We had our appointment on a non-park day and enjoyed Disney Springs afterward.

#2 Purchase your Disney princess dresses before you travel to save money and bring it out while you are on vacation. I let my girls wear them to their new dresses to their Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointments.

#3 I bought them Disney Princess pajamas that look the costume dresses, much lighter and easier to wear around the parks all day in Florida. The Disney Store, Amazon, or Kohls is a great place to pick these up.

#4 Schedule your character breakfast again on an off park day, we did the breakfast option, a little cheaper than dinner and better food options for picky eaters.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Summer Planning

Christine
girl, eating, watermelon

Well, we made it through the 2020-2021 school year, almost, and that means it’s time for SUMMER!! Can you believe we made it through the entire school year?

It’s been challenging and ever-changing for sure, just when you have a schedule figured out, you get the dreaded email that your child’s class has been quarantined and BAM, your schedule changes in an instant.

But as the end of the school year comes, I go instantly into planning mode because let’s face it, I’m a planner.

I get a calendar out and start week by week, I usually look up free activities around town, add in VBS, some trips to the museum or zoo, library activities, family trips and go from there.

Next time, I’ll share about our fun summer activities last year. We called last summer, “The Summer of the Outdoors” since we were still restricted, we did activities that were outdoors and let us social distance.

How do you plan your summer with your kids or are you not a planner?

Travel

Packing Must-Haves for The Parks

Christine
universal studios, cinema, movies

We just got back from Universal Studios Orlando and this was out first visit since COVID-19. They did such an amazing job with masks, social distancing, hand washing stations and sanitizer given to each guest before you get on each ride.

Some must-haves that we found useful for Universal Studios or even Disney World, are lanyards, rain ponchos, little individual Wet Ones to wipe down rides tables and hands, extra paper masks, a water bottle, little packets of Propel, or a bottle of MIO to put in your water bottles. All of these items we picked up at Walmart or The Dollar Store before we left.

The water bottles came in handy at the hotel and I placed them in the mini fridge we had in our room overnight to chill. Adding the extra flavoring just made the water taste better as you are refilling with tap water.

Those rain ponchos get expensive at the parks and we were asked a few times as the rain was pouring down where we got them. Orlando is know for their quick afternoon showers, especially on those summer months.

Extra masks were helpful, we especially loved the paper ones, easy to change and dispose of, we definitely went through quite a few masks during the day.

Fanny packs are back, baby, and a great option while in the parks. Not too big and bulky and easy to store in the lockers while you ride the roller coasters or under your seat.

An extra phone battery or better yet, those backpacks that have a charger are a great option. Maps were few and far between and mostly checking your phone for wait times, showtimes, where the bathrooms are located plus taking pictures you definitely will run down your battery.

Snacks that are quick and easy to eat while waiting in those lines. I recommend ones that won’t melt, like granola bars with no chocolate coating. Goldfish are a must have if you have kiddos.

I hope you found this list helpful, it made out trip easier to have these things already purchased so you can save some money while you are travelling. And double check you have swim goggles, the one item I forgot and had to pick up at the hotel gift shop.

Seems like there is always one thing you’ll end up forgetting, but a quick trip to a drug store or the hotel gift shop and you will look like a hero or heroine to your family.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

A Perfect Christmas Tree

Christine
christmas tree, lights, christmas

So often we are scrolling through social media, seeing images of a perfectly decorated Christmas tree with ornate ornaments and ribbons and we feel envious. Any other ladies out there?

I wonder why my tree has gaps, no beautifully themed ribbon running up and down, full of solid beautifully matching ornaments in a solid color or theme.

But guess what, my tree is perfect for my family, for our stage in life. We are busy with our three kiddos, working from home, remote learning, activities, albeit mostly on Zoom right now, but hey, we are still busy. We just got a puppy so that’s a whole other topic for another day.

As moms we want it all to be perfect, a perfect tree, perfect Christmas photos, we put so much pressure on ourselves.

If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s appreciate what you have.

So, as I sit here sipping my morning coffee, I’m enjoying my perfectly unperfect Christmas tree. It’s full of ornaments that don’t have the same color, or same theme but it has ornaments made by children, ornaments from family trips we’ve taken, ornaments symbolizing family milestones and to me that makes it perfect afterall.