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10 tips for tackling toddler travel

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Toddler travel - Grits in the City - Parenting Blogger - Family Blogger - Mom Blogger - NYC Blogger - Parenting backs - Parenting travel tipsWe don’t travel often now that our family has expanded. We haven’t taken a true family vacation since Q’s arrival. With his second birthday fast approaching (yikes, a month exactly from today), we also wanted to take advantage of one trip while he is still free to fly in our laps.

This was a great plan in theory, but as our recent trip to Denver approached, we became a bit concerned. Q is in full-on toddler mode, with seemingly limitless energy and little to no interest in sitting in one place for 10 minutes. Four hours at a clip in a plane sounded like a disaster. What were we going to do to keep him entertained for that long?

I called in the “experts” – AKA my fellow mom friends from Facebook. As anticipated, they had all some great tips that helped make our trip out and back as smooth as possible. Did it go perfectly? No way. We didn’t expect that would be a possibility. We did however manage to keep him pretty occupied for around 88% of the time. And that I call a win! [Read more…]

saturday at long branch beach

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There are certain things that feel like summer “must dos.” There is going to the pool. Ice cream. Lots of ice cream. And, of course the beach. We hadn’t checked off that final item from the list — until a weekend trip to New Jersey’s Long Branch Beach a few weeks back, that is.

Q has been to the beach once — last fall when we went to Wildwood and it was barely warm enough to walk on the beach and after Labor Day, when we found the Boardwalk a ghost town. This year I wanted a proper beach visit — with the sun warm and all restaurants and stores in full summertime mode.

Though there was a threat of rain, we ended up having a perfect summer day with the right amount of sun. It was warm but not crazy hot. We even lucked into one of the last public parking spaces when we arrived just after 10AM.

South Beach at Long Branch Beach, NJ

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grain & cane

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A few weeks back, we went with my dad to visit Grain & Cane. We are always up for trying a new restaurant out here to add another go-to spot to our pretty short list of faves.

Grain & Cane - Grits in the City - Food Blogger - Lifestyle Blogger - Parenting Blogger

Located in the Connell Industrial Park, Grain & Cane is also adjacent to The Embassay Suites. It’s only been open a handful of weeks. You could tell they’re still getting up and running. At the time we went, you couldn’t even find their menu online as they were still refining it. (Now, you can find it here.) [Read more…]

long weekend blueberry muffins

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Something about an extra day makes everything seem possible. Pile on things to the to do list and pull out the oven mitts and other baking gear. It’s no secret I love to bake. I made beignets and blueberry muffins over Memorial Day weekend. The later was me trying to take a new spin on breakfast for Quinn.

I love blueberry muffins. They were one of my mom’s staples and the smell of them alone makes me remember Saturday morning with my family. I’ll admit, my attempt at them though over the long weekend wasn’t 100% successful. The first recipe I tried ended in disaster. But it was kind of my own fault? I didn’t have my glasses on and accidentally put in 3/4 cup of wheat flour instead of 1/4. Oooops? Those ended up inedible. I decided to try again with a different recipe, which I liked better.

The original recipe called for Greek yogurt. I wanted to use blueberry yogurt to up the flavor, but we were out of it at the house (see failed attempt #1, above). I would suggest subbing it into the recipe, especially if you’re using fresh blueberries. [Read more…]

7 home purchase tips for first time homebuyers

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Last year on Cinco de Mayo, we closed on our first home. After living in small white-walled spaces in major metropolitan areas, it was a change I was excited for. A space just for us, much more room for Quinn and so many other things. Our home search process spanned around four months and was a stressful time for us. Before we started, I did not look into home purchase tips. There were many unknowns and several months crammed into my parent’s basement. We realized though how lucky we were to have that option and for the time to spend with family.

Going through this process once by no means makes me a pro. However, below are some helpful tips for others going through this for the first time.

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5 top finds at the 2018 new york baby show

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This past Saturday and Sunday was the annual New York Baby Show. This year, there was another excellent line-up of vendors showcasing their products and services over the two days. I was there for day two, which included talks featuring Dr. Harvey Karp, BabyGuy Jamie Grayson as well as panels on safety, breastfeeding, and getting back to you. There were five things in particular at the New York Baby Show that stood out that I’d suggest you check out as well. [Read more…]

the magician at the nomad

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I have a confession: magicians aren’t my thing. To be honest, I always find myself mostly focused on trying to figure out what trickery is going on and on the over the top and mostly lame delivery. When T wanted to check out The Magician at the NoMad as a part of our early anniversary celebration weekend in the city, I decided I’d put my usual reservations on hold to see if Dan White (“The Magician”) lived up to the hype. And boy did he ever and then some. [Read more…]

breakfast at nomad’s cha cha matcha

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We stayed in the city this past weekend in NoMad and were trying to figure out a good spot for breakfast in the area since our hotel did not include one for us. We were making our way over to the New York Baby Show, so didn’t want to stop somewhere that would entail a big wait. We also wanted to be able to walk there to enjoy the day before the rain inevitably returned. When I heard about Cha Cha Matcha and their super intricate matcha cappuccinos and lattes, I was sold. [Read more…]