Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

Flying to Florida March 10, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Florida — Kelocity @ 10:08 am
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My grandparents live in Florida in the winter, so last week, my parents flew down from Massachusetts, my sister flew down from Chicago and Adele and I flew down from Los Angeles! It was such a great opportunity to spend some time with family without having to brave the cold weather (and snow!) in New England.

I was a little scared to fly alone with Adele, but as usual, she did great! The key is being organized and having a bag full of tricks for the plane.
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I brought a few books, a couple of toys and lots of snacks and that’s all she needed! She had the most fun playing with the seat belts, looking at other passengers and crawling back and forth.
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And I had a surprise for her (which she LOVED). I took a ribbon and tied an old key, a plastic card a necklace and some rubber bracelets to it. That kept her busy for over an hour. Mom for the win! I was pretty proud of my self for that one.
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Since my flight was LAX to Ft. Lauderdale, it was half empty and filled with older retired people heading out for cruises. Major score for a mom traveling solo with a cute baby. People kept coming by and sitting down to talk and play with Adele (and tell me out their grandkids, etc etc).

 

I even got her to take a 1.5 hour nap in the carrier while I watched HGTV. The perfect flight if i don’t say so myself.

Once we landed, everyone (even the skeptical business man in the row next to us) complimented her on her great airplane behavior (she never made a peep!) That’s my girl. My little traveler.

Instead of making the 2-hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Myers at night, I opted to get a hotel room for the night and start the drive fresh in the morning. I got my rental car and found my hotel with no problems.
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Adele, of course, was loving the big hotel bed… but I was able to talk my way into getting a free pack-n-play for her for the night.

Travel Tip: Always pack your own crib sheets!IMG_0272

She slept great through the night and when we woke up, we had a quick breakfast and headed out across Alligator Alley. Adele slept in the car and before long, we arrived! There were some very excited great-grandparents waiting to kiss Adele!

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Out of all the fun places to go in Florida…. we decided to check out the local library (I’m obsessed lately!) They had an awesome Children’s Room with lots of books and puzzles. And I found my favorite one for her to play with! YAY!
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We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house and hanging out here:
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What a life, right? Grammie, Grandpa and Aunty Laurie arrived that night too! More pictures to come!

 

She’s Everywhere! March 3, 2013

Filed under: Baby — Kelocity @ 4:00 am
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A typical night with an 8-month old baby.
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Inspired by this post. Their blog is hilarious. 

 

Viva Las Baby February 25, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Las Vegas,Theater,Travel — Kelocity @ 2:33 pm
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My sister, Laurie, was in Las Vegas with friends this week and she wanted to extend her trip to visit us in LA too! We looked into flights from Vegas to LA, but in the end, we decided it was a better idea to just go there, spend the weekend and drive her back with us.
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Best idea ever. I miss this girl.
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We had a blast hanging out. Since it was a last minute trip for us, we didn’t have a set agenda so it was nice to roll with the punches.
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On Saturday, we met up with Laurie at the Excalibur pool. What a lucky girl.
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We people watched and lounged poolside and then one of us took a nap.
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Irving, Adele and I spent the rest of the day doing some outlet shopping while the cool kids hit the clubs. After shopping, we grabbed dinner at Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast casino. And by “we” I mean Irving. I got TGIFridays to go. haha (Irving’s Side Note: Ping Pang Pong was recently rated one of the countries best Chinese food in the country by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Apparently I’m missing out.)

Sunday morning, we picked up Laurie and Jim and headed off the strip. Way off. All the way to the mountains to check out Red Rock Canyon. We loved it when we were there a couple of years ago and were excited to go back. Plus since Laurie and Jim live in Chicago, they don’t see mountains much.
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We didn’t get a chance to do much hiking, but the views were still stellar.
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Love this candid shot. haha
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We did the 13 mile drivable loop and saw the whole valley. They got out and took fun pictures on the cliffs, but it was wayyyy too windy for Adele. I tried once and poor girl nearly blew away.
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After that, we drove back to the strip for some more sight seeing. First stop was the Stratosphere. Come to think about it, that was my first time there! Then we jumped over to the Mirage.
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We were actually looking for the lions, didnt they used to have a free exhibit? Am I making this up? Was that years ago? I thought there were free lions or tigers or something somewhere in vegas. Oh well.
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After that, we were all tired and headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

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And then Irving and I were excited to take advantage of our free babysitters for the evening and we headed out to see Mystere!
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Bye Adele. Bye Laurie. Um, good luck with that. hahahaha
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Just kidding, I heard the night went well. Lots of playing, lots of cuddles and Adele was in bed by 8pm. Wheeee! What a good Aunty.
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We loved Mystere. Not the best Cirque show in Vegas, but I heard it was the first one which in itself makes it special. You can see how the troupes have evolved over the years. This one was a little circus-y but the stage and lighting were great. And the acts were excellent too. (My #1 Cirque show is KA. But then again, I have yet to see O.

We’re currently en route back to Los Angeles. Irving’s driving, Adele’s sleeping and Laurie and I are chatting (while blogging). Excited for a few days of adventures with her this week! I’ve got a lot of fun things with Adele planned too. Can’t wait!
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And PS… just for fun… this photo was from the last time we were in Vegas! A lot changes in 10 Months! I was bummed she was asleep in the car when we took our iconic vegas sign pictures this weekend. Next time!

 

Half Day, Fun Day February 20, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Motherhood — Kelocity @ 4:47 am
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I got out of work early last Friday and I was determined to maximize the ‘fun’ in the day as a result. I zipped home and had lunch with Irving and then I went to pick Adele up from daycare! She was surprised to see me in the middle of the day, but she looked pretty stoked. I left my car parked on the street and I strapped her into our jogging stroller and took off on a run!
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I ran/jogged/walked for 45 minutes. My legs felt like lead. I have SO much endurance to build up before I really start half-marathon training again (next race is in November!) But I need to build my base back up to a solid 3 miles before I can dive in this summer.
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Adele was cheering me on with her cooing until she fell asleep.
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I think I covered 2.3 miles or so. Not bad for starting over. I can’t wait to turn the clocks back (ahead?) in a few weeks so I can go after work with her again.
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After I was done, I transferred a still-sleepy baby into the car and we headed off to the park! (I was on a mission to maximize fun, remember?) I found a cute little baby park nearby that was bustling with babies, toddlers, parents and nannies. Adele loved to swing back and forth while watching other little ones running around.
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And once we were all swinged-out, we walked right on over to the library! There’s a cute little children’s room with puzzles, toys and books to play with. We sat for a half hour or so and it was awesome. My heart was so full. I am so excited that Adele likes books.

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I let her crawl over to the shelf and pull off a book and then I’d read whatever she picked to her. I ended up checking four board books out of the library. Admittedly, I get a little bored with the books we have sometimes, so it’s nice to switch it up. Plus it’s an excuse to re-read all my childhood favorites too. Madeleine in Paris, anyone?
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And for our last adventure of the day, we went grocery shopping. (Believe me, doing groceries does not rank high on my “Fun” list, but with this little one in tow, it actually was fun). She loves looking at colors and people, so she was pretty much in heaven. I also let her play with a bag of shredded cheese and she was excited about that too.
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And we did all this (a run, the park, the library and groceries) in about 3 hours. Still home in time for dinner, bath and crawling time. It is days like this where I look back and realize how fun being a mom is. Adele makes it easy on me, but I’m seriously just having a blast.

 

Zimmer Children’s Museum February 6, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Los Angeles — Kelocity @ 4:49 am
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Last weekend, I organized a play date at the Zimmer Children’s Museum in downtown LA. It was a blast and we had 8 babies and 15 adults come! The museum is so cute and I’m sure it’ll be even more fun once Adele is older and walking. But I would still highly recommend it for the little ones as well!

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They have a whole area called “VIB” (Very Important Babies) and it was AWESOME!
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The whole room is padded, making it the perfect environment to roll, tumble, crawl and play. All of the babies had a blast hanging out in there.
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Plus they have baskets full of squishy blocks and toys that they can play with. I think all the kids were tuckered out by the end. So much fun!
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Um, hi. She can stand? When did this happen? She can even stand without assistance for a couple of seconds now too!

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The rest of the museum encourages imaginary play and other sensory learning areas. Irving and I were more excited than she was, it was awesome!
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We put Adele in the ball pit. She was not a fan. And I’m pretty sure she’s traumatized for the rest of his life. “It’s ok, honey. Just smile for the camera, you’re fine”. Parents of the year. Yes.
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