Alara & Adam Travels

Daytona Beach, FL (+COVID update & Washington DC bonus stop) – (April 2021)

COVID update!

Well, COVID-19 put a halt to our travel plans for over a year. But forget about travel… it’s been quite a year. Little did we know that when I picked up Alara from school a day before her winter break in March 2020 for our trip to the Azores that it would be the last time she would see her teachers and classmates. She spent the rest of 1st grade remotely at home, along with Adam home from day care, Daddy working from work permanently, and Mommy already working from home. Adam’s day care closed permanently as a result of the lockdown. It was HARD to do remote home-schooling while both parents worked full-time jobs at home and tried keeping a 4 year old entertained. More than hard, impossible. There were a lot of auto-pilot moments: all-day TV and video game marathons while we had work Zoom calls. Thank goodness for Facebook Messenger Kids where Alara could chat with family and friends from her iPad. Luckily, things got better and both Alara and Adam were able to physically go back and do in-school learning for the 2020-2021 school year. We were so lucky, seeing as local public schools were still 100% remote. I feel for anyone who struggled with this. Our mental health took a real toll during this time, but we got through it together and found ways to make it better. We are stronger because of it.

By the time Alara and Adam’s spring break came around (finally both kids had the same vacation schedule), we were READY to go somewhere. We were still skeptical about flying and being in large crowds. We also wanted warm weather as we were so tired of being stuck inside. Well, road trip to Florida it is! We planned to stay in Daytona Beach for the full week this time since (a) we really wanted a beach… to stay… like more than one day and (b) it was close enough to potentially go to Legoland which would be great for the kids since they are obsessed with all things Lego. Actual legos, lego movies, lego superheroes, lego video games… you name it.

Thank goodness for iPads. This kept the kids entertained most of the drive and it went more smoothly than I thought it would. The kids had a blast taking their own silly photos during the trip.

A few of my favorite photos capture by the kids’ iPads during the drive

We decided to take it easy during the drive and stop and many times as we needed to. However, we did try to squeeze in some favorites, including Liberty State Park and Washington DC.

Enjoying an ice cream by the Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial… or according to the kids: the penny

WW2 memorial, which was hands down the kids favorite because of the water

We stayed overnight in South Carolina and made good timing getting into FL the next day. Our first stop was to visit a friend and say hi. He also let us (Mommy & daddy) shoot some guns on his backyard target.

After spending some time with friends we continued on our way to the hotel to start our vacation! While the weather was a bit raining, the kids got to enjoy the pool a bit. The next day was also raining, but we made the best of it with a stop to the Waffle House and some shopping at the Daytona Tanger outlets. These outlets also have a splash pad for the kids, which they love visiting.

First Waffle House experience. They LOVED it.

The weather cleared up just in time to spend more time at the pool. We also took advantage of our hotel’s fire pit area and hung out around there during sunset, while the kids enjoyed an ice cream.

The next few days the weather was great for the beach as well. We were pretty close to the Sun Splash Park, which is a playground and splash pad on the beach, so we took some walks to spend time there as well.

Making friends along the way to the splash pad park

The beach was just beautiful. This is my perfect zen image moment right here.

We chose a day based on the weather where it would be cold by the beach but nice inland to visit Legoland. We bought tickets online and got there early. The park was only open from 12-5 and we had access to both parks so we wanted to make the most of it.

This carousel was one of the kids favorites

Lego City cop and Alara’s favorite: Kai from Ninjago

The park’s hours were reduced and many merchant vendors were closed due to COVID. Both parks are big and we wish we had more time to spend here. I would definitely recommend doing a day for each park. The water park was great and there were some awesome waterslides we just didn’t have time to go on. There was a wave pool, lazy river where you can collect and build big, blocky, soft Legos, and boat races where you can build and race your boat. The kids favorites at the Lego park were the Grand Carousel (double decker carousel), the Technicycle (flying ride where you pedal to go up and down), the Lost Kingdom Adventure (interactive where you shoot against mummies and skeletons), and the Ninjado ride (also very interactive to blast against enemies). Alara also liked the Ford Driving School, since it was like go-karts and you can drive freely with real street signs, lights, etc. However, everyone’s all time favorite was the Lego Movie Masters of Flight. This is an indoor theater ride where you ride a triple-decker flying couch. If you watch the Lego Movies, you know.

We spent the last day of our vacation back on the beach to relax one last time and take in our zen moment.

We were then ready to head home, another long drive with iPads, stops to IHOP and cuddles with Unikitty, a souvenir from Legoland.

Sao Miguel, Azores (March 2020)

The travel bug was itching again and since Alara had 2 days off school in March, we decided to visit our family in Sao Miguel, Azores. It’s a short flight from Boston to Ponta Delgada (5 hours) and combining Alara’s days off school with the weekend (and maybe an extra day off school), we were able to visit for just under a week.

As time got closer to our trip, we had a growing concern about the Coronavirus spreading internationally. While the virus wasn’t spreading quickly in the U.S. at the time, we knew we were putting ourselves at risk by traveling internationally. We decided to continue on with our trip and follow CDC guidelines by frequently washing our hands, using hand sanitizer and keeping our distance from others as best we could.

Adam did a good job packing… toys, books, underwear, socks, a shirt and a sweatshirt. Not bad for a newly turned 4 year old.

Daddy was just coming back from a business trip in TX, so ironically we would be meeting him at the airport as we were taking off shortly after he was landing. Vova (grandma) would be accompanying us on this trip to visit her family.

Getting ready for a quick night time flight

Since our last visit, our grandmother had sold her house in Ponta Delgada and was living with my aunt in the same area but closer to the beach. My aunt lives very close to one of my favorite beaches, Praia do Populo. Most of our time was spent between this beach the neighboring Praia das Milicias.

The kids loved these “lava rocks” near the beach

Tiny human-sized palm trees on our walk between my aunt’s house and the beach

We love to shop while we are in Ponta Delgada. There’s beautiful, good quality clothes and shoes. On this trip I picked up my favorite glass coffee mugs from a supermarket and cute shoes for the kids at Seaside. My favorite places to shop on the island are: 1. Seaside shoe store 2. Parque Atlántico mall 3. Shops in Downtown Ponta Delgada ( R. Machado dos Santos, a few blocks from Portas da Cidade).

Downtown Ponta Delgada, the kids loved all the bikes

Before going to the Parque Atlántico mall, we love to stop and walk through the Jardim Antonio Borges botanical garden. There are playgrounds, caves, animals and a huge tree with huge roots.

The main focus of this trip was to visit family. We spent lots of time with bisavo (great-grandmother), aunts, and cousins. During the beginning of this trip, my uncle was on Romario, or pilgrimage, around the entire island. Luckily for us, he was returning home during our trip and we had a welcome party with family and friends.

Alara, bisavo, and Tia walking to the party

We spent the next day with our entire family, making stops at some of our favorite nearby places.

Furnas, famous caldeiras or hot springs on the island

Praia do Fogo in Ribera Quente with prima (cousin)

It was really great to see and spend time with family and take a break from the usual busy lifestyle. We spent a relaxing day at my aunt’s house with some quality time with bisavo.

Alara and bisavo admiring the “pet” turtle

News about the coronavirus in the U.S. was spreading and talks about a lockdown was in place. During the end of our trip I received notice that Alara’s school would postpone returning back to school for the rest of the week, being the first school in Massachusetts to close due to the virus. We got back home just in time for a lockdown, that little did we know would be as serious and long-lasting as it was. I guess our travel plans are on pause for now! Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Philadelphia & New York (January 2020)

Another winter break and another visit from Amca (uncle) and cousin Yagmur! We decided not to do our usual Florida road trip and to keep it closer to home. Nene and dede had gone back to Turkey to visit and so it was just. We celebrated Christmas with my family and then after the new year started our little road trip. While this was a short trip due to the cold weather and tired little humans, check out my favorite things to do in Philadelphia below.

We made sure the hotel we stopped on the way that had an indoor pool so we could enjoy some swimming in the winter. We didn’t take any swimming photos but we did capture Adam’s enjoyment of the gym.

Adam checking out the ellipticals in the hotel’s gym

We continued on to Philadelphia. Alara was starting to learn about US history in 1st grade, including first presidents, the declaration of independence, etc. so we wanted to stop at some historical places in Philly. We’ve been to Philadelphia before sans-kids, so we’ve gotten to experience the beautiful, culture, food and history the city has to offer. This trip was more about keeping the kids entertained and taking a break from work/school. This was also a short trip considering it was the winter and everyone was freezing. However, we made the best of it and saw some great spots.

President’s Home, occupied by George Washington & John Adams

After exploring Philadelphia for the day, we decided to grab our Philly cheesesteak and start heading home. We made sure to stop to see New York City on the way. Our favorite stop is the Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. Great views of the Status of Liberty, Ellis Island and the NYC skyline.

Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park

That concluded our short road trip! We spent the rest of the time with Amca and Yagmur around Boston, indoor playgrounds and Chuck E Cheese. On to the next adventure!

My favorite things to see and do in Philadelphia:

Independence Hall – free tours every 15 minutes to visit where the Declaration of Independence was signed
Liberty Bell Center – no visit to Philly is complete without visiting the most famous broken item in the world
Love sign – iconic photo op with the famous statue
Philadelphia Museum of Art (infamous steps from the Rocky film & iconic Rocky statue) but visit inside the museum as well… Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s are my personal favorites.
Waterfront Parks – Spruce Street Harbor Park & Blue Cross RiverRink & Cherry Street Pier are favorites
Philly cheesesteak – Sonny’s & John’s Roast Pork are great places to grab one

Germany & Switzerland & Italy (August 2019)

Alara’s first year of Kindergarten is complete and it’s been quite a year! Alara got 2 awards at her award ceremony: Physical education award and Science award. Pretty accurate considering she currently wants to be a ballerina astronaut. ::shrugs::

After Mommy switching jobs to work remotely, celebrating Alara’s Rockstar 6 year birthday party, dance recital, spring soccer camp and summer Space camp, we are ready for our last family vacation of the summer of 2019 before starting 1st grade and a new school location.

The kids made a travel wish list. Luckily some of these were able to knock off, like the space camp they went to and Germany.

Adam’s Travel List on left & Alara’s Travel List on right

As we head into the summer, we planned a trip to Germany once their summer camp wrapped up but before school started up again to visit Amca (uncle), Yenge (sister-in-law) and cousins Yagmur and Ruya. Nene and dede (grandmother and grandfather) would be coming with us as well, so it was a family reunion since it’s rare that we are all in the same place (country, really) at once.

Honestly, this trip started off as a nightmare. Pro-tip to parents, or anyone really, before booking an international trip: Check. Your. Passports. We booked the flights assuming everyone’s passports were still active and for some reason didn’t think to check them. It wasn’t until the morning OF our trip, where we had everything packed and ready to go, that I double checked our passports to make sure everything was in order. What did I discover? That Alara’s passport had EXPIRED. Not like recently, but back a few months ago. She was just a baby in her passport photo and she had just finished kindergarten, so of course it was expired! Parent fail.

So what did I do? Freak out. I was in tears thinking we wouldn’t be able to make it on this trip. She was beyond excited to go on a plane and see her family. I was devastated to tell her we couldn’t go. So I didn’t. We composed ourselves and went into full gear, searching how to get a same-day passport. It was possible. That’s all we needed. We tore our home office apart looking for her birth certificate, got her photos taken at a local Walgreens and went to the Boston Passport Agency with all the appropriate documentation, Alara and luggage in tow in case we had to go straight to the airport from the agency. Every checkpoint we went to we explained the situation, showed proof of our tickets leaving that night, and went through the various lines. After a couple of hours we finally got to the point where we were just waiting for the passport to be printed. It was cutting it close to our check-in time and it was an act of miracle that Daddy went to the airport (with everyone except for Alara and mommy) and the airlines was able to reschedule our flight to a later flight after explaining the whole debacle to them. We were so lucky. We got Alara’s new passport in hand and had more time to make our later flight.

As if that wasn’t enough stress, we went to check-in and through security and what happened next? Our carry-on was taken by someone else. With all the chaos of going through security with 2 kids, multiple carry on luggages, a stroller, the bag of baby wipes in our travel bag ALWAYS causing an issue through security… we didn’t even notice someone. TOOK. our. bag. Again, we freaked out. This particular bag had our clothes and personal possessions. The security team was on it, reviewing the security footage and found the person. We realized it was an honest mistake since another black carry on luggage was left over, which belonged to him. It took time, almost an hour, before they located the man and retrieved swapped our luggage. By the time we got to the plane, we were just relieved and ready for our night flight to take off. It has to go up from here, right? At least we were given more legroom seats, so that’s a start right?

On our connecting flight through Amsterdam the next morning, the kids were happy to have window seats on the short flight to Munich.

Finally we made it to Munich and to our family’s house! The kids were so excited to see each other and play.

This was the first time we were vising Germany in the summer, as we had usually gone in May. Germany has a lot of lakes that are perfect for BBQ’ing, swimming and just enjoy the beautiful weather.

The kids enjoying an ice cream at the lake

The one and only thing Alara really wanted to do on this trip and was visit “the store with the mini carriages”, which is DM. It’s really just a chain of retail stores that sells cosmetics, healthcare items and other household products. Pretty similar to a CVS or Walgreens in the US but with extra cosmetics and healthcare items. And of course, mini carriages.

Here is Alara’s excitement on the way to DM

Alara in her glory at her favorite store

We also got to enjoy some of the local playgrounds Germany has to offer and was very impressed with the hammocks so the adults could relax while the kids play. Why doesn’t playgrounds in the U.S. have this??

Just relaxing in the hammock while the kids play

We really loved the natural structure of this playground

One of the best part of being vacation is getting ice cream! After playing at one of the playgrounds, we stopped for some.

Adam really loved this bigger than life sized ice cream cone

Regensburg, Germany

Our family lives just outside of Regensburg, which is a beautiful city on the Danube River. We were able to capture some great photographs on this trip.

Taking a stroll down the Danube river during sunset

While Alara and Adam got to enjoy time with their cousins and grandparents, we took a view quick trips.

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is about 2 hours from where we were and wanted to do a day trip there. The Sound of Music is a personal family favorite of Mommy’s and Daddy is a big Mozart fan, so we naturally wanted to visit the birthplace of Mozart and filming location of the classic movie.

Switzerland

For this mini Euro road trip, Yagmur came with us. We made a stop in Zurich and a quick (rainy) stop in Lucerne. Both were very beautiful cities.

Milan, Italy

The end destination of this road trip was Milan, Italy which was just gorgeous. Milan is known it’s fashion and design, but also has the most beautiful cathedral, the Gothic Duomo de Milano, and Leonardo Vinci’s original The Last Supper located in the Santa Maria delle Grazie church.

Located right near the cathedral is another iconic landmark, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, wihch is a glass-covered mall with luxury shops and dining.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping gallery

Taking a break at some of the nearby sites and enjoying a gelato

Dresden, Germany

I really wanted to visit Berlin, as visiting the wall has been on my bucket list for a long time. On the way there, we stopped in Dresden. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of this city before but was surprised by it’s beautiful architecture. This city had the “oldest” feel to it and walking around the old city center was refreshing.

Berlin, Germany

After stopping in Dresden, we made it to our final destination, Berlin. As stated before, one of my bucket list items was to visit the Berlin Wall, a shocking symbol of the division of East and West Germany, which was started being built in 1961 and was later destructed in 1989. The original intent was to stop refugees from the communist East Germany to the democratic West Germany, and while East Germany built the wall, thousands of East Germans managed to cross the border anyway. In 1989, as the Cold War started coming to an end, East Germany announced citizens were free to cross borders. Certain parts of Germany’s history is shocking and intriguing to us, WW2 included, so we like to visit these monumental places to remind us that all of this happened not too long ago and puts the peace in our lives into perspective.

After vising the Berlin wall, we wanted to explore Alexanderplatz for a little bit, which is a large public square and transportation hub. From the square, walking towards the Spree river leads you to the Berlin cathedral, which was very beautiful.

After a few more visits to parks and the lake, our trip was coming to an end.

Adam playing with a family friend at the lake

Our trip home was a little smoother than it was coming here and we’re home just in time for Alara to start 1st grade!

Florida Road Trip (December 2018)

December 2018 was a busy month, Mommy and Daddy went to Spain (Barcelona/Valencia/Madrid) for a short trip earlier in the month and after Christmas, Amca (Uncle) and cousins Yagmur and Ruya came to visit from Germany. Another winter visit from the family meant another road trip to Florida! While we were not looking forward to a 24-hour drive, we were looking forward to some warm weather and sunshine. We decided to leave little brother home with nene and dede (grandma & grandpa) while we took the girls down south to some beaches.

The main goal this trip was South Florida, particularly Miami. We stopped at a hotel that had a pool to break up the trip a little. The girls loved it.

We made it to Miami and spent most of the day at South Beach. The weather was perfect, the beach was perfect, the girls loved it… except for one little part. Alara got stung by a jellyfish. We didn’t know what happened at first, Alara just started crying and said something bit her ankle. Luckily we were right near a lifeguard and told us that there were a lot of jellyfish in the water. He had some kind of vinegar liquid thing that he put on the area and she was back up and running after a few minutes of resting.

South Beach is perfect. Just watch out for the jellyfish.

Capped off Miami with a dance party on the beach

We got our fill of Miami and decided to stay outside in Boynton Beach. The hotel we stayed at had a wonderful pool. We certainly took advantage of that!

We started to head back in the direction of home and had two more favorite stops in mind: Downtown Disney and Daytona Beach. We decided on a quick stop to Downtown Disney before settling into Daytona for the rest of the trip.

Tried re-creating this photo from 2015. Didn’t realize it was a different background. Oops.

We found a great hotel in Daytona Beach that had a kitchenette, ocean view balcony, nice clean pool and right on the beach. It was the part of the beach where cars are not allowed, so it was perfect for the girls to run between the pool and the beach.

We also spent some time in the Daytona Beach Main Street Pier area, spending lots of time at the arcade and having ice cream. We also spent some time at the Tanger Outlets Daytona Beach, which has great shops, restaurants and even a splash pad which the girls loved playing in.

Daytona Beach offers beautiful views of the sunrise, and while I don’t usually recommend waking up at 7am while on vacation, an advantage of waking up early with children is getting to enjoy this sunrise.

That concluded our trip to Florida. One of our favorite places to stop on the way home is Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. It was such a long drive and we didn’t get to stop until the middle of the night, so Alara had to sit this photoshoot out as she was sleeping in the car. Just an excuse for us to come back on our next trip!

New Hampshire (September 2018)

It was Labor Day weekend 2018 and Alara had been doing a great job adjusting to Kindergarten. We had been wanting to go to New Hampshire for a few different reasons:

Get some nature in our system
Go to Storyland
Go shopping in the North Conway outlets

We learned from a friend that Storyland was offering a free access for attendance of a Labor Day Kids Fun Run that benefits Believe in Books Literacy Foundation. Alara was excited to participate in a race and we were happy to save money to get into the park while benefiting a charity so it was a win/win!

North Conway is a great getaway from Boston, only a 2 1/2 hour drive and offers nature activities in the White Mountains, outlet shopping and right next door is Story Land, a kids theme park. In the winter there is some great skiing as well.

Our first day in NH we decided to go to Dana’s Baths, which is a short nature walk that brings you to natural pools and waterfalls. The kids loved having a picnic on a boulder and splashing around in the natural pools.

That night we visited a friend, had a wonderful meal with their family and the kids had a great time playing with their kids, who are the same age.

And there were sparklers! Look at that amazed face

The next day was race day! Unfortunately Alara fell shortly after the start of the race and hurt her knee, so she was unable to finish. But she still got a shirt and a medal and was well enough to go into Story Land, so yay!

The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. at this park. It was really their first real amusement theme park experience. The rode on rides and roller coasters which went faster than I thought they would be okay with, but they LOVED it. All of it. We started the park riding all the big kids rides and then finished off at the Mother Goose themed area as a cool down. The biggest hits were the carousel, the driving car ride and meeting the princess!

I remember coming to this park when I was a child, so I’m glad I could share the same experience with our children.

Quebec City (August 2018)

While Mommy and Daddy took some quick weekend trips to Las Vegas (December 2017) and New Orleans (April 2018), the next vacation we took as a family wasn’t until August 2018, when we wanted to take a quick trip before Alara started Kindergarten! It had been a busy spring/summer with Alara’s 5th “pony” birthday party, dance recitals, and regular beach visits. Summer of 2018 was coming to an end and Alara kept asking to go camping but we also wanted a “foreign” city experience, so we came up with Quebec City. We’ve never been before and after exploring AirBnB we found an interesting cabin rental nearby.

The drive from Boston to Quebec City is about 6 hours, driving through NH, some of VT and crossing well into the Canadian border, so passports are of course required. After crossing into the Canadian Quebec border, we saw the most unique, beautiful farmlands with everything written in French.

We found a nice park on the way to stop and get our energies out

Our cabin was on the way to Quebec City, just outside the city, in Saint Leon-de-Standon. Our AirBnb hosts were excellent, very welcoming and even brought us some firewood and helped us get our fire started. (Can you tell we aren’t quite read to rough it out?) Our cabin also had a great view of a small pond.

Our AirBnb cabin in Sant-Leon-de-Standon

After getting settled in and unpacked, we decided to head into the city to explore a little bit. This was the epic moment where we told the kids we were going “Downtown… 3 point basket” (remember the 90’s basketball video game?) and it was a hit. The weather wasn’t great, so we went to a mall that still had a Toys R Us so the kids could experience that amazing store (R.I.P. Toys R Us in the U.S.). Alara also wanted “noodles” so we grabbed some shrimp pad thai from the food court.

Yummy “noodles” aka shrimp pad thai… mommy’s favorite!

It started getting late so we head back to the cabin for S’more fun!

Alara getting per ponies tucked in for the night

On day 2 the weather was perfect for some Old City exploration. Old Quebec is absolutely beautiful… particularly the Rue de Petit-Champlain area: the architecture, landscape, cobble stone streets, Umbrella Alley, the cafes and shops. We took the Quebec City ferry for a trip across the Saint Lawrence River, which offers great views of the City. The kids were excited to just be on a boat.

Near the ferry area is Place des Canoteirs, which is a riverfront square area and the kids loved the water features.

As beautiful as Quebec City was, it was difficult to explore with two young children unimpressed and uninterested with architecture and cafes. We decided to switch it up for our last full day in the area and spend the day on the beach. Best. Decision. Ever. The kids could not get enough of the beach and nearby splashpad and playground. We had to top it off with an ice cream cone!

Overall, this was a great trip to conclude our summer and spend some time together before Alara started Kindergarten. On to the next adventure!

Sao Miguel, Azores (September 2017)

Time to visit the Motherland! Or more accurately, Sao Miguel, Azores (Portugal), where Vavo and Vovo (my parents) were both born. The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and are compromised of 9 volcanic islands. The islands are known for beautiful landscapes, green pastures, blue hydrangeas, waterfalls and volcanic craters.

Sao Miguel is the largest island and where both my parents, Alara and Adam’s grandparents, were born. My father came to the U.S. when he was a child but my mother moved later in life, to marry my father. Therefore, the majority of my mother’s family (including my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins) still live there. More specifically, in or near Ponta Delgada, which is the main city of Sao Miguel.

The reason for this trip? Simple… Family. It had been a while since I’d seen my grandmother since she last visited and most of vavo’s family hadn’t met Alara or Adam yet. Vavo and I decided to utilize the Labor Day holiday and visit Sao Miguel for a little over a week with Alara and Adam.

The flight to Sao Miguel is both tough and easy with kids. I know, that doesn’t make sense so let me explain. The flight from Boston to Sao Miguel is less than 5 hours long, usually departing between 9-10pm. Then you arrive in Sao Miguel at about 6am the next day, since they are 4 hours ahead with the time difference. So, short flight with little to no sleep. Overall, the kids did great on the flight and got some sleep. Adam took a nice nap a little after we landed there but of course Alara’s FOMO kept her awake for way. too. long.

There’s so much to see in Sao Miguel, and our goal of the trip wasn’t to see all the touristy hot spots as much as it was to visit family. However, we did get to experience and see a ton, so here’s some of our favorites.

Ponta Deldaga

We stayed with my grandmother right in Ponta Delgada, a couple blocks away from the Casino. A 15-minute walk down the main street 1-1A, Avenida João Bosco, along the ocean and marina brought us to downtown Ponta Delgada, offering plenty of restaurants, cafes, shops to explore along with the iconic Portas de Cidade, or “City gates”, which are 18th century gates or archways leading you into the city’s center.

We weren’t able to snap a picture of Portas de Cidade with the kids this trip, but here we are circa 2011

The walk through the main street or Avenida offers very nice waterfront views of the ocean, marinas and souvenir shops and restaurants along the way. There’s a newer extension of shops, restaurants, bowling and clubs in the marina area as well. We explored this area, enjoying a break with some drinks and treats.

A little outside, just north of all the shops and restaurants downtown is a little park, and one of my favorites, called Jardim Antonio Borges, which is a gorgeous botanical garden and park with exotic trees, plants and even animals. The kids loved climbing the ginormous tree, playing in the playground, chasing the ducks and chickens, and strolling through the various cave-like entry ways. My mother also told stories about visiting the park during her lunch when she was in high school, since the high school is right next to the park as well.

The park leads you to Parque Atlantico, which is the city’s major shopping mall. There are some great shops (I can’t help myself from going to Zara and Stradivarius) and food options, along with a very cool play structure which the kids loved.

Just outside of Ponta Delgada, about a 15-minute drive, is a natural park we love to visit called the Reserva Florestal de Receio do Pinhal de Paz. It’s really a hidden gem park with playgrounds to play, grassy areas to picnic, flowers to admire and even deer! The kids really loved this place.

Beaches

The end of August was the perfect time of year to soak up some precious beach time, which we as a family truly enjoy. Some of my favorite beaches on the island include Praia do Populo and Piscinas Municipais (Municipal pools of) de Ribeira Grande. The beaches on the island are made of up black sand due to the breakdown of the island’s basaltic foundation and volcanic minerals. Adam and Alara got a kick of the “lava rocks” and sand they could play with. The kids also loved rotating from the sand/ocean water and fresh pool water in Ribeira Grande. Alara also enjoyed burying her cousin to look like a mermaid. 🙂

Furnas

Furnas is a village on the other side of the island, about a 45-minute drive from Ponta Delgada, which has lots of calderas, or volcanic craters, along with hot springs and geysers. Walking through the Caldeira das Furnas is a must, there’s many different hot springs to see. You can order a meal from the local restaurant that cooks their food inside the caldera. In the summer, they also cook corn in them which is very yummy. If you are brave, try drinking the water from the water fountains! The kids did NOT enjoy that water. Overall you’ll notice the smell of rotten eggs, which is the sulfur smell associated with geothermal activity. Apparently the water is very good for your skin and body, but no thanks, we’ll pass. 🙂

Don’t forget to visit the cows and enjoy an ice cream on your way out!

Within the Furnas area are several great parks but my favorite include: 1. Parque Terra Nostra 2. Parque Dona Beatriz do Canto 3. Poça da Dona Beija. The Parque Terra Nostra was historically property owned by a wealthy merchant from Boston but offers the public a nice walk through tranquil gardens and swimming in warm, mineral water pools. Poça da Dona Beija is a hot springs with 5 different thermal pools. We passed on visiting Poça da Dona Beijas since the kids were a little too young for those pools.

Parque Dona Beatriz do Canto is a hidden gem in Furnas, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed walking through the nature paths and admiring the views.

Our last stop in Furnas is always at our family’s favorite bolos levedos, or Portugese muffins, bakery made by Gloria Moniz. The kids love them and the bakery also serves great coffee drinks like lattes, cappuccinos or my favorite: galão. A galão is a hot coffee drink, one part espresso and three parts milk served in a tall glass.

Overall, this trip to visit our family was also packed with nature, playgrounds and yummy food.

A special thank you to my aunts, uncle and cousins for making time to show us around and making this visit very special. We can’t wait to visit again.

R.I.P. Tio Marino who passed away after our visit.

Germany (Paris & Vienna too) – (May/June 2017)

We’re going back to Germany! This time with Vavo and Vovo (meaning grandma and grandpa in Portuguese, aka my parents) for their first time visiting Continental Europe. We are so lucky to have family overseas to visit and Southern Germany is so centrally-located in Europe that we can easily squeeze in drive trips to see so many different cities. May is a great time to visit since it’s a slower travel season and the prices are great, plus the Spring weather is beautiful.

Here we are in-flight hoping to get a good night’s sleep to Germany

The kids absolutely love their cousins (and uncle and aunt of course), but love spending time together in their yard and this time there were a litter of puppies their dog had. These are Anatolian shepherd puppies, which is a popular breed in Turkey.

Traveling to Regensburg, Germany in May means we get to visit the Dult! Regensburg’s Dult is basically the new Oktoberfest but not as touristy. The Dult is a traditional Bavarian folk festival with amusement park rides, commodity markets, beer tents and entertainment. The kids love riding the amusement rides and we love drinking German beer (or Radler for me, which is beer and Sprite, a German classic), eating pretzels and listening to Bavarian folk music.

The day I learned pole climbing is a form of amusement in Germany

Adam enjoying his Dult cookie with a new toy we also bought from the festival

As for road trips, we visited our favorites, Nuremburg and Prague, but we also explored some new cities: Paris and Vienna. Alara and Adam were happy to spend time with their cousins and grandparents while we explored.

Nuremburg is one of my favorite German cities, despite it’s unfortunate history during WWII and it being where the military tribunals were held afterwards. Nuremburg’s historical landmarks such as the imperial castle, walled Old Town and overall picturesque landscapes makes it a place worth visiting.

Schoner Brunnen and Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady)

Prague, Austria is also one of my favorite cities looking like a fairy-tale European city. Old Town Square is absolutely breathtaking and offers wonderful views of beautifully architect churches, statues and buildings.

Vavo and Vovo in Old Town Square in Prague

Charles Bridge is one of the most visited areas of Prague, bustling with musical artists, musicians and souvenir vendors.

Enjoying some beverages and food at an outdoor café in the middle of the Old Town Square

This trip we decide to head to Paris! The drive to Paris was about 8 hours and with no major places to stop in between, it was a bit of an uneventful drive. We made sure to stop at our favorite food store, Lidl, to stock up on the necessity snacks, food, water and not to mention browse the clothes and clearance section. 🙂

Paris is a huge city and you definitely need to give your self time to explore and see everything. We were only staying in Paris for a few days so we tried to maximize our time to see the top hits. Luckily, our hotel was close enough and we used the Metro when needed.

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower since it was an obvious bucket list item to check off. The view of the iconic landmark did not disappoint and the nearby Champ de Mars park was nice to walk through and admire the view.

View of the Eiffel Tower from Jardins du Trocadero, a park with sculptures and water fountains. This park is across a walking bridge crossing the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.

People relaxing or “Out of Office” mid-day in Champ de Mars park

Our next stop was to Champs-Elysees to have dinner at one of the restaurants, grab a cappuccino to keep us moving and overall admire the street views and various shops. The stroll through the street and the view of the iconic Arc is definitely a must-see.

Our next bucket list item to check off was the Louvre museum, which is about a 20 minute walk from Champ-Elysees, or you can hop on the orange metro for a few stops. Mommy and daddy are big Dan Brown fans and with the many references to this museum in The DaVinci Code, we just had to see the various artifacts. Plus, two words: Mona Lisa. We decided to stroll in through the Carrousel du Louvre, which is an underground shopping area that connects to the museum, also worth visiting. Make sure you either stick around or come back to the museum at night, it’s so beautiful all lit up!

The DaVinci Code fans will appreciate the Inverted Pyramid, located in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall.

While there is so much to see in the Louvre, our favorites pictured below include: (1) The Venus de Milo, (2) The Winged Victory of Samothrace, (3) Sleeping Hermaphroditus and last but not least (4) Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

For all my Christian Louboutin fans, if you visit the Paris then you must also visit the first Christian Louboutin boutique, which opened in 2012 and located near the Louvre at 19 Rue Jean-Jacques Rouseau. I just had to get my first pair from there, a proper Paris souvenir of course.

Our next and last stop was the Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris), aka Notre Dame, which was also a classic bucket list item and must-see. The Notre Dame is a medieval Catholic cathedral built 1160-1260, was where Nopoleon I was coronated in the 19th century and later became widely popular after Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

We also made a day trip to Vienna, Austria, which was about a 4 1/2 hour drive. Vienna is Austria’s capital and owes much of its fame to popular composers who lived there including some of Daddy’s favorites, Mozart and Beethoven. The architecture and palaces are very beautiful and worth seeing. We focused our day trip in the Old City, or Innere Stadt, and can easily be seen in a day. We listened to Rick Steve’s Vienna City Walk while exploring the city and while we were visiting St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a mass was being held by a bishop.

The Hofburg, the current “White House” of Austria, and was formerly the imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty

St. Stephen cathedral mass held by bishop

We can only hope Alara and Adam appreciates old European cities and the arts as much as their parents do, and we cannot wait to show them around all these great places once they are older.

Some of the quality family time spent in Germany involved shopping, ice cream, going to the park, and family dinners.

Some of Alara’s highlights including shopping at her favorite store, DM, and celebrating her 4th birthday!

DM is really just the German equivalent of CVS or Walgreens, but they have mini carriages for kids and sell makeup, lotions, etc 🙂

Alara celebrating her 4th birthday with family

The main focus of our travel to Germany is always family. Spending time with cousins, Amca (uncle), Yenge (aunt), and other family… the yummy Turkish food is only an added bonus 🙂

Alara and Adam meeting some cousins for the first time

Until next time Germany!

Montreal (October 2016)

Columbus day weekend usually calls for foliage peaking and/or road trips in my book and this year was no exception. We wanted to go somewhere that we could peep some leaves but also experience a new city. We decided on Montreal since driving through NH and VT would offer some nice scenery and Montreal is one of our favorite cities, offering a European-city feel. We would also be traveling with Babanne and Dede (grandma and grandpa) and they had never seen Montreal before.

Montreal is less than a 5 hour drive from Boston, but more like a 7-8 hour drive with little kids to stop for potty time, diaper changes, snack time, stretch your leg time, more snack time, you have to go potty again?!, here have more snacks… you get the idea. Regardless, the view to Montreal did not disappoint, and one of the stops included a rooster which the kids could hop on for a photo.

Montreal is an absolutely beautiful city, the second largest in Canada and majority French speaking. The city scape and architecture definitely holds that French influence, making it feel like you are strolling through a European city. We were only staying in Montreal for a few days, so we wanted to maximize our stay and focus on the top few places we wanted to see.

Unfortunately it started raining when we got there, so we started with the Underground City. These underground connections between buildings not only offered us a place to stay dry but the various shops and cafes were very nice to visit.

Alara enjoying some candy and Adam playing with a balloon in the Underground City

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal is a must-see, as is the surrounding historic district and Old Port. Not only is the architecture around the Old City something to admire, but the various stores, cafes, horse drawn carriages and street performers are lovely to see.

Alara admiring the horse and carriage strolling through the historic district of Montreal

Our hotel was located just outside downtown and close to the Jean Talon Market, which is an outdoor farmer’s market selling various foods and is definitely worth a stroll through.

Overall, this trip to Montreal did not disappoint and everyone enjoyed themselves.