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Wednesday's Wish We Were Here: Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo




Quick Note: Congratulations to Danielle Knapp!  She is the winner of the $25 Wendy's Giftcard. Thanks to all who entered this contest, and a special thank you to Wendy's for having the Hines-Sight Blog be part of the Berrytasty giveaway.  


We can only have one winner, but we all can daydream a little in Wednesday's Wish We Were Here. 

Today, we are virtually visiting The Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo. This hotel and destination is definitely on my "one-day" list. I have a running joke with my husband.   He has always wanted to go to Costa Rica even before we married nine years ago.  When I learned that Four Seasons established a hotel there, I said to him, "Okay, we can go to Costa Rica now."  Of course, we got busy with one child then another, but our ten year anniversary is next year.  Let's dream BIG, right?   

Isn't this photo gorgeous?


Check out this extraordinary lobby.



This pool looks so tranquil.  I see a chair for us.  



Can anything be more perfect? 


This room would suit me just fine. 


This is how I like to sit on a beach. 


The Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica is a very family friendly resort, and loves to host little guests.   The hotel has babysitting services,  special meal plans, toiletries, and child-sized bathrobes.  The Kids For All Seasons program at this luxury resort offers exciting adventures in a natural location for children and young adults aged 4 to 12 years.  I just need about three or four more years then my children will be at the perfect age to enjoy the fun. 


Summer is sizzling at the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica with lots of packages and deals.  If you have always wanted to go then now may be the time to do so. The Resort is offering a package where the fifth night is free, or a package with $100 up to $500 resort credit depending on the type of room.  The credit can be on food, golf, spa or even the room rate.   These are just two of the many packages currently available. 

Hope you enjoyed your two-minute virtual vacation.  I'll  leave you with one last image to help us get through the rest of our busy day. Ah! Wouldn't this place be great?



All images in the post courtesy of http://www.fourseasons.com/costarica/

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Pack Your Bags: We're Heading Seaside, Florida

Seaside, FL 32459, USA
2026 Update: This post was written in my early days of blogging in June 2011. The Inn by the Sea in Seaside, Florida, no longer exists. However, the 30A area of Florida remains a place I would like to visit in Florida one day. Every year, I read more and more about 30A and its popularity.  However, as I learn more, there are many different towns I would like to explore. The 26-mile stretch features iconic planned communities like Seaside (where The Truman Show was filmed), the Dutch-influenced Rosemary Beach, and the Grecian-style Alys Beach.  
From 7/7/2011 
Chances are you may own a bag like this.

Most people with an X chromosome recognize these colorful and vibrant patterns as Vera Bradley designs. I own a great carry-on piece from the company that I take with me everywhere.   Guess what? I have found the perfect place to take our Vera Bradley luggage.

It's an inn in Seaside, Florida,  located on Northwest Florida's Gulf Coast along the scenic Highway 30A corridor in Walton County, nestled between Panama City Beach and Destin.

Pack Your Bags! We're Heading to the Inn by Sea, Vera Bradley in Seaside, Florida





This quaint and colorful nine-room inn was designed by Vera Bradley co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and her design team. The community of Seaside is a modern Victorian town with narrow streets, picket fences, and pastel-hued dwellings. Some may say it even looks "perfect" and was showcased as the backdrop in the 1998 Jim Carrey movie "The Truman Show."  I think it is the perfect vacation destination, so let's take a peek inside the Inn. 

This is the Key Lime Room.


The True Blue room. I've always loved yellow and blue together.



And this is the Posies Room. The pop of red is so warm and inviting.   I think this may be one of my favorite rooms. 





Wouldn't your Vera Bradley luggage feel right at home here in the Sunset room?



Every guest at Inn by the Inn has full privileges at the private swim, tennis, and fitness club in Seaside. Continental breakfast is also included in the rates.  




 


I have never been to Seaside, Florida, but I do have a little souvenir from there.    mother-in-law brought my husband and me these great bottle holders with "Seaside" written on them from one of her vacations years ago. We love them and call them "little scuba suits" for our high-quality brews. They've held up well through the years, but I think it's about time for us to head to Seaside to get new ones and bring home some family memories, too. Let's go!  It won't take me long to pack my Vera Bradley bag!







 
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The Rural Pit Stop

North Carolina, USA
Updated: December 2022
Shortly after writing this blog, I began a weekly parenting column with the News and Observer. These are those stories. I love to look back on these posts because they are so real with exactly what we went through at that moment in that stage of life. I would one day like to chronicle some of the challenges I've faced in parenting during my kid's teen years, but that's going to have to wait a while. If you are a parent of a young one conducting a road trip during the holidays, have fun and remember to cherish these memories as hard as they may be in the moment. 



I'm sure many parents remember the first time it happened to them. They probably remember right where they were. So it was bound to happen to us sooner or later, right? 

Of course, it will happen when you're driving in the middle of nowhere. We weren't in the middle of nowhere, but we were in rural North Carolina on a highway by-pass between the city of Raleigh and Farmville.   Highway 264, to be exact.

It's the type of by-pass where you see an exit for Hardees, but when you take the exit, you don't see the restaurant. Could it be five miles down the road or ten miles? It was like this exit after exit.

Meanwhile, we hear from the backseat, "I can't stand it. I need to pee-pee quickly."

We ask, "Can you wait? We have about 15 more miles til we get to our destination?"

"I've got to pee pee right now. Quickly!"

I ask my husband, "Do you think he's just bored and wants to get out of the car?"  We were on an hour road trip.

We just need to figure it out. We see nothing. No signs ahead. Just an exit to a rural country road! We pull over on the shoulder of the exit ramp. 

We hear, "What are you doing?"   We tell our 5-year-old that he has no choice but to use the bathroom on the side of the road if he really has to go. As I unbuckle his seat belt, I'm confident he really does have to go.   He wasn't kidding.   We're going through with this unexpected pit stop.

As I walk with my son toward a grassy area,  I hear from the driver's seat, "Tell him to aim toward the woods!"  What? You've got to be kidding me! Why didn't you get out of the car?

Even though we were off the highway, we could still be seen. Of course, we knew passengers in their cars were probably giggling at us or looking down on us in shame, but at least no one honked their horns.   I have to admit I laughed, too.

Little boy peeing in the woods

When we were in the middle of potty training, I took a potty with us on the road. I'll soon be potty-training again, so I guess I"ll be more prepared next time. But you are talking about parents who didn't even have a portable DVD for their car. That is until last night! We lasted five years without one, but we decided that was five years and one minute TOO LONG.

Hopefully, on our next road trip, we'll be cruising in peace and see a fast-food restaurant every few exits.









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Friday Fun: What Hotel Room Style Are You?

If you were choosing a hotel room based on appearance, would you choose this one?
http://www.checkyourroom.com/Rooms/View/petite-bourbon-hotel-bourgogne-montana


Or this one?

http://www.checkyourroom.com/Rooms/Design/superieure-de-luxe-the-five-hotel

What about this adventurous one?
http://www.checkyourroom.com/Rooms/Decor/african-lodge-relais-franc-mayne

Or do you prefer a pop of color as a romantic backdrop?

http://www.checkyourroom.com/Rooms/Decor/british-landscape-relais-franc-mayne

It's no surprise when I tell you that I like to read and write about hotels from the big luxury chains down to small, intimate boutique properties.  When planning a trip, I spend hours looking online at different hotels.  Who am I kidding?  I spend hours , I mean many minutes, doing it when I don't have a trip planned.  Some may call it a little bit quirky.  You may be thinking, "What a waste of time. You should be playing with your kids."  I agree with you on playing with the kids, but it's also nice to grab a cup of tea, and escape your reality a little bit when your time allows.   Hotel browsing does that for me.  It takes me to my happy place anywhere in the world.  
Let me go ahead and also set the record straight.  I do like luxury properties, but much to my dismay I don't have a money tree in my backyard.  I always try to get a good price for my room, go during the off-season, and I chose a hotel where a certain room style appeals to me.   If some hotels are simply out of my budget range then I look at another property.  I do have limits.  We don't take vacations often so that does give me some room for splurging.

I stumbled upon a website recently that I had to share with you.  It's my new latest time sucker. I have to limit my time on this site like you do on Pinterest or else I would accomplish absolutely nothing, and would have neglected children.  I think this website was made with me in mind.  It's called, "Check Your Room"  They list properties by room styles because like me, the company, believes that a hotel just isn't a place to sleep.   They visit thousands of hotel rooms, and only select what they think is the best.  They pride themselves with the quality and uniqueness of the hotel rooms they represent.
http://www.checkyourroom.com/

A lot of other hotel booking sites have cookie cutter rooms to show on its website, but Check Your Room is actually promoting the room that they think you will enjoy while on your vacation.  They also offer a room concierge service where you can tell them your budget, the type of room you like, and they'll match you with the perfect fit at the best price.   I think it's a great concept.  They currently only represent properties in Europe.  All the rooms I have showed you today are located in France.

Check Your Room even has a little personality test to get you started.  According to their test, I like romantic rooms which means I would have chosen the room with the fuchsia bedspread if I were booking today.  You know what? I think they are right!

What's your style?


Disclosure: I have not been compensated by Check Your Room to talk about this travel company in this post nor have I ever used their booking service for a vacation.  I've just had a lot of fun looking at their website and making my husband take their quiz.  We were a 100 percent match for the romantic style rooms.  We also like the classics.   

Don't Forget to Enter my Wendy's $25 Gift Card Give-Away!

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The Dining Gamble

Image Credit
I’m not going to lie to you.  I love to eat out.  But do I love to eat out with both of my children? Not so much.  I like to compare taking children to a restaurant to playing craps in Vegas.  Sometimes you win.  Sometimes you lose.  Winning is fun, but losing? Well, that is just a big disappointment, and you walk away angry.

We were pretty lucky with my oldest child, but there have been some exceptions.  As crazy as it sounds, the word restaurant was in his vocabulary as young as two.  We thought it was cute at first that he could say such a big word as a toddler.  It wasn’t cute, however, when I would pick him up from his toddler class at preschool and he would yell in the car at the top of his lungs, “RESTAURANT, I want to go a RESTAURANT” all the way home.  He wanted to eat lunch out EVERY DAY.  It was also around this same time that my husband and I stopped taking him to restaurants as much because it was too much like a crap shoot as to what our experience would be like. 

My son in his earlier days
The straw that broke the camel’s back for us is when we dined with my good friend, who is also my son’s godfather, in 2008.  We ate at a popular Raleigh Mexican restaurant where crowds would gather early on a weekend night.  We got there as soon as it opened, and people were already waiting.  My son was happy when we waited outside.  We didn’t wait too long, but as soon as we got to the table, our son wouldn’t go in his high chair.   He wanted to be outside.  The inside of this restaurant is dark, and to him it was more fun outside.  This has to go down in the record books as the most miserable eating experience of our lives.  All three of us, who at the time were in our late thirties and were used to many years of peaceful past dining experiences, were at a loss as to what to do with this child.  He would be happy for a little while, then he would embarrass us.  The three of us spent this dining experience taking turns OUTSIDE the restaurant walking my toddler around where there were crowds and lively music.  We asked for our check, and a to-go box in record time.  It was no fiesta for us.

A recent lunch outing

After that experience, my husband and I made some unwritten guidelines for eating out with children.  We certainly went out to eat less with him (a lot less actually -- maybe just twice a month) and instead chose to have nice gourmet dining experiences for the two of us.  We would hire a sitter for those occasions.   But, sometimes, you just want to eat out casually and unexpected, and kids need to be in tow.  We try not to frequent restaurants where entrees for adults are priced over $10. We are not spending a lot of money on our food when half the time, we are cutting up food, handing out toys, picking up crayons, making trips to the potty, and woofing down our entrees at lightning speed because when the child is done eating, the dining experience pretty much goes downhill from that point.  It’s just not enjoyable. 

Once our son reached the age of three, we went out more frequently, but still abided by our budget rules for eating out with children.  Now that my son is five, we could probably relax our eating out rules a little, and open a new, hip dining world to him, but unfortunately for him, he has a little sister.  She’s now 18 months, and the dining crap shoot is just now starting with her.


She has found her inner voice and began shrieking very loudly at a restaurant in Cary on a quick lunch stop.  She thought it was funny.  I did not.  If you can tell, I’m not much of a gambler.


(If you like to eat out with your family or even have kid dining rules like mine, you may want to enter my give-away. I was invited to participate in a new P.R. campaign for Wendy’s, and I’m giving away a $25 gift card.  When you eat out for free with kids, it makes the gamble a lot more fun.)

This post was written for the News and Observer's Triangle Mom2Mom parenting website.
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