Travel

Last weekend we attended a Phoenix hot air balloon festival, the Out West Balloon Fest, in Glendale Arizona. I have never seen hot air balloons close-up, so we thought this would be a fun, family and kid friendly event, and a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

I’m really looking forward to 2016 and my 36th year on this planet (my birthday is this week). The next 360-ish days will definitely include a lot of travel, thanks to my awesome day job. I also look forward to the end of diapers! Rocco learned to potty train in 2015, and I am sure Gigi will be quick behind him this year.

As I reflect on 2015, I realize it has been a year of a lot of transitions. We moved back to Phoenix and slowly settled back into our lives here. I reconnected with friends and former colleagues. We explored some of the fun things to do around the valley with toddlers and visited some of the great nature Arizona has to offer.

I feel bad. I feel like the worst mommy in the world because I wasn’t in town for my son’s third birthday. I wasn’t there to wake him up, give him a giant hug, or wish him a happy birthday. I feel worse that we had to celebrate it on a day that fit better into my busy travel schedule.

I feel very lucky that I get to travel to some pretty cool places for my job (Dublin, London, Paris, San Francisco, New York…). This week took me to Montreal. I haven’t been to Canada in a couple years; my last trip was to Vancouver back in 2012. I didn’t have much time to actually consider what I would do with my free time because I was so busy prior to leaving for the trip. But the day before I left, I managed to check out trip advisor for the top tourist attractions. What made my list? Notre Dame Cathedral and Mount Royal.

Last week in Paris, at the Notre Dame Cathedral, I experienced the strangest thing that made me question whether or not I believe in spirits or an afterlife. For the two weeks prior, I had visited loads of museums, castles, palaces and churches in Paris, London and Dublin all renowned for their beauty and magnificence.

Almost 13 years ago, I traveled to London and Paris to visit a friend who was living abroad at the time. With all the time that has gone by, I have kept distinct first impressions of London and Paris in my mind from the first time around. Paris was white, beautiful and immaculate. London was rainy, bitter cold and not at all pretty.

My work took me to Ireland last week (I know, I’m a lucky girl). I’ve never been to Ireland before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I had my list of touristy things I needed to do while I was there, but some of the things I liked best had nothing at all to do with being a tourist. Here are the 8 things I love about Ireland.

Jade heard on NPR that the poppies were going to be in full bloom this past weekend because of all the rain and warmer temperatures we’ve had this spring. So, we took a quick road trip to see the Pichacho Peak poppies on Saturday.