Travel, With Kids, Without Kids

An African Safari Close to Home

Lisa Wells

My dream is to go on an African safari. It is definitely at the top of my bucket list! But that trip will be quite expensive, and though I will get to it someday, it won’t be in the very near future. However, I found this little gem, that, while not exactly the same as actually being in Africa, was a pretty cool “African safari” close to home! Safari West is in Santa Rosa, California, about 35 miles from Napa. Since we love animal adventures, it was the perfect addition to our Napa getaway (see the rest of our trip in our post about Napa here).

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Travel, With Kids, Without Kids

A Sleepover with the Sloths… and Other Animal Adventures

Lisa Wells

We love sloths.  We fell in love with them on our trip to Costa Rica.  Their laid back attitude and their sweet smile make them so precious!  So when I found an actual sloth sanctuary in the United States, we knew we had to visit!  The Zoological Wildlife Conservation Center was an incredible animal adventure!  Now if you’re looking for a place to bring your children to look at the animals for entertainment, this is not the place for you.  But if you genuinely care about animals and want to learn more about their care and conservation, then definitely check this place out.  They deal with rare, delicate, and endangered species, and we were lucky enough to get to meet several of them on our visit.

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Travel, With Kids, Without Kids

A Moment With the Manatees – Florida’s Gentle Giants

Lisa Wells

Oh Manatees… those gentle giants.  Some call them sea cows.  They have the sweetest disposition.  And seriously, who couldn’t love this face?

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Travel, With Kids, Without Kids

3 Super Simple Ways to Save For Vacation

Lisa Wells

Vacations can be expensive! Airfare alone is enough to make me cringe! Then add two kids to the mix and suddenly you’re paying double what you used to pre-kiddos. You may wonder how people can ever even afford to go on exotic vacations with their whole family. Well here are a few super simple ways to save for vacation, and afford to travel as a family.

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Van Life

Amazing Storage Solutions For Your Camper Van

Lisa Wells

This post may contain affiliate links.  See our Disclosure Policy for more information.

Camper vans are a pretty awesome thing to have.  I mean, you have a kitchenette, bathroom, dining area, and bed, all in the size of a full-sized van!  You can park in a regular parking space, and drive anywhere you want to without worrying about size restrictions.  They are perfect for a couple, or a small family with 1-2 small children.  Road trips with two potty trained/training toddlers are awesome now, since we have a bathroom with us!  But one thing you don’t have a lot of, is storage room.  Here’s where you have to get creative. 

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Van Life

Fun Items That Will Turn Your Camper Van “Camping” Into “Glamping”

Lisa Wells

This post may contain affiliate links.  See our Disclosure Policy for more information.

We recently bought a camper van, and I have been having so much fun “glamping” it up!  It just makes it more cozy and more like home when you have all those little details.  Here are some of the items we use to make our “camping” trips more like “glamping” trips!

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Travel, With Kids

6 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Save $$ on Vacation

Lisa Wells

We all know that traveling can be expensive. Add a couple kiddos to the mix, and that expense just doubled! As a couple, you loved your adventures, but now you have kids. You might be thinking, how will you afford to travel now?

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Photography

Photography Made Easy

Lisa Wells

Do you keep your camera setting on automatic?  Are you scared to use those manual settings on your camera?  Or maybe you just don’t understand those settings?  Do you want to take better photographs, but you aren’t sure how?  Are you a beginner photographer?

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Travel, With Kids, Without Kids

Animal Adventures in the USA

Lisa Wells

We love animals!!! While traveling to Africa for a safari is definitely on my bucket list, it’s expensive!  So while I’m saving for that once in a lifetime trip, there are some pretty cool, and cost effective, things to do while staying in the United States.  This is a long list, and I have tried to find experiences in each state, but some I have failed to find. So… if you know of any awesome animal encounters that are not on my list, let me know and I will add them!  Some of these are drive through safari parks, some are places to go to see animals in the wild, and some are awesome animal encounters.

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Mom Life

My Favorite Baby Items to Keep the Mess at a Minimum!

Lisa Wells

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Babies and toddlers are MESSY!  Whether it’s meal time, snack time, or changing time, you can pretty much guarantee there’s going to be some kind of mess involved.  I swear I spend half my day cleaning up after them!

Now while my house is not perfectly clean by any means, here are the items I love that keep my life a little less messy, and allow me to spend more time with my children instead of cleaning!!  All of the items I have listed have reviews of four stars or higher.

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