• Guten tag, Helen!

    ByKristin family, vacation

    We are in an interesting parenting season where our kids all have their own seasons and struggles. Family isn’t always easy, but these are my favorite people, and time with them is a gift. 

    In mid-July, we spent three days in Helen, Georgia, together. Helen is a small, German-inspired town in the Blue Ridge Mountains in north Georgia. 

    We established some new inside jokes, made new memories, and worked through some hard moments. We didn’t have this trip planned at the beginning of the summer, but it felt like the right getaway before Cate goes to college in one month. She’s not moving far, but it’s still a season full of transitions!

    Playing

    Hands down, the #TeamTaylor favorite activity in Helen, GA, was river tubing on the Chattahoochee River. And we are glad we went on Friday because that river was a lot more crowded on Saturday. We used Cool River Tubing and had a good, smooth experience. One-hour and two-hour trips down the river are the same price, so unless you’re short on time, spend a couple of hours in the cool Chattahoochee River. 

    For me, my specific favorite moments were watching Ben and Cate tether their tubes and go down the river together. They bonded and navigated well, making my momma heart happy.

    Greg, Ben, and Rachel also did the Georgia Mountain Coaster, which they loved. One time down the track seems sort of expensive ($17 for people 13 and older, $14 for ages 7-12, and $10 for ages 3-6), so Cate and I visited a few nearby shops instead.

    One afternoon, we played at Alpine Mini Golf, which was a great course. But sibling squabbles were heightened and the air was hot, so we should have chosen a better time of the day for all the circumstances. 

    Eating 

    One of our favorite parts of vacation is eating at new-to-us places. We certainly did that this trip — and ate well!

    On our first night, we met my dear cousin-friend Mary and her sweet family at The Troll Tavern and then had dessert from Hansel and Gretel Candy Kitchen. Getting our families together is always fun, wherever we are.

    Ben & Rachel both loved BrickHouse Burgers, Pizza & Pasta best. Rachel and I shared a chicken, bacon, ranch pizza, and Ben had a calzone.

    Cate enjoyed her meals, but liked Bigg Daddys the most. She had shrimp tacos. Ben loved his chicken & waffle there. She also had lots of compliments for the gluten-free pizza at Nacoochee Village Tavern and  Pizzeria. 

    Greg loves a good meal and would rank all the restaurants for you, but his favorite experience was Bodensee. There was fun, live music and authentic German food. Cate, Greg, and I were reminded of our trip to Germany in April 2024, and reminiscing was fun for us. During that trip, we went to Bodensee, which is a lake in Switzerland. I ate spätzle at both places!

    I don’t know that I can pick a favorite restaurant. Nacoochee Village Tavern and Pizzeria surprised the most with delicious homemade pizza. I liked the German meals too.

    We also ate at Hofer’s Bakery and Muller’s Famous Fried Cheese Cafe. We’d recommend any of the restaurants mentioned!

    Hiking

    We went on a couple of hikes near Helen. In the area, there are lots of hiking options, many of which would be much harder than these two we did. We know ourselves and these seemed to fit our criteria. 

    One hike was 1.6 miles each way on a paved trail to a covered bridge at Smithgall Woods State Park. This is a lovely park with lots of trails. Greg and I came before in September 2021, when the field of sunflowers was in bloom. Parking for the whole day at any Georgia State Park is $5. 

    Later in the same day, we went to see Anna Ruby Falls, which is 0.8 mile one way. While you’re on a paved trail, you are walking uphill on the way there and downhill on the way back, but there are resting spots. 

    Sleeping

    We rented a cabin on Vrbo that worked well for our family of five, but it also could have accommodated a couple more people. I was close to downtown Helen, but felt like we were at a wooded retreat. A couple of afternoons, we came back to the cabin to rest in the afternoon, which worked out well because that was definitely the hottest part of the day. 

    Planning

    We didn’t go into this trip with a strict plan. Greg and I have been here before, so there were things we wanted to do with the kids. We also had a list of ideas and a loose itinerary from ChatGPT that gave us inspiration. (Listen, ChatGPT can be your friend for planning trips or even days at certain places. Give the details of who is with you, where you’re going, and what you want to do, and you’ll get plenty of inspiration! We also did this when we went to Universal in April 2025.)

    Traveling

    We like to travel. Give me a house well below our means to live in, so we can spend our money seeing other places and making memories together any day. Even so, here is  a tip for making travel possible:

    Use credit card points. 

    I know Dave Ramsey doesn’t want you to listen to this advice, but as long as you’re paying off the credit card monthly and not acquiring debt this way, you can make good use of your credit card rewards. Our Capital One Venture card has great travel rewards that allow us to “erase” travel purchases and book through the Capital One website to get deals on hotels and other travel arrangements. More recently, I also got a Southwest card to make better use of airline points and rewards. 

    *****

    Want more travel advice?

    Need inspiration? We loved these trips!

  • Sunshine, butter beer & friends

    ByKristin motherhood, vacation

    For Spring Break, we let our high school senior pick a trip, and she chose Universal Studios in Orlando and then a couple of days at the beach. We brought her friend and future roommate Kilee with us and met up with her boyfriend, her guy friend, and his dad. Being with these teenagers was so fun, and I’m thankful they were game for a trip like this with our family. 

    Just for reference’s sake, my kids are currently 17, 15, and 9. Admittedly, that age gap felt big at some moments during our trip, but I’m thankful we all went together and made memories before Cate graduates high school in four weeks. 

    Spoiler: We had really great weather, which was so nice considering in the days leading up to our Spring Break trip, our western Kentucky town had 12+ inches of rain in five days!

    Monday, April 7

    We flew into Orlando and used Universal’s Superstar Shuttle to our resort, Loews Royal Pacific Resort. We got all checked in, received a gift from our travel planner friend, and then headed to the City Walk to meet up with our friends. We ate dinner at Vivo Italian Kitchen, which was delicious and easily accommodated our party of nine. 

    We stayed three nights at the Royal Pacific Resort and had two-day, two-park passes for Tuesday and Wednesday. Express Passes were included with our resort package, and I don’t think I’d do Universal without them. The water taxis to and from the parks & City Walk were easy, fun, and quick — and much better than a shuttle bus! Shout out to Misty with Kingdom Seekers Travel for helping me make these arrangements. 

    Tuesday, April 8

    We met up with our friends staying at Dockside Inn & Suites for early entry for resort folks and did Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey first. We rode lots of rides, thanks to early entry and then Express Passes. We lunched at Three Broomsticks and teenagers rode Velocicoaster five times that day.  

    Dinner was at The Cowfish, a sushi and burger bar – and it was delicious! 

    Wednesday, April 9

    Early admission again and straight to Hagrid’s. Only one person in our group rode it before so we all were so excited — and Rachel was nervous. But then immediately after we stopped, she said, “Let’s do it again!” Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do it again because we didn’t want to wait in a longer line and Express Passes aren’t valid for only that ride. We lunched at Richter’s Burgers. We ordered both lunches on the Universal app from the table, which was so convenient and easy. 

    We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which inspired lots of talk about “Forrest Gump,” which most of the kids hadn’t seen. 

    Rachel swam all three evenings we were at Royal Pacific. The pool must have been slightly heated because it was in the 60s. The pool area was nice & big, had a hot tub and spray park, was open until 10 pm, and had movies playing each night. The teenagers joined her the second two nights. I found a lounge chair and read books. 

    I know you want to know how Universal compares to the other large amusement in Orlando. Honestly, I’m not a big Disney person. We’ve been twice, and that’s more than sufficient. I prefer a couple of days at Universal and I loved staying on the property. This is the first time we’ve stayed at Universal because when we came in 2019, we shuttled over from Disney’s property. I loved staying here and loved our resort. 

    Thursday, April 10

    After sleeping in and having a slow morning, we rented a vehicle and headed to Indian Rocks Beach. I didn’t realize we could pick up a rented vehicle right at Royal Pacific until the morning we scheduled it for pickup at Portofino Bay Hotel. Greg took the water taxi to City Walk and then to that resort to pick up our vehicle. I do wish I’d simplified the process, but I’ll know for next time! 

    Along the way from Orlando to the beach, we stopped at Ford’s Garage for lunch. I picked it because of its location just off the interstate and my son’s love of old cars. But all six of us really loved it. So much I wrote a whole social media review of it.

    We arrived at Indian Rocks Beach for the second part of our vacation. This is a new-to-us spot, and we hope to be back at some point. 

    We stayed in a three-condo with a pool and on the beach side of Gulf Boulevard. The condo was well stocked with beach toys and chairs as well as kitchen accessories and utensils, not that I did much cooking. 

    Our first evening at the beach included grocery shopping for some breakfast and lunch food, carry-out dinner from the original Crabby Bill’s because waits were 45-60 minutes for our party of six, and ice cream from IRB Creamery. Confession: I had a scoop of Key Lime Pie ice cream in a waffle cone twice in less than 24 hours. 

    Friday, April 11

    We slept in and then I spent hours on the beach with my feet in the water where the waves break on shore and read most of a book. 

    Our friends who had gone to Disney yesterday after our Universal portion of the trip came to visit all afternoon. Personally, I loved to see the teenagers play in the water with no worries in the world. We introduced them to our ice cream spot, hence the second cone. Greg and Ben played golf at Largo Golf Course while the rest of us soaked in the sun at the beach and pool. 

    We did some souvenir shopping, ate dinner at Guppy’s on the Beach, and started to get things ready to head home tomorrow. 

    Saturday, April 12

    We did the necessary check-out things at the condo and then hit the road back toward Orlando. We would definitely stay in this condo again! 

    We ate a good lunch at Gator’s Dockside near the Orlando airport and then went to the airport, where we waited more than necessary to drop of our checked bags in a special line for Southwest’s northeast flights. That delayed our friend Kilee from getting through the regular security line. We had gone through TSA Pre-Check (highly recommend!) and were waiting for her when our boarding time approached. Kilee ended up having to ask about 40 people if she could go in front of them just so she’d make her flight. They let her and she made it! 

    Overall, the Universal and beach combo made for the kind of vacation we needed and we were happy to celebrate Cate’s last high school Spring Break with friends. 

    *****

    I’m sure it doesn’t surprse you that I have many more photos, so feel free to browse those.

    Want more travel info? Here are some helpful posts: How to Take the Trip and How & Why to Travel with Kids. Plus, here are some of our favorite trips, if you’re looking for inspiration:

  • Why cruising is worth it

    ByKristin adventure, family

    I like to travel. Each trip allows my family and I to see more of the world, get out of our bubbles, and make memories together. But each trip doesn’t have to be the same. 

    Cruises are a legit vacation. Most everything is pre-planned or just available if/when you want to do it. The cruise line app told me when to show up for dinner, entertainment, and activities. My kids have some freedom to do what they prefer. The food is good — and I don’t have to prepare it or think about it. Cruises allow moms (and probably dads and teenagers) to take a mental break from chores and work and school and whatever else. I didn’t look at my calendar for a week and only tended to two “work” tasks.

    We needed a cruise this vacation. 

    I recognize traveling is a privilege — and I try to teach my kids that. I’m so thankful we get to do this regularly in our life and return to share the stories. This was our family’s fourth cruise. I don’t think that makes us experts, but we’ve learned some things that are worth sharing if you’re thinking about a cruise. 

    Disclaimer: There are lots of cruise line options. Regardless of which company you choose, the ship matters. Some are more family-friendly than others. We’ve cruised on four ships — two Disney ships and two Royal Caribbean ships. My friend Misty Grogan is an expert, so contact her if you want to book a cruise. Even if you’re a seasoned traveler, using a travel agent helps lock in the best deals and offers another planner with trips and tricks – all while being FREE to use!

    Until then, here are some tips from #TeamTaylor, party of five. This cruise we had two teenagers and a third-grader with us plus our friends with three adults and another teenager.

    • Don’t pay more for a balcony, but do try to get a bigger window and adjoining rooms if your party is three or more. 
    • At dinner, just go to the main dining option. Don’t pay for specialty meals. And when you’re drooling over the menu choices — just order two appetizers and desserts. And ask for more meat, if that’s what you want. 
    • Hold off-the-ship plans loosely because the weather can affect things. During a previous cruise, we couldn’t port at Costa Maya because the wind made doing so dangerous. This time we ported on the opposite of Grand Cayman and our land-and-sea tour was reduced to only a land tour because Milton made the sea crazy. 
    • Buy magnetic hooks to hang things — lightweight bags, swimsuits that need to dry, clothes you want to use again — on the metal walls. 
    • That’s right, wear clothes more than once. Who cares if you’re wearing the same cotton dress to dinner on Monday and Thursday. 
    • Bring extra bags that pack easily and can be used for beach or pool bags or to pack dirty laundry home. 

    Cruise specifics

    We were on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, which is smaller than the Allure of the Seas, which we cruised on in April 2023. There are perks to both, but, overall, I think I’d choose Freedom again. I’m not sure my 14-year-old son would agree, but he had a great time even boogie-boarding on the narrower FlowRider wave. 

    This was a seven-night cruise with four ports. My family loves to get off and explore the different stops. Not everyone in our traveling group got off the ship as much as we did, but that’s the beauty of cruising. 

    We left Fort Lauderdale on Sunday then docked at Royal Caribbean’s CocoCay in the Bahahams on Monday. We had waterpark passes, but it was steadily raining all day so the kids and Greg rode all the slides (some more than once), we all lunched at a table under an umbrella, Ben and I walked around the island, and then decided it was nice to go in from the rain. Rachel would have stayed as long as we would have let her! 

    Also, a tip, courtesy of my travel agent friend Misty: Ask for the “secret sandwich” at The Snack Shack. Ben loved it!

    Days 3 and 7 of our cruise were sailing. We hung out in the pools, ate, rested, played trivia games, snacked, and walked. On Day 3, I read an entire book. On Day 7, I wasn’t feeling well (probably that not-to-be-named respiratory virus that’s been interrupting lives our lives since 2020 …) so I rested, including a two-hour nap in a really comfortable chair on Deck 4. Rachel ice skated both days. 

    Days 4-6 were port days: Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; and Grand Cayman. 

    We had all the feelings in our group about getting off the ship in Haiti because of what the news had told us. Yes, it’s super important to be aware of where you’re traveling, but I also didn’t think a major cruise line would bring 4,000 tourists to an unsafe destination. Turns out, Royal Caribbean leases the land that is Labadee from the Haitian government so it’s secure with an actual gate and private security. The workers and artisans who sell things in the market are approved to be there.

    In Haiti, we hung out at the beach, snorkeled, had lunch, and shopped. It may have been our favorite stop of the whole week!

    In Jamaica, we went river tubing and hung out at Adventure Falls, which was a nice pool, water slide, and waterfall by the river. We also ate delicious jerk chicken. 

    In Grand Cayman, we were supposed to dock at George Town and go on a land and sea tour, but Milton made the water at George Town crazy, so we anchored on the other side of the island and only went on the land portion of the tour. We did get to stop at a couple of beaches and see the small town of Hell, where there is a large patch of dead coral and lots of funny souvenirs. 

    Answers to questions

    Is all the food included? Cruises work much like an all-inclusive where there are plenty of dining options included. We had breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer buffet and then dinner at the main dining room. I was the only one of our group of nine who purchased the soda package, but it was unlimited and worth it to me. There are also specialty dining packages (of which I don’t see the point) and other drink packages. But there is ice cream and pizza available basically whenever you want it! 

    Did I get seasick? Thankfully, nobody in our crew gets motion sickness and have never been bothered by sailing on a big ‘ole boat! We can feel the boat moving at times, but it’s never been a problem for us. I saw lots of people with those motion sickness patches this time. I know others who have used bracelets and non-drowsy versions of medicine. 

    Will you go on another cruise? Yes, although I’m not sure when. We have a non-cruise vacation planned for in the spring. I’m eyeing an Alaskan cruise possibly next! There are deals to book your next cruise while you’re on the ship, but we like to take lots of different kinds of trips, so we haven’t done that yet. 

    How do you fund vacations? There are lots of answers to this, but the one I want to share is we use credit card points to off set travel costs. The Capital One Venture credit card is a great card to use for travel expenses because the rewards points are good and allow you to “erase” travel purchases. You can also book hotels and other travel reservations directly through the Capital One website and get special deals. When we signed up for TSA Pre-Check, the fee was reimbursed when we used this card. (Also, sign up for TSA Pre-Check if you’re ever going to fly!)

    What else do you want to know?

    *****

    Previous cruises: 2016 Disney Dream. 2018 Disney Fantasy. 2023 Royal Caribbean Allure. 

    Obivoulys, traveling is one of my favorite things to share. Here are some of my favorite (travel) things and tips on how to take the trip (any trip).

    And here are some family-favorite trips: