After Alsace, we slowly made our way to Provence, first staying in Nîmes (with a fun, spontaneous visit from our friend, Marie) and then heading to the teeny-tiny town of Fontvielle for day trips to Avignon and Arles. What can be said about the South of France that hasn’t been said before? We fueled up on pan au chocolat every day for breakfast then went on a hunt for every carousel in France. The hundreds of pink flamingos were Eliza’s favorite thing and the Roman ruins may have been the highlight for us grown-ups. Seeing the Greek Acropolis (built in ~4000BC) not long ago and now these Roman arenas in Nîmes and Arles + the Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge, time feels suddenly very fleeting… recently read a quote from Marie Antoinette: “nothing is new except what has been forgotten” and that feels very true in these towns. And in these days.

Luckily, our sweet friend and former au pair, Maureen, is from the Alsace region of France so we’ve been able to visit her hometown. This place is straight out of a fairy tale (and actually is the inspiration for Belle’s village in Beauty and the Beast). It’s right on the German border and the tiny little towns are dripping with charm. Highlights include local Pinot Gris wine for the 👩‍❤️‍👨 and pink macarons for the 👧 (Davis has most enjoyed chasing the birds). We got to spend quality time with our wonderful friend and her family and that was the best treat of all. We didn’t get the chance to rent e-bikes and zip from vineyard to vineyard trying all the wines but hopefully we’ll be back 🤞 Summertime has the most beautiful weather BUT during the winter time this region is 💥with Christmas markets that we’ve been dreaming of since 2018 when we first visited. Seriously, an actual snow globe. And the hot wine may be even better than the refreshing Pinot Gris 🤷‍♀️🤷🥂[last photo is from December 2018, in nearby Colmar]

With 227 Greek islands and just as many opinions on which ones are the best to visit, it’s hard to pick an itinerary for a vacation. We met friends in Santorini, so our first stop was an easy choice. We decided to focus on nearby islands with short transit times, so we hopped from Santorini —> Amorgos —> Naxos —> Antiparos & Paros. The highlight for us? Amorgos, hands down. With small kids in tow, the deserted beaches and lack of nightlife was a huge plus; there are way more goats than people on that island. For a bit more going on (but still a fun family vibe), Naxos had amazing beaches, sunset views + happy hour specials. Paros seems to be the favorite of many we met along the way: a bit trendier and fancier than Naxos but still more family-friendly than Mykonos (and easily accessible from Athens). Wish we had many more lifetimes to explore all 227 islands, but left with beautiful family memories and a couple of toddlers with a big taste for feta cheese.

First stop: Santorini! This picturesque + idyllic island is a bucket-list destination, for sure. Our friends happened to be in Greece at the same time, so of course we jumped at the chance to meet them in Santorini for a few days. While it’s definitely not the most family-friendly Greek Isle (and pretty tourist-centric), the cliffs of Oia are undoubtedly stunning and the Santorinian sunsets are unbeatable. Also, a quick side note to all the messages about making traveling with kids look easy: Traveling with toddlers isn’t easy and our toddlers (while we think they’re pretty close to perfect) are definitely not any more well-behaved than yours! We all know Instagram highlights all the good times (and there are SO many good times), but toddlers are still toddlers and… when they’re shrieking at dinner… you’re probably not taking a picture in that moment either, right? So, no, traveling with toddlers is definitely not stress-free. Sometimes it’s downright hard. But what sweet, sweet times we’ve shared together (and what fantastic life lessons my babies are learning!) that we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Our Santorini recommendations: 🏠 : Oia Sunset Hotel (amazing pool + perfect sunset views on your private terrace) 🍴: Roka Restaurant for delicious Greek food in a cozy atmosphere. 🌅 + 🍹: Naos is incomparable for panoramic sunset views… an absolute must do. Put this on the top of your list. 🚤: Santorini may be most beautiful from the sea. We went on a catamaran and stopped at volcanic hot springs + swam in the blue waters along with the fish. Not exactly stress-free with 3 toddlers on a boat, but it was worth it. 🏖: We took a taxi van to Perissa Beach for the day - it was one of my top 5 days ever: a fresh, seaside lunch + sharing a beach umbrella on (very hot) black lava sand with some of my best friends. Eliza had so much fun that she truly laughed the entire time. Belly laughed. It was heaven on earth.

Get yourself some friends who rejoice with you, mourn with you and drink key lime coladas with you. 🍹

No matter where we went in Colombia, one thing was true: everyone said we had to visit Salento. It's a tiny town in the coffee region (Zona Cafetera) that's a bit hard to get to (the nearest airport is over an hour's drive away), so even though we hadn't planned to rent a car, we figured that was the best way to reach Salento (most people take buses but we weren't sure that was the best idea for a wild 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 of 4...). This one-horse town (only metaphorically speaking because there are actually lots of 🐎 here) was colorful (shocker!) but the main town is surprisingly not the main focus of this stop. We stayed at a fantastic place down a dirt road about 1 km from the main town where the surrounding countryside is the ⭐️ of the show. Horses clip-clop all day long. The sun sets over hills and hills of vibrant green coffee trees. And the nearby Valle de Cocora was the highlight of our entire time in Colombia. Colombia's national tree, the wax palm 🌴, grows up to 60m (~200 ft!) high here and it's a stunning national park unlike any we've ever seen.

We weren’t planning to rent a car in Colombia but there are so many places we want to see! We jumped in the car and headed straight for Jerico. A tiny little town about 3 hours south of Medellin, it’s the perfect little “pueblo” to get a taste of small-town life. It surprises you with its color (is all of Colombia so filled with color?) and the town square comes to life in the late afternoons with old men in cowboy hats sipping tinto (dark + cheap coffee). A big Christ the Redeemer statue towers over the small town and, if you hike up to see it up close, most of the walk is through a beautiful botanical garden. A rooster woke us up each morning (Eliza now walks around saying “cock-a-doodle-do” all the time) and horses clip-clopped down the street in the evenings. There’s a pretty cool documentary about the women of Jerico (“Jericó: The Infinite Flight of Days”) and even if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, check out the 2 min trailer to get a small taste of life in Jerico.

🌈 It’s easy to see why people love Guatape so much. The tiny town is brimming with color and character. In the 1960s/70s, the Colombian govt flooded some fields to make way for a hydro-electric dam, making Guatape lakefront property. There’s not too much to do in Guatape other than eat, ride on boats and climb a (very) big rock. But if you spend only a few days here, it’s more than that: the restaurant owners come sit at the table and chat with you and kids at the park run back home to get more snacks to share. We loved making it our home for a small time. Luckily, there was a park with a slide right near our Airbnb 🥳 and an ice cream shop right next to that 🤩 sooo if you’re wondering what we did with our time...that’s what we did all day every day. Probably should have climbed that big rock more than just once.

Next stop: Cartagena 🏝 A little bit South America with a whole lotta Caribbean flavor thrown in for good measure. It feels like a totally different world than Bogota or Medellin. Behind the stone walls of the seaside city are brightly colored buildings at every cobblestoned turn and the most beautiful 🌺 draping from every single porch. But, again: the best part of Colombia is its people and they continue to surprise us with how kind and friendly they are. We played ⚽️ , we (kind of, sort of) ran races, we had lots of 🍦, we 🏊‍♀️, we watched every single 🌅, we met an awesome American family who was escaping Brooklyn for a few weeks, and we took these fun family pics thanks to @cruellsphoto So thankful to spend this time here.

Medellín, Colombia has taught us a few valuable lessons about the 🌎. Jeffrey + I were born in the late 80’s, when Medellín was truly the most dangerous city in the world. And, here we are not much later, walking its streets with our babies in tow. Something that traveling to new places continues to teach us is that nothing stays the same in this life. And what a great example Medellín is. A city that was (in our short lifetime!) the most dangerous city in the entire world is now one of the most livable, enjoyable cities we’ve visited. And isn’t it reassuring in such a time as this that cities (and people and circumstances) can change for the better?

😷😷😷 Traveling these days takes a little extra thought + not just because it’s 4️⃣ of us now! Davis was born at the end of February, just before everything locked down for us where we live. With a newborn + older parents who we relied on to help with the babies, I had the highest anxiety of my life trying to protect everyone + everything. We didn’t see family or friends for weeks + months and stayed totally in our quarantine bubble. Then, a few months ago, our family tested positive. Luckily and thankfully, we experienced very mild symptoms. Despite our already having it, we still want to be safe travelers and not be a burden to the cultures or communities we are visiting. So, even though when we left for Colombia a negative test wasn’t required for entry (it is now.), we all got negative tests just before traveling. Like literally every other person in Colombia, we wear our masks (even if we are walking outside alone- definitely not what’s happening in the US in our experience). We are keeping our distance and trying to keep to ourselves as best we can. After the PPE + social distancing? What else does travel in 2021 look like? At least in Colombia, every store and /or restaurant takes your temperature before you enter and gives you hand sanitizer. Restaurants seem to be operating normally, although many tables have been removed to comply with social distancing standards. Shops + stores (at least in Colombia, we recognize this is different in other countries) have adopted “pico y cedula” which means that you’re only able to enter on odd days if your passport number ends with an odd number (we’ve found this does or does not apply to tourists based on what city you’re in). Some cities have instituted curfews, but, since we are traveling as a family, even an 8pm curfew doesn’t really affect us 😬. Of course, a full and total lockdown last weekend DID affect us, but we think thats just one of the joys of this pandemic era we're in... For us, we’ve been blown away by the friendliness and eagerness of the people we’ve encountered. No less than 4 people (tour guide, restaurant waiter, hotel staff, etc.) have thanked us profusely for [continued in comments👇]

Leaving Bogota, Colombia 🇨🇴 and feeling excited to visit other parts of this beautiful country but also a bit hesitant to leave this capital city that most travelers only spend a day or two visiting hurriedly. We’ve met some of the kindest locals and learned more each day about Colombia’s vibrant and varied history. We’ve chased plenty of pigeons, played ball with new friends in countless parks and eaten way more than our fair share of empanadas and obleas. Yum. Keeping up with 👶👶 has made travel much slower than it used to be for us, but the trade-off feels so worth it.