Rob and I have some bigs plans for 2019.  You see, it is our 10 year wedding anniversary and we want to celebrate in style!  I think my love language must be travel, because I would always rather have a trip than a gift.  Seeing the world together is my favorite thing, so you know our 10th anniversary means a trip.  And boy, do we have a nice one planned!

We've been saying for the last 8 years that we want to go on a European River Cruise for our 10th.  But now that we have kids it doesn't work logistically.  The river cruises we were looking at are mostly 7 nights, but you want to fly in a day early so you don't miss the boat.  That means 8 nights away from the kids.  Since Rob has to be gone from the kids for a living, adding 8 nights isn't feasible right now.  So we've put a pin in the river cruise idea.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I did look into the Adventures by Disney River Cruises.  They look sooooo good.  I mean, Disney + River Cruise = Amazing time.  However, for a family of four, it would start at $16,000 (and there are NO discounts).  I know people think airline pilots are rich, but we are not.  So unless Disney wants to give us a river cruise so I can blog about it, we will not be taking a Disney river cruise.  

Of course, your next thought would be, ok, the Schneiders are going on another Disney Cruise. Nope. For this 10 year anniversary trip we were aiming to travel in January or February.  Yes, I know we got married in May.  But you see, we live in a cold place, so we like to go somewhere warm in the winter.  It boosts our spirits.  I've been watching the Disney Cruise Line website for discounts and there weren't any good ones for our travel window.  January and February are popular cruise times!

Our ideal destination is warm, family friendly, and has to be somewhere Delta flies.  I had a flash of genius, but would Rob go for it?  How about... Hawaii?  It turns out he needed very little convincing.  We started a spreadsheet.  It all looked feasible.  So I went ahead and booked it before he could change his mind.  Ladies and gentleman, the Traveling Schneiders are going to Aulani!!!!!!!!

You've never heard of Aulani?  That's ok, unless you are a Disney fan you might not have heard of it.  Aulani is a Disney resort on Oahu.  It's located about 20 miles North of Waikiki and has everything a family with young kids could want.  Character meals, pools, waterslides, splash park, a protected beach, a kids club themed after Lilo and Stitch.  We are beyond excited!!

Here is our travel plan.  

Day 1- Fly CVG to LAX; spend the night.
Day 2- Fly LAX to HNL.  
             IN HNL, rent a car and stay at the Outrigger Reek Waikiki for two nights
Day 2- Spend the day exploring Waikiki Beach
Day 3- Check out of Outrigger, drive to Pearl Harbor and see the Arizona Memorial and Ford Island
             Check into Aulani
Day 4-8 Relax and enjoy all that Aulani has to offer.
Day 9- Fly Home. Boo. 

We are taking it very easy on this trip.  Rob and I have been to Hawaii before and we know we will go again.  Since Aulani is a splurge, we want to maximize our time at the resort instead of traveling all over the island.  When the kids are older, we won't need all the things that Aulani offers and it will make more sense to stay somewhere less expensive and spend our time seeing all that the island has to offer.  ​

For Christmas, Rob gave me the Cricut EasyPress, which I put to work making some sweet shirts.

Since this trip has been awhile in the planning, we've been counting down!

I can't wait to hit the beach!!! Aloha!

October, 2018

My sister in law Jenni and I chose Asheville, NC for our 2018 Girls Weekend.  When considering locations, we factor in driving distance, amount of activities to do, availability of lodging, and cost of various attractions.  Asheville is a great answer for all those categories!  I had been once before and Jenni had never been.  A quick Google search showed lots of places to eat, tons of houses for rent, and a short 5 hour drive. Sounds great!

We rented a house about 15 minutes outside of Asheville, which was cheaper than a hotel and gave us a lot of room to relax in.  Our plan was to eat good food, see the Biltmore, and do whatever WE wanted for a change.  It turns out, Asheville is a great little city for a weekend getaway.  

Here's our weekend in pictures!

After exploring the house and relaxing a bit, we went off for our first dinner in Asheville.  That is when we became aware of just how hipster Asheville really is.  There are so many delicious sounding restaurants, but they all use the same adjectives to describe their food.  Locally sourced.  Farm to Table.  Asheville is all abuzz with these buzz words.  

I snagged us a reservation at Table.  The menu was interesting, the wine list was extensive.  They had an opening, it was perfect!  

The next day we were up and on our way to the Biltmore House early.  Since October is their high season, we reserved a time to visit the house online before we left.  I highly recommend doing this.  We parked and had a bit of a walk in, but it was a lovely walk.

After we toured the house, we shopped in all the shops, then went to the village on the estate for lunch.  Following lunch we went to the Biltmore Winery for a wine tasting and more shopping.

We were exhausted after all that Biltmore fun, so we went back to our rental house and chilled.  It was so nice, I may have taken a nap but I don't exactly remember.  For dinner we decided to try a French restaurant, Bouchon.  It sounded good, all the ingredients were locally sourced, of course.  To be honest, it was the dessert menu that sold us!

​The next morning we ate at a farm to table, locally sourced brunch place.  I must have been anxious to get home because I didn't take a single picture!  I also just realized I didn't take a single picture of Jenni, my travel companion.  Oh man, blogger fail!  After brunch we drove home, stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch, where nothing is locally sourced.