Our trip: What we ate

So I thought I'd do a quick rundown of what we ate on our trip. I might have a few tips (if for no one but myself) as I recap the week in writing in pictures...

Breakfast
We had free breakfast at the hotel every day and I never remembered to bring the camera with us that early in the morning. Last time we traveled and tried free hotel breakfast it didn't work out. We vowed never to do it again. This time we had amnesia and did it again anyway. It went better than before since Leyna actually did eat breakfast every day. She had a muffin and orange juice every day, and on two occasions also had some pancakes, which came out of an amazing pancake making machine that was like nothing I've ever seen. Cora was another story. She is in a "I'm not sitting where you want me to sit, and you'll be lucky if I even sit at all" phase that made most meals complete torturous throw-downs. Most mornings she ate about 2 Froot Loops, a sip of my coffee, and maybe a piece of bacon if they had it that day. A great way to start your day huh?

Day 1

Lunch @ Panera

Cora inhaled this macaroni and cheese. It was REALLY good.

Leyna ate her yogurt squeezer but didn't touch her pb&j. Instead she shared my Baked Potato Soup. Next time I don't think I'll get her her own meal since she could have just had Cora's yogurt, which went untouched. We brought our own juice boxes and saved a few pennies.

Dinner @ Noodles & Co.

I ordered a small spaghetti bowl for both girls to share. Leyna ate it but said it was too spicy. Cora smeared sauce all over the table and bench but I don't think she got any in her mouth. I was happy that they had organic milk since I forgot ours.

Ice cream for dessert since it was our first night of travel. Leyna got vanilla with rainbow sprinkles and finished every last bite. Cora and I shared a scoop of cookies and cream but she left most of the eating to me. I wasn't upset ;)

Day 2

Lunch @ the farm

I packed peanut butter & honey sandwiches, organic carrots, red grapes, & juice boxes. Leyna ate pretty well, Cora ate 2 grapes and a carrot :(

 Dinner @ Johnny Rocket's

The best part of dinner was these smiley ketchup bowls that the waitress made for us. That should tell you something about how dinner went...

Sorting sugar was the only thing that distracted Cora from the balloons behind the counter that she couldn't have.

This was Cora's meal. They do have the absolute best little ice pellets there but I'm pretty sure she didn't meet her nutritional quota for the day.

I brought our own organic chocolate milk. Leyna pretty much had to be bribed to eat the hot dog dinner she chose. I think it's kinda sad when you're bribing your kid to eat something that isn't even that good for them...

Day 3

Lunch @ the mall

Both girls ate about half of their half slice of cheese pizza and then I bribed them to finish by promising a train ride. Bad mommy.

 Dinner @ Ruby Tuesday's

This was the worst dinner ever. Bad service, not hungry kids. Leyna barely touched her pasta but did eat some cold peas and cucumbers from the salad bar.

Cora had to be removed from the restaurant THREE times due to tantrums. She didn't want to sit, she definitely didn't want to sit in a booster or high chair, and there was no way she was going to eat. It was very, very, VERY trying.

When we got back to the hotel we tried to put the dinner from you know what behind us. This is that $12!!! worth of ice cream from the hotel sundry shop looks like ;)

Day 4

Picnic @ River Farm Garden

I packed pb&honey, organic apples, organic carrots, and juice boxes. It was eaten happily in this gorgeous setting.

 Dinner @ Romano's Macaroni Grill

Following up from the worst dinner ever, tonight Cora had the best dinner ever at a restaurant. The girls happily played with their sticker books while we waited for our food. Cora at the entire side out of the rosemary bread by herself, while miraculously sitting in a high chair.

Both girls ordered spaghetti with meatballs (I know - have we had enough spaghetti this week?) but mostly ate the meatballs.

Just the fact that Cora was looking at her food was picture-worthy. She ate it too but I was too busy tasting my food for the first time in a week to take a picture. Both girls had a 99 cent gelato for dessert. YUM! Macaroni Grill is our new favorite restaurant. Thank for for giving us our life back!!!

Lunch with Nana

Today we met Nana for lunch at our new favorite Chinese buffet. It was so yummy and the girls definitely got their money's worth (well, Nana's money's worth actually).

Leyna's favorites are the Egg Drop Soup and usually the fried shrimp, though they didn't have them today

Cora loves her Lo Mein and pineapple chunks

After we eat they get to pick their own ice cream cup from the cooler. Today Leyna opted for chocolate, and when she was done she ate a bowl full of rice noodles. They are her new favorite thing on the buffet.

Cora went for strawberry and followed it up with fortune cookies.

And afterward they always get to feed the fish! Who could ask for more?

Now I know what Death by Chocolate means

We were out and about at an amusement park today and needed a little pick-me-up snack. I took the reins and ordered us a Brownie Sundae Supreme. Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, warm & chewy brownies with chocolate chips baked into the bottom, and mini chocolate chips on top of it all. WOW. Even with four of us eating it we couldn't finish it. I was heartbroken. I'm not sure I've ever thrown chocolate in the trash before. It was that sweet, that filling, that intense. I left thinking there was NO WAY I would be able to eat chocolate again for at least a month. But then we got home after a LONG day and I looked in the fridge and there was leftover dirt pudding staring at me. And I ate a few spoonfuls. UGH. Somebody cut me off!!!

Our trip: What we ate...

It's hard enough to get a toddler to eat healthy in their own comfortable surroundings, but take them on a trip and you're lucky if they eat one meal a day! We were away for the past 4 days and I'm happy to say I did a few things right and the girls didn't waste away while we were gone.
First of all I brought along a few tricks.
1. Fresh strawberries. These were our "welcome to our hotel room" and afternoon snacks. The girls LOVE them and think they're a special treat but they're also healthy!

2. Milk. I bought a case of Horizon Organic Milk and it was one of the best things I did. It's not refrigerated in the store so if you only have a small fridge in your hotel room it's perfect to be able to throw in a couple at a time. And most of all I liked being able to take it to restaurants and know exactly what kind of milk my kids were actually getting.

3. New and exciting portable snacks. This worked for Cora but surprisingly not Leyna. I bought some healthy, new snacks that the girls had never tried before thinking I could stow them in the diaper bag to keep them occupied on long city treks or serve them before bed. Cora was a huge fan of both of these things, Leyna turned her nose up after one taste. Oh well, 50/50 isn't bad.

4. Peanut butter. I brought along a jar of our favorite, along with some bread and honey. Every day I packed peanut butter and honey sandwiches to take to the museums. The food there is SO overpriced and I would hate it if they wasted even a bite. Leyna could eat peanut butter for every meal (she actually ate a spoonful for her bedtime snack one night) and Cora ate a little and then shared my lunches with me. I think Cora's favorite lunch of mine was Clam Chowder. Go figure!

The second thing we did right was pick the right restaurants. Urbanspoon.com lets you sort by kid-friendly restaurants in your city. I looked at the menus and reviews and went from there. Quesadillas and Spaghetti were key menu items. I've learned to face the truth and the truth is that restaurants are new and exciting enough without new and exciting food.
1. On the first night Leyna opted for a Bean and Rice bowl and Cora had the Cheese Quesadillas. They both swapped some of their items and everyone was happy. The applesauce served as a dessert :)

2. On the second night we went to a little more upscale place but they had spaghetti and the girls hardly made a peep. They both loved sprinkling/dumping their own cheese on their pasta. Cora ate all but a few noodles and Leyna cleaned her bowl AND ate a roll for dessert. SCORE!!!

I also have to share what I got because I want to remember it for all eternity. Jumbo Lump Crab Macaroni and Cheese. SO GOOD.

3. And for our last night we played it safe. Both girls were short on naps so we wanted somewhere super kid-friendly and guaranteed to please. We opted for Macaroni Grill and again the girls cleaned their plates. We literally didn't hear a peep from them from the time their spaghetti came until the last noodle was gone. It was glorious.

Then Cora tried to take a snooze...

4. And finally on our last day we didn't eat anything too exciting but I did finally let Leyna order dessert. She opted for this little parfait and happily shared it with Cora and I. Yummy! It gave them enough energy to stay awake WELL past their nap time :)

And speaking of too much energy, the big fail of the trip was continental breakfast. I actually chose our hotel based on it having free breakfast because I thought it would be easy and the girls would have lots of choices. The problem was that the eating area didn't have boosters or high chairs and the girls just went wild. They could barely reach the table and there were TVs running news and everything was clean and fancy and it just didn't work. Every morning was a struggle. We tried yogurt, all kinds of dry cereal, toast, you name it. Cora never ate more than a couple bites because she was too busy terrorizing the place. Leyna did eat muffins on the days they had them, however muffins make a HUGE mess. Oh well, you win some you lose some. At least Cora liked the coffee...

Festival Food

This evening we went to a Strawberry Festival and had some really good eats. Cora started out with some amazing Chicken Corn Soup. I'd love a good recipe for this if anyone wants to share!

We also had french fries, apple fritters, and tastes of Pee Paw's snow cone, but  for me the best treat of all is the "Single Scoop with Berries." Hershey's vanilla ice cream topped with sweet strawberries in all their juices. This was always my favorite growing up and I was so excited for Leyna to try it. She's my strawberry girl and she definitely wasn't disappointed! She ate hers and some of Cora's too!