balderramas

Mariana’s New Bedroom!

Romey

Last weekend, we took on the weekend project of re-imagining Mariana’s bedroom. This has been her bedroom since her birth, but before that, it was also Clara’s nursery. While upgrades have been made to her room over the years, her room has still been virtually based on the same color scheme and layout up to this point.

A baby nursery with blue walls, a pink stripe on the salls, a brown chair and a wooden crib.
Clara’s Nursery back in 2013
Mariana standing in her blue room with a pink stripe, filled with a bed, table, desk, and toys everywhere.
Mariana’s room in 2022 (it normally wasn’t this messy, but she created one of her many shops out of her room).

With Clara being busy at a dance competition all weekend, this was a great opportunity for Mariana and me to be productive in the house. Mariana picked out the colors, and we took to Pinterest to get some ideas. After exploring many options, Mariana narrowed her choice down to a grey bedroom with a light blue accent wall, rejecting complex shapes and patterns that were floated to her.

The project went into full force last Wednesday when I took all of the furniture out of her room (Maraina was with her mom for the next two nights).

Mariana's blue room with a pink stripe, mostly empty, with a white bed turned on its side.

The next night I focused on getting everything off of the walls and doing a lot of patching.

The same bedroom, but now with the walls bare and covered in white spackle.

When I got the girls back Friday morning, we picked up the paint and went to town. My mom joined us and both girls were amazing helpers, and we were reminded how satisfying painting can be.

By day’s end, the paint dried enough to set up Mariana’s bed and move some furniture back into the room. She was excited to sleep in this in-progress project.

Mariana (and George, who we’re pet-setting for Shannon) spending the first night in her newly painted room

Saturday came, and Clara spent the day at her dance competition. My mom came over, and the three of us started getting the lights, shelving, wall fixtures, and all of the furnishings into the room. We had a lot of fun playing with string lights, threading them along the ceiling down her dresser wall. We swapped the location of her bed and dresser, and I replaced her nursery dresser with an amazing wooden dresser I got in an estate auction. My mom also replaced Mariana’s desk with a new-to-her desk. I also mounted Mariana’s TV to the wall to open up her dresser space. We tried to be more selective about adding things back into the room, taking the opportunity to de-clutter as much as we can.

Here is the current result, with a few more decorations to add, along with some on-the-wall shelving that will arrive next week.

Mariana's finished bedroom, with grey walls, with a sky-blue wall on the right, her bed, brown dresser, desk, and shelving.

Mariana is excitedto offer a tour:

I’m so very grateful for all the people who helped make this happen: my mom, who helped paint and decorate; Shannon, who helped me get the dresser. Next up: Clara’s room this summer? Stay tuned!

Family Photos in Jim Thorpe, PA

Romey

While planning our Jim Thorpe trip, my sister put forth the idea of organizing a family photo shoot while we were all together. She researched photographers and found Nikki Slivka Photography, who did such an awesome job capturing the beauty (and chaos) of our family of 15.

As all parents know, kids aren’t always cooperative photo subjects. It was a challenge during our session, but the kids enjoyed having some props like a parachute, bubble gun, and a ball, which helped us create awesome candid shots. The rolling hills of Jim Thorpe also created a beautiful setting.

I can’t recommend enough that any time you get together as a family, you seek out a photographer to capture your time together. I know it’s not always cheap, but I’m so glad that we did this.

Balderramas Back East – Phase 3: Ocean City, MD

Romey

After getting our fill of mountain and full family time in Jim Thorpe, PA, we ventured further east to Ocean City, Maryland. Earlier this year, when our family was trying to find a gathering point, a sizable segment of the family wanted a beach getaway, resulting my mom traveling with my sister, Christina, her family, and mine to get our beach fix at Ocean City.

Traveling from Jim Thorpe to Ocean City on a Friday presented some challenges with traffic, turning our 4-hour trip into a 6.5-hour trip. Our accommodations for the next few days was a 3-bedroom condo, which luckily didn’t feel too cramped for the nine of us. We finally pulled in after 6 pm, too late to spend any meaningful time at the beach. That didn’t stop us from unpacking as quickly as we could so that we could put our feet into the ocean.

I captured this video of everyone talking on the beach for the first time.

With kids, of course, “putting feet” into the ocean quickly turns into getting your clothes soaked. They enjoyed their little taste of the ocean, anxious for spending the rest of the weekend on the beach.

After a restful Friday night, we ventured to the Ocean City Boardwalk, which embodied the stereotypical image that I formed in my head as we were planning. It was complete with tourist shops, fried food stands, along with an amusement park (which luckily wasn’t yet open for the day).

We did a little shopping, loading up on some stickers and magnets, then took a walk to the pier to get a full view of the ocean. We opted to go earlier in the morning so that we could devote as much of Saturday to beaching. Everyone was anxious to get back to our condo, however, so that we could quickly hit the beach.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the ocean and on the beach, getting our fill of waves, sun, sand, and games. The last time we had been to the ocean, in 2018, we had a more secluded experience in North Carolina. At Ocean City, the beach was much more crowded, but we managed to carve out our little space for a beautiful afternoon. Right when we were packing up, we saw some fins from dolphins that were swimming out in the ocean.

We did learn, the hard way, that the limit for the kids being on the ocean was about 4 hours. Many of the kids were melting down by the time dinner time rolled around. We fed the kids some mac and cheese, while the adult got a seafood boil that was probably too spicy for them anyway. After 2018 though, I learned my lesson and stayed away from drinking too much of the broth.

After the kids went to bed, Christina, Tony, and I ventured back onto a beach for a moonlit walk to see what we could find on the beach. We found a cool surfing toy, as well as a baby seagull that was looking for his parents.

Recognizing our time limits, we shifted our Sunday schedule to include two separate times at the beach. We went immediately after breakfast for a two-hour stretch, with another trip planned for the early evening. In between beaching, Tony and I went to go pick up my rental car for Phase 4, while everyone else went back to the Boardwalk before we met back up for an early dinner.

Mariana had enough of the beach and was ready to get cleaned up, but while we were up in the room, a horseshoe crap washed up on the shore. After checking it out, it was returned back into the ocean.

We ended our time at the beach by writing “SOB ’23” (Summer of Balderramas) in the sand – a tradition that we started back in Daytona that we’ll continue as we venture to other beaches.

Sadly, with the conclusion of Phase 3, we also ended our team with our extended family. The girls and I packed up on Monday morning and made our way towards Washington, DC – the final phase of Balderramas Back East.

More Balderramas in Yellowstone

More Balderramas in Yellowstone

Romey

This is part 2 of my Balderramas in Yellowstone post.

After two busy days of driving around the west end of Yellowstone, we opted for going low-key for day three and do things a little closer to the west entrance.

Our first stop was a cute shoreline along the Madison River, where we enjoyed some time in the stream and a picnic over by the river.

Next up was a quick stop over at the Fountain Paint Pot. In terms of number of features, this was probably the best stop we had. In addition to the “Mud Pots” that would boil over, there was also a cave that spewed out smoke and sounded like a dragon was living in it. There were also the multi-colored pools, similar to what we saw in the Grand Prismatic, as well as a geyser.

We headed back into the West Entrance town and enjoyed some brews at the Slippery Otter.

We had originally planned to go back home on Sunday, making a long day of driving, but the drive between Rock Springs, WY and to Island Park took a lot longer than we expected, due to road construction and going through towns. We opted to break the drive into two days and just go back to Rock Springs on Sunday. This created the opportunity to drive through Yellowstone on the way back and stopping to see the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

We also continued to drive through the South Entrance (which was much smaller than the West Entrance) and drive along the Grand Tetons. We were told by multiple people that it would be well-worth the drive – and they were right! We just made a quick stop at a pull-off and grabbed some beautiful pictures.

Our trip concluded back in Rock Springs with some rest and swimming! With as much fun as we had, we’re glad to be back home.

Balderramas in Yellowstone

Balderramas in Yellowstone

Romey

After stopping at home for a few days after South Dakota, we packed everything back up to go explore Yellowstone with our Balderrama family.

This time our home base is in Island Park, Idaho, which we made after two shorter travel days, staying in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The drive took us through Jackson during lunch and took a bit longer than expected since you’re driving through so many small towns. The 12 of us are staying at a beautiful cabin that goes three stories tall. We’re well stocked with good food and drink and have yet to eat out since we’ve arrived.

Island Park is about 30 minutes from the Yellowstone West Entrance, that takes you into Montana for all of 10 minutes before you’re back in Wyoming. The drive is really pleasant and we’ve been lucky enough to have encountered short lines when getting into the park.

I’ve never been to Yellowstone and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. After spending two days here, I would equate our experience to “Wilderness Disneyland” – it’s an incredible place filled with a lot of pretty sights, but there are a lot of lines everywhere you go. While we haven’t encountered too many traffic jams (and those are typically caused by a wildlife sighting), every big attraction has people everywhere, and we’re finding ourselves navigating big crowds.

The other surprise was just how accessible everything is by car. Every big attraction has a parking lot with a short path that leads you right up to it. I was expecting more long treks and hikes to view some of these things. With two young kids, I am grateful just how accessible all of these features are, but at the same time it does make every attraction feel like a Disneyland ride, again with people everywhere.

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and as someone who has been to Rocky Mountain National Park many times, I still am in awe at the marvels that are at Yellowstone. Grasping the size of the park has been a surprise, as I wasn’t prepared for as much driving as we’re doing. It’s a beautiful drive, but you are likely to spend the majority of your time in the car. Next to driving, we’ve spent the most significant amount of time at the bathroom lines. With four young kids, we’re always finding ourselves in the dozen-people-deep line of people waiting for the outhouses.

Over our two days at the park, we’ve experienced some great highlights.

Grand Prismatic Spring

This has been my favorite feature, by far. This (non-swim-able) hot spring is basically a boiling lake that runs off into the river. When the wind picks up, you can see (and feel) the hot steam blow off the water. At one point when we walked through it, my glasses were completely fogged up and there was no visibility.

There’s a big elevated walkway that you take as a one-way loop. It wasn’t until I was half-way through the loop when I realized the auto-focus was off on my lens, and I debated taking another quick solo loop with the focus working. I was so glad I did.

Old Faithful

This famous landmark was at the top of our list when we set out for Yellowstone, but we heeded the advice of the ranger that told us to go later in the day. It was still incredibly crowded, but we lucked into great timing and arrived just minutes before it was set to go off. It’s amazing just how much water shoots out, and how little contrast there is between the water and the clouds.

The Falls of Yellowstone

We spent our second day venturing to the Upper and Lower Falls of Yellowstone, showing off the start of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as well. The falls were impressive and made for some incredible photos. We were looking forward to taking Uncle Tom’s Trail which would take you down 300 steps, but that was closed due to some hazardous conditions.

Artist Point made for some awesome views, but at that point our girls had enough and were pretty tired, shortening our visit.

Other notes

There is lots of wildlife that can be seen. We have driven by many Bison herds, but haven’t taken many great shots of them just yet. We also did find an elk hanging out on an island in the middle of a river as well. Our goal over the next day is to get some more shots of wildlife.

With four young kids, we’ve tried to keep our agendas relatively open with lower expectations. This has maintained a lot of space for fun with the family.

We’ve got one more full day in Yellowstone before we head back. We’re again trying to temper expectations and make things a little less structured, in hopes that we’ll have another fun and memorable day.