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Spring Break @ Club Med Sandpiper Bay – All-Inclusive Resort with a Kid’s Club in Florida!
Woo hoo! We hadn’t been on a trip since before Covid started in March of 2020, and we fiiiiiinally went on one! We were supposed to take the kiddos to Disney World for the first time before Covid reared its ugly head, so I knew when I starting planning our spring break trip for 2021, I needed to find an AMAZING place with lots for the kids to do! Mama had to make up for the missed Disney magic, as well as a year’s worth of no trips….. :-/
My husband and I got to talking about what would make this trip truly enjoyable for both the kiddos and us. Most travel with littles doesn’t really feel like a vacation for the parents. It’s usually more of a “trip” and afterwards Mom and Dad need a vacation to recover from their vacation! Am I right?!? Lol. So, we decided the two most important things we were looking for were:
or play with them on the beach. My kids LOVED them!
- AN ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT. Because let’s be honest – who really wants to have to cook during their vacation? Not this girl. And, for a family of six, going out to eat for every meal can get extremely expensive (and time-consuming if a buffet is not an option).
- A KIDS CLUB. There were so many magical things about the Disney Cruise we took back in 2019, but one of our favorite things was the kids club. It was our first time being introduced to this genius idea, and I now firmly believe it is the only way to travel with small kiddos and actually feel rested/rejuvenated when you return. I’m serious, even our kiddos agree! They are much happier when they get a break from us every couple days, and have lots of fun activities to do! And Mom/Dad definitely won’t complain about having a few naps by the pool by ourselves with a cocktail in hand!
So, I began to search. There are SO MANY options out there in other countries that have these two things, but due to Covid, we needed to stay in the states. Unfortunately, to my dismay – there were not very many options stateside that had both!
One place I did stumble upon, however, was Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Port Saint Lucie, FL – and boy was I glad to have found this gem! The resort is located along the St. Lucie River, in-between Miami and Orlando in Florida, and they have BOTH of the wants above, along with so, SO much more!
There is literally everything at this resort. They have tennis, water sports, golf (mini & regular), beach activities, water toys (sailboats, kayaks, paddle boards, etc.), pickle ball, group fitness classes, flying trapeze lessons (omg – what?!?), a kids club with SO many activities, daily activities for adults, nightly shows and live bands. The list could go on, and on, and ON. They have multiple restaurants, pools, and bars on site (including an adults-only pool & bar), with almost all food, snacks, drinks, activities, water sports, and the kids club being included in your standard room rates. The resort also has an app you can download to view the daily activities to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the fun!
Also, the staff at the kids club was seriously amazing – they went above and beyond in my opinion! If they saw our kiddos when we were out and about at the resort (not at the kids club), they would run up and give them huge hugs, dance with them at the nightly shows, or play with them on the beach. My kids LOVED them!
This is the gorgeous beach at the resort on the St. Lucie River. They also have a marina where you can rent larger watercraft and book excursions if you want to venture out further on the river. I wasn’t sure if the resort would have child life jackets so I purchased these lightweight Speedo lifejackets. The resort does have life jackets guests can use on the beach, but they are larger, so these came in very handy for the littles!
Here’s my little daredevil trying out the trapeze while at the kids club! I was honestly shocked when he told me he did this….and rather disappointed I didn’t get to see it his first time! I made sure the next time he went to the kids club to be over by the trapeze to see it and take some pics! What a brave big guy we have! <3
The resort has fun kiddie cocktails for the littles (i.e. basically every color of Shirley Temple you could image). The kids raved about them! Once the kids were done with their *fancy* drinks they would use the cups to catch small Moon Jellies (i.e. harmless clear jellyfish), in the river. They spent hours doing this and playing on the beach. It made for a very relaxing day for Mom & Dad!
Tip: There are not any sand toys for the kiddos to use at the resort, so I recommend bringing them with or having an Amazon/Target delivery!
We all loved cuddling on the big daybeds they had at the beach and pools!
Tip: Make sure if you are planning to go to the adult’s only pool you get there early or it might be hard to score a daybed!
This show was spectacular! They did a bunch of trapeze acts over the pool, with lots of entertaining lights and songs. It was SO fun!!
We made sure to get the delicious gelato daily at the main buffet restaurant! It is a MUST! Another must try is the resort’s signature adult cocktail – the “45”! It is the yummiest mango mojito I have EVER tried!! Seriously, so GOOD!!
Here’s the twins living their best life dancing to one of the fun live bands! We made sure to take advantage of the Resort’s daily and nightly entertainment as much as we could. There was always something to do or see to keep the littles entertained!
We flew in and out of the Fort Lauderdale airport, which is about 1.5 hours south of Club Med Sandpiper Bay. There are shuttles from the resort (for a fee), but we opted to get a rental car so the twins could see the ocean for the first time! All the kids had so much fun running into the waves and playing. It was a fun and relaxing last day of our trip. We were so sad to leave, but everyone in our family had an absolute blast, and the kiddos are already asking when they can go back!!
Girls Winter Getaway to Stillwater, MN
Last weekend some girl friends and I decided to go on a weekend girl’s trip to Stillwater, MN. I can’t even remember the last time I went on a girl’s only trip. It quite possibly might have been before the twins were born lol. SO, it. was. needed. J
We started the weekend off by stopping at The Mad Capper Restaurant for bloody mary’s and
brunch. Their bloody mary’s are homemade, are slightly spicy, and have Trader
Joe’s “Everything But the Bagel Seasoning” – must I say more?!? Delicious!!! I
also had the Mad Capper burger, which was really yummy as well!
Next we were able to get an early check-in at Hotel Crosby, so we went to check out
the room. There were 8 of us ladies, so we rented the Presidential Suite, and let me tell you – it
was gorgeous!
Upon entering the room you see a gorgeous, modern, and spacious kitchen with a see-through fireplace with TV’s on both sides.
Behind the fireplace there’s a very large living
room with a comfy sectional sofa and some chairs. To the left of the sectional
you can walk out directly onto the balcony.
To the right of the kitchen there is a large dining room with seating for 8-10 people. We took advantage of this by eating family-style meals and playing games late into the night at this huge table! We even got a surprise firework show off the balcony later that night while we were eating dinner. It was such a fun surprise!
After dinner we all got bundled up and ventured off to our snowshoeing adventure at Saint Croix Vineyards. Truth be told, I have lived in MN for quite a while, but I had actually never gone snowshoeing before. So, I was excited, but also a little nervous!
When
we arrived we headed into the main lodge to check-in. It was very cozy, and a
live band was playing! They had lights up all around the grounds and some fun
bonfires to warm up at throughout the snowshoe trail. It was all set up very
beautifully.
They
even had staff there to help get you in and out of your snowshoes and give you
some tips on the course. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the scenery was
absolutely stunning. Here I was, just thinking I was going to freeze my
bum off, but it was actually quite lovely! J
I
mean look at that view! Amazing!!! And this was taken with my iPhone, in the
dark! After we were done snowshoeing we went into the winery building to get
our charcuterie boards and wine pairings that were included in the snowshoe
adventure event. I was pleasantly surprised and liked almost all wines and
ciders we tasted!
After we were done with the snowshoe adventure at Saint Croix Vineyards, we returned home to Hotel Crosby for the night. We had lots of laughs while enjoying the relaxing rooftop hot tub. That is, except for when the hot tub jet timer would go off, then we would all silently pray someone else would jump out in the freezing cold to re-start it. Lol! About 20 minutes in to this though, we were pleasantly surprised when a bachelorette party came up and had no fear restarting the jets every 15 mins! They must not have felt the cold somehow. It worked out great for us after that!
The
next morning we made another family-style yummy breakfast complete with
multiple egg bakes, a hash brown casserole, sausage, and lattes. I had been
searching for a travel espresso machine that would take my beloved Nespresso
pods. I found this one on amazon and I love it! It
is super compact, but still makes delicious espresso. It was exactly what we
all needed after a night of too much fun!
Family Valentine Trail Adventure
We took the kids to the Family Valentine Trail Adventure at The Eastman Nature Center last weekend. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, since some of the activities were supposed to be outside and it was going to be 1 DEGREE that day! But, we had been to The Eggstravaganza at The Eastman Nature Center a few years before to see the Easter bunny and the kids loved it! So, we were hopeful the Valentine’s Day event would be just as fun!
When
we arrived there was one of the event hosts waiting for us to check us in. She
explained all of the events, and then sent us on our way to begin Event #1 –
The Valentine Word Scramble! We walked along the nature trails in search of
letters to unscramble to figure out the magic sentence. The kids were super
excited and ran from letter to letter. Our oldest had the worksheet and was
writing down the letters as his younger siblings yelled them out!
Next
up on the trail was a very cute Valentines book called “Franklin’s
Valentine’s”. We read the book (and had the kids read the words they knew) as
we walked through the rest of the trail. At the end of the book there was a
bucket of bird feed with instructions for the kids to each make a heart out of
the birdseed in the snow for the animals at the park. The kids thought this was
so fun to do!
After we were done with our birdseed hearts we arrived at the bonfire at the end of the trail. We were very excited at this point to warm up and cuddle for a bit! We snapped a couple family photos and then ran inside the nature center to tell the host the magic sentence so we could get our treat! When the host asked if we were able to figure out the word scramble the kids yelled “We Love Nature”! ♥
We completed the word scramble correctly, so we received
our treats and craft bag from the host. We then headed inside The
Eastman Nature Center to warm up! Inside in the craft room there was
everything a kiddo could want for art supplies. The craft bag we received had additional
Valentines supplies and stickers so each kiddo could each make their own very
special Valentine card. Our two oldest actually made their Valentines for their
“crushes” at school, lol which was pretty entertaining for Mom + Dad!
After the kids were all done with their cards they ate their yummy cookies as a reward for their hard work! It was a very special family day and all of the kids had a blast. We are hoping they bring back The Eggstravaganza for Easter so we can go back to The Eastman Nature Center to see the Easter bunny!
xx,
lindsay
Hi, I’m lindsay
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