Busy mom of 4- you know the story. Most of the time, I feel like I am being pulled in 5 different directions. It is very important to me that I try to live life in the moment by being as present as possible with my children and my spouse. Not as easy as it sounds. Each person really does need that extra attention, and I work hard to give it to them. The twins are great fun, but they also require 100% of my time when I am out and about with all four kids. I often find myself struggling to spread the love when I’m in those moments, so I came up with the solution of occasional separate trips, dinners and events with just my older kids. These moments are really special to me, and I know my children benefit from the attention I am able to give them. Even if they have to share mommy with one other sibling. It’s much better than splitting it 4-ways!

Today is #IGTravelThursday hosted by Skimbaco Lifestyle, and I am sharing with you my 3-day trip to Carlsbad, California with my two older children. This was our great escape for the summer, together, and we had a truly memorable time. Thanks to our sponsors, Four Seasons Residence Club, Aviara, North San Diego, and LegoLand California.

Carlsbad, California– #RSMLVCBad

Continuing on our journey, after visiting Telluride, we headed west. This time to the North County of San Diego, California to a quaint beach town called Carlsbad. My two older children and I were invited guests at the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara, North San Diego. A beautiful, luxurious family focused resort situated on the Batiquitos Lagoon Nature Preserve. The resort itself is actually a Four Seasons Residence, which means almost all units have owners. There are 246 villas on the property, each individually owned, and all are available to rent nightly*- just like any other hotel. We loved the amenities of the pools, fitness centers and cafes. I swear I had the best truffle fries in my life at the Summits Grill, I couldn’t get enough. Both children were also invited to attend Camp at the Kids Club 760, where they were treated to an Etiquette Class. During our stay, we were also invited to experience all three parks at LegoLand California. To top off our 3-day vacation, we enjoyed our last night’s dinner at Pizza Port, a serious local’s spot. My RockStarMom travel advice: At the end of your trip, make a picture book using on-line sites like Shutterfly.com. The books I have made for my children are some of their favorites, and they have fun reliving the memories with each other. 

*Unit availability based on occupancy at time of travel.

All photos taken with iPhone 4, using Instagram.

I do love taking photos, especially when I travel, but lugging around my Nikon D90 can be such a chore. My bags tend to become heavy and cumbersome causing me to not pull out my camera as much. Even though I don’t always love the camera on my iPhone (uh, apple, can we fix this yet?), I manage to capture our life and travel through the conveniences of Instagram. Granted, I have begun to incorporate a few new apps in my image processing before publishing, like PicTapGo, to help with the filter and lighting editing as the iPhone doesn’t always capture images the best. Even so, I love being able to create albums using my own hashtags- which help me find photos easy and also share with the brands I work with my collection of images, including comments and likes. I also love being able to throw my iPhone in my cross-body bag and have hands-free until I’m ready to grab and go. I can video, I can share with my family, and I can share with all of you on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We had a jammed pack summer full of travels, and I was able to capture most of it via my iPhone and Instagram. Since today is #IGTravelThursday, courtesy of Skimbaco Lifestyle, I wanted to take the opportunity to share my Instagram Summer with you, starting with Telluride, Colorado.

Telluride, Colorado– #RSMLVTride

This was our first trip of the summer. We packed up the kids in our GMC Yukon Denali, Extended Version, and rode off into the Southwest. A 9 1/2 hour car ride from Las Vegas provided my family with the ultimate road trip. Telluride is a beautiful little mountain town in the most southwestern point of Colorado. Not super easy to get to, but the drive is beautiful. Scenic routes along the way are filled with canyons, rivers and gorges. My kids make it a game to spot the cows and horse first, usually found grazing in random, middle of nowhere fields and pastures, with a picturesque red barn off in the distance. Typically, we choose to overnight in Moab, Utah on our way up, to allow ourselves a break and to adjust to the change in altitude. This time, however, we had some trouble with our tires, and had to stop in Richfield, Utah. Not a horrible place to stop as we discovered a newly redesigned Holiday Inn Express that we were very impressed with, and will most likely be the stopping point for our next trip to Telluride. My roadtrip advice: Enjoy the journey to the destination. You can learn so much along the way.

FTC DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT RockStarMom Las Vegas aims to provide unbiased editorials. However, I wish to disclose that from time to time I may receive free products or other compensation from companies for blogger reviews.