Hi everyone! My name is Ashley and I’m a stay-at-home Mom of two amazing kiddos - my daughter Hayden is 3.5 years old and my son Logan just turned 5 months old! Time sure does fly, especially with the second child.
We live in the San Francisco Bay Area where we try to embrace everything this amazing area has to offer. We are lucky to have so many kid-friendly activities right at our fingertips! And of course no matter where we go, whether it’s a short trip to the park or a big trip to the zoo, we always have to be prepared with what seems like endless amounts of gear and of course FOOD! I literally cannot leave the house without snacks for my toddler, even if it’s a five minute car ride to return library books! Without fail, I’ll hear a little voice saying, “Mommy, I’m hungry!” as soon as we exit the garage. And I can only imagine what that song will sound like once my baby can talk, too! Fortunately, our ZoLi gear makes it super easy to pack nutritious food so we can be healthy on the go!
One of our favorite day trips is to the Oakland Zoo. We received a membership as a gift (such a fabulous gift idea!) and we go all the time. Whenever we’re going on an outing, the first thing I do in the morning - or sometimes the night before - is pack our snacks and lunch in our NOMNOM lunch tote.
What I love about this bag is that it’s large enough to fit both snacks and lunch, yet it’s not a huge bag. It’s also the perfect size to fit our SUMO snack stacker. We usually put two types of fresh fruits or veggies in two of the containers and crackers in the other. Hayden is always eager to see what I packed for her. It actually makes it more fun for her to eat healthy. Another essential that always comes along with us is our FORK & SPOON set. I love that there is both a fork and a spoon because Hayden is very particular with what she wants to eat with a spoon versus a fork - and I’m imagining she’s not the only toddler with this quirk! Heaven forbid I pack her some rice and forget a spoon, or some cut up fruit and forget a fork! They come in a cute little case which is super handy. And of course, Hayden loves to carry her bag with her, as it makes her feel like a big girl.
Another favorite activity for us is CuriOdyssey on the Peninsula. I even went there when I was a kid! It’s always fun sharing these experiences with my kids now. They have animals to see, and lots of hands-on play. There is an amazing Mexican restaurant nearby and since we were in the area… we had to go! Since Hayden was little - and we’re going to try and keep this up with Logan - we have made it a point to always make sure we have some familiar foods with us when we go to restaurants. We feel it’s really important for her to try new foods and expand her pallet and in most cases, she’s great with it. But, I always like to be sure we have some fresh fruits and veggies with us. In the times where we don’t need a large quantity, we take our ON THE GO snack dispenser with us. This time we brought along some fresh raspberries and baby carrots to accompany the endless baskets of chips! This snack dispenser is just like the SUMO, but smaller. Each stackable container is about 4 ounces, where the SUMO is double that. It also has a formula dispenser which comes in super handy. I know once Logan starts eating solids, it will be perfect to add a good variety of fresh foods in smaller quantities. A great accessory for this is the OTG SNACK LIDS. They allow you to easily convert the stackable containers into individual snacks.
Lately, Logan has been teething like crazy. He actually started teething around 3.5 months old, which is pretty early. At that age, he’s still developing his coordination to be able to hold onto things so it wasn’t easy helping him relieve his pain with teethers. Enter, BUNNY! This is the best teether ever! I swear it was made for Logan. He’s able to hold onto it with both hands and chew to his content. It gives him instant relief. Each pack comes with two, so I always have one in the refrigerator ready to relieve his sore gums. This always makes him a happy boy.
Life with two little ones doesn't always give us a lot of time to sit nicely at the table to enjoy a meal. Lately, many meals have been eaten in the car. Most of the time it’s breakfast in order to get Hayden to school on time. This was always something I vowed I would never do, simply because of the mess it would be! But, I have come to learn that at this point it’s just survival and it’s actually not even that messy, as long as the food doesn’t produce crumbs. Hayden loves oatmeal especially out of her THIS + THAT stackable insulated container. I usually put hot oatmeal in the top, and cold yogurt in the bottom with some fresh fruit, and voila. Instant breakfast - albeit in the car. I am also the leftover queen, and so is Hayden. She loves to eat for lunch what we had for dinner the night before. THIS + THAT makes that easy peasy when I want to heat up some leftovers to bring on a picnic. Lately I made some sweet potato tacos that were a huge hit. The next day I heated up the filling, threw it into our THIS + THAT and called it day. We had a fun picnic at the park and enjoyed a nutritious lunch. Win!
I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into our day to day life when we get to use our amazing ZoLi products. I hope this gives you some inspiration about how you, too, can live life on the go and be healthy at the same time!
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