Third Coast Family -

July 18, 2020

Back to school – Supporting your Kid’s Immune System

Back to school is basically here, and we as parents are having to make some hard decisions when it comes to in person, online, or breaking away and homeschooling on your own. There is somebody out there that will not agree with what you decide to do, but what’s great is their opinion doesn’t matter, unless it’s the other parent, which is a different ball game. You get to weigh all the options and make the best decision for you and your kids. I support you in whatever decision you make, because you are the parent and know what’s best.

If your kiddos are going back to school, we want to support their bodies the best we can, and build up that immune system. It seems like school germs have always been a problem, and even healthy kids get sick, but just maybe they bounce back faster, and get sick less. Worth a shot, right?!? So let’s go through the ways we are supporting our kids bodies during this unknown time.

June 13, 2020

Must Do’s in Raleigh, NC

Last August we made the trip to Raleigh, North Carolina for my little brother’s wedding. We planned some extra time in our trip to explore and find some fun things to do. We had rehearsal dinner and then the wedding the next day and other than that we had a few days on our own. I’m going to go through some of the things we got around to and some things that are on our list for next time, and some fun things that my brother and sister-in-law have found. My sister-in-law, Rachel, actually grew up there so she knows a lot more than I do after just spending a few days there. We loved the small town feel, but also all the amenities of city living. It is right between the ocean and the mountains too, which is a win-win for my family. Here are our must do’s when we are there!

June 3, 2020

Easy Tech-Free Road Trip Activities for Toddlers

Hey friends! It’s been almost 4 years since we have done any substantial road tripping. We are not currently fans of driving more than an hour due to Ryan and Sara getting car sick. We had a beach trip planned with the whole family early March 2020. We looked into flights from Houston to the Florida panhandle and they were far more expensive than we wanted to pay for all 6 of us to go, so road tripping it was. I am an over planner so I started planning months in advance.

I started a whole Pinterest board with more than enough activity ideas. I’ll say that I like to be creative but I don’t like to spend a ton of time on something that my kids will probably lose or destroy in a matter of minutes. Car organization on road trips was also something I was looking forward to succeeding at this time. I can’t say I succeeded because I’m also an over packer. I need to bring everything I might possibly ever need, hahaha!

May 16, 2020

Gluten Free on a Cruise

We are somewhat new to the gluten free way of eating, so going on a cruise where you can’t go to the store and cook your own food was a little worrisome. Marc and I eat gluten free for preference, but Ryan is strictly gluten free. We started it for inflammation but it has cleared up his keratosis pilaris, and he switched over so easily. I will say that if he got gluten, he would not necessarily get sick though. We hope the other kids will switch eventually too.

May 13, 2020

10 Favorites for Cruising with Small Kids

Cruising with small kids can be relaxing and fun at the same time. Mom & dad don’t have to cook or clean, and we can enjoy being present with the kids. If we do want to go have quiet time we can take them to kid’s club and know that they are safe and having fun. Also, our two youngest kids get car sick, but have no problems on the big ships. Cruising is so nice for us to see different places and avoid the car as much as possible. For us it is also budget friendly by how we book it during kids sail free and our room choice. We hope you’ll try a cruise vacation with your kids someday too!

May 3, 2020

My Half Marathon on a Whim

The year 2017 was when I hit the big 3-0. It was also the year I ran my first competitive race.

Going back, it was certainly an off-the-cuff remark, much less than a true commitment. Other than turning 30 that year, there wasn’t a real driver or reason to make what was, at the time, a rash decision. I was an otherwise unremarkably healthy person without pre-existing conditions or maladies. Just kind of a run of the mill young guy working on a dad bod.

May 3, 2020

Family Vacation on 30A

Hey friends! We had been planning a Spring Break beach trip to the 30A area of Florida for months, and then the COVID-19 virus hit. Schools had been cancelled for a couple weeks, Marc had worked from home for a couple days just to test the “work from home” waters, and restaurants were just starting to do to-go orders. We weighed our options and decided if my grandparents that are in their 80’s got approved for travel we were probably ok. Plus we had a house we could stay at and cook our own foods.

May 2, 2020

In the beginning…

We drew our first child’s name out of a hat. Seriously. I guess we skipped ahead a bit on the parenting timeline there.
We are the Cleverley family of six. There’s Samantha (Mom), myself (Marc – Dad), Tyler (hat name child), Blake, Ryan and Sara. We’ve spun up this precious gem of a blog (can you tasted the sarcasm yet??) in an effort to share what we’ve learned over our ten wonderful years as an ever growing family, but also as another way to connect with friends and family.