Traveling with children, part 2

A big part of traveling, just in general, is eating in restaurants. As much as we tried to buy healthy snacks to keep in a cooler in the car, inevitably we'd have to eat out for a meal or two along the way.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, occasionally, in order to give the kids some much needed "run around" time after driving several hours in the car, a pit stop at a fast food restaurant with a play area can be just what the doctor ordered. And, if you don't want to feed your kids the food at these restaurants, most have coffee or tea that you can sip on while letting them burn off some steam. Also, most of the fast food joints that we've been to have sliced apples or a fruit cup available to provide a healthy snack.

Let's say you've been traveling all day and it's getting late and you aren't in the mood for a burger and fries but you also don't want to confine the kids to sitting still at a more formal restaurant after they've been cooped up in a car seat or airplane for several hours. We had this scenario one of the days on our trip so we decided to order pizza in to our hotel room. We had several local restaurant menus provided to us in our room and among them was for a pizza place. Thankfully they delivered and while we waited I was able to let the kids take a bath and play in the room before settling in to eat dinner and then go to bed.

Another thing to consider when traveling, especially with kids, is to stay in hotels that offer a continental breakfast. My kids are generally happy with a bowl of cereal or some fresh fruit and all of the hotels we stayed at offered something along those lines. It's a lot cheaper than eating out for every meal and it inspired us to get up a bit earlier and out the door to our next amazing destination.

Now, for those times that you do eat out at a "sit-down" restaurant, here are a few things I find useful to keep in the diaper bag, especially for little ones still in a high chair.

1. A sippy cup strap - This is the one we have and it works extremely well. Little E loves to drop stuff from restaurant high chairs and I don't want to have to be constantly having to run to the bathroom to wash off who-knows-what from the top of her sippy cup.

2.Secure-A-Toy straps - These serve the same purpose as the sippy cup strap but for toys. I keep a few toys in the diaper bag that are able to be secured to a high chair with one of these straps and I rotate them out frequently so she doesn't get bored with the toys too quickly.

3. Triangular crayons - Seriously ingenious. Not only do my kids get frustrated by roll-away crayons but I get tired of either picking them up myself or having the kids crawling around on the floor trying to find them. Triangular crayons solve both of those problems. The ones we bought say "extra jumbo" in the description but they are really not that much bigger than a standard size crayon. They are thicker though so more resistant to snapping and they are paper-less which is nice since K seems to enjoy pulling the paper off her crayons and leaving paper messes in her wake.

4. Disposable placemats - Most restaurants have a kids menu or an activity placemat for the kids to draw on but that only lasts so long. Also, they are thin paper that tear easily if they get wet and don't stay in place well enough to keep utensils and food off the table and on something a bit more sanitary. These stick-on placemats are neat because they have fun little scenes the kids can color while waiting for their food and there's even a blank one to use for things like tic-tac-toe or hangman, etc.

Hopefully these tips as well as the few from the other day will help make traveling with your own kids a bit more fun and easier on you all. I'm still working on getting all of the pictures we took on our vacation downloaded from the memory cards and edited for the web but here's one more to wet your whistle.

Traveling with children

We are so fortunate to have spent the most amazing vacation out in the Pacific Northwest and while I'm totally anxious to share photos from our trip, first I want to talk a little bit about traveling with children.

For this trip we had two 4-hour flights and several road trips that stretched between 1.5 and 5 hours. Here are a few of my findings to help make traveling with children easier.

Travel by air

At this age, Little E is still young enough to be considered an "Infant in lap" which is good and bad. Hey, she flies for free so that's obviously good. The bad part though is it's very cramped quarters holding a child in your lap the entire flight and for the child, they are bound to get antsy. Here are a few ways we helped fill the time and keep the kiddos busy and quiet on the plane.

1. Snacks! Snacks are a great thing to have on hand when flying (or driving for that matter) because they keep the kids busy, it keeps them happy (an empty tummy is a crabby kid), and it keeps them quiet since their mouths will be full of food. I brought fish crackers, grapes, cereal, blueberries, and fruit snacks. I tried to pick snacks that didn't require refrigeration and would be easy (read: not messy) to eat with their fingers.

2. Activity Books: I purchased two sticker activity books for K to do on the plane (one for the way there and one for the way home.) I think most kids love stickers and these books definitely kept her quiet and busy for at least an hour. The two I got are: School Zone's "Get Ready for School: Stickers"and Roger Priddy's "Preschool Sticker Activity Book" I definitely prefer the School Zone's book for a couple of reasons. A) It was more focused on teaching concepts than just decorating a page with stickers, B) the sticker pages were *much* easier to rip out than the Priddy book, and C) the stickers needed for each page are arranged together on one page with the page number for where you will use them printed underneath.

3. Electronics: Whether it's a tablet, a phone, or a handheld gaming system, sometimes these little devices can really keep the kids quiet for quite some time. K has a Mobigo by Vtech which is probably getting a bit too easy for her now but I got her a new Disney Fairies game and that kept her busy when the sticker books were finished.

4. If possible, plan your flights during nap time. I know E slept for some of the time on the way out to Portland and she slept for half of the flight back which was great. Honestly, both girls were absolutely amazing on the flights. They were calm, quiet and polite. A and I were incredibly proud of them.

Travel by car

Our girls are well versed at traveling via car since we have been going to and from OH since they've been born. There are several things we keep in our minivan at all times that have proved to be very helpful.
A) Wipes - you always need wipes to clean up spills, faces, sticky hands, etc.
B) Audio books - We have a ton of these Disney Read-Along Storybook and CD's in our car and they are fantastic to keep the girls busy and help with their reading skills as well.
C) A travel potty - We've had this Baby Bjorn potty in our car for years and it's the smartest thing in there. I can't tell you how many times this potty has saved us from some form of accident (no toilet at a park, a disgusting port-a-potty, back when she used to be afraid of automatic flushing toilets, etc.)
D) Scissors - All too often we purchase a toy that's been encased in so much plastic that it's never coming out, or a juice box that didn't come with a straw and needs to be cut open instead. A spare pair of scissors can be incredibly helpful in those types of situations.

In addition to more snacks (baby carrots, clementine oranges, nuts, granola bars, apples, and peaches) I purchased a few other things for the times we'd be in the car that I'd recommend to people taking this kind of road trip.

1. Melissa & Doug: On the Go Water Wow Coloring Book These cool books come with a paintbrush pen that you fill with water and "color" on four thick pages of white images that turn to color with the water. They are really neat in both senses of the word (cool and clean) and have little hidden pictures within them that you reveal when colored. I was a little afraid that with only four pages that they would tire of these quickly but they were a hit with both girls.

2. iPad Car Headrest Mount Holder with extra long charging cord. This is a simple, soft holder that you slip an iPad into and you slide the elastic strap around the headrest. The extra long charging cord was a big selling point for me and while it does work it charges so slowly that if you use it while watching a video on the iPad it doesn't actually charge the tablet but instead holds whatever battery power you already had. We have a portable DVD Player but since I knew K would want to play games on the iPad anyway, I decided to download a few of their favorite movies onto the iPad and just bring that. It worked out great but on a few occasions A and I noticed that K had her nose buried in the iPad instead of looking around at the amazing scenery. So, yes it occupied her and kept them busy during our longer driving stretches but I think we'll limit the usage on our next trip.

3. Jeep Cling Sunshades Our minivan has tinted back windows and integrated sunshades on the girls windows to help block out the bright sunlight. I knew that we wouldn't have that on our rental car so I grabbed a pack of two of these sunshades to put on their windows. They can be cut to size but since I was in a rental and not my own car, we didn't have any scissors to do that. (See? Another great reason to keep scissors in your glove box.) We were able to fold and tuck these around to keep the majority of the sun off of the girls and at $5 for two, they were cheap enough that when we were packing up to head home I just tossed them since I wouldn't need them anymore.

4. If possible, make frequent stops to get out and burn some pent-up energy. Maybe that means that sometimes you eat lunch at a fast food restaurant with a Play Area, or find a rest stop that has a clean grassy area to run around and pick clover. A short stop can give you at least an hour, maybe two of happy travelers.

General suggestions

Kids get excited about the small things. Buy a new travel toothbrush and toothpaste and don't let them use it until the vacation and they'll think that's super special and cool. Any products that come in the little travel sizes (shower gel, bandages, tissues) are very cool to young kids.

Let them use their own souvenir money. Since K will be starting kindergarten this fall I wanted to use souvenir money as a way for her to get some real-life experience with counting money. Every night when A comes home he dumps his loose change into a piggy bank on the dresser. Early on I told K that whatever change was in the piggy bank would be hers to use to purchase whatever she wanted on vacation. She ended up with a great amount for a kid her age - $36.00. She bought 3 stuffed animals and a bag of polished rocks with her money. Each time she bought something I had her count out the money and hand it to the cashier as well as give her a running tally on how much she had left. There were a few times later on in the trip where she wanted more things but I gently reminded her that she had already spent her money and while she was disappointed she couldn't have said toy, there were far fewer pleas than usual

Plan a few activities that are just for them. For this vacation I did a lot of research for "Family Fun" ideas in the cities where we'd be staying. Some of our favorite activities were things I planned for the kids but A and I had just as much fun as they did. For instance, we went to a drive-through wildlife safari because I figured the kids would get a kick out of having the animals be so much more up close and personal than in a traditional zoo. What I didn't expect is how much all of us would love it and spend way more time there than I had estimated and ended up not doing something else I had planned that day just so we could stay there longer. And that leads me to my final thought...

The best pieces of advice I can give you about traveling with children is to be flexible. Without a doubt something will not go according to plan. I forgot my all-time favorite baby carrier and while I was bummed about it, I ended up just buying a different one at Walmart and then leaving that one with the friends we were staying with who are having a baby this winter. Or when I entered the wrong address into Google Maps and we missed our tour but were lucky enough to get on the later one. Things will happen that will test your patience but if you're flexible and remember that you're on vacation to have fun and spend time together as a family, I find that almost anything that happens isn't enough to ruin our trip.

Birthday Party Blast from the Past

Hi Everyone. Wow, I can't believe what a terrible blogger I've been lately. Pretty much every night I think about writing a post but then I end up watching some Gordon Ramsey show on Fox.com and falling asleep.

Anyway, since we all know how much I love to plan a birthday party, and I had such a good time reminiscing over pictures of K's first birthday, I decided I would post pictures from her second birthday since that is the only other party missing from this blog.

The theme of her party was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because she was a big fan of that show back then. I used store-bought invitations and thank you cards that featured Mickey, Goofy and Donald. The color palette was (obviously) red, black, and white.

The tables were set with one red tablecloth and one black and I used black and red paper plates and napkins.

Below is the birthday girl enjoying breakfast with her Mickey balloon. Behind her you can see the best part of the decorations (at least for the kids it was.)

I hung red, black and white crepe paper streamers in one of the doorways between the kitchen and the dining room and the kids LOVED running through the streamers, around the corner, through the other kitchen doorway and back out through the streamers again. It was a big hit for very little money.

For party favors each of the girls got a red necklace, a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, a Mickey Mouse bracelet and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coloring book with crayons.

Since K's birthday is during the scorching months of the summer we often set up a pool or sprinkler in the backyard for the kids to cool off.

And we definitely allow skinny-dipping at our parties. This was a cute pool with the giraffe slide but unfortunately it didn't stay down very well since it was blown up and not really heavy enough.

My Mom decorated the cake and the cupcakes. I purchased the cake topper and cupcake picks from Amazon.com.

Auntie Cousin and K have birthdays within two days of each other so we often sing to both of them. Here they are blowing out the candles.

Here's the wee birthday lass and her little lamb before opening gifts. It's so fun looking back on these photos and seeing how little she was three years ago. It's hard to believe in just two months she'll be five.

On a funny side note, I've mentioned before how I plan party themes years in advance so that way if I see a good deal for a theme I have in mind, I can purchase it right then. I guess I should have realized that a five year old is going to have her own ideas about what birthday party theme she wants and of course it's not what I had planned. Oh well. I'll save the circus/carnival themed party I was going to do for another year.

Lastly, and while this doesn't apply to this post at all, today is the third anniversary of the loss of our second child. It's still hard to wrap my mind around. Sometimes I wonder what she would be like if she were here. Who would she look like? What would her personality be like? But then I think about how much I would miss E and her sweet / crazy little personality and her beautiful blonde locks and blue eyes. I know we're incredibly blessed and I have faith that someday we'll be reunited. I love all of our children so much, even the one I never knew. God bless you, Allison.

Friday Phone Photos

I love these Peanuts so much.

Let's Review... Travel Strollers

Hello. It's time again for another product review. This time I'll be discussing what I feel are the strengths and weakness of three different lightweight travel strollers we own, focusing on three points: weight capacity, total weight, and maneuverability. Since we'll be using one of these strollers on our up-coming vacation with our older daughter, these three points are the most important to us. As I've mentioned before, I don't get any kick-backs or free products from these companies. My reviews are solely to help other parents out there when deciding which baby products to spend their hard earned money on.

First up is the Babies R Us Lightweight Stroller. This is an umbrella-type stroller with a few upgrades and at $30.00 it's the cheapest of the three travel strollers in this review.

According to the statistics on their website, this strollers weight capacity is 35 lbs and its total weight is 6.5 lbs. Our older daughter, K, is heavier than the suggested 35 pounds however we still use this stroller with her in a pinch. Because she's heavier that their suggestion the maneuverability of this stroller suffers. However at a total weight of only 6.5 pounds, this is the lightest stroller making it easiest to carry around for travel purposes.


Next up is the Jeep Cherokee Lightweight Sport Stroller. The exact model that we have is no longer for sale so this is the link for the new version: Jeep Cherokee Sport Stroller. My review here will be of the model that's no longer available since that's the one we own. At $50.00 this is the middle of the line for price.

According to the statistics on the website, this strollers weight capacity is 40 lbs and its total weight is 11.8 lbs. One of the updates from our model to the current one is that the weight capacity has gone up to 50 pounds. If that had been the case with this stroller it would have been my winner. However, at only a 40 lb top limit this impairs its maneuverability enough to rank it second in my review. At 11.8 pounds this stroller still feels very light to carry which is important when considering travel.


Last up is The First Years Ignite Stroller. Coming in at $57.00 it's the most expensive of the lightweight strollers in this review, however it's the one we decided we'll be taking with on our vacation.

According to the statistics on the website, this strollers weight capacity is 50 lbs and its total weight is 17.5 lbs. While 17.5 pounds doesn't sound like a lot, this stroller seems surprisingly heavy to me given its small footprint which is the one downfall I have found so far. I'm not sure if it's the higher weight capacity or something about the wheels but this stroller is a DREAM to maneuver, even with our older daughter in it.


Speaking of footprint, each of these strollers fold up to a fairly small size with the Babies R Us Lightweight Stroller being the smallest overall. The Jeep Cherokee Lightweight Sport Stroller is the shortest but also a bit wider and The First Years Ignite Stroller is the tallest and a bit wider than the Babies R Us stroller with its larger wheels. This is relevant when deciding which stroller will fit in the back of an already tight trunk stuffed with luggage as well as gate checking it at the airport.

I could have cropped this closer but the baby butt is too cute to cut out.

Each of these strollers have some additional "bonuses" that while they aren't absolutely necessary, they are definitely nice to have.

The Babies R Us Lightweight Stroller has an adjustable canopy which is great for blocking out sun when it's in any position other than straight up. It also comes with a small removable storage pocket for diapers, wipes, toys, a sippy cup, etc. There's an even smaller pocket inside that for keys and a phone.

The Jeep Cherokee Lightweight Sport Stroller has a hard plastic parent console with two cup holders and a small storage space, a removable plastic child tray, a large plastic footrest, a decent sized storage basket underneath that is easy to access, two cargo bags to hold additional items (I don't really get these), and a window in the canopy making it easy to see your child when the canopy is open. The canopy is not adjustable like the Babies R Us version; it's either open or closed. This stroller is very easy to open and close with the one-hand fold design. It also stays upright when folded which is a very nice feature when storing the stroller during its off time.

The First Years Ignite Stroller has a fabric parent console with a drink holder and a small zippered pocket for keys and a phone. Like the Jeep stroller, it has a fixed canopy and a storage basket underneath that is a bit more cumbersome to use due to the frame of the stroller to accommodate the heavier weight capacity. It's also the tallest of the three strollers which is great when you have a tall husband like I do. It's also the only stroller with an adjustable five-point harness. While this isn't as important with our older daughter since I don't plan to buckle her in anyway, it will be very nice when we use it with our younger daughter.

Here you can see how the Babies R Us stroller on the left has an adjustable canopy
(it's pulled down so it's covering the front of the stroller).

As far as fit and comfort go, my daughter says she likes the Jeep stroller best. I don't know if it's really because it's more comfortable or if it's because it's blue (her favorite color). She seems to fit in these two strollers about the same. They have a longer seat which is good for her longer legs, a bit of a higher back which is good since she's tall and they are a bit wider to accommodate an older child. She is really too tall for any of these strollers since her  head extends past the top of the back but I know we are going to be doing a lot of hiking / walking on our vacation and while she can and will do a good part of it, I also know her legs won't last as long as ours and if we want to be able to see all of the sights I have planned, we're going to need a stroller for her. (Thankfully Little Sis is still small enough to carry in our Boba 2G Baby Carrier so we don't have to bring two strollers.)

So, based on the maneuverability, the higher weight capacity, and the taller handles, The First Years Ignite Stroller won out as our travel stroller. I'll do a follow up post about how it worked out "in the field" when we get back from vacation. Honestly though, if I had remembered we had that Jeep stroller in the basement and had not felt how amazing The First Years Ignite stroller maneuvered, I would have saved the money and brought the Jeep stroller; it was a very close second. Like I mentioned before, maybe the higher weight capacity has made the newer Jeep models easier to maneuver and it would win me over.

(P.S. I own two other strollers that I'll review at a later date. And just so you don't think I'm crazy owning so many strollers, the Jeep stroller is my Mom's.)

Friday Phone Photos

Howdy Folks!

Happy last day of May. Can you believe it's going to be June? I can't wait for this summer. We have tons of great plans. I just hope the weather cooperates and the rain stops soon.

I missed the past two Friday's (sorry) so here's a triple dose of Friday Phone Photos:

Here a Dot, There a Dot. Everywhere a Dot, Dot!

Back in April I had the privilege of helping arrange a party for a very special little lady. My dear sweet Godniece turned six (SIX!) and this was a very special birthday party. You see, my Godniece happens to be a Princess and we had to make sure it was a party befitting royalty. I think we did her justice :)

My Sister (in-law) picked the theme of polka dots. What a fun and cool idea! Mom and I were on the prowl at our usual party supply stores, Target and the Dollar Store where we found a bunch of cute polka dot favors. Sis crocheted a ton of these super cute circular coasters in all kinds of bright colors that we sprinkled around the house, Mom sewed table runners out of pretty polka dot fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics, and I made a polka dot birthday banner as well as a photo banner (an idea I've seen on other blog sites and thought it would be cute).

I purchased several different sheets of 12"x12" polka dot scrapbook paper from Michaels and cut them in half. Then I used a ruler to measure the triangles that I cut from the bottom to give them the flag appearance. I traced and cut out the letters using my old teaching stencils and construction paper and then used double sided tape to attach each flag to a length of bakers twine. (You can also see Fergie anxiously awaiting her new owner.)

I made the photo banner in the same way as I did the birthday banner but instead of letters I used photos of the Princess from over the years and just cropped and rounded the corners using a punch from my scrapbook collection.

Each of the four tables had this centerpiece. You can see my Mom's polka dot runner and the crocheted polka dots my Sister made. I also punched out a few construction paper dots to put on the round place mats. We used Skittles and Smarties for edible decorations and my Mom found polka dot sunglasses for each of the girls as well as polka dot pinwheels and the light up space balls.

The proud parents and Grumpa getting some food.

From left: Auntie Cousin S, Momma, K, and Great Aunt P enjoying our party fare. Mom found great polka dot plates and napkins. Normally we use Corelle plates and fabric napkins to be more environmental but we had a hard time passing on these paper ones because they tied in the colors so perfectly.

Daddy and Little E playing with the wiffle balls and buckets. We were going to play Bozo Buckets with them but I don't think we actually ever got around to it. And if you noticed, yes E and K are wearing matching dresses. I know it's cliche and "cutesy" but I love it and this is probably the last year I'll be able to do it.

The Princess (in her polka dot dress) blowing out her candles with an assist from Mommy (also wearing polka dots), K and Daddy. In the background you can see the paper lanterns hanging over the main dining table.

Happy birthday my sweet Godniece. We love you so much and hope you had a wonderful time at your party.