Today, Rene shares 11 essentials that help keep her kids happy and entertained while traveling:
Traveling with kids can be challenging, but if you're prepared with plenty of activities (and snacks!) you can keep your little travel companions happy, which will keep you happy. Here are my favorite sanity-saving essentials (aside from the usual diapering items) that will make the trek easier for everyone.
For my trip to DC, Jon lent me the Travelpro luggage I bought him for Christmas (since my options were either too big or too small). And now I need to continue to borrow Jon's or buy my own! This luggage is compact (though it features expansion opportunity), awesomely lightweight, and features 360 degree wheels that make it easy to navigate through the airport and into those tight bathroom stalls. Travelpro makes bigger sizes too, but I recommend staying small; the less space you have, the less unnecessary stuff you'll pack!
Ever since becoming a parent, summer is a completely different ballgame. And while I could do without the transition woes and calendar juggling, I do appreciate how Laurel and Vi's summer schedules force me to think about blocking out down time and trying new things (both good things!). So when Starwood Hotels & Resorts invited me to participate in their My Summer Story campaign -- in which they're encouraging people to reflect on their summer stories and make the summer worth talking about -- I was like, yes, I am on board with this!
Today, Judy (also of Talking Thirty) shares ideas for awesome things to do on the Upper Cape:
I have such fond childhood memories of spending summers on Cape Cod. Even after 30-some years, I haven't tired of going there summer after summer. And now that I'm a mom, I'm eager to share the experience with my son and introduce him to all that the Upper Cape (Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, Sandwich, and Barnstable) has to offer. I particularly love the Upper Cape because it's closer to Boston -- handy when traveling with kids who may not tolerate long car rides, and wonderful for day trips if overnight lodging is out of budget. Here are some suggestions for family-friendly activities in the area.
I love traveling. Except for the part about the schlepping of the stuff, especially the bulky, heavy stuff such as travel cribs. So I was intrigued to learn that there was a new (parent-designed) travel crib in town, and then find out that journeyBee delivers what it promises. Weighing in under 12 pounds (about half the weight of other play yards), and decidedly easier to schlep (the crib folds down flat and comes with a travel bag), it takes about 2 seconds to pop open and maybe 5-20 seconds (depending on how good you are at following left/right instructions) to fold down. I initially wondered about the coziness of a crib that sits directly on the floor (compared to footed travel cribs), but journeyBee has a nice, thick mattress pad and fleece cover sheet.
Our final site visit in Ethiopia represented the awesome and the ironic. Muya (which means talent) is a woman-owned, fair trade business that has "made it" in many ways. In contrast to the primitive yet productive trappings of fashionABLE, Muya is situated in Addis Ababa on a rather restorative feeling compound -- a series of modern buildings (vs. wood and tin roofed huts) nestled between plenty of foliage. They make a gorgeous array of home and fashion products and produce scarves for Lemlem (which distributes to clients such as J. Crew). Yet despite their successes, they still struggle to gain footing with sellers; largely, it seems, due to outsider stereotypes of Ethiopia.
Ever since reading Roger Thurow's The Last Hunger Season I've been thinking a lot about global food issues and about how simple agricultural educational practices (e.g., how to space out seeds, fertilize, water) are huge game changers when it comes to sustainability and helping farmers in third world countries not only feed their families, but access other necessities such as education. Our visits to USAID's ENGINE hub and a nutrition demonstration showed the progress being made in this direction.
The more Ethiopian families I've met and the longer the time apart from my family grows, I find myself increasingly wondering about how the girls are doing in school. Did Laurel have a good day? Was the special Italian, art, music, or gym? [I can never keep the schedule straight.] What songs did Violet sing today at circle? All of what I envision -- the shiny classrooms, piles of books, and endless snack supply -- lies in stark contrast to what I'm seeing on the ground in Ethiopia, whether at traditional schools or at the Population Council's safe learning spaces for girls suffering in urban slums. The program is called BiruhTesfa (bright future), and I really need to tell you about it today.