Road Trips with Kids- Are We There Yet?

Bouncing back

2012-01-12T13:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was just reading about the situation between Walgreens and Express Script and thank goodness for the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. it's just ridiculous that so many elderly people and veterans are going to have to suffer with all the hassle of changing their prescriptions just because Walgreens was trying to protect their prices and their customers. I mean, who do these people think they are, changing things up on their customers without even considering the fallout. What a mess. I think more people are suffering from bad insurance companies than from illness around here.

Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't one of their customers and I'm glad to have stumbled upon this because I will totally avoid dealing with this company now, it's not cool at all. if you're not following Walgreens on Twitter you should, or at least go find Walgreens on Facebook and like their page. Finally, go check out the prescription club. It's only $10 a year for families and if you're like us, it pays for itself fairly quickly because members get discounts throughout the rest of the store, too. Good luck, I hope you

Weighing the options

2011-11-14T23:01:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Puppies vs. Babies for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know life is good when the biggest decision you need to make is who to vote for in the Puppies vs. Babies online contest. I'll nevr forget when Maddy was a baby and we had Charlie the puppy, too. My favorite photo is one where she was sleeping on the couch and he had his arm and leg strewn over her, like they were snuggling. He was the cutest puppy EVER. But definitely not cuter than the baby, I mean. As humans, we're wired to just know intuitively that babies are cuter than puppies. I've never seen dogs ooglling over how cute babies are because they're like neurologically wired to prefer their own species, right? Let's be honest about what we're talking about when we thingk of puppies, OK. This Puppies vs. Babies thing is serious. A baby would never chew up dirty diapers and strew them all over the living room, right? Babies don't shed hair that can end up floating in your morning coffee. Babies don't pee on your carpet or under the dining room table. But there are people int his world who are seriously voting for puppies in this contest. can you believe it? So do us all a favor please, and go vote for the human race... the future of the free world depends on it.

best phone service for traveling

2011-10-21T10:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The getting richer effect has expanded... by LittleBard95

Is that incredible? Seriously, I happen to think these monthly no contract phone plans are the absolute smartest lifesaver for travelers. We've traveled through like 30 states this summer and my daughter's Straight Talk phone has worked through ALL of them. My SimpleMobile, on the other hand, has only worked in SOME big cities. We also have Boost phone and a TracFone in the RV and the StraightTalk has had the very best coverage. I like the Straight Talk because we can get the cards at any Walmart, even online. It's just plain SMARTER to only pay $45 a month for unlimited phone service that comes with texting and Internet. Plus, I love that my 14 yr old daughter can feel The power of Android because using the latest technology is important for kids to keep up with the times. Imagine how difficult it would be for her to adjust to her adult life if she waited until she was an adult to Feel Richer with Android, like I did. Honestly, I couldn't have figured it out without her :)

So what will YOU do with all the extra money you save from switching over to StraightTalk. And if youre not switching, then why on earth not? You have nothing to lose except that lame cell phone bill and restrictive contract.

Use your brain

2011-09-19T13:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If that didn't convince you, Hook, line and sinker that you need to switch your phone service, then you're already using them, aren't you? When i found out I could get an Android on Straight Talk I was SOLD, I had to Call a friend and GLOAT because she was still on contract for another few months. It's just plain stupid to use a contract phone anymore when there are so many options for prepaid service.

Sure, people have excuses for why they're still using a contract service, but really it's wasteful both financially and you have to consider that it's a smarter business model to have the cards because look at how many people are employed by contract services, the prepaid way is straightforward, you're not paying the paycheck of the techs, the customer service reps and everyone else. It's ridiculous, isn't it?

So how much will you save by switching service? When we switched, we ended up getting 4 phones a month for the same price we were paying for two phones. I was leery at first but it's been excellent, we haven't had any major complaints about the service. We travel a lot, so coverage is important but it sees like we';ve never all been out of range at once, even though we each have different phones. Anyway, do what works for you but run the numbers first, for sure.

Big families KNOW what counts

2011-09-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's no secret that we have six kids, but apparently we are geniuses, too. I was talking to a mom the other day who has two teenagers and their house has 4 cell phones, they spend over $500 a month on their cell phoe bills. I nearly spit my smoothie out my nose when I heard that. What a joke- WHY??? was all I wanted to know. It's not that my kids don't have phones, I can't even imagine how any human would get by in this modern world without one, but we use prepaid monthly cards. Check out the testimonials from Real TracFone customers to see why this is such a big deal.

First of all, in our house, no one's bill is more than $50 a month so if all 8 of us had a phone (and we don't, the youngest ones are only 3 and 5) then it would STILL be only $400 a month, which is still less than the family half our size pays. But the cool thing is that we're all on unlimited plans, so we get So many features we end up taking them for granted. This lady was complaining that her daughter always went over her texting limit. What the heck are limits for?

Ayway- my FAVORITE thing about the Tracfone system is that they have phones for under $10 so that when we have a child who.... "drops things" all the time, we don't need to worry about spending a fortune to replace her phone (three times this year!)

Anyway, if I haven't convinced you, check out their video, it lays it all out on the line. if you're spending too much you're wasting your time and resources. My friend with the big phone bill, she realized that if she switched to Tracfone, her husband could work two less days a month. That's HUGE. AND she'd be able to get a smartphone, so she's really glad to have switched. How about you?

Small talk welcome...

2011-07-31T16:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you've ever been on one of those pay-by-the-minute cell-phone plans, or had to deal with other antiquated forms of cell phone service, like limited data plans or cost-per-text, then you are in to get your world rocked, right about now. I mean, when I first saw these new monthly plans, I thought it was cool. I mean, you could call a friend and stay on the phone for hours, just like in the old days. What a treat, right? But when I learned that there was no contract involved, I was sold, hook, line and sinker. Seriously, the Smart Talk phoe gives you unlimited service for under $50 a month. That's all your talking, texting and the phones are inexpensive, too. They have everything you need for one low price. it's so much smarter. The other guys might give you a phone, but you're contracted to use them for like 3 years or something, which is totally bogus. I mean, really. There's no reason to have along-term relationship with technology. It changes TOO FAST.

Anyway, I just posted the commercial because sometimes I know people would rather watch something than to read it and being a mom, I know that mom knows best but i also know that some people just prefer to watch TV. Enjoy, and get out of that nasty ell phone contract and get WITH a company that doesn't jerk you around. ever. Enjoy <3

It's so hot outside

2011-07-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Guest post written by Joseph Finch

One thing I hate most about this dreadfully hot weather is the way it makes mymakeup all melt off by about noon. There’s nothing worse than when I spend all morning getting ready for work and by the time I get there I’ve already sweated everything off! Not to mention the way my hair reacts when the temp gets above about 100 degrees! I’m slowly getting used to it here in Texas although the summers are definitely part of the problem. My boss told me abouthttp://TexasElectricityProviders.com and we’re lucky that our air conditioning seems to be working properly but all in all I’d have to say that summer is my least favorite time of year to live here. I much more prefer the cool breezes from up north in Jersey and the way we’re always close to the beach! Oh well, this is my home now and I’m getting used to it but it’s definitely taken me a while to reach this point! Just ask my long-suffering boyfriend!

AWESOME opportunity

2011-06-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've been entering this same contest a million times this week, giveaways from Walgreens because whenever we're on the road there's always one nearby and most of the Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products are made with the same active ingredients as the name-brand products but at a fraction of the price. We like to keep band-aids and rubbing alcohol, peroxide and antibacterial cream in our first aid kit because you just never know what kind of injuries or illness will hit you and it's just plain smart. So we like to be prepared. I also like knowing that some of the funds are directed to the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™. (like $3 million last year)

So next time you're at Walgreens, check out the Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products and also, click on the word "giveaways" above to win some Walgreens gift cards. What would you do if you won? I already know what I would do. i would revamp all the first aid kits in the motorhome and in the house. I would also probably send a gift basket full of first aid supplies to my sister, she has boys and they're always hurting themselves. I hope one of us wins, good luck!

Where's the Pier?

2011-04-12T07:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm visiting Manchester, New Hampshire right now and I have to tell you that one of the first things I noticed as I arrived at my hotel was that there's a Pier One store almost right across the street. How cool is that? how lame is it that it was my first exciting thought! Not that visiting a new town isn't exciting, but honestly, I wasn't planning to explore Manchester even though it looks cool. I just spent the most 72 hours in Boston, I must have walked a gazillion miles and I'm actually on my way to the Life Rocks Conference in North Conway, New Hampshire, so I planned to use my time in Manchester to catch up on my schoolwork, get a little paid work done and relax. my legs really need a break, y'know. Yeah- I suck at relaxing.

I was here all of 30 minutes when I decided that I simply HAD to walk down to that Pier 1 store and browse around. You know what I love about Pier One? Everything. If you're picky about details, go to Pier 1. If you love amazing little treasures, go to Pier 1. If you're a freak about making sure your colors are rich and vibrant, go to Pier 1. If you love texture and hate plastic, go to Pier 1. I'm telling you, I could probably spend a million dollars in ONE visit if I could... (Can I use the word "could" twice in a sentence?) If you ever want to send me a present that will make me jump up and down squealing with delight, please please please send me a Pier 1 gift certificate, OK.

Did you know most of their furniture doubles as indoor / outdoor furniture? Plus they even have swinging Papasans (Swingasans :). I think I want like 4 of them! What a great way to update your patio, right? I mean, Spring is here and it's time to get ready for summer .

Anyway, check out their website because they're actually having some Pier 1 Tweetups in major cities all across the US and you can check out what those are about (Tweetups are fun).

What did I buy? Nothing, you goof- I'm traveling, I can't lug things 3000 miles home, but I have to say that when I get home, I do plan to replace our old tattered patio chair pads with some colorful new ones because I absolutely loved the prints they have and their prices are such a bargain.

Freebies for Expectant Moms

2011-03-02T07:01:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CryoCell International. All opinions are 100% mine.

I know when you're pregnant, it seems like everyone wants you on their mailing list, you end up getting a lot of offers for bogus crap you'll never need, right? But this one is different, and I recommend you send away for the adorable little "belly bag" from www.Cryo-Cell.com. They're a cord blood banking company that's been around since before I was a mom, helping families preserve the stem cells that can save a child's life, later on. I can't imagine having a child who is terminally ill and knowing that if we'd saved their cord blood, we'd be able to save their life, right? So head over to www.Cryo-Cell.net and learn more about what they've got going on over there, and don't forget to send away for the little bag, it's so cute :)

Some like it hot

2011-01-12T07:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TABASCO® Original Red. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was so excited when we ordered take out t the hotel a few weeks ago because the driver had the teeniest little bottles of TABASCO® Original Red sauce with him. I love tabasco sauce on everything. Seriously, I eat it on eggs, I add it to sandwiches and burritos, but the very best thing is to drizzle it on pizza, especially a vegetarian pizza with lots of spinach. Mmmmmm- it's my very favorite meal ever. And the pizza driver had tabasco sauce with him, so it must not be an uncommon thing. In fact, it's Pizza Perfected.

We're planning quite a few tailgate parties this season and I was so happy to find that the Tabasco sauce website has a fantastic Game-Day Party Menu with recipes for hot wings, ppetizers and just a bunch of great party foods. It's amazing sometimes, to think about how our taastes change as we get older. When I was a child, I just thought it was disgusting, it made my eyes water. But now that I've given it a fair chance, I find that it's really a fantastic flavor that enhances the other flavors while enhancing the taste of the meal. I love it, and if you're a fan of Tabasco, go check out their website.

Kids and Entertainment

2010-12-31T17:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

We let our kids watch whatever they want. i used to try to limit their experiences when they were little, to things that i thought were wholesome, safe or acceptable. but then I realized that it made the "unacceptable" content that much more provocative. I wish sometimes that I could go back in time with my older kids and just relax a bit, y'know. I see moms all stressed out over what their kids are watching and i just have to say it's ridiculous. That's why I chose to follow Charter Moms on Facebook because they're asking parents questions about their viewing habits and I just think it's important to let kids choose their own experiences. That's how kids learn. And nothing they see on TV will scar them for life or anything, TV is entertainment, even the so-called "news" shows.

Another cool thing about Charter Moms is that they're the "first to know" about new programming and services. How cool is that? I'm not much of a TV watcher, but I do enjoy NCIS and House. My husband likes documentaries. I always end up falling for the arrogant jerk on Survivor, even if he never wins. I don't sit down to watch very often, but when I do it's usually mid afternoon. My kids and my husband watch in the evening.

So what do you think bout the discussions at Charter Moms on Facebook? Have you joined? And isn't it awesome that they share their news with the moms first?

NYE 2012 in Branson... See you there?

2010-12-22T00:01:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hilton Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

We've never traveled on New Year's Eve before. My husband SWORE that this year we'd go to Times Square, but it's probably NOT happening. But Branson is so much closer. If you're looking to plan a trip, you need to check out the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel and the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing because they're both in the perfect location for exploring Branson.

I saw some buzz about a New Year's Eve party at the Level 2 Steakhouse and Clear Lounge, but when I tried to visit their website, the only events I saw listed were from May and June (Naked karate girls being one of them) Luckily, I kept searching and discovered that the restaurant is at the Branson Landing Hilton. Their New Year's Eve Party has a $15 cover charge and will be airing New year's Eve celebrations from all around the world on multiple big screen TV's so you can share that midnight kiss several times over the night, as midnight goes around the globe. Bartenders will feature new special drinks every hour to reflect worldwide beverages for for each time zone.

Another awesome thing about staying at the Promenade is that we'd be close to some of our favorite attractions, like the RecPlex, the city center and the Tanger Outlet Mall.

Travel size Relief

2010-12-21T18:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

The Butt Paste people are geniuses. Aside from developing a product that uses a minimal amount of zinc oxide (because it's effective, but let's face it... a little on the toxic side...) So this stuff is nourishing and effective. And a little goes a long way. We got a big 16 oz tub of it and it lasted through more than one child. Then again, we didn't get lot of diaper rashes, thanks to cloth diapering. Also- because of the zinc oxide, we used nudity a lot to treat rashes.

Anyway- if you're traveling with a baby, you need to head over to Boudreaux's Butt Paste and claim your free sample. This stuff was invented by a pharmacist and a pediatrician and it's more than just a badass name, it's a badass formula, too. i first saw this stuff on Oprah and to be honest, I only bought it because of the name. But I'm so glad I did. There's something magical about that Peruvian Balsam, and it has less than 20% zinc oxide, which is really important to me.

So what's YOUR butt pste experience been? Don't you love it? Smell it... Seriously, this is nice stuff.

Hula Hooping and Travel

2010-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

It's no secret anymore that I am a complete hula hoop addict. but I'm not the only one, and hoping is a fantastic hobby for families on the road because hoops are great exercise and even though it may be difficult to hoop INSIDE a camper, plenty of RV families are hooping. Check out Tara, Vicki, Sara Parent and Sara Jannsen for hula-hooping moms living in RV's.

Perfect iPhone app for traveling

2010-11-03T12:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of MyTies. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm totally not bitter about this, OK. Even though I kinda invented it. Not that these people have any idea that I think I kinda invented it. Also, I never really told anyone. But I did have an idea about just such an app and here it is- ready for download and FREEEEEEE (I totally would have charged for it!)

So check out MyTies.com and look at how awesome it is. It maps out your contacts, and lets you send out notes to your friends, privately. You create groups and can choose who sees the notes. So if I'm visiting California and I want to see which of my friends are available for lunch, i can send out a note to the relevant group inviting them to meet me for dinner. We plan to use this a lot when we're traveling because we have so many friends and family all over the country and our friends are all in distinctive groups- there's the cousins (you wouldn't believe how many) and the unschoolers, the business friends, the other writer-moms, bloggers, clients, old friends, hula hoopers... And I just love the idea of arriving in a strange city and sending a note "we're here" and then just hanging out until whoever comes to visit. That's so cool.

ALSO- check out this promo code - if you use “myprivacy”, you can invite an extra 20 users within the app, giving you an opportunity to connect with more friends and family. If you're like us, then that's a very big deal!

So what will YOU use My Ties for? And how on earth do you travel without it?

Gaming System for the Motorhome

2010-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PlayStation MOVE. All opinions are 100% mine.

I can't believe we're even considering this, but on the advice of other mobile families, we've decided to put a video gaming system into the RV. I was against it at first, because I always see parents complaining about how their kids seem to get hooked on the games. But in the motorhome, we're out exploring the world and I'm thinking that we'd all enjoy some family time playing games.

Shopping for a system is complicated, though. We've gotten some good advice from friends and I've been reading about the different kinds of games. It would be cool if a little genie appeared and gave you and us a PlayStation® Move. We'd probably skip the trick-or-treating and order pizza for a family game night. I can't decide whether it would spawn sibling rivalry, or create an easy outlet. Either way, I know it would be great exercise for all of us, I'm especially excited about the fitness and sport games.

One cool thing about the PlayStation Move is that instead of having to buy an entirely new system, current Playstation 3 owners can just buy an upgrade kit (The move bundle package) to utilize the new features. I think that's really sensible. The industry changes so quickly and new systems come out so fast that I think it's really unfair and wasteful to have to buy an entirely new system and games each time technology advances, so the upgrade kit is really impressive. I wish all the game systems would work that way.

So what do you think? Do you have a gaming system in your motorhome, how often do you use it and which one are you using?

The first 50 things I'll do on the road

2010-09-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

50 Things I'll do on the road

Ok- I just put 50 for the hell of it. It’s a random number just because I plan to number these items so I can refer to them later. There will probably be more than 50, which will be funny later when I say “Number 75 on my list of 50 things to do” but I’m getting ahead of myself.

1 – master hula hoop tricks and spread hoop love everywhere we go
2-4 – go on a nighttime walking ghost tour of Salem, Boston, Savannah and New Orleans
5- Watch the Disney World fireworks with my kids
6- Swim with dolphins
7- see Mt Rushmore
8- pan for gold
9- see real lava
10- snorkel with sea turtles
11- learn to Scuba dive
12- dive for treasure in the gulf coast, where sunken ships are just everywhere, right?
13- float down the spring-fed river in San Marcos
14- sail from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
15- Spend a week with no electricity in the Green Mountains
16- See Dollywood.
17- Nashville (visit my cousin) and the Grand ole Opry
18- Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in MN, I think
19- Ice skate on a real frozen pond
20- Burning Man
21- A rainbow gathering
22- Visit my mom, dad & grandparents in Maryland
23- Smithsonian
24- Liberty Bell
25- eat fresh honey
26- tour a million factories
27- spend a week working on a farm, really working- like milking cows
28- dig for opals
29- spelunking in Arizona
30- rapelling
31- kayaking
32- swimming in Clearwater, Florida
33- soak naked in a Yosemite hot spring
34- rollerblade Venice beach with my kids
35- buy badass vintage clothing and resell it at the trendy overpriced thrift shops on Melrose Avenue in LA
36- buy antiques at auction in the midwest and resell them in California
37- decorate my RV to look very gypsy with purples, reds, beads and fringe
38- sleep outside more often than I sleep inside
39- naturally wake with the sun
40- sing around a campfire with my family
41- eat something we killed that day
42- recognize wild edibles and enjoy eating them
43- take better pictures
44- sell my paintings
45- see the beauty in everyone we meet
46- make startling realizations that shatter assumptions I thought were facts
47- stand on top of something really tall- like the edge of the Grand Canyon- and shout something very important, as loudly as I can
48- watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean
49- Watch the sun set into the Pacific Ocean (OK- I’ve done that, but I put it here anyway)
50- Make out with my husband under a waterfall

I totally exceeded the "50 things" mark. Check out the rest of the list on GypsyMom.com

Of course we're bringing the toys

2010-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone always asks if we're bringing toys on our trip. Of course we are, that's one reason for traveling by RV rather than motorcycles, right? Other than the fact that we wouldn't be able to bring the kids on a motorcycle, that is. But with the motorhome, we can have all of our fun stuff right there with us. What I did was to set up a system of several large rubbermaid trunks in the storage areas under the motorhome.

So in one trunk I have a bunch of snow toys: snowshoes, skis, extra fuzzy warm ski suits, coveralls, and even several extra pairs of waterproof gloves and a box of hot cocoa mix. In another trunk, I have ball-playing stuff, like an easton sv12 and a tee ball bat plus asoccer ball, some collapsible goal posts, youth catchers gear and bases plus a few pairs of nike baseball cleats, a football, and even baseball caps. In another I have pool toys, floaties, extra swimsuits, flippers and a monofin. I should add some margarita mix to that last trunk, right?

Shopping and Travel

2010-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

I bet the retailers in tourist destinations across the US could really seriously put some pressure on airlines to get rid of their stupid cost-per-checked-bag situation on the grounds that maybe travelers are shopping less at tourist destinations since they don't want to have to spend $15 per bag to bring their new crap home.

Personally, I'm not a shopper. Honestly, I hate it. I don't mind watching people at the mall, much like watching animals at the zoo. I can not relate to the endless, mindless consumption of meaningless crap. A true traveler collects experiences and photos, not souvenirs. Although- handmade souvenirs by some local indigenous people really are awesome, and I'd rather collect that than a snow globe or a stupid tshirt.

I tried to search for other web articles about tourists shopping less, or if travelers were shopping less, but I couldn't find anything.

So what about you, are you shopping less because of those stupid baggage charges? I wonder if airports have post offices built-in, so people can just mail themselves their packages because I'm sure the arbirtrary rates are sometimes more expensive than just mailing it.

TiVo for travelers

2010-09-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TiVo. All opinions are 100% mine.

As if TiVo could get any more awesome, seriously, you should check out this genius little remote control. It slides apart like a texting phone so you can use a full alphanumeric keyboard to search for shows on YouTube.com, Blockbuster.com, Amazon,com's Video On Demand,and Netflix.com in addition to your local cab;e networks. Thank goodness- with the economy, we're not seeing as many movies and I just love that we can use TiVo from so many different sources. I also love not missing our Fall TV premiers just because we'll be out of town.

So which Fall TV premieres are you looking forward to this season? House and NCIS are at the top of my list, and they're also the longest-running shows premiering this fall. There's also Lost, The Office, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Modern Family, Glee, Hawaii Five-O and Mad Men. Probably others, too, but those are probably the most popular ones. I bet the Mad men crowd really goes for Hawaii Five-O. Just a hunch.

Anyway, you should totally Enter to Win a TiVo Slide remote, they're giving several away. You should also check out TiVo Premiere, a new thing they have that's kind a like IMDB.com, except it's live, so you can look up the characters ina show and then watch their other shows, with just a few clicks. Don't you wish they had interactive TV like this when we were kids? Go be their Facebook Fan, too, so you can know when they make more coo new things. I'll see you there.

Comparing mapping software & sites

2010-09-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know everyone knows about mapquest and google maps, but are there other road-tripping software programs that are easier to use? I love that mapquest makes it so easy to add different destinations and rearrange them- but their system is slow and instead of live-updating, i think it should allow you to make your changes and THEN recalculate. Or enter all of your cities and THEN calculate it, because otherwise it takes so long to reload each change. and the fuel calculator is a little troublesome because it shows you the calculation for the entire trip, so I just use a calculator instead, because I like to know how much each leg of the trip will cost because then I can plan around my paydays, I work for like 30 different companies and they all have different pay schedules, so when we travel, I'm not like saving up for a trip and then taking off, I'm making the money as we go. And the scrolling is just ridiculous- if you collapse it, it should stay collapsed. I'm sure frequent mapquest users have better advice for them, I'm just venting. Google maps is best at finding local businesses, when they've claimed them, that is. Sometimes it's totally useless. What do you think? Which mapping software do you use the most? What features do you like the best, which ones are annoying?

Easy luxury trips for fall

2010-09-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Geile Leon. All opinions are 100% mine.

Our anniversary is in October, so I've been looking for some quick trips he and I can take to celebrate our 17 year anniversary. My Aunt Wilma and Uncle Earl live just outside of Branson, and they keep wanting to watch our kids so we can explore Branson. For the first time ever, I think I might take her up on it. Who knew such a cool little town could be right in the heart of the midwest?

I was looking at some fall season packages for Branson and got so excited. First of all, the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing has really really really beautiful rooms. I looked at their regular guestrooms and their suites and I have to say they look like such a peaceful sanctuary compared to my house! They have a lot of different specials and extra bonuses you can use to personalize your trip. Even a romance package The other one we were looking at is the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel, which is just breathtaking, because the rooms have a view of the mountains and the lake. I know myself, I'd probably spend way too much time staring out of the window. Which is fine, because my husband spends way too much time watching TV. :)

As far as "things to do" goes, we're a bit torn. My husband is really excited about the golf courses there must be a hundred or more. I'm a window-shopper, I like browsing the mall to see what they have and watch people spend their paychecks while I enjoy some delicious dessert at a sidewalk cafe. We'll probably both enjoy the nightlife. Branson is supposed to be popular for musicians, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to go dancing or to enjoy live music. Either way, we definitely need a break.

So which package would you choose? I'm comparing the Fall in the City Package and the Shopping Package at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. Here are some of their best features:

Fall in the City-

2 nights accommodations
2 tickets on the Showboat Branson Belle (dinner show)
2 tickets to Silveer Dollar City
50th anniversary Silver Dollar City Souvenir book
$25 hotel food & beverage voucher

Shopping Package-

Breakfast buffet for two
$25 gift card for any store at the Tanger Outlet Mall

The Shopping Package is cheaper and gives us more freedom to explore, but the Fall in The City Package is all planned out, so we don't even need to figure out what we'll do, we just show up. And the dinner theatre on a showboat sounds like so much fun.

What do you think, which would you choose?

Free places to stay

2010-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

If I didn't have kids, I think I'd be willing to open my home to travelers, maybe like a bed & breakfast. it's fun to cook for people. We had a friend a while back who couch-hopped for a few years before settling down. My husband teased him for it, but now there's actually an organization called CouchSurfing that's dedicated to helping people find hosts willing to let them sleep on the couch. Another one is the Hospitality Club. Check them both out if you think you might want to couch-hop for a while.

Train Travel

2010-09-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

We spent much of 1997-2000 traveling by train. Most of the time we went coach, but we also splurged for the sleeper car on another trip. It was so much fun looking out the big picture windows, watching the USA go by. The restaurant car was also fun, the prices were inexpensive generally and the food was always tasty. We brought our own snacks and had a great time getting to know our fellow travelers. Amtrak runs a train with a children's play place built into the car. Other cars were for a smoker's lounge and a TV-watching car.

I found this excellent Amtrak review:

I recently took an Amtrak train for a cross-country trip from New Mexico to Michigan, and it was an experience. The best part about traveling by train is that one can actually enjoy the scenery on the trip, because the traveler doesn’t have to worry about driving. The other plus to taking a train instead of driving is that I’ve found that it is much more cost efficiant especially now with the price of gas being so high. The rate that I recieved to travel cross country was only a hundred sixty dollars. I think that it’s worth it for that price because you can actually watch the sights pass you by, which you cannot do on a plane.
Granted, there are some problems with traveling by train that you may not experience on a plane. Depending on how far you’re going, you may be traveling over night. In order to have a sleeper car it costs an extra three hundred dollars which is too expensive for me. Sleeping in coach is not comfortable, and I don’t reccomend it if you can afford a sleeper car. I found it impossible to find a comfortable position, and Im a light sleeper, so I was waking up a lot when people walked by or the train stopped. The only other problem that I had with Amtrak is that their stations are highly understaffed. The first station I went to had one woman checking luggage, taking care of reservations, answering the phone, and communicating with the trains themselves to discover if they were running on time or not. The stationed that I was dropped off at didn’t have anyone working overnight, so if someone had to wait for a ride, they had to wait out in the parking lot, and there was no access to the pay-phones inside. This could be a problem on a cold winter night.

Overall, I had a good experience with Amtrak, the staff was very helpful, I was moved to a seat by myself after the train had cleared out some, so I had room to stretch. One of the trains played movies to help people to not be so bored if there was nothing for one to do. Amtrak also has a snack car on all of their trains, as well as a dining car on those that go for longer distances. I thought the prices were pretty reasonable for what was served. There was one other major plus that I had with my trip, and that was that Amtrak offered a bus service to their station. This is very helpful for someone who lives in a big city that doesn’t have a train station. I had a good enough experience that I would travel on Amtrak again if I had a reason to travel across the country again.

Decorating the RV

2010-09-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I am so completely excited to decorate the RV. That's the hidden beauty of buying a used RV, I don't have to like the way it's decorated because I can just change it. I'm torn between a steampunk theme and a gypsy wagon theme. What do you think? Check out the GypsyMom blog to see some of the ideas I'm thinking about. Who knows where this will go, it is so exciting.

Best Summer Ever

2010-09-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Kissimmee Tourism. All opinions are 100% mine.

When Meagan was 2, we spent a few months with my mom. She was working at Disney World at the time, and we really got spoiled with unlimited access to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot center, like that.

But some of the nicest days we spent were actually away from the hustle and bustle and commercialism of Disney. Kissimmee is just outside of Orlando and absolutely adorable. I was never sure where Kissimmee, St Cloud and Celebration, Florida ended. Together, these 3 cities were so relaxing, so charming. I will never forget the day we sat by the side of a lake having a picnic. Around the lake was an eclectic shopping center with antique shops, sidewalk cafes and even a bookstore.

I've always wanted to go back there. My kids are older now and they love ghost tours. Kissimmee has two ghost tour companies, Kissimmee Ghost Tours and Ghost Tracker. I know we'd have to do both, just for comparison. My must-see attraction would have to be the Forever Florida Zipline Safari tour. There's a 4700 acre wildlife refuge and you can ride a zipline through the entire park. Wouldn't that be a thrill? I can't even imagine what that would feel like- flying, maybe?

We're planning to go back to the area for the winter of 2010-2011, now that we have an RV. I know in November and December the weather there is still so much nicer than here in Washington State, so we'll be comfortable playing outside and a lot of the attractions have off-season discounts.

Anyway- the Kissimmee Tourism website, at http://bit.ly/dlBGMu is where you need to go to check out everything this town has to offer. When we go back, Disney will be a one or two day experience and Kissimmee will get the bulk of our time. I can.not.wait.

Kissimmee

YAYYY

2010-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

We finally officially have our big RV. I don't know how well this one will work for our family since it's a gas engine, not a diesel. But who cares, it's 36 feet long and huge. And I can't wait to decorate it.

I'll post pictures when I have a chance.

In the meantime, check out this list of full time RV families and resources for living on the road with kids from GypsyMom.com

Writing about Travel

2010-08-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

I love to travel and I love to write. I've had travel articles published on Trails.com, Travels.com, USAToday.com, TravelSceneInvestigator.com, GolfLink.com, Suite101.com, HotelsByCity.net and Gypsymom.com and Bukisa.

If you love to travel and write, too, you should consider becoming a travel writer. There are so many resources online for learning how to get paid to write about your favorite vacations, and getting paid to research travel information. Try some of these travel writing sites to get started.

30 queries in 30 days
This is my writing website. I like to help other moms get into webwriting, and to make the most money. It's not directly related to travel writing, just to web-based writing in general, so enjoy, with that in mind.

The Travel Writer's Life
This site has a class or a workshop for travel writing, but honestly the helpful resource page is HUGE with advice for would-be travel writers, it's awesome, not to be missed.

International Society for Travel Writing
Is a professional network for travel writers. They have an annual conference and (on the page I linked) some great resources to help you get started.

The Written Road
Is a website that publishes information about the travel publication industry. It's a great one to subscribe to. They have a nice resource page and a nice page of market leads.

Upcoming...

2010-08-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ok- here's what we have coming up

Dallas Aug 30-Sept 7
California (we'll arrive the 10th ish) - 20th
Washington Sept 24-Nov 25
Nov 25-Jan 5 whirlwind trip to the East coast, for Christmas with my grandparents in Maryland, New Yr's Eve in Times square, sightseeing in New England and the south

sound busy enough?

Trip Canceled

2010-05-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's memorial day weekend and am I on the road? no. no road trip with my kids this weekend, dammit. We needed to have some work done on the Suburban. It was fairly important, new brakes and rotors and something else. These were things that would have killed us if we didn't take care of them. I'm glad they're getting fixed. I'm glad our trip to Vancouver was the one that was sacrificed and not the trip to Disneyland this summer. Speaking of Disneyland, we have to leave in like 2 weeks, so I sure hope that nothing interferes with Disneyland. Can you believe it's going to cost around $500 for my family JUST to get in for ONE DAY. $72 for everyone over age ten and $62 for everyone age 3-9. My youngest turns 3 in December, so she's free. WooHoo. I considered signing my 4 yr old up for the free birthday tickets, her birthday is August 28th but we plan to be in Texas at that time, attending a family convention, so that won't work.

Have I ever mentioned that I can't stand not traveling? Being on the road is such an adventure. This whole "sitting still" thing is driving me nuts.

Sweet Home, Alabama?

2010-02-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

Not that I've ever been to Alabama, but I have an Aunt who lives there. My husband will be filming a movie there next month and, as is customary, the kids and I will be meeting him out there near the end of his trip.

I just miss him too much

And totally want to explore that area of the South with the kids.

My oldest daughter wants to stay home, and that totally bums me out. She's 16, so.. she can. But still, it's a bummer.

My RV thing hasn't worked out the way I planned it yet.

We'll see, I guess.

I should do my taxes now. That will help.

I can't wait to share the Gulf of Mexico beaches with my kids. My husband can't wait to share New Orleans with us. I can't wait to share memories and good times with my kids.

Getting Ready for San juan

2009-06-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

We are heading to the San Juan islands next week. It's a 6 hour drive with the kids, and we plan to leave early in the morning. I think that if we went without them, we could probably just go straight there, but that would make them really hate this trip. I want them to have a good time, we are going to be bringing a bunch of food, and instead of snacking in the car (car mess) we will end up pulling over somewhere for a picnic. We have adjoining hotel rooms when we get there so we should sleep comfortably. We have to take a few ferries in between islands per our itinerary. I'm sure excited, I hope it all goes well.

Renting a moving truck

2008-11-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Man, I can't believe its only $170 for two days, I'll bet the gas will cost a fortune. If you follow my normal blog, you mgiht think we've already moved but it's really just a crazy situation that hasn't been resolved yet. It looks like it might have a fantastic turnaround, way better than anything we've been through yet. I'm excited and eager to get through this. Then we can explore the greener side of the mountains. What does this have ot do with travel? Everything, because it's about getting there, which means traveling, and padding the previous post with original content because them's the rules, OK.

Don't forget your boots

2008-11-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

I love to go hiking. Whenever we explore a new landscape I'm always just itching to get out and soak up the scenery, I like investigating everything and checking out the plants and animals in the area. I love the fact that different areas have different colored dirt, isn't that silly? There's nothing quite as fun as hiking along the side of a cliff over the ocean. In fact, that's one thing I'm looking forward to after we move. I'll never forget the time we were vacationing in Baja Mexico and I wanted to go hiking but I didn't have any hiking boots with me so I had to wear steel toed work boots instead. What an adventure.

Next family road trip- Vancouver, WA

2008-09-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yep, we're headed to Vancouver over next Memorial Day weekend, May 21-24, 2009. We'll be attending the Life is Good Conference at the Red Lion Hotel.

I'm looking at renting a beach house, because the price of a hotel for the week ends up being more than a beach house. I wasn't too crazy about staying at a different hotel than the one the conference was at this time, I did it mainly because the price was so much cheaper- $311 for hotel and flight, the flight alone was supposed to be more expensive than that.

This time, though- I'm wondering if I can get a beach house close enough to the convention. I guess I should see if they're having late night sessions, see how far we can get a house from the hotel. It would be nice if we could be right next door.

A beach house would be cool, we could share it with another family.

I don't know. I need to build a little countdown widget. I should also check out the hotel discounts, in case I decide I don't want to stay elsewhere. The point, though is that I need to get my family to one of these conferences.

Home from the trip

2008-09-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know that United charges $15 for each bag you check, even if it's not oversized.

I didn't budget for that, I should probably have just layered all of my clothes on top of each other to wear home.

Had I factored the $30 into my budget, I would have chosen a different airline, tickets were $12 more and their bags were free.

Next time I travel, I will just bring an empty bag, buy clothes at a thrift shop when I get to my destination and then only pay to bring it home. Yeah right- I'm not really that organized.

Cheaper Travel Wardrobe

2008-09-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

I foresee a revolution of thrift shops popping up around airports. I don't know if you buy clothes at thrift shops. My kids go through clothes so quickly, we are very blessed to have friends around us often giving bags full of clothes to my girls, but when we need something right away, we head off to Value Village or something. Anyhow- so I get to the airport, after carefully budgeting for my trip, and am completely surprised by the fact that I have to pay $15 to check a bag. It wasn't over-sized, that's just the cost now, $15 for every bag you check. So there goes my lunch money. If i had known about that, I wouldn't have spent money buying clothes before I left, I would have just bought them when I got there. So $30 round trip to bring my clothes. I have half a mind to wear them all home, so I don't have to pack anything. If I weren't traveling with a baby I'd do that. Hmmm, maybe we should both do that. I bet it's cheaper to mail my stuff home. I wonder if I tried a Space bag, could I fit it all into my backpack?

Save a Fortune on Hotel Phone Calls

2008-09-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

Instead of calling my kids from the hotel, which would cost a fortune, I use a website that I found that calls them and gives them a message. It looks like it's marketed for prank calls, which is rude- but just to send a message from the internet, it's a great idea. All you do is punch in the phone number you're calling, you get to choose your own caller ID number and name, which doesn't show up at my house, it just says unknown and then you type in a message. A man's voice, which doesn't sound too robotic (according to my kids) relays the message. The first time I used the service, the kids were confused. "Mom- some guy just called us and said 'call your mother, she misses you and she wants you to call her' and he didn't even answer after that." Anyhow- I hope you enjoy that little travel tip.

OMG- Priceline is amazing

2008-08-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so I thought $587 was a great deal for flight + hotel. Then, the charges come through and it's $311. What the heck? Time to make a phone call and find out what's up. Apparently, in between the moment that I decided to buy and the moment the card was charged, the price went down. Priceline could have made an extra $276 and I would never have known the difference. But they didn't, they just passed the deal on to me. So now I've got round trip airfare to Dallas, plus a week in the hotel for $311. SHaZAam.

Have I told you how much I love priceline today?

AND- looking up tickets for my daughter, I can get her round trip plus an entire week of rental car for $503 Oh how I wish I had a spare $503 today.

Cheap tickets to Dallas

2008-08-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

I can't believe just 2 weeks before my trip, I got round trip tickets plus a hotel for around $500 The flight alone would have cost that much, and I could have gotten a rental car (economy) for $11 a day, but the hotel is right across the street from the one where the convention is, so instead of driving I plan to walk. My hotel offers free parking. I just hope that the area isn't dangerous. I have to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel. I looked it up and the cab ride would be $60. Imagine- both ways, that's not going to happen. I know there's a DART system, I have to check the schedule that's all.

SO- priceline.com, I didn't have to bid or anything. I got exactly the dates I wanted (they happened to be the cheapest) Just for kicks, I punched in for a family trip to Tampa, I've always loved the beaches there, and for 2 adults and 5 kids (because one is still an infant and flies free) it was less than $500 per person. Wow- I think I'm going to siphon off some of me earnings for a trip to Tampa. I love the St Petersburg beaches, I love the Salvador Dali museum. Siphoning offe arnings isn't that big of a deal, like we could be MORE broke!

Orlando was the same price, by the way. I wonder if there's such a thing as cheap disney passes. I wonder if I have enough kids for a group rate. Is there such a thing as cheaper by the half dozen?

Financial sabotage?

2008-08-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

So I took the "test your financial knowledge" quiz at BillsIQ and while some of the questions were irrelevant, it was interesting. I say irrelevant because they ask about your credit card debt a lot- um- what if you don't have any. That's always been my problem with multiple choices. NONE OF THE ABOVE. y'know. For the record, I got an 87% but with irrelevant questions, I don't know how effective it was.

Here's something they didn't consider. My husband likes to listen to salespeople. Plus, he's a sucker.

He reads email spam, especially when it's from foreigners who plan to send deposit large sums of money in his account. Lat year he spent about 7 hours on the phone with some guy in Zimbabwe whose family was exiled after the execution of his father. They wanted my husband to help them set up an American bank account, so that he and his sister could come move to the states and invest in a telecommunications business. All he had to do was fly to London to sign some paperwork. When he called them & said "I can't go to London right now, they found him an alternate branch of the Bank of London that was in Canada. Finally, they left him alone when he convinced them that he couldn't afford to go anywhere. Imagine, though. He gave them his phone number and communicated via multiple phone calls over a 2-3 week time period. Can you imagine.

Another time, a car drives up & down our street knocking on every door. A beat up old red and rusted jalopy with a broken side mirror. Two greasy guys are knocking on doors while I"'m making lunch. Next thing I know he's walking him through the house giving them the tour "We have six daughters" bla bla bla "This is their bedrooms..." bla bla bla "this window needs replaced..." bla bla bla.....I tried giving him the evil eye and he said "Hey honey, what color siding do you think we should do?" To make a long story short, I go out on the porch and hes filling out a credit application "What's your social security number?" Um- I forgot. Luckily they can process it without mine. So when I signed it with the made up name of Lucy Rizzo, I over-wrote his numbers to protect him.

Then, I called his mother and told on him. She's been the victim of identity theft, and she guards her credit obsessively. Surely, she can yell at him about it better than I can.

When we were running the restaurant, he'd sit for HOURS and talk with salespeople. He'd have them come back for follow up appointments like a hundred times. Luckily 90% of the time he'd say "Ask my wife" and I wouldn't even listen to their pitch, Id just say no. I am the anti-salesperson-listener. Every minute I spend listening to a salesperson is a minute I'm not getting paid for.

Whenever we go shopping and the clerk comes out & says "Can I help you" He always has a conversation "We're looking for the backpacks" and I'd rather walk circles around the store for 45 minutes than have backpack shopping help. I don't want to know what kind of backpack the clerk has, I don't care to discuss with the clerk all the things we'll be doing with our backpack either.

I can't even stand it in the grocery store when you ask "What aisle is the cream cheese on?" and they physically walk you there instead of saying "Aisle 3 across from the eggs." I don't want to walk with you, OK. Here- let's stop off and pick up some jello on the way. I'm not in the mood to get the cream cheese now, just tell me what aisle its on. I'll go there when I feel like it.

He also has the bagger walk us to the car. I'm not always even sure I'm going to remember where I parked, so I damn sure don't want some bagger walking me out there. And then loading stuff into my trunk while I do what- watch?

He says he's keeping them busy, keeping them employed. I say he's driving up the cost of our food. TELL me where the fucking cream cheese is and get back to work.

I think I'd be a terrible diva.

Anyway- the Bills IQ thing- we're just in flux right now, house-hunting and all. Haven't really thought about college funds but we know we need to. This year, we have a bunch of essay contests and other scholarship things our oldest will be participating in. Try the test, though and see what your score is. Maybe it can help you with financial planning or something.

Lotsa crazy crud going down at the Hannigan house. Don't miss another post,

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walking, my least favorite alternative fuel

2008-07-12T16:00:00.001-07:00

But I did it. Thursday night I walked the girls to Franklin park for their Thursday night concert in the park. I walked home, too. pushing a double stroller. I survived. Today we're heading up for the Folk Life Festival. It's one of our favorite things about Yakima. You know you should move when a one-weekend event is the best thing about a town. I think by the time we end up moving I'm going to hate this place. I took my girls to Glenwood Square yesterday for the Melody Lane Summer Day Camp performance. It was cute, but the mall is ridiculous. It's empty and deserted. Less than 50% occupied. In a shopping culture, how can a mall be empty? Simple, because it's in Yakima, a town where over 60% of residents qualify for medical and food stamp assistance. This particular mall tries to appeal to the upper crust of society by housing specialty stores. For some businesses, it works. I have a particular beef with the 4D ultrasound clinic. My $125 ultrasound ended up cositn me over $500 because the local lady wouldn't allow me to have one without a Doctor's consent. Her policy stated "caregiver" and I was seeing a midwife who approved and signed her waiver form. Pregnancy isn't a disease, There's nor eason to see a doctor. If the lady is in the business of giving recreational ultrasounds, and I have given her everything her insurance policy needs to service me, then get over it. "Mommy's Treasure" she calls herself. I'd have a lot more treasure if I didn't drive 300 miles to Bellevue just to find out my 6th child was ANOTHER GIRL. Between the gas, the parking and the fact that whenever you drive 5 kids 300 miles you'll HAVE to feed them, the day cost a small treasure. It was fun, though. We celebrated G2's 2nd birthday at the Rainforest Cafe and had a great time.

Biodiesel is going to be a no go

2008-07-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

He's building a hydrogen fuel cell instead. This is a device that separates the H2 from the O and allows a vehicle to be run on water. A friend of ours informed me that her husband ordered a kit to make a device like this- he said it was from this company, and that it wasn't making much of a difference. He speculated that i was because he had fuel injection and that the engine was reading the oxygen level wrong and that he could increase his mileage by making an adjustment to his carburetor. (I think this is what he said) Anyway, I spoke with him today and he said he had made the adjustments and that he was still not experiencing a significant boost in his mileage, although the car seemed to have more power.

He mentioned that he had seen the hydrogen myth busted on mythbusters. My heart sunk, I love mythbusters. I had to check it out. They did, in fact, declare on mythbusters that it was busted, but anyone who watches the show knows that sometimes you're shouting at the TV saying "But what about..." I know they try to address everything, but busting 2 myths in 30 minutes doesn't leave time to explore every scientific possibility.

When I read the transcripts form the show, I was bummed to see that they weren't testing the theory, but the available technology. They ordered a kit or directions online and didn't build their own device. Instead of racking my very non-scientific brain to figure out the other possibilities, I just clicked on one of the many other links that came up when I googled "mythbusters hydrogen fuel" and was happily surprised to find an environmental blogger had created a whole post about debunking the mythbusters episode

So we're back to square one. My husband is blessed with stubborn-ness and won't be told that it isn't possible. How many light bulbs did Edison make before he got it right?

Cheaper than driving

2008-07-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was looking at services to move our car from one side of the state to the other. I came across Auto Transportation Worldwide and they have a neat little calculator thing on their site that allows you to select the city you're starting in and the city you're ending in, pick the type of vehicle you're transporting and baddabingbaddabang it calculates the cost of having your vehicle loaded up on one of those car-carriers to be delivered. It's a great idea if you're... moving... ahem. Not that we're actually going to end up moving any time soon, I'm just saying...

It's also cool in case you find a car you wanna buy on the other side of the country or something. I know a lot of vintage car collectors have their vehicles transported around the country to various specialists for repairs or fancy detail work. They also do boats and RV's

I can't imagine how some people manage to move all the way across the country when they have two cars, a camper, a boat, etc. I think it would be so much easier to just have one of these guys haul your vehicles and fly to the new place. Wouldn't that be so much nicer than driving and pulling it all across the country yourself, Especially with kids, this seems so much smarter. I wonder what kind of fuel they're using.

day trip- shopping

2008-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I realize that technically a day spent shopping with 2/6 of my kids might not count as a road trip, but the fact is., it was like 500 degrees out and I was so dizzy from the heat that we had to stop at
McDonalds to get something salty to eat and some water (I have a medical salt issue- I need to eat it or I'll pass out from the heat.) and a hand full of salt is gross. So we got a dish of ice cream to go with it. I originally took this picture to show what a rip-off the ice cream was. $2.50 for 2 little scoops of ice cream at McDonalds, I could have gone to Baskin Robbins and gotten more ice cream than that.

The next pictures are of our baby eating her first french fry. Did you know that the most-consumed-vegetable for children under 18 months is the french fry. Sick, isn't it. I would never have thought of a french fry as a vegetable. For the record, her most consumed vegetable is the carrot, followed by broccoli, and then bananas. Not that bananas are a vegetable. She also eats oatmeal. Steel-cut, not rolled. In case it matters. It sure tastes better.

Running errands with a bunch of little munchkins

2008-07-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have no advice in this department. Here's what I do; bring an older kid (they are 11 and 14) and leave her in the car with the littler kids while I run inside and take care of things as quickly as possible.

Yesterday, however, I had the opportunity to take my 4 littlest ones to Taco Bell. I wrote about it here, as part of the "Life doesn't suck as much as I thought Thursday" meme from Mrs Fussypants. She, by the way, rocks.

Being alone in public with a 7, 5, 2 and 7 month old was kind of.... like being unexpectedly poked with needles. In your sleep.

We're standing in line and I ask everyone "Burrito or Taco?" They all answer (at the same time) and I replay each voice in my head as they carry on so I can take an organized tally. 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, 1 burrito with no onion and 1 taco. I plan to impulsively get whichever value meal catches my eye when we get up front. I send 7 yr old to reserve a table for us & tell the other girls to stay with me. They all leave in different directions. There's no clean table to be had so they all return to me to report their findings in the investigation.

We get to the front of the line & they're still talking about wrappers and trays and cups and someone didn't eat a whole burrito.

Then, they see a sign up front with other meals, we end up getting 2 chips& cheese, 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, and I get a value meal with a mexican pizza & two tacos. I treat them with a mango/strawberry juice.

The lady takes forever to come clean a table for us. If I had baby wipes with me, I would have cleaned the table all by myself. I hate it when I go to the register to say "Please just give me the towel and I'll wipe it down myself" and she says- as if she's sparing me the trouble of wiping the table- "Oh no, it's OK, I'll do it (when I'm done with this...) I don't mind wiping a darn table down, I mind standing up in a dirty dining room while the kids run around because there's no where to sit. To be honest, I could have cleaned every one of the tables faster than she did anyways. While I waited for my food. Whatever, moms can do that sort of thing.

Like flying is so much fun anyway

2008-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Have you heard this story of the child with autism who was kicked off the airplane. We've all heard an autism "fit" before, haven't we? It really is hard to listen to, but anyone with common sense knows to just leave the child alone. Sometimes mom can help calm them down, sometimes they can't.

In case you only have half a brain cell in your head, let me make one thing clear- do NOT, under any circumstance, interrupt a cranky child with autism to tighten their seatbelt, repeatedly.

The kid is already hyper-stimulated because they're 1- in an airplane- surrounded by strangers- there's no way out... and the seat belt issue is really second to the child's peace of mind and the eardrums of the other passengers. True, turbulence can create a dangerous situation where a seatbelt restraint is necessary, but if the child is simply freaked out because he doesn't want his buckle too tight, then let him rest.

I think flight attendants have to be some of the most self-righteous bitches on the planet. OK- not all of them, but check out this story about a bitchy flight attendant. What the hell was her problem?

I will be flying in September, with my 9 month old and my 14 yr old, I hope I don't come across any bitchy flight attendants.

So far I haven't, in the past 14 years I've flown with kids exactly 6 times. There's a rule I totally don't get about flying with lap babies. If my baby is in a sling or front-pack carrier, I have been instructed to remove the baby from the carrier and let it sit, unrestrained on my lap. Has anyone else seen the early J-Lo movie where baby bubble is thrown from his momma's lap and dies in the plane crash? Wouldn't he have lived if he was in a sling or front carrier. I understand the possibility that my weight could crush the child. But I'd rather my child be crushed in my arms on my lap than to fly out of a hole in the plane to drown in the ocean or have the wind sucked out of him as he's hurled through the air. Just my preference. They should have a waiver.

I think the decision should be with the parent. I'd rather not have my child fry from my hands in a plane crash. I wonder what the percentage of plane crash victims survive anyways?

Oregon History Museum. OOPS- free parking!

2008-06-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Can you blame us, really for not noticing the meter, what with children needing coats, snacks, faces wiped, potty visits, finding the shoes they weren't supposed to take off in the car, losing the lid to the water bottle and THIS awesome mural.

Would it be naughty or rude of me to suggest that perhaps the mural was better than the museum? I guess that wouldn't be entirely true. The Oregon exhibit was cool- pioneer stuff and Oregon history. One of the downstairs rooms was horribly boring, the paintings looked dusty and old and boring, like maybe they're from Goodwill or something. The frames looked old-fashioned, like stuff I'd find in my Grandma's old house. I liked the baskets, but I'm a dork like that. Brandon liked the Navy stuff. There was a "shoes" thing where we saw some Chinese Women's shoes that were 4 inches long. My daughter was horrified when she learned of the old foot binding process, and made sure I knew that we really needed to look into adopting Chinese orphans.

Because bringing 6 little girls to a museum is simply not enough???

Stupid Oregon Gas-Pumpers

2008-06-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Oregon History Museum. Actually, first we drove all the way to Milwaukie (OK it was 10 minutes away) to go to the Safeway Fuel Station, because we have accumulated 90 cents in Power Pump Rewards, and that means 90 cents off per gallon. How wise to use it for a fill-up before driving 200 miles home, right. WRONG. Apparently Oregon doesn't do the power pump rewards program and the idiots who pump gas for a living in Oregon actually made fun of us for mentioning it. What the F*&& ever- you bonehead. That wasn't our only idiot gas-pumper story. How nice of the state to pass a stupid law for the sole purpose of employing people without brain cells.

The second gas-pumper incident involves us asking a gas pumper "where's the nearest Washington Mutual?" to which he replies "uuuum uuuhhh, wellll... I don't know, dude (heheheeh) sorry, man" and then, a lightbulb goes off "maybe that way..." points the wrong way on a one way street. So we circle around town for about an hour. Keeping our eyes open for a WAMU but really just looking at architecture, landmarks, people, no big deal. We find a wamu and head back for that intersection because it's really where we needed to be.

Darned if there isn't a frigging WAMU a block away from the jerk. How can you NOT KNOW about a business that's a block from your work. Are you blind? No- just an Oregon gas pumper.

What a great reason to go electric or use bio diesel. Sorry, man.

Oregon Zoo with 6 girls

2008-06-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

What could be more fun than going to the Zoo? I know the answer to this one- going to the Zoo with ten thousand school kids. Yep, that's right. Our tranquil day of wandering around amidst the animals was peppered with, well, scared animals because these kids were far more wild than the animals in the zoo. The first thing we saw was this powerful leopard pacing back and forth, I think my 2 yr old thought it was a movie.

Our first stop was Lorakeet Landing. I managed to have a Lorakeet land on me, during a rare student-free moment.

The kids got to watch them eating up close, their tongues have like- bristles on them to help suck up the nectar.

What is it with men? Or is it just MY man? He sees a path. It must lead somewhere. Find the end of the path. Then you can leave. There should be a speed limit law when pushing a stroller through the zoo. We hardly saw anything because he was in such a hurry to reach the end of the path. OK- the kids were cold. Whatever. They didn't bring coats. The zoo should be relaxing though. I knew the zoo was going to be an issue for him, though. Next time we go to the Zoo we're not bringing him. Or he's not pushing. Or we'll bring coats. I think he needs to experience the zoo at a child's pace, it's so much more fun.

Quite funny actually that the sea lions were of interest to him. They're so graceful. He might have slobbered, I'll have to tease him about it later. It was warmer underground.

When my oldest was less than two, we had a friend who worked for Universal Studios. We went backstage at the Animal Show and met the trainers. Daughter actually played with Jethro the orangutan. They swung on a bar like... monkeys. They looked at each other a lot. In these pictures, we had turned a corner to find this orangutan hanging out by the window, watching the people go by. We felt a bit like we were on exhibit.

Portland Children's Museum

2008-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had to lighten these in microsoft picture editor- probably should have used photoshop or gimp- they were all black & looked terrible. Still waiting for that new camera.

Can you believe all 5 of the pictures above were taken in the same room? I loved the gigantic macaroni picture frame. I wish it hadn't been cut off by the photographer. (oldest daughter) I love that I had my picture taken with Mrs March. All the girls enjoyed brushing the alligator's teeth. (Crocodile?)

The girls loved the market playroom and the play cafe. Here's M2 working at the grocery store. She asked one of her customers for the coupons. My apologies to the lady with the deer-in-the-headlights look. You can finish studying now. Good luck.

Littlest girl practiced crawling, her new hobby.

Here's everyone taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the museum to engage in the creative pursuit of pottery. Or clay sculpting, rather. I thought it was a Spartan warrior my husband was so carefully crafting, with his manly bum perched on top of an 18 inch high chair. For over an hour. Perhaps a representation of the war-like feeling that accompanies traveling with 6 children who like to run in different directions. Alas, however, it was a Mohawk Indian. I get it.

End of the day; my M1 and Mrs March's Meg enjoyed the Most Extinguished Guest trophy and E1 and I enjoyed the ball wall. I wonder if my husband would let me decorate my house like a children's museum. I'll bet he would, what a lucky girl I am.

OMSI in Portland

2008-06-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went to OMSI. It was a madhouse. There were bus loads of school children everywhere. Some of them were animals, some of them were misbehaving. Some of the adults supervised them well, others did not. Overall, I'd rather have been there when it was less crowded. Not to self; next time wait until 2pm to go to the Science Museum in June.

We noticed that everywhere we go, Portland is covered in Dinosaurs. It's like some kind of cooperative theme or something. Here at OMSI they had a T-rex outside the door and this Pterodactyl flying over our heads in the lobby.

The kids got to dig for dinosaur bones. One of mine said "There's no dinosaur bones here, just these stupid pieces of wood." Well, those were supposed to "be" the bones. I guess there's no fooling her. And to top it off, she says; "And it's not even real dirt, it's like rubber." I'm thinking it's recycled tires, like the kind they use on playgrounds. Poor thing, she's seen a real Mammoth dig and this was definitely not what she had in mind.

Once she let go of her preconceived notions of what a dinosaur dig looks like, she had fun throwing the bits of rubber at her friends.

OMSI had a physics lab that was a lot of fun. I liked the water table. Kids liked the glass elevator "ride." Husband and I really liked the little exhibit about the world's water supply & clever inventions for de-salinating water and carrying it to remote villages and capturing rainfall for the garden.

We tried taking a family portrait. My camera has issues. I need a new camera. Do you hear that, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Anyone? I've had this Samsung Digimax 301 for almost 5 years now and I'm done with it. The flash doesn't always work well and neither does the focus and I'm just plain DONE. Anyway, here's what our family portrait looks like when the camera's timer is failing. Isn't he sexy? No wonder we have so many kids.

Also of interest was the Submarine. There was one parked along the river. Being outside was wonderful, the weather had cleared up. I loved to see blackberries growing wild everywhere, it reminded me of Seattle. The kids found a snail, My oldest had a headache so she wasn't much fun. We ate Tuna sandwiches in the parking lot and went back to the hotel so the kids could swim some more. I wished we had done more sightseeing. I did get to swim, it was so very nice and relaxing. Baby enjoyed the water, so did the other kids.

We Made it to the hotel

2008-06-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

We made it to the Comfort Suites Portland. The Drive was beautiful. Here's a shot from Multnomah falls. It rained the whole way here. I didn't check the weather before we left, but I did tell the kids to pack something warm. I'm sure they didn't. My husband thinks it's a sign of bad parenting if the kids are shivering without a coat. I think that forgetting to pack a coat when you were specifically TOLD to pack a coat is a logical consequence. Next time, I'll bet they pack a coat. What is it about road trips that makes us want to eat during the ENTIRE DRIVE? I swear, it's like a disease. It's a good thing I packed semi-healthy snacks.

The hotel- OK so far, we're just barely checked in. There seem to be a lot of kids here. I'm anxious to meet some of the moms I've made friends with online. Kids want to go swimming right away, the pool is full of kids. I wonder how many families are on this trip.

Portland Homeschoolers Field Trip

2008-06-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. Here's the plan:

Check into hotel tonight- the Comfort Suites Portland Airport- pick up our Attractions Pass early in the morning and spend the 3rd at OMSI, the 4th at the Zoo and the 5th at the History Center.

The Attractions Pass actually has like 10 places we can go. We hope to hit the Children's Museum, the Pittock Mansion, the Art Museum and the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum.

See you there!

5 more days 'til Portland

2008-05-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I was planning on buying diaper covers at a real diaper store in Portland, but I opted instead to buy them from a mom online. At the diaper store they would have been $5-$6 each (pull-ons, vinyl) but I was able to get instead 18 for about $20 and that included the shipping. Darn it- I liked the idea of visiting a real cloth diaper store, but the price couldn't be beat. There is a Steve & Barry's in Vancouver, though- but I don't think we'll be going, except that I'd like to. For whatever that's worth. I thought there was an AMC Theater in Portland, because we have this gift card and a few coupons for AMC but alas, the nearest ones are in the Seattle area. No such luck.

So- today I will continue to pack a week-long vacation bag, making sure that everyone has swimsuits, socks 7 shoes and everything else we need for our trip. How do John & Kate travel with their 8? I saw last week, they went to Utah, John & the kids went skiing and Kate went to the Spa. Amen, kate. You rock.

Yesterday, they went to see Oprah. Aunt Judy cracked me up. See, I've always known I'd meet Oprah, too. So when I get my call, I will be just as goofy as Aunt Judy. Just wait and see.

For now- we'll get ready for our trip. In 5 days. And thank heaven we're not traveling with 6 identical three year olds.

Use This car for free & they pay for the gas

2008-05-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sound too good to be true? I found an agency that helps match cars with drivers. All you do is check the list to see where cars need to go from your area. Each car comes with a full tank of gas and most also come with a fuel allowance (although not always enough for the trip. I saw an F150 that needed to go from Portland to Texas for $100- Imagine that! Currently, Gas is almost $4 a gallon. $100 won't get you far. Anyhow- here's the list of cars and destinations, you'll figure it out! Have fun.

travel with teenager

2008-05-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

traveling with my moody 14 yr old isn't something I am looking forward to. maybe she's just moody this week. generally speaking, she's not moody. every once a month though she drives me nuts. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it once a month. She'd freak out if she knew I was posting this. Especially this week. generally, though she's an angel, very helpful and sweet and funny and lovable. She's also upset that we're moving. I moved when I was 14, too and I was so mad about it. You just don't realize how short life is at that age. I can't tell her that, though. And she'll never believe that I understand her, either. Whatever- the trip will be good for her.

marriage

2008-05-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

wow- he decides to film a travel video and look how much work i have to put into planning, it would be easier just to stay home, but lazy isn't my style. I wonder if I pretend I"m not considering all these details if he will begin to decide he has to think about things like food and what the kids will do to occupy themselves. No- he'd just get a tv for the car (or six of them) and buy fast food every day. He's more of a rock star than I am. I'm more like the indy singer. Except I can't sing. my oldest daughter can. she just got back from a bus tour to Portland, I should post pictures of multnomah falls, she had a great time.

food & drinks

2008-05-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have a terrible problem with eating in the car on a long trip. I pig out. I could eat the entire time. Of course, last big road trip I took I was 7 months pregnant, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought. Still, I don't want to spend a fortune on food and I don't want to starve. I think we'll bulk-buy a lot of snacks before we leave and keep a cooler full of sandwich making supplies. We'll eat out less if we have access to camping cookware, I think I"ll start hitting yard sales to acquire a cook-stove and things like that. Will we have access to running water at all times? I don't know. I don't want to use disposable dishes, maybe we can select foods that don't require utensils...... maybe we can each carry our own utensils and clean them with drinking water? we'll need a lot of bottled water, have you seen those new canteen bags? they're disposable but they take up a lot less space than the bottles. I wonder if they're biodegradable.

clothes?

2008-05-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking comfortable clothes, jeans and sweats. We won't be any place really cold- in fact, I guess we should be bringing shorts and swimsuits. I think if I limit our foods to things that don't make stains and try to have the kids be very clean when they are eating, things can be worn more than once. I just don't want to be all wrinkly and messy. When we're shooting, if the kids are in a scene, we need to have something that's... cute and not holey or stained. It's not a fashion show, but these things do need to be considered. So many things to consider...

Car-Schooling

2008-05-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

If you have any copies of any educational books on CD that you don't want, sent them my way, please.

Mrs Hannigan
PO Box 11036
Yakima, WA 98902

Books are heavy, and books on CD take up less space, and we can listen to them in the car and learn while we're driving. We will be taking books, but mostly field guides to animals, flowers and insects. I'm hoping to find an ethnobotany book, too. I love learning about how native people used plants. We're also bringing math books (the kids are thrilled- just kidding)

Should we put a TV in the bus?

2008-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking no way. Part of the reason we're taking this trip is for education, and what will they learn watching spongebob when the world is right outside their window. We'll have all the laptop computers, so they could conceivably watch a DVD or streaming online video content if we have a connection. I think I'd rather use the kids use their minds and bodies helping with the production and exploring the areas we're shooting instead of watching TV. We'll have school work and books to read if they get bored. Also, they'll be able to draw or write or something, to. This trip is about getting away, and TV would ruin it. I know I'll have to argue a bit with my husband on this, he thinks we should have a TV in the car for trips around town, too- he's all for the idea. It's a good thing we don't disagree more often.

More about biodiesel

2008-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

OK so maybe we don't need 2 biodiesel campers, one can be a bus. I'd like to convert one of those tourbuses, like a rock star. OMG then I'd be more of a rock star than Fussy! Talk about going to great lengths to outdo someone, although there really is more to it than that, isn't there. Anyhow, so we're preparing to travel around in a bus with our 6 kids and a video production crew for 2-3 months. The first thing we need to do (OK one of the million things we need to do) is find a bus and convert it to biodiesel,or veggie oil there's a conversion kit that runs around $1000 and then of course, we need to find the diesel vehicle we'll be converting. Attention- if you own a biodiesel bus company and would consider loaning us one we'd treat it very nicely. And you'll get some press from it, too. Not only will I thank you to high heaven here on this blog, but we'll edit it into the opening credits of the travel documentary we're making for PBS and the children's travel show we're making for Discovery Kids. Not that discovery kids knows this, but whatever, they don't need to know just yet. PBS knows about the travel thing, though- and our first episode is seling wonderfully to the libraries and to the wineries. SO- here's my link to a company that makes converter kits for diesel engines. Hopefully they will notice a ton of traffic flooding in to them through this link and they'll come here to check it out and say to themselves "By golly, I'd love to send them 2 free biodiesel tour buses. Go ahead, keep them. And God bless you, green travel goddess." Golden Fuel Systems ansd there's also Greasecar Systems and Frybrid Diesel/Vegetable Oil

Hiking with seven 11 yr olds

2008-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

That's what I'll be doing this June. Any advice? The girls have all decided to spend a day in the mountains. Actually to be honest, they wanted to camp overnight but the whole idea just sounds way too dirty for me, and neither of us Girl Scout Troop leaders has or wants to get our outdoor training, so we're going to use our mom-mind-powers to get the girls to decide they'd rather go up for the day, and buy matching T-shirts with the proceeds from their cookie sale.

So- we can still do the camp fire, roast marshmallows, play in the woods and in the lake, and get just as dirty as we wanna get, but we don't have to sleep that way and we don't need to get a special license from the Girl Scouts.

toddler destroys ancient art with sippy cup.

2008-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a delightful article about traveling with children. I was hooked the minute the child threw her sippy cup at the world famous painting. Anyhow, it's a great read on flexibility while traveling with children. Something I'm going to need a lot of soon. Enjoy the article

We need two Biodiesel Campers

2008-04-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Strange thing to need, isn't it but my task tomorrow is to start to learn about such things. This travel documentary we started filming only 6 years ago, before our wonderful detour, is just about finished and we're doing a feasibility study now of spending a few months on the road filming more cities. While I love the idea of touring around for a little while, like a band of gypsies, and sharing space with 6 kids and a dog is really just part of life; sharing space with a mobile film studio does not sound like much fun. So if you want to teach me about biodiesel campers or some other form of green transportation for like a gigantic camper- please spare me the research and just send me a link, OK. If someone donates the vehicle, there will be shots of it all though the video.

Does it count?

2008-04-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

As a road trip when we only went 3 miles from home? We got lost on the way there. It was the longest playday we've had in a while, our first major "haning out at someone else's house all day" kind of day in months and months. Quite a day, a much-needed rest for my soul with a very very good friend. We should go camping or something. To a spa or something. Maybe it's relevant to a travel blog because we both write hotel reviews. And, she has a really cool baby travel backpack thing. That makes this perfectly relevant for a travel blog. And we should go on vacation. Is that all of the vacation/travel keywords I can possibly make into a relevant post? Just following the rules here....

I want this Bike-thing

2008-04-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Not just because I am drooling over the family of 4 who is riding bikes from the top of Alaska to the southern tip of Brazil, but just because it looks like fun. It's a Caboose Bicycle It's cool, it looks like a tandem bicycle, and I think it attaches to a regular bike.

The ladies at 5 minutes for Mom have some great feedback from their customers about the product. Enjoy!

Is she there yet?

2008-04-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

E1 is going to Portland with her singing group next month. It's not the family trip that's posted in the sidebar, but her very own thing. They're taking a tour bus and everything. I'm so excited for her, she's 14 now and I think she's mature enough for it and she's going to have so much fun. They have like 4 places they're singing, plus they're visiting Multnomah falls, the zoo, a shopping area, and a few other destinations, too. She took the initiative and wrote up a request for donations from family to fund the trip and I know she can't wait. In June she'll be going to New York with the same group, we've been doing fund raisers all year long.

Buy an old Ferry Boat and do this, OK

2008-04-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Buy an old Ferry Boat and decorate it all out, then rent the parking spaces for RV's and go on a big tour all over the place. Everyone will have their own RV to stay in, and the upstairs area, with the chairs and stuff can be turned into a nice cafeteria, a media room, maybe a swimming pool. Like an RV cruise. Yeah- do that soon. I wonder what the insurance would be like.

Arizona

2008-03-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Been thinking about Arizona lately. My mom moved there- My friend Syndie from High School lives there. The Mothering magazine headquarters are either there or in New Mexico. Last night we saw a show about campers (If I were British I'd call it a caravan) It was insane how expensive they were. It's so not my style to spend $300K on a gas guzzling home-on-wheels. I'd much rather buy an old funky Bus, convert it to Biodiesel, paint it pink and head for the hills. Arizona would definitely be a destination. It would be fun to decorate the inside, too. I love all the hidden nooks & crannies of a camper/caravac/hippybus. I think we'd sleep in hammocks. And I'd want to also make the roof of the thing completely flat with anchor hooks and 24 inch high rails on the edges so we could pitch a tent there, and use it as a patio.

Not far from here...

2008-03-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to stay at the
Bonneville Hot Springs Resort in North Bonneville Washington

Not that I plan to anytime, soon, but I did the review and I just thought it looked like so much fun to sit in the hot tub on my private balcony in the woods, watching the deer in the forest. It sounds so relaxing.

carsickness?

2008-03-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

very dramatized, that last line didn't happen until 10 minutes after we got out of the car, but still....

Overheard on the way to girl scouts (in the car are me, E2 (age 4mos) and R (age 11) and M1 (age 11):

bla bla bla giggle giggle giggle

M1- what's wrong, R?
R- oh nothing

bla bla bla giggle giggle giggle

R- I hope I don't get carsick on the way to Yosemite next week
M1- Um, yeah that would suck
Me- Are you feeling carsick now?
R- well, no

bla bla bla giggle giggle giggle

R- BBLLEECCHHH

Whew- I can't wait to go now

2008-03-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

I checked out the hotel, it's the Comfort Inn & Suites near the Portland Airport and it's been reviewed favorably several times. It has an indoor pool, which will be nice. One reviewer suggested taking the free shuttle to the airport and using city transportation (which is dirt cheap) while we're there. The idea doesn't sound immediately appealing to me, in fact it sounds rotten at first, but when I think of the possibility of getting lost while driving around an unfamiliar town and paying to park at attractions not to mention the fuel cost (we have 6 kids and a Suburban that gets 8-10 mpg) The idea of using the light rail shuttle does sound a little better. So I am investigatin, we'll see if it will work for us. I'll keep you posted!

We're going to Portland

2008-03-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

June 2-5 Not sure of the whole itinerary but we'll be visiting Pioneer square, the Oregon Zoo, the Oregon History Center and OMSI. I found the Oregon Zoo has great resources for teachers on their website. We're traveling with a large group of homeschooling families, it's going to be so much fun. I need to check customer reviews of the hotel we're staying at, the idea of staying with the group sounds like so much fun but the name of the hotel isn't consistently reputable throughout the U.S. (lucky me- the hotel reviewer, gets the inside scoop) I don't want to switch away from the group, but I also don't want to stay if it's overpriced or dirty. $71 a night isn't bad for a big city, but it's by the airport, and you just never know by the airport. They have a pool and a spa and continental breakfast, but do they have complimentary high speed internet access? Some hotels charge, and what about parking? I'd rather spend $ on a better room than on parking. When we went to CA last summer, they wanted to charge us $12 each time we used the parking lot, so we just parked across the street. And they wanted to charge $10 per day for internet access WTF??? I think it was like a 4 star hotel, too. Marriott I think. But the toiletries were Bath & Bodyworks, I think. That was nice. And it was beautiful, the view was beautiful. The staff was friendly. Anyhow- back to Portland. I can't wait to get the itinerary. I want to get together with friends from my Mothering Magazine Due Date Club. Lunch, at a park or something. Do I even want to Bring Mr H? He once said "zoos are for retards."

Cinco De Mayo Resources

2008-03-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

I do realize this is a travel blog, but we're homeschoolers on a tight budget, so instead of real ly traveling to Mexico for Cinco De Mayo (which would be stupid because they don't celebrate it there) we're just using the holiday to learn a little more about Mexico. Here are some resources we've found:

Coloring Page: Children in Traditional Mexican Clothing
Coloring Page: Children playing with pinata
Coloring Page: Mexican boy in Charro suit
Coloring Page: Fiesta
Word Search: easier and harder
Cinco De Mayo songs (not traditional songs, these are goofy teacher-made songs)
Tons of Crafts (with excellent pictures) at Kaboose
Making Friends website also has tons of fiesta crafts you can use for Cinco De Mayo
More Mexican Crafts at Enchanted Learning

Planning a budget vacation for families

2008-03-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

I thought this article had some really good ideas for inexpensive family travel. I hope you enjoy it. Eddy has some good ideas for saving money planning a family trip. And, he loves, using commas. Enjoy,,,

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How To Use 6 Simple Tip To Plan A Budget Family Vacation

This article reveals 6 simple tips on how to get the budget family vacation you always wanted. Read on.

The need for a budget family vacation is getting more and more important as the standard of living keep on rising.

Having the joy of a family get-together is often viewed as a time to bonding with the children. It is also a great opportunity to rest and relax after a hard day's work or from school.

Your children will love to go on an adventure trip for the summer and you will enjoy spending some quality time with your family in a beautiful setting.

With the increasing cost of airfares and lodging, many people feel they can no longer afford to go on vacation . The good news is that with a bit of extra effort, you can plan a budget family vacation that everyone will enjoy.

I have some interesting ideas to share with you. In fact, there are 7 simple tips to explore.

#1 Prepare early is one of the keys to saving on your family vacation. You have to start planning in advance. If you start your search in advance, you have a better chance to find a special offer that provides you with a budget family vacation package to a dream location. You will get lots of fun planning together as a whole family.

#2 Choosing during the non-peak period is often the best bet. A holiday vacation during the non-peak period can be cheaper than peak periods. Travel agency have special offers in May and September. It is much easier to plan a budget family vacation during these 2 months. This period happens to be near the summer holidays.

#3 Location flexibility is also one of the factors to a budget family vacation. Some airline companies often have promotion for specific vacation spots. Although they don't fly anywhere, if you happen to enjoy one of their vacation destinations, you will get cheaper airplane tickets for your budget family vacation.

Finding an attractive location within 300 miles from your home can be also another tip for a budget family vacation. Thus reading gas and traveling expense altogether.

#4 Rental vacation is quite popular among people seeking budget family vacation. There are researches that shown the average holidaymaker spends more on food than on accommodation during a family vacation.

If you find a vacation rental with a kitchen, you can cook some of your own meals. This way you will spend less money on dining out.

#5 Do you want you friends to join you?

The 5th tip is to invite your friends to join you for a budget family vacation. It is more of sharing the accommodation costs, traveling in a larger group has plenty of other advantages.

You kids will be able to play with your friend altogether if you are going to invite them to join you for a budget family vacation. They can turns babysitting so you can enjoy a romantic dinner in a fine restaurant.

#6 Another tip is a cheap vacation is to go camping. Your kids will love to go for a camping because it is fun and exciting not forgetting the safety aspect of it. As there are other campers, they will get to interact with them. This will also boost up their social skills.

This activity is one of the most affordable choice for the whole family. For a family of four, it is usually costing less than $1500, with new camping gears.

Campsites are usually located in wonderful settings and include plenty of planned activities and bathroom and shower facilities. Some even provide wireless Internet access and cable TV.

If you love outdoor adventures, going camping is a great option for a budget family vacation.

Are you ready for more fun?

A family vacation with a budget can be more fun and exciting than a expensive one. If you put some effort into the planning process, you can have a perfect vacation with your loved ones and share some unforgettable life experiences.

In conclusion

A well planned, budgeted holidays for the whole family is surely a good way to travel with current rising costs of living. Most of all, it instills family cooperation and planning to make it happen.

That's why, Eddy believe he can help you find the most budgeted family holidays and to enjoy most of your vacations.

Source: articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eddy Kong is the owner of a website called all inclusive family vacation deals. This guide will be able to help more dads and moms find alternative solutions to their family vacations so as to start the bonding the process. Drop by at his site now.

Vacation Hotels and Travel

2008-02-23T01:14:00.000-08:00

I have been writing hotel reviews and it's making me want to take a trip. M1 is planning a trip for us to take in 3 years, either to China or to Russia to volunteer in an orphanage. I am sure she'll want to bring orphans home. In 3 yrs I might even agree with her. She's an amazing kid.

Anyhow- back to the hotel reviews thing, it's making me want to take a trip somewhere. Where would we go? I've always wanted to drive across the country in an RV with the kids. I would want to take like a 3 or 4 month trip. I'm wondering if they make RVs that run on biodiesel. If they can do it with a bus, I am sure they can do it with an RV.

I would totally paint it purple. or pink.

Where is their office anyways.

2008-02-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

I think I'd like to drive down to their offices and figure out what the heck they're thinking. They're either geniuses or they're just stupid. Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Back in the old days (Um, like last week when this very blog you're reading was rejected) you used to have to have 20 posts in a blog that was at least 90 days old. SO I decided to pay attention to that little blog, and make a few other ones, since my pagerank on my original blog sucks, I figured they could build off of each other and maybe one day, when google updates their pageranking system (which I hear is like very 90 days) then maybe my original blog will be worth something, and then maybe I can grow these other blogs, too and Mwa hahaaha rule the mom blogging world, like Dooce and Amalah.

But now, they have changed the rules, so that any blog that has ten posts and is 30 days old will qualify.

I think it's a stupid mistake. There's already too many of us scrambling like vultures to grab the few opportunities that are available for new bloggers. They pay $20 for posting when you sign up, just to announce that you've done it. So they'll have all these people signing up and getting paid for making their first post announcing that they've signed up and then their system will be overloaded because all these people will be trying to get paid posts all the time. It isn't easy hitting the refresh button ten thousand times a day hoping a new one will come up. And sometimes the verification words are long and complicated. Like "Renoir $285,837.20" and things like that. It's not a lifestyle everyone is cut out for. If you think you might be the one who can handle it, then click the purple image below and they will help you register for paid blogging. I don't think you can handle it, though. I am just warning you.

You should do it fast because I don't know if they'll stay in business like this for long. Hopefully you're someone with a blog that has a higher page rank than mine, so that you won't be taking opportunities that I could be using to feed my kids. My six kids. Seriously.

OOH- I just learned they're in Florida. I've always wanted to take the kids to DisneyWorld. I wonder if we're tough enough for an Amtrak trip again yet???

Central Station, New York

2008-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

I found this on My Opinion Counts, a great blog by a fellow PPP postie. Enjoy.

Tunes to travel by

2008-02-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

Little Square Wheels is a great little CD we keep in the car. I actually got it from an old neighbor, a homeschooling Goddess (I'm serious, she was amazing) that lived around the corner from us when I was pregnant with G1. I don'[t know if her husband IS Doug Fleming Jr or if he was his partner or something, but somehow, he's got something to do with this CD. She's the mamma who first introduced me to The Well Trained Mind. I wonder how they're doing now? Heidi, the Artist from Seattle. I hope they're doing well. I thought her husband's name was Bill.

Wanna earn a quick $7.50?

2008-02-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

Keep watching this blog, You can review my posts and earn $7.50 plus the opportunity to earn more if you qualify. Stay tuned...

road trip with 6 kids

2008-01-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

I ran across this story about a family road trip with 6 kids. The pincher bugs on the toilet seat sound like a nightmare.

Friday Forum

2008-01-18T07:13:00.001-08:00

OK so today's road trip is just a few blocks away but we've got to start somewhere. Friday Forum is a monthly homeschool co-op we go to. It's very well organized and the kids love it. Today I have to bring snacks for the Momm's breakroom, the teenagers and a craft activity for the 3 yr olds. I better get off the 'puter.

A trip down a different road.

2007-12-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

Trying to smile at 4:42 A.M. it's really really hard
5:58 A.M. Whew.

2007-11-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

Traveling in Style.

Our new Tandem stroller.
The section closest to the pushing handle comes with a bracket to put the carseat on. I doubt we'll ever use it because I really believe the carseat should stay IN THE CAR. I plan to wear the baby in the Moby wrap or something all the time. I'd really like to get a bunch more carriers, too. I think the real occupants of this stroller will be M2 and G1 because they're 2 and 4 years old. They're the ones who are too tired and too wild to walk sometimes. I don;t like that the cargo area is hard to access. I do like the little box on the handle that closes up because my new blackberry phone fits perfectly inside of it. I don't like how heavy it is and how tricky it is to fold. I do like that it has cupholders. This is my first tandem stroller. I don't foresee us ever needing another. I wish I would have shopped around more but we needed it NOW. I am so big and uncomfortable that I can't carry kids and their stuff any more.

Have I complained yet

2007-10-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

About driving 1200 miles when you're 7 months pregnant?

I didn't think so.

My butt hurts. My legs hurt. My back hurts. I have to pee. I'm hungry. Are we there yet? And that's ME- the kids are worse. At least I haven't said "She keeps looking out my window"

Friends are priceless

2007-10-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

I was right- the kids were thrilled to see friends. It is going to be hard to leave them. We head out of town tonight. Here they are on our (their) way to Dinner at Red Robin. The two on the left have been friends since Christy and I met in 1994. The girls weren't even a year old yet. Now they're almost 14. Damn. I'm old.

2007-10-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

Visiting with cousins. Isn't it great how when you're 3 and 4 you just see each other and start dancing. Because there's music and you're the same size (ish)

She had to help him out with the arm positioning, but he was a gentleman and I love her bare little feet.

In the car...

2007-10-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Getting Goofy in the car. G on the far left and M on the far right are deliberately making goofy faces. G2 in the middle has hair in her mouth and the doll always looks like that.

G2 gettin' messy with the car snacks. Messy car snacks are generally a no-no. She's sitting in the center row, within my arm's reach, so I can wipe her down with a baby wipe or washcloth as often as necessary.

Back to California.

2007-10-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

This time Daddy's coming, too. We're in our new Suburban and looking forward to visiting cousins, showing off Restaurant stuff and Grandma's birthday party.

A Trip to Costco and the wardrobe planning precision of a military operation. 30 pairs of panties. 5 girls, 6 days of clothes= 30 pairs of panties. Plus color coded outfits for each day and we absolutely HAVE to throw in a load of laundry when we get to my sister's house.

We're excited to be staying at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills for a few nights. We're even MORE excited to be surprising the kids with a visit to our absolute all-time favorite family friends, the Spargos. Sadly, their house-sale went bad and now they moved back to Palmdale. The kids think that they're still living in Colorado, so they have NO IDEA that we'll be in the same STATE as our friends, so they will be shocked when we see them.

And we're off...

No road trip for me.

2007-06-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to be going to see my sister's baby be born but I'm not.

We'er on...

2007-03-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

We're definitely going in October, for a birthday party for my mother in law. I am so excited. It will be so nice to get out of town for a week or so.

California maybe?

2007-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Just thinking we might want to take a trip to California this year. Maybe in the SUmmer. I think my mother in law is coming in the Spring.

Speaking of travel

2006-12-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

There's a new place in town that lets you RTO (rent-to-own) the "good" tires for your car- so basically you pay for them over 6 months or something, before they're yours. it's a good idea if you want fancy tires that you can't afford. The interest, like all other RTO's is probably too much but if you need tires, then how much is too much?

Are tires a bad christmas gift?

To Seattle

2006-08-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

We're just going for the day.

G2 is one year old today

It's 3 hours away.

When you have 5 kids, though it IS a road trip.

I made sandwiches, we're bringing bottled water and a change of clothes for everyone. It should be fun.

I love Pike Marketplace, Pioneer Square and GasWorks Park. I love the troll bridge. I love Seattle. It is so artsy. And Classy. And Green. I can't wait to move back to the Green side of the State. Some day...

We made it.

2006-07-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

We made it home!

E stayed behind with Grandma. So I returned home with only 4 kids. E was the helpful oldest one, so I was very nervous about traveling with all the youngest ones. We stopped one night on the way home, Hotel was nice, we went swimming the minute we woke up, ate a yummy Continental breakfast, filled up the Gas Tank, and hit the road. I missed the freeway onramp (Thank Goodness) and suddenly the car temperature jumed up as high as it could and I turned around in front a Deisel truck repair shop. The owner recommended a reputable tow truck driver who came and hauled us to a repair shop. At the mercy of greasy strangers 1200 miles from home, I was glad they didn't charge me extra to haul my trailer. They were sympathetic to my status (traveling alone with 4 kids.)

The Bad News- It was the air conditioner that broke. Not fun in the Middle of Summer. The Air Conditioner froze up and the Engine's main belt runs through the Air Conditioner somehow.

The Badder News- A New Air Conditioner would cost $1800 I think that's what we paid for the van.

The worst baddest news- They wouldn't be able to get a new part until Monday.

Anderson Automotive rocks. The Man who was working on it jimmied up a part to bypass the Air Conditioning System so we could get home. This scared me. I asked him if he would let his wife and kids Drive 1200 miles with this repair job. He said Yes, but watch the temperature gauge and have it checked out as soon as you get home.

It worked. We made it. I sent them a Thank-You-Card. This could have turned out so much worse. It was so nice to finally get out of there. We stopped at Wal Mart on the way out of town for a few things to help us survive without air conditioning.

I got a 12 pack of washcloths- and a Kool-Aid Pitcher. My Idea was to keep the washcloths in Ice water and lay them on the backs of our necks to beat the heat. It worked. It was hot but it worked. When we'd stop, I'd refresh the water in the pitcher with Cooler runoff. I let the kids be in their swimsuits. I took off my shoes. We made it.

Wedding was beautiful

2006-06-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

Wedding was beautiful. They actually secretly got married in Las Vegas a few months ago because he was accepted to the LAFD and they wanted her on his Insurance. I think it was a wise move- they want to have kids soon. She has POCD or something, so it could take a while to get pregnant.

Palmdale has changed so much since we lived there. I paid my storage bill. I had them print out our whole history. OMG Nothing in there was worth what we've paid for it over the past 8 years or so. I can't wait to get home and explore it all. The trailer is stowed securely in a parking space at the Storage Yard. It was nice of them to let me use the space so I wouldn't have to drive around town with that thing. I had to leave the foldout couch behind (I always thought it was ugly anyways.) The folding mechanism was bent and I couldn't close it OR open it.

San Diego was Beautiful

2006-06-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

I definitely want to come back. The beach was so nice. We were at a little bay where the water was calm (Mission bay?) and we could walk like one block to the "real" beach. I stayed at the bay area with the little kids, but we did walk over to the "big waves" They were so amazed. It made me think of that line in the LeAnn Womack song "I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the Ocean." I saw her sing that live in Concert once, at the county fair. It was awesome. I think that's one of my favorite songs.

I've got the gigantic fridge, the Uhaul and I am headed north with the kids now to Palmdale for my Sister's wedding.

Road Trips with Kids- Are We There Yet?

Bouncing back

Weighing the options

best phone service for traveling

Use your brain

Big families KNOW what counts

Small talk welcome...

It's so hot outside

AWESOME opportunity

Where's the Pier?

Freebies for Expectant Moms

Some like it hot

Kids and Entertainment

NYE 2012 in Branson... See you there?

Travel size Relief

Hula Hooping and Travel

Perfect iPhone app for traveling

Gaming System for the Motorhome

The first 50 things I'll do on the road

50 Things I'll do on the road

Of course we're bringing the toys

Shopping and Travel

TiVo for travelers

Comparing mapping software & sites

Easy luxury trips for fall

Free places to stay

Train Travel

Decorating the RV

Best Summer Ever

YAYYY

RV Families

Writing about Travel

Upcoming...

Trip Canceled

Sweet Home, Alabama?

Getting Ready for San juan

Renting a moving truck

Don't forget your boots

Next family road trip- Vancouver, WA

Home from the trip

Cheaper Travel Wardrobe

Save a Fortune on Hotel Phone Calls

OMG- Priceline is amazing

Cheap tickets to Dallas

Financial sabotage?

walking, my least favorite alternative fuel

Biodiesel is going to be a no go

Cheaper than driving

day trip- shopping

Running errands with a bunch of little munchkins

Like flying is so much fun anyway

Oregon History Museum. OOPS- free parking!

Stupid Oregon Gas-Pumpers

Oregon Zoo with 6 girls

Portland Children's Museum

OMSI in Portland

We Made it to the hotel

Portland Homeschoolers Field Trip

5 more days 'til Portland

Use This car for free & they pay for the gas

travel with teenager

marriage

food & drinks

clothes?

Car-Schooling

Should we put a TV in the bus?

More about biodiesel

Hiking with seven 11 yr olds

toddler destroys ancient art with sippy cup.

We need two Biodiesel Campers

Does it count?

I want this Bike-thing

Is she there yet?

Buy an old Ferry Boat and do this, OK

Arizona

Not far from here...

carsickness?

Whew- I can't wait to go now

We're going to Portland

Cinco De Mayo Resources