Traveling With Kids

Does the thought of traveling with your kids make you cringe? Maybe you're one of those rare parents that actually enjoys it! Either that or one of those rare parents that have extremely easy and well-behaved children that will go anywhere or sleep anywhere! I know that when my kids don't sleep in their own beds, we are usually in for a tough next day. My husband and I keep tossing the idea back and forth on when we should take the kids to Disney. I'm hoping that it's as stress free as possible with very few meltdowns! What I really want is my kids to enjoy it and hopefully remember it.

We have done the weekend getaways with the kids. While the idea sounds great, we might as well have stayed the month with the amount of clothes, toys and necessities we needed to bring! Better yet, we should have rented a U-haul! I have to wonder if going away for a weekend with kids is even worth it.

Have you ever taken your child on a flight? Chances you have thought about it and dreaded it. I have taken my two oldest children on a plane when they were young. My son was two and my daughter was 6 months old at the time. There were three adults and two children which made things a heck of a lot easier! With that said, it was still work! Did I mention we had a four-hour layover on the way home? Not the best situation but we made it! Which brings me to my next subject.

Just  recently on a flight, parents of 14 week-old twins handed out goody bags to everyone on the flight. Here's what the note read:

'We're twin baby boys on our first flight and we're only 14 weeks old!' the note read.'We'll try to be on our best behavior, but we'd like to apologize in advance just in case we lose our cool, get scared or our ears hurt. Our mom and dad (AKA our portable milk machine and our diaper changer) have ear plugs available if you need them,' the note added.

Mostly everyone on board thought it was such a nice gesture and appreciated the fact that the parents had gone to the trouble to do this. Some people thought it was a little much. I personally think it was a really nice gesture. Having been on a plane with my own kids, I get it. I remember rolling my eyes when I would get on a plane and see a baby. That was before I had my own children. Now when I get on and see a baby, I immediately think, "Oh gosh, those poor parents." Funny how you thoughts change after you have kids! My guess is that the majority of passengers on the flight had kids or grandchildren of their own and the ones who weren't as enthusiastic, didn't!

What do you think? Do you think the goody bags were a nice gesture or did you think it was over the top?

Wouldn't this stroller make life so much easier when you travel with your little one? We are giving it away! Just make a comment to the previous blog and like us on Facebook to win. Winner will be announced September 24, 2012.

Jessica

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by Jessica GPosted in Mothers, Welcome

5 Fun Pool Games for Kids! Contest Ended!

Winner is Joel Massey, congrats!

Summer is here and what better way to spread some summer cheer than an awesome giveaway! We are giving away this Banzai 3D Shark Lagoon Pool this month. All you have to do is make a comment to the blog and post a summer picture of your child on our Facebook page. The person with the most likes will win!

I have put together a list of some of my favorite pool games for kids. Here they are!

Marco Polo

Game is to be played in a swimming pool.

The idea is to not to get caught by "Marco" (the person who is "it")

One person is chosen to be "it" he/she closes his/her eyes and gets on one end of the swimming pool. He/she counts to 10 and shouts "Marco" and all the others in the pool shout "Polo". The one that shouts "Marco" has to try to catch one of the persons who shouts "Polo". It can be shouted as much as possible. Once he/she catches a person, then that person is now "it" and so on.....

Sharks and Minnows

The "shark" starts in the middle, The "shark" says, "Come, little fishies!"  All the "minnows" run from one end of the "pool" past the "shark" to the other end.  If a minnow gets tagged it becomes a "shark."  Both "sharks" try to tag "minnows" the next time the minnows run. 

At the end of the game, whoever is the last "minnow" to be caught becomes the "shark" to start the next game.  Any "minnow" who goes outside the pool becomes a "shark" automatically, If a "minnow" doesn't run right away, "sharks" must stand on a "safe line" and must count backwards from 10 to give the "minnow" a chance to run.  Then they can cross the safe line.  (This is called the "No Babysitting Rule.")
 

Balloon Toss

What is needed:

• Water balloons
• A group of friends paired off

How to play:
Each pair stands face to face with one holding a water balloon. They toss it to each other and then take one step back. Each time it is tossed they take one step back. The pair that has their water balloon intact the longest wins.

Scavenger Hunt

Choose a variety of objects to strew across the bottom of the pool -- anything that doesn't float, isn't made of glass and has no sharp edges. Make sure there are two of everything (one for each team). Designate the shallow end for little kids, the deep end for bigger ones and grown-ups and give each team a list of items to retrieve. The team that collects the most things on its list in the allotted time wins; the other team has to scour the pool for the remaining stuff. 

Sponge Toss Relay

What is needed:

• 1 large sponge per relay team
• 2 buckets per relay team
• 6 or more teens

Each player on a relay team must be at least 5 feet away from the other players. They can be in a line or a zig-zag formation. Place a bucket full of water near the first player on the team and an empty bucket near the last player in the line. When the race starts the first player soaks up water in the sponge and throws it to the 2nd player who throws it to the 3rd and so on until the sponge gets to the last player on the relay team. The last player squeezes out the water into the empty bucket and sends the sponge back the same way it came. This repeats until the empty bucket is full or until a time limit is met. The team with the most water in their 'empty' bucket wins.

I hope you enjoy these fun pool games for kids! Good luck and don't forget to make a comment to this blog and post your favorite summer photo of your child. Most likes on our Facebook page will win! (Picture must be recent and contest end July 1 ,2012.)

Jessica

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by Jessica GPosted in Mothers, Welcome

Being a Mother Equals Being Superwoman!

I don't like blood. I'm not a fan of hospitals but I have to wonder who really is? Last week my lovely daughter was twirling around in the living room when she lost her footing and hit her head and chin on the corner of the fireplace. She let out a wail of a scream so I knew something was wrong. I immediately picked her up and checked her head which seemed fine. I looked down to notice she had cut her chin open and didn't realize it. I knew immediately she needed stitches or something. I called the doctor and they told me to bring her in. Of course my wonderful husband only wanted the best for his little girl and told me to tell them he wanted a plastic surgeon to sew her up. "Oh lord." I thought. "This should be interesting!" When I brought her into the doctor's office, the doctor knew that she needed either glue or two or three stitches. My amazing little girl didn't even bat an eyelash and was all smiles about thirty minutes after it happened. (Boy are kids resilient, but anyways!) I had to tell the doctor about my overprotective husband wanting a plastic surgeon. He told me that they usually don't do little things like this and my best bet was to bring her to the hospital since they take care of facial injuries all of the time. So, we headed to the hospital and after 3 hours, she left with some glue and steri-strips. She also got a red popsicle and stickers and she was very happy about that! I was so proud of her. She did fantastic. Had we had to have stitches, I know if would have been another story! I was thankful she didn't need them. Unfortunately though, my poor baby will have a scar on her chin forever. I'm pretty sad about that. I'm just really hoping it's not that noticeable.

With that said, I use to cringe at the thought of having kids and knowing that they would need stitches, break bones and vomit all over the place! I never had a stomach for these types of things and my husband never had the stomach for needles or blood. I was afraid for us as parents! It's amazing what mode you morph into when your kids are hurt or sick. It's like you're a mama bear trying to protect her cubs.

As much as we try to prevent accidents, things like this are going to happen. The only thing we can do is comfort our little ones and give lots of hugs and kisses. I guess your never truly a mom until you've been thrown up on, peed on or been to the ER.

Oh the joys of parenthood!

Jessica

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by Jessica GPosted in Welcome