Archive for the ‘momtips’ Category

A Traveling Mom’s tips for the Beach

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

Many of our cruise shore excursions have involved beach time. In this picture, Tim took a photo of the boys and I enjoying a beautiful beach in St Lucia adjacent to one of the Pitons.
Here are a few tips for making the most of these amazing beach experiences:

Many shore excursions involve a public beach next to a resort. In our experience there are not usually public beach chairs. The resorts charge a nominal fee to use their beach chairs, so remember to figure this into your budget if you would like to use a beach chair during your stay on the beach. Also, be sure to bring your own beach towel.

Arriving as early as possible allows you to enjoy the beach before the crowd arrives in beach destinations that welcome many cruise ships. We found this to be true at Divi Little Bay in St Maarten. We disembarked as soon as the ship docked and took a taxi to the beach. We were able to enjoy time on the beach for a few hours before it became very crowded with cruise passengers who were arriving from all the ships in port that day on cruise line shore excursions.

Several years ago when the boys were fairly new to beach experiences we rented life jackets that were available. We did not rent the jackets for the first hour. After some time the boys wanted to try going out a little farther in the water. Even though they didn’t travel far, they had a great time just floating around with the jackets. This added to their experience with the waves, the sand, and Mom and Dad’s peace of mind.

There are many beautiful beaches available on your Mexico and Caribbean cruises, what is your favorite?

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A Traveling Mom’s Tip: Keeping kids entertained on the journey

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

by Anne Larison
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We have been traveling as a family for over 8 years. We spend time prior to each trip preparing not just for the destination, but also for the journey. That’s me at the left with Andrew and Josh in their younger days (age 6) all prepared for a new trip.
Here are a few ideas about keeping your child entertained on the journey. At least two weeks before we leave, the twins and I start preparing. First we make sure that the traveling backpack is in good shape. If it has been a while since your last trip, make sure that your child won’t object to the pack you plan to use for the trip. For several years the cute, bright little boy backpacks were great. At a certain age, the boys grew out of that pack and informed me they were too ‘old’ to use the ‘baby’ back pack.

I let the boys decide what they will bring on the trip… with supervision. I had to intervene the year one of the boys wanted to bring the 3rd volume of the Harry Potter series (hard back) to read on the plane. This book, at over 450 pages, weighs more than most small appliances!

Some of the other time fillers and entertainment options we have brought along include:

Small magnetic checkers game
Word-seek puzzle and Fill-It-In books
Action figures (with no small parts that can be easily lost)
Paper and pencils (great for tic-tac-toe, hang-man and other paper games)
Deck of playing cards

I learned recently one item that you cannot bring through security at the airport. The TSA does not allow Play-doe! Let us know what other fun items you bring to keep the kids entertained.

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A traveling Mom’s tip: use lanyards for kids on a cruise

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006


by Anne Larison

One essential thing I bring on cruises for myself and the twins is a lanyard for each of us.

Especially in the last few years as the boys have become more independent. They are not always with Tim and I around the ship and need to have their ship card with them. I don’t have to worry about them losing their card or leaving their card in the stateroom.

We use a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard, but cruise lines may also use a hole-punch tool to put a hole in the corner of the ship card and attach the card directly onto the lanyard. The picture of our son Josh above was on a shore excursion at St Thomas earlier this year - as you can see his ship card is securely fastened to the lanyard around his neck.

I don’t always want to carry a purse or fanny pack and using my lanyard is a great alternative to using a pocket. The boys have easy access to their card as we depart and return to the ship for shore excursions. One less thing to worry about!

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A traveling Mom’s tip: Laundry

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

by Anne Larison

We have been fortunate enough to have taken a few trips lasting 10 days or longer. Rather than try to pack enough clothes for a family of 4 for 2 weeks, I have taken on the task I prefer not to do on vacation – laundry.

I have done laundry in a deluxe resort at Disneyland as well as on a luxury cruise liner. It didn’t put a crimp in my vacations and being organized made the task fairly simple.

When I know that I will be visiting the laundry room on whatever trip we are planning I prepare with a few essentials:

Pre-measured laundry soap. I use ziplock top snack bags to hold the amount of laundry soap for an average size load. This is both convenient and saves money. Those little boxes of soap sold in laundry rooms can be expensive. I usually take a few more bags than I think I’ll need. It doesn’t add much to the weight of my suitcase. I put all the little bags into one large, gallon size ziplock bag.

Dryer sheets. I will take several dryer sheets in a snack bag for the same reasons stated above.

Roll of quarters. Taking my own roll of quarters saves time, when I don’t have to visit the front desk or purser’s desk seeking change for the machines.

A good book. Whether I get to the laundry room early in the morning or late in the evening, I can kill some waiting time reading while the boys rev up or wind down from the days fun back in the room.

Doing laundry on a trip can be as easy as 1-2-3!

Happy Travels!

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A traveling Mom’s tip: Strollers and Laundry

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

by Anne Larison

We’ve been traveling with the boys since they were 4 years old; the twins are now 12. I have learned a few things along the way about keeping a family of 4 organized in very small accommodations as well as meeting everyone’s needs so that our family trips are smooth ‘sailing’.

When the boys were 4 ½ we traveled to Disney World for the first time. We brought 2 umbrella strollers with us. They are easy to maneuver and were no problem with the airline when we checked in for our flight to and from Orlando. The boys could walk with no problem, but we found that using them saved us from a few melt downs. We saved money by not having to rent strollers.

I always take 2 tall kitchen trash bags with us for dirty clothes. We write the words Cold and Warm, one on each bag. Each day when the boys remove their dirty clothing they immediately put them in the correct bag, so we don’t have piles of dirty clothes hanging around the room. I have less sorting to do when we return home and start the laundry.

Well, that’s it for now. More of Mom’s organizing tips and trip ideas to come!

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