Things I Love Thursday: my annual winter virtual vacation

In February or March every year, I found myself having to tackle the "task" of doing some family travel planning for the summer.  More often than not, this should have been started earlier, but mommy is somewhat of a procrastinator likes to take her time and do some research before committing to such things.  For the past few years, the number one item on the list has been the CYFAR conference that I attend for my Extension work. This takes place in May and God willing, my husband travels with me and we make a little hallelujah no kids for a week getaway out of it.  We love our children, but we also savor our time alone together as it is almost nonexistent.  At any rate, planning for the conference always involves booking flights, a hotel, and scouting out fun things to do while we're there.  This is where my love for Google Earth and Google Maps come in.  I could lost in my computer for hours "walking" down the streets of downtown San Antonio, or across the Golden Gate bridge.  The technology transports you to that foreign but gorgeous location that you just can't wait to get to!  I know that I seem like a nerd (because, well... I am!) and that these gadgets have been around for a while and aren't anything new.  But I can't help but to still allow them to transport me on a virtual vaca when I need it the most.... like now.... when there's 2 ft of snow taunting me outside my window.

Well, the summer trip planning has begun and it's starting with San Francisco.  This is the location for CYFAR 2010 and I couldn't be more excited!  I have never been to California (my husband has and no, I am not bitter).  After the conference will come a family trip that our entire family is going to try to survive taking with my parents, sister and her family to Marblehead along the Lake Erie shoreline in June.  I have been a browsing, searching, and virtually walking fool over the past few weeks trying to scout out places to stay and things to do on the Lake.  Our family's wallet is pretty thin this year, so I'm trying to be creative in planning the trip (hence the multi-family vacation to the beach by the lake versus by the ocean).  Our daughter is old enough to understand that we're going on a trip, but she could care less where the location is as long as there is a beach involved somehow, somewhere.  So, when I first sat down to virtually check out the Marblehead area, I invited her to "walk" around with me.  She was amazed... and so I think I'm going to include her in this little tradition of mine from now on.  Why not?  She obviously just as much of a nerd as her mommy is. ;)

Ways to Have Your Own Virtual Family Vacation:
 -  Pull up Google Earth and let your kids pick a location (it can be anywhere in the world).
 -  Notice landmarks in the area and "walk" around the areas they are located.  This is a cool way to virtually visit Washington D.C.
 -  Do a Google search for resorts that offer live-action video shots of their surroundings.  These can sometimes include anything from a view of the beach or ocean to a view of a mountain range.
 -  Visit the Travel Channel's homepage for an interactive world map tour.  The Caribbean looks especially tempting today... but my favorite spot on this map is Europe/Greece.
 -  Don't forget to use this fun family activity as an opportunity to teach your children about other cultures. The National Geographic Kids website has some great games and pages for viewing on your computer and printing out.

Happy virtual travels everyone!          

For more Things I Love Thursday posts, visit thediaperdiaries.net

CHI-CA-GO, CHI-CA-GO!

Our family recently had the privilege of attending a friends' wedding in Chicago. Well, I shouldn't say just "friend." Jake and Alan (hubby) have been in separable since they were little he is also a cousin of mine through marriage. Natalie (his gorgeous bride) and I have quickly become good friends as well since we met in person last year at Alan and I's wedding. Anyway, the wedding was beautiful and so was Nat... the food wasn't too bad either! You know I love me some good food :) The day after the wedding, Alan and I took the opportunity to take the kids into the city. It's one of our favorite places we have visited together and we wanted the kids to experience it too. There's just something about Chicago that is spectacular and beautiful at the same time.

So our first major vacation as a foursome (that's Al and I with the kids in tow) included visiting the Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier, strolling through Millennium Park, checking out the Lego Store on Michigan Ave., and going up into the Sear's Tower - I refuse to call it Willis Tower. Both Jake and Marissa were in absolute awe once we were on the Skydeck, looking down at the city below. That's what you get when you bring a couple of young kids from small-town Ohio in the heart of a big city. :) Below are photos of the wedding as well as our trip into the city. If you would like to see the rest of our Chicago photos - you can see them here in our Facebook album. Enjoy!

Family photo by The Bean.

Looking down from the top of the Sear's Tower.


Yes, this picture is of Marissa in one of the new Skyboxes! She really wanted this picture even though she looks terrified. :)

The boys looking out of the Skydeck.

Fountain in Millennium Park.

Can you believe this guy was not a statue? Marissa thought he was pretty cool. :)

Jakey on Navy Pier with the skyline in the background.

Marissa and Nanna - she came along for the trip! She was such a trooper! :)


Pictures from the wedding (sorry bad lighting and our camera do not equal good results!):





Congratulations Jake & Natalie! We love you both and wish you nothing but the very best!

The Big Surprise!

Many people are waiting with baited breath to view this little clip that Jeromy was able to catch when he and Alan picked Jake up at the airport... so here ya go! Alan is in the white shirt / red hat heading over to the left side of the screen toward Jake. Surprises are great, aren't they? :)

Al's Been 'a Travelin...

...to San Diego that is! Alan recently took an exciting weekend trip out to San Diego to surprise his best friend, Jake at his bachelor party. Yes, that's right, his loving wife told him that she would cancel her plans to go to Chicago so that he could travel 2,300 miles away from her to see and do Lord knows what! Man... I must looooove him :) It was the first leisurely trip he had gone on without me since we had begun dating - so it was a little difficult for both of us to say the least. There was a lot of worry on both sides, but in the end he had a fantastic time, got to spend a weekend with his "long-lost brothers" who left him for California (hehe), and came back to me and the kiddos safe and sound... and of course with lots of stories and pictures to share!

Alan and I learned a lot from this trip - and you can read about how we grew in our marriage because of it in a different post on EverythingMom here.

And, because I know you love 'em - here are a few more pics.

How to Survive a Seven-Hour Baseball Game... with Kids in Tow

Hubby and I had been planning a special trip to watch our beloved Cincinnati Reds for quite some time... and Monday (Memorial Day) was THE big day! The forecast called for a "chance" of a pop-up thunderstorm, which in Ohio weather-language means "85% chance nothing will happen" so we took the bet and carted both of the kiddos down to Cincy. Neither of us had a clue, mind you, as to how the kids might act and/or if they would both make it until the end of the game. Jake is typically pretty laid back - however - the starting time for the game was 1:10 = 10 minutes AFTER Jake usually goes down for a nap. So we were going to go with the flow and hope that he didn't turn into a sleep-deprived monster by the sixth inning!

Without boring any anti-sports fans out there, I will say that the first inning was very exciting! The Reds scored 5 unearned runs by the end of it - pretty impressive if you ask me - and we were there to witness it! Our seats weren't bad either... which proved to be a blessing when the sky above us darkened in the fifth inning and rain started coming down (we were under the overhang.) Drats! Blah! Ugh! Now what do we do with two figgity kids who have missed their nap? Jake was already getting to the "slap-happy" point (as we like to call it in our household) - you know, the point when you are past exhaustion and don't actually know what you're doing? He was there - big time. The dude behind us knows this all too well after having his knee angrily slapped multiple times by our Jakey boy. Our sweet, innocent little boy began wailing on any vulnerable victim in his sight... the men in front of him, beside him, and of course, behind him. So with the threat of a long rain delay looming and still 4 1/2 innings of baseball left in the game, Al and I had to switch to survival mode. Here is how we (and our little troopers) made it to the end of the game without sacrificing our sanity:

We headed straight for the food - after the lines died down. The Great American Ball Park now has $1 concession stands - would have been the BEST THING EVER if Marissa wouldn't have begged for cotton candy ($4.50) and a soft pretzel (also $4.50) which when combined cost more than all of our other food - Ugh. At any rate - eating kept the kids occupied for almost 45 minutes - SCORE!

I then spotted a slew of gumball and other toy machines. Which, at first thought, might seem like a bad idea to go stand by, but actually it was quite the opposite! Marissa was allowed to pick out one toy machine to put her quarters in - the small little bauble that came out kept her occupied for another 20 minutes or so while Jake tried like crazy to figure out how people were getting the gumballs out of the gumball machine - it was too cute to watch!

We spent the rest of the two-hour rain delay walking around the stadium and checking out different views of the baseball field. Jake loved this - but Marissa could have cared less. She may have asked "Can we go home now?" about 10 times by that point.

Once the rain let up a bit, we made our way back to our seats (which thankfully, were still pretty dry) and watched the field crew roll up the tarp. I tell you what, I never thought that it would elicit such joy and excitement from Marissa! Holy cow did she think that was fun to watch. We were relieved when the game started 20 minutes later - but we still had all of those innings to get through and by this time - well, it was almost din-din time for the kids. But Al and I made sure we kept the kids involved and interested in the game by doing what parents do best and exaggerated everything. We danced everytime a song came on, we roared "Charge!" everytime we were cued to, we pointed out our favorite players to the kids (Adam, we love you man!) and we let Marissa run down to the Reds' dugout to try and catch a ball at the end of every inning.

By the time the game was finally over, the kiddos had made it through a two-hour car ride, five hours of baseball and 2 hours worth of a rain delay and were to say the least, POOPED! Jake fell asleep 5 minutes after he was buckled in. Marissa, being the stubborn mule that she is, kept herself awake by playing her Leapster the entire way home.






I guess when all is said and done, it pays to get creative to pass the time and to let your kids know that you are there to have fun with them - even if the game doesn't go quite as planned. If you learn to "go with the flow" your kids will be likely to adapt right along with you... :)















Jake, a born & bred Reds fan couldn't take his eyes off of the game!
















Family Photo by the dugout.

Getting Rid of the Guilt - Week 2 + Binky Update

Binky Update
This past week, Al and I have been on a mission to begin weaning Jakey from his obsessive need for his "bink-bink." We started slowly by asking Jake to please pull his "binky out" in the event that he still had it in his mouth when he woke up in the a.m. Then, we hid it out of plain view until naptime. He was allowed to have it for naptime, car rides, and bedtime over the weekend. Then, while I was gone during the week (awesome conference I will blog about here later...) Alan took it up a notch and eliminated "binky-time" during car rides. So when I picked the kiddos up from the sitter's house yesterday, I expected Jakey to sit still in his car seat while I buckled him in, just like a perfect little angel, without so much as one request for his binky... but no.... I was mistaken. I couldn't even make it INTO the sitter's front door before he was frantically searching in his diaper bag for the stupid thing! ugh. Two steps forward, one step back I suppose. Of course, if Al had picked him up, the turn of events would probably have been different, but oh well. We'll keep working on it, and of course I will post some updates as we try to make some progress!

Getting Rid of the Guilt - Week 2
While I was out of town at the CYFAR (Children Youth and Families at Risk) Conference with colleague and friend Tricia, who is one of the most intuitive people I know by the way, we took a lovely Water Taxi ride across Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Of course, being the mommy that I am, I made the comment to her about how selfish and guilty I sometimes felt doing things without Jake and Marissa. To add insult to injury, this trip was a business trip - Tricia and I were presenting a workshop at the conference and here I was, away from my entire family and enjoying Baltimore without them... and.... gasp..... Having Fun Without Them due to work! Tricia just smiled at me and said "No, you just think that it might be more fun if they were here." So true! And yet, I still feel guilty whenever I have fun without the kiddos. My totally unscientific theory is that this stems from all of us parents wanting our children to experience the things we couldn't experience when we were younger. (Case in point - I never traveled further east of Indianapolis until I was 20 years old.) We want them to see all that there is to see of the world and experience it's many fascinating differences, to revel in all that the world and it's people have to offer. I can not wait until the day Alan and I can pack up the kids in our minivan and drive cross country - out to the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, the great Mississippi and more! Isn't that what it is what it is all about, after all? .... exploring the unknown with your family by your side? But that was not the case on this trip, and I think I've come to terms with that. Our children need to understand that while family time is what binds us all together, the time that we spend apart also plays an important role in shaping us as individuals and enriching our lives. I couldn't help but think after I returned home last night that Marissa would not have been old enough to appreciate the beautiful small-town charm of Baltimore and Jake wouldn't have even remembered a bit of the trip anyway. So after putting everything into perspective - no more travel-apart guilt for me. No, sir. It's honestly okay for me to have fun without the family, they will all have plenty of their own traveling adventures in the years ahead. :)