Do you let your kids bring their crackberries and iPod’s on vacation? Or do you endure the screams of “it’s not fair” and “you bring yours” and insist on traveling au natural?
I can’t seem to come up with a code of conduct and stick with it. The rules are usually dependent on my mood, how tired I am and how much I want to play on my own iPad.
On the plane electronics can be a lifesaver. There’s nothing that keeps a cranky pre-schooler quiet like a little “Dino Dan” on the iPad with some headphones. Occasionally it even brings them together when they’re playing video games like Scrabble, the peace doesn’t usually last though.
Oh, you’re wondering what this has to do with winning a trip to Aruba? Here’s the scoop, Traveling Mom, Taking the Kids and Family Travel Forum are doing a vacation giveaway. It’s a trip for a family of four, including airfare, to Aruba. You can read all the legalese here.
So here’s how you enter:
Watch this video of Traveling Mom founder Kim Orlando fighting, I mean consulting, with her children about whether or not they are allowed to use electronics on vacation in Aruba.
Comment with a rule of your own, or a tip for other mom’s trying to manage electronics, on any of the sponsor’s sites
Traveling Mom
Taking the Kids
Family Travel Forum
You can leave one comment each day until February 6, 2012 on each site as an entry. One comment=one entry. Easy peazy.
Though it doesn’t count as an entry in to the contest, I’d love to hear what your rules for traveling and texting are.
Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
These two don't die, but everyone else does
I love boys, I have three of them, I love horses, I ride whenever I can. They all die an awful death in War Horse.
The book War Horse is an incredible read. It’s told from the first person perspective of the horse. It’s a beautiful story of a horse’s love for his several owners and his incredible bond with one of the other horses that had been drafted in to the “Great War”. I loved the book so much I’ve given it as a gift several times and even sent it to summer camp with my 11 year old son.
When I received an inviitaton to pre-screen the movie War Horse and participate in a Q & A with the Oscar nominated actress Emily Watson I was thrilled. The movie will open on Christmas Day and the trailers make it appear to be a heartwarming horse-y love story for the whole family. The only person I would send to this movie is my husband, he loves epic war flicks and has a high tolerance for seeing violence.
Emily Watson at screening of War Horse
I watched most of War Horse through my hands as I was so horrified by the onscreen violence. Steven Spielberg took a heartwarming story and turned it in to an gory war film. To which my husband said “and you were surprised?” Yes, I was. I expected some of the story to come through on screen.
The star horse “Joey” had an intense attachment and love for the other horse “Topthorn” in the book. The way they cared for each other to the end of Topthorn’s days brought tears to my eyes when I read it. None of this special relationship came through in the movie. Lacking the horse’s voice at all the movie was such a departure from the book it was jarring.
Emily Watson is a beautiful engaging actress, I really enjoyed the chance to ask her about traveling with her two young children and was pleased to hear that her kids vomit on other plane passengers just like mine do. When asked if she would allow her children to see the movie, she said she thought the cut off should be about 8 years old. I strongly disagree, I wouldn’t even send a sensitive 16 year old. The visual of young boys dying a gruesome death by gas in a dirty muddy trench and scenes filled with slaughtered horses and boys across “no man’s land” are forever seared in to my mind.
If Spielberg’s intent was to remind us how horrid and pointless war can be, he succeeded. Don’t go to War Horse if you are expecting a touching horse love story for the whole family.
So for 15 years we’ve had the same Visa. It does nothing for us (except access to credit, but that’s so old school). No points, no cash back, not even a Christmas card from the bank.
I’ve been researching a new card for the last year, I’ve piled up every offer, every brochure, every mailer. I had been leaning toward the Chase Sapphire (not just because it looks cool, but that was part of it). Mr. LTM was the one who announced we should get the Capital One Venture Card. Apparently he does his research too.
Mine is going to look way cooler than this
What I didn’t tell him was that I planned to get the card on my own. I think it’s important for women to have their own credit line and I really don’t like explaining the cost of a good pair of shoes.
It’s been a long time since I’ve applied for a credit card. It seems it used to involve a lot of paperwork, waiting for approval, etc. I applied for my Venture Card yesterday while eating breakfast. I was approved before I had finished my coffee.
When I went online it gave me the option of seeing how many miles I would earn based on my current monthly Visa bill. By next year, we should be able to take our Christmas trip on miles. Of course I’ll have to do my part and shop with the Visa card, but I’m a team player, I’m willing to do the work.
Why I chose the Venture card for travel (and shoe shopping):
- I get double miles on every purchase.
- No foreign transaction fees. I travel to Haiti several times a year as well as Europe, this is a very appealing benefit.
- Lost luggage reimbursement. I haven’t lost luggage yet, but I know it’s only a matter of time.
- Lots of insurance (rental car, travel accident, etc) I’m a sucker for insurance, you would be too if you traveled with my band of fools.
- The first year fee is on them, so if I don’t like it, I’m out.
Hey Capital One - feel free to use this image
I’m not sure if the interest rate is appealing, it seemed high but I pay off my cards every month so I don’t carry a balance.
I’m very excited to be getting my spanky new card in the mail. I like that I’ll be earning miles (double miles actually) and that the credit is all mine. I’ll let you know if it’s as fabulous as I think it will be, hopefully from my free flight this time next year.
Capital One is sponsoring a giveaway through Traveling Mom. You can enter to win a Holiday Vacation Do Over. As in…tell us the story of your crummy family holiday (we’ve all had one) and how you would do it better if you had the cash.
The winner will receive plane tickets for four people and a five night stay at any hotel in the Continental United States. Estimated value $5,000
Enter The Holiday Travel Double Take Giveaway Courtesy of Venture.
I am being compensated by Capital One for participating in this campaign. However my decision to apply for a Venture card was purely my own and Mr. LTM doesn’t even know about this, so keep it to yourself ok?
Anyone remember their mom panicking about getting the “perfect” family photo, turning it in a masterpiece of a holiday card and sending it 200 of her nearest and dearest?
Me either.
I think my mom might have taken a break from Phil Donahue long enough to buy a box of cards at Hallmark and send them to relatives. She wasn’t very organized so they usually arrived after Christmas.
We’re still finishing Thanksgiving leftovers yet the first of the holiday cards have hit my mailbox.
Game on.
Still don’t have the “perfect” picture? Scratch that, haven’t even put the Jack-o-Lantern’s away? Don’t panic. The exchange of cards is supposed to be a personal gesture, not a mass mailing competition for cutest family run by most organized mom who sends out cards day after Thanksgiving. Stop trying to pose the kids for that “magical” photo. Go through your photo files and find the photo that makes you laugh, it will make your friends laugh too. One year I couldn’t find a picture I really liked, as I was looking I came across this one from the best concert ever. It made me so happy just looking at it, I though it would make everyone else happy too. I decided it should be my card.
How can this not make you feel all good inside???
Yes, Mr. Evans was a little surprised he was left out of family holiday card
The next year I had a great shot of my 3 year old playing electric guitar in his diaper. That year the card was from “Richie Sambora”. The one my friends continue to talk about though is the year I made us the “Brady Bunch”. Our nanny wasn’t too thrilled about being put in the middle of the card looking up, but she humored me.
I save my good friends’ cards every year and hope that my card is worth saving to them. I love looking through the old photos every year when I get out my decorations.
Christmas Memories
A few points of etiquette:
- Ladies name first. The real rule is that a man’s first name should never be separated from his last. Just remember ladies first and you’ll be fine. i.e. Kim-Marie and Jeffrey Evans
- Always include a return address. If you can’t afford to have the printed on the envelope go ahead and use the ones the March of Dimes sends you even if you didn’t donate, I won’t tell.
- A “holiday letter” should not be a tale of woe. If someone is a good enough friend that they should know about your gallstones, you would have called them, DO NOT put it in your letter. Really.
- Do not send them before Thanksgiving. Even the day after just screams “hey I’m more organized than you”. Sending them any time until Easter is perfectly acceptable and understandable.
- My pet peeve however is receiving cards that have NOT BEEN TOUCHED BY A PEN. A Christmas card is personal correspondence, not a mass mailing piece. If you don’t have time even put a little “Hey KM’ or a heart next to your name, don’t send it to me.
- Last but not least. don’t get hung up on who celebrates which holiday. I’m happy to get a Kwanzaa card and I know my Jewish friends are happy to get a Christmas card, it’s about sharing the joy of the season.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on your cards, it’s truly the gesture (and the handwritten note) that matters. The Stationery Market did my cards this year. I think they have some of the cutest options for Christmas, Hanukkah, or just “holidays”. You send them the picture, you can write your own text and voila’, your cards ship straight to your house.
Use the code Luxury Travel Mom and you get a 25% discount. Now how merry is that?
Here is this year’s masterpiece. When I saw the card, I knew this was the perfect photo to go with it. We were visiting Jackson Hole and I’m a sucker for those mountain photographers. He convinced us to jump in the air at 10,000 feet and it would look like we’re flying. We just look like dorks, but the picture made me laugh.
So Happy Holidays from Luxury Travel Mom and The Stationery Market.
Ok, so you’ve already heard that Mary Poppins has been getting rave Broadway reviews. The big news? It’s a hit with my jaded kids.
We took them to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular last year, even paid up for the “good” seats. We got a big old yawn and they never mentioned the show again.
The hype around the Disney production of “Mary Poppins” is pretty, well, hype-ey. We were invited to see the show as guests of Disney as part of a special day in New York with them. I figured we’d enjoy ourselves, I never guessed that I’d still be listening to the score a week later.
My 11 year old son thought the show was great, my 6 year old son? He’s obsessed.
He hasn’t left the house without his parrot umbrella since he convinced me (against my better judgement) to buy the silly thing.
Here he is at the football stadium using his umbrella to shield him from the sun so he can read….the Mary Poppins program.
He has staged several productions of his own version of Mary Poppins. His 8 year old brother wanted to join in, he wasn’t allowed. He didn’t have an umbrella. A director needs to have standards I guess.
He did teach him the part where the statues come alive in the park during “Jolly Holiday”. Having mastered the skill of “looking like a statue”, his brother has been allowed to participate in that piece of the show.
"You sit really still like this"
"I think I've got it"
If you’re planning a trip to New York City, with our without children, Mary Poppins is a must see. The show is also touring, check the Mary Poppins website to see if it’s being staged near you. But if you bring the wee ones, pack extra cash, the souvenirs are worth it.
The mom who forgot the luggage that contained…all of her clothes AND the kids’ Christmas gifts.
She writes:
“In spite of my desktop momagenda, I am generally a disorganized mess. I needed to take 3 days off from work just to get my taxes done by the extension deadline of Oct 15 (and that was 2 years worth, and I am an accountant!). However, my best Christmas panic story was last year. For the past 19 years, my husband and I have packed up and gone to NY for Christmas. No big deal when it was the 2 of us, but then there was the year with a 6 week old, then a 2 year old and 3 month old, then a 5 year old, 3 year old and 3 week old… But last year topped them all. I carefully packed our multiple pieces of luggage (Santa comes in NY and Seattle) and carefully orchestrated our ride to the airport. Got to the check in counter, and told the airline gal I had 5 pieces of luggage. Well, there were only 4 pieces with us. Learned later than the luggage we had forgotten in the upstairs hallway was the one with all of my clothes and Christmas gifts! Oh and last week I actually forgot to pick up one of my kids at dance class so she walked home in the rain. I usually think I have early Alzheimer’s but maybe what I need is the dual momagenda approach – I am tempted now!”
Congratulations Lisa Johnson. You are the proud winner of a purse sized momAgenda that I’m certain will keep you from leaving your children in the rain. I mean, mine hasn’t, but I have high hopes for you!
‘Tis the season – to lose your mind.
Anyone else remember their mom sending out 200 holiday cards with fab family photo, buying tickets for you and your siblings dance/orchestra/choir shows while coordinating multiple parties for the kindergartners because class mom was a full time job?
Me either.
I’m not sure who pushed fast forward on the holidays, but Christmas decorations now battle with Jack-o-Lanterns for shelf space at CVS. Christmas cards have gone from being personal correspondence to a multi-media marketing piece and the list of celebrations stretches on for weeks.
I’m not scrooge-y, just tired. It’s not even Thanksgiving and I’m already in full blown Christmas panic mode.
I’ve gone from being a one momAgenda user to a two a day-er. Really, the desktop was just the gateway drug to the one that fits in my purse.
I used to keep the desktop at home and I could just enter items when seated at my desk, with coffee in hand. Not so much with four kids in school and a job as a travel writer. I now leave the desktop at home so everyone can see where I am (and where they should be), and I carry the spiral calendar tucked in to a swanky little refillable cover in my purse. Nina from momAgenda uses the same product, so it’s totally going to make me organized this season right?
You can win the same calendar Nina and I use and be guaranteed you’ll be organized for the holidays (legal disclaimer-previous comment opinion not fact and if your holiday blows up and you are in the corner drinking egg nog neither Luxury Travel Mom nor momAgenda can be held responsible-sue your children)
Here’s how to enter: Comment with your craziest story of holiday disorganization. You’ll feel good getting it off your chest and we’ll all feel better reading them. Winner will be announced the day before Thanksgiving.
As a member of the momAgenda Council of Media Moms I receive free product and am compensated for my posts. Nina however refuses to come organize me, apparently that’s not “part of the deal”.
When I think of all inclusive resorts, I think of bad food and drink tickets. I avoid them at all costs.
Bluefields Bay is a completely different type of all inclusive in Jamaica. It not only includes all of your food and drink, it includes a personal chef to prepare every meal. It doesn’t just include housekeeping, it includes your very own maid who is there to meet your every need. Want a drink? For breakfast? Your personal butler is ready and waiting to mix up a Jamaican style bloody mary.
Bluefields Bay Villas are a collection of six luxury homes perched over the Carribean Sea. It takes a little over an hour to get there by car from Montego Bay airport. If you’re feeling rather “Trump” ish, you can book a helicopter that will drop you on the lawn of your home in a mere 15 minutes. Each secluded home is unique, but they all feature your own pool and staff (two of my favorite vacation amenities). They are all decorated with beautiful mahogany antiques and the kitchens are stocked with heirloom silver and china. If you’re going to have staff, you should really have the dishes to go along right? Oh, and the bell. They give you a bell to ring in case you need anything. They told my daughter she could even ring it at midnight for a grilled cheese. I warned her not to get any crazy ideas about trying that at home.
I only brought one child with me since we were traveling over a short weekend just to review the property. When we go back, I plan to bring the whole crew as a nanny for each child is included in your nightly rate.
Go ahead and read it again, a nanny for each child is included.
Speaking of all inclusive, so are your driver, private beach and kayaks. Really the “included” list kind of goes on and on. Every night at sunset your attentive staff whips up a tasty appetizer for you to enjoy poolside. Getting out of the pool is not mandatory. Note the silver tray and cloth napkins, really I can’t get enough of this Great Gatsby vacation style.
From your private villa you can enjoy all that Jamaica has to offer from zip lining at YS Falls to watching the crazy cliff divers at Rick’s cafe. You’ll then be whisked back to the comfort and luxury to which you have quickly become accustomed. The driver is, of course, included. Our driver, Percy, not only got us where we needed to go safely (if you’ve ever driven in Jamaica you know this is not an easy task) but he also brought us a picnic lunch when we ziplined, functioned as tour guide (he knows more about Jamaica than the President, I’m sure of it) and told my daughter there was no chance he would allow her to cliff dive at Rick’s. She still talks about Percy, he’s the very best.
If you’re looking for that special getaway for your family, Bluefields Bay is it. The homes very in size from two bedrooms to six. They all come with staff, food, nannies, pools and private beach. These are not bargain all inclusive Jamaica resorts, but they are worth every penny. Once you arrive, you have nothing else to think about, not what’s for dinner or who’s putting the baby down for a nap. It’s all handled for you. You really can’t put a price on that kind of relaxation.
One of the things I loved most about Bluefields Bay is their support of the local community. Every day they send fresh vegetables to the local schools, they built the computer lab at the local high school and they support the “basic school” we would call it pre-school. My daughter and I were able to visit the schools and bring gifts of toys and learning supplies.
We were the guests of Bluefields Bay Villas, however the opinions expressed here are not swayed by free bloody mary’s.
I’m so excited that I’ve been brought on board by the Exclusive Resorts team to write about family travel planning (my favorite subject).
Exclusive Resorts is a super swank vacation club. They have hundreds of luxurious and spacious residences in all the posh places.
We have spent time in their Park Avenue “apartments” and enjoyed some of their members-only events. The boys loved the special night we spent with Exclusive Resorts when they opened up Lady Liberty just for us. The event was “Kids Take Manhattan” and it was love at first sight with their program. Their motto is “Everything is Better Together”, we couldn’t agree more.
As their new family travel blogger, I’ll be writing about the best things to do with kids in many of their fabulous destinations, I’ll also be giving advice on how to get there and keep your sanity.
We had almost 3,000 luxury travel moms (and dads, and aunts, and grandmas) enter our Four Seasons Luxury Family Giveaway.
Ariana Watson won the Boston package. Ariana works in the Development office at Partners in Health and is more often jetting to Haiti than to a Four Seasons locale.
Congratulations Ariana!
Ariana will be kicking back in style at the Four Seasons Boston for two nights in deluxe accommodations. She’ll be enjoying breakfast on the house and treated to some tasty ice cream delivered on a silver platter. Her total package is valued at approximately $1,300.
Dying to know who won the Four Seasons Vail getaway? Go to Poshbrood
Can’t wait to see who’s jetting to Four Seasons Nevis? Go to CiaoBambino
