When I was a kid, we vacationed only once every few years. My parents would load up the rusty brown station wagon, my brother and I would climb in the “way back” with the dogs, and off we’d ramble. We always went to the same place, Ocean Shores – (the only beach I’ve ever been to where it’s always raining). And stayed at the same motel, that’s right, I said motel. The no star Gitche Gummee.

This haven of polyester bedding and shag carpets was chosen on the basis of its generous dogs-allowed policy. Every time my dad wheeled in to the parking lot under their trademark tee-pee, it felt a little like coming home.

The actual Gitche Gummee-the carpet is much nicer now

The Ritz Carlton has become my Gitche Gummee. Our wedding reception was at a Ritz. Our first vacation as a young family was at a Ritz. More than one of our children was conceived, yes, at a Ritz.

Recently, I was in Orlando to take a Disney cruise press trip and review the Grande Lakes Ritz. But I got sick. So sick I ended up in the hospital. Being alone in the hospital sucks. Checking yourself out of a hospital and taking a cab to a hotel, alone, sucks more.

I had missed a Disney cruise, I was in a lot of pain, and I was missing my children. Dragging myself down the elegant hallway I was close to tears. I opened the door to my room to find the staff had printed this photo of me and my babies, framed it, and left it on my bedside table with a stack of sweet notes. The bellman who had helped me to my room that morning sent his get well wishes. The PR director said she knew it wasn’t easy to be apart from family when you’re sick, she hoped this would make me feel better.

Then I really started bawling. Sometimes a motel is more than a motel, and sometimes a big marble palace can feel like home.

Blantyre Resort in the Berkshires is giving you the chance to live the Great Gatsby fantasy. Minus the drama, add mom, some tea and world class champagne.

I was lucky enough to spend a few dreamy days there in February. To stay at Blantyre is to step back in time. Especially if you were royalty in a past life.

There is no “front desk” and no “check in” at this Forbes Five Star resort. As soon as you arrive on property staff rush to your car and usher you to your home away from home. Each suite is filled with period antiques, to die for beds, and fireplaces that need nothing more than a match to start a cozy blaze. If you’re a Downton Abbey fan, you need to experience Blantyre.

The only time children are welcome at Blantyre is during property takeovers, and that is the fabulous opportunity for this Mother’s Day. Bring the whole crew for dinner Friday and stay through brunch on Sunday, you’ll believe you were to the manor born.

Ten rooms for the weekend will cost $11,500 plus tax and spirits.
Fifteen rooms are $ 17,500 plus tax and spirits.

All prices based on double occupancy. Rates include room, food and service.
Ten room rental required.

It's hard to see, but my hair looked pretty good, also, I swear a lot

I was lucky to be asked to talk about my Twitter strategies at the Family Travel Conference in New York last night. There have been a lot of requests for a copy of these by both attendees and readers. What you’re missing is my bad ass presentation, but here are my best tips.

• 1. You need a Twitter goal, and it shouldn’t be number of followers or Klout score.

• 2. Twitter is a conversation, not a monologue. You wouldn’t walk in to a cocktail party and start shouting about yourself and demanding people look at your work. Don’t do it on Twitter either.

• 3. The Golden Rule applies here too. You get what you give, if you RT and engage, others will do the same for you.

• 4. Be useful or interesting, hopefully both. No one cares what you are eating for breakfast, unless you are doing it with the queen.

• 5. Don’t only tweet your own work or links, self promotion is boring. Tweet other people’s work, they will do the same for you.

• 6. Only follow people who interest you. Don’t unfollow someone just because they aren’t following you, is this junior high?

• 7. Want someone to follow you? RT them, #FF them, ask them. Unless they are Ashton Kutcher, they will probably follow you back.

• 8. DO NOT set up an automated Direct Message for new followers. It’s tacky.

• 9. Participate in twitter parties to find the other experts in your  industry

• 10. Be authentic. Reveal as much about you or your family personally as you are comfortable with. People want to know you, not just what you do.

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.

Mom vs. Electronics 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.

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?

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.

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.

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”.