Well, the Mr. is off on a trip once again! This time he’s heading out to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. Maya and I are enjoying our girl time so far. Yesterday we went to a class about nocturnal animals at the National Zoo and today we slept in late (9:30 lol) and then had a big Barbie fashion show/talent contest. Who knew you could have so much fun with an old puppet theater and a flash light.
Maya certainly seems to enjoy these times when Josh is away. Not that she doesn’t love her daddy, but when it’s just us I think I loosen up a bit. I don’t mind toys being strewn all over kingdom come as long as they get picked up and put away at some point. We do things that we don’t normally do like have movie nights at home with big bowls of homemade popcorn or make really messy crafts. I think she just likes the relative carefree-ness. Of course now Josh sounds completely oppressive and boring lol which, I promise, is not the case.
As for Josh, I haven’t heard from him yet so I imagine he’s still flying to his first destination. Hopefully I’ll hear from him soon. I miss him already.
Well we just got back from the blistering heat of Disney and man was that fun and tiring all at the same time. For those of you who think you can’t afford Disney, let me tell you, they have some AMAZING deals going on right now. For $1400 we stayed at the awesome Disney’s Carribean Beach Resort for 4 nights, got tickets to one park each day for 4 days, and had the full dining package (which seriously is a steal). Even if you did the “lesser” Quick Meal dining plan, you would still eat really well just not necessarily at the frou frou expensive restaurants. And if you stay at one of their “value resorts” like Pop Century or All-Star it’s even less.
I know $1400 is nothing to snuff at but, really, for Disney that’s bargain basement. Had we been paying for our food we would have been spending a minimum of $40 per meal for the 3 of us just for the “quick service” stuff. One of our sit down meals would have been $90. Can you imagine having to pay that every single time you ate? And then add on more kids or adults and your costs go up super fast. Not to mention that park tickets alone would have cost us almost $300 per day. So you figure $950 in tickets (if you buy at the full price), $700 in food (counting food that you get outside of your plan), and then another $600-700 in hotels? You’re making out like a bandit! Even if you got the discounted 4 day pass tickets you would STILL be saving money.
I am in no way in cahoots with Disney. In fact, if you read my blog from this time last year, you’ll see that Josh had to practically drag me there kicking and screaming. But really, when I see a travel deal, I HAVE to pass it along. Now go dress up like your favorite Disney character and make your way to Florida.
Oh no! Thankfully the good people at Trunki reminded me of my slackerness lol.
Things have been busy in life but slow in travel. Never a good way to be, sadly. We’ve been busying ourselves with preparations for going to Africa next year for the cup but really we’ve got little else going on. Josh is getting ready to go on a big trip by himself to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and a few other places. He was telling me about his itinerary the other day and I was kind of glad I wasnt going . It’s disappointing to have to stay home so much, but that’s how it is these days. We even cancelled our planned trip for New Years to visit our adopted English family. Sadly, the tickets are $800-1000. Ugh. It may be a long time before we can go out to see them again.
As for Maya, she is very quickly becoming her own little person. She’s now 6 going on 30 and quite the independent. She’s none too happy about having to get shots for our trip to Africa. I’m just at a loss as to how to prepare her. If I tell her about the shots, she freaks. If I don’t tell her about the shots, she freaks in the doctor’s office. Clearly, she’s inherited my anxiety issues. I do try to be honest with her but I can never tell what the best route it with her when it comes to trips. Do you be totally honest from the get go or hide the truth until she’s there and has no choice? I think that’s true for so many situations in traveling with children. Not just us and our crazy trips to Africa. Maybe you had some plans change and can’t do something your child was looking forward to or there is some really unsavory part of the trip that you’d like to just gloss over. What do you do?
Really, in the end, you have to know your child I guess. But what if you have more than one child and each child handles bad news differently? It’s certainly a conundrum for which I have no answers right now. It seems that Maya has forgotten that she has to get a shot at her next physical. I haven’t told her about all the others yet. I figure spare some of the anxiety until we’re closer to the impending doom. Oy vey!
Over the weekend 47 poor souls got stuck for 9 hours on a Continental flight from Houston to Minneapolis. Their plane, which left at 9:30 p.m., was diverted due to bad weather 85 miles from Minneapolis which is bad enough luck already but their bad luck didn’t end there. Oh no. First there was suppose to be a bus. Then there was no bus. Apparently they could have deplaned and stayed in a secure area, but again Continental did not deplane them. Then there was also the fact that there was no food or drink for most of their time on the plane and there was only one bathroom. So they sat on the tarmac until 5 a.m. when they could take off again. But wait! There’s more! By 5 a.m. their crew had already worked more hours than they were allowed so, again, the passengers had to wait for a new crew to get there. They finally landed in Minneapolis almost 12 hours after they left.
What in the world are airlines thinking. The lack of communication and sheer thinking on their part is just monumental. Even better, they say that they oppose setting a 3 hour limit on being stuck in planes because it will cause more problems than solve. What a load of crap. Right, because dealing with, legitimately, irate passengers is waaaay easier than deplaning them into a secure gate and then re-boarding them. Honestly, it should be a bio-hazard issue. I mean can you imagine how disgusting that bathroom must have been? And what if someone had a health condition? Seriously, what are they thinking?
I mean at least Continental refunded the passengers’ money and gave them vouchers for future flights but, really. Someone in charge on that flight should have come to their senses and gotten those people off the plane. Maybe their brains weren’t working due to the fumes coming from the bathroom.
So, Maya has been obsessed with Harry Potter lately. Like, REALLY obsessed. She’s got pictures of Harry up in her room. NOT Daniel Radcliffe mind you. Harry. She’s very specific about that point. She’s collecting sticks for wands every chance she gets. She’s drawing maps with directions to Hogwarts. You name it. She’s gone Potter crazy. Good thing the magic spells she tries to cast don’t actually work because who knows what would happen if someone were to be at the business end of an expelliaugus spell instead of the, correct, expelliarmus spell.
What does this have to do with travel? Well not much really BUT it is a great way to get kids involved in what you are doing if it’s boring. Now, I’ll admit. I love to role play. I have a pretty active imagination that I usually love to let run wild. As long as it’s not with dolls I’m there. (Dolls make me want to stick forks in my eyes). Pretend play though? It’s fun. It’s a way to get away from the drudgery of work, laundry, dusting, etc. It lets you be a kid without looking like a complete idiot. (Well, you probably do look like an idiot but since you’re doing it with your kid no one will scoff at you for it.) If you aren’t into Harry Potter, that’s cool. Just find something else they’re into. The point is to get them engaged and involved and that can be done at home or abroad. Best part…it’s free!
You know how some kids love to do a certain thing when they go somewhere like go investigate the bathroom at a restaurant or run to look at all the toy dispensers while you’re checking out at the grocery store? Maya’s favorite thing to do on plane is to push the flight attendant button. She’s always thinking of reasons to hail the people in uniform. Be it thirst, hunger, some imagined problem with her TV, whatever. She loves to talk to them and, usually, they love to talk to her. They seem to get a kick out of this talkative little red head who wants to know all about the plane.
Earlier today, I was reading the article on CNN called “Inside a Flight Attendant’s Not So Glam Life.” Man, I really kind of feel sorry for these people now. I had no idea that they didn’t get paid unless they were in the air. Honestly, boarding is probably the worst part of their job and they don’t even get paid for it. Seriously, who wants to have to help some big, sweaty, cranky guy who thinks he’s too good to fly in economy try to shove his way over the limit bag into the overhead for no money? I know I wouldn’t.
And as much as I complain about there not being any food options for fliers on domestic flights, there’s no food options for them either unless they bring it with them. On top of that they have to walk up and down the aisles the whole time. So not only are they busy helping you, but they’re doing it with no food. How they keep from going on a low-sugar tirade with the drink cart is beyond me. Josh knows at this point that if I don’t get food every two hours while we’re out, he’s risking his own life. I think if I eer got a job as a flight attendant, I’d probably end up being the one handcuffed by the air marshall instead of any potential terrorist cuz I’d scare the terrorist into not doing anything.
In all the flying I’ve done, I’ve really only ever run into one flight attendant who was just outright rude. The rest were nice enough, if a little haggard. Some were downright sweet. I guess I should appreciate them even more now. Maybe even feel sorry for them.
Well, there goes my ideas of living the high life as a flight attendant. Sounds more like day care duty at 30,000 feet if you ask me.
The fam and I went out to dinner last night (yet again because I still haven’t gone grocery shopping since coming back from Europe) and while we were waiting in line I saw the most awesome kid placemat. It’s the TinyDiner® Portable Placemat by Kiddopotamus®. This thing is so cool! It’s made of silicone so it’s really flexible, it has a little trough to catch all the food bits that are inevitably dropped by your little one, and, best of all, it rolls up into itself for easy packing. This is the perfect thing for traveling with a little one who is either just learning to eat on their own or just a messy eater in general. Plus, for all the germ conscious out there, the placemat is quite big so you can be sure that your child won’t be touching any icky surfaces. I really think it would be great for going around town or going on a trip. At around $10 it’s a great buy.
**Note: My friend told me that she’s got two of these and her kids love nothing more than to rip them off the table. I guess that’s something to keep in mind when buying!**
Here’s a helpful tip for those of you who are going on driving tours.
If you are going on a driving vacation that will involve multiple short hotel stays try packing a large bag with the majority of your clothing and a small bag with only a day or two worth of clothing and toiletries. That way, when you get to your hotel for the night, all you have to do is take in your smaller suitcase rather than lugging your huge bag into your room with you. Then, when you’re getting ready to head out and are putting suitcases in the car, you can quickly open up the two bags, switch out your clothes (putting the previously worn clothes in the large bag and putting new clothes in the small bag) and you’re ready for your next hotel stay.
If you’re not driving around and have to take your luggage with you wherever you go, you can still benefit from packing a smaller bag with your clothes for one or two days rather than digging through a huge suitcase every morning. It really does make life much easier. Give it a try on your next trip!
I’m really starting to think I need to stay in rat hole hotels because after all that time in nice hotels during our trip, coming home to our old, messy, 1964 decorated house is a big let down. I keep telling myself that I should use this as inspiration to get off my butt and give the house a good deep clean but the sheer thought of that makes me tired. Maybe I need to sign up for FlyLady again and work on “shining my sink.” Honestly, I just need someone to shine my whole house.
There is something just soul crushing about coming home to your house that needs to desperately be dusted, swept, mopped and de-cluttered. I won’t even talk about the yard that I’m going to have to tend to with a machete due to all the weeds that have popped up over the span of a few weeks. It’s like the house is taunting me with my inability to channel June Cleaver. These days, I’m lucky to get out of the house in the morning wearing the same shoes on both feet. One time I actually did leave the house and make it all the way to work with two completely different pairs of shoes on. One was a loafer and the other was a chunky heel. Don’t even ask how I didn’t notice because I really don’t know. I’m pretty sure I was in a baby stupor when that event happened. Yeah, it’s all Maya’s fault. Blame it on her!
The thing about hotels is that they are so…bare. But in a good way, you know? Like there’s only what you need right where you need it. There’s no clutter, no stack of six month old magazines that you keep telling yourself you’re going to read. Heck one day they even folded up a shirt I forgot to put away and tucked it under my pillow so it wouldn’t be seen until I needed it. I think I just need to start thinking of my house in the opposite way that I do now. Maybe my house needs to be the temporary abode before I go off to my true home, a hotel room. Maybe I just need to make my house bare (well to a degree) and only have the essentials. It would certainly make coming home less depressing. I know I could get a maid but, ick. I just don’t like that. I would be paranoid all day that something would get a five finger discount. That or something would get broken. Or they would come across something completely embarrassing. I just can’t do it. I wish I could. For now, I’ll sigh and sulk and make a plan of attack. Maybe I’ll go read that Berenstain Bears book I posted the cover to. Ironically, that was always my favorite.
. It’s disappointing to have to stay home so much, but that’s how it is these days. We even cancelled our planned trip for New Years to visit our adopted English family. Sadly, the tickets are $800-1000. Ugh. It may be a long time before we can go out to see them again.
So, Maya has been obsessed with Harry Potter lately. Like, REALLY obsessed. She’s got pictures of Harry up in her room. NOT Daniel Radcliffe mind you. Harry. She’s very specific about that point. She’s collecting sticks for wands every chance she gets. She’s drawing maps with directions to Hogwarts. You name it. She’s gone Potter crazy. Good thing the magic spells she tries to cast don’t actually work because who knows what would happen if someone were to be at the business end of an expelliaugus spell instead of the, correct, expelliarmus spell.
