My husband and I got home last night after a quick kid-free trip to St. Louis to celebrate his cousin’s wedding.

We had a wonderful time relaxing, visiting and even getting in a bit of quick sightseeing. And now we still get to enjoy the day off school and work with our kids. Perfect!

If you’d like to read more, pop on over to my other blog, Mom’s Travel Tales, for a quick overview of our St. Louis trip and a photo of a gorgeous, frosting-free wedding cake.

There is still plenty of time to roadtrip this summer, and if roadtrippin’ is in your plans, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of one of the Kids Love guides!

Michele, one of the authors of the husband-and-wife written, kid-tested guides, offered a copy of Kids Love I-95 to me to review and share with you and, wow, I was impressed!

If you’d like to know why, click on over to my travel blog, MomsTravelTales for a full review…

As I type this I am flying home from a fantastic vacation in Vermont.

*** Okay, oops. This was when I typed it, but that was two whole weeks ago. Sorry for the delay. Back to the story…***

I am sorry if you missed my SOAP posts last week… the internet connection where we were was spotty at best, which I think is part of the wonder of the place, to be honest with you. I did read and I scribbled SOAP notes in my journal. I might share a few observations later this week. We’ll see.

Anyhow, like I said, we are reaching the conclusion of another fantastic summer kick-off in Vermont.

This is the third year we have visited the Tyler Place, a family summer camp of sorts, where the kids swim, garden, climb, make s’mores, sing songs, race across a zip-line, ride horses, play mini-golf, banana boat, kayak, ride bikes, play capture the flag and much, much more while the grown-ups do some of the same as well as take yoga, rest in hammocks, enjoy cocktail hour every evening before dinner, learn how to mountain bike (heart-pounding!!), play tennis, read, dine on delicious food in adults-only dining rooms and catch up with friends from the previous summer.

Almost everyone arrives and leaves on the same day, but this year my husband wasn’t able to go until Sunday, so I flew the 2 flights, loaded the rental car and arrived by myself. And it was still a beautiful day because I almost felt like I was returning home. Yes, even with one child getting airsick on 2 of the flights I would do it again.

I was up for traveling solo because I knew that all I had to do was arrive. Once I got to Tyler Place everything would be taken care of. I pulled up and walked to check in just after the evening activities had begun.

“Why don’t you take the kids to group, then come back?” I was told at the desk.

Oh, yes, ma’am. I love the Tyler Place.

Off they went to meet new friends, reconnect with old ones and off I went to get the keys to our cabin.

This would be our third year in the same spot. I loved the familiarity of it all.

After checking in I swung by cocktail hour

to see who was back and check in with my next door neighbor from home, whom I  had invited to join us this year.

Of course everyone asked about my husband and was glad to hear he would arrive soon.

Last week I enjoyed relaxing and napping some afternoons, exercising joyfully many of the mornings, splashing in the pool  with my daughter, sleeping with the windows to the cottage open every night and, the most exciting of all, watching my oldest son really ride a bike for the first time. That was amazing!

When that happened, I was nervous and excited for him and wanted to just push and let go but was afraid at the same time. I was contemplating letting go when a fellow vacationer, who also happens to be a child psychiatrist, rounded the corner and boomed, “Just give him a big push and let him go! He can do it!”

So I did. We both cheered and he did it. He pedaled like crazy, even up a hill and we were all thrilled.

My son was so proud he kept riding up and down that hill for about 30 minutes waiting for my husband to happen upon us. About 20 minutes into it, I saw my husband approaching on bike and pointed towards my son excitedly, my heart leaping from my chest with pride.

Except I didn’t have my contact lenses in and the man wasn’t my husband. Oops.

But eventually he did come by and he was overjoyed, as well.

From that afternoon our son rode his bike to and from group each morning and afternoon.

Tyler Place is magical and the time we spend there together and the time we get to spend apart there is invigorating.

On top of that, though, we opted to spend a night in Burlington at the end of the trip and what a treasure those 30 or so hours were. We thoroughly enjoyed echo, a children’s museum and discovery center there, as well as a jazz festival and Burlington, in general. More on all that later, I promise.

Aaah. Summer has really begun! And now I think I just might be ready for it!

Our family is pretty well air-traveled. The kids (and the adults) know the drill when it comes to long flights, short flights and really long flights, too.  We’ve dealt with jet lag, canceled flights, lost luggage, broken DVD players, airsickness and more. We’ve also had lots of beautiful trips where everything has gone right.

(If you are interested, here’s a link to several other articles I’ve written with tips and checklists for traveling with kids...)

But now we are preparing to embark on a journey we haven’t attempted since our first was nearly 2 and our second was 4 months… the great American road trip.

And since I know there are tons of well-traveled moms out there with good advice, I thought I would call on you to help us out.

We’ve already got the route mostly mapped out and have plotted a few stops here and there. And I’m guessing I can use many of my air-travel techniques on the road.

But we could certainly use your pointers on successful road-tripping.

We are cruising from Houston to Southern Illinois for a family reunion. We are planning on starting out in the evening, spending a night out and arriving the next day. The way back we broke into 3 drives with a waterpark visit (and a quick trip to meet a blogging buddy live in person!!) along the way.

So… what do know, girls?

Please, please, PLEASE comment away with any and all wisdom you have to share….

I’m counting on you!

PS This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday… because I need to know what works!

I love the promise of a new year.

There is nothing like flipping open a brand-new calendar and filling it up with new events and old anniversaries. I love thinking about what could be ahead.
This year I get to add a new adventure to my adventures: Happy to be at Home has asked me to join their team of contributing writers as their travel writer.
This means that someone actually wants me to write about my experiences and thoughts on family travel. I couldn’t be more excited to share.

To read the rest of this post, please visit me at Happy to be at Home…

(I think you’ll like what you’ll find there… not just my post, but the whole re-launch.  Hope to see you there!)

We’re launching into a heavy travel season again. And if you are going “over the river and through the woods,” or something like that, in the next couple of weeks, I bet you’ve got lots of lists building in your head. Lists of what to pack, what to buy, what to borrow, what to do, what you’d rather be doing…

Incase it helps, I’m sharing two of my lists combined into one right here: One Week Packing List.

This is my general checklist for what to pack for a week-long trip, assuming I can do laundry. And I’ve also included a few of my to-dos at the end.

Hope this helps your planning and packing and holiday travel move along more smoothly.

And if you are interested in more tips on family travel, here are few more links of mine that might interest you, as well:

Flying with kids-What to carry on

Flying with kids- Tips for a better flight

Flying with kids–What else to pack

Happy trails!

And for more WFMW, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

If you live near Houston and you just can’t get enough of me online, tune in to KTBU-TV, The Tube, Channel 55 tomorrow (Friday) at 1 pm. or Sunday at 9 p.m. I’ll be chatting about holiday travel with the kiddos with my friend Lara Bell on her show, Wild about Houston. We’ll talk about how to keep those kids occupied on long flights or car rides.

I was super-excited when Lara asked me to be on the show again. It had been more than 7 years since I had been on it last. Before my mom days, I was the spokesperson and PR gal for The Children’s Museum of Houston, and fortunately met lots of wonderful people like Lara whom I would cherish as friends for years to come. Thanks, Lara, for inviting me back!

So, like I said, tune in to the The Tube tomorrow. And let me know what you think.

Can’t tune in, but need some travel tips for surviving extra-packed airplanes next week? Check out a few of my other blog posts for some ideas that have worked for me:

Flying with kids-What to carry on

Flying with kids- Tips for a better flight

Flying with kids–What else to pack

And, check back here tomorrow for the packing list I use for week-long trips with the kiddos.

This summer I wrote a three-part series on flying with the kiddos. Our kids travel near and far with us… and it is always an adventure!

With holiday travel not too far away, and because I heard there is a travel carnival at Antique Mommy, I thought I’d share these posts with you again today so you can tuck them away for when you need them.

Here are the links to my posts:

Planning a flight with the kids?

Flying with Kids– Tips for a better flight

Flying with Kids– What else to pack

Hope you enjoy… I have sure enjoyed the trips that taught me all this stuff!

And be sure to check back in early November for more travel tips. I’ll help you get ready to visit family and navigate extra-crowded travel times then.

While Ike was pummeling Houston, I was off gallivanting about in Las Vegas, celebrating a friend’s wedding.

So when I wasn’t checking my email (members of my MOPS group in Houston were sending status updates to each other), checking Houston  weather blogs, and calling my husband with information updates that I was able to collect since I had power and internet in Vegas and he didn’t in Houston, I did take in a bit of the Strip.

My big question for the weekend was this: How in the world do party girls take care of their tootsies? (I know, big problems in Vegas.) I wore cute party dresses each night, which required higher heels than I wear at home. And OUCH! My feet even hurt when I took the shoes OFF.

But, on to the fun:

I stayed at Paris, a hotel with the lobby areas (read: casino) designed to look like the famous city. There were cobblestones, cute shop fronts and even a creperie. Outside, a replica of the Eiffel Tower marked the hotel’s location. And cars driving to the hotel drove under a replica of the Arc de Triomph.

On my first morning I headed straight for gifts for the family. A MOPS friend told me about this spot:

Some people can’t wait to gamble in Vegas, I couldn’t wait to check out the M&M store.

Gifts in hand, I wandered back down the Strip, dropped them off at the hotel and kept on exploring.

In Caesar’s Palace they were celebrating Mexican Independence with mariachis.  I can never resist listening to a mariachi band.

Soon it was time for my spa appointment. (I know, rough life.) I pampered myself with a coconut milk and some kind of flower oil wrap. My technician was kind enough to snap a shot of me all cocoon-like.

That night I went to see Ray Romano and Brad Garrett. Ray’s humor was very much like “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Brad’s was not.

I can’t say I had ever been to a show completely by myself, but what else was I going to do? I couldn’t expect the bride to babysit me. Just before the show I took myself out for sushi and after the show I dropped by a nightclub for a little 90210 promotion.

Here’s a shot of the paparazzi as the stars entered the club. I never saw them (or the paparazzi) again. But I had fun, anyhow.

The next day I woke early to find out how my family fared and relayed as much info as I could from the internet and TV.

I was glued to the Weather Channel and my telephone.

Soon it was time for the main event:

I felt so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband to send me off in this crazy time so that I could attend my friend’s wedding.

 It was fantastic to see her so happy, so beautiful and her fiancée/ husband so in love with her and she with him. And I enjoyed getting to know her other friends. They were all a lot of fun. The wedding was beautiful and I was in tears.

And on the shuttle bus back to the hotel I received an email that my flight home the next morning had been cancelled.

Sharing this information with the group caused them to convince me to go out for another night in Vegas. Evidently we went to some very hip club where the ‘stars’ go and Tommy Lee was the deejay. Listening to the tunes, I had to share with one of the husbands that I mostly listen to Christian music, so I was a little out of my element. This gave the group a bit of a chuckle.

I returned to the hotel a few hours later, asked for a late checkout and called Continental more times than I can count.

It wasn’t until late morning that I finally secured a flight home and extended my hotel stay another night.

I think you know the rest of it: I was scheduled to fly to Dallas by way of Newark but was able to fly standby to Houston. Once I got home I trashed the ‘fridge, packed the car and headed to my family in Dallas.

And now I sit and wait for the power to be restored at home.

And I’m thankful I had that mini-vacation to share in my friend’s big day. It was certainly a weekend I’ll never forget… for several reasons.

PS Sorry about the lower-quality pics. They were all from my phone. I left my real camera at home for my husband to document the hurricane.

Day 4 (Tuesday)

As I type this, I am lounging in my bathing suit on a massive couch by the swimming pool. Euro-sounding Mexican music is playing on the speakers, waves are crashing below me at the beach and some of the locals are setting up a marketplace for all the Club Med tourists who will want some Mexican souvenirs without even leaving the compound. Wow, we sure are allowed to be lazy here.

Not too long ago I finished reading a novel I started reading yesterday afternoon. Life here is certainly not hard. I’m deciding on writing a review of the novel, by the way. If I do, you might know about it before you learn I’m on vacation. I’m waiting to post all my vacation-oriented observations until we return home. But if I write the review, I could just publish it right away. Hmm. See, these are the tough decisions I am making this week.

Later that afternoon…

My daughter is not a beach girl. The waves terrify her.

I’m in this beautiful paradise of gently crashing waves, brilliant sunshine and silky sand-which she wants nothing to do with. I’ve tried to take her to the beach twice. No go.

The second time (which was today) I tried to just sit with her and play in the sand. I brought buckets and shovels and sifters and enthusiastic brothers. No way. She knew those waves weren’t too far. I guess they weren’t far enough.

So, while she was clinging to me with every ounce of strength she had, I summoned the boys who wanted to know why they couldn’t go deeper into the ocean, by the way, and made the unpopular decision to move to the pool.

The boys complained. Natalie was near crying. And, as we walked by an outdoor yoga class, I almost felt like crying myself.

But off to the pool we went and it didn’t take long for all 3 kiddos to splash around, have fun and be reunited with friends. Then, once presented with vacation drinks (smoothies) I was a hero again. Until it was time to go…