www.flickr.com columbi-yeah’s Columbi-Yeah! January 2010 photoset

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I have just returned from a much needed 7-day beach vacation.  It was awesome!  Not only was the weather unbelievable (80s in July in SC???  someone pinch me!!), but my children were so well behaved, I almost didn’t recognize them!  They were, for the first time, totally content to just hang out at the beach for hours.  I actually got to sit in a beach chair and converse with other adults and enjoy watching my children run, jump, dig, and generally entertain themselves!  Don’t get me wrong, I built plenty of sand castles and jumped waves with my 4-year old, but it was because I wanted to and not because someone was whining and demanding my undivided attention every second of the day! By the 7th day, Old Cranky Mommy was nowhere to be seen and Zen Mommy was on the scene!  I am trying to maintain that same centered, calm attitude and outlook.  So far so good, but it is only my first day back to reality.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

While I was away, I didn’t check email or Internet at all.  I find that when I am home and in my usual routine, I check both all day. But when I am away, after the first day of withdrawals from the connected world, I pretty much don’t care at all. When I finally got the kids to bed and returned from the grocery store last night, I had a few minutes to catch up.  The first sites I checked were The Daily Digress and then The Shop Tart.  I always check them in that order.  Don’t know why, but that is just my routine.  And let me tell you, The Shop Tart gave me a double triple quadruple Zen boost when I found out that Cupcake is opening in the Vista.  I think I went to sleep smiling just thinking about that last night.  I love a cupcake.  Thanks, Shop Tart, for putting the icing on my Zen cake, so to speak.

P.S.  If you don’t read The Daily Digress and The Shop Tart blogs, you should!!

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Don’t miss Charleston Harbor Fest this weekend!  I used to spend summers on Nantucket Island (thanks McGowan Family!!!!), and let me tell you, it was totally awesome.  In addition to just being in a cool place and working for the coolest family ever, I got to know a lot more about coastal living, harbor festivals, sailing, and such.  When I saw the headline, Tall ships descend on Charleston for Harbor Fest, my very first thought was that my kids have to see the ships.  Real pirate ships (or at least ships like the ones that real pirates used).  Check out Old Charles Town and Pirate Village during Charleston Harbor Fest 2009 starting Friday and running through Sunday, including a Children’s Pirate Parade all three mornings at 11am.  Children are encouraged to dress the part.   Get your eye patches out, pack some snacks, and take a road trip to Charleston this weekend!  For other ideas of things to do in Charleston, see my previous Charleston recap post.

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Check out this newly launched travel website, Baby Safe Travel!  The company is a full service website dedicated to traveling with small children. Find hotels around the world at discount rates, and book flights and car rentals through their affiliation with Priceline. The guest rating system is specifically designed for parents to help other parents find the best baby friendly hotels.  In addition to the travel planning, they have an online boutique, a baby blog where you, dear reader, can blog about your own traveling-with-kids experiences, and some travel tips.  Looks pretty cool.  I know I have spent HOURS planning family vacations, searching for accommodations that would make our stay not just ok, but awesome.  I certainly plan to give Baby Safe Travel a workout!  Check it out!

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As I mentioned in my last post, we took a day trip to Charleston. If I could teleport, I would travel A LOT more. The car ride is the hardest, as my kids turn into major need machines. If they aren’t eating snacks, they are whining or asking me to do something like read them a book or tell them a story or hold their hands or pick up something they dropped on the floor.  This was the first time where we also had the added bonus of my daughter asking every 10 minutes, “how much longer?”  I remember doing that when I was a kid, and now I know how my parents felt…

Aside from the less-than-relaxing car ride, we had an awesome day! We arrived in Charleston around 11am and went directly to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, which is right behind the Visitor’s Center. The museum is very well organized, and it provided the perfect setting for the kids to burn some energy. The museum had a big art space, which I loved. There were several tables set up with all the materials needed for painting and making puppets or collages. Also, they were having a special reading of a book about Jackson Pollock, and then letting the kids splatter paint. Don’t worry, the museum had lots of smocks to prevent any major messes. There was also a water room that my kids loved. Boats, bridges, roads, a mini lock system, rain, sun, you get the picture. Oh, and more smocks! A shrimp boat, a market, a castle, and a children’s garden that we didn’t even get to see! Lots to see and explore. I recommend it!

After we had been there about 1.5 hours, we walked around the corner to have lunch at Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale! A little pricey for lunch, as there was no kid’s menu, but the food was great and quick. My shrimp tacos were awesome! The kids had cheese quesadillas.  Bonus: A few storefronts down from Juanita’s was a shop called Cupcake! You know what that means… I was basically pressing my face to the glass when we walked by! Mmmmmm. Cupcakes! Then we loaded up and drove out to Fort Moultrie. Took about 15 minutes to get there. We spent an hour walking around the fort. My kids loved the cannons. It was a bit much for my very tired 23-month old, but he hung in there. A quick stop at Starbucks for the adults to fuel up on some caffeine and then back to Columbia. We were home by 5pm. If your kids are a little older, you could certainly stay in Charleston later and take in Patriots Point and dinner at another yummy Charleston restaurant.

All in all, a great day trip.  There is so much to do in Charleston, and really, I think kids just like being somewhere new and seeing new things.  Happy travels!

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Here are the songs on the compilation we made for our last family road trip:

• Yes, We Have No Bananas by Louis Prima

• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by the Beatles

• The Donkey Song by Sugar Chile Robinson

• If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d've Baked A Cake by Eileen Barton

• Coconut by The Muppets

• Be Like You by Asylum Street Spankers  (yes, a band with a name like that DID make a children’s CD)

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland

• Electric Feel by MGMT

• I Never Go To Work by They Might Be Giants

• Rag Mop by Lionel Hampton & His Orhcestra

• Jackson by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

• Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five

• Wonderful by Circle Jerks

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This post is for a) those who know me and want an update on our Vermont trip, and b) anyone gathering information on kid-friendly vacations.

So bottom line here is that Vermont is the deal for a kid-friendly vacation destination.  First of all, we chose Vermont because we love New England.  I have spent a lot of time on Nantucket and along the coast of Connecticut, and have made several other shorter visits to Boston, Maine, and Vermont.  I think all of these areas are lovely and charming.  I had only spent one summer weekend in Vermont and remembered being enchanted by it.  Rural, pastoral, quiet, charming, really just lovely in all ways.  So, when choosing where to go for vacation, Vermont immediately popped in my head as a place I would like to explore.

The first thing I stumbled across proved to be THE ticket for planning a trip to Vermont.  Vermont Vacation is an amazing site that allows you to search all of Vermont, by region, for accommodations, seasonal events, activities, dining, attractions, etc.  Everyone knows Fall is high season in Vermont due to the amazing foliage, so as you might imagine, there are lots of festivals planned for this time of year.  This site aggregates all of that info for you, so you can see, by date, all the activities in Vermont, including art gallery shows, historic tours and lectures, festivals, concerts, etc.  This was very helpful in planning our daily agenda while in Vermont.  In addition to general farm information on the Vermont Vacation site, there is another site that offers information specific to Vermont farms .  The Vermont landscape is dotted with beautiful family farms, complete with big red barns and all your favorite barnyard animals, including sheep!  If you want to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air, listen to the sounds of nature, and get away from it all, Vermont is the place to go.   So all that being said, here are the specifics…

Air Travel & Accommodations: We planned our trip around using some long-saved Delta SkyMiles.  Once we identified travel dates that would work, I set to work finding the perfect accommodations for our family.  I wanted to stay in a private house/cottage/cabin.  I love meeting people and all that, but I really didn’t want to sleep in the upstairs of someone’s house and come down every morning for breakfast with people I didn’t know (a la the traditional B&B).  If that appeals to you, Vermont certainly has plenty to offer, but I was looking for a bit more privacy.  Also, I was looking for a place where my children (4 yr old and 18 mo old) would be comfortable and safe.  I did NOT want to have to risk my son coloring on some expensive antique or my daughter breaking the glass menagerie on top of it.  Oh, and of equal importance was the actual sleeping arrangements.  I needed a crib (or portable crib) for my son, and definitely more than one bedroom so we weren’t all sleeping on top of each other.  (I don’t know about you, but I like my sleep, and I sleep more soundly when my kids are in the next room rather than in MY room.)  Lucky for me, I found the perfect place, which I am now happy to share with you!  Falkenbury Farm , located in Benson, VT, offered a guest house separate from the main house, with 3 bedrooms, a portable crib, and very casual decor.  The price was also very reasonable by Vermont standards, at $150/night.  No additional taxes, no hidden fees nor extra charge for the crib. Not to mention that they had placed some great toys inside and outside the house for our kids, which was a total bonus!!

Day One: After we arrived at the Burlington airport, we went straight to nearby Waterbury for the Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour.  Definitely a tourist trap, but worth is, as they have a great playground for kids and free ice cream samples at the end of the tour.  Also the tour is very cheap (3$/person and kids under 12 are free!).  After sitting on a plane all day, it was great to let the kids stretch their legs and breathe the fresh air.  After the tour, we set out for Falkenbury Farm, which was about 1.5 hours south of the airport in Burlington.  The drive was easy, even in the dark.  Once we arrived at the FF guest house, we were thrilled.  Totally worth every penny.  The property was beautiful, and the Ambrozaitis family was super nice.  They had a 10-yr old daughter who played with our daughter during our stay, which really made the trip even more memorable for us.  We also were allowed to help with farm chores each evening.  The website above will give you the feel of the place. With 7 children of their own, the owners of Falkenbury Farm have the perfect family-friendly setting.  So if you are going to Vermont, now you know where to stay.

Day Two: We took a short drive (15 minutes) to Champlain Orchards and picked our own raspberries and apples.  Delicious and a lot cheaper than the grocery store!  Also bought some apple butter at the Farm Market and ate every bite before we left VT!  Then we drove just a few miles down the road to take the Ticonderoga Ferry across Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga, New York.  Our kids had never been on a car ferry before, so that was new for them, and it only took about 10 minutes, so we weren’t stuck on a boat for too long.  Just across the lake was Fort Ticonderoga .  We did not visit the fort, as we didn’t think our kids would enjoy it at their ages, but if you have older kids, you could check that out.  The surrounding gardens look beautiful!  We did check out downtown Ticonderoga’s Bicentennial Park, complete with covered bridge, waterfall, and playground for the kids.  Lunch recommendations: Hot Biscuit Diner or Burleigh’s.  We returned to the guest house for farm chores and dinner.  (Do be aware that there aren’t any restaurants in Benson, only a general store.  The nearest restaurants would be 9 miles south of Benson in Fair Haven, so we ended up cooking dinner each night.)

Day Three: We took a drive (45 minutes) to Rutland, VT.  Rutland is a pretty big town (by Vermont standards) with lots of restaurants and commerce.  We headed straight for nearby Hathaway Farm to do their famous corn maze!  It was another beautiful farm with the requisite big red barn.  In the barn were some small animals the kids could see up close and touch (sheep, goats, cow, donkey, ducks, chickens, pigs).  After we tried the children’s corn maze (which is very short and easy to complete) and checked out the animals, we headed into the big corn maze.  We didn’t come anywhere near completing it.  It is a 7-acre corn maze and very complex.  We did maybe a quarter of it and then bailed out through one of the early-exit gates.  So good news is older kids might really be into it and thus the maze can occupy a solid 2 hours of your day, but if you have little ones, you do have quite a few options to exit early if needed.  Then we went into Rutland for lunch.  My kids are picky and vegetarian, and so this presented a bit of a challenge.  We couldn’t just pop into McDonalds for a quick fix, though we probably wouldn’t do that even if we weren’t vegetarian.  So we ended up at Quiznos.  Food was fine, but it just took a long time.  And as you know, with hungry kids whining, you really want your food yesterday.  Regardless, we survived.  We headed back to Benson, making one stop to pick up a pumpkin.  When we got back to the farm house, we (my husband) carved it into a jack-o-lantern for the guest house front porch.  Then more farm chores, dinner, and bed.

Day Four: Unfortunately, our visit to Vermont was drawing to a close.  We had to get moving in order to get back up to Burlington that night for a ridiculously early flight out the next morning.  The good news was that we had one more awesome day in Vermont.  We set out at 9am heading east across Vermont, through Rutland again, heading in the direction of Woodstock, VT.  I had always wanted to see Woodstock, as I had heard great things about it.  It was indeed, as picturesque as I had heard.  Absolutely gorgeous and charming.  We passed right through, though, heading to the next little town called Quechee.  In Quechee, we visited the Vermont Institute of Natural Science , which houses and rehabilitates raptors.  We got to see some beautiful birds up close and personal in the morning lecture.  Owls, hawks, falcons, and even a vulture!  The birds were very cool and the nature center facilities were unbelievable.  This place is a total treasure.  Aside from seeing the birds, there is an awesome .5 mile nature trail (very easy for kids to do this hike, but not for strollers) through the surrounding woods, down by the river, and back up past a tipi and a vernal pool; three rooms in which children can play and explore; interesting garden sculptures; picnic tables for snack time.  VINS is definitely worth your time.  Skip the totally cheesy nearby Quechee Gorge (which by the way was slammed with people and tour buses when we passed through) and go to VINS instead.  No crowd and much more interesting. From Quechee, we took the interstate back up to Burlington while both kids napped. (That, btw, is unprecedented!!)  We checked into our hotel, Homewood Suites, then set out for dinner in downtown Burlington.  Burlington was a very active city.  It was a Saturday night, and the city was hopping.  Burlington has the luxury of having its university campus adjacent to downtown, literally.  So all the college nightlife is merged with downtown, making the whole downtown seem more active.  Not to mention that Burlington has an awesome pedestrian mall with lots of cute coffee shops, great retailers, and solid restaurants.  We ate at American Flatbread, which is a wood-fired pizza place.  It was the perfect meal to end our perfect Fall holiday.

To close, here are my main travel tips for this particular trip:

• Have lots of snacks.  Vermont isn’t the most heavily populated place, and you may find some towns with few to no dining options.  Always have lots of snacks on hand. This goes for the plane trip, as well.

• If you stay at FF Guest House, make sure you get some gallons of bottled drinking water.  They are on a well and the water is perfectly clean, but it does have a mineral smell/taste that city dwellers may not like.  Just have several gallons on hand for drinking and making coffee and such.

• Don’t over-plan.  One major destination per day kept us plenty busy.  Downtime on the farm in the afternoons was also very good for all of us.

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According to my daughter, I say that a lot. First things first.

1. We are back from vacation. Vermont was awesome and I highly recommend it for a great family Fall vacation. More on that in another post.

2. Little Lambs & Ivy is having a calendar sale this month. What exactly is a calendar sale? Well, each day this month, a different set of items will be on sale for 20% off. For this week: Tuesday is Orange Day. Wednesday is Socks and Tights Day. Thursday is Baby Gift Day. Friday is Sweater Day. Saturday is Brown Day. I’ll post next week’s schedule later in the week. Go check it out and support local business!

3. This weekend, the Columbia Double Dutch Forces will be performing at the RCPL Southeast Regional branch, which is on Garner’s Ferry Road. 1:30pm. Suitable for all ages and free.

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I love Fall. Love it! I also happen to love New England. Thus, we are leaving for Vermont on Wednesday morning. The leaves should be at peak. The weather is solidly Fall-ish (highs in the low 60s, lows in the 40s). As for the vacation planning….if the kids are happy, then everyone is happy. We are staying on a working farm in western Vermont. The trip will include farm activities, as well as corn mazes, apple orchards, a Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour, and lots of exploring in rural, open spaces.  I’ll review our trip for you when we return.

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Sorry for t he lag in new posts. I was away with my family on a much needed vacation. We had a great week with friends and family, enjoying the beach, good food, and beautiful weather. I am already looking forward to another beach trip. One of the things that made this particular trip so successful was that my kids were actually good travelers! No whining!!! Good attitudes and pleasant behavior all around. Here are some tips on making car trips with kids a success.

• Borrow books and cds from the library. My kids love looking at new books, and we even choose a few to read along the way. We also borrowed some new music cds and books-on-cd so my daughter could follow along as the story was being read.

• Have snacks on hand. Stay away from sugary cookies and juices. Water is best for staying hydrated, and juice just gets them more and more wired. Dried or fresh fruit, pretzels, or other low-sodium, low-sugar crackers are good options for food. Also, don’t forget you can always stop at a rest area or city/state park you pass along the way. Your kids can stretch their legs and you can pull out some snacks that you might not want to serve in the car, like apple sauce, yogurt tubes, or fresh berries. Have a small package of baby wipes in your car for cleaning up hands and faces after snack!

• Play games. I remember playing the alphabet game when I was a kid. Everyone in the car tries to find each letter of the alphabet by looking at the signs, automobiles, and buildings along the road. We also played a game to see who could find license plates from all the states. You can also plan a scavenger hunt for the trip, making a list of things your child has to find along the way, like a bus, a flashing red light, a farm animal, railroad tracks, etc.

If you have other ideas for making travel fun for the kids, please share!

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