Thursday, May 28, 2009

Packing for Disneyland... "It's A Small World After All..."

Jar: 16.77 USD

I love that song.

We always joke that on an overnight, or short drive trip we always take more than if we were going around the world. The difference is not in necessity, it's in what you actually carry from day to day. Let's face it folks, we don't really need anything. Okay, I retract that just a tiny bit, because when you have babies, or small kids, you actually might need certain items. We are going with the intention that we are splurging a bit, and taking advantage of Disney's specials (meal plans, ticket and hotel deals) which are actually, quite reasonable. We are celebrating Grammy's Birthday, a night at Disney's fancy restaurant, The Blue Bayou is on Saturday.

Ask yourself these questions when you pack...
  • Are we driving or taking a plane?
  • How long is the trip?
  • What will I be carrying with me at all times? The kids?
  • What's the weather going to be like? (www.weather.com)
  • Are we on a budget and taking food in? Drinks? (Check with your destination about what is acceptable to bring in, some places don't allow you to bring certain things, but with infants there might be exceptions.)
  • What are my baby's essentials? (Allergies, special creams, prescriptions etc.) Do we have enough of that?
As for packing to amusement parks for infants and toddlers, I have broken it down to these key items (for a 3 night, 4 day trip)

Infant: (6 mos)
32 Diapers (8 diapers a day x 4)
6 Swimmer Diapers
about 200 wipes
1 disposable changing pad
6 sets of PJ's
6 tubs/jars of baby food
4 small pre packaged tubs of rice cereal
8 sets of clothes
4 onesies
two teething rings
4 pacifiers
one pack of pacifier wipes (handy and also safe for them to eat right after I wipe it off)
two stroller toys (to switch out)
about a dozen plastic rings (to hold toys in place)
6 disposable baby spoons
2 baby bottles
1 extra nipple
Water Babies Sunscreen
Floppy hat
two sweaters/jackets
1 muslin Blanket
1 regular blanket
1 heavy blanket
4 pairs of socks
1 beanie
The nice, heavy, comfy stroller with lots of room on the bottom. =)
4 bibs
8 burp cloths
formula (2 cans)
bathing suit

Toddler (2 years old, not potty trained)
32 diapers
8 swimmer diapers
about 200 wipes
antibacterial hand sanitizer
1 disposable changing pad
1 beanie
1 blanket
sunglasses
1 muslin blanet
6 sets of PJ's
2 tee shirts
2 pairs of pants
6 sets of clothes
2 bibs
floppy hat
robe
stain spray
sippy cup/bottled water
some extra money for amusements
bathing suit

For both:
changing pad
sunscreen
pack of 500 wipes
diaper rash cream
baby powder
baby bath soap
1 large trash bag for dirty laundry
2 gallons of bottled water
First Aid Kit (geared for infant and toddler needs, basic adult ones- see my post on First Aid Kits & Safety)

My bags for this trip?
The JuJuBe Be Prepared, and the DadGear Backpack. Click here to see or buy these bags. The JuJube will be kept at the hotel, and the backpack kept light and easy to lug around with essentials and valuables (phone, wallet etc.) So when you leave the stroller at the stroller parking lots, you can take it with you. =)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

FAMILY CALENDARS...

Jar 14.38
I just wanted to explain to everyone, if you  noticed, I put our family calendar on the side of this blog, so you could see as I posted about all of these small trips in between the bog ones.  See, small trips keep me sane. So if, budget allows, we have a trip- a small one.  Much love to everyone.  Next, Disneyland!!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

PHOTO SHOOT!



We had a family photo shoot in lovely Balboa Park, in our hometown of San Diego.  It was a beautiful day and the girls were glad to be outside.  Anton, who is my cousin and friend- did a WONDERFUL job.  If anyone is in the market for a photographer, he has a GREAT eye, and is very professional.  You can't even tell that Myla was running away every chance she got.  Please give him a try!   Here is the link for the website, as well as the pics from out photo shoot.  http://radcaptures.smugmug.com/gallery/8304435_ZN9Rj#543892271_34WwL

Enjoy!  We sure did.   


Friday, May 22, 2009

Europe Trip 2010 Itinerary...


Jar Savings: 2.22 USD
Here is the Europe trip Itinerary so far, and this is without discussion from other members of the party besides me and my mom.  This is the first thing we do when we have a trip in mind.  I have rewritten this about 6 times, done some research and wrote it over again.  Our first itinerary did not include Spain, but for some reason, my mom really wants to go to Spain, and I am not about to argue with my mother.  Plus, I love Spain.  Sangria here we come! There has to be a little more work done on Prague, but so far the consensus is, Prague has less to do?  I'm not sure about that, so do you guys have suggestions?  I have been there before on New Year's Eve but only over night and it was a wonderful.  

April 9 San Diego-Rome
10 Travel
11 Rome
12 Rome - Vaticano
13 Rome -Vaticano
14 Rome- Day Trip Italy
15 Rome
16 Rome-Florence
17 Florence
18 Florence Day Trip Italy
19 Florence  
20 Florence-Venice-EU
21 Prague
22 Prague
23 Prague-Barcelona
24 Barcelona
25 Barcelona Day Trip Spain
26 Barcelona
27 Barcelona-London
28 London
29 London
30 London-San Diego

So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to post them here, and we can discuss further options.  =)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Decline in Airline Attendants and their Service

I always bring a bottle of children's benadryl or children's cough syrup on the plane, and luckily have never needed it. I absolutely refuse to give them to my kids unless they are really sick or need it. I have been doing some research, and I did read about a fllight attendant drugging a kids' milk (sued and fired). I also heard of things like kids getting thrown out of planes because their kids were misbehaving. With this being said, I have also noticed a dismal decline in service from most American Based Carriers- United, American and Northwest being the biggest of these after 9/11, I have been traveling for about 20 years now, and absolutely refuse to use American Carriers with my kids unless it is absolutely necessary. I think the flight attendants and employees of these American carriers are beginning to use Homeland Security as an excuse not to be nice anymore and taking their "disgruntled employee in a customer service" attitudes and using Homeland Security as a way to empower themselves. And noticably, if you fly Air New Zealand, British Airways, Virgin, China Airlines, Cathay Pacific- any carrier that is not American, you get great, attentive service with airline employees that appreciate you, and will help with you with you and your children. I hate to be a basher of particular brands, but personally, I haven't had great service from United or American on board any of the flights I have travelled. Any. That's really saying something.

Nothing exciting...


Jar this week: 20.90 USD
Planning, planning and more planning.  There is nothing exciting on the trip planning front this week.  We are just on correspondence and retrieval and information gathering mode.  Soon... there will be an announcement. =)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Hallo?

We have been absolutely horrible this past week of updating the blog.  But, I swear, this is all related.  We have been busy getting my sister to Roma, and in the meantime having her help with the transitioning of being with her help and soon- to having her be gone, far, faraway.  Anyway, good times and cheers to my sister for becoming completely fluent in Italian and moving to Italia! She will be missed, but thank goodness for scype (sp?) email and all that stuff.  Plus, we will have a nice contact in Roma when we get this trip going!  

Jar Savings this week?  $27.22 

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Win a GREAT Summer Reading Book! NO TOUCH MONKEY By Ayun Halliday

We've decided to have a contest for those of you people who are following or starting to follow... 

Send in your questions, comments, travel experiences, stories or just say how much you like us and I'll pick the best piece and send you a free copy of this book! Last day to enter is: 31 May 2009.  

"I laughed hard on nearly every page of this shockingly intimate travel memoir and deeply funny book."  -Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 

 


Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Keeping Mosquitoes and other Annoying Biting Flies Off Your Family!

Jar Savings $12.23
The hardest thing about going to South East Asia with a 3 month old, was trying to find the perfect mosquito repellant before we left.    With Malaria, Dengue Fever and a slew of other diseases brought on by those little pests was enough to make me crazy.  I narrowed it down to a few products.

California Baby Mosquito Repellant- safe for infants, smelled nice, and wasn't oily or greasy.  It lasted a few hours and didn't give the girls or us any kind of rash.  Main ingredient was Citronella. 
Avon Skin-So-Soft Line-  There is a bug reppeller/sunscreen at SPF 30.  It didn't stink, and it kept off almost every kind of bug.  Also, the regular skin so soft oil has always repelled mosquitos although I find it to be too oily.  
Patches: Made By OFF!
We found these in Asia, but I haven't had a chance to look for them here.  You could stick on clothing or the baby carrier that repelled mosquitos for 8 hours.  This was perfect at night, so you wouldn't have to keep reapplying.  

It's hard, finding stuff without DEET that was effective for the baby.  The Toddler on the other hand, was okay with kids stuff.  I recommend putting stuff on their legs first to see if they react to it.  There are also numerous companies that make mosquito nets for portable cribs, carriers and strollers.  Which really worked out well for the baby when we were outdoors eating or something.  Also, a random tip that is somewhat related, be careful when you put even "safe for babies" stuff on their skin, (this goes with sunscreen also).  We forgot and put the stuff on the back of Memmy's arms and she rubbed all over her eyes and she ended up with sore, stinging eyes.  Poor thing.  

Friday, May 1, 2009

Baby Changing Stations



Before we had kids, we never noticed if there was a baby chang-ing station some-where.  We never looked for the avail-ability of hot water, or even for places that offered baby food.  We found ourselves in the beginning of the trip, bumbling around looking for places to change Myla in the UK. Fortunately, our week long road trip to Utah when Myla was 5 weeks old, trained us well in changing the baby anywhere.  Basically, if you have a clean flat surface you can change your kid.  Of course, we try to refrain from changing them in eating areas.
A lot of countries are child friendly.  For changing stations, we were pleasantly surprised how nice the UK was about having changing stations in the major attractions.  For instance, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the castle had an over the top changing station.  It turned one of the castle rooms into this baby changing hexagon.  Within the walls of the castle, temporary walls were set up (like bathroom stall walls).  There was a sink with very hot water, changing tables, benches, plenty of paper towels, and rocking chairs for nursing mothers.  In their eatery, there was a baby food/bottle warmer, they sold baby food as well as other things.  
In Taipei, we were pleasantly surprised to find there was a hot water station almost everywhere you turned.  And the changing station at the airport was a traveling parent's dream!  Clean and sterilized, with signs everywhere to tell you so.  Changing stations, a crib and a carriage, a couch, separate stalls with cushions for nursing, free wipes and diapers, even a big enough sink to bathe a baby or a small child as well as a hot water station and a purified water fountain.  This post will be an ongoing one, as we travel we will take more pictures of the nappy changing units.