Heads up travel freaks. Fodor’s has added six new guide books to their lineup.
Of course, we’re most excited about the new Buenos Aires
Three additional books for Spanish speaking destinations are Panama,
New for North America is Vancouver & Victoria,
Interested in the Carribean? Check out the new Aruba
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We consider ourselves pretty savvy, but this week we fell prey to one of the most sinister perils of traveling with children…Grandparents.
These slow moving creatures wield unorthodox weapons such as Ice Cream and the constant use of the word “Yes”.
An example of this horror came during our current visit to San Diego. I found our 2 year old standing in her Grandmother’s family room, face buried in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. No spoon, no napkin, just a tongue and sheer bliss.
When questioned, Grandma’s defiant response was “I asked her if she wanted a spoon and she said no”.
What’s your Grandparent horror story, and more importantly, how did you get even?
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“Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.”
Ken Robinson is right up our alley. This 20 minute talk is terrific…and quite funny.
Related Posts:
Classroom To-Go: Brain Builders for Kids on the Road.
A Simple Trick to Turbo Charge Learning a Foreign Language.
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Introducing Jeana Mitchell:
Jeana is the mother of seven kids. An expert on crowd control and stretching a buck, she recently found the time to give our readers some terrific advice in the comments sections of our posts “The Slacker Parent and the Travel Friendly Child” and the “10 Essential Packing Rules”. We’re very pleased she has agreed to share some additional travel tips with Family Hack.
Vacation “packages” are set up for families of four. Having a family of nine can make vacationing on a budget a real challenge. However, it can be done! Here are some tips we have used to cut costs on our vacations without cutting out the fun.
Make friends with the staff at the hotel or campground you are visiting. Tipping well once or twice will make you a friend of all the staff. Train your children to be polite and helpful to the staff. This goes miles if you are a large group and works on several levels.
Before getting to your destination, locate at least two shops you would like to visit. When you’re there, ask the shopkeeper if they can recommend any other shops…they can! They will also usually tell you which grocery has the best deals as well. Also, grocery coupons that work in California, will work in New York.
For our family, the cost of a membership is roughly the same as visiting one time. Even if your family needs two or three visits to make up the cost, check out the fine print and see if your local museum, zoo, or science center has a membership program, find out if they are partnered with reciprocal facilities. If so, most will honor your membership and let you in free or at least for 50% off. Children universally love these places and they tend to be very different. As a bonus, most reciprocal facilities offer discounts in the gift shop as well. Check these websites for science centers and zoos that have programs nationwide:
Association of Science-Technology Centers
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Make a travel checklist on fun or brightly colored paper and use it. This gives you time to figure out what is missing and put it in the bag before you go. Personalize a checklist for each member of the family, leave a few spaces blank so kids can add their own items to the checklist. Pack the checklists in each individual’s bag so nothing is left behind.
Continue reading…
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For those of you following the saga of our friend Jenthemom (aka: my seemingly long-lost twin), the wait is over–the baby is here! Laurelyn was welcomed into the world at home by her beautiful family last weekend. We are so happy for them and only wish they lived closer so we could ooh and ahh in person.
Now that Jackson and Laurelyn have both arrived, the arrangement of their marriage by their blogging parents cannot be far behind…stay tuned!
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Introducing Jackson Davis, the newest staffer here at Family Hack. It was 8:09 A.M. on May 22nd, when we decided to make his 9 lb. butt a permanent fixture here. He’ll be in charge of articles pertaining to drooling, high finance and Philippino psychic surgery. Mom and baby are doing fine…no…strike that…they rock!
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Here are some great links to help you get the most from your money. Enjoy!
Speaking of getting good deals. Don’t miss 5 Ways to Get 90% OFF Designer Kid’s Clothes’. It’s one of our most popular.
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OK…here’s the deal. We haven’t abandoned you. In fact, we love you all deeply. Really…especially you in the thong. That’ a good look for any guy.
But Hannah is knocked up again and for the past several weeks we’ve been scrambling around trying to get our crap in some reasonable order before she explodes. Which, according to people who know about such things, will be in about a month.
Now on to more important matters…TESTICLES! The new baby has a pair, so my world will be less pink and whiny…thank God! In fact, with the additional set of danglers, I’m declaring victory over these frilly broads. Sure, there may be three women in the family, but soon there will be FOUR glorious testicles. Clearly, the men win!
So, what does this mean to you, the loyal and sometimes drunken FamilyHack readers? Well, you’ll have to make do without our brand of internet pablum for a little while longer. After all, Hannah is busy building a mini-me and then I’ll be spending several weeks just staring at my new sons enormous package.
Of course, we’ll be back after the baby dust has cleared. In the meantime you’ll just have to focus on your heroin habit and that fancy new mullet you’ve been working on. It’ll go great with that thong you look so luscious in.
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I’m a sucker for a really good singer. The fact that Madonna is rich and famous and this guy is playing at the Temple Bar for a $5.00 cover charge is clear proof that life is unfair.
And no…I don’t know him. I just bumped into this and was knocked out. Here are some links to more of his stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/amirsoul
http://www.amirsmusic.net
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One of our brilliant readers, Jeanie Mellick, has some great car tips:
With each new car I buy the car it’s own set of “towels” that match the interior. I always keep one laid out covering the trunk area (large bath size) and then if any groceries spill, it just gets tossed in the laundry.
I put hand towels on the floor for the kids muddy shoes/sports equipment/etc. They are very handy, and so much less costly than getting your upholstery cleaned.
Another trick I use is to just throw the Windex and paper towel roll in the car, and then clean windows, doors, etc. while waiting in the car pool line, etc.
You can also keep a bag of “food stash” in the trunk to keep drive-through trips to a minimum. I keep packs of goldfish crackers, Gatorade, etc. so I can just give the kids something healthy rather than hit up McD’s for fat filled fake chicken!!
Finally, home schooling is saving $$$ big time on gas!
Do any of you have some good tricks to keep that damned car from gobbling up our time and money? Get your lazy butt to comment below or shoot us an email. We’d love to hear from you.
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