Vacation Prep: Keeping 2 Kids Under 3 Occupied on a LONG Road Trip

With vacation looming, I've been Googling my brains out for ideas on how to keep the kiddies and us from going cuckoo during a long drive south. Besides Valium for my hubs and turkey and warm milk for the kids, here's the list of my must-pack items for the car:

• iPad and iPhone loaded with a bunch of these toddler-friendly apps (PianoBall and Endless Alphabet are emerging as our faves) and encased in these 
• This Snack & Play Tray, which can hold D's construction reusable sticker pad, coloring books, Crayola Color Wonder kits and good old fashioned books
• Toddler scissors and mags (I've watched his preschool class sit angelically for a LONG time just cutting up stuff...hope it translates non-violently to the car ride)

I'll make sure to report back on what worked and what bombed. Honestly, though, I have no idea what to do with the baby besides let her manhandle an iPhone. DEAR GOD, PLEASE LET HER SLEEP...A LOT!

What's worked for you guys? Spill, please!

Vacation Prep & a Giveaway: Turning the Pickle into a fish

Our newish status as a family of four is being christened this summer during our first legit family vacation. We’re headed to the beach with five other families for what I’m calling Real World – Family Style.

Our home-away-from-home sports both an oceanfront view and a pool, so Phil and I have been talking for a while about getting the Pickle acclimated to the water with swim lessons. However, whenever it came time to actually investigate options, I started to flashback to my terror memories of my swim lessons when I was a toddler and how terrified I was of Mr. J and the pool at the Y (yes, I still remember his name and face!).

Then Goldfish Swim School invited me to try lessons, which are designed to help eliminate the anxiety that often accompanies swim lessons by providing small class sizes, year-round curriculum and warm-water, four-foot-deep pools. We tried a month of Junior 1 lessons for Dylan for free in May and signed up for continued classes since we all liked it so much! 

D loves to do his big splash!

Dylan was a little shy and tearful at the beginning of his first class so I loved that another instructor came to his lane to help him one-on-one until he became more comfortable, which didn’t take long. 

Since we’ve been going to Goldfish, D regularly asks when it’s time for swim class – he really looks forward to it! And, I’ll confess that a few times I’ve pulled out the “Do I have to call Mr. Sean and tell him about your behavior?!” in desperate times, which has always worked (Santa who?).

As a family, we haven’t formally investigated other swim class options, but everyone who has told me that their kid(s) go to Goldfish, has had great things to say. Here’s what we like about the classes and the facility:

·         The 4-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio and 30-minute length have always felt right

·         The instructors challenge the kids to improve their skills

·         We don’t have to be in the water during the class (woo hoo)

·         Close-up, glass-enclosed pool viewing area

·         Super warm water and air temperature inside the pool

·         Spacious and plentiful private changing rooms

·         Shower area right next to the pool

The alligator float is always a favorite

In addition to weekly classes, Goldfish also offers Jump Start Clinics, which are five days of consecutive swim lessons that help to get kids acclimated to the water before vacation. We thought about that option, but I didn’t think I could commit to that based on my work schedule.

Goldfish is located in Warrensville Heights on Richmond Road. One thing to note is that traffic on 271 S and Richmond is often hectic during our commute on weekday evenings. If you’re coming from the East Side, I highly recommend taking Green to Emery to Richmond – we’ve found that to be our quickest route.

Free Goldfish Swim Birthday Party Giveaway ($450 value)

The friendly folks at Goldfish are offering one free swim birthday party (a $450 value) to one lucky reader of Postcards from Christina! Invite up to 24 kids for a fantastically fun two-hour party, which includes use of the pool and party area at the Warrensville Heights location, decorations, cupcakes, drinks, invitation and more. Check out the full deets here.

Contest details: Ends 7/15/13 at 12:01 a.m.

Disclosure: I was gifted a month’s worth of lessons. All opinions are my own.

UPDATE: Due to an issue with Rafflecopter, below is an updated way to enter:

1. Leave me a comment here (on this blog) telling me why you’d like to win
2. Tweet the following “Win a birthday party at #GoldfishSwimCLE http://tinyurl.com/mkuunpq (then leave a separate comment on this blog letting me know you tweeted)
3. Post a link of this blog post to your Facebook wall (then leave a separate comment on this blog letting me know you posted this to your Facebook wall)

You can enter (each of these ways) once a day until the giveaway ends. This giveaway is open to U.S residents only and all entries must have a valid email address (this is how I will contact the winner).  Once a winner has been chosen (via random.org), the winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be randomly selected. 

A working mom's travel warts

I've always been told that I'm a smiley girl. I tend to look on the bright side. I love writing about stuffing my face at a great restaurant or conquering a new city. But post-babies, travel comes with more downers than delayed flights or crappy service at a restaurant.

These days, happy sighing after inhaling a luscious dinner is followed by a little guilt when I get a report that the kids screamed bloody murder when the sitter came (tonight).

A work roadtrip might entale alternating between tweaking a PowerPoint deck in the front seat and suiting up in the back seat with a hooter hider contraption and my b pump (true story: road trip to Indy earlier this month).

And, at least through the next few months, it definitely means pumping in gross airport bathroom stalls and often arguing with TSA agents about my non-threatening pump while going through security.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (well sort of) -- I'm just admitting that travel is not all glamour and gorging. (That stuff is just what's fun to write about.)

Lean in or out -- I'm a big believer of doing whatever you know is best for you. I love my profession. I know I'm making the right choice for my family and racking up experience to draw from when my kids seek out career advice. I'll keep doing what I'm doing as long as I enjoy the stimulation and personal growth that a career can offer and have the unparalleled support of my amazing husband. It just makes me feel better to put out there that the balancing act is hard.

3 cities in 3 days -- and a new state!

VIP manipedi + visiting baby, fun at Charlotte yummy restaurants

You know your travel schedule is a little crazy when foursquare gives you kudos for checking into three different airports in three days...

First trip was a mama-and-me visit to Charlotte with the baby to see my college friend Jen. I realized that I hadn't visited since right before I got pregs with the Pickle...long time.

I ate well at Soul Gastrolounge and The Crepe Cellar on Friday night while Jen's husband Matt did a bang-up job of first time babysitting. The tiny Soul reminded me of a hipster Michael Symon joint since pork belly and fried brussel sprouts were on the menu. At The Crepe Cellar, we created a new menu item by concocting a mashup of the brownie and banana fosters crepes...mmmm!

On Saturday, we shopped and basked in the 77-degree weather while the Cleve got a dusting of snow (sorry).

On Sunday, Jen pulled some strings (she's so VIP) and got her regular nail and massage places to open up just for us...can't think of a better way to spend St. Paddy's Day! However, I bet Matt would disagree as he was my babysitter and baby chauffeur...at one point, he delivered Sienna to me for a feeding while I was having my toes done!

Flew home on Monday morning to spend the day with the Pickle before a work road trip to Indianapolis. Yay for a pin on the map for Indiana!
 

Delightful dishes at Late Harvest Kitchen, roadtripping to a new state, my packing "helper"

Found a great local spot thanks to Urbanspoon called Late Harvest Kitchen.The locally sourced chicken thighs and gnocchi were amazing! Sticky toffee pudding was good too.

Now, back in NYC until Friday. Time to kick off March Madness and finally fill out my brackets!

Mama-and-me trip - success!

 
The girls are back in town! As the Pickle said when we got home, “No girls. Just guys.” He was glad to see his little sis.

Thankfully, Sienna is a good little traveler too. She was an angel on both flights just like D was when he was two months old and we flew to Dallas to meet up with Sarah and her girls. I was a little nervous before we left since I thought she might be getting sick, but we lucked out. 

Sienna sleeping like an angel in my arms on the flight home. Thankfully, my seatmate let me use the arm rest!

She definitely had her share of overwhelmed moments (see pic of the back of Sarah’s car below…three car seats of kiddos is a lot for anyone to take).

Sienna did not like being the monkey in the middle. Lots of noisy car rides.

It was lovely to travel with so much less gear than my last solo mama trip as evidenced here. Since Sarah had all the baby gear a gal could ever need, I just brought a diaper bag and a carry on (and baby, of course).

 

We kept this trip low-key and I felt much less exhausted coming home vs. Dallas. We had lots of yummy meals in Minneapolis restaurants and took walks with all three girls in Hudson, Wis., right by the river where Sarah lives. Before the airport on the way home, we visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sienna’s first museum (we’ll be going to CMA when the Cassatt exhibit – perfect! – opens later this month).

One of my favorite parts of the trip was finding out that Sarah and our fam’s vacations in Hilton Head next year will slightly overlap so we know when we’ll see each other next!

I’m expecting to travel for work in the not-too-distant future, but not sure if we’ll head anywhere with the kiddos before next summer.