Traveling With Children

August 10, 2018 By Annette Legako

How To Survive Yosemite National Park With Kids

Headed to Yosemite? Asking yourself how to survive Yosemite National Park with kids? Here are my top tips.

Our family was blessed to have two entire weeks for an epic summer family vacation – one of our many stops was Yosemite National Park. I’m here to tell you how to survive Yosemite National Park with kids in tow. When the hubs and I were kids, family vacations involved long road trips. We didn’t know anything different. However, our children think 15 minutes across the entire town is long, this means a road trip through California and the massive national park makes riding in the car quite overwhelming. How did we survive?

Electronics – Yes, I am saying it out loud.

I’m just going to throw it out there and be honest – electronics – yes, I am saying it out loud. Judge me if you must. While we do limit daily use of electronics in our home, we do not leave home on vacation without our old iPhones fully charged. Each phone is loaded with favorite apps for each of the kids (currently ages 9, 6 and 4). While they do not get unlimited use of these phones, I have them ready to pull out when the stress level gets high! For some reason I just don’t understand (wink, wink), the phones don’t always have enough charge to be used all the time. They also stay in the car while we venture out on excursions. This is key for your survival in Yosemite National Park with kids!

Food – And lots of it.

This is so simple and the most important, food – and lots of it. All snacking rules go out the window on vacation. If you can live with your kid eating it, pack it! For long road trips, we do take a soft sided cooler. Load it with fruit, cheese and sandwiches in addition to typical fruit snacks, fish crackers and chips. Seriously, just feed them even if it ruins their appetites for meals. I will repeat it one more time in case you missed it, feed them constantly, everyone will be happier.

Junior Ranger Hand Book/The Little Cub Hand Book – Best $3.50 purchase of your vacation.

As soon as you arrive go to the Visitor Center and purchase the Junior Ranger Hand Book or The Little Cub Hand Book! The Junior Ranger Hand Book is for children 7 – 13 years old. For your 3-6 years old, there is The Little Cub Hand Book. Very reasonably priced. I believe they were $3.50 each. With the purchase of the book, your child will also receive a small trash bag and disposable gloves. Your child will need to complete the required number of activities in the book. Those activities also include a guided program (several to choose from) and each child fills their trash bag with liter from around the park. Once completed, they can sign the official Junior Ranger/Little Cub book. Plus they earn their Junior Ranger Badge or Little Cub Pin. Okay, this sounds mildly interesting but what is the big deal?

Kids Now View Yosemite as a Challenge!

Before we made this small purchase, dad says “let’s take this trail to the waterfall!”. He is met with moans and groans and “can we take our phones?” or “my feet hurt”. However, once they were given the simple challenge to fill 3 small trash bags they wanted to take every trail they could find! It was now a game! We carted those 3 trash bags in and out of the minivan for 3 days. (Didn’t want the bears to break in and abscond with them!)

Another story – a fellow park visitor noticed what good stewards of the environment my little ones were. He complimented them on their efforts and gave them all crisp $2 bills! I felt a twinge of guilt they were not doing this kind act out of the goodness of their heart. However, hopefully this small task has made them aware of the mounds of trash discarded and they will continue with their kind acts without the expectation of an award.

The activities in the hand books made this trip to Yosemite an adventure and challenge on the kid level. Consequentially, the parents have excited kids to explore places like Glacier Point and we can experience what a family summer vacation is really supposed to be!

Pictured Above Left: Middle child stops at nothing at Glacier Point to keep it free from liter and to fill his bag first.
Pictured Above Right: All 3 making their pledge to be a responsible Junior Ranger at the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center.

Keep it simple.

Keep it simple – follow these tips and you will survive Yosemite National Park with kids too!

Looking for other activities in California? Be sure to read my other travel posts HERE.

August 5, 2018 By Annette Legako

How To Entertain Children On An Airplane

Planning a trip with your children and wondering how to entertain children on an airplane? The answer to this question will vary depending on the child and age. Traveling with our kids has certainly became easier over the years. We live right smack dab in the middle of the United States. Until you are planning a family vacation, you don’t fully realize how large the United States is! We really enjoy road trips because of the ease of having your own vehicle and the cost savings. However, any trip over 8 hours and we are out! Bring on the plane!

Since we love to travel, I probably should be keeping a travel journal for each of my children. I bet my oldest has been on at least two dozen trips if not more. We have certainly picked up a few tips along the way.

Entertaining Toddlers on an Airplane

Entertaining toddlers on the airplane I find to be the most challenging. Yes, you can take an iPad or Kindle but, at least with my toddlers, it lasts at most 15 minutes at a time. Now what will we do for the next 2 hours? While my motto with the 4, 6 and 9 year old is “go simple”. it was not with a 2 year old! Your bag better be full of options! I’m not a fan of crayons (because they melt when hot when left abandoned in a car) but if I can find the ones with the shape of a triangle (so they don’t roll) and washable I grit it and bear it. I also really like the Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Markers! They do roll (I know, so frustrating) but I don’t have to worry about turning my head to find my angel has created a mural on the airplane wall. We will pack a book or two because lets face it, toddlers can read the same book over and over and over. Lastly, my most unusual tools are masking tape and bandaids. I haven’t met a child yet who doesn’t love bandaids or tape! The masking tape I tear off and just let them go to town taping whatever they like. The bandaids – I hand over the entire box. I’m actually helping my children develop their fine motor skills. It takes a lot of work and time to remove the bandaid from the box, remove it from the wrapper, remove those little bitty strips and finally to find the perfect placement for said bandaid. So much entertainment in that $2 box of bandaids! Oh, and of course, pack snacks!!! No matter the question, when it comes to children the answer is always snacks and lots of them!

Entertaining Preschoolers on an Airplane

Entertaining preschoolers on an airplane is definitely not as challenging as the toddler. My youngest is 4 years old. On our recent trip to California she was actually pretty pleasant on the plane. Her Kindle Fire has apps that keep her entertained for a solid 45 minutes or so. I made sure to download a few movies to her Kindle Fire and to my iPad, boom another 1 1/2 to 2 hours! The rest of the time is spent answering endless questions on why each person she can see is doing whatever they are doing. Oh, and snacks, don’t forget the food! Food is a necessity when trying to entertain children on an airplane.

Entertaining School Aged Children on an Airplane

After surviving the airplane with toddlers and preschoolers, traveling with your school aged children is your reward! At home we have strict screen time rules but when we travel those rules pretty much don’t exist. Thus, a trip on an airplane is absolutely magnificent to a 6 and 9 year old. Not only do they get to fly through the air they get 3 hours on the phone to play non-educational games and maybe even catch a movie. Pretty awesome. So for your school aged child be sure to pack electronics, headphones, a book (just in case that electronic dies) and of course – you know this by now – snacks!

Be sure to check out my other posts HERE about traveling with children!

August 4, 2018 By Annette Legako

Best California Beach To Visit With Kids

Recently we took a mega vacation to California, we had 2 weeks to fit in as much as possible! Of course, we needed to work in beach time but where should we go? We decided to fit this in after our trip up north to the national parks on our way south to Anaheim. We decided on Santa Monica. Here are my tips and tricks for a quick beach day to the best California beach to visit with kids!

Annenberg Community Beach House at the Santa Monica State Beach

We settled on the Annenberg Community Beach House at the Santa Monica State Beach. This turned out to be an excellent decision for a number of reasons:

Parking – Coming from a small town parking is always a worry when visiting a majorly populated area. Three days prior to our visit I was able to purchase a reserved parking spot! These spots are limited and only held until 11 am but we had prime parking!
Bathrooms – The Beach House has plenty of bathrooms to get your kids changed.
Food – There is a quick service window for food to go or a full service restaurant right there! When traveling it isn’t always easy to pack a picnic lunch. Having food options convenient is perfect for a family on a road trip.
Rentals – While we did not take advantage of this service, we did notice a kiosk with chair and umbrella rentals among other things.
Other amenities including a splash pad, pool (the pool is an additional cost), playground and wi-fi.
We visited on a Wednesday in July, arrived by 10 am. While I am sure the beach can get crowded, the beach was perfectly pleasant and not too crowded.

A little tip though, if you are spending only a day at the beach, save money on a hotel and stay in Santa Clarita. We saved quite a bit on lodging this way. The distance is not too far but with California traffic be sure to leave plenty early to arrive by the 11 am deadline for the parking spot.

Planning a trip to California? Be sure to check out my other posts about our trip to Yosemite National Park!

August 3, 2018 By Annette Legako

What To Pack When Traveling With Children

Wondering what to pack when traveling with children? If I had wrote this post before my 3rd child was born it would be a much different list. In fact, it would have included an Excel spreadsheet with columns for each person in the household. I was prepared for the unexpected. I had ponchos for potential rainstorms all the way to every possible medicine that could be needed. Some complimented my preparedness.

Then the 3rd child was born and there was simply no room in the suitcases. Yes, we fly Southwest with unlimited bags but only 4 suitcases fit nicely in the back of the minivan so 4 suitcases it must all fit in. That 3rd child also somehow greatly reduced my packing lead time. If we are gone more than 5 nights I do laundry while we are gone. Just not enough room for 5 people for more than 5 nights in the 4 suitcases. So pack the clothes you need for 5 nights then plan to do laundry.

What To Pack

You already know much of what to pack when traveling with children like the toothbrushes, pajamas, etc. Here is where I surprise you. Pack as little as possible! You heard that right, keep it simple.

iPhones w/ headphones for every person (sometimes parents just need a few moments of peace)
Microwaveable popcorn (many hotels have microwaves, super easy snack and avoid the inevitable hangries)
Battery operated fan (going somewhere hot, a little fan can do wonders to pacify a sweaty child)
1 tiny stuffed animal for every child (I may never understand this need but I accept it. I have rules-not the most beloved stuffed animal as the chance is too high we will lose it and it needs be tiny, like tsum-tsum tiny)
Ziploc bags (so very many uses)
Wet Ones/Baby Wipes (regardless of age we always have messy hands, face or a spill, having these on hand avoids all kinds of stress)

That is pretty much all I pack when traveling with children. The days of packing around crayons, coloring books and such are over. Almost every restaurant has them. I don’t need to find crayons melted in the minivan a month later.

The days of each child carrying their own backpack are gone too. Why? Because I preached your backpack is your responsibility, if you lose it then it is gone. What really happens? Hubs is a softie and if it means going back to customs and begging for his baby girl’s backpack she left on the grand stairway of the cruise ship, even at the cost of missing his own transportation from the port to hotel, he will do it and he has done it. No more my friends. Everything must fit in 1 backpack. This mom’s motto is “simplicity”. More stuff, more worries, more stress. Keep it simple folks.