Category Archives: Travel

Flying with Kids

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family, Travel, Twins

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This does not need to be feared.  But, how successful you are depends on the adults and kids, and really the kids age.  In our case by far the worst age for flying is around 1.  They want to move, but they don’t walk very well so they’re on the floor and generally into everything.  Airports are DIRTY places.

I’ve checked car seats loads of times. Bring your own bags, though. 2 car seats max per bag (really only an issue once you get to boosters). Mine ride in the airplane seat once they turn two. We’ve used GoGo’s with the kids in the seats and a luggage cart with both car seats attached. If the seats are necessary both of these work. But, they’re both a royal pain going through security and boarding. I have narrow car seats and I couldn’t roll mine down the aisle. Gate checking a double stroller is so much easier. We give a backpack to each adult and that’s it for carry-ons.

In general, I prefer to carry-on less stuff.  Its been a long time since I’ve taken a trip short enough to carry everything and if you’re checking anyway lighten your load.  I try to avoid all belts and other metal stuff that might have to be removed.  I also put all our phones, games, etc together in a clear ziplock bag; you can remove that from your carry on and send it through security as is.  Each child must also walk through security alone so send an adult first to catch the stuff and them and use the other adult as a sweeper. Their lovie will have to go through the machine so be prepared.

And, don’t buy drinks before security; they can’t come through.  I take trail mix and apple slices for the kids.  It takes them a while to eat that.  We just don’t worry about meal times; its something to do.  Make sure you bring enough food for all ages in case you’re delayed.  And, if you have little ones a change of clothing for them and you is probably warranted.  I bring a book per child, a new set of matchbox cars, and the electronic games for the older ones.  Other than that, hope all goes well!

We Went Out to Eat

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

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This happens more often than one might think.  First, we like going out to eat.  Second, we think its good to keep our kids in practice.  We eat out roughly twice a month.  How?

  1. We usually go at lunch. It’s not just that prices are better at lunch (kids meals are generally the same).  The real reason is that the restaurants are emptier so there are fewer people to bother.  And, the kids are more rested and thus less bothersome.
  2. Some folks with kids go to noisy restaurants so they don’t stand out. We don’t.  We like to hear each other.  That being said, we don’t take them to overly stuffy places either.  Pretty much anyplace that could be attached to a mall works for us.
  3. I don’t bring entertainment. Most places have crayons.  Most places have bread/chips/crackers/etc.  Those work fine.
  4. All kids out of diapers have to go to the bathroom after we order. Inevitably someone will have to go again after the food arrives, but this helps cut down on the disruptions and there’s nothing else to do then anyway.
  5. It’s not always the case. But, we’d prefer to go someplace where they make things we don’t have at home and the kids like – like sushi.

We planned to go out to eat this time because we knew we’d have everyone in the cars at 5:30 coming home from various activities.  Obviously we could just have met up at home.  But, it was a good excuse to go out.  There’s no grand plan to all of this, but thus far things have worked out fairly well.

Technology & Kids

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

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We have a Kindle Fire (mine), a Nintendo DS, and an iPhone (mine) that the boys can use. The iPhone is the most popular because of Minecraft. Prior to their knowledge of that game the Kindle was definitely the most popular. The Kindle also requires less management on my part because I don’t have it on a phone plan so they can’t use data outside a wireless connection, and generally the permissions are set once across all apps. With the phone I have to set up permissions separately for each app. I think we’ll need a 4th device soon as our 4th child is starting to use the Kindle some.  Ideally this will be a 4th thing vs a duplicate.  But, they’re pretty much only all in use at the same time when we travel long distances (see post from Sept 17, 2014) so this is not something I have to think about any time soon.

Do You Go Out to Eat?

30 Tuesday Sep 2014

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The simple answer is sometimes.  We too like eating out. We did before any kids were born, and we still do regularly even with 5. We keep it simple. Until they can sit in a high chair we bring one cloth book (same one, stays in the diaper bag). When they’re in the high chair we bring cheerios. Once they understand not to eat the crayons we’re done – not toys, electronics, etc, – you entertain yourself through conversation or whatever the restaurant provides for kids. We keep them in a high chair as long as possible – boosters are useless and a lot more effort to keep them from tipping over. Unless its a crying baby, the child has to stay in their seat until we’re paid up and ready to go. We don’t go to fancy restaurants with kids, but to regular family friendly ones – Margarita’s and Tokyo’s Hibachi are two favorites. Dead silence would be bad, but I don’t want to go someplace too loud either. And, we’re more likely to go at lunch rather than deal with tired, hungry kids though we still do dinner from time to time.

Other people’s houses are another matter. If they have kids, great; they just have to be contained where the toys are. 15m is definitely the hardest as all they want to do is explore, but that will get better in a few months. If they don’t have kids, it won’t be childproofed and the exploring can be a big problem. We definitely have people to our house more now (also because we overwhelm many typical homes). When they were young we used to go to our childless friends houses later and take the pack n plays. I’d often feed them at home first. We could park them in an upstairs bedroom, enjoy our evening, and then reclaim them when it was time to go home.

Can’t Reach the Soap

26 Friday Sep 2014

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I often hear women complaining about boys in the women’s restroom.  They understand why they’re there and that they’re young.  In fact, in most cases they have boys themselves.

My older boys can handle the men’s restroom themselves.  But, I still often have to bring them in the women’s restroom because they can’t reach the soap to wash their hands.  Sometimes it’s the paper towels, but almost always it’s the soap.  This problem is everywhere and often.  There is not always a family restroom.  I wish bathroom designers would bring at least one of the soap dispensers out from behind the counter so kids with shorter arms could actually use it.

Public Transportation to the Red Sox Game

18 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Family, Sports, Travel

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I’m sticking to a transportation theme this week!  We decided to take the older boys to a Red Sox game this summer.  Each had been before individually, but this was the first time we’d been as a group.  Since I didn’t need the car that day we let dad drive the minivan downtown so we would have it to come home in.  And, since we had the time, I would bring the boys using public transportation.

It was a night game.  As the afternoon drew on rain came intermittently.  When it was time to leave for the bus stop, though, it wasn’t raining so off we went.  Of course it began raining when we got to the bus stop.  There was a large tree that provided reasonable shelter but the boys decided playing in the rain was more fun so they were rather wet when the bus arrived.

I got seats for them, but it must have been painfully obvious to everyone else on the public bus that they hadn’t used one before.  They take the school bus, but there were endless questions about why we were stopping, who was getting on, what route we were taking, the various features of a bus, etc.  But, we made it to the subway station fairly easily.

We take the subway roughly once a summer so the boys were more familiar with this part of the journey.  The only hassle was that because we go rarely, I only had Charlie tickets (vs the newer Charlie cards) and didn’t know how much was on them.  Charlie tickets are the paper cards that replaced the token system.  Charlie cards are the newer plastic version that can be reloaded online, and offer a slightly lower fare to encourage their use.  It turned out one Charlie ticket was empty and I needed to add a dollar to the other.  But, I was able to toss both at the end of the trip.

I’ll need to purchase a Charlie card before next summer.  I did some quick checking online and this seems to be harder than it should be.  They’re only available in certain stations, plus a few convenience stores, vs by mail.  When we visited DC, I purchased METRO cards online so they arrived in the mail before we left for the trip.  One less thing to deal with.

All in all it was a good adventure.  We made it to the game.  We only got a bit wet.  I’d do it again should the situation arise.

Driving with Kids

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

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We did a lot of driving this summer.  Our kids are pretty ok in the car.  We give each (who are old enough) of them a reuseable grocery bag.  In this goes a clipboard, washable coloring implements of their choice, a pad of drawing paper, a new book, and a stuffed animal of their choice.  I have a separate bag with blank paper, some paper games/printouts (such as Mad Libs, Travel Bingo, etc.), anything to entertain the baby, and all in car electronics.

We consciously did not purchase an in-vehicle DVD player when we got the new minivan with our 4th.  We figured on using individual electronics (most of which we already had and we expect to purchase more as they get older) and I didn’t want to be responsible for disputes as to what trips were long enough to qualify for DVD watching.

Since no child has their own, hand-held electronics currently get rotated through the vehicle.  For this summer we had an iPhone, a Kindle Fire, and a Nintendo DS among 4 kids.  None had internet connections.  The iPhone can be recharged in the car, but the others had to wait until we stopped for the night.  So, most devices had two available turns.  Between these options, plus the inevitable free meal toys we accumulate, the boys were fine for many full days in the car.