Archive | January, 2009
While in Europe, my children were most fascinated by checking the sewer drains to see if anything was there and seeing who could spot the “Old McDonald’s” (aka MickeyD’s) first! They also looked for birds and horses. However, nothing could top the excitement of spying yet another dog and yelling out at the top of their lungs “LOOK MOMMY!!! ANOTHER DOGGY!!! TAKE A PICTURE QUICK!!!!” I give you “The Dogs of Europe”!
For my daily visitors, you will notice that I have made some changes to the blog today! I have been blogging since October and now that I am consistently posting I have decided to make some changes to my blog.
I have been working on a banner for the top of the blog and I am not sure what I will do…I am working on a second one as well. I have also changed the background color no fewer than ten times while trying to decide what I like!
This week, I started Travel Blogger Tuesday. I will feature a different travel blogger each Tuesday. If you have any suggestions let me know!
I have signed up for a Twitter account. You can follow me at @twokidsandamap. Still trying to figure out how the whole Twitter/tweet/stumble/retweet works! Still not sure what all that means! Leave me a note so I know how to follow you as well!
Thanks so much for dropping by and please pardon my dust as I try to figure out where exactly I would like to take this blog…
When I started this blog a few months ago, my main goal was to share my own experiences to show how easy and how important it is to travel with your children. Traveling with children is not as taxing on the brain, body and wallet as some people may think it is. I have discussed my traveling on my family blog since 2007, but I wanted to expand. Once I started this blog, I found that there were so many resources out there. The travel blogging world is bigger than I could have ever imagined! With my participation in Passports with Purpose, I was welcomed into the travel blogging world with open arms even though I had only been travel blogging since October of ’08. Travel Blogger Tuesday is my way to say thank you! Each Tuesday, I will be showcasing a travel blogger. As I continue to showcase travel blogs, I will add them to my links on the right side of the blog!
If you have any blog suggestions or are a travel blogger yourself, leave me a comment or send me an email at twokidsandamap at gmail dot com!
Today’s showcased travel blogger is Debbie at Delicious Baby. Delicious Baby is the first blog I found about traveling with kids. What a find! Delicious Baby is all about “making travel with kids fun“! There are great travel tips and reviews of products that are useful while traveling. She writes all about her experiences about traveling with her children, as well as showcases other writers and their experiences. You will find comprehensive city guides that include kid-friendly restaurants, hotels, and activities. Delicious Baby moderates Photo Friday, where travelers all around the world post their travel photos once a week.
Some of my favorite articles at Delicious Baby include:
Why Travel? — Reasons why you should travel with your kids
Ten Tips for Keeping a Toddler Busy on a Plane — Our favorite is tip #3!
Phoenix with Kids Day 3: Taliesin West and the Arizona Science Center — A funny (well maybe not so funny to Delicious Baby!) account of a plan that went awry…it is nice to read that other people have “must see items” that probably should have been “must see without the toddlers” too! We have all been there, done that…my must see was Schloss Neuschwanstein…what a disaster!!
Check out Delicious Baby here!
While in Vienna, we saw many of the touristy sights and many off the beaten path sights. These are our top 5 favorite places to take your kids while in Vienna, Austria!
1. The Tiergarten Schonbrunn — Vienna Zoo — This zoo is considered one of the oldest zoos in the world. It is on the grounds of the Schonbrunn Palace, which was built between 1695 and 1713. Much effort was made to keep many of the original buildings so the zoo has an old, fancy feel to it. The kids checked out the animals that were held in buildings that have been around for hundreds of years.
2.
The Hofburg Palace — The Hofburg is a beautiful complex that housed many emperors and is now home to offices, tourist stops and the Lipizzaner Horses. We chose to avoid the tourist stops, like the museums, because the kids were getting rowdy. Instead, we wandered through the square and let the kids run around, chase each other, and laugh until they had tears in their eyes!
3. Spanische Reitschule — The Spanish Riding School — When we decided to go to Vienna, I couldn’t wait to see these amazing horses. It is hard to believe that these stark white horses are born with dark hair. We knew that our kids would never make it through a full performance of the Lipizzaner Stallions. The morning exercises are held from 10am-12pm several mornings a week. Tickets are only 12 euro and go on sale at 9:30, according to the office. That being said, we were able to purchase our tickets around 9:15 and then we headed back to Hofburg square to kill some time. Even though the practice is two hours long, we only stayed for about 30 minutes. There were only four or five horses that were working out at the time. They do not do the entire performance…this is just a workout! It was just the right amount of time and the kids had a great time watching the horses practice their dancing. It was noisy so it was okay for the kids to talk out and be excited about the “horseys”! You can also walk across the street and see the horses in their stables. There is a glass window so the kids can see them. If you time it right, you can watch the horses walk across the street to their practice!
4. Cafe Demel — Although I don’t recommend actually taking the children into the cafe unless they are able to keep their hands to themselves, I don’t think anyone should miss this place! It is full of amazing treats and makes for a perfect place to take a break! There is a very small seating area in the back. We chose to just pick up some Sachertortes (a wonderful chocolate cake covered with apricot jam and then covered in a rich chocolate) and a few chocolate bars for the road.
5. The S-Bahn — Even if you live in a big city with public transportation, the underground train never gets boring! We could have ridden it all day long with both our kids. They loved navigating around and looking for the right color train!
I know that we are already 9 days into 2009 but I wanted to post a few of my favorite travel moments from 2008.
We finished out 2007 in Gatlinburg, TN…
We saw snow in Wyoming…IN THE MIDDLE OF JUNE…
We learned that we will always rent a mini van from now on so that the little ones can see out the windows on road trips…
I found out that my husband had never ridden a horse before…he and kids checked that off their list of “nevers”
and we all rode an ATV for the first time…
We got in as many beach days as we could all over the Gulf Coast…
I celebrated my 30th birthday with my closest friends in Biloxi, MS…
We had a much needed staycation in Destin, FL…
Enjoyed a family reunion in Ashland City, TN
The hubby got to reenact Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods…
I got to live out a childhood fantasy of mine (don’t laugh…I quietly sang “I am 16, going on 17″ in front of THE gazebo)…
We closed out the year in Europe…
Where will we be adventuring next? Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for a Brazilian Jiu jitsu Camp, Machu Picchu…if we make it to South America, Disneyworld for a magical weekend, St. George for a relaxing time, Italy to see Rome and Venice, Greece if we can swing it and back to Germany to visit family, we would also like to see Chicago or New York…these are just a few ideas we are tossing around…who knows where we might end up!
Any suggestions?
Where will you be traveling this year?
For this week’s Photo Friday at Delicious Baby, I have decided to take a break from our Europe adventure (we certainly have enough Europe stories to continue posting all year!) and share a little piece of Wyoming!
On our summer road trip through Wyoming, we pulled over to take a look at this awesome sight. It looks like it just doesn’t belong there. Hell’s Half Acre is kind of like the Badlands. It is a 150 ft deep gorge where Native Americans slaughtered herds and herds of bison. It is also where Starship Troopers was partly filmed.
Unfortunately, the tourist attraction (a restaurant and info booth) is closed and Hell’s Half Acre is fenced off so you can’t see very much without trespassing…at least that is how we felt. Of course, if you are traveling with kids you won’t want to get to close anyway! We were able to read about the area because the information sign is still standing and snap a few pictures before continuing on to Jackson Hole.
We are back home after 24 hours of traveling…this is just one of the many ways we entertained ourselves!
Today is our last day in Europe. Josh is getting one more half day of skiing on the Zugspitze in and we will be meeting my dad for lunch in the town of Garmisch.
I have mixed feelings about leaving. We have enjoyed spending time with my family and have adored seeing the sights of Bavaria. On the other hand, I cannot wait to put my children in their own rooms and sleep in my own bed! Not thrilled about going back to work but that is a necessary evil! We will most likely be spending the rest of the greater part of today packing up everything…not sure how we will get it all back!
We did just about everything that we set out to do. There are just a few things we have missed for various reasons and we will be adding them to our list of things to see when we come back in the summertime (this summer or next, depending on finances). These items include: seeing the inside of Schloss Neuschwanstein, making a trip to Dachau, and traveling to Italy. I am sure that we will come up with plenty more between now and the actual trip! Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I continue to post pictures, stories and tips about our 19 day adventure. We still have so much more to say and there just wasn’t enough time in the day to post it all during the trip!
Passports with Purpose has come to end. Congratulations to Patricia…she has won the Creative Memories basket. Thank you so much to everyone who participated.
When the four
travelbloggers,
Beth,
Debbie,
Michelle, and
Pam, came up with this idea, they probably never dreamed that they would raise so much money in just one month! The goal was $5,000 but over $7,000 was raised! This figure doesn’t include all of the amazing prizes donated by
travelbloggers all over. Even though I was new to the
travelblogging scene (who knew there was so much out there!), everyone welcomed me with open arms.
Thanks so much for allowing me to participate!
