Hit the road, Jack!

 Family vacations are a very important tradition for us. Over the years, we have visited Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Disneyland, Oregon coast, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Missouri, Minnesota, Goblin Valley (several times), and plus several other places that are near and far. Needless to say, over the past 14 years, we have learnt a few tricks that work for our family when we hit the road.

1. Take time - I usually plan on an extra 2 hours of travel when children are involved in road trips. So if it's 10 hours with no stops, that becomes at least 12 hours with very few stops. We usually choose to break our travel days up if the travel time will be more than 8-10 hours total. For us, this is the max that we can all handle in our family. :) We also choose wisely where we eat lunch. Usually we bring lunch fixings with us and make lunch at a park. This lets everyone get out and stretch. It also lets us all get some energy out.
I have also found that it is better to plan an extra day than to feel rushed and not get to enjoy your time.

2. Potty Time - A mandatory rule in our family is that EVERYONE tries to use the bathroom when we are someplace that has a bathroom. We instituted this rule when we went on a multi day, multi state road trip when our older children were younger. We quickly learnt that if we didn't take a potty break when we filled up with gas or stopped for some other reason, with in 30 minutes of being on the road, one of the children would say the dreaded words "I need to go to the bathroom NOW!". To avoid frustration, anger, and making a long day longer, we now have EVERYONE try to use the bathroom when we stop. If we have a child in diapers, we change the diaper as well.

3. Entertainment - We have made a conscious decision NOT to have a dvd player in our vehicles.  We did purchase a portable one that has been great. We have used it maybe 5 times in our van, but countless times at the various hotels we have stayed at. For our children, they do better if we don't have a movie on in the van. They are more aware of what is going on and what we are seeing as we drive.
So you may ask, "If you don't have a dvd player, then what do you do for entertainment?" We LOVE listening to audio books. I try to find ones that both children and adults will enjoy. One of our favorite series is the "Henry Huggins" books. They are funny, geared towards boys (always a plus when you have several boys), and entertaining. We've also enjoyed "Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang" and for older kids the "Fablehaven" and "Ranger's Apprentice" series are wonderful.  For the younger crowd "A to Z" and "Baseball" mysteries have been fun. We always try to make a fun road trip cd with songs that we like.
We always encourage our children to bring a bag of things to do. This can include small toys (but no legos, they get lost too easily), books, coloring and/or art supplies, and small crafts. We have discovered some fun travel games that the kids have enjoyed. Some favorites include Bop it, Stencils, Hang man, and tic tac toe. If you search on Amazon, you can find loads of magnetic games.
I highly recommend getting a magnetic cookie sheet from Dollar Tree. These are just the right size for kids laps and perfect for magnetic games.

I always check out the dollar section of Target. I usually find some good things there too. Once I found some rhyming, abc, and counting puzzle cards. They fit perfectly into a pencil holder bag. I also found a mini jenga type game either at Target or Dollar Tree.
I also try to find some new to us toys that the kids might like. I also have "educational" workbooks that I encourage my kids to do to help with boredom and learning.

4. Packing - A family of 8 has a TON of clothes! I learned to use gallon size ziploc storage bags to help with fitting it all into our luggage. For younger children, you can actually fit two outfits in one bag. For the older children, you can put one outfit per bag (socks, underwear, pants, & shirt). Then you press all of the air out of the bag so it's like a vacuum bag. I like to write my child's name on it as well as what days they plan on wearing the clothes. If we are gone longer than a week, we just plan on doing laundry while we travel. I usually take a few 'pods' of laundry detergent and a ziploc sandwich bag with dryer sheets so I don't have to purchase the more expensive items at the hotel.

5. Lodging & Food - We have a big family, and if possible we try to get a suite size room that sleeps 6. Since some of our kiddos are still little, we can squish some together and we fit. If we can't get a larger room, we usually get a double queen room. We also ask for a roll-a-way bed and use that for two of the younger kids. Sleeping bags that roll up small work good too. As our children grow, we will probably have to get two rooms or look at doing airbnb or vrbo if those options are available.
Breakfast - When we stay at  a hotel, we look for one that offers breakfast so that we can eat there and not have to worry about eating out or bringing cereal with us. Occasionally that doesn't work and we pick up a box of cereal and some milk at a local grocery store.
Lunch - We bring along lunch fixings - bread, meat, peanut butter, jam, chips, fruit & veggies, crackers, etc. If it is a travel day, we usually make the meal at a park at lunch time and let the kids play. If it is a sight seeing day, we make lunch before we leave the hotel and keep it in a small cooler (if possible). We also bring along snacks and trail mix for after noon hunger cravings, especially if we are going to have a late dinner (think Disneyland). This helps tide us over until we can grab dinner.
Dinner - Depending on where we are, sometimes we will either purchase food at a local grocery store and make dinner at the hotel, eat out (fast food usually), or bring left overs from home.

6. Plan it out - I have found that I'm not as stressed if I take time to plan it out. For bigger vacations, I start about a year in advance. This gives me time to research what we want to do and how long we should take in each location. It also is nice because I can watch hotel prices and book when they are first available.
A few years ago, we started creating an itinary for our trips. This gives us an overall view and big picture of what we are doing and where we are going. I include the address of the lodging for the night along with the price, phone number and other important information. This is great, especially if we don't have cell service nearby. I print off each day on a separate page. I put all of the pages into a three ring binder along with any coupons, information, or other items that we might need for the each day. If they are loose, I put them in a sheet protector. This binder stays next to the passenger seat.

We have saved our itinaries and shared them with other people to give them an example of a plan. We also make notes on them so we can remember what worked and what didn't.
My children love to see where we are going each day. I try to either give them a copy of the itineray or a copy of a map of the area with the places we will be visiting highlighted. This can be taped onto the back of their cookie sheet.
We like to try to go during the off season. It works better for everyone, but especially for our son with autism. Less crowds, less anxiety, and less stress are always good combinations for a fun vacation! This often means that we take our children out of school to go on a family vacation. We both value education very much and feel like it's very important. However, quality family time and fun learning experiences are part of that education. We are careful to work with the teachers and try to utilize random days that they have off.

I hope that you will take the time to create some fun family memories with your family. I hope that this post helps you to do that!

Sleeping well

When we got married we bought a mattress and a bed frame. It lasted us almost 13 years. The bed frame was in good shape (it was a hand made, log bed) but the mattress had seen better days and needed to be replaced. We also decided to up grade to a king size bed from a queen.

So began the search for the right mattress for us. My husband is amazing at doing research (actually he's just plain amazing!) for products that we are interested in. So he did most of the research. After all was said and done, it came down to three mattresses - the Casper, the Purple, and the Intellibed. 

Casper and Purple are both online companies and we were hesitant to buy without trying. (Although they did have a return policy). So we decided to go to an Intellibed store and try that one first.

From the minute we laid down on the bed, I knew that I would have a hard time not buying the bed. we tried the various levels of beds and learned more about the company. After we walked out of the store, my husband and I talked about our experience and both agreed that we had found the right bed for us. We have now had it for over a year and both still agree that it is one of the best purchases that we have ever made. 

Here is what we love about the bed: 

It's non toxic.  All mattresses are required to have a fire wall around them. These fire walls are not regulated and the majority of mattress options have chemicals in their firewalls. Intellibeds are non toxic, meaning there are NO toxins in your mattress or in the fire wall that surrounds it. 

Firm yet soft.  These mattresses are firm, yet very soft. Your body is well supported and yet it is very comfortable to sleep on. 

Small Movement -  We chose the "Sapphire" from the Legacy Collection. I cannot feel my husband when he moves in the bed. We have talked about how nice it is to not feel when the other person is tossing and turning. 

Amazing Warranty - The Intellibed has a warranty for 20 years! If it sinks more than 3/4 of an inch during that time, they will repair it or replace it for free! Even if it is year 19! They don't prorate the warranty, it's good for all 20 years.
Customer Service - They are just amazing. Whenever I contact them, they are kind, considerate, and easy to work with. 

This bed is SO amazing! Even when I get very little sleep or am up a lot in the night with my children, I still feel so good when I wake up! (Maybe still sleepy, but my body feels good). I recently slept on my daughter's bed for a good portion of the night. It's a basic mattress on a twin size bed. I woke up and my hips and back were aching. I was sooo happy to get back into my own bed. LOL.

We also purchased a adjustable base with our bed. (Actually, the promotion was that we got the base for free). We LOVE the base! It not only adjusts, but it also vibrates on several different settings. That was such a blessing when I was pregnant with our last baby. I would lay on it each day and get a massage! The base also has the same warranty as the bed. 

Intellibeds are more expensive upfront, however, when you factor in the warranty and how well you will sleep on it, we feel like it was well worth the investment! So if you are looking for a new mattress, check out Intellibed and see if it's right for you. They often will have various promotions throughout the year. We bought ours around Christmas and they had the base for free. In the spring, they usually have a demo bed sale.
This is not a paid review and I did not get compensated for it. I just wanted to share what we have LOVED! 

Fun Birthday Invitations

For a long time I have enjoyed creating things in Photoshop. I find it easy to do and a way to do something that develops a talent.
 One type of thing that I enjoy doing is making invitations and announcements for family and friends. Here are some samples of kids birthday invitations that I have done in the past. I've changed the names or blanked out the personal details. If you are interested in having me make a customized invitation for you next event, please leave me a message and I will contact you!

Kirby Birthday Party for 9 year old

My child wanted a Kirby birthday party. I searched the web and Pinterest but didn't find a lot of inspiration. I did find this blog which gave me some ideas that I customized for our party. I thought I would share what I did to help others out.
First the invitation: I let my child help me make this in Photoshop. It was pretty basic but turned out just how we wanted it to be.

If you would like me to customize one for you, please contact me about the details and the cost. 

For decorations ( we had it in our basement) We hung gold stars with yellow ribbon and pink balloons (using the magic of static electricity) from the ceiling. The plan was to decorate the balloons to look like Kirby, but we ran out of time. :) I found the stars and ribbon at a local party supply store.  We also had crate paper hanging along the wall. 

Next came the games. I let my child plan what games we would play at the party. This is what we came up with: 

"Knock the Bosses down"

   This was a simple game of bean bag throwing. Although I think if we did it again, we would have it be a dart/ball gun shooting game. I found these images online and edited them in Photoshop to make them bigger. Then I taped them onto some big red plastic cups. We made a pyramid out of them 

"Pin the Hammer on King Dedede"

   This was a birthday kid pick. We found an image online of King Dedede, enlarged it to fit an 8.5x11 paper. We also found an image of the hammer and made it to match the size of his fist. Then played it like "Pin the tail on the donkey". Pretty basic but lots of fun. 

"Speed Kirby"

 We have a retro NES that we purchased this past summer. It has a Kirby game on it that our children LOVE to play. So for one of the games we played "Speed Kirby". Each child at the party got to play Kirby for one minute. When the timer went off, they paused the game and passed it to the next child. I had their names written down randomly and they just went in that order. Everyone enjoyed it and had fun playing it.

Cupcakes:

After playing the games, we gathered around the table in the kitchen and decorated cupcakes. I had pink frosting and mini oreos (for the mouth and eyes). The kids went to town decorating their own cupcake however they wanted. Some made Kirby, but most just decorated it to fit their personality. After the birthday child's cupcake was decorated, we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles. 

Following the cupcakes, we opened presents and then the kids went out side for one more game. They played "Kirby Tag". The person who was it, was Kirby and every one else was the bosses. If Kirby froze all of the bosses then he won the game.  They had fun with it. 

Favors:

As a parting gift, we gave the kids star sunglasses, a pokey ball, and a pink balloon.  

It was a fun party and as I prepared for it, I learned more about Kirby and his adventures! :)