Experiences
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Three Kids and a…Time We Didn’t Stay (Our Family Travel Warning)
The view as we waited for the gate to be opened was breathtaking. And barren. It was a combination of our first stunned sightings of Mount Etna, its steam puffing into the dusk sky, and the damp dark rolling in over the empty, treeless hills we were perched upon. It was cold excitement, nervous anticipation. The views off the side of the hill probably seemed so inviting because the one before us, of shuttered gates and dirt roads disappearing around the folds of the hills, was so secretive. In retrospect, we should have known. We should have listened. But we didn’t, and, instead, we followed the man bicycling in torn…
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Three Kids and an…Italian Doctor (a Tale of Traveling with Sick Kids)
The moment our pediatrician saw the bottle, her eyes widened. “Just throw it away” she hastily replied as she swept her hand through the air. “I have no idea what that is, but you shouldn’t keep it,” she scolded. It had been hot in Italy that summer, but I can’t say we didn’t expect it. In fact, we had planned for it. It’s sort of what you have to do when you’re the proud mother of a child who is basically a tiny, squishy, sweaty oven. On a good day. Anyway, I had spent days researching and locating baby-safe sunscreen that didn’t leave a thick layer of butter on her…
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Five Things I Wish I had Realized Before Visiting Scotland with Kids
We had a whirlwind seven days spinning around Scotland with kids, which, I think, officially makes us experts. Not true. Not at all. The only thing that it taught us, like really really taught us, is that we need to dedicate a lot more time to this little nation that has so much to offer beyond kilts and bagpipes, haggis and Scotch. We cruised through farmlands, hills, mountains, and cities. Found islands and shorelines. We made our home in city apartments, mountain resorts, and small village inns. And in all of that movement and in each nook and cranny we crawled into, we met amazing people, ate food rich in…
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Three Kids and a…Bowl of Spilled Soup (Or How Family Travel Makes Me a Better Momma)
Many minutes after her final tuck in, my biggest little sat up and started spewing questions at me about our upcoming overnight flight. Through my grumpy, impatient protests, she was relentless in her need for answers. How long she would be on the plane before she had to sleep? What pillow would she use? Who would she sit with? What would she wear? Would it be a full nights sleep? Will we be fed breakfast? Dinner? A snack? How many movies should she have with her? Lovies? Where would they go? I could see her imagining herself there, snuggled into the pocket of the airplane seat, preparing for an adventure. Day…
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Three Kids and a…High Mountain (My Husband’s Travel Tale of Fear)
And then, one mountain drive, this joke turned and took on a life of its own, a darker life. A life I, nor my husband, felt comfortable with.
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This Isn’t a List of the Top Things to Do in OBX
In the world of the Outer Banks (OBX), along the coast of North Carolina, I consider myself a newbie. My family and I have only been at it two glorious years. But I think it’ll be the first two years of many. But no matter how much I come, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to give an accurate list of the Things to Do in OBX. Layout OBX is a small sliver of land, rarely more than a mile wide. The 130 mile stretch of barrier islands sprawls from the Virginia coast and continues south through four counties. The small towns and fishing villages spotting the islands…
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Three Kids and a…High Tide
This was supposed to start as a cliched story of a fabulous vacation photo with two of my little people. In fact I had spent countless hours in the shower working out the story in my head (or minutes really, just minutes, because I'm a mom and they're always lurking, even when I'm in the shower while on vacation). And then it happened; high tide happened. And the story seemed like it was gone for good.
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Three Kids and a…Dash of Karma
So, my gut instinct when told that I was "brave" for going on a trip with my children, was to feel defensive. What I wanted to say was that it wasn't brave. There was nothing brave about it. My children, whether at home or traveling, don't need a parent to be "brave" to be with them. They're good kids. Great kids. The best. My mother bear wanted to come out. Claws. Fangs.
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Three Kids and a…Mother’s Day Hike: an Ode to My Father
There is no reason a grown man should wake up at 2 am infectiously giddy. He has no right to be singing about going to “Wally World” and moving swiftly, floating even, turning on lights, rousing children. He shouldn’t have the ability to make a house pulse with life when just a week earlier it had been flatlining with the comings and goings of the everyday. And when that man then has to take his once sleep-weary children, put them in the car, and proceed to drive 1500 miles, there are even fewer reasons said man should be anything less than entirely spent and growling. He should have every right to…
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Three Kids and A Hernia…or How We Finally Got Family Travel Right
By four that day, we felt done, and my biggest little asked if we could leave the park. She never asks to leave the park. But she did. And my body was all too willing to comply. And that's how we started to figure out how to get it right.
