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Taking Your Toddler to an Amusement Park

Posted on August 28, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up, my family went to amusement parks a lot. We traveled to Disney World, Sesame Place, Hershey Park, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, and countless other locations up and down the east coast. I have heard stories and seen countless photos of myself with Mickey Mouse as a toddler and even younger. Most of my personal memories of trips are from the time I was in kindergarten and beyond.

With the summer winding down and families planning trips for next year, many parents find themselves wondering if their child is too young to go to an amusement park. The answer in my mind is not to wait. You will make memories for your child to look back at in scrap books, and more important ones that you will hold close to your heart

When my husband and I were married, we said that one day we wanted to take our children to Disney World in Orlando. Our oldest son was born in 2003, so we said we would wait until he was ready to appreciate the experience. In December 2008, we made a decision to go on our first big family vacation to Walt Disney World the following spring. We knew that five year old NHL would adore it, but what about JSL who would turn two while there?

I spent countless hours researching restaurants, stroller rentals, diaper changing areas and other toddler must haves in an amusement park. I made a list of rides that would be suitable for my toddler, others that my older son could go on and we learned all that we could about child swap option (many other parks have similar policies). The child swap allowed us to get a pass for the other parent to ride on without a long wait while we swapped out staying with our little guy. This was fantastic and helped to cut down on more wait time with a toddler. Finding resources online from other parents, reading books and knowing my child were the most helpful items.

The truth is, toddlers will have fun in any location that you take them. If they see you laughing and smiling, chances are they will too. My son adored his time at Disney World. Will he remember that trip years from now? We may never know, but my husband and I will. We often look back at the trip photos with our now three year old and he points to the objects and cheers. If the opportunity to go comes along, take it and enjoy the special time with your family

Have you ever brought your toddler or younger child to an amusement park? Let me know how it went and please leave tips for others in the comments below.

If you plan on going to Walt Disney World, let me know. I have a slew of resources that are amazing in addition to my posts here on The Angel Forever.

Disclosure: This post was previously published on a project I worked on. The text is the same, but I placed additional photos and the question at the end for my blog.

Categories:
decisions Disney family fun jsl looking back photos Six Flags travel vacation

Birthday at Buca di Beppo

Posted on August 27, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL,

Your birthday was a few weeks ago. One of our traditions for birthday celebrations is to head out to dinner where you like on your special day. Daddy and I were pretty sure we knew where you would pick, but you do have a few places that you really seem to like. Sure enough when it came time to go, you wanted dinner at Buca di Beppo.

When we arrived Buca’s you immediately announced to the people that it was your birthday. Then without skipping a beat, you asked if we could sit in the kitchen for our meal. That is when I recalled that I had not called the restaurant to reserve the special table. I told them not to worry because I had messed up. The man and woman told us to wait a minute. They looked and there were no reservations, so the table was ours!

Although we have eaten at Buca di Beppo many times, we had never eaten in the kitchen before. You were SO excited to see the chefs and other members of the Buca staff making the meals before your eyes. It is a really big and busy kitchen.

While you looked at everything around you, JSL colored/played with Wikki Stix, and of course Daddy sent out a picture to Twitter and his blog.

There were a lot of cool items to look at on the walls around us. Daddy thought it was funny to see Gene Simmons, Sylvester Stalone, Carrot Top, Danny DeVito, and Charlie Sheen eating together with other celebrities.

When our food arrived it was fantastic as usual. JSL had Macaroni and Cheese, you had Linguini Alfredo, and Daddy and I shared Eggplant Parm.

Our server asked if we would be having a dessert to celebrate. We told him that we were heading to Nana and Papa’s to see them and have the cheesecake that you had requested. Even without the dessert a bunch of the staff came to sing to you and there was a fun surprise with candles too!

It was a fun meal out with good food and a new experience sitting in the kitchen. I hope you have many memories of this day for years to come.

Love,

Mommy

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If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

Categories:
birthday Dear Kid Saturday decisions family food glorious food fun jsl Local Business looking back nhl photos yummy

They Grow Too Quickly

Posted on August 24, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
brothers jsl looking back nhl photos vent Wordless Wednesday

A Back to School Milestone

Posted on August 22, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Back to school in our area does not officially begin until after Labor Day. The day after Labor Day, NHL goes back to school. He will be a third grader this year. It is a big day for him because he has never done a back to school in this building yet. Last year, NHL switched schools at the end of the year. He did this with grace and adored the new school.

For the first time since JSL was born, I will have me time five days a week. JSL will be in preschool Monday to Friday. For 20 hours each week I will be able to devote time to my new business, my writing, cleaning, and ME! Yes, I will miss the boys, but it will be nice to get things accomplished without interruptions. Of course, next year when JSL heads to kindergarten for full days – I will likely be in tears.

As a former teacher, it is strange not sitting at home working on seating charts, lesson plans, and letters to parents and students. It is still nerve wracking to be on the flip side and wonder how the school year will be for both of my boys.

Back to school season is the perfect time to start thinking about items for the teachers in your life. Think about it, they spend a large amount of time in the classroom with your child. The reality is a school family is formed for those 10 months. I know during this time I would look for cards to use to write notes to parents, or for thank you notes when people would volunteer in my room or go on a fieldtrip with us.

So what is a back to school milestone that you remember from your childhood, as a teacher, or with your own children?

Now please excuse me, I am off to make more magical memories before Summer 2011 is over and the 2011-2012 school year rush begins. Oh and when I have time, I will be checking out the lunch notes and other items to surprise kids with from Tiny Prints.

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a Global Influence campaign for Tiny Prints. By sharing this information with my readers, I will also receive a Tiny Prints gift code to thank me for my participation. No other compensation has been given.

Global Influence Network

Categories:
jsl looking back milestone nhl photos school sponsored post

Games for the Entire Family

Posted on August 19, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

We have collected many board games over the years. Even before we had kids, TechyDad and I had several that we bought for game nights and/or when we had company over. Back in the day, Scattergories, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, and Upwords were favorites.

As a child, I remember playing board games with friends all the time. Titles that come to mind include:

The Game of Life
Allowance
Uno
Monopoly
Trivial Pursuit
Boggle

The list could go on and on. Games were huge on cold winter nights, or to pull out during summer days after we ran and played.

Now that we have kids, our most used games are things like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Memory, Rush Hour Jr, Uno, and others for 10 and under.

While NHL would prefer his Nintendo DS and Wii games, we all need to unplug. Board games are the perfect time to do this and allow us to have special time together where we can work on many skills. For NHL’s birthday, he received a new game and it has been used a LOT lately. Here it is:

What I love about this game is it takes something familiar with the kids (Disney) and puts a fun spin on it. The kids know the Pictureka game show, so they were excited to have a version for our house. Yes, it says ages 6+, but let me tell you my 4 year old was keeping up with us. The only item JSL needed assistance with was reading the cards. If people told him he was looking for “items with a tail,” he was good to go. Yes, I knew this would be a popular game in our house. Locating games that are appropriate for 4 and 8 year olds can be very tricky, or impossible at times.

So my question to you this week:

What are some of your favorite board games to play with your family and why?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.