Category — Kid Friendly Vacation

I’m not an extreme sports type of girl. In fact, heights kind of freak me out. So while I can’t really offer any rational explanation as to why I decided to spend my vacation time hiking, canyoneering, rock climbing, and biking through the mountains of southern Utah (save for the fact that I’ll jump at the chance for some quality time with my best friend!), I can say that it was one of the best experiences of my life—which is why you should do it, too.

Located about two hours north of Las Vegas, Zion National Park boasts 229 square miles of pristine trails, canyons, mountains, and wildlife. If you want to get into the extreme stuff, it’s there (hello, scrambling up an 1,800 foot cliff!), but activities abound for everyone. Visitors can hang out at the camping ground next to the Virgin River, or stay at the Zion Lodge or Zion Mountain Ranch (the lodge is closer to the center of the park, but the ranch is located on a 1,500-acre buffalo preserve!). After arriving, families can have their pick of walking or biking the mellow Pa’rus Trail, watching for 271 species of birds, horseback riding, or taking a guided hike. What’s more, kids can complete an activity book (find them at the Visitor Center) and become certified Zion Junior Rangers.

While All the outdoor fun you can have at Zion alone makes it well-worth the trip, but for many people (myself included), I think it offers something even greater: an authentic experience with nature. This isn’t a stroll through your town park’s two-mile trail—this is the real deal. There are no buildings on the horizon, no guarantee you won’t run into a snake, and certainly no cell phone service. That all might sound a little scary, and at first, it is. But the return is worth it. After all, how many times in your life do you get to step back in time and see what the world looked like before modern society set up shop? The enormous rocks, the rushing water, the hundred-foot drop over the unprotected ledge—it’s all pretty humbling.

-Marygrace, KIWI staff writer

Many families love to take advantage of their kids’ holiday breaks from school by taking a vacation. After finding your green destination and planning your itinerary of touring, dining, and relaxing (perhaps by the beach!), follow these green tips to ensure your big trip has as little impact on the planet as possible:

• Reduce, reuse, recycle. Try your best to follow this mantra whenever possible!
• Use public transportation like bus, train, or subway instead of taxicabs. If possible, rent bicycles—or just walk!
• Lodge at an eco-friendly hotel that’s dedicated to sustainability, and be sure to re-use your hotel linens and towels.
• Opt for a digital camera instead of a disposable one.
• Before leaving home, unplug your electrical appliances, turn your water heater down, and change your thermostat setting.
• Pack lightly.

–Brittany, KIWI marketing manager

Ok, kid. One kid. One four-year-old girl. I now have the utmost respect for my mother who had seven children in tow and wondered why or how she ever planned camping trips for us where you have to bring all of the gear, down to the toilet paper.

We traveled by plane and car from Baltimore to the small town of
Surry, Maine for a week. I’m writing this in past tense, but, indeed,
it’s our last day here in this lovely oasis of nature, ocean and
absolute peace. While sitting on the conifer-protected deck
overlooking the Atlantic, we’ve seen schools of dolphins swim by and a
seal who seems to just ride the gentle waves all day. Until the
lobster farmer with his loud engine roars by to check the traps.

I find traveling to be one of the hardest times to be green when
you’re with kids because you just want them to be happy, entertained
and, well, quiet when you’re on the plane or on a 3-hour car ride. I
found a few toys, games and treats that made the trip go a little
smoother:

- Books, books, books. I bring many soft cover books in our carry on
for travel entertainment and bedtime routine. I often buy these at
second-hand stores and we donate the ones that don’t meet our very
high literary standards (depending on the week, Dora is in or out). 

-  We also write our own books about our adventures.  We’d love to share them with you (as soon as I put them in a web-friendly format!).  I bring blank sketchbooks and paper and tape and we create stories about everything from Emperor Penguins who have no clothes to Clown Weddings.

- Photo albums. I always bring a small photo album or two for my daughter because she is mesmerized with her own baby photos and photos of family in general. She has loved to have her own albums since she was younger than 2, so I make them for her regularly and always have one in my bag to keep her entertained.

- I haven’t figured this one out yet – where do old sticker books go to die? My daughter can whip through 150 stickers in 10 seconds flat but I know the coated paper is not recyclable. I am in search of recycled and recyclable stickers. I want to make my own, too, so add a comment if there is a certain brand of sticker paper you like (or premade stickers) which are eco-friendly. We had an Usborne sticker book called the Shells Sticker Book which was gorgeous – 150 shells with information about their type and location which kept us busy for hours.

- Crayons and paper. The go-to entertainment always works if mom or dad join in the coloring.  The water-color crayons are really cool when spritzed with water.

- Post-its. For some reason, post-its in all sorts of colors, stuck to everything from the airplane tray table to the car window are fun, fun, fun.  We take out magazines and make new outfits out of post-its for the fashion don’ts

- DVDs. I admit it freely that we bring our portable DVD player and our favorite DVDs. Wonder Pets (all of them are excellent), Max & Ruby and HBOs Classical Baby are our current favorites.

- iPod. I load up my iPod with my favorite tunes and then make a playlist for my daughter. The new iCarly CD is fantastic if you like faster songs, as are Dan Zanes and Father Goose. Frances England, Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb are always reliable for more mellow tunes.  I bring along one of those speaker pillows so she can listen while lounging.

- Snacks. Organic popcorn, pretzels and cereal with full Sigg bottles of water (filled after we go through airport security) and organic lemonade.

- Klutz’s The Fabulous Book of Paper Dolls. Paper dolls have evolved, finally! I still think I am onto something with my post-it note dresses (see my birthday party post), but Klutz has the best paper doll book I have seen, complete with storage pockets in the back for all of the clothing. My 4-year-old couldn’t quite pop out the dolls by herself so a couple are now limb-less, but we had fun dressing them. (www.klutz.com)

And, while in Blue Hill, Maine, I went into an adorable shop called New Cargoes (http://www.newcargoes.com/)  which had some great finds for the vacation week and the return trip home. Many of these have appeared in Kiwi’s pages already, but I was happy to stumble upon them for my personal use on this trip. Some of my favorites were:

- Crocodile Creek Matchbox Puzzles. We found these 3″ x 4″ puzzles
in, yes, what appeared to be small matchboxes. They had an array of horses and dinosaurs; they’re really cute and entertaining (and fast – 12-13 pieces each). My daughter called the finished puzzles her IDs (because of the size – it looks like my Johns Hopkins ID badge) and she spent hours putting them together and taking them apart. They were $2 each. (www.crocodilecreek.com)

- Envirosax eco-friendly bags for $10 each. If you’re like me, I have many eco-friendly shopping bags from my local grocery store. I actually bring many of them on vacation, using them to wrap shoes in our luggage or for dirty clothes on the way home (the bag and the clothes go straight in the laundry). But, I could not resist the stylish waterproof polyester bags with crazy aliens, dinosaurs, and even pretty patterns for mom. They roll up to nothing for easy portability. I bought the alien bag and started using it immediately, and was stopped twice in the next 5 minutes to ask me where I got such a cute bag. The waterproof feature is excellent because we had many
swimming adventures in Maine and storing icky wet bathing suits and clothing was a breeze with these cute bags in tow. (www.envirosax.com)

- All Terrain Herbal Armor Mosquito Repellant DEET-Free Lotion with SPF 15. Skeeters are the price you pay in gorgeous coastal Maine. They’re big, persistent and they come out at all times of the day (depending on the type of mosquito, some are day feeders and some are night feeders) and this stuff really worked to keep us bite-free. But those tenacious mosquitos bite through clothing, so you really have to
apply this lotion to your whole body and then get dressed to really work. (www.allterrainco.com)

- Greggo Magnets – Magnetic Birds. We were staying at a house with a refrigerator, therefore magnet play was de rigeur. Greggo has magnets of every shape and style and we chose two (at $13, we didn’t want to get too many but it was tempting). We got ones that were birds with the color photo and name of each bird (very handy when you’re out of your area and having trouble identifying the types of birds.  We also purchased the sea animals which are also wonderful. And, when your child is mass producing artwork like a crazed Picasso, these magnets will obviously be functional for hanging up the masterpieces on the fridge.

My only complaint was that the manufacturer packaged the magnets with double-sided tape onto a carboard backing and it was really difficult to remove the magnets without having goo all over them (plus a magnet or two ripped). Make sure, too, that the ones you choose are age-appropriate because swallowed magnets are very dangerous. (www.greggomagnets.com)

- The one thing I always seem to neglect bringing enough of is bath toys. My daughter likes to go on a bathing hiatus on vacation, but I can usually convince her by day five, when her curls are cemented together, by tossing in toys, cups and bubbles. I ended up buying a tube of birds from Safari Ltd. which are made in China but listed as
phthalate-free. These are for children over the age of 3. (www.safariltd.com)

- Yummy Earth organic vitamin C pops. This is the bribery candy which buys us time in traffic jams and airport lounges. If my daughter is begging for sweets, I carry these pops and I feel just a little better than if I just whip out the corn syrup-laden goodies. These are vegan and organic, but, yes, they are still sugary treats (fortunately, the neighboring town of Blue Hill has a co-op with all sorts of organic
and locally grown goodies.) (www.yummyearth.com)

-  I recently learned of a company called BabyPlays.com which is a subscription toy service, much like Netflix is for movies. They have a feature where you can have toys sent to your address on vacation. I am definitely going to try this out for my next vacation, even if it’s at my own home address!  The coolest feature of all is that they test their toys for lead and other safety issues.

We are fortunate that our entertainment in Maine is nature. We take
walks on the beach and walks through the woods to explore and see
“critters.” So, we were active all day, every day and fell into bed
at 9pm every night. I find the “out of sight, out of mind” rule
applies to my daughter, so we removed the DVD player from her sight
and she forgot about wanting to watch television (most of the time)
and wanted to be outside learning to skip rocks into the ocean or
search for minnows in tide pools.

Do you have special tricks and tools you use on vacation to keep your
kids happy?

I will be writing about traveling with kids from a safety standpoint
in the next blog entry. We rented a car with a booster seat on this
trip but I was really disappointed with the age, quality and
sturdiness of the seat we got. Stay tuned to talk about seats for
airplanes/cars, travel strollers and other travel products.

My family recently went on vacation, and as usual, we packed a ton of nut-free snacks, brought several Epi-Pens and multiple doses of Benadryl and took several other steps to ensure that our flight would be as safe as possible for our son. As we checked in at the Southwest Airlines desk, the woman behind the counter overheard him asking if a certain type of candy had nuts in it. She asked me if he was allergic to peanuts and, after I told her about his peanut and tree nut allergies, she leapt into action.

She notified the flight crew that there would be a child on board with life-threatening nut allergies (at which point they made arrangements to serve crackers instead of peanuts). As we boarded the plane, we were offered cleaning spray and paper towels to clean off the arm rests and snack tray of the seats in our row. Once on the plane, the flight crew announced that one of the passengers on board had a severe nut allergy and requested that the other passengers refrain from opening any bags of nuts, trail mix, or other nut-containing food items, as this could seriously endanger the passenger.

Needless to say, we are now loyal Southwest fans. It is recommended that you let them know of any allergies at the time you make your reservation or within 2 hours of your scheduled flight. While there may be other airlines that make accommodations for their allergic passengers, I have not experienced such an effort by an airline to ensure the safety of my child. So, if any of you are planning a trip with your allergic child, this might be something to keep in mind as you make your flight arrangements. This was certainly a great start to our vacation!

For more information on Southwest Airline’s peanut allergy policy, visit http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/disability.html#peanut.

–Robin Davison, MPH, JD, Founder of STAT kids, LLC (www.statkids.com)

As a parent, you know that one of the greatest tools we have to cherish all of life’s sweet memories is the camera. Digital cameras are even better. They’re a great way to preserve those moments we never want to forget, and they’re eco-friendly, too —no paper goes to waste because you only print out the photos you want.

If you’ve thought about buying digital, but were just not quite sure what to look for, don’t worry! We’ve boiled it all down for you, and soon, you’ll be on your way to capturing all of your family’s special moments.

The first rule in camera buying is to throw out all the rules–about megapixels, screen size, battery life, etc. Instead, first decide how big of a camera you are willing to carry. If your fine camera is sitting at home in its lovely shoulder bag when Janie takes her first steps at the park, all those megapixels won’t count for much! Go to a camera store and try putting various models into your current means of carrying: purse, laptop bag or jacket pocket. Now that you know what your size limit is, let’s turn the camera-buying world on its head by explaining why fewer pixels are better.

Early digital cameras had very low resolution, so the prints were not nearly as crisp as film prints. As technology advanced and pixel count increased, digital prints got sharper. Unfortunately, we now have too much of a good thing. Tiny camera sensors can’t gather much light, just as small eye pupils can’t. Take that sensor and divide it up into 12 million dots and the results are grain and digital noise at dusk or indoor settings. Built-in flashes can help, but only with subjects that are close, and even then the light they put out is unnatural and harsh. The good news is that ultra-high resolution is completely unnecessary. For prints up to 8×10, you’ll never see anything above 7 megapixels. For most users, 7 to 10 megapixels is just right.

How Many Megapixels Do you Really Need?

4×6 print = 2 megapixels

5×7 print= 4 megapixels

8×10 print= 7 megapixels

HDTV (1080p)= 2 megapixels

high-end computer monitor= 4 megapixels

Other features to look for are image stabilization (helpful in dim light), a wide-angle lens (for group shots & travel), video recording (because most times, you won’t be carrying the camcorder) and optical zoom (digital zoom degrades quality). If you want good shots of the kids’ soccer matches, you’ll need the fast shutter release and long telephoto range found in a “superzoom” or SLR (single lens reflex) camera.

For specific recommendations, the Canon SD line has consistently great pocket-sized models, while Casio and Sony also make appealing units. Slightly larger are the compacts, such as the Canon A series, an excellent value. In the superzoom category, Panasonic, Nikon and Canon are good choices. For the more advanced “prosumer” SLRs and fixed-lens cameras, Nikon and Canon are top options.

Next time I’ll talk about the best ways to view those amazing pictures.

–“Tech Dad” John Svoboda is a consumer electronics enthusiast, manager and business owner since the time of the 8-track, and holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications

Summer vacation… These two words can fill us with sheer joy and, well, stress. Along with the time off, there are many questions. Where should we go? Where should we stay? Family vacations are tough to plan, especially when it comes to choosing a hotel to suit the whole family.

Well, Omni Hotels has just introduced the perfect solution for kid friendly traveling. Their new Sensational Kids program is a kid friendly makeover for families globetrotting with kids. The kids receive a complimentary backpack filled with these awesome gadgets, based on the senses:

- A Kaleidoscope for Sight
- A Kazoo for Sound
- Candy lightening bugs for Taste
- Oversized jacks for Touch
- A scented bracelet for Smell
- A colorful plastic cup (can be filled in-room or at the restaurant.)
- A list of kid-friendly destinations around the hotel area.
- Books and games to pass the idle time

I know what you are thinking… Where do I sign up? The Omni Sensational Kids program is available at all 40 Omni Hotel across North America. Simply log onto www.omnikidsrule.com or call 1-800-THE-OMNI for more information.