Adventures by Disney: New Destinations for 2012

Earlier this year I wrapped up my look at the travel offerings of Adventures by Disney, the Mouse House’s vacation planning and tour organization. Now for 2012 AbD has added several new trip options to their list, most new tours of previously visited sites and one venturing to a new realm for the first time. The completely new destination now offered by AbD is Greece. The majority of the Greek trip focuses on the ancient country’s rich history: take a guided tour of the Pananthinaiko Olympic Stadium in Athens and hear stories while exploring the Acropolis. Travel to the oracle … Continue reading

Adventures by Disney: Central and South America

This month I started my look at the unique Adventures by Disney vacation program by highlighting their trips to Asia, Africa, and Australia. This week I’d like to overview Adventures by Disney in Central and South America. Those interested in taking a Disney-led trip to Central or South America have four options: two seven-day-stays in Costa Rica, one the normal Family vacation and one the Family Signature, 10 days in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, or nine days in Peru. There actually aren’t too many differences between the two Costa Rica vacations. On both families get to visit a pineapple … Continue reading

Unique Fall Foliage Travel Adventures

Tis the season for Cheetos trees. That’s what my daughter calls the blaze orange foliage that lights up the landscape near our home. The trees around here really do look like they’ve been sprinkled with the dust and crumbs you’d find at the bottom of a bag of cheese doodles. It’s like the Jolly Green Giant downed an entire bowl of cheese puffs, and then wiped his hands on the trees’ leaves. Makes me hungry just looking at them. But sitting in my home looking is so boring. It’s time to turn over a new leaf this fall by taking … Continue reading

Dogs and Cats Who Blog

Do your pets keep a blog? Do they tweet? Do they have a Myspace page? Do they chat with other ani-pals on Facebook (or Dogbook or Catbook)? Writing for your pets can actually be a great creative exercise and imagination outlet. Think about it: you’re writing in a voice that is not your own, imagining what a pet’s daily life is like, and even interacting with other imagined animal personalities. If you’ve got a reluctant writer in the house, writing as a pet might be a good way to go. Twitter is fun for the one-liners — you have to … Continue reading

Adventures in Sleep Training (Day 18)

Our house is now extremely peaceful at night. The last time I updated on our sleep training adventures, my son was still crying at bed time. I am happy to report that each night at 6:45pm, my son goes down in his crib very sleepy yet awake, and he goes to sleep without shedding a single tear. We have taken a few different approaches from different experts. It takes about three days for our son to get into a rhythm. We had a beautiful schedule but had to start from scratch once we came back from an extended visit with … Continue reading

I’m (Sort Of) Really Qualified to Homeschool a Gifted Child

A big thanks to Andrea for inviting me to share in the adventures of homeschooling our kids who have grown a bit since the last time I wrote. The last time I wrote, I had two children that I was homeschooling full time. Now I have three full time and two part time–Lizzy who is in 4th grade, Alex who is in 2nd, Meghan who is in K and the twins who are so insistent that they too be homeschooled that despite my reservations about preschool, they too get some “school time.” (Don’t worry folks, just reading out loud and … Continue reading

Mr. Katapat’s Incredible Adventures – Barroux

Mr. Katapat might not look like anything special, but in reality, he is a great adventurer. Each day as he heads down to the library, he prepares himself to set forth on another quest. You wouldn’t think such great things could start at the library, but they do. You see, each and every book is a passport to adventure, and all he has to do is make a decision – which book will he choose today? There’s so much to choose from! He could be deep in the jungle, looking for a pygmy temple while staying out of the reaches … Continue reading

Examining Reality Romances: The Girls of MTV’s The Hills

When Wayne and I first moved to Nashville we got cable, something we hadn’t had in Florida. But Comcast had a deal that made it worth our while so that’s how we came to have MTV and get hooked on a show called Laguna Beach: The Real O.C. It followed a group of “wealthy, attractive teenagers” during their senior year of high school. One of the stars from that show, Lauren Conrad, ended up getting a spin-off deal to star in a new show, The Hills. It follows her and her friends –Heidi, Whitney, and Audrina— living in Los Angeles … Continue reading

The Pets Blog Week in Review for Jun 11-17

What a week it was here in the Pets Blog last week. I thought I had troubles trying to find Wayne something from Murphy, Tabby, and Kitty for Father’s Day, but my problems were trivial when compared to what Aimee and Moose had to endure. (Okay, they were trivial anyway, but Aimee’s situation really brought that point home.) If you feel like you missed something, check out the daily recaps below to get caught up. Monday, June 11 Aimee, Moose, and Lally’s move has been anything but smooth. Unfortunately Moose’s bad luck continued last week when he broke free of … Continue reading

What Do I REALLY Need to Know?

I remember a few years ago, one of the over-used phrases in the work world was “need-to-know basis”–as in, only supplying workers with the information they absolutely needed to know in order to get their jobs done, and not sharing information that was irrelevant or would make things worse, rather than better. With three teenagers in high school, I’ve found myself pondering just exactly what I NEED to know, and what sort of things it is probably better than I NOT know about… Acknowledging my maternal nature, I pretty much feel like I should know everything that has to do … Continue reading