Simple Trick: Traveling with the Fam

We're baaaaccckkk (our dog missed us so much!)! And from our 5-week vacay, I have gained a few tips & tricks for traveling with the family.

1. Before you fly out, make sure you have travel insurance. I got ACE insurance and their family rate is super affordable. Good thing we did coz 1 of our bags was missing when we landed in LA. It took our airline 3 days to deliver the bag. Also, Isabella contracted a severe eye infection that the doctor at the Urgent Care Clinic we went to strongly recommended we bring her to a children's hospital ER. The ER fee alone was over $700! Add to that the cost of antibiotics ($300) and the Urgent Care Clinic's fee ($300)! I also got sick and needed antibiotics so it was really a blessing that we were insured. Just make sure you are O.C. about keeping receipts and other documents to file a claim.

2. Prepare for filling out those Arrival/Departure Cards. Most likely, Mommy will have to fill up the immigration cards for the whole family. Flipping through passports is a hassle (especially for a mommy like me with motion sickness, filling out 4 cards on a tray table of a moving plane). So every time I travel with the fam, I bring my piece of paper with everyone's passport details. Include the passport number, date of issue and expiry (this is tricky coz countries write their dates differently - DDMMYY or MMDDYY, so you need to be alert when filling out this part.), place of issue (mostly Manila, but with the satellite DFAs cropping up these days, you might have an occasional NCR East if you got yours from DFA Megamall) and birthdates (assuming you don't know these by heart). Aside from passport details, I also note down our flight details (dates and flight numbers) and the address of the hotel or house we are staying in at our destination (you also need your PH address, assuming you don't know this by heart). Oh, and of course, bring a pen! If you have travel agency connections, try getting the immigration cards in advance so you don't need to fill them out in the plane or immigration line.

3. Choose the right luggage to bring. You already know from here how I feel about hard-case vs. soft-case top-open luggage (but maybe it's because I don't travel often enough to not need to fill my bags to the brim). You also already know from here that I noticed airport personnel in US domestic terminals are less strict with duffel bags vs. trolleys for carry-on. If you are taking a US domestic flight and are bringing a standard trolley bag as carry-on, make sure you don't fill it to the brim. When asked to check if your bag can fit in the airport's standard steel frame, make sure to slip your trolley in with the back of your bag facing you so it's easier to push the bag towards the back of the steel frame. The front of a trolley bag is typically softer so the front should contract for your trolley to fit into the frame. If your trolley is a standard-sized carry-on, it should fit even if eyeballing the frame makes you doubt it. And if you expect your child to pull one of your trolley bags, make sure you give him the 4-to-6-wheeled one because his shorter height will make it hard for him to lug around a 2-wheeled trolley.

4. Plan your itinerary well. You already know from here that you should avoid planning trips to theme parks during long holidays at your destination. I think Hurricane Sandy took away too many school days so Spring Break was different for every school this year. Thankfully, the crowd was manageable during our recent trip. 

But brace yourself if you're planning to move around a lot like we did: we visited a total of 7 states...

... and slept in a total of 10 houses/hotels. I felt like I was constantly packing (and unpacking) overnight bags for us! So try to make sure you spend more than 1 to 3 nights in every house/hotel. We went back to NYC from New Jersey 3 times in 2 weeks and commuting with a trolley bag wasn't fun at all. Had I planned our IT better, we could have spent one straight week in NYC rather than shuttling back and forth.

5. Organize how you pack your bags. If you're also going on both West and East Coast legs of a US trip, I think it's still a good idea to segregate West-only, East-only and cross-country or East-&-West items, as I posted here. That way, you don't even need to open your East Coast bag in the West, and vice-versa. But I don't recommend combining your family's stuff in 1 bag like I did. I put all our West-Coast only things in one bag. Since our clothes were mixed up in that one bag, I needed to lay out the kids' clothes for the day everyday myself. It wore me out and didn't teach them to be more independent. It would be ideal if each family member had his own 3 bags of East, West and cross-country things. But since airlines typically allow only 2 check-in baggages per person, I suggest putting each family member's say, West-only stuff in a laundry bag (or even plastic/sando bag). This way, the clothes are still segregated per person even if they are together in one luggage. As long as the laundry/plastic bags are tied up, no amount of tossing and shaking will mix up the contents. 

Oh, and here's a list of things that you need to take with you during every leg of your trip (if you're like us who slept in 10 houses/hotels, you need to remember to pack these items at every leg): electronics' chargers, toiletries, slippers and emergency medicines. Click here for more tips on things to pack (including a bag of toys/books to keep your little one occupied in the plane).

Helps to have a small digital weighing scale. I got mine from Rustan's years ago. It's basically a 6in x 2.5in oblong handle with a tiny digital display and a short strap with clasps that go around the handle of your bag. I cannot travel without it!

6. Make copies of essential documents and cards. Thankfully, this didn't happen to us. But it is best to be prepared in case your purse or wallet gets stolen. Best to scan everyone's passports, visas, credit cards and ATM cards before printing. The printed copy should be packed in a separate bag from where the originals are. And on the off-chance that both bags get lost or stolen, you can request someone from home to email the scanned copies to you. So create a shortcut to these soft files on your desktop too before you leave.

7. Decide on your in-flight attire. You have to decide what's more important to you: comfort or minimizing baggage space. You can opt to wear slip-ons (for when you need to take off your shoes at the x-ray area) and comfortable clothes. Or you can choose to wear your bulkiest items - thickest jacket, knee-high boots. It all comes down to what's more important to you.

8. Shop online a week before your trip. If you're with your kids, chances are there will be limited shopping opportunities. So best to shop online and have it shipped to your first address at your destination. When you arrive, fit what you need to fit and schedule a return/exchange for those that don't cut it. The best part is there's a goodie package to greet you when you arrive!

9. When going out and about at your cold destination, bring a giant eco bag in your purse. It comes in handy it gets hot (say, in museums with heaters or at the theme park at noon) because you can dump all your jackets, scarves, hats and gloves in it. That way, you don't need to stuff them in your purse and carry multiple jackets on your arm. I got my giant Pockets eco bag from the St. James Bazaar years ago. It's about 24in x 18in. The first time I saw it, I remember exclaiming, "What would you need such a big bag for?!". The young woman selling it answered, "You'd be surprised!" And she was right! I use it to lug Christmas gifts, to carry shopping loot from a major shopping spree, even groceries and beach toys or winter wear during family trips. I actually used it as a carry-on going home to Manila for my 5 dozens of Porto's cheese rolls and guava & cheese strudels. :)

To be honest, I am still exhausted from our trip... So I hope these tips help minimize the exhaustion and stress during your family vacay! 

Hope all you're left with are the memorable, fun-filled family moments! Enjoy your family vacation!

Photos of the kids at the World War II Memorial in DC (edited via pixlr) are my own. The other photos are from acupofjo, imjustsaying and annnniegirl.

Click here for previous posts from the Simple Trick series.

To-Do: PLAY

This is Noah at 1 year and 8 months -- playing soccer on our street.

Yes, I let Noah play on our street. I have always been a believer in the importance of play in a child's development.

Just recently, Noah was playing outside with my niece Makki. When our neighbor Sophie went out to play with them, he came running into the house crying. Turns out, the girls didn't want to play basketball with him and instead, wanted to play badminton. After processing the situation with him - how he wanted to play a game they didn't like and how they wanted to play a game he didn't like, I sent him back out to deal with the problem. He suggested they take turns playing basketball, then badminton (syempre, una pa rin yung gusto niya!). But the girls didn't want to because they said there wouldn't be time to play both games (they only had a few minutes left before dark). So they ended up choosing a game they all wanted to play: this tag game these days called Ice Ice Water.

Aside from the physical skills the active games inevitably taught them, that day's playtime drama taught them essential character-building skills like problem-solving, compromise, conflict-resolution and frustration-tolerance.

It is no wonder then that reputable entities like Johnson & Johnson, Play Pilipinas and DepEd have banded together in the campaign 'Di Lang Laro Ang Laro (Playtime is not just a pasttime), which advocates the importance of 1 hour of daily active play in children's health and holistic development.

I love that this campaign reminds me of what's important. Because with all the academic pressure in schools these days, it's easy for parents to fall into the trap of thinking playtime is just a pasttime.

Even I was guilty of this recently. I was out doing errands and arrived home a couple of hours after Noah got home. I came home to so much homework and very little time to do it. Frustrated, I asked Noah what he did the whole time since he got home. And when Noah said he played outside, I -- the supposed advocate of play -- found myself scolding Noah for playing. Yes, it is easy to dismiss play as just play.

So I am grateful to the Di Lang Laro Ang Laro advocacy of Johnson & Johnson, Play Pilipinas and DepEd. It is important for every parent to be educated that play is as important as everything else on their kid's daily to-do list: Play is just as important as eating, sleeping and studying. So let's all put PLAY on our kids' daily to-do list. Let's include 1 hour of play every day on our children's schedules.

Noah actually put playing with his cousin on his to-do list (I put red checks so you can easily spot this task on his list).

Now, my job is making sure its box gets ticked every day.

'Di Lang Laro Ang Laro. Add 1 hour of play every day on your child's to-do list too!


Photos are my own, from nyctaughtme and courtesy of Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Johnson's Baby Cooling Bath, Johnson's Baby Prickly Heat Powder, Johnson's Baby Daily Sun Protection Lotion and Johnson's Baby Happy Berries Cologne -- my personal picks to keep Noah cool, refreshed and protected from the discomforts of playing under the sun. With these products, I can make sure Noah can play outdoors at least 1 hour every day without me having to worry about the hot, sticky feeling, prickly heat, sun damage or stinky smell from playing under the sun. 

Watch out tomorrow for the down-in-the-dots version of this post.

orange juice for a cause

During the Habagat floods of 2012 here, I remember thinking it was the perfect opportunity to expose Noah to the idea of making a difference in our community. My FB news feed was flooded with photos of my friends' kids volunteering to pack relief goods for the flood victims including this instagram of Sophia, daughter of Camille of camillekingphotography.com.

I would have wanted to let Noah volunteer too. Problem is, we were stuck at home with a flooded street.

Sadly, I totally forgot about my intention of teaching Noah about community service until I came across Tang's new advocacy campaign Handa, Inom, Gawa! [Ready, Drink, Act!] a few weeks ago. Tang's mission is to inspire and empower kids to take responsibility and create real, positive change in the community. 

Tang featured many kid heroes who've made a difference -- from International Children's Peace Prize Awardee Kesz Valdez who founded Caring Children, a group that gives out slippers, books and hygiene kits to street children, to Harvey Gana who organized a fun run to raise funds for the expensive medication of kids with cancer, and to Pablo Gamboa who wrote and published books to raise awareness for hunger and environmental concerns.

Other kids sold home-baked goodies, bracelets and bookmarks to raise funds for rainforest rehabilitation and for charities like Cancer Warrior Foundation. Children did all these... Imagine that!

At the Tang launch, Joy Abaquin, a multi-awarded educator and founding directress of Multiple Intelligence International School, talked about the 3 E's that parents should arm children with: Exposure beyond his little world so he becomes aware of the less fortunate's very different world, Empathy to feel what it would be like to live in their world, and Empowerment to help him do something about it.

Turns out, even before this advocacy was launched, Tang orange drink has been empowering children in its own little way (okay, marketing friends, this is where the link to brand comes in). The powdered drink is so easy to prepare that moms have allowed kids to prepare their own Tang drink by themselves. Without meaning to, Tang has become a tool to teach kids a "can-do" attitude. So this is why they want to expand Tang's ability to empower children. This time, empowering them to make a difference in the world.

So I am heeding Tang's and Teacher Joy's call to empower Noah. Summer vacation is just around the corner (are you swamped with quarterly exam reviews too?). It's the perfect time to channel Noah's energies toward something meaningful... So I'm thinking of encouraging him to raise funds via an orange juice stand. Just imagine the pipe cleaners spelling ORANGE instead of LEMONADE...

And because Tang orange drink is so easy to prepare, Noah need not slave over juicing an actual orange.

He might need to bark out (like the taho-man) though to announce his wares to the neighborhood.

I have yet to expose Noah beyond his little world to decide what he would like to raise funds for. I am curious to find out which charity or cause he will empathize with the most.

Ooohh, I am so looking forward to a fun but also meaningful summer! 

Empower your own child and share your kid-hero stories on Tang's online site and facebook page.

Handa, Inom, Gawa!

Photos are from nyctaughtme, camillekingphotography and courtesy of Tang.

Simple Trick: Birthdays in School

Noah recently celebrated his birthday in school. After doing this for a couple of years now, I feel I've become an expert - learning what NOT to do one year and correcting it the next.

Before I share the tips & tricks I've collected over the years, let me start with a disclaimer. These tips will work only if our celebration objectives are aligned. I choose to celebrate my kids birthdays in school (during recess or lunch) because I don't believe in yearly, grand (I'm sure you know how wedding-reception-grand children's parties are these days) birthday parties. I prefer a few grand ones (Yes, I'm one of those parents that threw 1st birthday parties for their babies who had no clue what was going on. And yes, we celebrated Isabella and Noah's 7th birthdays in a big way too - without knowing why on earth, 7th birthdays are supposedly special.) and the rest of the years, just simple celebrations that will make the birthday celebrant feel special in a gathering among friends (vs. mommy & daddy's friends at those grand parties). So my goal for these school birthday parties is a simple celebration, planned for & executed in the easiest way possible.

Assuming you feel the same way, here are my school birthday celebration simple tips & tricks:

1. Choose your theme. I let my kids choose the theme of their simple celebration so we always end up with character themes, against my liking. So even if I would have prefered non-character themes like those blue ballerinas or Noah's Ark animals for Noah, I ended up with blech-Barney and Ben10 themes in previous years. But hey, it's their birthday, not mine. Because school birthdays are so short (no time to decorate), there are only 2 things that make your theme a theme: the birthday cake and the loot. So order a cake and buy loot according to your theme. And take photos of the cake & loot so you have proof of a theme (and do it before d-day because it's easy to forget to take photos before you slice the cake and before you distribute the loot).

2. Decide on your cake plan. The cake is critical for the candle-blowing photo op. This year, because Noah's birthday fell on a Saturday (a non-school day), I ended up ordering 2 cakes: one for his actual birthday for his birthday dinner with the family and another for his school birthday celebration. If you decide to do the same & serve the cake to your child's classmates...

• On d-day, along with the cake, don't forget to bring the birthday candle/s and lighter or box of matches.

• Conduct the candle-blowing photo op before the kids eat their food. This will give you time to slice the cake while they are eating their, say, chicken & spaghetti.
• ... which means, you need to bring a cake slicer to school (bring a serated knife too just in case your cake slicer needs help cutting through fondant cake icing).
• Don't forget to bring disposable forks so the kids can eat their cake.
• Instead of disposable plates, use disposable lunchboxes - the ones with lids that fold close. So if the kids can't finish their cake, they can bring home their leftovers.

But in 2 years, when Noah's birthday falls on a school day, my plan is to order 1 cake and several cake pops or cupcakes. Noah's classmates can eat the cake pops... And I will get to bring home the big cake for the candle-blowing photo op during dinner with the family. Plus, no need for the cake-slicing task anymore!

3. Decide on your loot bag plan. You can opt to buy themed toys and candies and stuff them in a bag (or your preferred container). Personally, I think stuffing bags & choosing candies & token toys just adds to the pre-work of this supposed easy-to-execute celebration. So I suggest to do away with candies - they might just lead to cavities and don't they get enough candy on Halloween?

I also suggest to pool your loot bag budget and pick one big (still within budget since kids are quite easy to please) toy rather than several really cheapo toys that end up breaking the next day or just turning into clutter later. Choose a fun toy so that you're sure everyone will like them.

For co-ed schools, either ensure the toy is gender-neutral or make sure you know how many boys & girls there are in your child's class before shopping for the toys so you get the right number of girl-toys vs. toys for boys.

4. Order food. (Easy-to-execute celebrations means no cooking required. Okay okay, I have no choice here. I can't cook. Remember from here?). 

• Visit (rather than merely call) the resto a few days before the celebration to place your order. Place your order and get a copy of the contract/order form. You can opt to have the food delivered to your child's school but you'll need to meet the delivery guy there. My brother did this and there were no problems. I'm paranoid so I opt for a pick-up arrangement. I prefer that the kitchen is right there, in case they get your order wrong or forget things like the spoons (which tends to happen with no-rice orders. They just give forks.). I even make sure to schedule pick-up 20 minutes earlier, in case they need the 20 minutes to fix something. (Haha, OC!) Make sure to check that the contract/order form has the correct date & time.
• You can never go wrong with chicken & spaghetti. Every kid eats at least one of these two fastfood staples.
• But do NOT get a chicken & spaghetti meal that comes with a drink. Transporting multiple drink-filled plastic cups is extremely difficult! Remember, those cardboard handles are only good for 4 cups. They don't make those for 15, 20 or 40 cups. Trying to carry this many cups to your child's classroom will inevitably result in some lids tearing and drinks spilling a little. Imagine the sticky mess! And even if the drinks don't spill, the plastic cups get those beads of condensation from the cold drink in it and lugging multiple wet cups will still be... ugh. So opt to order the food a la carte (vs. a meal) and serve tetra packs from the grocery for drinks. Their even, rectangular & stackable shape make even 50 tetra packs easy to lug around. Plus, they already come with a straw stuck to them so that's one less thing to distribute to each classmate on d-day.

• Put the tetra packs in the fridge the night before d-day. A cooler is also an option.
• On d-day, carry the tetra packs in a cooler (a styrofoam one with a shoulder strap will be ideal since it's light and you will be carrying a lot of things that day and will need your hands for other things).
• For the cooling agent in your cooler, use those plastic cooling things or seal the ice in ziplock bags so the tetra packs don't get wet when the ice melts. Or bring a rag to wipe the floor if your dripping wet tetra packs make a puddle in the classroom.  
• The chicken & spaghetti combo is not available a la carte. You can opt to order buckets of chicken and a la carte spaghetti. Then nicely request if they can pack it in the chicken & spaghetti meal box. McDonald's Tiendesitas agreed to do this for me this year. :) Make sure they note down this special packing instruction on your contract/order form.
• One of Noah's classmates recently did away with the common chicken & spaghetti fare and went for a gigantic pizza. It seems it was a big hit with the kids so this is an option for me next year. Am thinking it will also lessen the things I need to distribute since the kids will likely want to get up and get their own slice from the giant pizza.

5. Think of your staffing plan. Visualize how many things will need to be lugged to the classroom from your car. This will help you decide how many helpers you need. Remember too that you can't bring a battalion of helpers because you not only need space in your car for all the stuff you need to bring, but classrooms aren't big enough to fit too many additional people.

To help, here is a list of things to bring:

• Cooler containing tetra pack drinks (with straws) and cooling agent (ice in ziploc bag)
• the themed cake (& cake pops/cupcakes if you choose this cake plan)
• Cake slicer (& serrated knife)
• Birthday candle/s
• Lighter or box of matches
• Cake boxes (the disposable lunchboxes with lids that fold close)
• Disposable forks to eat the cake with
• Table napkins to accompany the cake
• Large ecobags to carry your food order
• Loot (in lootbag or not)
• Garbage bags so cleaning up is easy
• your camera (make sure battery is fully-charged & memory card has enough space)

There are basically 3 main tasks during the actual celebration: [1] distribute -- first, the food, utensils, napkins & drink; second, the cake, forks & napkins; and third, the loot (but this one, your celebrant can do). [2] slice the cake. [3] take photos of the celebration.

The decision on how many people you need to do the distribute task will depend on the class size and if it is an option for kids to just line up to pick up their meal from you.

And there you have it: all the tips & tricks I've collected from 5 years of school birthdays. Hope this helps make planning & executing your little one's birthday in school simple & easy!

Photos are from annniegirl, polkadotshoppingbag & lushlee. 

Click here for previous posts from the Simple Trick series.

some stylish kids

I am normally not a fan of kids dressing up like grown-ups. I prefer kids to dress like kids because they grow up too fast as it is. I prefer that their childlike quality is preserved for as long as possible. But oddly, I am enamored by these really well-dressed kids.

Loving the mullet dresses of these two. 

On the fence on the black one though. Not sure kids should already wear black. Am attracted to this mustard & gray color combo though...

What about this kid in these adorable brogues?

Am even drawn to these tiny snakeskin Celines.

Good thing I'm done shopping for all the kids on my Christmas list! Or I would be in a real dilemma with all these stylish, grown-up kids' clothes around.

Photos from annnniegirl & garancedore.

Click here for a previous post about avoiding conversations about how they look when talking to little girls.

Simple Trick: Get Baby to Look at the Cam

Yes, capturing a baby's backside is precious.

Even a baby's feet flailing out of a crib looks adorable.

But eventually, you'll want to capture his face. With Mommy or Daddy trying to catch his attention on the sidelines, you get photos like this.

So how can you get your toddler to look straight at the camera and give you a big happy smile?

This DIY Elmo on your camera will.

Made with a red scrunchie, white & orange felt and two black buttons.

  

Because what kid doesn't love Elmo?

Photos from acupofjo, pinkwallpaper, here and nyctaughtme.

Click here for previous posts from the Simple Trick series.

It's time.

Today is my last day of work.

It became a choice between being a mother or a marketeer...

... and of course, the former won out.

Since I've been working 10-to-14-hour days for 16 years, I am looking forward to the gift of time that my new adventure will bring.

Time to enjoy a weekday meal with the kids - something I didn't have because I could barely make it home before bedtime, what more dinner?

Time to enjoy several chapters of a book in one sitting - rather than a few pages every night before bedtime.

Time to fix & organize the house and find out where the string of helpers, that have come and gone all these years, have tucked away our things.

Time to just enjoy a cup of coffee - without also thinking about work or also actually tapping away on my computer to finish a presentation or also reading a book to cram more me-activities in the rare half-hour me-time windows I was lucky to get.

Time to have lunch with my girlfriends (Who doesn't dream of being one of those 'ladies who lunch'? I often wondered with envy how there always seems to be so many of them during the few times I am at the mall on a weekday. It doesn't help that I had to file a vacation leave to be there that day.).

Time to learn something new - like maybe photography?

Time to travel without having to schedule it when there are the most holidays or take red-eye flights so I can leave after work or arrive in time for work the next day. 

Time to surf & blog & scrapbook & maybe even write a book.

Yes, I look forward to the time I will have on my hands starting tomorrow. But today, it's time to say goodbye to the life I've known for 16 years.

Photos from everythingfab, playtimebreak, pinkwallpaper, annnniegirl and fromainsleywithlove.

my childhood playmates

I find this photo so adorable. I can so relate. I grew up with just my brother as my playmate. My grandmother (see previous posts about her here) didn't allow us to go outside & play with our kid-neighbors so we ended up pretending our stuffed toys were our playmates. My brother and I had 3 teddybears: a brown one named Wicket (yes, we are part of the Ewok generation), a chubby gray one named Wally with a tail that rattled, and a pink bear named Winnie. We would pretend we had a magic pill that allowed them to talk and join us on all our pretend adventures in our room. This is probably why I love Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins so much. I love the idea of having a magic stethoscope that makes her toys come alive and talk to her.

Wicket, Wally and Winnie (same starting letter! so Pinoy!) have become the heads of our pretend horses (see related post here), bears in an imaginary jungle adventure and even the audience of a few concerts.

Though these teddybears were not real, to me, they were real playmates in a childhood filled with fun, imaginary adventures and happy memories.

Photos from annnniegirl and ikea.

Click here for previous nostalgic posts. Oh, and speaking of grandmothers, Happy Grandparents' Day to my mom and Lola!