|
|
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Do you strive for the perfect trip with your young children, envisioning smiles on every face, while the luggage is perfectly packed, snacks are all available, no one has to go to the bathroom for miles, travel documents are organized and everyone is entertained and pleasantly happy? If you find yourself disappointed when things don’t go the way you want them too then this article is for you.
Traveling solo is easy. I have traveled thousands of miles around the globe solo, and aside from some home sickness and anxiety from traveling through a couple of hostile neighborhoods in foreign countries, I was always in control of my own actions, responsible for my own comfort, safety, flights, organization, etc. For those of you who have traveled solo during life before kids, you will find that there are a few changes that come along with raising and traveling with your little ones.
I often refer to traveling with kids as being somewhat similar to herding cats. They seem to scatter this way and that when they are young, causing Mommy and Daddy to panic and jump into emergency mode. Some folks simply put off traveling until the kids are older and able to respond to simple directions, stand in long lines at the airport, or keep themselves entertained on long road trips. But like everything in life, there is a trick to overcoming the difficulties of traveling even when traveling with young children, babies, and toddlers. I am not one to wait for the right moment in life before taking a trip. Life is short and kids grow up too fast, so seize the moment when you can.
I have spoke to some parents of young kids who have decided to wait until they are old and gray with their children grown up and out of the house before they take a trip somewhere exciting. They suffer from such a deep level of frustration, anxiety and fear of all the things that can go wrong, that they would rather avoid traveling with their kids altogether. How sad that would be to have to put off seeing all the gifts this world has to offer with our children because of the difficulties of simply traveling with them. If we can learn to humble our expectations and take the struggles with all the wonderful joys that traveling brings us as a family, then traveling with young children can be a fantastic experience chocked full of life long memories. 
Knowledge, preparation, and a positive attitude are your keys to successful travel with the kids. You do not have to bring every item you own on your trip, but start by making a list of important items you will need. Start with items that will distract, entertain, and organize. Preparation in advance will increase your odds of a successful travel experience ten fold. You can even make practice runs locally to test out your lists before taking on some serious international travel. Not only are you able to test out your items list this way, but you will be training your kids how to be excellent travelers. Trust me, they will thank you for it when they are all grown up.
Once you have your tried and tested lists on what to pack, how to pack, how to entertain, how to organize your travel entertainment, and so on, you are ready for the world. The trick to becoming an expert traveler is repeated successful journeys with your children. There are many travel checklists available online including my own personal checklists that are available to you on my blog. Please feel free to take advantage of them to help you travel easier with your family.
Don’t wait for the kids to be grown and out of the house. Your best travel experiences are waiting for you to make them happen, with your little ones staring up at you at your feet. Seize the day and see the world with your family.
Happy Travels!
As I slowly and painfully type out each word in this article today, I suddenly have a deep appreciation for special needs and disabilities. Yesterday I badly bruised my wrist on my dominant hand. Suddenly, my world has changed and simple tasks that I was once able to do are now on hold until the wrist heals. It makes me think about my 5 year old daughter, an amazing little being who has overcome much more devastating obstacles than this. She has survived 7 surgeries, cardiac issues, multiple G.I. issues, illness, food allergy reactions, feeding tubes, oxygen, colostomy, and so on. All the while with a pleasant disposition and an inner determination to succeed, and survive. She is a true hero to me and I am motivated by her drive, her strength, and her joyful disposition.
We are now entering a healthy part of her life where we can focus on all the various therapies such as speech. I have worked with a few speech therapists, and found that some are more motivated than others. Wanting the best for my family, I was able to research and find one of the best speech therapists for my little one. Since our family travels a lot, I needed a custom speech program that would be flexible, yet effective in advancing our daughter into a blossoming chatty Cathy. This is what we came up with:
- When traveling on vacation, bring your camera and photograph everything. Then down load and print out the pictures, cut them to size and insert them into little photo albums (save money and purchase the photo albums from the dollar store).
- Your child will remember the events from your trip, and be highly motivated to speak about the photos. Be sure to take photos of subjects that you want to focus on, useful words that need to be learned first such as: open, close, help, hot, cold, etc.
- Keep your descriptions of the photos simple, one word or two word descriptions. Work patiently with your child until he/she can repeat the word(s) clearly. Use a magnified mirror so they can watch their mouth as they talk. You can also make a ‘phone’ made from plumbing piping that they can hold one end up to their ear, and the other to their mouth to hear the word clearly as they speak it (make the ‘phone’ with one 4 inch long plastic pipe, and two elbow pieces). Then build on the sentence one or two words at a time.
- Traveling with your kids can be a whole lot of fun. Stay organized, and you will be able to provide a rich learning environment whether you are in your car, at the hotel, or out sightseeing. Take advantage of all these wonderful moments to fill your child’s vocabulary with rich, colorful, and exciting words. Let the enthusiasm spill out of you and it will spread to your child.
- Don’t rush. If you have an itinerary, be sure to allow yourself extra time to get to your destination such as an airplane, bus, boat. Extra time means Mom and Dad are relaxed, and focused on what is most important, the kids. Being rushed is distracting, frustrating, and non-productive on so many levels so avoid it at all costs if possible.
- Bring a list of the certain sounds, or words you will be working on with your child. You can play wonderful games such as word search to see if you can find those words in your surroundings while out and about. You can also make your own word bingo game, or picture cards which is a fun way to reinforce those sounds/words. We are working on mastering the ‘T’ and ‘D’ sounds presently. So simple tasks like brushing our ‘Teeth’ at the hotel can be turned into an educational therapeutic training session. Be sure to repeat the words several times to reinforce them into your child’s vocabulary, “Let’s brush, brush, brush our teeth. Teeth, teeth. Look at your teeth! Pretty teeth. Your teeth are pretty now. All done!”
- Make good use of your surroundings to enhance your child’s development. Swimming pools are great at hotels. Besides being very clean in most cases, they are also much less crowded unlike public swimming pools. If your child has a low immune system like ours does, this is one way we can all enjoy swimming without all the virus illness after affects that come from swimming in public swimming pools. Splashing and swimming are not only fun for kids, but use gross motor skills which combined with speech therapy, helps to advance your child’s development.
- What kid doesn’t like to jump on hotel beds? It seems to be an instinctual behavior. Our kids see a freshly made hotel bed, and simply have to jump on it every time. So we take advantage of this exciting moment to advance our special need child’s speech, as well as physical therapy development by filling her vocabulary with more fun words that can be repeated for reinforcement – Jump, Jump, Jump!
- I am not one for TV time at a hotel, but they seem to always have a TV in every room we have stayed at. So try to keep the TV off as much as possible. When it’s time to wind down, we will pay to watch a kid’s movie before bedtime, but that is it. TV is only a distraction that takes away from quality time, and quality therapy with your child.
- Enjoy your time with your kids. Having a disability can be an advantage if you change your perspective. Strive to achieve success through fun interaction and play. Being on vacation, whether for a week, or weekend offers so many advantages, that you may find yourself getting away more and more, while watching your child’s development advance by leaps and bounds.
Enjoy your time with your kids and turn tasks, chores, and responsibilities into enjoyable, educational, and developmentally successful time. They will cherish the memories, and you will have accomplished amazing tasks to help them become functioning adults when they are all grown up. Life’s a journey, be happy traveler.
Camping with your family can be a blast. All the new smells, sights, and experiences can turn even the most difficult child into an adventurous happy little angel. Our family realizes the benefits of camping and strives to take 10 or more camping trips each year, from early spring to early winter. We use the time out in the wilderness to teach our children as well as bond with them. One activity that we always play upon arrival to our new site, as well as departure is keeping a clean campsite.
Our kids are young, and being a parent of young children, I realize the importance of implementing good behaviors, character, and habits into them now so it will become second nature to them when they become adults. We come up with many games and activities that promote wonderful behaviors in them such as the Trash Treasure hunt.
When we arrive to our campsite, we start by exploring the area, looking over the camp fire others had used, scouring the area for litter, and other signs of humans. The kids try to find all the trash and help pick it up before we even unload the car to setup our site. The reason behind this is that litter attracts wildlife, and we do not want to have other campers trash in our new campsite set us up for a dangerous situation with bears or other wildlife. So we start with our trash treasure hunt and fill our garbage bag with any debris whether on the ground, or in the fire pit. The kids tend to compete to see who can find the most trash.
Many campers like to burn their trash, but there are a lot of trash items that simply do not burn completely. Each item decomposes at a different rate, some taking hundreds of years (such as aluminum soda cans), while others only a couple of weeks (such as an apple core). That’s why it is important for all campers to carry out all the items they carried into the campsite.
While we are camping, everyone is now quite aware of their own trash, being sure to place it in the proper disposal bag so we do not leave behind any of our own trash. The kids often want to come back to the same campsite as we are leaving because it is now so clean.
Our kids love to play trash treasure hunt when we are camping. I love to play along with them knowing how much good it is doing for the environment, the wildlife as well as future generations of campers. If we all pitch in and play, we will be able to succeed in leaving no trace behind.
Happy Travels!
I recently spoke to a new friend of mine who moved to Denver from Chicago. She has what I consider a larger family of 5 boys and 1 girl, two of which are still in diapers. She was asking me about trash pickup and stated her family generates 2 garbage cans of trash weekly due to the size of their family. The trash company, however, refuses to pick up their second dumpster due to a Denver company policy. It almost seems absurd that our City would not accommodate large families with their trash quandary.
I then remembered a camping trip where my husband and I decided to spend Thanksgiving under the canopy of the Red Woods in Butano State Park in California. The scenery was truly spectacular and the smell of the forest intoxicating. After we ate our Turkey Tetrazzini hiker food out of a bag, with wild rice, mashed potatoes, and a strawberry granola desert, we went to the trash area to toss out our small handful of trash. Granted, we did not have children at the time, so our amount of trash was very small, but when we arrived at the trash bin in the campground, we stood there dumbfounded as the phrase, “Leave no trace behind” echoed in my mind.
Several raccoons scattered as we walked up, revealing mountains of trash. There was everything from whole turkey carcasses, to half eaten corn on the cob, plastic bags, used napkins, card board boxes, etc. These items were not even bagged up, but simply tossed loose onto the pile. It was unbelievable and it left a lasting impression. From that moment on, I became acutely aware of the amount of trash I personally generated each day, and decided to make a pro-active decision to reduce my own personal trash trail.
I now have 3 young children, with #4 on the way, along with 2 Border Collies, 3 hamsters, and 3 chickens, and I am happy to say that my strategy of minimal trash is still effective, and being used by all my family members today. Here are some of the steps we take to reduce our trash amount through organization techniques, whether we are in a campground, or at home.
- When shopping and the clerk asks you if you would like your items in a box, refuse. This is a great way for stores to dump their trash into your house while they avoid excessive trash disposal fees. Let each man be responsible for his own garbage.
- Reduce your waist by separating the recyclables from the compostables. If you don’t know how to compost, you need to learn quickly. Composting can literally cut your trash amount in half, while providing you with rich potting and gardening soil.
- Donate your unused items including clothing, toys, furniture, and other items to thrift stores. One mans trash is another mans treasure! Some stores will even come to your house each month for free and pick up your unwanted items, so be sure to place your items in boxes (such as an empty diaper box), to reduce your household items, and trash.
- Don’t use paper plates, paper napkins, paper cups, and other items that make you feel like they are making your life easier. They generate way to much unnecessary trash. Cloth napkins wash easily, and dishes can be washed, dried, and reused.
- Paper towels are advertised as Mom’s best friend, but are they really? Yes, they can be composted, but we simply cut up our old bath towels, and use them for spills, and other clean ups. We then wash them, and reuse them, or toss them out when they become too soiled which only happens occasionally.
- Teach your children while they are young not to waste things like paper, and to make an effort to reduce their own personal trash amounts. You will be raising some very conscientious kids into some very responsible adults that may be able to come up with new ideas on how to keep our beautiful planet clean.
- Purchase a trash compactor. This will help you to take a larger amount of household garbage, and mash it down to half the size so large families can toss out more weekly, without it looking like more. Yes, your trash bin will be very heavy, but at least you will only need one trash bin each week.
- Call your trash company and request a second recycle bin. They offer two recycle bins here in Denver, and pick up every other week. Be sure to learn what items are able to go into your recycle bin, what items can be composted in your yard, and what items are trash. By throwing non-recyclables into your recycle bin, you will ruin a batch that could have been used for the good of the planet as well as others.
- Use your card board boxes to deliver used clothing to thrift stores, to wrap presents, and to share vegetables and fruit from your prolific gardens with your neighbors. Chances are, they have much smaller families, and more space in their trash cans.
- Save your bottles, jars, and other glass containers. They are great for canning, pickling, storing raw beans, grains, hair clips, rubber bands, pens, bath salts, etc. Start recycling right in your own home.
There are many other ways to reduce your household trash including canceling your newspaper subscription and getting your news online, canceling catalog subscriptions, and signing up on the no-junk mail list. If every large family does their part to reduce their individual trash amount for their family, down to each member of the family (including the family hamster), we can all make a huge difference in keeping the planet healthy, and beautiful. These steps are but a few of the ways families can help to manage their personal trash quantities. Let’s all do our part to keep our houses clean, and our planet beautiful.
Happy Travels!
Ever wonder what the real difference is between a three star hotel, and a four star hotel? Do you think it will be nicer, more luxurious, with better service? Well you might be surprised to find that just because you are spending more money on your hotel stay, does not necessarily mean that you will be getting more for your money.
Recently, we stayed at the Hyatt Hotel in the Denver Tech Center for a one night stay. We booked our room through Hotwire.com for $66 a night before tax ($80 with tax) – which saved us a substantial amount of money up front.
When we arrived, the hotel was certainly stunning with marble, granite, and outstanding architecture. The girl at the registration desk seemed a bit new and although she had all her lines memorized, had a lack of confidence about her.
We were told our room was twin beds, which wouldn’t work for us, so we asked for a King bed instead. She never stated that this would be an additional fee, but gladly changed the room. We were also told that we could have our vehicle valet parked, or we could park it in the Hotel parking garage, both of which were a minimum $10 additional fee (this was never mentioned on Hotwire when we originally booked the room).
As we made our way to the 3rd floor, I inspected every inch of the hotel along the way. The elevator was beautiful with laminated wood floors, and mirrors. I was surprised though, upon entering our hotel room to find that I had experienced nicer and larger rooms in 3 star hotels. The paint on the bathroom door was chipped and there were little areas of wear and tear here and there. The technology was top notch though, with a flat screen LCD television that was 51” or more wide, a desk that provided internet hook-up for a pc, and a fancy up-to-date alarm clock that had an iPod attachment.
As we settled in, it was obvious that the walls were not as sound proof as one would hope, and we could here other hotel visitors banging, knocking, and talking as they past our room. At about 4 AM, an alarm clock went off in the room next to us, and kept on ringing. After about an hour, I finally called the front desk and let them know about it. They sent someone right up and shut it off, but the experience set a sour note to our stay that tipped the scale to the negative side.
We decided to be optimistic, and took a dip in the swimming pool. It was top notch, and very kid friendly which was a big plus in our book. The ceiling was all glass so the sunlight (or moonlight) could shine on the pool. The Jacuzzi was very nice too, although none of the jets worked, but at least the water was warm.
There were plenty of pool toys for the kids to play with, plenty of well stocked pool towels, and plenty of pool furniture. There was also a back patio area outside with an out door BBQ pit, hammock, and more lounge chairs. This was a wonderful feature.
Four star hotels are known for their service, and the DTC Hyatt had a very organized folder that provided all the services, from airline phone numbers, baggage pickup services that pickup and check your bags onto your flight, to local baby sitting services and so much more. It was impressive, so I decided to ask for some information on the local baby sitting service. When I spoke to the gentleman at the customer service desk, he literally had no idea about the service and was very apologetic. I waited until he was able to contact another hotel employee. While waiting, he finally did find one phone number for a local baby sitting company in the area, and with complete uncertainty, handed me the written number to try out and see if it works. So much for 4 star services.
When we checked out, we discovered that our $80 room rate from Hotwire.com had now turned into a $155 hotel stay with 3 star service. When traveling with a family, parents need to be certain their budget will not diminish due to unforeseen expenses and it is important to be able to know up front what the costs will be while traveling. So overall, I would not stay at this hotel again, and will stick to 3 star hotels for a while since they always seem to be predictable in pricing, comfort, and service.
There are different degrees when it comes to illness. I am grateful that my children have had illnesses that we were able to treat. This past week my son activated his dairy allergy in full force. His sister received an M & M candy dispenser for her 9th birthday and my son apparently forgot that M & M’s were off limits for him. He had been enjoying himself as if he were able to have this wonderful tasty treat and made repeated trips to his sister’s candy machine.
They the fun was over and his happy blissful time came crashing down in the form of severe abdominal pain, cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, more vomiting, and more diarrhea. His symptoms began in the early evening and lasted throughout the night, into the next day, and the next night. I was by his side trying to ease his discomfort with herbs and supplements, while missing a lot of sleep.
This morning he is hungry, and doing fine. During this adventure, I started to think about other parents and how we juggle caring for our sick child, while dealing with all of lifes other demands. When you run a business, home school your children, manage a home, cook from scratch, take care of animals, and tend an organic garden, do you simply stop caring for all these things as we put life on hold until the child recovers?
My son’s dairy allergy only lasted a few days, but what about children who are ill for months, like my youngest daughter who spent months in the hospital trying to recover from complications due to surgery. Thankfully, we survived that grueling ordeal, and these are the steps we took to continue our daily life responsibilities during such a crisis:
- Call on your friends – You don’t know how long the illness will affect your child and family life, so gather your friends together and let them know your family will need help with babysitting, meals, and cleaning. You will not only develop closer, deeper relationships with your friends, but by allowing them to assist you will make them feel less helpless in your situation, which in turn helps them.
- Stay organized – Keep a marker board handy and write down a schedule of when your friends and family can help, and what they can help with. Staying organized will help you to focus your attention on the matter at hand, while everything else continues to flow smoothly.
- Stock up on supplies – Pick a day and write out your emergency grocery/supplies list. Then stock up for a couple of months so that you do not have to stress about running out of important items such as laundry detergent, medicine or food.
- Take time for yourself – Don’t forget the old saying, “you can’t give to others if your cup is empty.” Allow yourself a little rest and relaxation during this battle of illness. It will help you to fill your cup so that you can give.
- Have your spouse do the same – Sadly, many illnesses end up in the parents divorcing each other. It is crucial that you spend time with your spouse and make sure you pencil it in on the calendar just as if it were another surgery date. It’s very important to support each other during this difficult time.
- Try to be positive – When dealing with hospital situations, I have found that the prognosis is always the worst case scenarios. It’s hard to think positive when you are told repeatedly by doctors what the worst outcome could be with your child. Have faith, hope, and build a strong spiritual foundation to help you through the ordeal, as well as through life. It will have an amazing affect on you, your child, your family, and the medical professionals.
- Pray – Gather together a support group of friends that can meet at the hospital with you. Many of my friends were able to meet and pray in my daughters hospital room regularly. A daily prayer group was formed which helped the months of living in a hospital room seem to go by faster.
- Eat healthy – Living off of Frosted Flakes and Jello for weeks is not good. Trust me, I know. If you are living for extended stays at the hospital with your child, pack food, have your friends/family bring you meals, eat meals in the hospital cafeteria, or order out. You can request the take-out menu from the Nurses station which many hospitals keep for their staff. It will have all the local restaurants along with their menu’s, prices, and phone numbers to call and have your food delivered right to your hospital room.
- Keep your Hospital Bag Packed – After realizing that this was going to be a long ordeal, I packed a backpack and called it my Hospital overnight bag. I always had my toiletries, change of clothes, food, snacks, medicine to keep myself from becoming sick, a Bible, and some projects to work on during those quiet times.
- Never give up – No matter how hard the situation seems, no matter how sick your child is, remember that this is all part of God’s plan. He may be testing you to see how strong you can be made, or he may be ready to take your child home. Either way, you have a job to do. If you can do it with joy in your heart, and less fear, anxiety, and exhaustion, caressing your child and smiling as your little one looks at you, you will have past the test.
Car Maintenance is extremely important when you are planning to travel with your family. Can you imagine getting on an airplane that had not been thoroughly checked over before departure? It’s a very scary thought, yet we have all driven past vehicles that are broken down on the side of the road either from a flat tire that was so worn it should have been replaced months ago, or out of gas, fluids, or other engine problems.
We’ve seen vehicles broken down in the mountains during snow storms, on the highway near Death Valley, and on a typical sunny day. There are many reasons why a vehicle brakes down, but car owners and especially parents traveling with young children should make every effort to prevent a vehicle brake down at all costs.
Here are some basic steps to take to make sure your car is always in top notch shape and ready for your next camping trip or long road trip adventure with the kids.
- Get that oil changed every 3,000 miles or every 3 months along with the vehicle inspection. Which ever one happens first.
- Have your tires checked and rotated at each oil change.
- Check your vehicle engine, belts, brakes, fluids, windshield wipers, lights and mirrors. Carry extras in your vehicle incase a blinker goes out, or a windshield wiper malfunctions while you are traveling.
- Check your spare tire to be sure it’s in good shape.
- Replace the thin spare with a reliable regular size tire ahead of time.
- Keep up on all routine maintenance checks.
- It is also good to have some emergency items for your car such as a 12V tire pump, portable jumper cable battery, tire repair kit, spare tire in good shape, and tools.
- Carry a GPS or Road Atlas.
- In the winter, it is advisable to carry chains, car wheel grip mats (for ice), 12V heater blanket, and shovel.
- Carry a cell phone and/or some payphone spare change with you while you travel to keep your family safe.
Now that you’ve taken the steps required to insure your vehicle has passed the safety check, and you are confident your car is in perfect traveling condition, load it up and head out on the highway for some more great travel experiences with your family. This is one preparation that should be a top priority. Your family is depending on it.
Happy Travels!
Outside of sleeping in your hiking clothes, there are actually some easy steps to take in order to prepare for a weekend camping trip with the kids in just a day in advance. It’s a bit like a Fireman drill, and once everything is in place, you can amaze your friends and family at how quickly you are able to pack up and go camping with your entire family.
Packing for a camping trip the day before you leave is not impossible when you are prepared ahead of time. If you start to think about it, there are many types of outings that take only minutes to prepare for and out the door to be ready and out the door with your young children. Trips to the mall require that you grab your purse, diaper bag, stroller, children, car with a full tank of gas and go. Trips to the zoo may need a few extra items such as pack a lunch, and bring sunscreen, and appropriate clothing. Then there is camping.
Overnight camping needs proper preparation to insure that your kids are safe and comfortable. You need to think about first aid, bug bites, injuries from camp fires, weather, comfort, location, shelter, food, water, and clothing. Then there are preparations that can be made ahead of time to prepare for multiple day camping trips.
Would you honestly feel comfortable taking your young children on an extended 5 day camping trip out in the wilderness on a one day notice? How do some people pull it off when there is a hurricane disaster, massive earth quake or tornado? Why do some people seem to struggle helplessly while other families survive natural disasters gracefully until power and water is restored in their neighborhoods? The key to it all is being prepared.
Those families that survive natural disasters gracefully along with a bit of luck, have also planned ahead on every detail for an emergency situation. They planned for the worst, and hoped for the best as they stored everything they would possibly need to get through weeks, and even months of a disaster until help arrives. Allowing yourself months to put together your camping gear is your key to happy successful travel trips with your family. Start with a check list, a family menu, and then slowly gather and store those items in an organized manner to get started. A list helps you to organize the essentials on paper so nothing important is missing. You can also add new items to your list that you hadn’t thought of until you read that out door survival magazine at the doctors office.
Preparation is a life long process and each camping trip you will learn new necessities to bring, and new ways to downsize and organize for even easier travel experiences. You may decide to bring standard camping food such as hot dogs and buns, smores, and sodas. Or you may have dietary issues like we do, and be a bit more adventurous by learning how to cook with Dutch Oven. Food always tastes better when you are camping, and if you have never had chili, stew, pot roast, green bean casserole, biscuits and gravy, fresh baked bread, chocolate cake, or peach cobbler from a Dutch Oven, you have no idea what you are missing. Dutch oven meals provide for some of the best home cooking out in the wilderness that there is.
Organization is the key to successfully preparing for extended camping trips with young children. The following steps will assist you in your quest to prepare ahead of time for camping trips with your family, so you can get up and go within a day:
- Store camping food such as dried goods, cereals, boxed juices, rice milk, canned goods, in bulk months before the camping season.
- Store tent, poles stakes, rope, all tent supplies, in a clear storage bin and label it.
- Store cooking supplies, pans, cook stove, fuel, etc in another clear storage bin and label it.
- Have an emergency first aid kit as well as tools, water purification system/tablets, emergency blankets, fire starter, in another clear bin and label it.
- These bins can then be stored all winter on storage shelves in your garage, or storage closet and will be ready to pack in the car at a moments notice come camping season.
Why wait for June to go camping with your family when camp grounds are usually already packed? By preparing ahead of time, you will find you can now easily get out on a weekend in April or May to take the kids camping right when some camp grounds are just opening up. The best part is, you will have the whole place to yourselves. Even if you are car camping!
Just put together your lists, pack your bins, inventory your supplies, go over all your maps, pick out your favorite camping spots, pack your favorite family meals according to your family menu list, pack extra food and water, check over your car, and get out and go!
Happy Travels!!
Whether you are planning to take a long road trip with your children, or planning for your final days in life, it is important to sit down, collect your thoughts, and visualize how you would like to see things go. We are all aware that plans can quickly change, but if we all set some firm foundation stones in place early on, we most likely will still have some say as to which direction we will go.
I love traveling with my kids. I also love life. But as I get older and attend more funerals, I get to thinking. Am I as prepared for my last days as I am for a camping trip vacation with my family? I can tell you this, the thought of the quality of life during my last days has always been important to me. We are all on a journey together, our journey through life.
Recently, I received a phone call from a person I hadn’t spoke to in some time. She had been my Park Ranger supervisor up at Rocky Mountain National Park about 20 years ago. I had always respected her and enjoyed her company so it was such a pleasant surprise to receive that call. She is now in her 90’s and living in a nursing home in Arizona, but she is anything but old and feeble. She is still the mountain lion I once worked with. With a mind that is quick witted and working at light speed, she shared with me that she continues to eat healthy foods, exercise, and do everything in moderation. She was the person who planted the seed in me way back that it is actually better to eat whole natural foods (even if it is real butter verses margarine) than to eat processed foods filled with chemicals, artificial sweeteners and colorings. Her mind was as sharp during that phone conversation as the day I worked for her. I was impressed.
We spoke about life, plans, kids, the world and I realized that this person was more than just a past supervisor – she was a dear friend whom I am so fortunate to be able to walk with on this path through life. She shared with me how to prepare for those last years of life with just a few preparations:
- Eat healthy, whole foods.
- Exercise daily – walking briskly and stretching for at least 20 minutes.
- Strive to be independent now while living with your spouse so that when he is gone, you can continue to be independent.
- Don’t watch TV but read and read a lot.
- Keep a positive attitude and keep in touch with positive people.
It doesn’t seem like a whole lot to pack in your suitcase but it is definitely working for her. She shared with me about all the miseries, discomforts, feebleness and and helplessness that the other nursing home patients suffer from. It’s heart breaking to watch them near their last days, simply waiting to die, with no family to visit them, no friends to spend time with them, and no ability or desire to do anything but watch TV.
I am only 44 years old and although I often feel like I am older than I once was, I realize that there is still a good amount of time to plan for this trip to the final days of my life. After our first daughter was born (9 years ago) my husband and I decided it was our responsibility to be responsible for our final days, and we started our preparations. We have already done the following so that we can enjoy all the current adventures, road trips and journeys with our kids. Here is my additional list to keep it all simple and better prepared for your final destination:
- Organize your finances starting with creating a Living Trust.
- Buy a burial plot (or cremation) and prepay for all your final arrangements so your children won’t have to.
- Pay off all your debt, including all credit, and loans such as your mortgage, and car.
- Practice living within your means, and use cash when making purchases whenever possible (this will help you from over spending).
- Meet new people and keep in touch with the positive, uplifting ones.
- Try to avoid negative people including relatives. They can literally suck the life out of you.
- Have a hobby whether it is playing classical guitar, violin, piano, crossword puzzles, or gardening.
- Spend one on one time with your kids, talking to them, learning with them and enjoying their company.
- Spend alone time with your spouse. Go on date nights with your spouse monthly.
- Pray everyday with your family and thank God for all your blessings.
In the end, we will leave behind only a memory of who we were. So make your preparations now, and leave behind a lasting, uplifting, and wonderful memory that will help others to become better people.
Happy Travels!
I recently traveled to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons with my family a couple of months ago. It was still snowing and cold when we arrived, and the Grizzly Bear activity was just beginning with the first few sightings occurring the weekend we arrived. Having been a National Park Ranger for two seasons, I was aware of the dangers and preventative measures that must be taken when co-habituating with bears. I had my own face to face encounters with Black Bears on a couple of occasions as a Park Ranger in the back country, and was fortunate enough to be able to walk away unscathed.
I was instantly terrified of this incredible beast, and suddenly inspired to learn everything I could about bears, including how to track them, their behaviors, and most of all, how to protect myself from an attack. During my first season, I worked with a Park Ranger who had previously been a Park Ranger at Glacier National Park in Montana. He was a big burly man and had several deep scars on his face and arms. I am ashamed to say that my glance was a little too long at his very noticeable scars, but he was kind enough to share with me about his Grizzly Bear attack encounter.
He had simply been walking on one of the back country trails in Glacier National Park, when he rounded a blind corner and was instantly attacked by a mama Grizzly with her cubs by her side. This man was at least 6′3″ or taller, and was very big in stature so I couldn’t even imagine the scene. He was calm as he shared the details of his experience, so that I might have a little more information from a real Grizzly Bear attack survivor to add to my arsenal of ‘what to do if attacked by a Bear’ knowledge.
He described how the Grizzly struck him with her razor sharp claws repeatedly until he finally went down. When he was finally on the ground, she continually tried to roll him over onto his back so that his soft, fleshy front side was exposed. He wouldn’t comply and would quickly flip back over in fetal position to protect his stomach side. He played dead, made no sound, and would continually flip back over to to protect his stomach as the Bear growled and attacked, slice after slice into his skin with her claws. She finally grew tired of the game and left him for dead.
He was able to get help right away and extremely fortunate to survive such a brutal Grizzly Bear attack that would have killed a lesser man. He shared with me in detail about hearing the deafening growling sounds, feeling the stinging pain of the strikes against his body, and following through with his instinctual response to protect his stomach side. He never thought of death, only keeping his belly protected and surviving the lightening fast attack until the bear left. He succeeded. His survival attitude helped to save his life.
Some bears attack when startled, or when confronted by humans and stressed. Other attacks are because the campsite is not clean, and the smell of food, or access to trash is made available. If you can prevent the attention of a bear, that is the best way to avoid a bear attack encounter.
After learning about bears and having more of an understanding, I still continue to camp to this day. Traveling into the wild country with young children can raise the hair on your neck pretty fast, especially if you know what lives in the forest, and what it is capable of. So I took the time to thoroughly educate my kids on what they should and shouldn’t do when visiting bear country. Although this serious topic obviously frightened them at first, at 8 years old and under, my kids now have a very good understanding of how to behave, and respond in the event of a bear encounter. Like myself, they do not fear bears, but have a deep respect for them.
I then heard about the recent Grizzly Bear attack just outside of Yellowstone National Park this week which left one woman camper dead, and 2 of her companions severely injured. I was stunned at the thought of it. It is always a shock to hear of such a devastating experience. I wondered about the details in my quest to try to understand Bears.
Understanding Bears can be a life long adventure. You can learn a lot by picking up a book or two at the library and begin educating yourself. Bears become desperately hungry in the Fall to prepare for a long Winter hibernation period. Campers who are setting up camp in Bear country should take into consideration that if they are camping near a popular fishing spot for humans, then this is also going to be a popular fishing spot for Bears. Due to their size, strength, and overall disposition, I am always inclined to let the Bears fish first and wait my turn – if you know what I mean.
If you do catch a fish, or have a yummy dinner cooked over the camp fire, it is of the vital importance that you remove all the clothing you wore during your campfire cookout, and change into fresh clean clothes before retiring to the tent for the night. Also, be sure to brush your teeth with unscented toothpaste. As a matter of fact, I use hunting products that are completely scent free including toothpaste, mouthwash, hair shampoo, deodorant, lotions and other products that help to keep you clean without making you smell like a delicious oven roasted Turkey to attract the wildlife directly to your tent.
It is also vital that you keep a clean campsite. No matter how tired you are, make sure you clean up your campsite by washing all dishes away from your tent (at least 100 feet away), picking up any food, empty cans, boxes, and other trash and storing it all up high in a tree along with storing your food. Don’t give bears a reason to come your way. Bears have an extraordinary ability to smell, and can pick up a scent more than 4 miles away. Never bring food into your tent. Always clean your kids hands and faces, and change their clothing before they retire to the tent. Make sure there are no food products, candy, toothpaste or other items hidden away in their pockets.
Make sure you notify the local information center or Ranger Station of your whereabouts and when you plan to leave. Notify other family members where you are going as well, along with your intended time frame to camp, and when you plan on leaving. If you have a GPS, it is always good to visit the area where you intend to camp ahead of time if this is possible, and then provide your family with the GPS coordinates of your exact location if you are camping in the back country and not at a camp site. Otherwise, if you are camping at a Forest or Park Service designated camp site, give your friends and family members your campsite number.
Finally, setup your camp site, play with your family remembering that you are not in the city, look over your shoulder and enjoy the beauty of the wild country. If you have trouble sleeping at night, that’s good. I have found that it’s always better to sleep with one eye open then to sleep like a rock when out in the wilderness. Bears and many other preditors are most active at dusk, and night time. Just because they call it a Park, doesn’t mean it is a playground that meets all the Government requirements for safety. The wilderness is wild, and we are merely guests when we visit and camp overnight. Follow some basic guidelines, make them become your routine when camping in Bear Country, and you, your family, and the Bears will have a better time.
|
|
