Travel | SoCal Savvy Mom

Dec 22
2014

Holiday Travel Tips with kids

The holidays are here and most of us are traveling to see family, some of us on airplanes some of us just a car ride away. How ever you are traveling this holiday season we want to make it a little bit easier for you!

If traveling by airplane:

Traveling with a child in a carseat please note the carseat must go by the window seat as a FAA regulation.
Only one lap child is allowed per row, because there are only 4 masks that drop down in case of emergency.
Most booster seats are not approved by the FAA for use during travel, recommended to check them or leave before entering the plane.
If you are going to check a carseat, put inside a duffel bag or ask for a plastic bag, you do not want to put your baby back into a dirty carseat.

One item not to leave home without is a sippy cup, all of us moms know this. What we recommend is bringing an empty sippy cup so you may fill it with whatever the child needs either on the road or in the air. Having to put juice in a sippy cup that had milk in it isn’t going to go over too well, save yourself the hassle and carry and extra munchkin sippy cup with you.

Not all airlines carry milk, so purchase a small container after going through security.
If your child is bottle fed ask for a bottle (actually it’s usually a can) of water to mix the formula for take off.
Children should be sucking on breast, bottle or sippy cup on take off and landing to help their ears open.

Air travel with children is difficult to say it mildly, being prepared is everything. Although children may think a long trip (by car or plane) is not their idea of fun, follow a few tips and they will be happy, yes happy! Number one tip for any parent who has a child with a tablet, if that tablet powers out life as you know it will not be the same. ALWAYS CHARGE DEVICES BEFORE YOU LEAVE, AND DON’T FORGET THE PLUG, this will make the trip more enjoyable.

We didn’t have a tablet when my child was little (1-4 years old) and what worked best for us was offering a new toy every half hour of the ride if he was good. I went to the dollar store spent $10 and wrapped the gifts, it was perfect. If he was good every 30 minutes he would receive a new gift, he was good the entire 5 hour flight at two years old! The items don’t need to be big or fancy just something so they are excited for the next present and will behave. This will work well for travel by plane or car.

What to dress your child in:

Always bring a change of clothes for your child regardless of their age, one spill and your child shows up a big mess to Christmas Eve dinner.
If traveling by plane dress your child (if walking) in a bright color, if they run off it is a lot easier to say did you see the kid in orange running by?
Children old enough to have must have toys are also old enough to carry them, my son usually travels with a backpack and roller bag with only his items inside.

Taking snacks is mandatory, we love mum mums because they are in individual packages and very easy to travel with. Another reason we love them is the snacks don’t make a huge mess. Mum Mums are also perfect for children of all ages, my second grader loves the elementary school ones and my Godson at 18 months loves the toddler ones. Being able to hand your child a snack and not have to worry about it going everywhere makes life better for everyone involved. Speaking of snacks if you have more than one child you know they may want something different from one another. Check out the munchkin snack tower, fit up to three different snacks in an easy to transport container.

Dec 2
2014

California Booster & Carseat Safety Info

by Nicole Connerley

This weekend my co blogger Robyn and I were talking about booster seats. How long do children have to be in a booster sea? Is it until they are 8 years old? Is it after they weigh 85 pounds or a specific height? So we looked it up and were amazed at what we didn’t know! First did you know children under 8 HAVE TO BE IN A BOOSTER SEAT? Say what? My son is probably the smallest in his class weight and height so he is still in a booster seat at 8, and probably will be until 5th grade at this point. I’m only 5’2 so the chances of my child reaching 4’9 anytime soon are not very likely. Below are the most important information from the California Department of public health.

Booster Seats

Children under 8 years old must be in a booster seat in the back seat.
Children 8 years and older, who are 4’9 or taller may use vehicle seat belt only if it fits properly with the lap low on the hips, touching the upper thighs, and the shoulder belt crossing the center of the chest.
If children are not tall enough for proper belt fit, they must ride in a booster or car seat.

Car Seats

Children are required to be in a rear facing car seat until age one, it is recommended that children remain rear facing until age two.
Rear facing is the safest way to ride for children until age two.
Keep children with front-facing car seat with harness until they reach the height or weight limit.
Chest clip in harness car seat should be at armpit level.
Car seats should not move more than an inch from side to side.

Important Facts to Remember

Children are safest in the back seat until age 13.
Never put shoulder belt under your arm or behind your back.
It is against the law to leave a child under the age of seven in a car, without supervision of someone 12 years or older if: keys are in the ignition, the car is running or the child is at risk.
Look before you lock always look to see there is not a child in the backseat before you lock the doors.
Children are most at risk of backovers and frontovers when vehicles are backing out of driveways, know the blind spots of your vehicle.

Everyone in the car must be properly buckled up. For every child under 16 in the car who is not properly secured there is a $475 fine AND a point on your driving record.

Nov 10
2014

Coaster Holiday Express! Ride the train with Santa!

by Nicole Connerley

For tickets for the 2017 Coaster Holiday Express click here

To find the updated link for 2016 please click here.

See the 2015 post on the Coaster Holiday Express by clicking here.

Families can take a ride on a magical holiday train with Santa, Mrs. Claus and friends on Saturday, December 6. North County Transit District’s Coaster Holiday Express is a specially decorated train ride that features photo opportunities with Santa and classic carol singing for children of all ages. Each 65-minute Holiday COASTER Express ride travels non-stop and roundtrip from Oceanside to Solana Beach. The ride is recommended for families with children between the ages of 3 and 10.

Last year we had so much fun taking our son on the Coaster Holiday Express! It is only $8 per person this year with departure times of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. from the Oceanside transit center. Please note tickets are not available day of and it will SELL OUT AND FAST! Tickets may be purchased on Wednesday, November 12th in person at a transit center or online here.

Sep 24
2014

Summertime in Vail

by Nicole Connerley

Family travel a passion for our family! The past two summers we have visited Vail and Beaver Creek. We were lucky enough to be in Vail during the Oktoberfest celebration this summer. Vail Oktoberfest is a family affair, with events my parents, my brothers and I and the kids enjoyed. The event is free and open to the public. This year we watched Klement’s Bratwurst Eating Contests (I think the winner ate 11) and the Stein Lifting and Keg Bowling. My aunt raved about Keg Bowling and wanted my cousin Chelsea and I to do it. We tried to sign up but it was already full. Which was a good thing because kegs are heavy and let’s be honest we are girls and not strong enough to knock over 10 kegs. After the bratwurst eating contest and keg bowling we took the gondola to the top of Vail Mountain.

Chels nic oktoberfest vail

If you plan to have a beer or two while at Oktoberfest I recommend purchasing the official Vail Oktoberfest mug, it is only $20 and it is a great memento of your trip. There is no money exchanged it is all tokens, we purchased about $50 of tokens for beer and food and it was plenty for my cousin and I. My brothers no doubt went through more tokens than Chelsea and I due to their advanced beer drinking skills.
vail group beers If you are adventurous you may attempt to hike up Berry Picker Trail there is no charge for this but advise allowing at least 2-3 hours. We had too many people with different ages to attempt the hike. The gondola ride to the top is beautiful with views of mountain peaks and wildflowers as far as you can see. Children 4 and under are free, 5-12 year olds are $7 and adults are $28 per person. We always go to the top of Vail when we visit, the view is just as amazing year after year. Below is a picture of my cousin and I at the top of Vail last summer.

top of vail w chels After the gondola ride to the top of Vail the Adventure Ridge awaits you. To access Adventure Ridge via the Eagle Bahn Gondola, you must purchase a lift ticket. Aside from the most incredible views you will ever see there are fun activities for all ages at over 10,000 ft! My son loves the climbing wall, (pictured below) he did it three times! My niece loved the rebound trampoline she did it twice. There are also pony rides, miniature golf, kids zip line and low ropes course.

vail ropes

If your children would like to do multiple activities I would recommend purchasing the adventure ridge action pass. With the pass you may choose three activities from pony rides, climbing wall, rebound trampoline, miniature golf, or disc golf for only $25. The adventure plus pass allows up to four activities for only $35. We regretted not purchasing the adventure action pass because our kids loved all the fun activities. We have already started looking forward to next year.

Sep 12
2014

Disney Cruise Line… Disney Dream

by Nicole Connerley

The Disney Cruise Line and our trip on the Disney Dream. This is NOT a paid post this was our vacation (one of many vacations) this vacation was a cruise my amazing mother in law took my son and I on. We are not selling anything, just sharing our experience.

It is exactly as it sounds, it truly is a dream aboard the Disney Dream Cruise ship. SoCal Savvy Mom set sail in March of 2014 for a 4-night Bahamian cruise. As soon as you enter the terminal you know this is not an ordinary cruise. Everything is Disney, and I do mean everything, I have never seen Mickey ears in so many different ways than on the Disney Dream.

Upon entering the ship, you are greeted by your family name and all the crew members clap and welcome you aboard. As if that wasn’t surprise enough, the whole gang there to greet us. Mickey, yep he was there, Minnie, yes her too, Goofy, him as well, Donald was there too and you encouraged to have your pictures taken with them. My child is a little weary of characters he always has been, and rather than force him to take a picture my mother-in-law and I decided we wanted our picture with Goofy!

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Disney sends you all the information you need to plan your trip months before hand. One of the things they mentioned was your state-room may not be ready when you board the ship, however you are welcome to start enjoying the pools. We wore our bathing suits onboard so we could go straight to the pool while our state-room was being prepared for us. The Aquaduck is an amazing enclosed slide and also our reason for choosing the Disney Dream. Disney has different ships with different highlights, the Dream cost a little more but was very worth it.

aquaduck_disney_dream

The AquaDuck water coaster boasts a thrilling 4-deck drop and safely carries guests over the side of the ship and back.

AquaDuck is the first water coaster on a Disney Cruise Line ship—or, for that matter, any cruise ship—setting the standard for height, length and excitement. It was our favorite thing to do together while on the Disney Dream because it was so exciting! For a full length video of the AquaDuck in action click here. Make sure your child is tall enough before you board, children must be at least 42 inches tall to ride with an adult or 53 inches to ride by themselves.

When choosing a state-room there are many options on the Disney Dream. The options range from a standard inside room to Royal family suite with concierge. Because my child was 7 at the time we set sail my husband did not feel comfortable with us having a room with a verandah. We decided upon the Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom, and we were very overjoyed when we saw our stateroom. The room was larger than we thought it would be, we had more than enough room for everything and everyone. Disney thought of things you will need that you have never thought of before!

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The split bath allows for multiple people to use the facilities at the same time. The full bathroom includes a vanity, sink and full tub/shower, while the half bath has a vanity, sink and toilet. Both luxurious and practical, most of the staterooms have round tubs with a built-in seat, a rain-style shower and a hand-held showerhead—perfect for bathing children.

disney 1

This is part one of our series on the Disney Cruise Line, the items touched upon in this article are reasons for choosing the Disney Dream and your state-room. Next we will discuss the food options not just for children but the delicious meals for adults. We will also go into detail the adults only areas on the ship including the spa which we were lucky enough to have a few treatments in. The last and most important in our series will be about the on-board entertainment and the kids club that my child never wanted to leave.

Nov 7
2013

All-inclusive Resorts, are they worth it?

by Nicole Connerley

The all-inclusive resort is a not a new resort model it has actually been around for over 60 years. What the resort includes are three meals a day, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and other resort type of activities, such as evening entertainment, non-motorized watersports, and kids clubs. Below is the review of the most recent stay at an all-inclusive resort located in San Jose’ Del Cabo in Mexico.

The drinks… all of the non-alcoholic drinks were perfectly acceptable at this all-inclusive resort. The alcoholic drinks however are watered down, of very poor quality liquor, and the wine was undrinkable. The wine is so bad it makes two buck chuck from Traders seem like a $200 bottle of wine. After day three or four of our trip I just refrained from drinking all together because I couldn’t find anything worth the calories. I suppose it isn’t of grave importance to drink daily on vacation, but it is the only time drinking during the day is somewhat acceptable. Fail on the drinks.

The food…breakfast is hard to get wrong, pancakes, pastries, breakfast meats, and cereal, we had no problems with the spread for breakfast. Lunch was generally pretty standard as well, nothing fancy, nothing too exciting, but not horrible. Dinner is where I was really let down, there were two fine dinning restaurants at our resort one was French the other Italian. If you did not call first thing in the morning to make a reservation at either of these restaurants you had to go to the buffet which I am really not a fan of. If you are able to get a reservation be aware it may be at 5 in the evening or 9 at night, this happened to us on two different evenings. The main issue was you are only given a handful of entrée’s to choose from. Therefore if you stay at this resort for a week you will have tried every single item on the fine dinning menu. Neither pass nor fail on food.

The pool…the resort we visited hosted 3 different pools, we hoped at least one would be for adults only but at this resort it was not offered. There are so many people, so many children, and way too many people in the pools, it was not relaxing. Something else to note if you are not up at the crack of dawn forget about reserving a place to lay out next to the pool. There is drink service at the pool which was nice, however, the drinks are so horrible you won’t really use the service much. Fail on the pool.

The kids club…kids club is a must have for any family going on vacation where the parents want some time to relax by the pool. Kids clubs are usually free of charge and hosts tons of different activities for the children to do. My son loves kids club and never wants to leave, more likely than not this has to do with the video games available at kids clubs. The kids club, was one of the best parts of this resort, it was huge and hosted its own pool for small children. Pass on the kids club.

The entertainment…evening entertainment was really fun at the all-inclusive and very family friendly. One night was a play, another was a family movie night on a huge screen, and a fun-filled game night. We had fun on the few evenings we attended the evening entertainment, I would recommend this to any guest. Pass on evening entertainment.

The spa…I am somewhat of a spa snob, I previously worked at one of the world’s best spas so I have to admit I’m spoiled when it comes to spas. The resort we stayed at had a spa on-site, which was very nice to not have to leave the resort to have a massage. Even better I dropped my son off at the kids club and went and had a massage, I knew he was having a great time and it made my massage even more enjoyable. The massage was wonderful, I actually went back for another massage the next day, the cost was very reasonable. Pass on the spa.

My personal review of the all-inclusive resort is fair, while our family enjoyed the kids, club, evening entertainment and the on-site spa, we did not enjoy the food & drinks and the pool was over crowded. This is one of the reviews of the most recent all-inclusive resort we stayed at in San Jose’ Del Cabo in Mexico.

About the author: Nicole Hughes is a travel writer, writing mainly about family travel. The places the Hughes family visit are generally at a beach resort during the summer, ski/snowboard resort in the winter, and all over America in the spring and fall. The next family vacation will be on a Disney Cruise this spring, and next fall Nicole will be traveling to London.