Dallas Fort Worth Airport

I have two great stories to tell from the Dallas Airport and the people working there. 
First, Isabella wasasking questions, like she normally does to a man sitting reading the paper. This man was one of the men that work outside with the planes. He was very nice and he answered all of the questions she had. After he promised he would go back downstairs and wave to her. He kept his promise!
Second, I was walking around with Charlotte a gaurd stops me and says, "You have the reason why I keep these planes safe." I reply with, "What is that Sir?" Guard: "Our kids, that is why I need to protect our airports and planes. Our kids"

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Next travel tip

15. Most airports have a kid play area. So if you have a long enough layover, find it and get some energy out of your kids. It helps. Warning: Some are better than others. O'hare's play area is great! Here are a list of other airports that are great for the kids.

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Travel tips for kids, that I have learned

So we have taken the kids on many plane flights since Isabella has been born and we have gathered a few tips that we have learned.
1. A portable DVD player is worth its weight in gold. If you are traveling by car, take it out after the trip. tor they will get addicted! I know some people disagree with this, but there is so much stress already placed on a family when travelling you don't need to add more. Now at the same time use it sparingly so when you do take it out the attention goes there.
2. Keep some over the counter drugs close and accessible. Some sort of pain killer is key. Teething tablets if you are in that phase. AB-Drops for flight, these are a secret life saver (look them up).
3. Bring a sippy cup. Even if your kid is getting rid of them. The rubber stopper is a good way to travel liquid without spilling. You can always open it and use it as a cup. This cane be replaced by some sort of canteen as well. It seems like my girls are always thirsty. Planes are dry, and stopping in a car gets annoying! But not too much! Little balloon only hold so much.
4. Pen and paper. This can help you when you need to remember and help entertain your kids with drawing!
5. Lunch box. Bring your own snacks, this saves money and then you have things readily available. For flying, bring dry goods. There is no need to get stopped by the TSA.
6. Dollar store will help. Go to the dollar store and go buy a few toys so you always have a new toy, book, or activity to pull out when you child is bored with the previous. Remember dealing with kids is like a card game, it take patience and knowledge of when to hold and when to play. Do not show your hand all at once. If you show your kid all of the toys in the beginning they won't be surprised when your get the next one, hence the direction is not redirected.
7. Learn how to naturally 'pop' your kids ears. Gum for the older kids. Lollies, drinks, or bottles for the younger ones during take off and landing work as well.
8. Make scary times a game. Such as taking off or landing, have you kids guess when you are on the ground or in the air. "Now?... No... Now? ... Yes, good job!" Tunnels when driving, have them try to guess the number of lights or seconds to get though. It all a game!
9. Strap things in! When you are traveling with kids you are bound to have tons of stuff. Do the best you can to put everything into one or two bags. If you have bulk items try to tie them down to the outside of your bag. For an example coats; coats can be placed on the outside of your bag so it is readily available and takes up less space!
10. Push them just a little bit. If you are traveling near a nap time, always try to get them to sleep during a flight or a drive push them slightly later if needed. I try to make trips revolving around the noon time so we can get a nap during travel times.
11. Napkins. You never have enough.
12. Straws. It seems that straws lately have become many times larger than the drink container. This causes a weight distribution problem for small kids that are stretching to drink out of it. I always take the straw measure out about 1 inch above the container, then I find a sharp object to cut it down to size. Place the cut end into the drink just in case it is slightly jagged. There you go! Instant less spills due to height.
13. Small plastic bag. Good for trash, lollies when no being eaten, instant bibs, or anything else you can think of.
14. Psst, passports! Yes if you have kids, no matter the age and you are flying internationally, you need a passport. Our friends just had a baby and they had a major emergency out of the country, the dad had to stay back and wait while these few week old babies had passports created for them.

More tips to come later

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Its that time!

Yes it means the summer is over. Ballet class has started up again, time to dust off the leotards and try on last years shoes. 

Classes like these are a great place for kids to learn new things and to meet new friends. Isabella has learned a lot about her body and different motor skills. I would encourage all kids to get out and find an activity that is fun, active, and social.

This year Isabella needs tap shoes, we are very excited for those considering we have all hard floors at home.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Do you eat outside?

Eating outside is one of Isabella's favorite things to do!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

You can pick your friends and you can pick your apples...

Yes it is that time of the year again. Time to get out and pick some of the freshest apples ever! This past weekend we drove out to our closest apple orchard and went pickin'!

I feel that there isn't a better apple than right off the tree of a well maintained orchard. However my question is this. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of apples and trees that we combed though, not one was the perfect apple that you see in the stores. The kicker is that these taste hundreds of times better than any store bought apple.

So if you like apples or if you like staying healthy go find your local apple orchard and pick some apples!

If you are local to Columbus, try Lynd Fruit Farm. No excuses I saw my friend there that lives 45 minutes away, he said it is the best. Next weekend starts Golden Delicious and Jonagold as well as the other that are already ripe. Lynd has many other choices of fruit items as well. I will blog later about that.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Instant coloring book!

One day while coloring with Isabella, I asked her to make a picture. She replied with "How Daddy?" So I preceded to ask her what she wanted in the picture and I made one. (I am far from the best artist) Anyway, now that I was done I asked her to make one, the the smart girl that she is, she asked me if I could make dots so she can color. Brilliant! You can see the final product.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Isabella

Here is a picture of Isabella as she is "writing" a note to her baby doll. You can't paint a better picture than this!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Supporting your local farmers market

I have said this before but we try to support our local farmers markets when we can. This weekend one of the farmers markets near us held a deminstration of a man growing a 'bee beard'. It was really cool!
How often do you get to see something like that? Or do you get to take a seed directly from a 10+ pound sunflower (that is my guess)

Days like this I hope the kids do not forget.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Breakfast picnic

Somedays you just need to break from the norm and try things upside down. An indoor breakfast picnic was in order this morning!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Waffle Time!

A few weeks ago you may have read about our trip to Bellevue, Ohio. We gained many things from that trip including great memories and an unexpected recipe. This could possibly be the best waffles that we have ever eaten!

I would encourage each and everyone of you to go right now and make these. However, these are not for the light-hearted, this is two days of cooking to concoct this tasty goodness. (Two days of very easy cooking, ha!)

I can say one thing that each of out chiquititas ate a whole waffle, four pieces! Nicole and I ate one as well, and another, and another... yes it was bad!

We cannot take credit for this, I don't know where the owner got the recipe but I will give him all of the credit. Thank you Richard!! You can find him at the The Victorian Tudor Inn.

If you happen to use this please leave a comment and tell me what you think. Have an upgrade? Please leave it as well.

One thing that I noticed that Richard used one of the waffle irons that flips over, that typed seemed to produce a more "waffle shaped" waffle. While ours was slightly flatter on the top side. The taste was unsurpassed! Next round we will experiment to see if we can get it to rise more without purchasing a flip type.

Now for the goods...

Charlotte: "No!"

Well there isn't much to say other than... watch the video!

Each time I think Im close to knowing... She keeps on growing

I know as a family our girls are still with us every day and the one thing that is inevitable is that they are growing up faster then Nicole and I can ever imagine. Charlotte is starting to talk, Isabella is learning so fast. I heard a song today that really made me think. (Yes it's Abba, Yes it's from Mama Mia, Yes I have heard it a thousand times... and today is when I actually listened to it)

"...Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time..."

We do try to capture every minute, that is the whole point of this blog. Capturing and sharing. This goes along with my Zen blog a few weeks ago. Live each moment. Don't be afraid to sit on the floor and play princesses dads! Don't be afraid to watch that TV show for the 30th time... today! These are the things you will remember. Love every moment and live it... with them.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Great food, service, atmosphere, & great with kids

On a whim, we decided to pick up food from Carsonie's on Westerville Road. (There is one in UA as well) This is the first time we have ever eaten here even though they say it is Columbus's 'favorite' Stromboli.

From the second I walked in the service was amazing and everyone made an effort to talk to both of there girls. And I was ordering take out!

We ordered, and they told us they could wait outside and the kids could play in the sand box. Now this was sort of a lie, but it was a nice one because it was a full sized boccie ball court. Now that is a place for me! The girls loved it. tone of the waitresses even came out and gave the girls a pink lemonade. I ordered take out! That is called classy service.

The restaurant /bar was riddled with OSU and other local sport stuff. You can really see they care about the community.

Now the food. Great!
Grab a beer, watch a game, take the kids... Have fun.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Mama Mia!

Lately at our house the movie Mama Mia has been playing at least partially once a day. Isabella knows most of the words to the words, and let me tell you it is odd hearing our three year old singing, "I heard about you before, I wanted to know some more, what you mean to me", and "Money, money, It's so funny, in a rich mans world"

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Old Zen makes a come back.

Many of us a few years ago had the Zen balls that had bells within them and you used to gain dexterity in your hands. Remember those?

Well I am going to take a bet you do not use them anymore! Reuse: Let your kids use them. I do not know why I didn't think of this when they were little but we played for a good 30 mins yesterday with them.

I can assure you they will come back out again today.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

All of the things bought!

With all of toys, special chairs, princess castles, and other what-nots that we purchase for our kids, the best forts and play things are the items we already had!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Opening Day 2009

We live in Ohio State country. Many people think that it is all about the football. Yes it does revolve around football, however at the end of the day it is about friends and family.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Good and bad for you?

We all know that fast food isn't the best choice in eating habits. However selecting the right items and omiting specific peices of an dish can make a meal decent for you. However nothing beats a freshly prepared hardy meal from home.

Anyway, we have found another use for our local McD's. (The name is shortened to provide aminimity) The playground is a great place to release some excess energy for a Friday night. These girls will be in bed sleeping at 8 tonight! At first we were very hesitant but I have been through all of the tunnels and it is kept impressively clean.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Sisters

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Kids Play

Recently we found some software for Isabella to play on the computer. She absolutely loves it.

I believe that you should teach your children at a young age about computers. However, I am the first one to say, that unless it is a closed piece of software like the one pictured, (Closed meaning it is hard to close the program.) you should not leave them alone. This coloring software provides music, once out of the program the music stops. Its very smart. I have a software engineering degree and I don't think I would have come up with that one.

I also put a little sticker on the mouse so that she knew what button to press. (I will admit it here, this is a one-up that Mac has on PC.)

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Last weekend our friends invited us for a great party idea for the kids. Yes it was a make your own pizza party!
This was such a great idea, and the kids loved it.

Be aware! Watch what your kids make. Too much sauce, too little, you never know.

Thanks for the great time.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

At the store Charlotte decided she wanted to shop by herself.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē