Travels with Children

Learning About Other Cultures at Museums

minnemom — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:18:45 +0000

Here in rural Minnesota, our communities are made up almost entirely of people whose heritage is from either Germany or Norway. Blonde hair and blue eyes are common; languages other than English are not.

So how do we teach our kids about other cultures? Museum visits are a great way to learn about other countries and their ways of life.

Currently in the Twin Cities, there are some great opportunities to teach kids about other cultures.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is hosting an exhibit called INDIA: Public Spaces, Private Places. This exhibit was also the basis for a recent Family Day at MIA.
The Hmong at Heart exhibit at the Minnesota Children’s Museum gives visitors a look into the Hmong culture in Laos and in America.
Urban Expedition programs at St. Paul’s Landmark Center explore the culture and traditions of countries such as Germany, Uganda, and Latvia.

Museum visits are an excellent way to introduce children to new cultures, as well as history, science, and art. Giving children the opportunity to learn about other people in the enjoyable setting of a museum can spark them into wanting to learn more.

And how can they learn more, without traveling the world? Books and movies can be a good way. I was recently made aware of a DVD series for children called Global Wonders, which teaches children about India, Mexico, and more. I’ll be looking for them on our next trip to the library, where we can also find books, movies, and music reflecting any culture we’re interested in.

Do you live in a culturally diverse area? How do you teach your children about other cultures?

For more ideas, see what other twitter moms have done.

Britax Marathon for $42.99

minnemom — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:48:05 +0000

Update: Might have been too good to be true. It looks like the discounted ones aren’t on Target’s site any more. Don’t know if that means they sold out and will honor those already sold, or if orders will be canceled. I’m headed over to BabyCheapskate to see what the scoop is there.

Quick post to hope some of my readers can get in on this deal. My sister just called and said that Target.com has Marathons for $42.99 for Granite and $59.99 for Cowmooflage. Shipping is free! (These are usually $279 seats.)

As a CPST, I’m don’t recommend specific carseats, but I’ll say this much: this is the seat that my 2- and 4-year-old daughters ride in.

Now I’m just trying to decide if I can pass up this deal, because I really don’t need any more carseats right now!

P.S. If you’re a member of AAA, try shopping through http://aaa.com/target for another 10% off. I did order one. It was $40.62, including tax and free shipping. Cheaper than a Scenera and will last most kids until they’re 5 or 6 years old!

Finding More Fun, 11/15/08

minnemom — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:41:43 +0000

Here’s a look at interesting, fun, and useful information from other travel bloggers this week.

Minnesota’s Split Rock Lighthouse and the Edmund Fitzgerald at A Closer Look at Flyover Land.
An Unexpected Adventure (my favorite kind) at Family Adventure Guidebooks.
Top 5 Tips for Finding a Family Vacation that Fits Your Budget at Traveling Mamas.
Recharging in Keystone at Travel Savvy Mom.
Maurice Sendak retrospective in Philly at We Just Got Back. (We’re considering adding 3 days and 900 miles to our Christmas trip so we can visit Philadelphia. Hmmmm… )
We Just Got Back’s freebies series continues with free things to do in Baltimore, San Francisco’s North Bay, Milwaukee, Lexington, Portland, Boston, Chicago,
Things for kids at the San Francisco airport at Family Travelogue.
Free and Kid Friendly in Washington, D.C. - The Smithsonian Institution at Uptake Vacations.
Space Shuttle Launch at Family Travel Planet.
California Academy of Arts and Sciences at Frisco Kids.
Top Travel Tips at Boston Mamas.
Family Vacation Ideas at Family Travel Planet.
Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory at Uptake Attractions.
Some book/CD combos that will probably be added to my in-the-car playlist at Boston Mamas.
Kid-friendly restaurants at Milwaukee Moms.
Great Chicago-area children’s book stores at Being Savvy.
Going to the Beach in MIchigan at Uptake Attractions.
Family Fun in Downtown Boise at Uptake Vacations.
Portland Christmas Activities at Suite101.
The Dallas Zoo at Uptake Attractions.
Safety for kids while traveling includes many different things. Near-tragedy at Scenic Overlook describes one family’s close call.
Santa Claus visits Chicago Downtown at Suite 101.
The Christmas Lights at Clifton Mill at Uptake Vacations.
Some great Holiday Light Attractions at Uptake Attractions.
Kids Night on Broadway is now Monthly at Mommy Poppins.
Holiday Family Fun at Navy Pier in Chicago at Suite101.

Photo Friday: North Dakota Apple Harvest

minnemom — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:32:05 +0000

The latest overnight trip I made with the kids was to my parents’ farm in eastern North Dakota. It’s a 6-hour trip, and one that we’ve made many times. Some trips home are short, or packed with activities, but this time we had a free day so I offered to help Mom and Dad pick the apples from their tree.

My uncle came over to run the “farmhand”, an ancient tractor with a loader bucket that looks innocent enough but really goes quite high. (I spent many an hour in the farmhand, painting the big white barn, when I was in high school.)

Once we were up at the top of the tree, I remembered that I don’t like heights any more, so my apple-picking was done one-handed while I hung on for dear life with the other.

This 30-year-old Haralson tree was loaded with apples. Its twin didn’t have as many so we left it alone this year. We kept only the best apples, leaving many hanging on the tree for the birds and throwing some to the ground for the deer that congregate in the yard. Even being choosy about the ones we kept, we did very well. We ended up with nine 5-gallon pails and several peach boxes of crisp, sweet-tart apples. The standing joke for the rest of the trip was to ask everyone we saw if they needed any apples. (The answer was always “no” because all the neighbors had good apple crops of their own this year.)

Who needs an orchard when you have Mom and Dad?

To see more travel photos, visit Photo Friday at deliciousbaby.com.

How We Travel

minnemom — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:22:37 +0000

When people hear of the places we take our kids, they’ll often make comments about traveling any sort of distance with four young children in the car. “How do you do it?” they’ll ask. “They’re good travelers,” I’ll reply, and for the most part they really are. Of course, I have a few tricks up my sleeve, like snacks, magazines, coloring books, and the like. Sometimes they’ll take a nap in the car. We play a lot of games of “I Spy” and spotting the letters of the alphabet. We switch back and forth between talk radio and “kid music.” And once in a while they even argue with each other.

Would it surprise you, though, to hear that we don’t have a DVD player for the car? I’ve heard people say that’s it’s a “lifesaver” or that they “couldn’t live without it” when traveling with kids on long trips.

For some reason, though, I’m philosphically opposed to car DVD players. My kids watch TV at home, and I don’t think it’s necessary for them to be tuned into a tiny screen in the car when there’s so much to see out the windows. We enjoy the conversations we have in the car and would miss out on that if they were plugged in to a movie.

Once in a while, the kids ask if we can get a car DVD player, but they really don’t grumble too loudly when we tell them no and explain our reasons. Judging by the landmarks they recognize and the signs they read, they don’t feel like they’re missing out on too much.

If you’re a DVD-in-the-car family, I don’t begrudge you your ways of keeping travel peaceful. In fact, I may someday change my mind, perhaps on a really long cross-country trip. But for now, I’m happy to have my children enjoy what they see out the windows of our mini-van and enjoy the conversations we have with them en route.

Tales of the Road

minnemom — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:17:49 +0000

I own a lot of travel books, but most of them I use as references when we’re looking for a new place to visit. It’s rare that I buy a book and then read it from cover to cover. A few weeks ago, however, I head WCCO Radio’s Eric Eskola promote a new book by his wife, Cathy Wurzer, and it sounded like something I would really enjoy. I treated myself and ordered it that very day.

What a delightful book! Tales of the Road: Highway 61 " target="_blank">Tales of the Road: Highway 61 is part history lesson, part travel guide. In short, 1-2 page segments accompanied by photos old and new, it describes landmarks, businesses, and ghost towns along Highway 61, which runs along Minnesota’s entire eastern border. Some of these sites remain, and others are long gone.

I was saddened that I had missed seeing Two Harbors High School overlooking the town by only a few months. I was disappointed that I hadn’t had the book before my recent drive up the North Shore, because there were things along the way that I missed. I learned more about places I’ve visited, like Gooseberry Falls State Park and Split Rock Lighthouse. And I added a lot of new entries to my “places to see” list.

Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, this book is a delight from start to finish, providing a glimpse into Minnesota’s past along one of its earliest and most important roads.

Finding More Fun, 11/08/2008

minnemom — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:29:32 +0000

Here are some family travel ideas from the past week, west to east, and some travel tips to keep in mind.

Visiting the Vancouver Aquarium at Suite101.
Stretch Your Family Vacation Dollars in San Diego at Travels with Baby Tips.
10 Activities Near Disneyland and Disneyland on the Spur of the Moment at DeliciousBaby, and Disney’s California Adventure at Uptake Vacations.
Top 10 Free Attractions in Las Vegas at Cheapo Air, and Las Vegas Aquariums at Uptake Vacations.
Firefighters Hall and Museum in Minneapolis at Uptake Attractions.
24 Hours in St. Louis with Kids at TravelMuse.
Chicago for Families at Uptake Vacations.
Miller’s Country Gardens in Delaware, OH, at Uptake Vacations.
15 Best Places to Get Scientific with Kids at Mommy Poppins.
Belvedere Plantation in Fredericksburg, VA, at Uptake Vacations.
Family Attractions and Things to Do in Atlanta at Suite101.
Downtown Disney at Uptake Attractions.
Free Things to do in Atlanta, Tucson, Disney World, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, and Minneapolis-St. Paul at We Just Got Back.
Family Adventures without Wheels at Family Adventure Guidebooks.
Family River Rafting at CNN.
Ski Resorts for an Affordable Family Vacation at Cheapo Air.
Surviving Long-Haul Flights with Kids at TravelBlogs.
Tips for Taking Kid- and Travel-Worthy Photos at Travel Savvy Mom.
8 Things Every Traveling Parent Should Know at Boots’n'all.
Navigating Airport Security with Kids at Jet With Kids.
The Low-Down on Flying with Children of All Ages at Wanderlust and Lipstick.
Infant Travel at TravelMuse.
Thanksgiving Parades at Suite101.

Photo Friday: The Hjemkomst Dream

minnemom — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:36:18 +0000

What would your family think if you one day said, “I want to build a Viking ship and sail it to Norway?” Especially if you lived in western Minnesota, among the 10,000 lakes but far from an ocean? That’s exactly what Robert Asp said one day in 1971. He rented a potato warehouse in Hawley, Minnesota, and proceeded to build a ship.

Robert Asp died of leukemia before he could see his dream completed, but his family carried on for him, and in 1982 they sailed the Hjemkomst (”Homecoming”) 6100 miles from Duluth, Minnesota, to Bergen, Norway, a 72-day journey.

The ship itself is something to see, but watching the video at the Heritage Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, is a beautiful tribute to Asp and a reminder to follow your dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem.

For more travel photos, visit Photo Fridays at DelicioiusBaby.

A Travelogue in Books

minnemom — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:43:36 +0000

There was a time when I liked museum gift shops almost as much as I liked the museums themselves. Museum shops always seem to have such unique, thought-provoking, beautiful items.

With kids, however, museums shops are basically dangerous. It’s hard to single-handedly keep four little kids from touching things, and tiresome to ward off their begging for trinkets. I’m not much for buying souvenirs on our travels; grandmas and grandpas are good enough to bring back mementos of their vacations, but for our own journeys, I figure we have the memories and the photos, so I don’t need to buy anything to remind us of the visit.

There’s one area, though, that’s my downfall: books. Specifically children’s books. I suppose it’s because I was a librarian in a former life, and got to go to library conferences where I’d have books autographed by Rosemary Wells and Tomie dePaola and Eric Carle, even before I had any children to share them with.

So now, it’s hard for me to pass up a good book when we’re out on our adventures. We have biographies of Grant Wood and Kate Shelley, books about the Hinckley Fire and the Great Chicago Fire, books autographed by authors like Jill Kalz and Rick Chrustowski, and our latest addition, a book about Wanda Gag. (I haven’t been to the Wanda Gag house in New Ulm, MN, yet, but the kids went there on a field trip last year.)

Books aren’t the cheapest of souvenirs, but neither are they the most expensive. They’re sharable, and able to be passed down to new adventurers, and helpful in recalling the details of a visit or writing a school report.

Yes, I think books are souvenirs we can be proud to have.

These are some of the books we’ve collected on our travels:

What types of souvenirs do you collect on your travels?

Kirby Science Discovery Center in Sioux Falls, SD

minnemom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:49:42 +0000

My latest entry at Uptake.com is about one of our all-time favorite museums. I’ve written about it here before, but if you want to read a more general review of it, see Uptake Attractions.