MomBuzz

We recently travelled to Florida where we rented a car. Here a couple quick tips to make your next trip easier.

1 - Make sure you get a big enough car for all your passengers and luggage. It doesn’t have to be boring - get a car you would like to try out. You’ll get a lot better idea of how it handles and sounds on the road than from the 10 minute dealer test drive. We are in the market for a new mini van, so we were actually excited to rent a Toyota Sienna mini van, but if you don’t have much to bring, try renting a fun car like a convertible, sports car, Jeep, Mini Cooper or VW bug.

2 - Fill the ashtray with coins and dollars, you never know when you will be on a toll road. On our trip there were no people on duty to accept bills so we were scrounging around for change. Luckily there were no cars behind us. You don’t want to get hit with a fine, the fine for not paying a toll is much worse than the toll itself.

3 - When possible bring your own car seat - at least the sour milk and crushed cookies are yours! Besides, they are $10 a day to rent. For a weeks rental you could buy a new one.

4 - If you have a portable GPS bring it with you. Also bring a local map of the area and look it over to familiarize yourself with the roads you will be taking. You can rent a GPS but these are also expensive. If you have an iPhone or similarly equipped GPS-enabled phone you can use its map and tracking feature for directions also.

5 - Pack a kit to keep in the car: garbage bags, wet wipes, map, change and a few bottles of water.

Got any other killer rental car tips? Let us know in the comments!

Looking for something to do this rainy weekend?

I am always looking for fun kid (and mom) friendly movies to see. I don’t want to take the time to pre-screen every movie but don’t want my kids watching inappropriate materials either. I can’t tell you the number of toddlers and small kids I have seen in R rated movies. It ruins the movie for everyone not just because of the crying, but it is distracting and uncomfortable to watch an adult movie with kids around who should not be there. That being said every child is different so you need to know your child when choosing a movie. Some are ready for PG movies sooner than others. And remember some G movies can be pretty scary. Mine are easily scared so I am careful to choose movies I think they can handle. On the other hand, I don’t mind characters smoking (it’s a good teaching tool) or potty humor.

There are tons of good websites out there that review movies and games (look up parental movie reviews) but here are 2 of our favorites:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
http://www.screenit.com/

We love these sites because of the detail. They summarize the movie plot and characters. Then they tell you exactly what might be scary, gory, or frightening. It also lists what bad words are used, sexual content, smoking, weapon use or other inappropriate content.

These tools make it easy to pre-screen a movie they whole family will enjoy!

For some good clean Halloween fun try “Booing” your friends or neighbors. It’s a fairly new and fun Halloween tradition.

What you do is make up a small goodie bag and secretly deliver it to 2 friends. You include a poem that explains the bag and a ghost to put up on the door so you don’t get “booed” over and over again. In a perfect world, those 2 people then “BOO” 2 other people and so on and so forth all over town! Start early so it can get around.

Tips:
Include age appropriate items
Be sure to include something for every child in the family
Start in early October so it can travel far and wide

Some fun items for your goodie bags

cookie cutters
holiday sprinkles
pencils/erasers
glow sticks
flashlights
Read the rest of this entry »

“Hey mom where are my sandals?”
“They’re in the dishwasher.”
“WHAT?!?!”
“You heard me!”

At first you may think I’m crazy (and you wouldn’t be completely wrong), but this idea came about when I noticed recently that all of our sandals and flip flops smelled like - well- the stinkiest feet you ever smelled! They were just repulsive. So I set out on a mission to get them stink free. I tried lysol and shoe powder and odor sprays and the newspaper trick and airing them out. Nothing worked. So since it’s the end of the summer I decided to do a test. I threw them all in the dishwasher. SIx pairs of super stinky flip flops, sandals, and water shoes. My test was a success! They are clean and smell like a field of fresh rubber instead of feet!

Here are a few other things my husband makes fun of me for putting into the dishwasher:

bath toys and loofahs
beach shovels, pails and other toys
fake plants
fish tank plants and decorations
small garbage cans
tooth brushes
bathroom cups and toothbrush holders
sandals
toy tea parties

*Dishwashing tips - Be sure to turn off the heated dry and don’t wash anything sentimental or valuable just in case. Some toys can get water stuck inside them which can be a problem. The heat kills almost all the germs and gets your items so clean you could eat off of them - except maybe the shoes- yuck.

It’s fun, free and healthy. To make it more exciting everyone in my household has their own pedometer to measure how far they have travelled. If possible we try to walk somewhere; to the park, school, the post office or best yet for ice cream. Not only is it good exercise but you get the benefit of talking with your children (or husband) without distractions, observing nature (you’d be surprised at how interesting a stream with 1 duck in it is!) and of course you are cutting down on gas use! Throw on your sneakers and get going.

I’ve noticed on the past several trips I have been on, there has been major construction going on at the hotel or theme park. This can severely impact your trip. When you are traveling here are some tips to make sure your stay is as good as possible.

• Read over their entire website and/or brochure (even the fine print)

• Call ahead and specifically ask about construction or closings - they will not volunteer this information. Many times the construction won’t affect you, but who wants to have their vacation ruined by the sound of hammering at 7 am!

• Double check the hours of operation - many places have different off-peak schedules.

• Ask specifically about the attraction your are interested in. A large resort like Walt Disney World almost never closes completely, but specific rides and attractions will sometimes close for maintenance or refurbishing.

Obviously you can’t foresee every pitfall you may run into on a vacation, but when you are spending $2000, $3000, or more on a vacation, you want to go in with more than a fighting chance of success. My husband often reminds me that it’s often our vacation horror stories that make us laugh the most (after a year or two), but sometimes it’s nice to have things go smoothly. The more prepared you are the better equipped you will be to deal with the situation, and the less likely you’ll be to show up the week the pool is closed for cleaning.