Category Archives: Travel with kids

Kicked Off A Plane Due To A Crying Child? Really U.S. Airways?

Travel News, Travel with kids
a cartoon of a baby crying
image credit: Mashed Musings

Kim sent me an article which deals with an interesting and touchy topic related to flying and children.

The Consumerist wrote a post:
“Are Crying Kids Reason To Be Booted From An Airplane? U.S. Airways Thinks So.”

Being a Dad, my immediate reaction is HELL NO! 

According to the Consumerist article one of their readers was boarding a U.S. Airways flight at JFK Airport with her 1 year old and 3 year old. The kid needed to be seated in car seats so Mom pre-boarded and took their seats in the bulkhead (the first row of coach).

The kids were settled in and waiting to depart when a flight attendant came over and said due to regulations on the aircraft, children were not allowed to sit in the bulkhead. This happened 30 minutes after general boarding had begun. When Mom asked about the regulation, the flight attendant did not explain what the problem was. Continue reading Kicked Off A Plane Due To A Crying Child? Really U.S. Airways? →

Lucas’ Favorite Part of Minnesota- Ice Cream

Food, Travel with kids, Trip Reports
a man and child holding food
Lucas double fisting at Izzy’s

Lucas started eating ice cream a few months ago but took a real liking to it in Japan. Just about any shop in Japan that sells ice cream has a humongous, fake ice cream outside.

Lucas had ice cream radar throughout the trip and his vocabulary started to change. For a while he was calling ice cream “ice” but then it started to become what it is today, “icekeem”!

While looking into things to do in Minnesota I found out that there was really good ice cream around the Twin Cities. I wanted to make sure that Lucas enjoyed the trip so I made a short list of five places to consider visiting (although the odds of visiting all of them in two days was not likely).

In our short visit we ended up visiting 4/5 places or 80%. I’d say Lucas would call that a successful visit to Minnesota! Lucas kept asking for ice cream so we had to give the boy what he asked for. To be honest, we should’ve really visited three places but one of the shops happened to be a few doors down from a toy train store we were stopping in for Lucas so how could we not try it out. Continue reading Lucas’ Favorite Part of Minnesota- Ice Cream →

Product Review: The Hoboroll

Product Review, Travel with kids, ,
a blue sleeping bag and a blue blanket
photo credit: Gobi Gear

A few months back I was offered a product to try out and review by Gobi Gear called the Hoboroll. The Hoboroll is “the first luggage organizer that provides compression of items as well as multiple storage compartments”.
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I’m always looking for ways to make travel easier and organizing things simpler so I was happy to accept the offer.
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A little about the Hoboroll:

  • Five compartments to organize your things
  • Made from lightweight nylon so it doesn’t add much weight
  • It can reduce packed volume by up to 50%
  • Compression: two straps/ clips across the middle
  • Can be opened/ closed from either side
  • Can be used as a stand alone item thanks to the shoulder strap or be placed inside a larger bag.

Continue reading Product Review: The Hoboroll →

Jumping Fun In Colorado Springs

Jumping, Travel with kids,
a man holding a baby jumping on a deck
Lucas loves jumping!
While in Colorado Springs for the Boarding Area Conference our days were very busy and there wasn’t much time to relax or check out the premises of the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, our home for BAcon.
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One particular area kept catching my eye each day. There was an outdoor deck with amazing mountain views that I wanted to stop at. I wanted to take my time to enjoy the views and take some photos, but it never seemed to be the right time.
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I also figured that it would be a great place for a jump.
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When the conference ended, we were planning to do something in the area before heading back to Denver for our flight. We decided to visit an amazing local attraction- Garden of the Gods.

Lucas Loves Cowboy Music, Thanks BAcon

Travel with kids, Trip Reports,
a group of people playing instruments
Lucas enjoying the tunes

During our visit to Colorado for the Boarding Area Conference (BAcon) a couple of weeks back, we had a fun night out thanks to Randy Petersen and the BA team. The plans were a surprise, with the location revealed to us just before the event.

The Saturday night festivities took place in an old recording studio (the name escapes me) which looked like a old auto garage or something along those lines.

The event featured live music from an authentic cowboy band-  Flying W Wranglers and really tasty barbecue from Rudy’s.

Continue reading Lucas Loves Cowboy Music, Thanks BAcon →

Recap: North Face Endurance Race Weekend- Bear Mountain, NY

Running, Travel with kids, Trip Reports, ,
a man jumping in the air with a red arch
Even when we are not traveling, Kim and I like to keep busy and do and see things in our city (New York) or around the tri-state area. We are always visiting new restaurants, street fairs, festivals and exploring new neighborhood…
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Especially when traveling with a child, I think it makes sense to make a weekend out of activities that are a bit further from home. For us it’s more about balancing things that we enjoy and activities that will entertain the little one.
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A couple of weeks ago I ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge 5K for the second year in a row. (Check out my post about last year’s race HERE)
Last year the race kicked my butt and after doing it a second time I’ll say that this is definitely the toughest race that I’ve entered.
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I guess that I like torturing myself because I’m already looking towards next year’s race and thinking about entering the 10K race. Kind of crazy since I’ve haven’t yet run a 10K!
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The race took place upstate New York at Bear Mountain State Park. Due to the early start we slept in the vicinity of the park. I wasn’t going to just head up there at night to sleep so we headed upstate early and made a mini-trip out of it.
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Lucas Tests Out New Southwest Lie-Flat Seat

Travel with kids,
a blue and red airplane with black text
Lucas was exhausted after having to get up early for our flight from New York to Denver for BAcon.
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Lucky for him, he ended up sleeping in a little bit of luxury during our journey.

Lucas got to try out the new Southwest- First Class, lie- flat seats…
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OK, so maybe it wasn’t first class but Lucas sure did get to lie flat!

Some Travel- Inspired Clothing For Lucas

American Apparel, H and M, Lucas, Travel with kids
baby clothes on a swinger

With Lucas becoming quite the little world traveler I had to find him some fun, travel- related clothes. Then again maybe they found me. I didn’t exactly go out in search of clothes related to travel for Lucas but these two items definitely caught my eye.

Check them out:

The airplane onesie from H & M:

a grey shirt with airplanes on it
H & M $6.95

The cities onesie from American Apparel:

a green and red baby clothes
American Apparel $14.00
a green and red text on a green background
A close-up of the cities onesie

If you’ve found any interesting, travel- inspired clothing for babies or kids, I’d love to hear about what you’ve found!

Lucas’ Little Airplane Fleet

Travel with kids,
a group of toys on a green surface

Since Lucas started traveling at such a young age (his first flight was at less than 3 months old), I thought we needed to start a little toy airplane collection for him.
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So far he has four airplanes with each being a bit different than the next one.
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Here they are:

a wooden toy airplane on a green carpet
The South Dakota Plane
Early last Summer, while in South Dakota we visited an aviation museum. I was checking out the gift shop and wanted to get a little something for Lucas. I decided to get him his first airplane. He hasn’t played with this plane much yet, but it will be a nice toy for Lucas when he is a little older.
a green and yellow toy airplane
Green Toys
The second plane we bought Lucas is made by a really cool company. All of their products are made of 100% recycled plastic with the main ingredient being recycled milk containers! They are also made in the USA which I think is pretty awesome.
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When I saw the Green Toys Seaplane, I had to get it for my little guy. It’s a really great bath toy and Lucas really loves it. He will often point or reach for it if I forget to put it in the bathtub. Lucas also has a bunch of other Green Toys products which we use on a daily basis.
a blue toy airplane on a skateboard
The next plane we got for Lucas is also made by an environmentally friendly company. Their toys are hand made from natural rubber foam. and have a simple and fun look.
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The Rubbabu Charles the Little Airplane is a great travel toy since it is small, soft and light weight.
a toy airplane and a toy figurine
Weebles Toys
Lucas already had a few planes but no pilot so when we saw the Weebles Wobblin’ Wings Airplane, we had to get it. I remember having Weebles as a kid so I was happy to see that they were still being made.
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The plane is a lot of fun. It comes with the pilot shown in the photo and can hold up to three Weebles figures at a time. The propeller spins and if you pull the blue circle in the back, the plane vibrates, makes noises and the Weebles figure moves around.
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So that’s all of Luca’s fleet for now. Over time I’m sure that he will pick up some more airplanes along the way!
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If you have any fun airplane toys that you’d like to recommend, please let us know.

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(If you purchase any items from the Amazon links above, I will earn a small commission)